Freak Flag

I <3 David Cook.

Didn't miss a show.
Liked him from the beginning.
Actually voted last night for the first time ever.
When they announced him as the winner I squealed like...I was 35.

I know. Many of you would have never thought this of me.
I'm lettin' my Freak Flag fly, baby.
This does classify as irrational.

Mother's Day Bliss

What could be a sweeter gift on Mother's Day than seeing your children do this?

Oh. And being on a sunny little island on the St. Lawrence River didn't hurt either.

Prayer & Praise Follow-up

Prayer. I don't think we could be covered with too much right now. There are many things going on in our family & extended families. Most of them are appropriate for other posts or no posts at all. What I can talk about is the job situation I mentioned before in Prayer & Praise.

As far as CSR Technologies goes, there have been some great developments.

The first potential client I had mentioned has signed their contract with CSR Technologies so it's official. There are 2 more potential clients. One of which is reviewing their contract right now and wants to meet next week. PRAISE!

Further developments - other job/career opportunities (outside the scope of CSR Tech.) have been presented to us since I first asked for prayer. Now it seems we need prayer even more as we have some significant decisions to make. It's as if we are standing at a crossroad - turning in circles at the center.

Would you pray for wisdom, discernment, and anything else the Holy Spirit brings to your mind? Our hearts and minds are open to His leading...we'd just really like Him to paint His direction in the sky or something!

Randomishness

• Offspring.
  Directions: Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
  Applications: Endless. The most obvious is their grubby little spring-is-here-lets-roll-in-the-dirt physical bodies. But it seems, at least to me, to apply to so many other areas. Their roller-coaster emotions. Their mental I'm-10, 8, 6 or 3-and-I've-arrived attitudes. And their curious spiritual beings.
  Indications: I'm tired.
  

• I teach a scrapbooking class for high-school students. I shared some family albums with them this week. A few of the girls told me I looked like Catherine Zeta-Jones. Ok. So the pictures were from like 10+ years ago. But I'm gonna hold onto to Catherine for a little while because I coulda' swore that Russell Crowe was looking back at me from my bathroom mirror this morning.

• Some things I'm thankful for and/or blessed by right at this moment.
  
  1. A day spent with a friend. We are deepening our friendship and our understanding of God together. We are unalike and very alike. This journey is a little scary but promises to be exciting. It felt like God hugged us today.
  2. The AMAZING, BRILLIANTLY BEAUTIFUL, SUNSHINY DAY!
  3. Oh. And coffee.
     

Six Word Memoir

Four Girls: It's Like Herding Cats

I was tagged by Betsy at My Five Men to play.

Rules:
1. Write your own six-word memoir.

2. Post it on your blog (include a visual illustration if you’d like).

3. Link to the person who tagged you in your post.

4. Tag five more blogs with links.

5. Leave comment on the tagged blogs with invitation to play.

I’m tagging these five bloggers:

Tiffanie at New Every Morning
Amy at Open to Grace
Jenni at One Thing
Anna at Create In Me!
Kerry at RichandKerry.com

Four Score & Five Years

"Birthdays are good for you.
Studies show that the people who have the most,
live the longest."
- Unknown

Friday evening we celebrated my grandfather's 85th birthday. As I sat at my computer late that night my mind was flooded with memories. My eyes stung with happy tears. Wanting to write a post but being so tired, I began a simple list to be revisited later. Now it is later.

The majority of my happy childhood memories revolve around visits with my grandparents, Nannie & Poppie, at their home not far from where we live now. We didn't live here when I was growing up so most of our visits took place over holidays and summers - happy events to begin with.

Words on a blog could never come close to describing the deep, life-changing impact Poppie has had on my life. But, I can honor him as I share with you some glimpses into my memories of him.

These things flash through my mind when I remember being very little and being with my Poppie: hearing him pray, making oatmeal raisin cookies, listening to him tell me Meese’s stories, his Donald Duck voice, rides in the wheel barrow, and whiskery kisses. Meeses were really mice and there was always a Jenny Meese.

Later we often had long talks. Not meaning that the conversations themselves were long. They were carefully chosen words that spread over the time it took to fish, pull weeds, take a walk, plant tomatoes, pick berries or take a drive to go help a neighbor. I only remember the topics of a few of those talks but all of them left me with a sense that I was cared for; that what I had to say was valued and worth the listening.

He taught me how to, among other things: bait a hook, cast a fly, clean a fish and row a boat.

I was called Petunia, Petunia Bud, Hortence, Alice or Ol’ Bean more often than I was called by my given name. I still get Alice and Ol' Bean every once in a while.

To this day I love to see a bright orange salamander or tiny brown toads. Why? Because I can close my eyes and feel the summer sun on my face, smell cut grass and freshly tilled earth, see Poppie walking toward me in the garden saying the familiar with a smile much like the one in the picture above, "Close your eyes and hold out your hands..." then feel a wriggly, miniature reptile in my palm.

The endeavors and accomplishments of any of his offspring (blood-related or by-marriage) bring him more pride and joy than I have ever seen in one person. He is the ultimate bragger in the absolute best way possible.

He helped to care for, with tenderness and love, his mother-in-law for the many years that she lived under his roof until her peaceful home-going in 1995. I'm so thankful for that legacy given to me by both him and my Nannie. That legacy began well before I was born when they also cared for both of his parents in the same way.

It's my turn now. I can never repay what he has given to me. But I can give him unconditional love. Shower him with affection and appreciation. I can slow my pace a bit and just be there.

The ripples of time have begun to smooth out many memories for him. They aren't so quickly called to mind. Some have faded away completely. But, because he loves a good story, we re-visit those memories with him. And we are all the richer for it.

Prayer & Praise

Some of you may know that earlier this year Clinton resigned from his position at our church. Nothing tragic. It had become clear to us that God had him there for a season, to fill specific needs and, those things being done, it was time to be done. We still attend church there and are so thankful for our loving church family. But that's not really what this post is about.

I'm petitioning prayer on our behalf. Our business, CSR Technologies, has been growing consistently over the past couple of years. Things are still moving forward and we are thankful. Now though, we are dependent on this business as our primary source of income. God has been so faithful. We know that it was His leading that brought us to this point. All of our needs have been met and, we trust, will continue to be. For all of this we praise Him!

Here is how you can pray along with us. We are praying specifically for 3 new clients by the end of the month of April. God helped us kick off the month with a bang. On Monday Clinton got a call from a business here in town. He has not initiated contact with this business previously. (However, he has mentioned to me many times that he felt like God was telling him that eventually they would become a client and we discussed the possibility of him going in to offer his services.) Another one of Clinton's clients referred them and they called him on their own. He met with them yesterday, April 1st, and they are very excited to have him on-board. Once he gets their proposal done, it should be all set. Isn't that cool!? Thank you God.

If you are so inclined, please praise God for these things and pray along with us for at least 2 more clients this month. Thanks so much!

So we fasted and petitioned our God about this,
and he answered our prayer. - Ezra 8:23