Being Chased by God

The Wild One!
We found "the surrendered one" studying the Bible on my bed.
Yes, this is a boy cat but we were lacking "boy clothes" obviously.


I have been going back through my study that I did this summer with an awesome group of ladies in my community. It is by Mary Kassian and it is called Vertically Inclined. To sum up the study in my own words, it is about your relationship with God and how it goes through various stages and series of peaks and valleys.

There were quite a few lessons that I missed and it was such a good study I thought I needed to go back in and fill in the blanks. In this particular lesson that I was going back through today it talked about how we often ask, "why" when we have trials. She goes through all of the great heroes of the faith and had verses to back up the times that our Bible heroes asked, "Why?" As I was doing my study, my silly cat was walking though the yard and I was reminded of when they first came to our house. Really bare with me here through my ADD moment.

There are always going to be those, "Why" moments in our life. For instance, right now I am going through a job change. My hours are going to be cut down to half of an already part time job. My question is, "Why, Lord." Mary Kassian says that we should not just ask "Why me" but "What now, Lord." Not the, "What now, Lord?" where I have my hands on my hips, shaking my finger at Him screaming, "What now, Lord!" but what do you have for my life now Lord. How can You work through this situation?

Back to my cats. About two weeks before Christmas I found these two cute kittens outside my door. I had been asking my husband for a cat for Christmas. He could not believe two weeks before Christmas there were two cats outside the door. Of course, I squealed in delight and ran to bring them inside because I knew this was God answering my little Christmas prayer. :)

The cats had two different reactions to becoming part of our family. The first little kitten was so funny. We (my daughter and I) ran outside to get him and he ran for a just a split-second and then flopped down on the ground as if saying, "I surrender, just take me in. . .pet me and make me your own. Please dress me up to your hearts content, but please do not give me a heart attack by chasing me around anymore."

The other was a little more difficult to catch. First, he ran under the car. Of course, with my expert cat skills I grabbed a stick and played with him to try to coax him out. To no avail, he would play for a second with my cat charmer and I would try to grab him and he would get away. He was so lightning fast. I wish I recorded myself trying to catch that cat. I chased him around and around that car.

Finally, after giving up for awhile I went over to talk with my neighbor when the cat came strutting over to me. I interrupted the conversation rather abruptly (while my neighbor looked on in horror I do believe) to try to catch the cat again and he ran up the tree in her yard. Right as he got about 5 feet in the air I finally caught him. He was trying to scratch me and get away. He was madder than a hornet and as wild as can be. I ran him over to my house before he clawed up my arms and put him inside my house all the while exclaiming how I caught the cat and was so proud of myself.

I reminisced sort of happily today as I saw "the surrendered cat" walking through the yard. I wish I was like him. No not hairy and fish-breathed, but surrendered. I wish I was not that wild one kicking and scratching all the way home. I wish that when God chased me that I would give up quickly and say, I know you have good plans for me. Please take care of me like I know you desire for me to be taken care of. No, I have to be caught and soothed into submission. The Lord is still trying to tame my wild heart, but I think He got a little closer today. Teach me your ways, o Lord. Help me to know that Your plans for me are good. Tame my wild heart.

Menu Plan Monday

And we're off! The first day of school. The races have begun. . .the gates are open and we're coming out of the chute!

And we have Menu Plan Monday to start off the race.

Monday - Chicken and Dressing in the crockpot, crescent rolls and green beans

Tuesday -
snack 100 calorie pack crackers or cookies
lunch - leftovers and Capri Sun
dinner - Chicken Stir Fry with brown rice

Wednesday -
snack popcorn and water
lunch - turkey and cheese wrapped in tortilla on George Foreman
dinner - Wet Burritos from Happy to be at Home/refried beans

Thursday -
dinner - leftovers or breakfast for dinner (pancakes or eggs and bacon)
To Do: put beans on for tomorrow's dinner

Friday - friends coming from Texas; Yee Ha!
snack - popcorn and water
lunch - turkey sandwiches, Capri Sun and 100 calorie crackers or cookies
dinner - Beans, fried potatoes and corn bread

To Do: cook roast for tomorrow's meal;

Saturday
- BBQ, French Fries and Cole Slaw

Sunday
- after church - eat lunch out to get my friends back off to Texas :(

Next weeks lunch to remember: pepperoni and mozzarella wrapped in crescent rolls
Back to School Story for your reading pleasure! :)

A Back to School Story for Your Enjoyment

This is my eight year old now. . .going on 24!!! This is a story about him just three years ago.
My son, now going into third grade took me for a loop the first day of kindergarten. We lived in the Big D at the time. We had a 45 minute commute on the toll road to a very nice private school. He would go two days a week, but we paid the price of a college if you ask me. I felt very good about our decision to send him there because he was on track for learning Latin in the third grade. You know the basis of our language might be helpful for his career as a doctor. He could be the next Doogie Howser, MD. You never know.

Let's rewind a couple of years, it was the very first day of kindergarten for my first born. I do have to tell you we rolled in about 3 am from a family reunion the night before. I stopped at Kroger to get some frozen waffles about 2:30 am just to make sure we had a great breakfast to get his day started off right. . .in what like 3 hours? Are you catching on to what might happen here?

I took him to school that morning. I have pics of how adorable he looks in his cute little private school uniform. By the way, all they accept as clothes are Lands End, but we were in seminary for pete's sake. Who has extra money for Land's End?

All day I wondered how he was doing. I wondered if he was getting along with the other kids and making friends. I figured I would pick him up and get an amazing glowing report at how well he took to the new Latin vocabulary words and that he was a natural.

I started on my way to get him. I was in the line with all of the other pimped up cars and I saw smoke spewing out of my 96 Jeep Grand Cherokee. (By the way, I have one for sale.) The smoke was pretty thick and I thought I better move this puppy out of the car line before we all explode. I pulled to the side, cut the car off and called on my trac phone to get help. My hubby started making the trip to rescue the family.

In the meantime, I still needed to pick up my son, so I walked across the parking lot to get him. I am sure that he was expecting a car, but all he had was me so I walked in the school to get him. His teacher found me quickly, and said, "Are you Hansel's mom?" I said yeah a little haggardly, but still expecting the praise report to come gushing now. She said,"Hansel had a little trouble today. You will need to talk with him at home about some of the things he did today. He taught all of the other kids "potty" words like poo poo and pee pee during lunch." I said I was so sorry and I would definitely talk with him at home and we would straighten this out.

I steered him away from the teacher and back to see if I could get my car and child under control. Right before I escaped into the parking lot, the "Head Master" stopped me. He said, "Is Hansel your son?" I am thinking, no. . .he is a neighbor's kid and I am just picking him up for today. I gritted my teeth and said yes. The Head Master said, "We had a few problems with him today and he will not be able to go to this school with this kind of behavior." I apologized and said, "We will straighten this out." He said that Hansel's teacher left for a few minutes and he had to check in on the class and asked that the class quieten down a little. Hansel blurted out, "You're not the boss of us."

No!!! This is not my child. The Head Master was actually quite ticked off about this little five year old telling him that he was not the boss. I don't know where he gets that kind of attitude??? :( So I told the Head Master, "Talk to the hand." Just kidding.

I was pretty much in shock at this point. Hansel has a lot of energy and sometimes gets a little ahead of himself, but I had never known him to be downright disrespectful or rude. I am not sure what was wrong with him. All I knew was that my car had just about caught on fire, my first born child's first day of kindergarten was a disaster and I was having to patiently wait for a ride home. I felt a little delirious. Several people stopped to see if I needed help and really hitching a 45 minute ride at that point did not sound appealing with someone I did not know.

Finally, hubs came to pick us up and I cried all the way home.

So, if today is your child's first day of kindergarten. . .lower your expectations just a hair and take it from me . . .it will probably not be this bad.