Forgetfulness

How quickly we forget who our God is. How quickly I forget who my God is.

Christmas time is upon us and it's a beautiful time to reflect upon the miracle of Christ's birth. Christ had to come as a suffering servant in human form in order to save us from our sins. He suffered and died for us. His death on the cross provides the way for us to come to him. Those sins that he died for are the ones that I forget about.

Sin is always around us and when we choose to sin we choose to ignore Christ's work on the cross. Romans 6 says that "What shall we do then, shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase, by no means for we have died to sin. How can we live by it any longer?"

Therefore sin is not my god. Christ is my God and he calls me to take up my cross, turn away from my sin and follow him.
I had forgotten that, but thankfully Christ did not and he runs after me and reminds me of who he is and who I am. He is Lord God made flesh come down to die for me. And I am a sinner in need a Savior.

What I Learned from Holly Kent

A woman from my church passed away last week from cardiac arrest as she was recieving dialysis.  Holly was a spitfire and consistently joyful person.  I was priviledged to have a number of interactions with her throughout my years at the church.  By the time I met her she was already wheelchair bound and was having to take regular trips to recieve dialysis.  She had this crazy southern drawl and a laugh that was contagious.  She would enter the room and energy would follow.  She went to the Alpha classes at my church and I would always see her as she was leaving.  I guess that's where I first met her.  We would have small talk, not sure what we would say but she would more than likely exclaim about God's kindness, and how he was teaching her something new.  This would be followed by a crazy laugh. 
Holly also sang in the Christmas and Easter choirs.  I knew that I could count on her to provide some entertainment during rehearsals when we were supposed to be paying attention.  If there was one person that could get me off track, it was her.  But it was good natured and we had fun.  
But the thing that I'm learning from her is that God does provide grace in all circumstances.  Holly was never in good health as long as I knew her, but you wouldn't know it by her conversation.  She did not complain, she did not worry.  Her joy was evident to all.  She could have been in massive amounts of pain but there was no mention of it.  God had graced her with the ability to take it all and praise God in spite of herself and her circumstances.  She lived Philippians 4.  I think it is appropriate that I have been reading that chapter for the past few days.  I admit that I've been struggling with God's promises that He will supply all of our needs.  In light of this I think that God would be calling me to reflect on how he provided joy for Holly in worse circumstances than my own.  So that I can thank him for what he has provided for me.  
I look forward to the day that I see her in heaven as she is now dancing and rejoicing in her savior.  It was great to be at her memorial service and be able to rejoice and not be sad.  For we know that her life has just begun and God has said "Well done, Good and Faithful Servant."

The Beauty of Kindergarten

Kindergarten is one of my favorite grades to teach. It's a whole lot of fun. I get a kick out of the dances that those kids come up with when we play the classic game "Freeze Dance." That's why I got such a kick out of this ad. I can easily see these guys in my classroom.

Mozart

I want to thank my friend Dawn for this link. Music education brought you this.

My School's Cool

My School is Cool. At least I hope it is and will be.

The White Marsh Mall is doing a program in my area that is pitting a few area schools against each other in order to win a grand prize of $10,000. For every dollar spent at the mall starting August 1st, schools recieve points. The school with the most points wins. Here's the deal, my school, Middleborough, is small and so is my friends school, Oliver Beach, we have no chance against some of these larger ones. So I'm pleading with you guys, if anyone wants to help out shop and put your reciept in the Middleborough or Oliver Beach box. Here's the link if you want more info.

Leadership

Today I spent the day with my 1st cousin Brendan and his new wife Alexis. We went to Old Tucson, where they shot such films at "The Three Amigos." When we arrived the first monsoon of the day came through. It was a downpour and they were thinking of closing the place. But they stayed open and the three of us ran through the rain to see a show at the main saloon. We started out as the only people in the audience other than the workers coming in out of the rain. After the rain let up, the sun began to shine and we trudged through the mud to see Clint Eastwood sets, and "Little House in the Prairie" dresses. Also a few funny shoot outs and a traveling salesman.
After Old Tucson, we went back through the Saguaro National Park and stopped at an overlook and the view was amazing. (I'll upload those photos tomorrow) Then we saw the next monsoon that was about to hit Tucson with it's awesome lightening. As we drove into town we stopped in a parking spot as we waited for the rain to stop, thinking we could run into the restaurant for lunch, but we didn't stay very long becaue the water started rising to the level of the car doors. The whole area was flooding. We drove to get away and the water kept rising higher and higher. There were rivers rushing through the streets.
We finally made it through the rivers and stopped at a restaurant and ate a pretty good mexican meal. One of Alexis's co-workers came to pick her up and Brendan drove me back to our relatives house to stay. But as we left the rain started again and we had to drive through yet another monsoon and a few other rivers. Then we stayed in until the rains really stopped.
The reason why I put leadership as the title of this post is becuase I saw that quality come out in Brendan today. Brendan is the cousin I don't really know. We would speak at family gatherings, but that's it. I always thought of him as a tad bit wierd and no one that I could talk to. However, today proved different. He is nothing like I expected. He always was looking out for our best interest. He was kind and caring and it wasn't a show, in the past I thought that he would act that way in order to get attention and suck up to various family members. Today I learned that he is a genuine guy. He was more like my dad than I ever realized and I spent the whole day just marveling at how much I wished I had gotten to know him better in the past.

Tumamoc Hill

I woke up this morning at 5:00am (8:00am EST) and left my Great Aunt Lila’s house at 5:30 in order to hike up Tumamoc Hill. Tumamoc is a hill that the University of Arizona has a number of observation posts on. It’s right in the center of Tucson on the west side. They use the hill in order to study the wildlife and the plant life. They let people climb it as long as they are done and off the hill by 7:30am.
Going on a hike was one of the things that I really wanted to do while I was here. This fulfilled that desire. It was lovely weather, there was a slight breeze and I got to hike while the sun was coming up. There were many people that climb this hill and my aunt pointed out a number of who have lost hundreds of pounds.
I will admit that I have a love affair with the Saguaro Cactus. I think that they are the most fascinating things. They are very old. They take a long time to grow. From what I understand is that they need to be at least 70 years old in order to grow an arm. Today I saw one that had at least 15 arms. WOW!!! There were so many of them on the mountain along with the Paolo Verde (green trees) they are fully green, no leaves, just green bark and sticks. I love the diversity of God’s creation. How He causes things to grow. There are these seeds that are on the ground here that only grow and bloom every fifty years when the water level reaches 1 inch below ground. Then all you see is this gorgeous color. It shows how God does have a plan, he plants those seeds and he brings the correct amount of rain every fifty years in order for them to bloom.

I’ve included a link to some more of the pictures I took from the top of the mountain. You can really see all the mountains and the valley that Tucson is in.

In the Valley

*Warning* the following post makes no sense, it's just a jumble of thoughts.

As I listen to the song, "In the Valley" I can't help to reflect upon God's goodness to me. It is in the valley where his power is revealed.

I have been in the Valley for a long time.

Right now I'm in a physical valley with mountians all around. it's amazing that being in the place that scares me is the best place to be. I've been crying out for an opportunity to grow closer to my savior. I had to get away from the cares of my normal life to be in a place where I have nothing to depend on except my Lord. I'm happy because I have had plenty of time to read his word and reflect upon his wonderous grace through the reflections of other books. I was worried about coming out here for many reasons but I've found it is what I've needed. It has forced me to look up. And in my valley I need to be looking up. But I haven't been. He's taken away all of my distractions. Except a big one about my car, but I can do nothing about it at the moment. So I have to trust him to provide for finances and a place to get it worked on, which is kinda hard since I'm three time zones away. (prayer would help)

What I mean to say is that being here has provided time to read, to pray and meditate on his word.

Let's pray that I can not loose this momentum that I'm getting.

(The picture is of the place where I get to have my quiet times.)

A Much Needed Vacation

When I take vacations I don’t like to take ones that keep me very occupied with so many activities so that when I’m done with it I need a vacation from my vacation. So I try to plan ones that will be nice and relaxing.
I’m spending this next week in Arizona. It’s a gorgeous state, so different from my home state of Vermont. The skies are clear and the cacti are green. My plane flight was about 6 hours long including all layovers. It was great to have that time because I was able to spend that time reading the many books in my library that I’ve been putting off. I was able to read a few psalms, a prayer from the “Valley of Vision”, a chapter in “Knowing God”, a chapter in “Shopping for Time”, and a few chapters in “Living the Cross Centered Life”. I was very thankful to have that time. Reading all those perspectives helped me to focus on the Grace of God’s Gospel and His greatness.
In “Shopping for Time” the Mahaney girls have a chapter that focuses on the 5:00 am club. To be in this club, you need to wake up early in order to have a quiet time. This is hard for me I’ve tried it and failed. By mid morning I’m so grumpy. But one thing that struck me and made me laugh as I was reading the chapter was that you can train your body to do anything. The example they gave was to travel to a different time zone and it won’t be a problem to wake up at 5:00am or 6:00am depending on what your clubs time is. What I found so funny was that I’m in Arizona so I’m three hours behind my day in Maryland. That means that I’m up at 4:00am or 5:00am if I make myself sleep in. I had a great quiet time this morning out on the back porch of my cousin Susie’s house. The trees and wild life are so different out here. This little creature came to visit me.

That’s not a creature native to the Chesapeake Bay. Neither is the family of Quail that made the treck from the bottom of the gully to the house next door in order to get their breakfast. I couldn’t help but reflect on how kind God is that he gave us such a diverse world. Without it I think we would get bored. I wouldn’t be able to appreciate the desert if it were not for the fact that I live in a green state. It makes the beauty so much more enjoyable. I’m going to get ready now to go to the gym and eat some more food. By the way fresh tortillas are THE BEST!!

Pictures of Camille and Family

Here are pictures of Camille and Family.

Baby Camille

Baby Camille Myers was born this afternoon. 8 pounds 8 ounces. I'll post a pic when I get one.

Jeanine's Having a Baby

Jeanine is having her baby tomorrow morning. She's going to the hospital in order to be induced at 5:30am. Hopefully baby Camille will be born tomorrow afternoon. Let's pray that it's a speedy delivery. Let's pray that her other kids survive me watching them.

Return of the Aquanuts?

This weekend I went with my friends the Ruiz's and their family out to the Eastern Shore. Not the ocean, but the Eastern Shore. (Yes, Michele I am allowed to call it that. Cheryl gave me permission.) It was a spur of the moment decision on my part to go. Earlier in the week Tony and Cheryl were telling me they were going to go out to visit some friends and family. The husband's of whom were in a band with Tony called the Aquanoutas (sp?) I will now call them the Aquanuts. They asked me if I wanted to tag along. I thought to myself, "sure I've never been to the Eastern shore, should be fun." Little did I know what I was getting myself into.
As the week went on I would get little bits of information about the trip. As when Cheryl told me to make sure I brought a tent. A TENT!!! I am not a camper. But I got my tent and went with it. People would ask me where was going and I had to tell them I have no idea.

Why am I going?

I have no idea.

What are you doing there?

I have no idea.

Do you know anything?

No I don't

Well, once I got to the lovely house in the flat country of the Eastern Shore it was very nice. The friends were nice, the weather was nice, the ticks were..not so nice. I then found out that there was going to be a party with about 40 people there. Wow, what did I do to myself. The Aquanut were going to get back together to play a few pieces. Dan, the guitar player, even ran electricity out to the shed in the backyard in order to hook up his rather nice sound system.

Saturday night as all of us girls drank a few bottles of wine, the guys practiced outside in the shed until about 1:00am.
For those of you who know how crazy I am about sleep, I did sleep outside, on the ground, in a tent. I was so tired that I slept quite well, after the band stopped playing.
The next morning everyone pitched in for the family picnic. Close to 50 people came to enjoy the great food and company. It was a good time. Halfway through I did retreat to the back room and watched Bob the Builder with 3 year-old Noah. Ahh that was relaxing.


The band did play two sets and they even let me sing with them. I didn't know the words but neither did they. They were actually quite good. You could tell that they did it for the love of playing, they didn't care how good or bad they sounded. They just wanted to have fun.


A little later they did play the CowBell song, (yes the one from Saturday night live) They had no cowbell, but after a quick time out and dash to the kitchen, one of the teens, Poppy was able to get a pot and a spoon to bang on. Then the jamming began.

It was a crazy, yet relaxing weekend. It's always an interesting time when I leave my comfort zone and go visit people I don't know and attend a party with people I don't know. It was kind of God to give me the grace to make it through without have a mental breakdown over not being in control. I was able to just coast through and actually enjoy not being in control of my schedule, my sleeping arrangements and my food. It could have ended up with me in tears and with a massive headache, but all came out well in the end. Thank you Lord.

Ecclesiastes

As I am continuing in my One-year Bible Reading Plan, I find myself in Ecclesiastes. I have always enjoyed this book, I always come away with new knowledge of God and his Character. I'm not saying that I don't learn anythig from other sections of scriptures, but for some reason book speaks clearly to me. This is what I read today.

Ecclesiastes 3:14-15:

"I percieved that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away." (ESV)

What struck me about this section of scripture today is that it is proclaiming God's sovereign plan. God does all things, nothing is new, He's got it all in control. And whatever He does is for His glory. "God has done it, so that people fear before him" God isn't out there doing things in order to make us happy, he is doing things in order to bring himself glory. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight." Proverbs 9:10.

These are good truths to have in place. It's good for me because I have such an inward, me focus. How can things benefit me, what's the best for me. These scriptures remind me that it's not all about me. It's about a sovereign God who sent His Son to die on a cross for my sins all to bring glory to His name.

The other cool things is that at the end of this passage it states that "God seeks what has been driven away." God's not going to let us run to far away from Him before He come chasing after us. That's a blessing.

Living Room is Done

My living room is done and put back together. Here are the pics of my new room with it's spiffy Red Wall.

Mike and Elizabeth's Wedding

Here's a link to some pics from Mike and Elizabeth's wedding.

Red Wall

I'm getting my house painted for the first time today. I have spent that last seven years in various rental apartments. Some of the apartments did give the option to paint my room but I never took it upon myself to do it. The reason is that I'm afraid of colors on walls. I don't want to put a color on the wall only to hate it in the end.
But today is the day and not only am I putting color on the wall, I decided to go RED!!! So here's a picture of my Red Wall. (Apparently Red Wall is also the name of a good book according to Aaron who's helping with the painting.)
I also included a few pictures of the work in progress, later tonight I'll show the finished product.

What Did You Do For Fun Today?

Today was the second to last day of school. Only one more half day left and then I have summer vacation. It's time for me to start work on my summer project list. Today I did the first thing on my list. I also just added it to my list today and it was a lot of fun.
My cat Monte, is a very needy cat. He loves attention. Whenever I come home I can count on him to be waiting for me at the door. He will then proceed to follow me around until I sit down and give him the love that he so desires.
Today when I came home, he followed me into the bathroom. The other thing that you should know about Monte is that he sheds a lot and at times forgets to clean himself. So...as I stared at him in my bathroom I decided that it would be alot of fun to give him a bath.
One very hairy bathtub later this is what I got...





That's what I did for fun today.

What is a Banana?

When we think of the food pyramid and making sure that we have all of our daily servings of fruit and vegetables, one fruit that many people choose to fufill this section is the yellow banana.  However I have sad news for you.  Banana's are not fruits.  They are herbs. Are banana's fruits or herbs? 

How Old Am I?

My mac has a cool feature called Dashboard. With Dashboard you can download little programs called widgets.  I have many of them.  I have the normal calculator, dictionary, and calendar.  But, I also have a countdown calendar that currently holds the number of days until my friends Elizabeth's wedding.  I have the BibleGateway search with a direct link to the website.  I have two weather radars, a piano chord chart, a few games, a flight tracker, and a sing that itune that shows the lyrics for your current song that's playing.  
The most interesting one that I just downloaded this week was an age calculator.  You input your age, and it comes out with the number of days, hours, and minutes that you have been alive.  According to the calculator, I am 10099 days, 21 hours and 22 minutes old.    

Cool Genealogy

Since January I have been reading the Old Testament. Currently I am in 2 Kings. While I love the stories in the Old Testament, I get confused with all of the names. Between the Jehu's and the Jeroboam's I have no idea who belongs to which tribe, or what kingdom. So today I found a pretty nice Genealogy online. It's perfect for the visual learner like me. Now all I have to do when I get lost in the land of Ahaziah and Amaziah I can look to my nifty chart and figure it out.

Bible Genealogy

Have fun...

New Attitude Dinner

Louisville, Kentucky is a very quiet city. Everything tends to shut down early, as least it does on a Tuesday, no...Saturday? night. Here's a picture of a city street downtown as we we're trying to find dinner.

I got nothing...

The thing with blogs is that I don't want to write just so that I'll have something on my page. So I'll give you a little personal a la carte...

Here's a good quote about risking love from C.S. Lewis

"There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love
anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If
you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no
one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little
luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin
of your selfishness. But in that casket-safe, dark, motionless, airless –
it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable,
impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the
risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can
be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.

We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent
in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away
all defensive armour. If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses,
this as the way in which they should break, so be it."

The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

For all the men out there that want to know "How Women Work" here you go...

http://people.howstuffworks.com/women.htm

Conversation I had with one of my kindergarten students who had a bug bite on his leg:

"Miss Westin, My leg is bleeding."
"Go wipe it off with a wet towel and then we'll get a band-aid for it."
"Oo, I don't want a band-aid."
"Why not?"
"They stick to you."

LOL

4 more days of school!!!!!!

This is all for you Michele

Since Michele has decided to link me to her new blog, it's time to actually write something.

Currently I have been listening to the messages from New Attitude. There is so much knowledge in them that it is necessary to listen to them again and again. The room at New Attitude was very cold, the perfect temperature for a nap. So, for many of hte messages it's like I'm listening for the first time. That's why I'm thankful that the folks over at Sovereign Grace are offering them for free. The last message at the conference was by CJ Mahaney. In his message, he instructed us to focus on one thing. The reason behind this is to make sure that you don't overwhelm yourself with too much sanctification. When we begin to see and understand our sin it is very easy to get overwelhmed.

So my one thing is actually a continuation of the one thing that God has been kindly showing me over the past two years. It's the knowledge that everything God has done and is doing is for His glory. It has nothing to do with me. God is big and I am small. He is the Creator and I am the created. He is the Potter and I am the clay.

It has nothing to do with my glory and my happiness, but all for His glory. But the great thing about His glory is that it is for our good. My friend Robin just told me that. What I need to remember is that even when things aren't going the way that I want them to go, it's for my good and ultimately for God's glory.

Till next time, I think I might pull some posts from my old blog. Nothing wrong with reusing my own material. Hee Hee

New Blog

I moved into my house one year ago today. It was an adventure for the first few months and it still is. There were many gas leaks, water leaks and the occasional rat in the backyard. I lasted through the 4th of July in Dundalk where the neighbors fireworks started in June and ended the week after the fourth. Not only did they last that long, but they also were almost bigger than the towns. There was the big ugly rusted metal shed that thankfully was taken away and is now replaced by the beginnings of a flower garden. Crab grass over took my front lawn. I hope to kill it this year. I survived the ice storms and the snow storms. My house in intact.

It was kind of God to help me purchase of house and I'm grateful for his provision. If it wasn't for his guidance through all of the ups and downs I wouldn't have made it through the year.