So many thoughts.....

OK - so the diamond pictures....  One of many things flying through my mind right now.  And the more I "mull over" the image, more meaning / meanings it has.

So - I have to pick one to start with.  As a line from Alice in Wonderland would say "Begin at the beginning, and continue through until you get to the end.  Then stop."

Beginning thoughts coming soon......

OK - How about this one?

Maybe It was the size of the image that threw you....

How about this one?

What is your first thought.....

What do you think of when you see this?

Just curious........ very long post brewing - Don't say I didn't warn you.......

Another bad pet day....

Well - I was going to title this "And then there were none"..... but felt my morbid Italian was getting the better of me.  Yesterday, I had to have our 15 year old cat, Hobbes put to sleep.

  He started acting really weird on Sunday night, and after watching him all day yesterday, it was obvious something was seriously wrong.  Apparently he was full of cancer.  Mike was at work, so all the kids were with me.  Not the ideal.  We didn't stay "with him" while they put him down.  I had to get me and them out of there.  So - we are now officially "pet less" - and of course the "We have to have some kind of pet!" arguments have started from the little ones.  Can't really blame them - can't say I haven't had the same thought. Just sitting tight for now though.


Hobbes was one the first things I took care of in my married life.  Mike bought him for me for our Christmas together.  We all have some great memories of him - he was kind of a half cat half dog kind of guy.  He "talked" to us, had "guarded" our kid's rooms while they slept (one sitter had to throw shoes at him because he wouldn't let he get to Michael Ben's room - he didn't know her, and she wasn't getting in).  He was a sweetheart, and we will all miss him.

When in Doubt—Over-practice | CCEF

A blog post I just loved.....  :)  !

When in Doubt—Over-practice | CCEF

What is Contentment?

This is something I have been mulling over recently.  What is the difference between settling and contentment.  For a change, instead of attempting to wax eloquent....., I am asking you guys.  How do you define contentment?  How do you discern the difference between being content, and "giving up"?  Any thoughts?

A book I didn't want to like....

We were given a copy of a book called "Mighty Acts of God" by Starr Meade.  This was a book I had seen over and over in my "travels" while searching for books.  It was one that had come recommended, and I actually had it in a list of books I wanted to get a hold of when we were given our copy.  When I first pulled it out of the box and flipped through it, I put it down almost right away.  For whatever reason, it seemed too involved for what I was doing at the time.  At the same time, our boys are transitioning out of the "Big Picture Story Bible" and reading it themselves, so we were beginning to look over the "next level" of book for them, since the "Big Truths for Young Hearts" book is still a little rough for them to comprehend.

I picked it up again about a week ago to look over it more in depth.  It looks like this will be the next evening family reading book.  It is basic enough for the twins, and engaging enough for Michael and Kate. It is not activity based (which was my first impression....), but instead discussion based which means we can go more in depth with the older ones, but the twins can still have a meaningful part in the conversation.  And, something that is very important to us as a family, it keeps on with the "Big Picture" theme.  One of our biggest complaints with most "children's bible story books" is the disconnect and "character study" type lessons.  The bible is a big continuing story, and although knowledge of biblical characters is helpful, without the Gospel remaining the main theme, you have a collection of "nice stories".  Meade stays true to keeping God's redemption the main theme.  It is put out by Crossway (www.crossway.org/blog). We are looking forward to using as part of our evening family worship!