God is God
I was thinking today about how we don't really see the big picture but God does. About how God can take a situation that looks terrible and turn it into something good. It reminds me of a song by Steven Curtis Chapman called "God is God"

And the pain falls like a curtain
On the things I once called certain
And I have to say the words I fear the most
I just don't know

And the questions without answers
Come and paralyze the dancer
So I stand here on the stage afraid to move
Afraid to fall, oh, but fall I must
On this truth that my life has been formed from the dust

God is God and I am not
I can only see a part of the picture He's painting
God is God and I am man
So I'll never understand it all
For only God is God

And the sky begins to thunder
And I'm filled with awe and wonder
Til the only burning question that remains
Is who am I

Can I form a single mountain
Take the stars in hand and count them
Can I even take a breath without God giving it to me
He is first and last before all that has been
Beyond all that will pass

Oh, how great are the riches of His wisdom and knowledge
How unsearchable for to Him and through Him and from Him are all things

So let us worship before the throne
Of the One who is worthy of worship alone

Bible Salesman

The other day, Cole began questioning me as to what a pastor does. I tried to explain to him that the pastor's job is running the church, preaching, making calls, etc. Then he told me, "Well, I really think he just sells Bibles." I asked him why and he replied, "When I was in the pastor's office, I saw a bunch of Bibles. That's what he does. He's a Bible salesman." I was cracking up! Our pastor and his wife also got a kick out of the story.

REMINDER:

Go vote today!

These are a few of my favorite blogs:

Here are some blogs that I enjoy reading. I try to check them everyday. Yes, I know I'm addicted, but it sure is fun!

• The Happy Homemaker - This is my friend, Jan's, blog. I love it! It has a little bit of everything. Recipes, interesting stories, thoughts on God and just about anything else you can think of. Jan is one of my newest favorite people. We met last October when I started my new job and we hit it right off. Our boys are exactly the same age. My favorite story is how she was telling me that there was a "Kliewer" in her Bible Study. I thought she was talking about a church Bible Study and didn't think much about it until the following week when I ran into her at BSF. Oh, that Bible Study!!
  
• Rotten Robyn - Robyn is my sister's sister-in-law. Did you get all that? Actually, Robyn and I have known each other a very long time. We grew up at church youth group together, though she is a bit younger than me. ;) We went through our Madonna phase together. We were always watching those videos especially Borderline. I now look back and wonder what in the world was I thinking. LOL Oh well, I still will admit that I love that first album (now I'm really dating myself) that Madonna ever did. The one where it is just her face on the cover and it basically says nothing else. OK, enough about that.
• Dan and Angi Have Something to Say - I came across this blog because they are friends of Jan's. I got to meet Dan tonight for the first time and visit with him. I felt like I was meeting a star or something! It was cool! I had met Angi before and also enjoyed visiting with her tonight. By the way, we were all at Jan's house for a show put on by Colin. Lots of pizza, laughter and kids dancing. What more could you ask for?
• Overlawyered - The world of frivilous lawsuits fascinates me. Read more than you ever wanted to know on this blog and its sister Point of Law.
  

On My Nighstand

• The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer - This was my book's club read for last month and I still haven't read it. Too many books, not enough time!
• R is for Richochet by Sue Grafton - I love these alphabet mysteries! I got started reading them many years ago by several teachers that I taught with. To this day, we are all still reading the books and always waiting for the next one to come out. I love the main character, Kinsey Millhone. She is a cool, single gal who drives a VW bug and loves Big Macs. She runs every morning to keep in shape, has a little private eye office and always manages to get in big trouble. I hope this one is as fun to read as the others.
• The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - This one is back on my nightstand. I started it and loved it, but got sidetracked and never got to finish it. It is my book club's current selection so I hope to get it finished this time.
  
• Keep the Siblings Lose the Rivalry by Dr. Todd Cartmell - Yes, there is lots of sibling rivalry at my house and the boys are only 3 and 5. My mother-in-law found this book at Mardels and picked it up for me. I've only read 1 chapter, but it seems to have some good ideas. Hopefully, I'll be able to pick up some helpful suggestions.
• The One Year Bible - I have not been reading this one as much as I was. Rats! I was off to such a good start. I figure its never too late to try again, so this one remains on my nightstand.
  

50 First Dates

I watched this movie tonight and I loved it! Very cute, romantic comedy. Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler click together just like in The Wedding Singer.

Seinfeld is coming to DVD

Yes, it is true. I just saw a preview on the movie I was watching (more about that in a minute) that Seinfeld is finally coming to DVD. I was laughing my head off just watching the preview. I can hardly wait...if anyone knows what the release date is, let me know. I can't find anything else about it.

This is scary!

Top 10 Reasons to visit Lake Tenkiller
(and yes, I really just wanted to try out the new numbered list feature)

1. You can visit me!
2. Boating
3. Sunshine
4. Clear Green Water (You really can see all the way to your feet. What other lake can you do that in?)
5. Tubing
6. You can see lots of stars at night.
7. You can shoot all the fireworks you want and it is not against the law.
8. Swimming
9. Cookouts
10. Campfires (with smores of course!)
    

Now is the time to blog!

Wow! Blogger has totally outdone itself. I've been out of town for a few days and I come back to find that I can choose different fonts, colors and sizes. I can post pictures and bulleted lists. If you haven't started your own blog yet, it is getting simpler all the time. Try it!

Car Conversations with God

While driving in our car to Bible School last week, here is what I heard:

Cole: (eyes closed, head bowed) Dear God, Please make Chase stop copycatting me.

Chase: (eyes closed, head bowed) Dear God, Please make Chase stop copycatting me.

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guilty!
I've been following the Rob Andrews murder case since it happened in 2001. I remember reading the article in the paper about Rob Andrew's death and thinking that his wife must have done it. Then, the next thing you know she takes off with her boyfriend and kids and heads to Mexico. Doesn't even show up at the funeral. I also remember thinking why didn't the police keep a closer eye on her? I'm just an amateur who reads a lot of mysteries and I knew who did it. Well, it looks like the end of the line. Yesterday the guilty verdict came in and today they started the sentencing phase of the trial. If you want to read more
click here for the story on newsok.com.

Anybook.info - Literature & Fiction - Buy Literature & Fiction - Read Reviews of Literature & Fiction
Neat site to help you find old (even out of print) and new books

I'm Still Here
Yes, I'm still around even though I haven't been posting much lately. It is still busy around here. Cole is going to VBS this week and Chase and I have been hanging out while he is gone. I've also been working quite a bit, goofing off some, and swimming a lot! Our new church is also keeping us quite busy. I've been teaching elementary kids Sunday School and helping with the preschool kids on Wednesday nights. I'm also on the education committee and we are in the process of finding a new Sunday School curriculum. If you have anything that you are using at your church that you really like, please let me know! Lately, I haven't had too many ideas of what to post, so if you have something you want me to post on, let me know.

Double Thumbs Up! (The ultimate compliment at our house.) 

I finished it!
I read Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts in one night. I loved it! It is set in a fictional small town in Oklahoma where a young man returns to find his mother after finding out he was adopted. Great characters. Funny and poignant. A fast read. I give it a "double thumbs up" as Cole would say.

Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts
Just found out that one of our best Oklahoma authors has a new book out called Shoot the Moon. Tomorrow night she will be doing a book signing at Best of Books in Edmond. (If you've never been to this bookstore, it is worth the trip!) You may remember Where the Heart Is or The Honk and Holler Opening Soon that she wrote several years ago. Oprah used Where the Heart Is as one of her book club picks. I just got a copy of the book and can't wait to start reading. I guess I'd better get my work done first, because once I start one of her books, they are very hard to put down. I'm hoping this one will be the same. Look for a review in a few days.

Comic Books Part 2
Just found two sites to order comics.
Archie Comics
Walt Disney Comics

Comic Books
Did you know they now have comic books at the library? My heart skipped a beat when I saw two small stacks of comics ready for checkout. You see, I loved comic books when I was a kid. I always kept a stack of them under my dining room chair so I'd have something to read while I was eating breakfast. I didn't read the superhero comics. I mostly read Disney comics as well as Archie. And to this day, I still can't start my day without reading Peanuts in the newspaper. I didn't even know they still made the Disney comics. I'm on a quest to find out where to get them. By the way, I still have all my comic books safely stashed in a box in storage.

Woo Hoo!
Yes! I figured out how to change the font and the font size in my old blog template. So this should be here to stay for awhile. Hello Dots...good to see you again.

Blog Changes
Yes, I know you are always looking at this blog and you are wondering, why does she keep changing the way it looks. Well, I just like to shake things up every once in a while. Actually, I really like the "dots" look but the font is way too small to read. If I ever figure out how to edit the template, I may return to dots. But, for now I'm trying out this new look with a bigger font.

The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason
I stayed up until 1 a.m. the other night finishing this book. It was a little slow at first, but those last 100 pages went by so fast, I didn't know what hit me. This book reminded me of The Davinci Code somewhat, because it deals with an ancient secret and unlocking the code. Lots of interesting characters are woven into the story. I'm hoping these two guys write another book soon.

Dominoes
I've had a fun-filled weekend of swimming, playing dominoes and watching fireworks. Both sides of my family loves to play dominoes. On my side, we play Mexican Train. On Chris's side, we play 42 and regular dominoes. We played Mexican Train last night, went and watched fireworks, came back and played another round. It is a blast!
If you are looking for a good set of dominoes, you can order them online at Dominoes.com. In fact, they are located in Waco, Texas and last summer Kristen, the boys and I stopped there to buy some new dominoes. Kristen bought me a really nice set of Double 12 Mexican Train dominoes and the boys each got a set of Double 6 small dominoes. (You know the kind that always get lost and usually end up between your toes or in the vacuum cleaner!) If you want to learn to play Mexican Train, call me, I'll teach you how. Or, you can always go here for lots of domino games/rules.

Celebration!
I spent the day at my mom's house celebrating the 4th of July. It reminded me so much of years past when we had the party today/tonight. Every year my mom and dad would have a 4th of July party. Anyone and everyone would come. We'd cook hot dogs and swim in the pool all day and night. Then we'd walk to Eldon Lyon park for the Bethany Fireworks Show. I'd have to say that this year was definitely one of the best shows they've ever done, but that's a whole nother blog entry. ;) Anyway, my mom and I were talking about all the fun we'd had in the past. She has pictures of some of the parties and she said she has a picture with 76 people in her pool. That's right...76!! One of the funniest years was when my mom, dad, Kristen and I went to D.C. for a big trip and left Sis at home. I think I was about 19. Anyway, we called Sis on the 4th of July and a bunch of people had showed up at the house thinking there was a party! What'd she do? She opened up the house and in they came. LOL! Hope you have a great 4th filled with fun memories like mine!

Today in History: July 4th
Ok, we are going to try this post again. For some weird reason the link didn't work yesterday. Hopefully this one will work.

Today in History July 4
This is a neat site that tells all about what happened on Independence Day. I am so thankful to live in America where we are free to worship as we want, free to read what we want and free to express what we want. God Bless America!

Flag Rules and Regulations
Just helping you get ready for the 4th. Fly your flag proudly and correctly!

Front of Card 

I just got this card from my sister and I cannot stop laughing. Hilarious!! I especially like the picture on the front. Josh and Kathryn kept telling me that they hoped I wasn't offended. Offended...no way. This is one of the funniest cards I've ever seen!! Perfect if you know me and my sister, Sissy. Love you, Sis! Now I'm going to have to find the perfect card for your birthday. 

A Day Late and a Dollar Short
Ever had one of those weeks where you never seem to get caught up? That's the week I'm having which explains my lack of posting. Cole has been going to Bible School all week with his friend. He had a blast. In fact, it was one of the neatest things for kids I've ever seen. Cole did not want it to end. Plus, I've been busy doing all sorts of stuff at our new church and I've been trying to get in some work hours, fix dinner and see my husband occasionally. ;) I'm ready for the long weekend! Although I may work some, at least I don't "have" to go anywhere unless I want to. Oh and did I mention my niece and nephew are still here? I've been trying to spend time with them, too. Looks like next week will be much less hectic. Yea!