Soccer begins

Timothy's soccer schedule:

Sat. April 17 10:30 field 6

Sat. April 24 10:30 field 3

Sat. May 1 1:00 field 3

Sat. May 8 8:00 field 6

Sat. May 15 11:45 field 3

Sat. May 22 8:00 Field 6

Marcus' and Lucas' soccer schedule:

Tues. April 20 6:30

Tues. April 27 6:30

Tues. May 4 6:30

Tues. May 11 6:30

Tues. May 18 6:30

Tues. May 25 6:30

Soccer is played at Georgetown Township Port Sheldon Sports Complex

Elephant Guns

People who seek spiritual contentment do not want to be challenged or moved. What I love about my God is that He does not let me stay as I am; he wants me to grow, and like a parent, He rejoices in my growth, and nothing is better than that Hallelujah!

Someone who is pure will not be afraid to offend, or call "a sin", "a sin". Many Christians today do not want to confront sin or stand apart from the world. We are surrounded by sin. But we don't call it that. We are surrounded by the proverbial elephant in the room. Those with true purity are elephant trackers. They carry elephant guns. They do not ignore the signs of an elephant. My husband, thankfully, is such a man.

With the Holy Spirit's guidance, he recently pointed out one of my elephants. I closed my eyes and waited for him to shoot it. But instead, I felt him touch my hand and heard him ask, "Where does your help come from? Who do you trust?" You see, my elephant was self-defeating self pity. So I opened my eyes and found a large elephant gun in my hands. Yep, I had to look my elephant right in the eye and take aim. It wasn't an easy task. This elephant had been following me around for quite awhile. No one else had mentioned it... it wasn't even that big of an elephant but it had to go. So, listen to the elephant trackers in your life, and when they hand you the gun, take it boldly, take aim and fire.

The Continuing Saga of the Pine Cones

We have the largest pine tree in our neighborhood. It’s at least 3 feet in diameter and twice as tall as our house. It makes a huge noise when the wind whips through its branches, and the pine cones rain down everywhere. It’s the pine cones that are the problem.

Mom –“Don’t touch the pine cones. There’s sticky sap on them.” This was not fair of Mama…all those tempting pine cones..Hand sanitizer is the best defense against sap. Just rub a big glob of it on the sap-encrusted foot or hand and voila, sap free…

Mom – “Don’t throw the pine cones at the deer.” There’s a nursing home behind our home and their deer pen is behind our shed.

Mom – “Don’t throw pine cones at the house.”

Mom – “Don’t throw pine cones at the cars.”

Mom –“Don’t throw pine cones at each other.”

Kids –“What can we throw the pine cones at?”

Kids—“Ahhhh! Sap! I need tizer, please!”

Kids—“See how far I can throw this pine cone, isn’t it AMAZING?”

Kids—“Mom, watch me twist this pine cone in half!”

Kids—“Look, I can draw with chalk on the pine cone.”

Kids—“Sorry Mom, I didn’t mean to hit you. You moved at the wrong time.”

Mom—“Let’s pick up ALL the pine cones and throw them away.”

Kids—“bummer.”

Thankfully, God designed men and women differently. We all know this and live with it every day as husband and wife or in watching our parents as we grow up. Still, for some strange reason, we expect our kids to learn the same way. We seem surprised at their differences sometimes. This subject extends far beyond gender, as each individual is a unique creation of God, but I am always being surprised by my children. So here’s a reminder that boys are different than girls.

Boys SEE Differently

“Males have more rods in their eyes versus cones. Rods help us to see distance and speed. Females have more cones than rods. Cones help us to see color and shape. Because of this difference, boys tend to draw verbs with little color variation in their pictures while girls tend to draw nouns with lots of different colors.

When asked to draw a picture, Sally will draw a house with people and flowers and lots of pretty colors. Steve will draw a tornado which is knocking down a house - and his picture will look like a large black swirl.” August 13, 2008 -- Homeschool-Your-Boys.com - Boys Learn Differently Than Girls From Homeschool-Your-Boys Homeschool-Your-Boys.com - FREE Advice on How to Homeschool ...

Allow me to illustrate in these two great pictures from my 8 year old son and 6 year old daughter. See if you can pick who drew what. J

Another beautiful Michigan summer day in Spring. Unseasonably warm at 77 degrees and sunny. My happy yellow daffodils are trumpeting spring's arrival with all their hearts in the flowerbeds. Today we abandoned our books for the park.

The wind blew last year's leaves skittering, paper thin and brown, along paths and over ground just beginning to green. The four children climbed an inviting tree, rejoicing over footholds and handholds and what they could see from the heights. Even Mama looked tiny. Finally, in their red-cheeked exhaustion, they came to stand under the tree. But it had no leaves to shade them. Even its buds were still closed up tight. We walked through the woods and along the creek bed, searching out signs of spring other than the sun warming our heads. We spied racing water spiders and the green glow of algae on still creek waters. Three friendly dogs greeted us while their owner clung to their leashes.

We headed back to 9our waiting water bottles and the drive home with windows down and radio cranked to the sound of an audio story. This time --Mrs. Frisbee and the Rats of Nimh. It was a beautiful day.

Good Friday

"Whatever you do, work at it with your whole heart, as though working for God and not man." Colossians 3:23

Work. Work. Work. Some days it's downright tough to do the dishes one more time or do yet another load of laundry or spend time making one more meal. I call it the deep-sigh day. It means I need an attitude adjustment from my spiritual chiropractor. All these deep sighs and unspoken complaints are simply symptoms of me-ism. Yep, focusing on myself again instear of my creator and sustainer. Me-ism = selfishness = sin= repentance = J.O.Y. = Jesus Others You.

That's right, "you" is last. "But what about ME? It's isn't fair. I've had enough; now I want my share. Can't you see?. . . " Another selfish 80s song floats through my brain looking for a home, but I know another, "It's no about me, Jesus, that you should do things my way...it's all about you."

Isn't true worship the humbling of ourselfves? Admitting we were wrong and walking in grace, grace--like wrapping up in a dryer-warmed blanket after a cold walk outdoors.

In Luke, the Roman centurian discovered something. He viewed Christ's horrible death from beginning until the end. Darkness covered the land, the veil was rent in two, and we all know his statement, "Truly this was the son of God!" yet we miss the verse before it. Our pastor pointed to this little remembered phrase in the book of Luke and it seemed to lodge in my heart. The scripture says, "He PRAISED God." It's hard to imagine PRAISE at such a time, but there it is. He PRAISED God.--That one little verb I need for my attitude adjustment.

My life needs to be that praise, tha tacknowledgement, that daily love song, even my dishes, my laundry, and my dinners.

Love Song

Today my powm will be written
Not in words
But in the work I do
To make this house
Shining and welcoming.

Today my poem will be written
Not with pen
But with my mop and broom
With my iron and parin gknife

A love song, yes--
One written with my life.

By Elizabeth B. Rooney