Regaining perspective

Because my cupholder in my reliable minivan is broken,


Because I made coffee in my little coffeemaker in my comfortable house,


Because I was taking my healthy, beautiful little girl to Gymnastics class,


Because I braked suddenly when the first vehicle in a line of late-model vehicles almost missed his turn,


Because my coffee spilled in the passenger seat,

        I was feeling a little pouty.  I thought, "I want a car with a cupholder that works!"

But then I remembered, and wondered ---

     How much coffee spilled in Haiti the day of the earthquake?

    So teach us to number our days,
         That we may present to You a heart of wisdom. 

                                Psalm 90:12

Review Sites

I cannot keep up with Earthgirl's reading - she reads books and books!  As she begins to get up to the tween-type books, I want to be careful about what she puts into that little mind, but I have not committed to read every book before she does - she reads hours each day!  So I, at least partially, rely on reviews by others.

I love book reviews.  I can jump around and read review after review. I even enjoy reading reviews of books I know I won't read. So it is just natural for me to seek out reviews of her books, too.

Focus on the Family has a Book Review site for parents.  It does not purport to judge the literary content of the books, but gives a synopsis, along with what to expect from a Christian worldview-parenting perspective.  So, for example, it tells me about whether a book has profanity, any ..ahem.. inappropriate content,  and whether it has any religious content at all.  It's also helpful to read reader reviews at Amazon.com. (I'm not looking up the link for that one)

I don't think I want to be a movie reviewer.  Though you get to see good movies, you see a lot more bad movies, and are subjected to much yuckiness. 

 We have used Screen-it for movie reviews several years. It's worth the spoilers to know just what you are getting in to.  For example, a while back there was a movie we grownups wanted to see (right now I cannot recall what movie it was).  It looked good; the trailer hooked us, but the rating was a concern.  When we checked it out on Screen-it, we learned the movie contained, among many other offenses, OVER 200 separate utterances of a particular 4-letter word, one still (thankfully) not allowed on network TV.  I did a little math, and found that this word would be inflicted upon us, on average, EVERY 20 SECONDS during the movie.  We decided the story could not be good enough for us to endure that kind of verbal assault for 90 minutes.  Thank you, Screen-it!

Focus on the Family's  Plugged-In videos review site helps me know if this video will be appropriate for by child. This is especially helpful if a child is easily traumatized my fearful scenes.

I wonder what review sources you use?

Kindness

Be kinder than necessary.

Everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can have an impact on a life.

Quoted from an email a friend sent.  I don't know the source of the quote, but will gladly give credit if someone recognizes the quote and knows the author.

Heart in Haiti

 Update:  Word has come that all the children and workers at World Harvest Mission are OK.  The orphanage is damaged, and they are all staying outdoors for safety from aftershocks, but we are thanking God that these children are OK.  We are still praying for a dear lady and the 8 orphans she cares for in Port Au Prince, who are not yet accounted for. 

Today I look like an all-American Homeschool Mom - this morning I turned up the heat in my comfortable house, poured a cup of coffee, grabbed the milk from my working electric refrigerator, took a warm shower, checked email, looked over my daughter's shoulder as she did schoolwork, threw in a load of laundry -- all the regular everyday things we take for granted.

But all day long my heart has been in Haiti, with the children who now own these sports jerseys, with the orphans at the orphanages our church has supported, with the families who live there helping the children.  Pray with me as they dig out from under the rubble left by the earthquake and its aftershocks.

Oh, Lord, please bless and keep those children at our orphanages, please bless and keep the children who now wear those jerseys we sent.  Please cause these things to work together for good to those who love You; to those who are called according to your purpose.

The Soldier Next Door

Saturday morning our doorbell rang before 7 a.m.  There in the drizzly snow stood the soldier next door in uniform.  He's in the Reserve, and this is his weekend for duty.  His ride did not arrive at 6, and he asked my husband for a ride. 

We are proud to help the soldier next door get to his Unit.  (I use "proud" in the Southern sense, like "I'm so proud to see ya.  How's yore Mama?"  It just means "glad."  It's not the sinful kind of "proud."  It's more like "plum pleased.") 

I remember when he finished Basic Training, and his Mom and sister went up to see him.  I remember his Mom's face when she showed us pictures of him in uniform.  I remember when we were out having a pizza with friends, when he came in the restaurant with his family, just back from Basic, so sharp in his uniform. 

Saturday morning he saw snow for the first time. He's still the kid next door, who doesn't have a car right now.  But he is also the soldier next door, and he needs to get to his Unit.  He was up and ready early, made plans for his transportation, then made alternate plans when Plan A fell through. (He asked the civilians next door for a little help.)

Soon, in just a short time, he'll be going further north for more training.  He'll see snow there, I'm sure. After that, who knows where he'll go next?  We pray for the soldier next door and his unit.  God bless and keep them all.

Image courtesy of Ace Clip Art

Snow!

It's snowing in central Florida!

My garage roof, which is dark gray, this  morning is smattered with snow

{Side note:  My spell check thinks "smattered" is not a word.  "Smattering" is OK, but not "smattered."  Obviously, Mr. Spell Check has never been to Waffle House.} {Whoops!  Pluto Boy informs me that Waffle House uses "Scattered, smothered, and covered."  I guess it has been too long since my last visit to Waffle House, where I usually eat a waffle, not a hash brown contraption anyway. I still think "smattered" should be a word, and I am leaving it in.}

(Wandering mind side thought:  If I were to ever be clever enough to write a book like The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel, I could have a character named Mr. Spelchek.  Ha! Mr. Spell Check did not like my typing that one!)

Ellipsalot

Getting back into the swing of things is something I do not do well. I'm lazy.  There, I've admitted it.  Anyway, between dabbling with the Christmas decor, which remains, getting back into school, and making little quick forays into friends' blogs and Facebooks, I notice and become impatient with a little writing quirk of mine.

I write using a lot of ellipses.  I like to leave those dot dot dots at the ends of sentences, especially blog and Facebook comments.  I've deleted several of these in the last few days.  Actually, more than several.  Why do I overuse them?  Maybe I like to leave a way out...

...or maybe I just don't want to admit I have nothing else to say...

I trail off...

I have no picture to match this post...

After Christmas

Last night we arrived back from a big road trip.  We had a ball!  We saw friends, family, snow, mountains, ballerinas, football fans...

We got to visit the Peapod for a day or 2.

Then it was off to snowy Indiana to visit family.

There was sledding, ice skating, a snowman, and the Nutcracker.

I'm not sure I'll say, "Whoopee! Let's go!" the next time my SIL says,
"We're going on a snow hike!" Actually, I LOVED it!

And now we are home, and all the Christmas decorations are still up.  They are still up on my blog, too.  Like many others, though, I am full of organizing plans!    I hope a few of them will make it out of my head and into my environment.

The internet overflows with great organizing help.  I could read about organizing all day  (reading and not doing is one of my downfalls).   Debbie, over at Ribbonwood Cottage has gathered several great links for first of the year organizing.  Check it out. I hope to put some of my knowledge into practice...tomorrow.