How Many Boxes Give-Away??????

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Now it is time to have fun!  The boxes are stacking up all over the house.  The de-cluttering is still going on. The move is in the near future and  I have never had a give-away.  So here it goes.  I have very few rules for this give-away.  The prize has been endorsed by my Ethel (explanation on her at bottom of blog page) and I believe you will all enjoy the prize....of course it is a book, one of my biggest delights, and it brings about laughter, one of my life goals.  Heavenly Humor for the Woman's Soul - by varies authors including my favorites, Patsy Clairmont and Anita Renfroe.

Rules

• You don't even have to be a follower or join as a follower....now that would be nice, if you would come back to see me another time and let me get to know you
• You don't have to follow me on twitter - I do have an account but still don't know how to do it or have the time
• You don't have to follow me on face book....I have that also but rarely get on it
• You do have to enjoy the fun!!!  Only guess once!

Excuses the mess remember I am moving and have a five year old...which means he unpacks!!!

Answer the Question - How Many Boxes will it take to Move the Wright Family?

Now I am going to give you some hints to help you with this question.

1. This house holds 31 years of marriage accumulations
2. My husband is a non-recovering pack rat - now how many shirts/ties/shoes does a guy really need (I should give a gift for just guessing how many he has right now...hint - they will not all be going with us!)  He can rival  Imelda Marcos with his closet   
3. I have home schooled for 22 straight years...all the way up through four high school graduations and have many out-of-print treasures I am holding for - who knows, maybe grand kids, or just me
4. I can fill a whole bookshelf with my own personal books (notice I didn't label myself as a pack rat)
5. I sew/scrapbook/paint and cook - supplies needed for all
6. There are two boys still living in our home - toys, electronics 
7. If I had to grab anything out of my house I would grab all my pictures of my six children....boxes!
8. Our garage holds tools....things - in case we need them one day....no room for cars! I found a whole box of just caulk....you know for around the baseboards, bought when we were putting in new baseboards in our home (over five years ago)..got rid of them, don't count that box There are golf clubs that haven't seen the golf course in over a decade/ paint cans with 1/2 paint for my future projects
9. Thanks to some of your wonderful posts I have been purging...but still have a box of VHS tapes (maybe after the move I can locate the commercial and post it...oh, my)
10. Photos don't reveal all the boxes

Now let the fun begin.  I will announce the winner after I get adjusted to the new house...planning on the second week of July.

At that time I will also post the hand of God on this move and how He didn't give many options....only His direction.  All of this is just to give you a hug of appreciation for all your support in this last month of such unexpected changes and uncertainty.

Love you all so much....what a blessing this blog-sphere has been to me!!

• How many boxes?????????????   

Taking Advantage of the Fun Around Us

Well you don't know our family...totally. This Wright bunch just seems to know how to stick their noses in the right place to leave behind memories, as well as marks in history.

Here are just a few things we have been involved in:

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Our family made a commercial for Chevrolet.....yes, right in our own front yard.  My Sanguine husband entered us into a contest...not the first time nor the last time he has done that.  The slogan that year was "what do you do in your Chevrolet?"  We won the commercial for our region of the country.  Number 5 child was only a baby and I am not a lens hound...just keep me in the background, thank-you.  Filming crew, cameras, and an aerial camera, along with commercial ad representatives, exploded on our quiet cul-de-sac one fall day.

How did we win?  This was the story and how we ALL got on television.  We had a little Chevy pick-up, an S-10 to be exact.  The kids had taken the water hose in the summer and filled up the bed of the truck with water...they wanted a pool and we didn't have one!  They had so much fun acting like it was their new swimming pool.

My husband explained to the Chevrolet folks that we use our truck as a "car pool!"...literally!
THEY LOVED IT!!!

The filming was in the fall....can we say not a good time to go swimming with small children.  They, of course couldn't catch the scene in one shot.  Teeth chattering, along with blue lips, didn't fool the audience into believing it was summer.  So we emptied our 80 gallon solar system water heater into the plastic lined truck bed...happy children, blue lips gone... commercial finished.

The phone...(yes, we still had a home phone) rang off the hook the first night of the airing of the commercial across the state.  Past-life baseball announcer for the Texas Longhorn baseball team for years, as well as Praise and Worship leader in our city for decades made my husband's voice more than recognizable in his birth city.
*No photos taken...I had a baby and was helping with the crew all day....the commercial is on a VHS tape.
*Now I did make it on the evening news one night...but that is another story for another day.

The Wright family has a file folder full of these "taking advantage of fun around us" stories.  They have been extras on the TV show, Walker Texas Ranger, formed a tunnel for the Texas Rangers baseball players to run through and anything else their Dad could hear about or they discovered themselves...he trained them well.  Tracking down the pianos in Austin, Texas was also one of those lifetime events.

With my  Choleric personality, this stretches my comfort zone... yet later I am so glad I stepped outside my box.  As I age, I am getting better about it and usually will encourage them to go try something.

This last month provided some "taking advantages of fun around us!" events and our number 3 son, Aaron David (who is Phlegmatic), was part of each history-making event.

Mav's Win

Taken from Aaron's phone - He also played his senior basketball game on the Mav's home court, before one of their home games.

Aaron, along with over two-hundred thousand other fans, lined the streets of Dallas for the first-ever, NBA World Championship Victory Parade for the Mavs.

Later in the month, he also attended a Ranger's game that set a world record...

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George W. Bush and Nolan Ryan help set a Guinness World record for the most sunglasses worn at night.

Aaron was there and kept his sunglasses.

Now, isn't life just too short to miss those "taking advantage of the fun around us!" events?  It doesn't have to be an event that makes the papers or internet, but something that creates a story for everyone to tell and re-tell for years to come....the "do you remember when?" type of tales.

What "taking advantage of the fun around us" event have you been a part of lately?

Real Business of My LIfe

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How easily the stresses of life can steal from the real business of life.  How easily I can  become a "navel- gazing" person wrapped up in me.  How easily I can run to the throne with a prayer that isn't scriptural but a "pitiful, sickly, and self-centered kind of prayer and a determined effort and selfish desire to be right with God are never found in the New Testament." My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers.

This is where I found myself yesterday as I came before the Lord. My devotional led me to Job.  God's Word started to unfold before me as He prepared me for the day.

Boxes are blocking our home, deadlines are coming closer and closer and the stress of a seemingly impossible task daunted my early morning checklist.  I stopped...God was speaking. I know He speaks all  the time...I am usually the one not listening.

The passage in Job jumped from the pages

The Lord restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends. Job 42:10

Okay Lord, I hear you. It is time to pray for my friends...but I already do!  Or at least I feel I do.

"If you are not now receiving the "hundredfold" which Jesus promised (see Matt. 19:29) and not getting insight into God's Word, then start praying for your friends; enter into the ministry of the inner life......the real business of your life is intercessory prayer."  My Utmost for His Highest - June 20th

Wow! the megaphone was loud and clear.  Excitement welled up as I entered into the business of life....intercessory prayer. The rest of the day was filled with text messages and phone calls from friends going through major trials.  The joy of intercessory prayer ignited a moving away from self.  The prayer warrior in me began to pray and praise.

God then spoke to me once more in the beginning scriptures of Job 42.  These scriptures breathed  breath back into my "navel-gazing" day and life came forth.   God's word is truly living and mighty to direct us back on the path when detours try to knock us off the course for our life. 

 Job 42:1 Then Job answered the Lord and said:

2 “I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 ‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
6 therefore I despise myself,
and repent [1] in dust and ashes.”

Now may I be busy with the real business of life and not focus on the events that pull at the true business of life. 

Happy Father's Day

Benjamin's answers to his teacher....his Daddy tie.
May ALL Dads continue to always be heroes in their children's eyes.

To my husband who has exceed all my exceptions and dreams as the Dad for our six children.

If there was ever a lifelong cheerleader for our children it is my Husband.

Just ask him about his children and he glows.

He will then tell you detail by detail all the assets of each one of them.

I don't think he has ever shared any of their faults.

To You My Hero, I Love You - Happy Father's Day

To My Dad who trained me to be a mother of five boys!  Without his loving directions I would

have been lost in their journey of Mom of Boys and one Full Time Girl!

My Dad also pointed me to the Father, and for that I am eternally grateful.

To My Dad  - I Love You and Happy Father's Day

To My Heavenly Father - Without you nothing would matter.

Betta You Don't Know What Happened

This post is dedicated to those mommy moments where we all have a lapse of mommy judgment.

The story will be told through pictures...which paints a 1000 words, all spoken by Benjamin.

Less than 24 hours...."Mom Betta isn't in the bowl!"  "Now Benjamin he can't jump out!', I chuckled back.

Trip number 2!!!

This time I got smart....I thought.  I bought a cat proof bowl with a lid.

Betta you guessed what happened to Betta number 1!  Now what was I thinking.  The next morning I found Betta #2 on the floor...lid still on, water all over the floor, gasping for his life.  I quickly recovered the fish, added more water and prayed he would live.  Poor Max, he was only being a cat.

Max is now living with Nanny and Papaw, mainly because we can't have a cat at our new dwelling,

however, Betta #2 has now lived for over a week.

This mommy needs to keep her thinking cap on!
Do you have a mommy lapse of judgement story?  Oh please I can't be the only one!


(Thanks for all the precious words on our anniversary.  We stopped, after the whirlwind of the past two weeks of the unknown and took a boxing break. It was great to get back in touch with what is the most important. We are on the downhill stretch and will see what God has in store for us in our new neighborhood.)

Believing In Marriage

My invitation engraved in crystal, cake topper, wedding bouquet and wedding ring.

Thirty-one years ago today, June 14, 1980, I entered the journey of a lifetime.

The crystal engraved invitation sets on my dresser reminding me of the day I spoke my marriage vows.

Through the ups and downs we still stand on the rock who holds us together.

Thirty-one years later

Grey hairs of experience

Bodies showing the affects of time

Six children

One daughter-in-law

Moves

Jobs

Churches

Joys

 Pains

Riches

Poverty

Sickness

Health
Laughter
Tears
Together - Becoming One
As our invitation states at the beginning - Believing in Marriage

We continue to walk out the vows two naive young people made before the Lord Thirty-one years ago.

Our Anniversary!

As of yesterday we found a new rent house and will be moving in two weeks...a new adventure. Thanks for your prayers of support.

A Voice from the Sky

The silence of my sleeping family welcomes my Sunday mornings. Interrupting the stillness I hear an unusual sound coming from my postage size backyard.

Opening the door to rising sun I peer out into my uneventful backyard.  I hear a voice.  "Well Good Morning!"  Startled I glance toward  the backyard fences  wondering who was talking to me....no one.  Then for some reason I looked up. Surprisingly I step back to a scene from the movie "Up" which catches my Sunday morning eyes.

I couldn't believe it.  The balloon had just cleared my neighbor's house.  The unusual sound came from the blond hair woman turning the fire on to lift the balloon higher into the air.  I step back amazed  with, "Wow!, how beautiful!"

She comments back, "we are on our way to breakfast!"

I squeal at my sleeping husband, "get up".  I grab my camera running to the door as the balloon comes across  into the front of our house.  "Come look! It is a hot air balloon!"

What a way to start a Sunday morning....a voice from the sky! 

Still the Same Jesus

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Visualize with me a room full of strangers.  Each shifting in their chair as the air of intimacy starts to turn toward their own testimonies.  The common bond in the room is Jesus.  Their ages range from teens to early 60's...all economic bases and different nationalities occupy the room.  Twelve were gathered together.  The casual conversation takes a turn.  Her toes are missing from her feet, the story begins to unravel to the amazement of all gathered.

"I had to call her parents.  They had given her 1% chance of surviving.  No one survives this level of toxic shock she had in her body.  Her family start arriving. Christian's gather in prayer."  The husband recalls thirteen years ago.  The wife sets quietly as their testimony continues.

Jesus Arrives!

"My wife wasn't feeling well.  I asked her could she wait until I could prepare to pay for a doctor to see her.  My business was just starting.  She couldn't wait and the doctor came back with the diagnoises of cancer."

Jesus Arrives!

" I had a stroke caused from a hole in my heart."

Jesus Arrives!

'For years they have tried to get a baby....then the phone rings and in four days they picked up their child."

Jesus Arrives!

They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.  Rev., 12:11

The words of these testimonies could have taken place at anytime in history. I can envision this group testifing to the miracles of Christ 2000 years ago, and yet these testimonies were last Friday night.

As we gathered in our new home group the words of their testimonies started to ring out.  Yes today we have "modern medicine", but who gives the doctors the knowledge?  Who is the ultimate healer?  What difference is there in any of these miracles from the ones Christ performed on the roads He traveled 2000's years ago?

The first testimony - Jesus showed up with healing in His wings.  The 1% chance of life became 100%.  She lost her toes due to the toxic shock.  During the time her toes succumb to the toxic shock she was carrying their first child.  The child was born healthy.  She learned to walk again and recovered.  Today she is the mother of two children.  

The second testimony - Jesus showed up with healing and provision.  His wife was diagnosed with colon cancer at the same time as he had a balloon payment for their home due and starting a new business.  Eighty thousand dollars later his wife is healed and the hospital settled for $100 dollars a month payment.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:25

The third testimony - All his test, one year later, are coming back clear.  Surgery to close the hole in his heart, as well as, his memory from the stroke are healed.  He has just flown home from rejoicing over his son's graduation from the Naval Academy.

Jesus - the same yesterday and today. Nothing is too difficult for Him! 

 We step into the sanctuary on Saturday night for worship.  Our church now expands to three campuses with over ten thousand members.  Our young pastor comes to preach on death. He has been touched by Jesus also as he went through brain surgery and treatments for a year.  This last week he walked through the events again, this time on the other side of the surgery table, praying for one of our elders.  Another brain tumor, diagnoses worse than our pastor's, again the body of Christ cries out to God for healing.  There will be healing one way or another.  Our pastor guides us through a Christian's response to death,  home coming and heaven.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. Is. 53:5

Jesus Arrives!

As my family walks through a"hiccup" in life I see how strongly the words of our testimony build each other's faith.  God increases our faith through how He has worked in other's lives.  May we not forsake the gathering together to share life and hear testimonies.  Even in blog land the Lord is allowing His testimonies to go forth - For His Glory!  May we not shrink back in telling the Greatness of Our God! Thanks to so many of you for sharing your testimonies which are strengthening my faith.

Time for Lemonade

Summer has arrived.  We have hit 100 degrees - fun and memories are calling. Before our recent news of rent increase  (meaning our economy must be doing well???),  causing our unexpected summer house move, I had planned on filling my calendar with fun summer events.

Well as the saying goes,  When Life Gives You Lemons Make Lemonade...those lemons are flying in at the spend of my teenage son's fast ball from the mound, so time for lemonade.

Here I go - grab the computer and research all that is available locally.

Friday nights - Movie in the park

Grab a blanket, bug spray, and picnic basket to enjoy a movie under the stars.

Outdoor Concerts on Friday Nights

In our local amphitheater different venues lift up their voices and instruments in free concerts. - Good date night with Hubby.

World Renown Art Museums free exhibits this summer - Thomas Cole and the  Hudson River Artist

Picasso and Barque

Shakespeare in the Park -  Grab the picnic basket and blanket again

Baseball - Watching My Son Play Ball - The best 15 year old ball player on the field

Library - reading programs, children's events, and adult classes

Neighborhood Pool

State and National Parks - Lakes, Hiking, Nature

Homemade Ice Cream

Grilled Pizza....well grilled everything

Visit Historical Sights

Learn the History of our City and Surrounding Cities

Pick your own Farms - Peaches, Blueberries, Blackberries and Lavender

Water Balloons

Local Outdoor Water Fountains....just calling to be enjoyed

Now that should start out the summer well. So between packing, de-junking and moving I am not going to lose the summer.  You want to join me for a lemonade?

Thanks for all the wonderful scriptures, prayers and words of encouragement. I keep re-reading over and over again each one....you all are treasures. I am also preaching to myself through my blog posts this year....Big Girl Panties and others.  God was preparing me.  We are still house hunting.  We have to the end of June to be moved.  Benjamin's solution to this problem..."Mom just knock on that door and tell them we need to borrow their house for little bit!"  He keeps me smiling.
Welcome Summer!

Surrender

This is where I am right now...a place of surrender.  My face is to the wind as I trust the Lord with the direction His wind is blowing our family sails.

We will be moving to a new house...unexpectedly, but the winds blew so strong that they couldn't be ignored.

God is also changing the wind on our home schooling after 22 years.  We are looking into our fifth child attending public high school in the fall.  This will be another new experience for our family.

My husband is adventuring into new job opportunities...working two jobs now.

Me....I am standing solidly on the rock!  I am seeing how I don't enjoy change...so surrender and trust are required again.  He was faithful last time and will be this time.

My verses today were these

Psalms 37:23 -26

The steps of a righteous man are established by the Lord;

And He delights in his way.

When he falls, he shall not be hurled headlong;

Because the Lord is the One who holds his hands!

I have been young; and now I am old;

Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,

Or his descendants begging bread.

All day long he is gracious and lends;

And his descendants are a blessing

Thanks to all of you that are praying for us during this season. Your words of encouragement and testimonies have given me wind under my tired wings.  My posts may be more spread out as I seek His face, cry some tears, pack and anticipate the goodness of My God.  This is just part of the Great Adventure.  He has something wonderful in store as I surrender.