Bookstore Experience

The other day I went to Half Price Books to get the Bible on cd. I found a set with John Sherberg reading the Old Testamen and James Earl Jones reading the new. It included a carrying case as well all for $29.99! I got home only to discover that the New Testament cds were missing and there were duplicate Old Testament cds instead.

I returned to the bookstore a day later and explained what happened. They had the New Testament by James Earl Jones available. The sales associate paused and tried to figure out how to fix the situation. I suggested that he charge me for the New Testament and give me a credit to make it so that it still comes out to $29.99. He said with a smile "I'll do even better than that".

He let me keep the Old Testament that came with the case, gave me the New Testament AND credited my account $21.65!! Did I mention the fact that I only paid 29.99 to begin with?

Wow. What a wonderful God we serve!

Real Life Meeting of a Blog World Friend

This weekend at Campmeeting I had the pleasure of meeting Ann over a His Grace Unto Me. I was also able to meet two of her children.

I originally thought that I had missed my opportunity for us to meet. The games that I was participating in had been moved upstairs and the hour was getting later and later. Finally someone approached me and said "Hi, are you Yolanda"? I was ecstatic. It was Ann!

Ann I am so delighted to have met you in person and hope to see you again soon. Hopefully I'll be able to meet Butterbean and the HWH. :-)

Bible Bowl Update

The Campmeeting competition was this weekend. Teams from the Arklatex, North Texas and Capitol Cities Federations competed for a chance to advance to the National Competition to be held in Boston, MA the last weekend in October. My church has three teams advancing to the National Competition including the team that I play on.

Here are some pictures of the teams from my church:

Swimming Update

Today was the last day of our first session of swimming. Jasmine improved dramatically. She is not up to where the class suggests she should be, but her improvements were outstanding nonetheless. At the beginning of the class, she would barely get into the water. By the end of the class, she would go out with her instructor ( a new on for the second week), and I got some video of her finally submerging her head. Whoohoo!

I promised Jasmine a book for being able to go under water to her eyes and then another for being able to go all the way under with her head fully submerged. So today we will go to Half Price Books so she can make her selections.

Christopher did a great job as well. He is not afraid to go out on his back with his instructor. There was only one other little boy in his class which made it nice and intimate.

Swimming Object Lessons

In my daughter's swimming class there are 4 other children besides her. She is the only child in the class that will not do the bobs. She will put her face in the water, but she will not go under.

The first couple of days her teacher was extremely patient and kind, but in our last class, she seemed extremely impatient. First, she threatened to push my daughter under the water if she didn't do the bobs and as if that wasn't enough, she started comparing her to all of the other children in the class who do not have a problem with bobbing.

So finally, after my daughter would not budge, she said to her in a very mean voice, "Well I cannot stop this class for you!"

What in the world??? I was so upset. I sat calmly and patiently until I knew I was calm enough to speak.

I called my daughter out of the water and instructed her to go and get her towel. The teacher asked me if she was finished for the day. "No", I responded. "She'll be back."

I sat her down near the pool and explained to her that she does not have to go under the water because the other children in this class are going under the water. She must go under the water, because it is a requirement for swimming. "Is it your desire to learn how to swim"? "Yes", she answered.
"Then set a goal of being able to put your head under the water. Don't ever do other things because people in your class are doing them."

I asked her to get back into the water and go down into the water to her chin. We continued to go deeper until she went down with the top of her nose covered. I told her that I would buy her a book if she would go under with her eyes covered. She tried so hard. I could see the fear in her eyes. She didn't make it, but she has a new goal and a reward set for when she obtains that goal.

I was so upset when the instructor was encouraging my daughter to be like the rest of the class, but then as I thought about it, I was grateful that I had another opportunity to tell her that the ONLY person that we want to be like is Jesus.

Praise God that we have someone we can be like.

Interesting Facts in Leviticus

I have been reading the book of Leviticus in preparation for my Bible Bowl Competition coming up this weekend. Yesterday as a part of our study, we went over some things that would prevent a Levite from being a priest.

Leviticus chapter 21 states some very interesting restrictions:

17Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.
18For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous,
19Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded,
20Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken;
21No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.

It is amazing how particular God was in selecting men to perfom his requirements, and although we do not have a Levitical system today, God is still particular about His requirements and how we serve Him.

Aren't you glad that God is particular?

Summer Swim Classes

The kids started their summer swim classes today. They both said that they had a wonderful time. I remember when we lived in Atlanta, Jasmine wouldn't even get into the pool. Sometimes she would sit on the side wall and let her feet hang. If the instructor came near her, she would jump out and run. I do not miss those days. :-)

Today there were several kids that screamed and told their parents that they were never going to swim, ever. So I am thankful that Jasmine actually stayed in the pool the whole time and had a "great time".

Christopher did well in his class today. The instructor would ask the class "Who wants to go first"? Christopher proclaimed loudly, "Not me, I want to go last!"

He went out into the water with the instructor. She suggested that they sing a song when she took them out into the water. So Christopher sang, at the top of his lungs "Five little monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell off and bumped his head, Momma called the doctor and the doctor said No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

Summer Sign Language Class

My daugther and I are taking a Sign Language class for the summer and today was our first day. We talked about ASL (American Sign Language), SEE (Signing Exact English) and one other, that I don't remember.

SEE is more for hearing people as opposed to ASL which is more of the language of the deaf.

Our homework assignment for this week is to be able to spell our first name. I'll be sure to take my camera next time and share some pictures from our class.

Menu Plan Monday

Here is our menu for the week. I am trying to get into the habit of making a different type of bean each week. This week I bought the ingredients to make Pigeon Peas. I will have to figure out how to incorporate that into my weekly menu.

1. Basil and Tomato Pasta Dish

2. Pig in the Blankets

3. Veggie Chicken Stir Fry

4. Tacos

5. Pizza

6. Spaghetti

For more menu ideas, visit The Organized Junkie!

Home Makeover Update-Blinds and a few plants

As I am working on freeing my mind of mental clutter, my view of my house is changing. I have lived in my house for 4 and 1/2 years and up until the other day, I still had paper blinds on the windows in my bedroom. As I begin to think more clearly, I realize that the house does not really reflect who I am, or who I am supposed to be rather.

So powered up my drill, went to Home Depot, and bought two sets of blinds. I'm guessing that the paper blinds used to give me somewhat of a depressed feeling, because I feel amazingly better now that I have the real ones up.

While I was there at Home Depot, I decided to get a few plants as well to put outside. For right now I have them inside the house until the Swallows leave. :-)

The state of my plants is usually an indicator of my mental state as well. We'll see how these fair.