Fingerprint Friday: In The Backyard

By MAD21

I asked my husband this morning, "Hey, hon? Where do you see the fingerprint of God this morning?" To which he replied, "In the backyard <grumble grumble>."

Now, you may remember my post last week on the beautiful Colors of Fall, and you may already see where I'm going with this post. But it's funny enough I'm going to write it anyway. See, we live in the part of the country where there are deciduous trees... everywhere. So you not only get the pleasure of removing (and playing!) in the leaves from the trees in your own yard, but all the leaves from the trees that reside in your neighbor's yards. Ya. We like to spread out the misery equally around here.

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Works For Me Wednesday: Christmas Shopping

By MAD21

It's November and people are realizing how close we are getting to the holidays. One of my favorites is definitely Thanksgiving because it means family and friends... and food. But mostly it's because it's a time to reflect on all the things we have to be thankful for. Not that we don't do that every day, but it's nice to have a time to celebrate those things together with everyone.

But Thanksgiving is something else for me. It's a deadline. It has been my goal for years to have as much of my Christmas shopping done by 'Turkey Day.' It probably started even before I was married with my own kids. Because I live so far away from my family, I had to have everything done early enough to get it in the mail without paying a fortune to have it delivered by Christmas day.

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One Word At A Time: Remember

By MAD21

For our bi-weekly post on One Word At A Time, the group decided on: Remember. I know, for me, this is actually something that's very important. I admit, sometimes to the point of obsession. I'm not sure why, but for some reason I am actually afraid of forgetting.

This is something that became very apparent to me when I became a mommy. I so thoroughly enjoyed being a mom with young little babies. Yes, there were some very hard times and lots of crying on my own part. But really, I loved celebrating all the firsts, no matter how small and unimportant the firsts were to others.

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Life Is Funny: Hot Air Balloons

By MAD21

We take our dog, Bailey, with us on most road trips. Whether it's just a short trip to the store or to pick up the girls from school, or an all day adventure, she loves to jump into the back of the jeep and dangle her head out the window. She is definitely a dog who loves to be with her family no matter where we go.

During the warmer months, we have hot air balloons that fly over our house quite often. This was not a problem until one particular afternoon about two years ago, one of those said balloons was flying lower than normal and set off their burner. I had no idea how loud those things were up close! Well, unfortunately, Bailey was outside when it happened. Let's just say I thought she was going to come straight through the glass sliding door trying to get inside.

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One Word At A Time: Trust

By MAD21

Peter's One Word at a Time blog carnival on Obedience was so successful a few weeks ago, we all decided we'd like to make it a regular thing. So, every other week, we will choose a word to write about and link back to Bridget's blog (since doing One Word at a Time is her "thing"). This week, we bring you:

I asked my family: "What does Trust mean to you?"

Youngest daughter (3.5): (Long pause... shoulder shrugg) "I don't know, Mommy. What is it?"

Oldest daughter (5.5): "Doing something God asks you to. And keeping your promises, too."

Hubby: "The ability to know someone will do something when they say they will."

Me: "That someone or something will do what they are supposed to do, or what was promised. That someone is telling the truth."

The dictionary defines trust as: "Reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence." So. To trust someone or something, one must have confidence in the one you are trusting. Is trust something that comes naturally, or is it something that is earned, or ...learned?

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