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Psalm 100

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with
gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is
God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of
his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with
praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and
his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all
generations.

WooHoo!
I'm sitting here typing my first blog entry from my brand new desk. Wow! I've been wanting a new desk forever and my wish has come true. Chris bought me a new credenza, hutch, and desk as my Christmas present. Just the credenza and desk were delivered today. The desk will be here in about 3 weeks, hopefully, before Christmas. Now if I can just get everything back in this desk that was in the old one. Actually, as you know from my previous post, I've been cleaning like crazy so hopefully I'll even have a little room to spare in my new desk. The first thing I did was hook up to the internet so I could start blogging and checking email.

Help! I've started cleaning and I can't stop!
Just waded through my mess of an office to make this post. It all started yesterday when I got in Chase's closet to find him something to wear and couldn't find a darn thing because it was so messy. I then proceeded to clean out his entire closet and bagged up a bunch of clothes that no longer fit. Then I cleaned out all of his drawers. Thought I was over the cleaning fit until it hit me again this morning. I started cleaning out Cole's closet and his drawers. Then I had to clean off my desk and everything on it since I'm getting a new desk delivered on Monday. Somehow, just cleaning off the desk turned into cleaning out the whole office. I dumped all my books off the shelves and started rearranging. I don't have just one bookcase either. I have 3 book cases all crammed full. Now if I can just get all this junk I'm getting rid of out to the garage before I wear out, I'll have it made. Why does this happen to me? I start cleaning and I can't stop. It is like spring cleaning very late in the year. LOL!

Finding Neverland
I got to go see my long awaited movie last night. It was fantastic! Johnny Depp is amazing as is Kate Winslet. This is the story of how J.M. Barrie created Peter Pan. As we say at my house, this movie gets a "double thumbs up!"

Give Thanks
Just a few verses about being thankful to prepare our hearts and minds for Thanksgiving. I know all the stores have Christmas stuff out and radio stations are already playing Christmas music. But, I for one, am not skipping Thanksgiving this year. I plan to spend the day with family and friends and be truly grateful for all I have been given.

Psalm 136:1 Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love endures forever.
I also like the Message version: Thank God! He deserves your thanks. His love never quits.

Psalm 100:4-5 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Colossians 2:6-7 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith a you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Colossians 3:17 And whatver you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances
Message: thank God no matter what happens...

Want more? Here are some that my middle schoolers came up with.
Hebrews 12:28
Phil. 1:3-8
Ps. 35:18
1 Chronicles 16:8, 34
Eph. 1:16

Dyed Hair Fiasco Part 2
Here is Kristen's last panicked email. LOL Actually, I saw her this morning and her hair looked fine to me. (wait...may she ran out to a 24 hour wig store and got one!)

Hair in manic state--only hanging limply down--no bounce or sheen in
sight. Oh my beautiful mane!!! Have now secured in tightly wound towel
hoping to hold in moisture so that hair follicles may reroot themselves.
Will now take steps to get ready for bed but am distressed--what if towel
removal displays the worst? Must be strong. Hair or no hair--life must go
on!

Dyed Hair Fiasco
My sister, Kristen, and I were emailing back and forth when I received this message:

forgot I had dye in my hair and have now been on the computer 20 minutes
longer than anticipated!!! Hope hair does not fall out!!! May put wig on
christmas list!!!

keeks

I then replied telling her it sounded just like Bridget Jones. At which point I received two more emails which made me laugh my head off. Thought you might enjoy them as well!

Have now rinsed out dye...Must not panic. Am self-assured person...baldness
does not affect who I am. Will now condition as directions recommend.
Hoping for the best.
Yours affectionately,
Hairless Keeks

Scalp is tingling, tingling, TINGLING. What will I do?! Hair smells like burnt
rubbish. Must remain calm. May have to call in sick due to grievous mistake on
my part. Cannot bear to have people see me in this state. Conditioner has
become my new best friend--UNLESS--I may become a loyal customer of
ROGAINE...although wig may be best choice. No more crazy hair...only cute,
gorgeous hair...I'm thinking Jennifer Aniston hair or Julia Roberts hair...Yes,
I may be onto something here

the fiasco continues on...hair truly
is in a state...must continue to condition

The Polar Express
I've always been a fan of this book by Chris Van Allsburg and had my doubts as to whether they could make a movie that would be as good as the book. In my humble opinion, Tom Hanks has done it! The movie is beautifully done and is a wonderful story. The parts they added enhanced the book instead of taking away from it. I predict this one will be a new Christmas "classic." As for the book, I must share this story. While I was still teaching school, I had a wonderful principal who would come each year and read The Polar Express to my class. For some reason, hearing him read it would always choke me up. Especially that last page of the book which I won't quote here just in case you haven't read it or seen the movie. Go enjoy both the book and the movie!

Middle School Update
As I mentioned earlier, I am now teaching a Middle School Bible Study at my church. So far, it has been a blast! I usually have 5-7 girls ranging from 11-13 years of age. They are hilarious! They get so excited about everything and just act plain silly. It is refreshing and funny. It did my heart good last night to see all of them digging through a concordance and their Bibles looking for verses about being thankful. At the end of our lesson last night, we all made lists of at least 10 things we were thankful for. They had serious ones, of course, like family, friends, God, Jesus, and the Bible. However, my favorite part was hearing the fun ones. Flip flops, toilets, smiles, pens, pencils, books, indoor plumbing, hot showers, and many more. What really cracked me up is that about 3 of the 6 wrote down flip flops. And no, they didn't consult each other while making the lists. Hmmm...maybe I need to go buy a pair of flip flops!

Neat Story
I meant to mention this on Sunday so hopefully you are like me and still haven't finished reading your Sunday paper. In Parade magazine, there is a wonderful story by Pat Conroy about his father and his love of hot dogs. Wonderful! I love the way Pat Conroy writes. If you can't find your Parade magazine, the story should be online on Nov. 22nd. Now some of you are wondering, who in the world is Pat Conroy. He is a fantastic author who writes beautifully. I can't even begin to explain his writing. You just have to read it. His most famous books are Prince of Tides and Beach Music.

different kind of prayer
Just found this on my sister's blog. Cool!

Friends
I went out to dinner tonight with some old high school friends. Okay, maybe old isn't the best choice of words since we're all edging nearer 40 everyday. LOL We went to the Olive Garden and it was delicious. I hadn't been there in a long time. I hardly ever eat Italian food so this was a treat. Even better than the food was the company. We laughed, complained and sympathized with each other. I loved Jan's post on girlfriends. I agree with her. Go get yourself some good girlfriends now or call the ones you have and arrange a Girl's Night Out. It will do you good!

Inspector Gadget
Cole recently saw the movie "Inspector Gadget" and is now convinced that he is "Gadget." He has a corner of the living room set up as the gadget cave. Blocking it off is a marker board on which he has drawn all the controls on the dashboard of his gadgetmobile. The most hilarious thing is that I caught him brushing his teeth with his index finger. He informed me that the toothbrush was built into his finger, therefore, he had no need for his regular toothbrush. Later this evening he laid down on the floor and yelled that he needed a new chip. A new chip?? He needed a computer chip to reset all his gadgets. OK, the kid is 5 and he knows much more than I do! LOL

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
I liked this book, too. It is my book club's selection for the month. It is the story of a young girl who escapes from her father and lives with three black sisters who keep bees. I know it sounds weird, but it is a page turner. My favorite part of the book is how the author uses a quote from a nonfiction book about bees and then that chapter has to do with the quote. Very clever!

Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson
Uh...yes, I've had time to read two books, but no time to blog! LOL Anyhoo, this book was wonderful. I read the whole thing in one night. I stayed up until 1:30 a.m. to finish it. Neat love story and uniquely written. I don't want to give too much away so grab a copy and a box of kleenex and get reading!

Juggling
Man! I've been having trouble keeping up with everything lately. Unfortunately, something had to give and it has been one of my favorite pastimes...blogging. I will try to get back to posting more often this week.

This post goes out to my sister, Kristen
I have been feeling horrible the past couple of days. Horrible headache, throwing up, etc. Kristen has been sick, too, with an upper respiratory infection. She called me yesterday while I was lying in bed feeling sorry for myself, hoping upon hope that I could get a new head attached to my body. ;) I told her what was going on and not more than an hour later, she showed up at my house armed with lotion and ready to give me a massage. What could be better than a massage? Not much! She even did my hands and feet. So, this post goes out to her to tell her thank you for being much more than being my sister. Thank you for being my friend!

The Incredibles
I took Cole (almost 6 years old) to see The Incredibles yesterday. He loved it and so did I. This is the first PG movie I have ever let him watch. I decided to let him see it because of one simple fact...he loves anything that has to do with superheroes. I knew the movie was rated PG because of action violence. There was not any bad language (at least I didn't notice it) in the movie. The movie was well done, but does have a lot of explosions, crashes, fighting, etc without any blood. The beginning of the movie is a little long for younger kids as it is setting up the premise for the whole movie. I don't think Chase (almost 4) could have sat through it until the excitement began. It is typical Pixar...very clever and very funny. I would recommend it for older kids, teens and adults. You can read a family friendly review here and other reviews here.
Even if you don't take your kids, take yourself. You'll enjoy it!

Reader's Bliss
What could be better than finding your new Bookmarks magazine and the new Levenger catalog in your mailbox all in one day? Woo Hoo!

Putnam City West Prom (1985...gee, that's almost 20 years ago. Scary!) 

November 3, 1990 Chris and Kyndal's Wedding

Special Day

Today Chris and I are celebrating our 14th anniversary. My how time flies! I thought my readers might get a kick out of a wedding picture and a picture of us at our senior prom. Chris and I have known each other since we were in 7th grade. We met in 5th hour speech class where we promptly hit it off because we spent most of our time making fun of the other kids and their speeches. It was not so funny, however, when we had to take the stage ourselves. Chris and I remained friends through Jr. High and High School, although we didn't have any other classes together until our senior year. We dated briefly when he was 16 and I was 15. He had this cool, old convertible and could drive by himself. What a thrill! LOL After a couple of dates I informed him I just wanted to be "friends." Broke his heart or so he tells me. Didn't see much of him after that...hmmm...I wonder why. Anyway, we ended up in a computer class together our senior year. There were 20 guys in the class and only 4 girls. I guess girls and computers weren't cool back in 1985. The girls all sat together right next to Chris and his buddy, Mark. Chris and I got reacquainted and spent a lot of time laughing in that class. One of our favorite memories being that I missed a test and had to make it up at which time I informed the teacher that I was going to ace the test. Wrong! I got a 65. EEK! We all had a good laugh over that one. I asked Chris to the Christmas Dance and we went and had a good time, but did not date after that just remained friends. Chris still insists that the only reason I asked him was so that I could get a date to the prom. Well, it worked. He took me to the prom. I left for college and didn't see him too much until after I had graduated and already had my first teaching job. My mom and dad were in Las Vegas and my grandma was staying with us since Kristen was only 10 or 11 at the time. I went to the store to get hotdog buns for dinner and did not return home for 2 hours. My grandma was panicked. What happened to me? Well I went to the store and ran into Chris and we proceeded to talk for a couple of hours. He then asked me if he could call me some time and I said yes thinking he would never call. He called the next day and the rest is history. We dated for about 6 months and got engaged. We were married about 5 months later. So, there you have it the Kliewer Story in a nutshell.

Beyond the Gates of Splendor
A new movie is coming out this weekend that tells the story of five missonaries who were killed in Ecuador. Our BSF leader recently read some comments by Elisabeth Elliot, whose husband was one of the five killed, so this film immediately caught my eye. The most amazing thing is that Elisabeth Elliot eventually returned to live with the people who killed her husband. This will be an inspiring film! If you are here in Oklahoma, it will be at AMC Quail Springs, Penn Square and Crossroads. The movie was put out by Every Tribe Entertainment who is committed to making moves that "inspire hope through truth beyond imagination." Sounds look a good goal to me. I hope to see the movie this weekend.

Be sure to vote today! 

Kristen and the boys at the corn maze celebrating her 25th birthday.

We had a blast at the corn maze at PBar Farms. We got lost in the maze (of course) and ended up coming out the same way we went in. The maze was cool because they had signs with questions which gave hints on where to go next. We also went on a hay ride and a train ride. The train ride was cool because the kids got to ride in cut out barrels pulled behind a tractor. Did I mention my mom also rode the train? I told her I was going to post a picture of her on my blog so I'll be putting it up later today. LOL All in all, a great day!

My mom riding the "train!"