Another Luther Saying ...

"The truth is mightier than eloquence, the Spirit greater than the genius, faith more than education."

To me this is very encouraging as a home-schooling mother, but I would think it would be encouraging for all parents. The greatest gift we can give our children is the gift of faith. With the help of Christ, we must give them a good, solid foundation in Jesus Christ first and foremost for they need to know how to survive in this land as Pilgrims. We Christians are but strangers in this world; this is not our home. Our children do need education, but above all else they, like us, need truth, wisdom, discernment, strength, and grace from God's Word to get them home safely to heaven.

Abide With Me

May these last three verses of the hymn, Abide With Me,
comfort you and give you hope that our dear Shepherd,
Jesus, is lovingly holding you in His arms and will
NEVER leave you or forsake you.   He gives an
EVERLASTING peace that NO other person or thing of
this world can give.


     6. I need Thy presence every passing hour;
     What but Thy grace can foil the Tempter's power?
     Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be?
     Through cloud and sunshine, oh, abide with me!

     7. I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
     Ills have no weight and tears no bitterness.
     Where is death's sting? where, grave, thy victory?
     I triumph still if Thou abide with me.

     8. Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes,
     Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies.
     Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee;
     In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me!

The Living Word

From Martin Luther's Little Instruction Book: "The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me."

One Day at a Time

One of the biggest lessons that I have had to learn this past year is to
take life one day at a time. Now I have always known that, but somehow
God has had to wack me over the head with His frying pan to make it
hit home!!!! Being a teacher, I have always tried to be a planner and
plan in advance. Now, there is nothing wrong with planning. Just don't
try to get ahead of God. This poem that I am about to share with you
fellow bloggers was given to me by my husband's business partner,
and Matthew 6:25-34 comes to my mind when I read this poem.

One Day at a Time

There are two days in every week about which you should not
worry, two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.

One of these days is yesterday with its mistakes and cares, its faults
(better known as sins) and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday
has passed forever beyond our control.

All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday. We cannot
undo a single act we performed: we cannot erase a single word we
said. Yesterday is gone.

The other day we should not worry about is tomorrow with its
possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and poor
performance.

Tomorrow's sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask
of clouds-but it will rise. Until it does we have no stake in
tomorrow, for it is yet unborn.

This leaves only one day-today. Any person can fight the battles
of just one day. It is only when you and I add the burdens of
these two awful eternities-yesterday and tomorrow- that we break down.

It is not the experience of today that drives men mad-it is remorse
or bitterness for something that happened yesterday and the dread
of what tomorrow may bring.

Let us therefore, live but one day at a time. Author Unknown

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life^[b]?

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Are You Thankful for Your Spouse?

When is the last time you told your spouse thank you for something or for doing something for you? Are you truly thankful for him or her, or are you always thinking of things that disturb you about him or her? Do you encourage him or her? If we are all truly honest with ourselves, we can most likely think of a time or period of time when we have all focused more on the faults of our spouses than our own faults, rather sins. But then we need to look at ourselves. Have we been treating our spouse with unconditional love and respect? One of the many things that I have learned from our two pastors is that before I start pointing the finger at my spouse or anyone else for that matter, I need to look at my own sins first. There is a time for lovingly expressing my hurts and frustrations with my spouse, don't get me wrong. However, I really need to reflect upon my thoughts, attitudes, and actions and see if I am being a blessing or a disturbance to my spouse or whomever in my life. Believe me, I will be the first one to tell you that I am a selfish human being and can be really good about putting my needs first. I am just thankful that my Scottius is gracious and forgiving. Even though it has been many years since our troubles, I still remember so vividly HOW HARD it was without him and HOW BLESSED I am to have him! I think we both learned from those days the hard way how lonely life was without each other. Thanks to God we have each other! What a real blessing that is!! :)


⁴Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Is That You Bob?

I just had to post this cartoon for my blog! It seems that this is a picture of a cat in the frying pan! It reminds me of Sam, our dog, who does not like this one cat, Bob, roaming around in our neighborhood! If Sam could talk or do a few more tasks such as using frying pans then uh oh, we
would be in trouble! We would have to put out a bulletin alert for all cats, bunnies, and squirrels!!

Blueberries for Sal and the Scottius Maximus family

As a kid, I loved this book! Of course, I loved blueberries and still do! Tomorrow we will go to a little community to pick up our annual order of 50 pounds of blueberries. This supply will only last us until about February or March! I like to eat mine frozen with just a little bit of splenda or powdered sugar sprinkled on top if needed. They are one of the best fruits one can ever eat!

You Have to Love This Comeback!

I received this in an e-mail and thought it would be good to share on my blog.

A woman writes:
My son serves in the military. He is still stateside right now. He called me yesterday to let me know how warm and welcoming people were to him, and his troops, everywhere he goes, telling me how people shake their hands, and thank them for being willing to serve, and fight, for not only our own freedoms but so that others may have them also. But he also told me about an incident in the grocery store he stopped at yesterday, on his way home from the base. He said that ahead of several people in front of him stood a woman dressed in a burkha. He said when she got to the cashier she loudly remarked about the U.S. flag lapel pin the cashier wore on her smock. The cashier reached up and touched the pin, and said proudly, "Yes, I always wear it and I probably always will." The woman in the burkha then asked the cashier when she was going to stop bombing her countrymen, explaining that she was Iraqi.

A gentleman standing behind my son stepped forward, putting his arm around my son's shoulders, and nodding towards my son, said in a calm and gentle voice to the Iraqi woman: "Lady, hundreds of thousands of men and women like this young man have fought and died so that YOU could stand here, in MY country and accuse a check-out cashier of bombing YOUR countrymen. It is my belief that had you been this outspoken in YOUR own country, we wouldn't need to be there today. But, hey, if you have now learned how to speak out so loudly and clearly, I'll gladly buy you a ticket and pay your way back to Iraq so you can straighten out the mess in YOUR country that you are obviously here in MY country to avoid." Everyone within hearing distance cheered!

I just had to post this picture after Scottius Maximus previously posted another Gary Larson cartoon! We have always loved this cartoon since we have had A LOT of experiences with wiener dogs! If you have had one or know of someone who does have one then you will understand this cartoon!

Lutheran Lucy Becomes a Cowgirl?

Well, it was good to go on vacation to see my family out West and to also go with our son on our church youth group trip, but it is so nice to be back home and settled in once again with my dear Scottius. There were a lot of highlights to our trip, but one in particular was horseback riding. I now own cowgirl boots which is a thrill! (I do need to break them in just a little bit though! :) ) Anyway, I was able to go horseback riding a couple of times which makes my grand total of going about five or six times. (It helped that my sister-in-law gave me a little riding lesson the week before.) This last time of riding on a trail with our youth group was probably the most relaxing to me. Of course, I wasn't too thrilled when Lady, my horse, would try to go too far to the sides of the trail which allowed me the thrill of brushing against trees and bushes! Once I learned how to keep her from doing that she and I did just fine. I am just thankful that I didn't brush against any poison ivy. I don't need any skin problems at the moment! :) When do I ever need poison ivy or skin problems though? Anyway, I even trotted a little which is a big step for me! I don't know if I will ever be galloping material or become a full-blooded cowgirl though!! :)

How Many of These Can You Answer Correctly?

This is a fun quiz that our son got in an e-mail recently. I
hope you will take it just to see how observant you really
are. Amazingly I scored better than I thought I would;
however, I missed a couple of really obvious ones! Oh well!


QUIZ:
This is based on U.S. info, so use all lobes of your brain.
This can be more difficult than it looks - it just shows
how little most of us really see!

There are 25 questions about things we see every day
or have known about all our lives. How many can you
get right? These little simple questions are harder than
you think-- it just shows you how little we pay
attention to the common place things of life.

Put your thinking caps on. No cheating! No looking
around! No getting out of your chair! No using
anything on or in your desk or computer! Can you
beat 20?? (The average is 7) Write down your
answers as you go. Check answers (on the bottom),
AFTER completing all the questions.

LET'S JUST SEE HOW OBSERVANT YOU REALLY
ARE.
1. On a standard traffic light, is the green on the
top or bottom?

2. How many states are there in the USA? (Don't
laugh, some people don't know)

3. In which hand is the Statue of Liberty's torch?

4. What six colors are on the classic Campbell's
soup label?

5. What two numbers on the telephone dial don't
have letters by them?

6. When you walk does your left arm swing with
your right or left leg? (Don't you dare get up to see!)

7. How many matches are in a standard pack?

8. On the United States flag is the top stripe red or white?

9. What is the lowest number on the FM dial?

10. Which way does water go down the drain, counter
or clockwise?

11. Which way does a "no smoking" sign's slash run?

12. How many channels on a VHF TV dial?

13 On which side of a women's blouse are the buttons?

14. Which way do fans rotate (not a ceiling fan)?

15. How many sides does a stop sign have?

16. Do books have even-numbered pages on the
right or left side?

17 How many lug nuts are on a standard car wheel?

18. How many sides are there on a standard pencil?

19. Sleepy, Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey,
Doc - Who's missing?

20. How many hot dog buns are in a standard package?

21 On which playing card is the card maker's trademark?

22 On which side of a Venetian blind is the cord that
adjusts the opening between the slats?

23. There are 12 buttons on a touch tone phone. What 2
symbols bear no digits?

24. How many curves are there in the standard paper clip?

25. Does a merry-go-round (like at a carnival) turn counter or
clockwise?

ANSWERS

1. On a standard traffic light, is the green on the top
or bottom?
BOTTOM

2. How many states are there in the USA? (Don't laugh,
some people don't know)
50

3. In which hand is the Statue of Liberty's torch?
RIGHT

4. What six colors are on the classic Campbell's soup label?
BLUE, RED, WHITE, YELLOW, BLACK & GOLD

5. What two numbers on the telephone dial don't have
letters by them?
1, 0

6. When you walk does your left arm swing with your
right or left leg?
RIGHT

7. How many matches are in a standard pack?
20

8. On the United States flag is the top stripe red
or white?
RED

9. What is the lowest number on the FM dial?
88

10. Which way does water go down the drain, counter
or clockwise?
CLOCKWISE (NORTH OF THE EQUATOR)

11. Which way does a "no smoking" sign's slash run?
TOWARDS BOTTOM RIGHT

12. How many channels on a VHF TV dial?
(no #1)

13 On which side of a women's blouse are the
buttons?
LEFT

14. Which way do fans rotate?
CLOCKWISE AS YOU LOOK AT IT

15. How many sides does a stop sign have?
8

16. Do books have even-numbered pages on the
right or left side?
LEFT

17 How many lug nuts are on a standard car wheel?
5

18. How many sides are there on a standard pencil?
6

19. Sleepy, Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey, Doc.
Who's missing?
BASHFUL

20. How many hot dog buns are in a standard
package?
8

21. On which playing card is the card maker's trademark?
ACE OF SPADES

22. On which side of a Venetian blind is the cord that
adjusts the
opening between the slats?
LEFT

23. There are 12 buttons on a touch tone phone. What
2 symbols bear no
digits?
*, #

24. How many curves are there in the standard paper
clip?
3

25. Does a merry-go-round turn counter or clockwise?
COUNTER

Lucy's Birthday

One of my dreams is for Scottius Maximus to take me to the Lucy-Desi Museum in Jamestown, New York, Lucy's hometown. The first weekend in August is a big celebration of Lucy's birthday which was on August 6, 1911! Check it out here: The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center, Inc.

Did you know that all the cars on one of the freeways in California just stopped when Lucy's death had been announced? Many people had to dry their eyes from crying. Do you remember that day? I was deeply saddened and remember watching Nightline that night about her life. She was the best!!


NOTE: As Barb the evil Genius mentions in one of her posts about Superman though, people must be careful to not idolize other people. There is ONLY ONE TRUE GOD. I know that I have to remember this about Lucy and many of the old stars from the good old days!

Peace

Look at the peace, joy, and love in the face of Jesus. He makes it look so easy, doesn't He? May you find this peace, joy, and love through Christ. I encourage you to read His Word because the world cannot give you these things. Only Christ can give you all that you need.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27

Home Sweet Home

Ah, it is good to be home again with my dear husband, Scottius Maximus, and our dog Sam.
I am anxious to start blogging again! Our son and I had a good time visiting family out West though. Have a blessed day everyone!!