Just When You Think You've Got Stuff Cleaned Up

Isn't that just the pits? Just when you think you've got things cleaned up, you move a piece of furniture and there's some more junk. Do you think that is how it is in life? Just when you think you're presentable to the Creator; you've got things just spic and span. Then, He moves some stuff around and there she blows. . .more junk. More junk to work on.

I guess that's the whole refining thing that He does to make us look more like Him. For now, we're just pretending things are all cleaned up. . .please don't look under my cushions. :)

Nurturing All Things

I hope this isn't what all the things I nurture and take care of look like. Surely not, right?

I Want My Money Back

This post inspired me to buy these cute photo calendars for Christmas from Lillian Vernon. I was so excited and I ordered them right away. Then after I accidentally signed up for their promotional emails, I saw that they went on sale for $3.00 less than what I bought them for only two days after I purchased them. It would not have been worth it for me to pitch a fit and demand my money kindly call them and explain my situation and ask for my $3.00 back, but I ordered 6 of them.

After going through about ummm 5 customer service gals I explained what happened and she credited my money back to me with no problem at all. The queen of customer service said they always credit your money back there if it has been within 30 days. Hey, that worked for me!! How about you!?

Are there other stores that have credited your account after you bought something only to find it went on sale shortly after? I would love to hear. To see more Works for Me Wednesday ideas, visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer.

Scary or Exciting? You Vote!

In just two days time span, there have been two incidents of random acts of kindness by my children.

My son apologized (without me asking him to) to his sister for yelling at her. It was about 15 minutes after the incident and out poured from his sincere little lips "I am sorry for yelling at you for throwing my Webkinz." You vote. . . scary or exciting?

Yesterday, while I was under extreme duress and frantically making dinner and working at the same time I was not paying attention to, carefully watching every move my children make when my daughter walks in to let me know she had a surprise for me in the bathroom. Wince, Shudder. . ."oh, wonderful honey. . .what ever could it be?" I doth not exaggerate. . .she started a load of clothes for me. She is six years old, ya'll! She had also cleaned out the sink with one of her moist wipes that we use for her little bottom. I did ask if she wiped first. . .I know it was wrong. ..but I couldn't help it! You vote. . .scary or exciting. I know my reaction was probably the scary part.

They are growing up indeed. I am savoring every little morsel.

The Beauty of Community

This picture is taken of my community group stuffing candy bags for Halloween Night in our little town. We passed out candy and an invitation to a free pancake breakfast for the following week. Last night, my family and I celebrated Thanksgiving with these sweet folks. It was absolutely fabulous. We indulged in turkey, ham, sweet potato casserole, my (if I do say so myself) yummy potatoes and green bean bundles!

For dessert we were so stuffed and full of food that we could barely get the dessert down, but we managed! We had a plethora of pies. Oh my! Then we went around the room and told what we were thankful for (appropriate, ey!) Our community group has families, singles and tons of wild well-behaved kids running around.

We all have a story of where we have been and where we are going. We circled around the room, everyone of us thankful for the church and the love that we feel there. The sense of unity and the bond of peace. Wow, amazing. As a pastor's wife, I never dreamed that the first place where God would put us would be so loving and gentle and beautiful. There are so many saints in our church that I never feel alone. All of my burdens they are eager to bear with me. Yes, indeed we have much to be thankful for this year.

Enough of the mushy stuff, well our community group is also full of laughter. . .much laughter!!! My hubby jokingly said that we need to loosen up when we meet back again in January. If we loosened up much more I think we would all be burping and passing gas together. I'm telling you that we hoot and holler and snort and laugh together as much as we pray together.

We share our daily lives together and I tell them about my blogging world. They think I am a silly little blogger. One in particular thinks that computers are a phase! :) We kidded him about that last night. They ask me how my blog is doing each week and I tell them the fascinating facts and that they could hop on the internet anytime and see what I cooking up for supper. They were not as interested as you are! :) They decided that if I get enough traffic and I start having critics that the critics would rename my blog, Crappy Shoes or Crabby Shoes :) Crabby Shoes strikes again, the critic would say. Naughty people. They just don't know what their missing, do they!? Of course, all of this is in jest and we just laugh about it.

In future posts I will tell you more about Stan the Sloth Man and his adventures and The Shoe Extraodinairre and her Adversary! But for now, I need to go teach Hansel! Have a wonderful day and I hope you have much to be thankful for this week!