Did You Know 2.0

My hubby forwarded this YouTube to me after it went around his workplace staff on Friday, compliments of someone's someone that works for NASA in HSV.

My hubby has mentioned some of the same stats to me over the past couple of years b/c educators HAVE to know these things;actually seeing it really made it stick though.

It's frightening, exciting and mind-boggling! Wow!

I hope I live long enough to just see a part of what my children's generation will accomplish.

Falling for Winter

Since I've become a Mom and now have the responsibility to DRIVE my little people around on snowy roads where there are STUPID people driving; furthermore, because I rarely have the luxury of enjoying the playtime that snow often yields (especially in the south where they close all schools when one snowflake penetrates the atmosphere), I am no longer much of one for cold weather. I much prefer heat and humidity. For the most part, neither of the latter-mentioned bother me much at all. I think somewhere in my lineage, we must have "Suthun" blood.

I must admit, however, that I do miss snow--fresh fallen snow to be exact. The ghostly quiet it always brings outside is the closest to heavenly peace that I think we experience here on earth. The color--indescribable white and for some reason, I always want to grab a handful and eat it--it tastes so...clean.

If anyone were to ask me what clean tastes like, I'd say, "Snow--it tastes like freshly-fallen snow."

I remember the first time I took particular notice of snow: My mother called me to our back door one night when I was maybe around seven--I don't know exactly how old I was but I do remember the quietness outside as she stuck a piece of black construction paper out the door. My curiosity was piqued of course. She pulled it back inside and revealed to me the beautiful snowflakes that landed on the dark background and told me that not one snowflake is ever the same as another. Ever since then, I find myself catching snowflakes and trying to memorize their uniqueness before they melt in my warm hand, the prism-ique beauty forever lost.

*Thank you, Mom; I know inside you is an artist disguised as my Mother. I never appreciated your creativity like I should have. Love you!*

Not surprisingly, I was so stoked to be offered this website and I've been hooked on it, much to the chagrin of my hubby who thought we were BOTH gonna' tag-team the house today...and my children who for some reason always ask ME, "Mom, when are we gonna eat?!?" :0)

More, More, More...

Did you know that there is a historical figure called, "The Snowflake Man"? Tammi may know of him--photographer of snowflakes--officially, a snowcrystal photomicrographer.

Say that three times, fast.

My kids like the websites, especially the snowflake movies; what kid, young or old, would not? It's mesmerizing and now I cannot wait until it gets cold enough here to frost my kitchen window.

Now, I need a new camera with one of those "fancy" lenses. Tammi, selling???

Think You've Seen It All?

WATCH THIS.

Click on an UPPERCASE LETTER to start a song; then rollover the individual keys to make the "Pipeman" dance.

I personally enjoy, "Footloose," although "Staying Alive" ranks a really, really close second.

Rolling over "a" when Footloose gets to, "I'm Cuttin' It Loose!" is hilarious.

It's kinda' addictive, seeing how fast you can make him dance.

Ha, ha.

Lazy Saturday

Thank goodness, the humidity is starting to wane and fall is peeking around the corner. We've had just enough rain to bring the grass back to green, to help the trees make beautiful rainbows of color in the weeks to come and to knock off the Crepe Myrtles' blooms with every droplet. After the rain stops, the yards, driveways, roofs and streets are dotted in all colors of Myrtle confetti. It's beautiful. My Japanese Maple is starting to turn from deep, purplely-red to burnt orangey-red and the tomato plants are looking exhausted from tirelessly birthing Romas for us, weeks on end. I think I'll put them out of their misery tomorrow.

Cotton is just starting to peek from its hard shell and I cannot wait 'til the day it all pops open like so much popcorn! It looks like fields of pure, white, fluffy snow that never turns into nasty, brown, melted mush. Last year, when the cotton popped open, I about made hubby wreck the car as we were driving down the main thoroughfare here in HSV. I'd never seen cotton blooming before and it caught me by surprise. I was lost in la-la land, gazing out the window, when I realized that the fields were white and it caught me off-guard being from the Midwest--my mind instantly went to "snow," except it was probably still 80 degrees outside. It took a minute but my brain overcame my midwestern-ess and went south--"Cotton! I suddenly and loudly blurted out, look, it's cotton!" Well, needless to say, I about scared hubby to death--he jumped and almost lost control of the car; he then looked at me like I had lost my mind.

As of late, the weather has turned off slightly crisp and misty, especially in the mornings. This morning was no exception. Usually, we sleep in on Saturday but today we had the school's Booster Club Pancake Breakfast to attend at one of the local Applebees, which interestingly enough, is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, which is right next to Kansas City, Missouri. I know exactly where the building sits. Small world. So, we were up at 7:30a.m.--slightly earlier than usual, except for Number Four; he goes to be early and wakes early. Must be a mutant gene.

We go eat the yummo pancakes that were cooked by someone else, served by someone else and cleaned up by someone else. Worth every bit of the $5 per plate not to have to scrub syrup off every little thing Numbers Four and Five could possibly touch on their way to the bathtub.

We hop into the car, avoiding getting run over by all the nutty, obsessed, Alabama fans hurriedly heading off to Tuscaloosa and Number One mentions that since it's becoming cooler outside, she needs to go shopping for long sleeve shirts, as she's just recently gone through a growth spurt--at least her arms and feet have; now if those legs would just grow. Ooh, shopping, I say, we haven't really done that in a while--you ask your Dad, he'll tell me "no".

Hubby agrees to take us shopping as he needs to look for some new "basketball attire" since he'll be coaching soon; furthermore, today was a great day to go to the mall, since probably 75% of the town was either at the Alabama/Arkansas game in Tuscaloosa or watching it on ESPN. Still haven't figured out the madness about college football here--I think they are slightly nutty!

So, off we go to "the upscale mall," where we can usually only afford to shop off the clearance rack. We always go into Dillards first b/c if you hit them on just the right day, you get an extra 50% off the lowest clearance price. But today wasn't one of those days; however, Number One did find a cute top "on sale" but not on clearance, then managed to sweet-talk Daddy into contributing 100% of the total price, even though she's supposed to buy all her own clothes, outside of required school gear (she gets $20/wk and is learning how to budget her money--no we're not meanies). Girls are born, sooo-knowing how to work their Daddies, aren't they?

I suggested we hit the one of the local Salvation Army stores, the one that's our favorite b/c it always has many a great deal. Today, we hit it extra big and were able to find two to three outfits for four of the five kids, an awesome stereo for our pool, a kid's Mickey Mouse, 16-piece picnic set w/backpack and a never used, yoga/fitness mat--all for only $60! WOOHOO! Nobody even had time to whine, not even Number Five. Number One bought herself four fall/winter shirts and two pair of designer jeans, barely worn, for $17! She was tickled pink. Ha, ha.

One of these days, I'll blog about our ultimate place to shop: Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, AL. Only 20 minutes shy of Huntsville. The things people never go back to claim amaze me!

Later in the afternoon, Number Four went to a birthday party at Pump It Up and now wants to have his party there, as I'm sure do ALL the first grade boys. After reading this article, I think I might be heading there myself, real soon!

The rest of the day, we just hung out: hubby washed cars, kids played in the hammock, on their bikes, dressed up like Hannah Montana (she's soooo IT), played Bball--just acted like kids. I was *supposed* to vacuum the pool but I just enjoyed the day. There's probably a tomorrow, so tomorrow, I'll clean the pool.

We had Idaho instant mashed potatoes and chicken salad sandwiches for dinner and nobody complained. I'd never made instant potatoes before; quite tasty and E-A-S-Y. I may never peel & boil another potato again. How DO those little granules that smell funny, suddenly *poof* into edible, white mush that tastes like potatoes?

Lazy Saturdays...is there anything better?

Being Bold, Stepping Up, Speaking Out, Getting Uncomfortable

I was turned onto this story at the conference I attended in Nashville last weekend.

Hear Charlene Cothrane's story on YouTube, as well.

Priscilla Shirer, phenomenal speaker(especially for young women), told the "short version" story of this lady; a story she had just heard days before.


READ IT BEFORE GOING ANY FURTHER...


How many of us would really be willing to give up everything? And when we were yet "babes in Christ"?

I say I would and I have in a much bigger capacity than I would have even three years ago, but would I be this bold? I only pray that I could be...and only through His strength do I think I could; however, I KNOW beyond a shadow of doubt that I would never regret it. In some ways, I have to say that I envy this bold woman of the faith. Even though her life is tough right now, there is no doubt that "her cup overfloweth" and I SO LOVE being overflowing in Christ. There is no way to even describe the spirit dancing inside and, not feeling, but BEING completely at peace, content, alive and enboldened.

I believe strongly that God uses every moment of my life to prepare me for his purpose--no matter my "sin factor". I believe it because I've experienced it--the more I open myself to be used, the more aware I become of the past and day after day, it's clearly visible to me that every step of my life was preparation for "such a time as this". No matter what "as this" is. My whole life--the good, the bad and the ugly-- is relevant to Him every day.

So, it becomes of me, through freewill, the choice--to let myself be used by my Creator. From my birth to my death, through walking with the Lord step for step, and the times I've put a huge chasm between him and I, I am being called, "being prepped," to serve a purpose. There are high times and there are low, low times walking with other believers, but, there are absolutely no accidents; there is only perfection.

Everyone has a story--a history. Someone out there relates to my story--my sin, my struggle, my guilt, my tragedy, my loss, my depravity. Relational discipleship. The cycle of salvation, of "bringing into the fold". That's why the Bible is all about stories.

He conquered sin through death, so much so, that my sins--present, past and future--could not cause me to be useless for Him. That's awesome to me. Christ took the fact that I'm a sinful creature and uses it for His glory, through his power over death. Christ uses forgiven sin for His glory! That must really piss Satan off!

I always wondered why Christ does not also allow us to forget our sin when we ask forgiveness, as He forgets our sin; well, I think I might have a clue--if we forget our sin, how can we possibly relate to "the unredeemed sinners among us"? Does that even make sense? I'm thinking "on the blog".

This woman, Charlene, is not letting her sinful nature be the guilt that keeps her from being used by Christ. Thank heaven for what believers she has around her that were not so appalled by her sin, or overcome by hate, to render her unworthy to Christ's Kingdom. I love the fact that her Pastor is a woman, given her bad histories with men. Again, perfection in His plan--no accident, no coincidence.

She's bold; we need more believers like her. Believers not afraid to say, "Yes, I'm a Christian, take me for who I am, be offended but I will not be ashamed, I will not be silenced. And, personally, neither will I allow legalists to hijack Christ's name, as I have in the past because NOW I know better. I know the real Christ; I experience a relationship as real as you and me, everyday I wake and by God's grace, I'll never go back.

Yes, I Amy, am A Believer and I walk, talk and live as much a "Christian" as I can.