Every Day Life: Smells

By Lara

I was rushing around my kitchen this morning trying to pry frozen pieces of chicken apart so I could extract the wax paper that separated them. I was also feeding the cat, opening blinds, taking medicine, and fixing my breakfast. When my frozen waffles popped up from the toaster, I stopped everything I was doing.

That smell. Eggo waffles crisp and brown from the toaster. It took me back to my grandparent's kitchen. I was six or seven eating breakfast with my grandfather. Every morning for as long as I can remember he ate one waffle and one scrambled egg for breakfast. I felt the sun on my face through the window. I heard the coo coo clock in the dining room. I saw my grandfather reading the paper and eating his breakfast with the dog wagging her tail under the table expecting the "last bite" of waffle. I heard the birds chirping out the back door.

The flashback didn't take long, but I was surprised at how vivid it was and that it took such priority in my thought processes.

Smells can have such amazing emotional ties to people, places and experiences. It got me thinking on my way to work, "What other smells affect me so powerfully?"

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Learning To Wait

By Pat

I have often wondered what my life would look like today if I had been more attentive, careful and steadfast in listening for God's instructions. Would I be where I am right now, doing what I'm doing, or would God have me in a completely different place?

I am not always the most patient person in the world, especially when it comes to waiting. I am very diligent about giving my cares to the Lord, but not so great at deciphering what God is telling me. Therefore, many times I have taken matters into my own hands, thinking that God is taking too long to answer me and give me the guidance I need. Or worse...maybe decided that my solution is a little better than God's. That's a hard thing to admit! I'm sure more than once I have been disobedient to God by not waiting for Him.

In 1 Samuel 8, Samuel, by God's authority, told Saul, "Go ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do." Saul, now anointed king of Israel, assembled his men and went to Gilgal as Samuel instructed. But as we read on we find that Saul took matters into his own hands..."He waited seven days, the time set by Samual; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul's men began to scatter. So he said, "Bring me the burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings." And Saul offered up the burnt offering. Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him. "What have you done?" asked Samuel. Saul replied, "When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, I thought, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord's favor.' So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offerings."

Saul's impatience cost him favor with God, and under pressure Saul's lack of faith was revealed, as mine has been many times. When we stay in God's will and wait for His answers in His perfect timing, we will be blessed so that we can be a blessing to God. Hang in there...He's worth the wait!

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.

The Gospel According to Seuss

By Michelle (Graceful, Faith in the Everyday)

When my son Rowan settles on a favorite book, he likes to read it five, six, ten times in a row, night after night after night. Most recently it’s been The Lorax. I glimpse him heading toward the bed, cornflower blue cover of The Lorax wedged under his arm, and I grit my teeth and commence meditative breathing.

I admit, I don’t love Dr. Seuss. All that silly rhyming and nonsensical tongue-twisting syntax. The googly-googs and the moodly-woobs, the wiffle-wambas and the schissle-schambas. It’s all just too much for me. Really, after a long day of work and dishes, laundry and homework, epic dust-bunny battles and sorting stacks of mail and backpack debris, I’m expected to perform linguistic cartwheels, too? I’ll be frank:  I’ve been known to slide The Lorax, Green Eggs & Ham and The Birthday Bird beneath the dusty, crumby underbelly of the couch, where no man or child dares go. I’ve also carted a few in the Seuss oeuvre to the Goodwill. Let some other mother, the one with infinite patience and a more limber tongue, deal with Thing One and Thing Two.

Last week, though, during the 101^st reading of The Lorax, the good Doctor got me thinking. In between descriptions of Brown Bar-ba-loots and Truffula fruits, I read this:

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God Is... All-Knowing

By Nick (My Experience As...)

He Knows When You are Sleeping

I know, Christmas is over, but I love Christmas and could celebrate all year.  Plus, what better example for the all knowing God to a kid.

I have 4 children age 2-7.  They are girl, boy, girl, boy.  You could plan things better if you tried. My kids are all over the place with Santa, but they love presents … mostly.  The youngest is down with a present or two, but then basically wants to play and gets mad that we keep trying to get him to open the new presents.  The oldest two pretty much just tear into it. We make them take turns but you can tell it really kills them waiting. The youngest girl takes her time, looks at each thing and then opens the next present on her turn.

So back to the Santa deal.  We don’t really teach Santa in our house, but we don’t narc on the myth either.  We talk about St. Nicholas, a real hero of mine, and we talk about Jesus. They get plenty about Santa in school and since starting public school the oldest two have waffled back and forth on the Santa issue.  I think they are hedging their bets. Our oldest, a girl, was pretty firm this year and her 10 month younger brother was persuaded by her insistence a lot of the time. M, the youngest girl, is dead set that Santa is not real.  Odd that a 4 year old is so absolute in this.  She gets into screaming arguments that he isn’t real. I’m worried for kindergarten next year. I have a feeling she is going to really upset some kids.

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Organize This! Managing Piles of Paper - What to Keep and What to Let Go

By Stephanie Calahan (Calahan Solutions, Inc)

Is paperwork taking over your life? Are you keeping every single bill, tax return, insurance invoice, medical documentation, contract and even the 15-year-old warranty for the water bed that you sold at the yard sale ten years ago? If you answered "yes," you are not alone. Many people are not sure how long financial records retention should last, especially tax records.  Determining what to keep and what to toss is often a difficult decision for homeowners.

Some documents and records need to be kept indefinitely but, many can be discarded after a prescribed period. Here are some general rules to follow on how long you should keep various records.  Please note there are personal instances where documentation is required to be kept longer than our guidelines suggest.  Check with your financial or tax advisor if you have questions.

How Long Do I Keep It?

If you would like a handy guide to remind you of what to keep and what to let go, check out How Long Should You Keep Papers in Your Home - Ideas for 76 Kinds of Residential Paperwork. I created this special report to help me figure out how long I should keep various types of information and have found that my clients love it too.

To get you started, here are a few rules of thumb:

Tax Returns and Backup Documentation: Whether personal or business, the general rule is seven years. This may seem like a long time to hold onto these papers, but think of it as an annual cleaning out as new returns are filed. One in … one out and the old adage of "better safe than sorry" will apply. The IRS has three years to audit you from the date you file your taxes; however, they have seven years to clear up and correct so called "Discrepancies."

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