THANK YOU, LORD

Psalm 9:1-2 - I will thank you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High. Malikas and I are reading the Psalms "together" along with a book by Jerry Rankin, president of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Sometimes... often times... life can be really frustrating. At the moment, I'm going through some frustrating personal stuff. I don't have any answers and I go from sad to mad and then back to sad. Some things just hurt and there's nothing I can do... except pray. It's hard to be filled with joy or sing praises... but that's what I want to do. My circumstances should not determined how joyful I am... I will be filled with joy because of YOU... not because I'm happy or because things are going great or anything else... but because of Him.

My sister reads my blog - faithfully. She shared a funny grandkid story and quote: She had taken her two grandsons to the pumpkin patch and hayride recently! On Monday while Dominic (2 year old) was napping she started making cookies that looked like pumpkins. (She's a good grandma.) The cookies were in the oven when he got up and she told him she was making him some cookies. He went into the kitchen, flips on the oven light and looks in to see the cookies. Then he turns around and says, "MeMe, it's the pumpkin patch!" :-)

Jury duty turned out to be a good day. I was in the first batch called for voir dire but they decided not to choose me to sit on the jury. I turned in my badge and was out of there by 2:30 - a great way to do one's civic duty!!!

KIDS ARE FUNNY!

It's been a funny week for kids' quotes - sometimes we're just in the right place at the right time.

Wednesday I enjoyed dinner at church with one of our young families. As I walked up to the table I asked the little girl, CK, how she was feeling because I knew she had missed Sunday School because she was sick. Big brother, SK, says "How did you know she was sick?" I smiled and told him I knew everything. :-) As we ate dinner, we talked about a recent change we had made in KidZone Worship - using marbles in a jar as reward for doing "homework" and bringing their Bible. SK wanted to know why we had changed so I tried to explain our thinking. Then I said, "Don't you think having a movie morning when the jar gets full will be fun?" He agreed that it would be. Then SK asks, "Could we watch Monsters vs. Aliens?" I told him I thought we should watch something more spiritual. SK: "The monsters are good ones." :-)

Today didn't start out so well. And if you asked why... well, I couldn't really give you an answer... just a blah kind of day. But I spent over 2 hours with our preschoolers at church tonight. Usually, I don't because I have childcare workers who do that but I was missing one tonight and forgot to get a replacement so I just stayed myself. And it made for a good ending to my day. Three and four year olds can be such fun! And I always learn something new... like a mom I know who often talks about their dog chewing on things but their preschooler says he doesn't... but then later said sometimes Roscoe eats things. But the hit of the evening was a cute little 4 year old girl who asked me to talk to her dad. SW tells me that her dad eats her breakfast and she doesn't get any Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Haha! SK came by with mom to pick up his sister. I asked him if he enjoyed choir tonight. He wanted to know how I knew he was in choir. I reminded him that I know everything. Then he wanted to know how I know everything. That's when I had to confess that I really don't. Hey, it was a nice run!!

Question for the day... can the Rams go the entire season without winning a game? Or will the Tennessee Titans have that distinction? They don't play each other so maybe they both can go for that goal!

Monday morning I head for the Courts Building in Clayton... jury duty is calling my name. Please, please let it be a short call... a few years ago it lasted for 2 weeks. It's an experience I will never forget but one I really don't want to experience again.

EVALS... 2 down, at least 2 to go

Two evenings of Upward Evaluations are in the books... and we have Thursday and Saturday still to go with the possibility of another day or two if needed. Numbers are running about the same as last year - would prefer to see even more so if you know anyone who wants to play some fun basketball this year, have them contact me or the church. Both nights we've had kids showing up before the "official" start time of 6 pm. I think they must be excited. I know I am. I love Upward basketball and all that it brings... well, almost all!! I've got a superb group of commissioners who make my job as League Director so much easier. God has provided great servants for our Upward program.

Lunch was special today... fun with Sammy and Lizzie and their parents at Friday's.

This is Bosses Week and it's already been a good one. However, I understand that more is in store from our ministry assistants so details will have to wait.

Listening to the rain... and tired of hearing it. And I'm wondering if we're going to really have a fall. It was so cold today!

I'm looking forward to Sara coming home on Saturday. I'm sure she's had a rough week but I'm so proud of her for wanting to minister to a family in Tulsa.

For those who don't know, Chris' girlfriend is studying abroad - in Egypt. I enjoyed reading her blog today. It's a good way to get to know her better. Looking forward to seeing her over the holidays.

Plans are coming together for our annual Fall Festival. Don't miss it! Saturday, October 31, 6 pm.

TWIML #5 (This Week in Moppy's Life)

Time for a status update... probably not such a good idea considering the mood I'm in but here goes...

Sitting: and watching the Cardinal game... one out away from being eliminated... anticipating it to all be over before I finish this.

Waiting: for the game to be over... it's been such a sad NLDS. Who would have thought that the Cardinals would have done so poorly?

Glad: for a surprise visit from Sammy & Lizzie this afternoon. Jason & Jenny went to a movie and we got to watch the kiddos. Glad: for friends from church and their encouraging words about our children's ministry.

Needing: sleep... a couple of early mornings the last 2 days and not sleeping well at night is making for a bad combination.

Reading: not much time for reading lately.

Avoiding: filing... again.

Enjoyed: a recent visit from Malikas and the trip to the Mississippi coast. Today we had a video chat online with her and Sammy and Lizzie. The kids thought it was interesting that it was dark at her house but not here. However, I don't think Lizzie understood. She asked, "Masha, could you come see us in a few minutes?" :-)

Preparing: for KidZone Worship (really reviewing) and a visit from Moses and Aaron and also for 2 meetings Sunday afternoon.

Drinking: caffeine-free diet Coke.

Snacking: on nothing; had a late dinner.

Trying: to make sure everything is ready for Upward Evaluations which start on Monday. It'll be a busy week but one of my favorites!

Ending: a wonderful visit with Malikas on Tuesday as she headed back to the Isle of Man. It's always hard to say good-bye. :-(

Misc: pray for Sara. She's in Oklahoma ministering to some kids that she got to know on her many trips to Casa Bernabe (orphanage in Guatemala). Five children (siblings) were adopted a couple of years ago. Last week the oldest (19 or 20) killed himself. Sara wanted to be with the younger siblings.

The Cardinal season is over... but it's all put in perspective when I think about what Sara is doing.

VACATION... Part 2

Well... it's been 2 weeks since Malikas and I went to the coast and I'm wondering what the odds are of me remembering enough to write in a blog. At least I should be able to remember the high points.

After checking into our hotel on Wednesday afternoon, we headed for the beach - the section across the street from our hotel. I'll admit I was disappointed - no white sand, dirty water - and I began to think this certainly wasn't a place I wanted to sit and read and soak up the sun. We walked down to a pier but it had not been rebuilt since Katrina. We eventually realized that most of them had not. Of course that didn't seem to bother the birds. As we drove down Beach Blvd., we saw a couple of places that were more appealing for beach fun so that's where we headed on Thursday. Malikas spent much of her time riding a jet ski... and she looked pretty funny when the day was over - kind of like a racoon. :-) I tried to take her picture... instead I fell in a hole, starting sinking, and ended up with a slightly wet and salty camera. It didn't go all the way under but did enough damage that my camera stopped working. :-( Being the adventurous person that I am, I spent my time at the beach reading and napping. Dinner that night was at a restaurant we found on "urbanspoon" - an app on my iPhone - called Bonefish Grill. Oh yeah... it was great! Malikas and I both love seafood so it was a good call.

On Friday, we decided to try fishing - not the deep sea kind because it was way too expensive - but what they called offshore fishing, I think. Anyway, we went out with a guide and fished under the new bridge between Biloxi and Ocean Springs. We probably caught about 80 fish between the four of us - white trout and white bass mostly. Since I'm a lover of Mexican food, dinner at El Rancho was our evening stop. Once again - delicious food.

Saturday morning brought a rain storm. It was interesting watching it develop offshore and make it's way to land. Lunch was at the White Cap Restaurant (more seafood) and we had a table at the window where we could look out on the beach. As we sat there, we watched a water spout develop out in the Gulf. I had my first oysters on the half shell and they were good regardless of what they look like or what anyone else says about them. By the time lunch was over the rain had stopped so we took the opportunity to take pictures of HUGE guitars (at Hard Rock Casino), sculptures created with a chain saw from trees destroyed by Katrina, and cool palm trees.

One more trip to the beach was in order for the late afternoon. However, it did not last very long which is very evident by the pictures as a storm came in - this time from land.

Sunday morning we left to go back to my mom and dad's to spend the night before heading back to St. Louis on Monday. My sister, Bev and her family made dinner for all of us and brought it to mom's. We had a nice, relaxing visit with everyone. The trip was fun... but way too short!