Who needs to go to the woods.......

.......when this is in your own back yard?

Tables and cats

It's been awhile since I blogged -- I know. Been busy. OK, been so busy I don't know what day it is.....but anyway.......


Yesterday, we got a new diningroom table and chairs. They belonged to my mom and dad. They were downsizing, so they offered them to us. They are magnificent! We've had problems with finding a nice table for our diningroom ever since we moved here. This table is not only large enough to fill the space properly, but it has chairs that don't break when we sit down on them! That was a huge issue with our last table set. Thanks mom and dad! We're excited to have this set!


And yesterday afternoon, I found the cats.....snuggling on the dryer. Now, to know why this is funny, you have to understand that my one cat, Zorro (all black in front), is a formerly feral kitty we rescued last year. He's geared to be wild, and as a result, often ends up kerfluffling with Gabriel. Sometimes, he's just playing. But most of the time, he's asserting himself. It often ends with me pulling them apart and giving Zorro a cat time out. LOL. So to find them napping together in such a peaceful way blew my socks off. It definitely was a rare moment.

Homecoming!

My niece Melina and her friend, Dom, went to Homecoming yesterday. My niece was so excited, because this is the first time she's gone to a formal event at the school. She's a homeschooler, but technically a "junior" in high school. It's hard for me when I look at her all grown up, because it seems like just yesterday when she was 4 and following me around everywhere, wanting to "dance" to music.

Earlier this week, she sprained her knee badly in a soccer match. She is supposed to be wearing a knee brace, but the doctor said she could take it off for Homecoming. I told her we could paint it blue to match her dress, but she didn't think that would go over so well. LOL! :)

Hope Melina and Dom had a great time last night!

The Two Kings of Berg Manor

I went out to the kitchen a few minutes ago to get a drink, and this is what I saw. I was tempted to call them "nappy" and "nappier," but then it occurred to me that they each have their own little "throne," so they instead have been dubbed the Two Kings of Berg Manor. Neither of their royal highnesses are supposed to be sitting on the furniture -- let alone taking a nap on it -- but apparently, they didn't get that memo.

Connor's New Friend

Connor made a new friend yesterday at McDonald's. We decided to go out for lunch after I picked him up at school. Despite the fact it was windy, we sat outside and soon were joined by another little boy and his mom. His name was Travis. They played really well together for over an hour. Both Travis' mom and I had trouble getting them to leave. We exchanged numbers and agreed to have a playdate soon since the boys got along so well.

This morning, Connor brought me in a picture he had drawn for Travis, and told me he wanted to send it to him "online." He didn't understand that I couldn't just send it online without an email address. :) So I scanned it in and told him I'd post it on my blog and Travis might see it that way. That seemed to make him happy. I was astounded at what he had drawn in his note. Connor is starting to spell words all by himself and rarely asks for my help anymore. It's exciting. I sure do have a smart cookie for a kid. I guess he gets that from his dad!

The Me I Want To Be

A few weeks ago, the pastor of our church announced we were going to do a book-based Sunday series. I'll admit, when he first said it, I cringed. I have been a party to these kinds of sermon series before, and I have rarely been impressed. Among the prior studies of which I was a part was The Purpose Driven Life craze. That was 7 years ago at a church we no longer attend. Maybe it was the writer in me, but I was not impressed with the book. I liked the idea behind it, but the book itself did little to inspire me. I found it mostly full of trite and tired cliches. I think it must have taken the author less than a day to write the entire thing. Now, in all fairness, there were people -- including my own husband -- who thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get into it.



A few years later, I was part of another book-series at another church. Once again, I wasn't impressed. I actually quit reading the book halfway through that's how uninspired I was by it.



So when our pastor said we were going to do a book study, I had pretty much decided I wouldn't be participating. Been there, done that, not impressed. That was until I actually started reading the book. My husband asked me to give it a fair chance, and for once, I'm glad I listened to him. This book is amazing. It is called The Me I Want To Be by John Ortberg. I am only 42 pages into it, but am already impressed by its content. It is clear Mr. Ortberg has put a lot of thought and hard work into this book. And it is clear to me it was breathed into him by a power higher than himself. An example of something that stood out in the book right away was this sentence: "Spiritual greatness has nothing to do with being greater than others. It has everything to do with being as great as each of us can be." Wow. How many times have you watched another Christian person, and felt jealous of them, thinking they were surely more devoted to God than you? This book tells us it's not about trying to be what everyone else is in Christ. It's about being who Christ made us to be. We're unique. Here's another one: "Your 'spritual life' is not limited to certain devotional activities that you engage in. It is receiving power from the Spirit of God to become the person God had in mind when He created you -- his handiwork." Attend church every Sunday, read your Bible all day long -- but if you're not open to being the person God created you to be, you are wasting your time.



I am looking forward to this study and to finishing the book, and most of all, to finding out who God created me to be. If you're interested, you can listen to the Sunday sermons on our church website: www.nccinwexford.org They are always posted the next day.

This makes me sick......

Take a good look at this picture. What do you think it is? If you guessed a road in Pennsylvania in need of repairs.....well....I can see how you'd make that assumption. But it actually isn't a road at all. It's a river. In fact, it's the Mississippi River. And those, my friends, are dead fish. Thousands and thousands of them. And they are joined by other marine life as well.

Don't believe me? Google the words "dead fish in Mississippi." You will be sick, I promise you. I know I was when I saw this and realized that it wasn't a road in need of paving.

So how did this happen? Well, two letters for you: BP. This is the result of the massive oil spill in the Gulf. Just last week, our own government issued a statement saying the fish and other seafood from the Gulf are safe to eat. Really? Really? Not sure who taste-tested to come to that conclusion, but I think I'll just stay away from fish for a long time.

Looking at this photo and others that have come out of that disaster make me ill beyond words. This is what we have done to our planet. This is what we will have to live with for a very long time.