MSM Has begun "Things in my house Thursday". In the spirit of joining in the fun, I share this photo above.

In general, this is how you would find my telephone, most days. It stays unplugged in order to keep it from ringing at times when I really do not want to go see who is calling, much less be bothered by a phone conversation. I don't like being interrupted by a phone call. I know at first I thought that having caller ID would help, that being on the national do not call list would help. I also was naive enough to think that putting that block on your phone where people HAVE to identify themselves would help-but it did not. We still get phone calls -mostly from people wanting to sell us something. Family and real friends know that if they really want to get in touch with us, they need to just email. My mother knows my cell number as does anyone else that really might need to get in touch of us in case of an emergency. We use a tracphone-so we pay as we go and limit how much we use it. Seriously, I've considered canceling our land line ...but have hesitated for now. It just seems weird to not have a land line phone. I mean, I will pick it up to make a quick call and then unplug it again (unless I am expecting a return call)...but for the most part-I would rather stay unconnected.

I know it might sound a bit anti social to not want a phone... I guess it started when homeschooling the kids. I could screen the calls, or I could go check who was calling from the caller ID-but I soon saw that I was still interrupted from whatever activity we were in. Sometimes I might would even be deep in my closet cleaning(hey it does happen from time to time) and would have to come out to talk on the phone. It would be just annoying.

A few people will comment about never being able to get us on the phone. When you try to explain it they just don't "get it". Personally, while the rest of the world is becoming more connected every day between their cell phones, computers, IM and handhelds, I personally desire to be less connected and have real conversations face to face when I see you. Those are the ones I welcome and love.

Thanks MSM for hosting this...it sounds like it will be a blast.

posted by Muddy at 6:20 PM | 4 comment(s)

posted by Muddy at 6:16 PM | 0 comment(s)

posted by Muddy at 1:06 AM | 2 comment(s)

I heard about this today at church...such sad news...

Christopher Laurie, son of Pastor Greg Laurie and Cathe Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, died Thursday morning in a car accident. A resident of Huntington Beach, Laurie, 33, served as the art director at Harvest Christian Fellowship for the past three years.

In addition to his parents, Christopher is survived by his wife, Brittany, and daughter, Stella, as well as his brother Jonathan. Christopher and his wife are expecting another daughter in November.

Memorial plans for Christopher are pending. More information will be posted to the Harvest website as details become available. You may pass along condolences and thoughts for the Laurie family by posting a comment on Pastor Greg's blog by clicking here.

posted by Muddy at 11:55 PM | 0 comment(s)

A rainbow in the fountain at a local mall/lifestyle center from last week. The light was hitting the water in just the right way to form the bow.

This was the second of three rainbows I've seen in the past couple of weeks. As cliche as it may be to say it, I was reminded of God's promises each time I saw the spectrum of color splashed in front of me.

It's not just the promises God made in Genesis 9, but all of God's promises that we can trust to be true.

posted by Muddy at 11:20 PM | 2 comment(s)

posted by Muddy at 11:29 PM | 0 comment(s)

Yesterday, July 11, was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick Fil A. Bayley here was unable to wear his cow hat and get a free entree. This is indeed sad as Bayley loves chicken almost as much as he loves life itself. We even have a song about Bayley looking for chicken scraps that we've sung to him since he was a tiny puppy.

We made the words up ourselves;

Looking for chicken, on the kitchen floor
Looking for chicken, cant find it anymore
All I want are some scraps, I can't find where they're at
I'm looking for chiiiickeeen.

I forget where we borrowed the tune from....that we sing this to.

Anytime we sing this song to Bayley, he runs to the kitchen and starts sniffing the floor. He knows it is his beloved song about chicken and that about half the time, he might actually find some chicken laying there or in his bowl for him to find.

So yes, Chick Fil A Cows, our dog, Bayley would love to eat more chicken and does have a special appreciation for those silly cows!

posted by Muddy at 2:05 PM | 4 comment(s)

My son, daughter and I went to see the Kit Kittredge movie today in the theater. My daughter loved reading all of the American Girl books growing up. So even though she is three weeks away from turning 18, she wanted to see this movie as Kit became her favorite American Girl character.

I found the movie was very well done, much better than the attempts that TV has made with producing some of the other American Girl stories. While my daughter said that they added certain things, changed others and took away a few elements, all in all I think she was pleased.

One thing I could not help but continue to notice was how Abigail Breslin looked in the blond wig as she played Kit Kittridge. It just looked odd to me. Perhaps it was best as it definitely gave a storybook look to her character which in the long run really works to translate what girls have in mind of what Kit looked like from the books.

The movie is set in the middle of the Great Depression. It tells the story of Kit, a 10 year old girl and how she and her family deal with life and those around them in this hard period of time. There is drama and laughter and a reminder we cannot judge those around us just because of the way that they appear. You never know the road that person has walked or where they might be headed.

One thing is for certain, then or now, life is often hard and full of so much uncertainty.

I could not help but consider how many times they mentioned homes being foreclosed on in the movie and how that might resonate with some of the families that see this movie in today's world. While we are not living in the Great Depression or anything like it , we do see our economy tanking, foreclosures everywhere, people loosing their jobs and money being stretched further and further by inflation. Perhaps there is something we in this generation could learn from our parent's and grandparent's generation: "Waste Not; Want Not".

That in and of itself could probably be another whole blog post, so without go off topic too much, I'll end by encouraging you to see the movie, and enjoy the show.

posted by Muddy at 11:17 PM | 0 comment(s)

One of the side benefits, I suppose, of your hard drive dying is that your desk gets cleaned up.

posted by Muddy at 11:20 PM | 2 comment(s)

Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. Philippians 2:14 & 15

posted by Muddy at 11:46 PM | 0 comment(s)

posted by Muddy at 2:14 AM | 0 comment(s)

Sometimes I get kind of twitchy as I consider writing something here on this blog that has moved me, either from my past or in more recent days. I often do not know who you the reader is or just exactly what will bring someone to my blog. Sometimes I write, take down a post and put it up there and down again in being wishy washy. Perhaps it is because I know I am opening a window into my soul for others to see those vulnerable stops. Perhaps I start to wonder if anyone will really care or will write off what I may want to write.

Irregardless today, the thing on my mind is that it has been six years since my hysterectomy. After years of horrid cycles, struggling with infertility, ending our official "trying" and then later dealing with extreme bleeding and anemia(hemoglobin 2.8- had to have a transfusion), I finally had enough and choose to change my situation by opting for surgery. I so hoped I would be like that woman in the bible that touched the garment of Jesus and was healed of her bleeding. In God's sovereignty, He took me down another road.

I had to have this surgery the old fashion ways because of the fibroids that were all within my uterus. I also had to switch back to a doctor I did not 100% trust because I could not bring myself to being operated on by another doctor who had shaky hands that I had been seeing a few years prior to this. It sounds crazy, but it is how it played out. After making the appointment, it was a painful 9 weeks until the actual surgery. I don't know if that is just how booked up things were or if they make women wait this long so they are sure about what they are doing first. Either way, it was mind torture to wait.

A few memories in particular come to mind:

• Signing the paper that was so boldly stating that I knew I would be sterile. The word sterile was cold, empty. It was a reminder that our plans to continue to try to have another baby failed time and time again.
• The overwhelming feelings of loss of control along with the knowledge that this was major surgery. I had to come to terms with the fact that even though we live in a country with many great medical advancements-God is still sovereign in the operating room and would be over my situation as well. Seriously, I wrote love notes to my husband and kids for them to find among my things later in case I died.
• Being woke up by the nurse yelling my name again and again while being in great agonizing pain. Not being able to sleep, but having to (from what they said for my own good to clear my lungs) stay awake and try to cough. The yelling though is what got to me. I had several nurses with no bedside manner at all that was appealing.
• Seeing my mother and my then 12 year old daughter and 10 year old son in the hall as they took me to my room. Not feeling like talking to them. Also seeing my in laws arrive in my room while I was trying to find a way to communicate to my kids somehow where they would not worry. In a word, it was all overwhelming.
• Reading the card from my son that said "we all feel prickly sometimes"...that was just what I needed to hear. I felt awful prickly for a while.
• The knowledge of being alive thereafter and God's presence so thick in the room, feeling the prayers of the saints that were lifted up on my behalf.
• My sister sitting there in my room so my husband could go home to let the dog out and feed him. I didn't want to be left alone at all that day.
• Learning to use the morphine button, while still wishing they'd let me just drift off to sleep.
• Not wanting to eat.
• Being switched the next day to a room on another part of the same floor because they were going to close that side of the hospital floor. I remember feeling displaced and uncomfortable in the smaller room they put me in. I always wondered why they didn't just start me in that room in the first place!?
• Watching 4th of July fireworks out of the window in my room with my husband holding my hand.
• Hearing my doctor the next day fuss at the nurses because he could not find me and no one told him where they had put me.
• Being ready to just go on home even though I really could have used another day there. Home was better than this treatment. At least at home, I could begin to heal somehow.
• Coming home and not being able to get comfortable no matter how I tried to lay. Crying again and again as everything overwhelmed me once more.
• Proping myself up with four or five pillows where I was basically having to sleep sitting up in the middle of the bed for many weeks.
• Seeing Bayley, our dog, lay across the threshold of our bedroom door. Personally, I think he was protecting me, knowing something was not right with me.
• Being scared silly that I would somehow "come apart" where they had stapled me back together or that Bayley would jump on me and rip me open. (I made him stay far enough away so that he could not jump on me.
• Sitting on the couch after taking some pain pills a week later watching Bob the Builder and some other show where the cartoon flower said "once upon a time there was a lawnmower" as she began telling her scary story to the other flowers.
• Breaking down on the phone with one nurse that told me I should be walking up and down the driveway by now (one week out or less) and being switched to another nurse who tenderly sympathised with my feelings of not being a woman anymore and that no, I did not need to be walking up and down the driveway yet in the summer heat of July.
• Not being able to bathe myself, dry myself, dress myself or put on my own shoes. I do not know how many times I started crying as someone else had to help me those first couple of weeks.
• Going to the home church we were attending a month later, in pain, prayerfully turning this whole situation over to God and knowing the pain, both emotional and physical was healing. I was beginning to accept things better, and beginning to see the sunshine again.

That is what was on my mind today. I praise God for the years hereafter that He has given me. I do not miss having a cycle or the intense pain, nor the extream anemia. I am facinated at the fact that I can take a portion of the skin directly above my scar and pinch it as hard as I can and not be able to feel it at all.

And glad, when it was all going on, that my husband, when he said his vows to me on our wedding day, meant every single word....for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health for as long as we both shall live....

posted by Muddy at 7:38 PM | 4 comment(s)

Free CD Download

HT: Jeremy of Andyland .

posted by Muddy at 5:18 PM | 2 comment(s)