Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Bee-Yo-Ti-Ful...Wild Wyoming

A real life wild sighting of moose, meese, sheesh.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Bee-Yo-Ti-Ful...More

More Pictures... These are photos he took for me... of flowers! What a sweet guy!!!

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Bee-Yo-Ti-Ful...

Pictures of Wyoming...Green River in the Wind River Valley. Courtesy of my man.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Erasers...

I feel guilty when I don't blog. Sigh. My computer stares at me every time I walk past like I'm forgetting to water or feed it.

So. I hope you don't mind the Plinky Prompts. Because my brain is scattered over vast terrain and I'm unable to gather enough pieces of it to be fully coherent.

Here is my plinky prompt and answer.

If you could take back something you did to someone, what would it be?

I would take back every harsh word I've ever spoken.

And there are quite a few of them.

I joke about the computer's forlorn stare. But. People are a different matter. I have seen evidence of my words bulls-eye into another person's heart. And I don't want to ever see that look again.

Once a word is spoken it can't be taken back. And sorry doesn't erase. Like a pencil pressed hard into a big chief tablet, there is evidence of what has been done.

Humor doesn't erase it either and at times only makes it worse. My kids, my husband, my parents, siblings, friends... the list is a long one. Thank, the Lord, I've gotten to where I speak less and pause before saying things I might regret. But not often enough.

My most vivid encounter, from years ago, still haunts me a little. A newish friend joined a group of women to go to a conference. As groups of women go, we were rowdy, unruly and having fun. This new girl had a little quirk. She fell asleep around 9:00 p.m., without warning, and she was out. We had fun with that. She didn't move and we played in spite of her sleeping. She then woke up at 5:00 a.m. and she woke up cheerful. She got ready and dressed and started making lots of noise. At 6:00 a.m., way too early, I woke up. And so did my bed mate. We started mumbling and grumbling about early mornings and early birds. And then I suggested to our new friend that she get a life. And it was half joking. But the look that crossed her face, the river of quiet that rose between us...and the stream of caution that remained...

I'm so glad God forgives and uses painful things to teach us wisdom.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ You Can Put Up Malls, But Rural is in the Blood...

Only in Iowa.

Long stories short.

Crying Fowl --

Mom and Dad ordered chickens. Free range, locally grown chickens. Two of them. The assumption was that they would be dressed -- for the freezer. Mom and Dad were scheduled to go out of town. Three days before they left they got a cryptic message to show up on Monday at 3:00 p.m. at a local middle school and that the birds have gone up in price by 2.25 each.

So now, Mom and Dad have left town. I have these "instructions" a check for $20.50 and a house key. There is more but I'm keeping this simple! I show up at the middle school. The entire campus is painted in school bus yellow because 3:00 is the time for buses!!!! And cars. Lots and lots of cars. So. In the 90 degree heat I wait. I scan the sea of vehicles looking, looking for the man in the overcoat or a refrigerated truck. Nothing. The buses leave, the cars leave, and still nothing that looks like it might belong to the chicken man. I begin to drive around the building. Nothing. No cars, no consumers wearing red carnations. Nada.

So finally, I decide I'm done with this little adventure. One last pass. And there he is. A large green trash can, a man in a straw hat and a woman accepting a dripping bag. The chicken man!!!!!! I've found him.

Now. Two chickens stuffed in Mom's freezer, the transaction complete, I head home.

The Buzz --

On my doorstep is a gallon jug. Full of yellowish brown contents.

Is it lawn mower oil? Gas? Someone's, who needs to see a kidney specialist, urine sample? I scratch my head. It's a milk carton like sold at Wal-Mart. I wrack my brain. Did someone borrow our lawn mower? Is this some weird sort of prank? And then I remember!!! The HONEY MAN. Yep. The gallon of honey has arrived.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ First Things First

Cut the Crapola.. update.

So far the most exciting thing I've seen happen on our excess fast is the answer to prayer we are seeing and receiving.

Each of us has picked six people to pray for, and have committed to really praying for them each day. And for 23 days we've done just that. We've prayed together for our people. And we've prayed separately and have shared notes. We've shared the tiny answers (and some bigger ones) we've seen as a result of giving these relationships to God and desiring to be obedient in what He's calling us to do. A couple of the people we are praying for don't even know Jesus and since we've begun praying there have been several times that spiritual conversations have coincidentally (ha, godincidentally) happened.

Some difficult relationships are on our prayer list as well. And we've all seen our own attitudes change and some subtle changes in our people, too. Fascinating.

This six-month adventure is about ridding ourselves of stuff that isn't good for us... I don't think we understood how toxic some of our thinking had become. I hope that when this is all said and done we will take away the truth that God truly does want our cares and concerns cast on Him. Because stewing, retaliating, blaming, and even wishing don't do any good. But He can.

I'm proud of us for not spending money hand over fist (23 days in we've all spent less than $10.00 on the wants in our lives). We've all accomplished some of the mini goals we've set. We are continuing to strive to make the best choices possible healthwise and are seeing results there as well. On all fronts. But the most amazing thing is seeing God work. I wonder how much I've missed by not paying attention to His workings in the past or by neglecting to go to Him in the first place.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Good Picture Dealios...

Via Walgreens. Today you can make a book on-line for just the cost of shipping.... don't know what's up tomorrow but Rob just took hundreds of pictures that belong somewhere besides the camera!!!!