Scripps National Spelling Bee

I LOVE to watch the Scripps National Spelling Bee. I'm not really sure why. I guess it has to do with my love for words. I often get out a piece of paper and try to spell with them. Of course by the time I get to the final round, I have no idea what they are even saying let alone how to spell it! LOL

At any rate, the Spelling Bee will be on ABC tonight beginning at 8pm EST. I'll see how many words I can use in a sentence or even perhaps find some new words for my next Boggle game. :-)

Violin Recital

Jasmine's Violin recital was this past Friday. It was supposed to be held at the park, but was moved to a church because of the rain. I am actually glad that it was moved, because on Wednesday when we went to practice at the park, it was very hard to hear her playing. I'm sure part of the problem was that fact that there was a tractor off in the distance, but still the acoustics of playing outside are very different than being in a church building.

The violin recital began with a prayer from one of the Fathers. I love this group. Who goes to a violin recital that begins with prayer?

All of the children did a beautiful job. It's so nice to watch their progress over three years, and it is so nice to watch their personalities shine through as they perform on stage.

I tried to use my digital camera to record Jasmine's duet with her violin teacher,but the recording is very choppy. If I can get it fixed, I will post it for your viewing pleasure.

It really is quite amazaing to see how much she has grown in her playing. When she first started, if I was on the phone with my girlfriend when she was practicing my girlfriend would get off the phone. Now she actually brings people to the phone to listen. :-)

Mental Clutter

This Sabbath, while leading praise and worship, I forgot the words of the song I was singing. Now, for those of you who are afraid to speak in front of crowds, that may be perfectly understandable, but for me, someone who has been singing solos since the 4th grade when I sang the part of the interjection (another post for another day), to forget words is not a normal thing. Especially for a song that we sing ALL the time. The whole church knows it!

At any rate, the whole point is that the reason that I forgot the words is because of mental clutter. I don't have any scientific definitions of mental clutter, it's just a term I use to refer to your state of mind when your thoughts are jumbled, and you have mixed feeling about a variety of topics related to your life.

The interesting thing is that mental clutter and physical clutter are related. I looked around my house and realized that I have many years of clutter that I have collected. I still have papers from college. Why in the world do I still have papers from college?? What am I going to do with them. I still have bills from when I lived in California in 1999!

So , little by little, I am working on dealing with getting rid of the clutter. I am starting to feel better already and am ready to tackle life issues that I have avoided for quite sometime.

So please keep me in your prayers as I spring clean!

When Silence is Golden

Below is a conversation that took place in the car with my kids, Christopher age 5 and Jasmine age 9:

Christopher: Mommy, What is sex?
Me: Uhhhh, well, Ummm, well...
Jasmine: I know!
Me: You do??
Jasmine:Yes...there are two kinds; male and female
Me: Yes, that's exactly right. Good answer.

Bible Bowl Update

Our Federation (local churches) Bible Bowl competition was held this weekend at my church. We had a wonderful time. All of the teams from my church (Junior Youth, Senior Youth, Young Adult and Adult) won and will advance to the next round to be held at Campmeeting in June. My team won by default, because no one in our division showed up.

All of the teams, including the teams from the other churches did well. It is always amazing to me to watch young children so clearly recall information from the material that they have read.

Here are some pictures of the front and back of the medal. If you zoom in, you will see an oil lamp on top of a Bible.

Each participant of the competition received a medal to wear during the games. The children were surprised when we passed them out before the games began. "Did we win already", some of them asked. "Yes", I replied. If you have opened God's Word and read it, you have won already. :-)

If you do not already have a time set aside in which you and your family read the Word of God, I strongly encourage you to do so. You will not be dissapointed.

Calling All Skirt Wearers!

Lately I have been drawn more to the wearing of skirts. I know that this time of year is a good time to find them. So where do you shop for your skirts? So far I have found some nice ones at Old Navy and Target.

I'm short so this first one that I bought actually comes close to my ankles.

Blog Design Giveaway

Need a new blog design? I would love to take the time to create a lovely template for my site, but wouldn't it be all the much better to win it?

The drawing for a new design is will be held on May 13th. If you are interested you can get the details here.

A new blog design as a Mother's Day gift. Wow, talk about the age of technology. It's not Wednesday, but it would certainly work for me. :-)

Our Sabbath Traditions

Recently I joined a Yahoo! group that is designed to help to get our home ready for Sabbath. Several of the Moms on the group decided to share their Sabbath traditions and so I thought that I would post some of ours. Our traditions are still a work in progress.

As the sun is beginning to set, each family member gathers on the couch and from youngest to oldest we each pick a song to sing for worship. After our songs we tell what happened to us during the week that we are thankful and we quote a Bible verse from memory. We then pray. After the prayer we sometimes play a Bible game such as charades.

I am looking into having a special meal as a part of our Friday night tradition; something we eat all the time. We are thinking of homemade pizza that we make using the bread machine. I'm also going to buy some nice glasses for our drink and bowl for our salad.

What are your Sabbath or Sunday Traditions? If you don't have any yet, please list what you would like to implement.

Sew Crafty Friday

I don't know if this counts as being "crafty", but tomorrow is investiture and I had to sew on my daughters awards that she earned this year. Here are some shots of the front and back of the sash.

Trip to the Science and Nature Center

Last week we visited the Science and Nature Center. Here are some of the things we saw.

This was a little snake that we saw resting on a lily pad.
This was a type of cactus that only blooms for a couple of days. We were very blessed to catch it open.
Here is a picture of some of the kids from the group at the top of a water tower looking down.

Here is a picture of Jasmine and Christopher.

And here are some turtles that we saw in the pond.

Camping Trip

Our Adventurer Club went camping at Pedernales State Park this weekend. How refreshing it was to spend some time in nature. Here are a few pictures that I took at the park. Of course the camera does not even come close to capturing what my eyes beheld.

Embracing You

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Marianne Williamson quoted by Nelson Mandela

Have you ever embraced who you are? That special person that God designed you to be? That peculiar person that separates you from everyone else? The you that is fearfully and wonderfully made? Or do you often worry about how you may not fit in if you fully embrace that person?.

Have you ever considered that maybe you are not supposed to "fit in". Think of all the wonderful people that did not "fit in". What would our world be today if they had decided that they did not want to stand out? Consider Martin Luther King, Jr, Rosa Parks, George Washington Carver; Consider Jesus. What if Jesus had decided that He just wanted to fit in? That being different from everyone in this world was just too much for Him?

I am so glad that He knew who He was and today my life is different because of it.

Don't be afraid to be you. God loves you.