Give me...

I've been hearing these lyrics, from Brandon Heath's Give Me Your Eyes on the radio, and they echo my constant prayer...

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
Ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see

Now I just discovered that Heath, along with other songsters that I adore, will be in the area next week, in concert!
Gotta work on that!

Extraordinary?

I'm nodding in response to a quote from this week:

"It is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable treatable disease and hunger," the U2 lead singer told Clinton's fourth annual philanthropic summit in New York. "That's mad, that is mad."

Bono goes on,

"Bankruptcy is a serious business and we all know people who have lost their jobs," Bono said, referring to the bankruptcy declared by Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (LEHMQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz). "But this is moral bankruptcy."

(from Reuters.com via Thunderstruck)

The Branch

I came across this in reading this morning-

Now listen, Joshua, the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you- indeed they are men who are a symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch. Zechariah 3:8

and this,

Thus says the Lord of hosts, "Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the Lord." Zechariah 6:12

So I started thinking about that idea, Branch.

I looked the word up, and found the Hebrew word, tsemach, which Strongs defines as a righteous branch or offspring of God, a sprout or shoot (of Messiah from the Davidic tree).

And that led me to this-
In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel. Isaiah 4:2

Ah, the grace and comfort of the Gospel foretold!

(photo credit to Tammy Siegel and TrekEarth)

You-niverse/Me-niverse

New quiz!
This is a fun little quiz, that called it pretty close for me.
"The open road and a full tank of gas can take you pretty much anywhere," it tells me.
yep.

(credit to my mom for this one!)

The Simple Woman Daybook

The Simple Woman Daybook

FOR TODAY, Monday, September 22, 2008...
Outside My Window... darkness, and the sound of rain.
I am thinking... about what will be accomplished today.
I am thankful for... the Word, for mercy, "for then I will give to the peoples purified lips, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord, to serve Him shoulder to shoulder." Zephaniah 3:9
From the kitchen... silence.
I am wearing... flannel bottoms and a tshirt.
I am creating... a blog post.
I am going... to the laundry room next.
I am reading... a little here, a little there.
I am hoping... rain cancels soccer tomorrow (shhh... don't tell my girls!)
I am hearing... wind, and raindrops, my keyboard taps, & my husband's sniffles and turning the pages
Around the house... everyone sleeps except us two adults.
One of my favorite things... being awake before anyone else, with silence and a cup of coffee.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: school, ESL, sports, study and prep, dentist appointments, piano concert
Here is picture thought I am sharing... the view from early morning, with silence and a cup of coffee, in Alaska

Exult

Yet I will exult in the LORD,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The Lord GOD is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds' feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.
Habakkuk 3:18-19

"Thus the prophet, who began his prayer with fear and trembling, ends it with joy and triumph. And thus faith in Christ prepares for every event. The name of Jesus, when we can speak of Him as ours, is balm for every wound, a cordial for every care. It is as ointment poured forth, shedding fragrance through the whole soul. In the hope of a heavenly crown, let us sit loose to earthly possessions and comforts, and cheerfully bear up under crosses. Yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry; and where he is, we shall be also."
Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Bible, on Habakkuk 3:18-19

Mind Your Manners

And in the spirit of voting and campaigns and all that...
I love this commentary on proper election season behavior!
(Credit to Rocks in My Dryer)

Vote...

for your favorite literary character.

Half Price Books is holding an election. Vote now!

(and our list of take-aways from a pre-movie visit to the store...
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Housekeeping
Love Has a Price Tag
3 mini Moleskin squared journals
Emma
Welcome to Josefina's World
Kirsten Short Stories
Andersen's Fairy Tales)

Friday Five- 5 Bloggy Reads

The Friday Five reappears!

Here's five bloggy reads that got me thinking this week:

Edupunk

Pronouns

On Abortion and Voting

Bad Day

Home

Let All Things Now Living

I love this sweet hymn from worship yesterday. It was written by Katherine K. Davis, who was born in 1892. I'm sure you would recognize one of Miss Davis' more famous pieces, the Christmas tune, The Little Drummer Boy. She later quipped that piece "...had been done to death on radio and tv." Let All Things Now Living has not! This hymn so simply reminds us of God Sovereign, Creator, Guide and Comfort. "Hosanna and praise!"

Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving
To God the creator triumphantly raise.
Who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us,
Who still guides us on to the end of our days.
God's banners are o'er us, His light goes before us,
A pillar of fire shining forth in the night.
Till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished
As forward we travel from light into light.

His law he enforces, the stars in their courses
And sun in its orbit obediently shine;
The hills and the mountains, the rivers and fountains,
The deeps of the ocean proclaim him divine.
We too should be voicing our love and rejoicing;
With glad adoration a Song let us raise
Till all things now living unite in thanksgiving:
"To God in the highest, Hosanna and praise!"

Remember

This was the Jeff Koterba editorial cartoon in the Omaha World Herald on Thursday. I was ready to post it here right after I read it, but it wasn't yet available.
And then I had website troubles.
And then I saved it in the wrong format.

But finally, it's correct.

Better late than never.

Remember.

Random September

I took this photo of my town from downtown yesterday.

Doesn't it look like a friendly place?

This picture doesn't show the family of geese that waddled by, or the mean black squirrel (aren't all black squirrels mean?) that stood and chattered, as if on his own personal squirrel soap box.

The other photo is a self-portrait. Those are the so hip shoes that were my birthday gift.
Love those shoes. I've only worn them once, but I love them.
In a comfy hip shoesie kind of way...

Obviously, it's slow in Bloggerville...
:-)

On forgiveness...

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Matthew 6:12

"Such forgiveness as a living experience is impossible wihout a forgiving spirit to others; because just as forgiven expresses the heavenward so forgiving expresses the earthward relation of God's child. When I pray, I must be able to say that I know of no one whom I do not heartily love."

from Andrew Murray's The Believer's School of Prayer

Words

The word geek in me is exposed...

Here's a link to a really neat graphic, showing word use frequency during speeches made at both Democratic and Republican party conventions.

(thanks and credit to Harrison Scott Key and the WORLD magazine blog...)

Sound familiar?

From today's Baby Blues comic...

(they've been spying on my family for years, you know...)

Farewell to Summer

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.
Ecclesiastes 3:1

And now is the time to move from summer to fall.

We enjoyed a terrific summer!
We traveled, we worked, we played, we rested.
We went to concerts and sporting events and movies.
We read, we listened, we watched.

And now, we're ready for fall.
We've been in school for three weeks already, but here's a Fall 2008 class picture, along with the two resident canines.

Rejoice and do good

Without forgetting this, and this, I am thankful for these reminders this morning...

He has made everything appropriate in its time He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime;
Ecclesiastes 3:11-12

We mistake if we think we were born for ourselves, no, it is our business to do good in this life, which is short and uncertain; we have but little time to be doing good, therefore we should redeem time.
Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Bible

Give until it hurts, because real love hurts.
Mother Teresa

This morning...

This morning
I'm thinking about

the fourth person in the fire
nothing new under the sun

this storm, and that one
a new blog look
ESL
a salad
a movie
croquet
the giggling going on upstairs
more coffee in the cup

You?