i'm really slacking off, aren't i?!? what can i say? life's been busy!
we went to the beach today, ft. desoto state park, with the youth group and their families. it was a pain getting there, but it was a perfect day for the beach once we got there.
i can hardly believe that summer's here again already. one more school year is over, and my kids are a grade older. i'll be working at summer school after we get back from youth camp, and i'll be working at target part-time too, along with tutoring. definitely a busy summer, i'm sure, but what's new for our family, right? hopefully i'll have more time to blog because i do miss "thinking out loud" here!
time for a shower before i hit the pillows... hopefully this is the first of MANY beach trips for the bolts this summer!
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
whinerz...
If you can't be positive, you should stay quiet! LOL
I'm definitely guilty of complaining about things and people and situations. Life happens and it's hard not to be negative sometimes. But today I was reading someone's blog that I've been reading on and off for a couple of years. It's funny that the people being talked about change, but the gripes are the same and they can't get over themselves long enough to see that they're the problem, not everyone else. Hearing someone playing the martyr gets old, especially when they can't see the log in their own eye because they're too busy pointing out the speck in someone else's eye.
On that note, I'm really working on trying to not be so cynical towards everything but find it hard when I read the same ol' junk from someone who can't quit complaining over petty stuff. I truly hope they find a place where they can feel they fit in, and grow and flourish in their walk.
I think the big thing to realize is that life's not always rosey and you can't always feel warm and fuzzy all over about every situation that comes your way. You can, however, try to be an optimist in any situation and look at the positives that can come from whatever it is you're facing. A job change could be a new opportunity at great things you can't even imagine. A tense situation can be cause for friends to learn to respect each other and have a deeper relationship. An illness can show growth and strength in ways never imagined previously.
Looking back over the past few years, if "bad" things (in my opinion at the time they were happening) didn't happen, things wouldn't be the same today. I've met many new friends in the past year in our "hometown" of the past 6 years, and I never would know some of these wonderful people if I'd been allowed to get my way 3 years ago.
It's so amazing what God lets us go through to get to the great things He has in store for us. I just wish some people could see that change is a good thing. Embrace it rather than fight it, because things can be much better than you can ever imagine if you let your life be taken where God's in control even in the "bad" times.
I am so thankful for being where I am today. I love my home, my community, my school, my church, my pastor and my friends. None of it would be the same if God would've kept everything unchanged over the past three years.
God is God, and I am not.....He has much better plans for me than I could think up on my own!!!
I'm definitely guilty of complaining about things and people and situations. Life happens and it's hard not to be negative sometimes. But today I was reading someone's blog that I've been reading on and off for a couple of years. It's funny that the people being talked about change, but the gripes are the same and they can't get over themselves long enough to see that they're the problem, not everyone else. Hearing someone playing the martyr gets old, especially when they can't see the log in their own eye because they're too busy pointing out the speck in someone else's eye.
On that note, I'm really working on trying to not be so cynical towards everything but find it hard when I read the same ol' junk from someone who can't quit complaining over petty stuff. I truly hope they find a place where they can feel they fit in, and grow and flourish in their walk.
I think the big thing to realize is that life's not always rosey and you can't always feel warm and fuzzy all over about every situation that comes your way. You can, however, try to be an optimist in any situation and look at the positives that can come from whatever it is you're facing. A job change could be a new opportunity at great things you can't even imagine. A tense situation can be cause for friends to learn to respect each other and have a deeper relationship. An illness can show growth and strength in ways never imagined previously.
Looking back over the past few years, if "bad" things (in my opinion at the time they were happening) didn't happen, things wouldn't be the same today. I've met many new friends in the past year in our "hometown" of the past 6 years, and I never would know some of these wonderful people if I'd been allowed to get my way 3 years ago.
It's so amazing what God lets us go through to get to the great things He has in store for us. I just wish some people could see that change is a good thing. Embrace it rather than fight it, because things can be much better than you can ever imagine if you let your life be taken where God's in control even in the "bad" times.
I am so thankful for being where I am today. I love my home, my community, my school, my church, my pastor and my friends. None of it would be the same if God would've kept everything unchanged over the past three years.
God is God, and I am not.....He has much better plans for me than I could think up on my own!!!
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
there's no place like home...
I just realized I haven't been "home" in 4 years, and it's driving me crazy, but that's okay I'll get there eventually (probably in a couple of years). I'm on a "Kansas kick" right now, which I do every so often. Here's a cool poem I found, which I found really interesting since I live near beaches and palm trees and poinsettias....
Sweeter to me than the salt sea sprays, the fragrance of summer rains.
Nearer my heart than the mighty hills are the wind-swept Kansas plains.
Dearer the sight of a shy wild rose by the roadside dusty way
Than all the splendor of poppy fields ablaze in the sun of May.
Gay as the bold poinsettia is, and the burden of pepper trees,
The sunflower tawny and gold and bronze is richer to me than these.
And rising ever above the song of the hoarse insistent sea
The voice of the prairie calling, calling me.
~~Miss Esther Clark, 1907 Long Beach, California
Sweeter to me than the salt sea sprays, the fragrance of summer rains.
Nearer my heart than the mighty hills are the wind-swept Kansas plains.
Dearer the sight of a shy wild rose by the roadside dusty way
Than all the splendor of poppy fields ablaze in the sun of May.
Gay as the bold poinsettia is, and the burden of pepper trees,
The sunflower tawny and gold and bronze is richer to me than these.
And rising ever above the song of the hoarse insistent sea
The voice of the prairie calling, calling me.
~~Miss Esther Clark, 1907 Long Beach, California
Monday, May 07, 2007
Homesick...
As sick and twisted as it sounds, every year when I hear about a tornado hitting somehwere in Kansas, I get homesick. I guess it's mostly because it's on the news and in my face and yet I can't get there, I dunno. Anyway, it's been 4 years since I've been home and seen most of my family, 2 since I saw my mom, and nothing in sight showing me when I can get there again in the next year. So yeah, I'm a little homesick (a lot right now, acutally) and it does happen because of hearing about tornadoes hitting. I don't know that I will ever live there again, I do love living in Florida, but going home for a visit more often would be nice.
Here's a song that reminds me of home:
Burning The Fields
words and music by Mitch McVicker
Well, they're burning the fields in Kansas
The Flint Hills are all ablaze
It's a beautiful sight to watch the flames rise
And watch the smoke drift away
And my memories run thick like that smoke
And like the love that's here when I come back
And I'm thankful for what I had, I'm thankful for what I have now
So like the fields I want to come to life again
Chorus
Yeah, renew my soul like that green grass on the prairies
Rekindle my heart with a passion for You
Restore my mind, take my anxious thoughts away
And, Lord, make me new like only You can do
And it's that time of year once again
When new life begins to stir
The light of the world is loose on the grasslands
So, Lord, make me the salt of the earth
Chorus
Bridge
And now I'm thinkin' about Bennett Drive
And I think about the Smith's living room
And how life only comes from You
Chorus
Ah, renew my soul and rekindle my heart
Restore my mind, make me new, yeah
Renew my soul, rekindle my heart
Restore my mind, make me new, make me new, make me new
Make me new
They're burnin' the fields, yes, they are burning the fields
Oh, they're burning the fields in Kansas, so make me new like only You can do
Copyright © 1999 White Plastic Bag Music (SESAC)
All rights reserved. Lyrics reprinted by permission.
From Mitch:
I made this up as I was driving through the Flinthills on my way to do a concert in Wichita, KS. The fields were being burned, as they are every spring, to get rid of the dead grass so that new grass can grow. I started thinking about how God does the same thing for us that God does for those fields. It hurts to be burned, but we are being redone into what God wants us to become. We are being renewed.
... Mitch
Here's a song that reminds me of home:
Burning The Fields
words and music by Mitch McVicker
Well, they're burning the fields in Kansas
The Flint Hills are all ablaze
It's a beautiful sight to watch the flames rise
And watch the smoke drift away
And my memories run thick like that smoke
And like the love that's here when I come back
And I'm thankful for what I had, I'm thankful for what I have now
So like the fields I want to come to life again
Chorus
Yeah, renew my soul like that green grass on the prairies
Rekindle my heart with a passion for You
Restore my mind, take my anxious thoughts away
And, Lord, make me new like only You can do
And it's that time of year once again
When new life begins to stir
The light of the world is loose on the grasslands
So, Lord, make me the salt of the earth
Chorus
Bridge
And now I'm thinkin' about Bennett Drive
And I think about the Smith's living room
And how life only comes from You
Chorus
Ah, renew my soul and rekindle my heart
Restore my mind, make me new, yeah
Renew my soul, rekindle my heart
Restore my mind, make me new, make me new, make me new
Make me new
They're burnin' the fields, yes, they are burning the fields
Oh, they're burning the fields in Kansas, so make me new like only You can do
Copyright © 1999 White Plastic Bag Music (SESAC)
All rights reserved. Lyrics reprinted by permission.
From Mitch:
I made this up as I was driving through the Flinthills on my way to do a concert in Wichita, KS. The fields were being burned, as they are every spring, to get rid of the dead grass so that new grass can grow. I started thinking about how God does the same thing for us that God does for those fields. It hurts to be burned, but we are being redone into what God wants us to become. We are being renewed.
... Mitch
Saturday, May 05, 2007
greensburg, kansas was a cool little town...
but now it's not, thanks to a large tornado.
It's home to the largest hand dug well, and a large meteorite. It was hit yesterday by a tornado and 95% of the town is gone. It was the coolest little town too. My grandpa's brother lived there, and my dad's cousin lived near there. There are places close by where you could stop on the side of the road and find crystals in the ditches. The well was so cool to go down into (of course it's still there...under rubble). My dad's cousin managed a grain elevator in Brenham (home to the large 1000-pound pallasite meteor) and we would climb the "Kansas Mountain" (there's a cool children's book about elevators called Climbing Kansas Mountains) and you could see for miles and miles.
Here's a link to the story: http://www.kansas.com
Here's a link to the town's website: http://www.bigwell.org
As crazy/weird as it sounds, this is the time of year I get homesick....tornado season!!! (And wheat harvest is around the corner too, so that's part of the reason also.)
It's home to the largest hand dug well, and a large meteorite. It was hit yesterday by a tornado and 95% of the town is gone. It was the coolest little town too. My grandpa's brother lived there, and my dad's cousin lived near there. There are places close by where you could stop on the side of the road and find crystals in the ditches. The well was so cool to go down into (of course it's still there...under rubble). My dad's cousin managed a grain elevator in Brenham (home to the large 1000-pound pallasite meteor) and we would climb the "Kansas Mountain" (there's a cool children's book about elevators called Climbing Kansas Mountains) and you could see for miles and miles.
Here's a link to the story: http://www.kansas.com
Here's a link to the town's website: http://www.bigwell.org
As crazy/weird as it sounds, this is the time of year I get homesick....tornado season!!! (And wheat harvest is around the corner too, so that's part of the reason also.)
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