Top Posts for October

If you would like to catch up on some posts you may have missed, here are my top posts for the month of October:

     *Marriage Monday: When Your Marriage Is In Crisis

     *Twelve by 2012

     *Marriage Monday: Get Your Marriage Out of a Rut

     *Decorating for Halloween? Yay or Nay?

     *Marriage Monday: Be the Cheerleader!!

     *Please Tell Me You Can Relate

     *Not Quite Meeting My Goals

     *Are You A Seeker... Or Just Seeking the Seekers?

     *Walking in Faith

     *Can You Hear Me Now?


Thanks for stopping by! Tomorrow I will catch you up on how I did (or didn't) do on my October goals and see about some November goals. Be thinking about yours!

The Cleft of The Rock Has a New Look!

Come in! Welcome to my redecorated blog! Take a look around and I'll give you a little tour. Oh, how I long for a fancy little laser pointer to be able to show you around.

So. How 'bout this bloggity blog over here, huh? Not too shabby, huh? First, I have gone and gotten myself my very own blog address! Be sure you change your blog readers, etc. to www.sarahstirman.com. I think they are updating both right now, but I've already made the switch. So.... if you aren't reading this let me know. :-)

Across the top, under my header, you see several links, like so: Those have actually been there for a while. I may have told you about them, but I have just now completed all of them where you can poke around and see what's what. There is a page simply telling a little about moi', your blog author, a page that has some clips of my writing, a page detailing my speaking topics, and a page listing the most recent top posts for this blog. Of course, most of that information is for folks that will be new to this blog, but feel free to poke around and visit. Oh, and you can always get back here by clicking the 'home' button, of course.

So over there on the right you see some fancy new buttons. They are even shiny. The first one looks like so: I'm sure you recognize the Facebook 'f', of course. That won't take you just to me, but to my blog and speaking ministry page on Facebook.

The little Twitter button takes you to my Twitter home page in case you want to follow me there (I always think of Betty White, "I'm on the Twitter...").

Now, the YouTube button, I confess does go somewhere, but the somewhere is a little... lacking at the moment. It will take you to my YouTube channel that currently has nothing on it. Go ahead and click on it and subscribe and it will let you know when I upload videos. The 'vlog' is becoming popular, but I confess that I am not much of a fan. I catch reading blogs when I can. In the bank line, the carpool line, the waiting room -- rarely someplace that it is conducive to watching a video. However, I have come to see the importance of having some videos out there. Some will be me sitting at my dining room table chatting with you, some may be me at an actual speaking event. Subscribe and see which pops up first!

The last little orange-y rainbow-looking button is an RSS feed subscribe button. If you KNOW what I just said, you are probably already subscribed somewhere. If you think I just said, blah, blah, blah "rainbow", then: click on the button and it will take you to a page where you can choose how they can let you know when my blog updates. (My pic here has little tools next to it. The button in the sidebar should not.)

Then, you can Grab My Button. Yes, my BLOG button! Seriously, how cute is it? If you have a blog, you can use the code underneath it to post onto your sidebar to send me a little linky love. Speaking of linky love, underneath all of THAT in my sidebar is my own blog roll that I desperately need to update. Check it out, be sure your blog is on it. If it isn't, let me know, and I'll be sure to add it.

I know you are SO! TIRED! The tour is almost over. One more tiny little thing I want to make you aware of, though. See these little bitty little buttons at the bottom of each blog post:
Those are social media buttons. They allow you to (in order from left to right) email the post to someone, post it on your blog, tweet it, share it on facebook, or share it GoogleBuzz. Just a little "click economy" for you if you come across a post of mine that you happen to like. This will allow you to share it with others easily.

Whew! Isn't it great? I am so thankful!

All of this beautifulness is many, many thanks to Julie at Deluxe Designs. She is AMAZING to work with. She probably still has a little concrete stuck to her forehead from banging it against a wall after the 437th time we exchanged an email about the yellow in the border with me giving such helpful feedback as, "But... it's just a little too yellow-y, you know?" Yeah, I'm a dream client (not so much). She, however, is awesome and VERY reasonably priced and I obviously just cannot say enough wonderful about Deluxe Designs!! Thank you, Julie!!

Today's a New Day!

I'm going to be honest (not that y'all have every known me to be anything other than PAINFULLY so): yesterday started out pretty crummy. And it was basically my own fault.

I went to bed WAY too late Sunday night, but my body wakes me up at ridiculous hours, so I woke up too tired. And, I didn't get straight into the Word. Two strikes.

So I scrolled through some email, scrolled through some blogs, and came across the announcement for the winner of the scholarship contest that I applied for last week. Yeah... not me. Turned down before I even got all the way out of bed. How's that for Monday morning?

Gray skies. Overall blech. I had planned to get out and go running, but it was 38*, wind chill 29*. What?? Now I am SUPER grouchy! Okay, so it's time to dig into the Word.

That, combined with other things, lightened my mood. We had a showing -- with 35 minutes notice. The kids and I were still in our PJ's, stacks of laundry of the dirty and clean variety, as well as a littering of dishes around the house. You would NOT believe the miracle we can work in 25 minutes. We went and let Ashley get some driving practice, and Riley and I went and lay in a "sunshine patch" on a playground. Perfect.

When I got home I came across something on the Internet that opened up a whole other side of the blogging "community" to me. Whoa. Not even going to detail how I found the rabbit trail that led me to find out that there is a whole segment of blogs that set out to "set straight" popular bloggers and/ or celebrities. Not even going to name them. I think it started as a site about celebrities, especially popular reality moms, perhaps mothers of multiplies (not naming those, either).

Then some folks started finding out discrepancies about popular bloggers (it may just be one blogger) and found a way to throw them under the bus the same way.

Let me give you some examples of what these people are detailing on the (I'll call it the "Setting Things Straight" blog):
*On June, 2007 Pseudo-Mom SAID this: People always gripe at me for flying with a baby in my lap. Seriously? We have 5 kids! They expect me to buy a plane ticket for the baby?
*But in February of 2005 she SAID: We like to check our car seat and if there is an extra seat on the plane put the baby in it to give us a break.
They then chastise her for not being able to make up her mind about how she travels with a baby! The baby in June of 2007 wasn't in existence in Feb. of 2005. Can she not change her mind?

A) Honestly? There are people this despicable and hateful that they will troll and detail one person's blog so that they can point out VERY minor inconsistencies to the blogging world? That is some deep-seated loathing...
B) They are pointing their judgmental fingers at this woman for her "lying, unethical ways" but whatever moral compass they live by doesn't call them to "live and let live."
C) There is seriously a full time moderator of this "Setting Things Straight" blog -- detailing and listing out VERY minor discrepancies, looking for plagarisms all over the internet, and moderating comments. I am simply agog. And my own day didn't seem so crummy.

First, let me say that I started this blog in 2005. I have probably posted some things that I have changed my mind about now, 6 years later. I KNOW I have posted things I wish I hadn't.

But I am so thankful for my moral compass, my One True North, that calls me to do better. Because once I judge those people (most likely women, I'm sorry to say) for their behavior, I am no better than any of them. For the record: they say up front: we are not Christian, this is not a Christian site, do not presume that we are. Oh, don't worry.

And, I'm thankful for His mercy and Grace that allow me to stumble and start over new every morning.

What. A. Day.

As I was opening my eyes this morning, I was thinking, "We should leave the house 'show ready' when we go to church this morning... they gave us such short notice yesterday, and the weekends may be a busy time for house hunters..." Yeah..

Then Troy came back and told me that the dog (our LARGE dog) had a LARGE accident in the laundry room. VERY unlike her, I think I know what happened, but nonetheless, there was machinery that needed to be moved, grout to be cleaned, etc. Troy thought he had cleaned it all up, but he can't smell anything, so off I went scrubbing and mopping and moving the dryer, etc.

That didn't get the morning off to a very peaceful beginning as you might imagine.

The day concluded with trying to coax a hibernating hedgehog out of her cage so that we could clean it out -- we had forgotten to bring her in from the garage when we had someone come to look at the house yesterday. She's fine in cold temperatures, but she goes into hibernation. Good times, good times.

Betwixt and between I sent my husband on his way to a town 180 miles away for his first week of work -- only to send him with my car keys so that he would have to turn around about 30 miles out and come back... --, took a teenage girl clothes shopping (which was actually relatively painless compared to everything else), and helped son prepare for a devo talk.

I'll be honest -- you knew I was going to -- I haven't loved today. But I have been thankful. I have been tempted to gripe (and I have) -- but underneath it all, I am thankful. If nothing else, it's awesome blog material, right?

Yesterday afternoon I was blessed to meet and spend a few minutes talking to the mother of the stinkin' cutest little 4 year old leukemia patient -- still going through one more year of treatment. Also learned of a 5 year old diagnosed with leukemia. Can I really complain because of a few inconveniences due to a new job and life transition? I'm sure I can, but Lord help me if I do.

Today was the first of what will be several challenging days ahead, I'm sure. Mandisa sings it best, "It's only the World", oh, yes, it is.

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:17,18

Fixing my eyes on the eternal to get past this temporary mess.

Immeasurably More

Well, I am back with not much fanfare. Okay, with no fanfare at all.

I did truly enjoy my bloggy break and it accomplished so much more than I ever thought it could. Did you know that it is much easier to listen when you aren't yak, yak, yakkity, yakking, talking all the time, or even worried about what you must say next?

I listened a lot. I listened to my family. I listened to my husband and children. I listened to my church family. I listened to my new co-workers -- have I even told you that I started a part-time job? If not, that will have to wait. Most of all, I listened to my Father. And I loved every precious word He had for me.

There were MANY times I did want to fill you in on my life, though. There were amazing God-stories, and sad times that needed praying over. Some of them I may eventually recount, some of them may be gone forever in my feeble brain.

Last weekend Coffee Group traveled for the first time in a while. We had one of the best trips I remember us having. We agree that we think we have finally found the balance of how much preparation we need to do, prayer we need to do, and trusting we need to do to allow God to work in an event.

One of the points I brought out in my talk was from Ephesians 3:20: "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine..." As I prepared my talk and thought about the last few weeks, I began to realize: God isn't only ABLE to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, He LONGS to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine in our lives. It takes letting go, it takes giving up control and being in some scary and sometimes painful paths. But He will bring us to a point of immeasurably more.

I'm ready. I'm ready for immeasurably more. May I remember to let go of all that I think I am clinging to for safety and security and control, and be blessed -- immeasurably more than I can ask or imagine.

So -- how was YOUR February?? :-)

Sabbath Rest for The Cleft of the Rock

I am tired. I don't mean I need a nap. I mean I am weary to my bones. I have so much I want to tell you about what God is doing and working in my life and I simply cannot stop long enough to tell you. That in itself is a problem.

I realize that much of my problem comes from working through the holidays. I don't mean the work that every woman does through the holidays of cooking, cleaning, decorating, shopping, wrapping, and entertaining, though I did some of that, as well. I also had deadlines and assignments that I worked on all through the holidays. I had one day that I let myself take completely "off" -- New Year's Day I piled in bed with books and Bibles and journals and the remote and stayed in my PJ's all day and loved it and grieved that it wasn't more.

I know for a fact that I am not the only woman on the planet that worked through the holidays, and I am very blessed that my work is as portable as my laptop. I've got a pretty good gig going here. However, the well of words and thoughts inside my head is dry for now. I have committed the critical error of forgetting that rest is as important to my work as the work.

I am shifting gears in life right now for a while and will have LOTS to tell you when I return. But until March 1, this blog will be on a little Sabbath rest. I'm sure I'll be wasting a little time on Facebook, and I might visit your blog, but these words need time to rejuvenate and refresh. Oh, and I haven't forgotten that I want to still talk about marriages. I haven't forgotten and Troy and I have been blessed to be invited into some hurting marriages and would be honored to pray with you wherever you are in yours.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

So, that's where I will be: with Jesus, finding rest for my soul. I will catch you back here in March and tell you all about it.

Friday -- Clean Up and Fun Day

Don't forget to look into the November challenge. You know you want to do it. What's stopping you? We'll all have so much more fun doing it together!

Drumroll please...... WINNERS!!!

Here is the official Cleft of the Rock choosing bowl, full of Monday's entries:

At which point, one of my offspring with writing all over her hand even after a shower dug into the bowl and drew this name:

Please trust me that the bowl full of Tuesday's entries looked virtually the same as the bowl full of Monday's entries. A different offspring's hand dove into the bowl and pulled out this name (no writing on the hand, but still dirty fingernails after a shower):

So, congrats to Stephanie and Christy Cate. Thanks to one and all for playing along. More prizes/ give-aways coming up! Start with the November challenge -- Target gift cards...! Woot!

Don't you want to be the voice of this booth?

I get a date tonight! Then volleyball tournament and soccer tomorrow (and the end of both seasons are in sight! Awesome!) and worship with my church family on Sunday.

Who has an awesome weekend ahead? What's going on where you are?

Looking Back

So glad you are here! Welcome to the continuation of the party for my 1,000th post!

Help yourself to some cake, pour some Diet Coke, coffee, or the beverage of your choice, and we'll stroll down memory lane just a little.

First, I want to mention that I never intended this blog to be as 'public' as it has become. I only wanted a place to house my own personal writing. But soon I just needed to vent, or tell about something funny that happened at my house, and that is what people responded to.

So I continued to chat and share my life with you here and you continued to come around and visit with me.

You have been down several roads with me. You were here when I started a teaching job, and when I left it to try out this writing business.

You have grieved and remembered my Poppa Max with me, and laughed and enjoyed my kids with me.

You have celebrated big doin's with me, and been there to keep me going when I was grouchy.

And last week, you gave me great thoughts about going back to middle school (shudder).

All this week I will be saying thank you. I usually only say the words "Thank you" -- because words are the best way I know how. But I have a few little token 'thank you's' just to say,

"Really! Thank you for still stopping by!" Give-aways all this week.

Today's give-away will include two books, one a little more 'fluffy' than the other, and a magnetic list pad because I simply love those things, don't you? If not, maybe you will learn to love them?

To enter today's give-away, leave a comment telling me about a middle school experience you would rather forget. My kids asked "your most embarassing middle school moment" -- if you are ready to re-live that on the world wide web, knock yourself out. I will simply phrase it, 'a time in middle school you would rather forget' since there are SO many of those.

I will kick off but I have to confess that I have successfully blocked much of middle school out. Partly because I went to school at the same school 1st-12th grade, and we moved to the same building at 4th grade, so many of the memories have merged. I do remember being in 7th grade and having a crush on a tall, lanky senior and I'm sure I acted like a total doof around him at all times. Not that that sort of behavior is rare for a middle school girl.

So, what about you, can you be more specific than me? What do you remember as awful about middle school? Any particular bad experience? PE comes to mind for me...

Party Time!

Time for partying here at The Cleft of the Rock! Time to celebrate a landmark and I am so glad you are here to celebrate with me!

This is my 1,000th post! Can you even believe I have yakkety yakked that much on this world wide web? Gracious, but I am a talkative one, aren't I?

But you knew that! So, welcome to the party and come on in.

The party will be going on all week long, so stop in every day next week (starting Monday, not Sunday) for some memories (no slideshows, but you will have to re-live a few favorite posts) and more celebrating.

The best part??? There will be GIVE-AWAYS!! Come on by and win some stuff!!

So now more than anything I want to know who you are. Come on in to the party and introduce yourself. Let me know who you are and how you found The Cleft of the Rock. And, just out of curiosity, if you've been here a while, let me know which post still makes you think or make you laugh or let you know that I am a complete whack job!

Who are you? :-)

Revolve and Announcement

This weekend I had the opportunity to take Ashley to Revolve. If you are familiar with Women of Faith, Revolve is put on by Women of Faith, but is geared to teen girls. Held in large arenas, bands are brought in that play fun music for that age group, but also several young women just spoke to the girls about being real (theme was "4 Real") and a few well done dramas solidified the message, as well.

Two favorites for the weekend were, of course, boys. Chad Eastham is a young man that speaks on the differences in boys and girls in a way that the girls (and, honestly, ME) can completely relate. I really wish Chad had sat me down about a week before I got married. Truly would have saved about 7 years of figuring life out. Another favorite was 14 year old Austin Gutwein, who started Hoops of Hope. Amazing young man, the girls thought he was cute, so they listened to what he had to say.

To me, and I think to Ashley as well, the value in such events is less what comes from the stage, though some valuable things were said, it's more about the relationships along the way. Ashley has talked more about the trip over and back, and some fun times overnight than the event. That's how females are wired -- relationship. Oh, 'lest you think we have that awesome mother/ daughter bond and she is that enthralled with spending time with ME, oh no. We were able to go to Revolve because someone I know bought a group set of tickets to get a discounted price, and we traveled with friends -- some we knew, some we met that day. Fun times, making memories.

However, I will say that being around that many teens and moms generally gives Ashley and me an appreciation for each other and our relationship -- and this weekend was no different. I have a beautiful woman of God in her and I am so thankful for the ways she seeks the Lord and marches to her own drum, while never marching over the heart of another.

Please come back here this weekend -- my numbers tell me that many of you miss blog reading on the weekend, as if you have fun to be had or families to attend to or something. Let me just give you a heads up that Saturday there is a party happenin' right here at The Cleft of the Rock and you aren't going to want to miss it! There will be give aways, slide shows (okay, not so much, but memories), and all manner of bloggy fun. The deal is, I realized there is a rather momentous occasion with the blog arriving this weekend, and I couldn't let it pass by unnoticed. Anyone care to venture a guess as to what it is?

One Thing for Today

I keep forgetting to tell y'all:

I did finally make a blog roll, but like the rest of my life, it isn't organized how I want it. Right now it is updated as often as a post is made. So, newest posts are on top and I'm going to guess that Vonnie and Donna -- two of my teacher friends -- are still hovering around the bottom.

Progress, not perfection, people...

Blogging Hiatus

Folks, I do want to get back to deep subjects, and I do want to give you some wonderful insight from Riley about how or why the world works the way it does. But I'm going to take a little break first.

I missed last week as 'TV turn off week' but I think I'm going to take 'technology hiatus week' as this week. I'm not going to blog or facebook or Twitter. I'm going to listen for God. I think He's been trying to tell me some things and I seem to be missing it because I'm too busy updating my facebook status or something.

In the mean time, I'm going to post some re-runs here for those of you that may be relatively new to my blog. You need to meet the family, and learn what a whacky, flawed person I am.

I plan to be back for real next Monday, May 4 (can we BELIEVE May starts on Friday??? Wow.)
Hope to see you then.

Who Am I?

A week ago my hair looked like this:

and my car looked like this:

Now my hair looks like this:

and my car looks like this:

A week of changes at my house. Yes, I know you are thinking I'm gearing up for that landmark birthday, but if my very old, very mine-all-mine car could have made it another 6 months, we would still have it. But it scared me and God took care of us in getting another. And so did Troy. :-)

Obviously, none of these things define me, but I have to say that I've waved and waved at several people in the past week -- in my car and face to face -- that have seemed to look right through me. A few politely smiled back. Oh, well. Maybe I could pull off some huge prank right now -- nah, who has the energy?

So, I'm still trying to figure out who I am in the mirror and which car is mine in the parking lot (seriously, I haven't had to press the alarm YET to figure it out, but I'm afraid I will soon...!) Someone mentioned that I finally have the hair to fit my personality: sassy! :-) I do like the word 'sassy' and I think it fits me just perfectly.

That word calls to mind one silly night at Bunco. Autum and I were deciding everyone should have a nickname that was alliterative with their first name. I made her Awesome Autum and she made me Sassy Sarah. She called me Sassy for months after that.

What would your alliterative name be?

On a much more serious note, please pray for this precious punkin' having very serious surgery that I don't fully understand. Tell the Lord to hold Stellan and the doctors operating on him. God knows the rest.

Survey/ Poll

You folks are always a wealth of good information. So help me out, 'kay?

I REALLY (like 4 years ago) need to have a 'blog roll'. A list of blogs I visit/ like/ etc.

I have never made one because I'm a wimp. I know that I would invariably leave someone off that felt like they should be on there, yada, yada. So I decided not to decide.

So my question is this: what do you WANT from a blog roll?

Do you even pay attention to other people's?

Do you trust me to cull it down to high quality editorials, or do you just want to see who my blog-peeps are?

Readers of The Cleft of the Rock: your thoughts on blog rolls?

Drumroll Please...!

First, thank you for suggesting some favorite blog posts! So fun!

If you would like to read two favorites here are links to:
Considering Valentine's Day and
The Beast vs. M.D. Anderson

If you still haven't voted in the Theobloggers Christian Blogger Awards, vote here. You can vote once per computer! :-)
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I am delayed in getting around to doing this because I WANTED to have a fun button to use for my guest bloggers, but it's not working. So, I shan't be all perfectionist-y, we shall trudge forward without a logo or button for my guest blogger for today.

A few weeks ago (that's already been two weeks, can you believe it?) I went out on a limb here and shared my God-dream with you, you awesome COTR readers, you. And you, you awesome COTR readers, you were your awesome selves. So sweet and encouraging and supportive. And I want us to share the love! So the next day I suggested that we share some other God-dreams out there -- no dream too big or too small. Let's hear 'em!

Of course, faithful Dad was one of the first to jump on the bandwagon. And since, if not for Dad, I wouldn't be around to have a God-dream, I find it only fitting for him to be my first guest-blogger to share his God-dream.

So, welcome Dad to COTR Guest-Blogger for the day:

So, tell The Cleft of the Rock readers a little about yourself: I'm a 64-year old Realtor, husband, father, grandfather, motorcycle enthusiast, sinner saved by Grace. I have been through some incredible health problems, my delivery from which assures me that God has big plans for me, and I pray every day for a glimpse of those plans.

How often do you stop by The Cleft of the Rock and what brings you by? At LEAST twice a day. I go there because of the content and quality of the writing, and of course because the blogger is my one and only daughter and I'm her biggest fan. But way beyond that, the frequent spiritual "lifts" I find there are truly valuable for a pilgrim like me that needs a thoughtful, and thought-provoking, "pick me up". Additionally, there are frequent links there for other writers I'm not aware of, and when Sarah finds them valuable, so do I.

Do you have a God-dream? Do you have more than one? Tell us about it(them): My main God-dream is to get a copy of "Hope in the Face of Cancer" into the hands of every newly-diagnosed patient I possibly can. God made entirely too many things come together for me to not know that's what I'm supposed to be doing - to use my cancer journey to assist others. Another God-dream is to be able to retire and devote myself to ministering full time to the members of my church. Due to the sour economy, that of course isn't coming together the way I expected it to, but God knows what he's doing so that it will come in its own time.

Are you currently doing anything toward this particular God-dream? I'm actively involved in getting the book out wherever and whenever I learn of someone who needs it. God has allowed me to be friends with the author, and she sells me the books at her cost.

What are some obstacles you see (or tell yourself) about your God-dream? I don't have any kind of network to be able to learn about who is newly diagnosed and therefore needs the book, so I have to rely on casual conversations. That naturally limits the amount of the blessing I can pass along.

What can other people do to encourage you in your God-dream? Just call me when a friend or relative is diagnosed with cancer. Or pass a copy along yourself. Pray for a cure, so that the author can cease selling the book!

Thanks, Dad, for sharing your God-dream with us. Your giving spirit is a blessing to us all.
If you would like to share your God-dream with us (Lisa Laree, you're up!) I'll email you an 'interview' for you to fill out!

Get Outta Town!

Y'all are just too sweet. My readers evidently nominated me for Best Blog by a Female Blogger over at the first annual Theobloggers Christian Blog Awards. How nice is that?

I was GOING to come over here and say "vote now! vote often!" (I THINK you can actually only vote once, though) but then I went and saw that two of the sweetest people EVER share the ballot with me!

Dee, who is blog buddies with Denise and Tammy, and our own
Red Hot Momma, Amanda are also nominated for the award. (Amanda leaves no stone unturned about a godly marriage on her blog. Love it -- she's also been a 'Good Thing..' over here!)

So, vote your conscience over there. Winners will be announced at Tulsa Workshop on March 28.
Hey, I have an idea...! In the comments, tell me about one (only choose one -- Roxanne!) of your favorite blog posts of mine. Okay, I'll make it easier on Roxanne -- I'll go ahead and put the recent Valentine's one, the baked potato one, and maybe my 'What I've learned' (birthday) one on the list. I'll include links to some of those from your list over the next few days if any newcomers are 'scoping me out' trying to decide before voting. If nothing else, it will be FUN! :-)

Poor Riley -- his random fact of the week got upstaged by that news, but it is definitely worth sharing still.

So at lunch on Sunday, family is discussing a PRECIOUS friend we have that I recently learned was a stewardess for her pre-children career.

Riley: "Stewardesses is the longest word you can type on a keyboard using only your left hand."

"May I PLEASE use that for a random fact for the week?"

"Absolutely. It's TRUE!"

And so it is. I shall type it one more time just to prove it: stewardesses. See? You try it!

Elephant Mystery Solved ... Kind of...

So today I was tagged in a pic on facebook. I clicked over and Kyle (my Aflac representative!) had posted this:

(Notice the elephant is on the truck, not a trailer... hmmm....)

Anyway, if Kyle is being serious (always a gamble) he said he had talked to the guy, company name Flashback, and he makes them. That is all Kyle said. So.... I guess Mr. Flashback either doesn't have room to store it now that he made it, or he is spending all of his advertising budget on gasoline to drive around town. Now, Kyle said he makes "them". Do you honestly think there is a big market for almost-life-size elephants here in Abilene? What does Mrs. Flashback say about this? Still more mystery.

Y'all, I have to tell you -- My little Nike-mini gal that I posted on my blog is CRACKING me up. Sometimes she's doing the 'walking man'. Sometimes she's running hurdles. What cracks me up the most is when she says "I could run this with my eyes closed" because we all KNOW that I can barely run with my eyes open!

Tonight was basketball. The gym felt nice and cozy warm when I walked in from outside, but after sitting there for about 10 minutes, it was too warm to hardly stay awake! Add to that, the very young little referee positioned himself precisely where I could see NOTHING that happened in the southeast fourth of the court, which was probably only about 33% of the game! At one point, there was a tremendous crash (from that corner), the entire crowd that COULD see gave a collective, "Oooooooh..." So, I realized, "Well, someone fell REALLY hard." The gym is still completely silent at this point. I'm craning and stretching and looking around ref's rear to realize, "Oh, hey, that was my baby girl that just crashed into the gym floor." By the time I realized that she was on her feet and taking off, but I still don't know what happened. It's probably best. I do know that she landed on elbows and knees, instead of her head like the lady in front of me told me. That's gonna leave a mark.

And, tomorrow is Friday. A fairly calm weekend in store for us -- our only one this month. Anyone doing anything fun? I think I'm going elephant hunting.

Snoozed and Lost

This morning, I read a really great scripture that I wanted to share with you. But it's carpool week. And today is Ashley's birthday (which means I am the mother of a teenager!!!) so of course I had to take her a lunch to school. Oh, and buy a card because I always forget that her birthday comes RIGHT after everyone goes back to school. And I volunteer at Riley's school on Wednesday afternoons. Then there was a haircut, birthday dinner, church, more birthday celebration, and here I am. I have no idea what the scripture was, but I'm sure it would have rocked your socks off.

Anne signed up for this. As always, I'm 3 days late and several dollars short, but I think I shall participate. I think you should, too.

As mentioned, I am the mother of a teenager. I wasn't prepared for how old that makes me feel! And as Chondra Pierce says, "That means that now, I'm an idiot." I'm totally used to that.

And, since you aren't on facebook, I have to tell you the great elephant mystery of Abilene. Yesterday, driving through the middle of town, I saw the strangest thing. So this was my facebook status:
"Sarah is very sad I didn't have the camera phone ready when the truck carrying the ginormous elephant statue on a trailer drove by."

Very funny. Then, this morning, another facebook friend said:
"I saw the ginormous elephant statue this morning on the way to work and I didn't have my camera with me either! Yes, it was on a trailer being pulled behind a white truck! Where is the elephant going??"

Weird... there is an elephant statue cruising the streets of Abilene. Surely it has a destination...

THEN, this afternoon, Amy posted:
"OK, I'm totally 100% not making this up.... just driving home from HEB and cruising over the overpass at 83/84 was the truck carrying the elephant statue on a trailer!!!!! WHAT THE HECK!!!????"

What the heck, indeed? I mean, this statue is truly a little bit larger than any baby elephants I have seen. It's a little big to be selling door-to-door, you know?

So my status tonight is:
"Sarah needs the next person in Abilene to spot the elephant statue on the trailer to stop the driver and ask him why he is cruising town with it?"

And Val said that he saw an elephant statue yesterday, too -- but not on a trailer, it was in a truck. (Cue eery music) Are there two? Are the elephants stampeding via motorized vehicles? (and one at a time because they're low on gas money?)

In short, what is the DEAL with the elephants, people???

Since we may NEVER know, make up your best story about why a man is pulling a trailer with an almost-life-size elephant statue on it around Abilene, evidently for DAYS??? What do you think could possibly be the reason?

Ortho and Haircuts and Carpool, Oh My!

I know it's your world, too, but every afternoon/ evening from 3-7 is just a life- marathon, isn't it? I was incredibly lazy over the holidays so getting back to a routine has actually been a nice change. But it's just so much routine! This week is typically nutty, with just all sorts of mundane appointments that never seem to be in the 'finished' column!



As I mentioned yesterday, I'm just slowly crawling back into walk/ jogging. I shouldn't have quit going to the bicycle class so soon -- my brain is suffering lack of exercise endorphins! I know that makes no sense to you, but if I don't get back on track soon, my family will probably request that I move out for a while. I'm also getting paid back for the people I have tortured while walking with me. I'm not tall, but when I walk for exercise, I walk FAST. It's what I do, how I find my endorphins! Well, flipping up your feet much faster than you are used to really works the front of your calf muscle (yes, it's the still the calf muscle, even in the front). So anytime I get a new walking buddy, they usually make it about 5 minutes into the walk until I hear, "Man, my shins are burning... let me stretch... wow... that is really on fire.." I sigh and roll my eyes and keep torturing these people. Well, my feet are flipping for about 5 minutes before my shins are aflame these days. Take great delight, walking partners!

Thank you to everyone who responded -- via facebook, email, AND comments on this blog for song suggestions! I plan to (eventually) try every last one of them. Maybe a reward to myself for getting back to running where I want to be would be an iTunes gift card to stock up! You can never give me too many! Keep sending them!

This morning, I woke up early to read my Bible before the day ran away with me. Walking down the hall in the dark I could hear Stickers' wheel squeaking. When I let Duchess out, I could hear Stickers "crunch, crunch, crunch"-ing on her food. I turned around to see Stickers' very ample bottom still on her exercise wheel while her top half leaned toward her food bowl. We have Americanized Stickers -- she is snacking while she exercises. Yeeshk. So funny.

Between my lack of exercise endorphins and some minor technology derailments of late, I have been a little grinchy. I think it's a mark of an abundantly blessed life when you allow the little things to bug you. And they have. But God is faithful and continued to bless me and this morning, after viewing my waddly little rodent, God gave me these words. Familiar words that, thankfully, increase their power to me with repitition:

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary

and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:28-31

May you soar on wings like eagles. May you run and carpool and care for and not grow weary. May you walk -- just one step in front of the other -- and not be faint. His blessings on you today.

Another Survey

Well, how 'bout THAT for an unannounced little bloggy break? I would love to tell you that I was feeding the poor while entertaining holiday guests in my beautifully decorated home, but no. I have no idea WHAT I was doing. I did go to physical therapy a few times and that is just a really good thing, people. Get yourself into some physical therapy to fix what ails you! My friend Megan will be one soon -- and she will rock! And, I did a little decorating and a little wrapping but still have lots to put together around here. Not much left to wrap, though -- when your family goes from 2 incomes to one a month or two before the bottom falls out of the stock market, Christmas isn't quite as extravagant as other years. I'm not complaining -- no one in my family can really think of anything they NEED, so that's a pretty sweet Christmas gift right there.

So while I continue to finish up holiday obligations over here, I have a question for you: what song is sung in a church setting (devos, kids worship, house church, etc. all count) that you would really be okay to NEVER hear/sing again? Not for emotional reasons, just because it bugs you? Leave out the ones that just don't make sense scripturally ("There Shall Be Showers of Blessing" and "Mansion Over the Hilltop" come to mind -- and "Back, Back Train") but just give me one ... or five, your call ... that you just don't enjoy.

I'll tell you mine, and I do so with trepidation because it comes from beautiful scripture, but IT. HAS. BEEN. DONE. Again and again and again my soul has panted for Him as a deer pants for the water. Now we sing a newer version at church that has a better feel/ melody/ something that I ENJOY but I really don't enjoy the late '80's version of "As the Deer". Sorry if it's your favorite.

Someone has to tell my husband that he has to comment because his is hilarious. He's sung it a time or twelve at funerals and if you need to sing it at his funeral, you are not invited to come OR sing! :-)

THIS song is an 'oldie' that I am loving lately. I bought Travis Cottrell's Christmas CD off iTunes, and this is the last song. I am LOVING it being in with my Christmas music. Enjoy.