Delusional blog title

I think my blog title is a little delusional.  Ask anyone around you if I have recovered from my pessimism and they would probably tell you "no."  Read my journals and you could tell yourself "no."  Read my statuses on FB, and my tweets, and my entries on here, and I tell you" no" just by what I type.  I find it hard to look at roses without seeing the thorns, if you get my "point."  So, I'm going to make a list of some things for which I'm thankful.  I'm going to use initials for some, just to avoid any weirdness. 

1. God's mercy
2. Raeli, Ryan, and Nick
3. OBU = CN, JB, SN, KT, MP, DJ, LS, and several others
4. TBC = A, C, C, P, R, M, A, A, E, M, and others
5. S, B, J, J, H, C, T, P, etc.
6. BOOKS, especially free ones!
7. Christian music
8. Christian friends
9. Christian books
10. my Bible
11. Old friends
12. my sisters
13. my crazy family
14. our awesome family reunions
15. the fact that I got to see all my aunts and uncles (minus one) within a week this month
16. weekends
17. my puppies
18. my parents, the fact that they are still married after 37 years
19. Christian upbringing
20. freedom to worship
21. babies
22. the random cats that show up at our house
23. sleep
24. sunsets
25. thunderstorms
26. people who make variations of Pachelbel's Canon
27. old family pictures
28. encouragers
29. children I can send home
30. our cooler temps this summer
31. cold Dr. Pepper
32. Bible studies that speak to me
33. Paris
34. my grandparents
35. JESUS!

One for each year of my life.  :-)

Self-Criticism

I have a problem with criticism.  I saw it a lot growing up and apparently it became engrained in my thought processes.  I'm afraid that the prime target of my criticism is myself.  Some of this probably comes from the enemy, trying to destroy what little peace I manage to find.  Most of the time, he is successful.  I take his ball and run with it.  You might say that he hands me a balloon with a little air in it, and I blow it the rest of the way up.  I'm very good at this.  I wouldn't say that I get a whole lot of criticism from others.  If I do, it's constructive, and sometimes I take it fairly well.  Sometimes I'll just add it to my criticism of myself. 

Why am I bringing this up now?  I've been on a criticism roll for a couple of days now.  It kept me up most of the night a couple of nights ago, and I'm afraid tonight might be a repeat.  This is hard stuff to hand over to God.  I know I need to, I know that He is the only one that can take care of it.  But I'm kind of holding on tightly.  I'm afraid to let go, afraid of what will happen if I do let go. 

The Legend of the JellyFly: Short Family Fables #1

 At our family reunion a couple of years ago, a couple of us older grandkids sat around and decided to create a fake monster to keep the kids occupied for a night.  Since then, we've tried to have a monster every year.  Here is the story of the first monster.  I thought I would share with you.

 

Raeli, Ryan, and Nick are headed to the cabin for the annual Short family reunion. 

Raeli says, “I am so excited!  I can’t wait to see all of the cousins!”

Raeli, Ryan, and Nick arrive at the cabin and none of the cousins are there yet.  They want to go out and play in the woods around the cabin.

Nick says, “Let’s go look for Bigfoot!”

Naner says, “Be careful, guys. Bigfoot is not out there.  But a JellyFly might be out there.”

“What is a JellyFly?” asks Ryan.

“The JellyFly is a monster that lives in the woods around the cabin.  It has an orange eye, and a green eye.  It has giant wings with polka dots.  Their poop looks like giant marshmallows and they throw lollipops at people before they eat them!  They like to eat people wearing blue shirts.  When they get close to you, they start to squeal and make a popping noise, kind of like a firecracker.  You can go out in the woods if you want, but make sure you watch out for marshmallow poop and if you get hit by a lollipop, you might want to run back to the cabin as fast as you can.  Make sure you can see the cabin from where you are.”

Raeli is wearing a brown shirt and Nick has on a green shirt.  Ryan put on a blue shirt.  Naner said, “Be very careful, Ryan.  The JellyFly only eats people with blue shirts on.  Watch out and make sure you aren’t getting hit by lollipops.”

Raeli, Ryan, and Nick head out into the woods.  Pretty soon they see a trail and are headed down into the woods to see what they can find.  Raeli feels something hit her on the head.  “Ouchie!” she yells, and turns around to see what had hit her. 

“It’s an acorn!” Ryan says.  “See, right here.  A squirrel must have thrown it at you.”

        They go on a little farther, and turn around to make sure they can still see the cabin.  They decide to walk in a circle around the cabin.  After a little bit, Nick feels something bounce off his head.  “Ouch!” he cries, and turns to look at the ground.  It’s a lollipop! 

        “Naner is playing tricks on us,” Raeli says.  “I bet she followed us out here, and threw that lollipop.  Let’s keep going.”

They keep on walking in a circle around the cabin. Raeli spots a stick that she knows Ryan will like.  “Ryan, look at this stick,” she says.  “Ryan?”  She turns around to look, but Ryan is not there! 

“Nick, where’s Ryan?”  Raeli asks.  “I don’t know,” says Nick, “but I found some big marshmallows here on the ground.”

“Those aren’t marshmallows!  That’s JellyFly poop!” says Raeli.  “Ryan was wearing blue!  He’s been kidnapped by the JellyFly!  We need to go tell Naner right now!”

Raeli and Nick start running back to the cabin.  Nick hears a squealing sound and tells Raeli to slow down.  As Raeli stops, she hears a popping noise right behind her.   When she turns around, something hits her on the head.  She looks down, and sees a lollipop lying at her feet.  She stoops down to pick up the lollipop, and turns around to show Nick.  But when she turns around, Nick is not there!  Did he get kidnapped by a JellyFly too?

Raeli runs all the way to the cabin to get Naner.  Raeli finds Naner upstairs making the beds.  “Naner! Naner!” she yells.  “Nick and Ryan have been kidnapped by the JellyFly!  We got hit by lollipops, Nick found marshmallow poop, but Nick is wearing green!”

“Oh, no!” says Naner.  “We have to help them! But Nick is wearing green.  I thought JellyFlys only ate people wearing blue shirts.  Why did they take Nick?  We need to go look for them!”  Naner and Raeli head out in the woods to look for Ryan and Nick. 

        Meanwhile in the JellyFly cave….Nick and Ryan are tied up next to an old refrigerator.  There were two JellyFlys!  One was a boy and the other one was a girl.  The boy JellyFly had taken Ryan and the girl JellyFly had kidnapped Nick. 

        “Ryan,” whispers Nick.  “How are we going to get out of here?”

        “I don’t know,” whispers Ryan.  “They sound mad.”

        “Maybe you should tell them a joke,” says Nick.  “Like a knock-knock joke or something.”

        “Oh!  I’ve got a good knock-knock joke,” says Ryan. “How do we get their attention?”

        “I’ll burp really loud!” says Nick. “BBBBBUUUUURRRRRPPPP!”

        The JellyFlys turn around and look at Nick and Ryan.  “I’ve got a really funny joke,” says Ryan.  “Knock knock.”

        “Who’s there?” says the girl JellyFly.

“Boo,” says Ryan. “Boo who?” says the girl JellyFly.

“You don’t have to be such a crybaby about it,” says Ryan.

The boy JellyFly starts to laugh really loud.  The girl JellyFly turns around and glares at him.  “I’ve got a joke,” says Nick.  “Knock, Knock.” 

“Who’s there?” “banana.” “banana who?”

“Knock, Knock.”  “Who’s there?”  “banana.”  “banana who?”

“Knock, Knock.”  “Who’s there?” “Orange.” “Orange who?” “Orange you glad I didn’t say banana!”

“We’ve got to let them go!” says the girl JellyFly.  “I thought you said they’d be funny!”

“I thought they would be funny!” says the boy JellyFly.  He walks over, unties Nick and Ryan, and puts a blindfold over their eyes so they can’t find their way back to the JellyFly cave.  He takes the boys out into the woods to let them go.

Meanwhile, out in the woods:  Naner and Raeli are hollering for Nick and Ryan as loud as they can.  They don’t know where the JellyFlys would be hiding them.  They keep going through the woods, yelling for Nick and Ryan.  All of a sudden, Nick and Ryan come running through the woods, talking a mile a minute about all that they had seen in the JellyFly cave.  They all rushed back to the cabin, and they were very careful about what color they wore the rest of the weekend. 

 

 

Down from the mountain, literally

Several times in the Bible, mountains were used as places where men met with God:  Moses with the Ten Commandments, Abraham with Isaac, and there are more.  There are some mountains in SE Oklahoma where several men, women, and children have met with God.  Many, many years ago, a group of people decided to put a church camp on these mountains, Kiamichi Baptist Assembly.  This church camp has been a special place in my family for a couple of generations, will continue to be a special place throughout the next generation.  This is a picture of me and my niece from last year.  I took a week off work to go and be a sponsor for her and three other girls.

I did the same thing this year.  We took six girls this year, and my sister also went along as a sponsor.  This year, though, I experienced things that I have not experienced in years past.  I have gone as a sponsor several times in the past.  We had a small group in our cabin this year, but the closeness between the sponsors from the other church and our church was awesome.  One night, when I was could not finish praying for my girls (nightly ritual), a sponsor from the other church came in and prayed for our girls, one by one.  I know the Bible says that the Holy Spirit will pray for us when we are unable to pray for ourselves, but I had never experienced it coming from another person.  This sponsor, and the other lady sponsor that was with her, stepped in many times over the course of the week when they were needed.  I truly appreciate that. 



 

The music and the preaching during the week were great. I had/have a couple of issues I was/am dealing with at the same time, and a lot of the messages kind of went along with the subjects with which I was dealing.  I love how God can use a class lesson/sermon/devotional to reach out to people who need to hear it, for a variety of different reasons.  I told the kids on the last night that they needed to remember what they had heard that week, and I need to remember this myself.  The lessons learned over the last week were applicable to all ages. 

 

So, now that I've come down from the mountain, I have a choice to make.  Do I take what I learned and share it with others, as I told my kids to do?  Or do I take it and keep it inside until the thorny thoughts inside my head slowly choke it out?  Please pray that I will make abundant use of the weed killer that I have and that I will be able to share the message that I heard.  Pray that I will be able to use the shield of faith to throw off the fiery arrows from the enemy and that I will find ways to fire back.

 

 

 

And pray for the children who were at camp last week, that they will be able to find their purpose and take the light back to their families. 

Jennifer's story, written in true Henderson Style

If you have read the O'Malley family series by Dee Henderson, you know you Jennifer O'Malley is.  Her story is interwoven into the other O'Malley family books.  Ms. Henderson came out with Jennifer's story recently.  It tells of Jennifer meeting and falling in love with a fellow doctor, Tom Peterson.  The story in itself is not a very long story, but if fills in a lot of the blanks about Tom and Jennifer and gives Henderson fans more insight into Jennifer's character.  I fell in love with Jennifer in the first O'Malley book, The Negotiator, and I was more than thrilled to be able to read her story.

This book is written in the style of the other O'Malley books.  It is very apparent that Ms. Henderson researches her subjects well, for the story is very realistic.  I have to say that I did not know what to expect with this book.  If I had any expectations, I'm sure this book would have exceeded them all.  I am very glad for this book and for the opportunity to see how Jennifer and Tom fell in love.  This book is a must-read for anyone who has read the O'Malley books, and also for anyone wanting to read the O'Malley books.  Ms. Henderson has a gift for storytelling that is rare in today's market. 

*I received a free copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an unbiased review.   My words are my own and I received no compensation.*

Swept away "Into the Whirlwind" by Elizabeth Camden

Into the Whirlwind by Elizabeth Camden is a historical Christian romance set at the time of the great Chicago fire in 1871.  This book tells the story of Mollie Knox, a young woman struggling to keep her father's watchmaking company going.  As Mollie tries to save what she can from the fire, she finds herself with Zack Kazmarek.  Zack is the legal genius for a large department store in Chicago that purchases many of the watches made by Mollie's company.  Mollie is completely unaware that Zack harbors feelings for her.  Zack is unable to keep these feelings hidden from Mollie as they try to escape the fire.  After the fire, as Mollie tries to restart her business and as Zack is trying to help rebuild the department store, they try to see if they can keep alive the sparks of love that were lit during the fire.  There are several attempts to put out these sparks, but you will have to read for yourself to see if they manage to stay lit.

This is the second book of Ms. Camden's that I have red.  I really enjoy that there is a depth to Ms. Camden's characters that I don't see in a lot of books.  Zack and Mollie are strong characters in a strong story line, well supported by the minor characters and subplots that run along with the main plot.  This book is an excellent read for anyone wanting a story that goes a little deeper and will leave you very satisfied in the end.  The book is scheduled for release on August 1. 

*I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.*

A Review of A Most Peculiar Circumstance by Jen Turano

A Most Peculiar Circumstance is a charming and delightful historical Christian romance by Jen Turano about Arabella Beckett and Theodore Wilder.  Prior readers of Ms. Turano will recognize Ms. Beckett as the sister of Hamilton Beckett from a prior novel.  Arabella finds herself in the middle of a messy circumstance while travelling back home to New York.  She has taken a side trip to help out someone, and has landed herself in jail.  She is rescued by Theodore, a man her family has sent to bring her home.  Arabella and Theodore are at cross purposes from the start, true opposites.  Arabella is an activist for women's rights and a little too free for Theodore's tastes.  However, there is that saying about opposites attracting.  It doesn't take long for Theodore to figure out that his tastes have changed and that Arabella is what he wants.  That is, if he can manage to keep her out of trouble long enough. 

Arabella's penchant for getting into trouble and Theodore's arrival after almost every circumstance keeps the reader moving right along with the story.  The story was lacking in detail in some sections to give more of an understanding of the growing attraction between the characters, in my opinion.  However, this did not detract from the my overall enjoyment of the story and the characters.  I found the story very enchanting and would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read in the historical Christian romance genre. 

*I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an unbiased review.*