How is Your Posture?

POSTURE - a mental or spiritual attitude; one's image or policy as perceived by the public; to adopt an attitude or position. (per Dictionary.com)

During the past 2 weeks, I've had six appointments with a chiropractor. This is the first time in my life that I've ever been to a chiropractor. Eric made the first appointment for me in hopes that the doctor would be able to help me with my dizziness and headaches.

So just about every other day for 2 weeks I've been hearing how I need to watch my posture; that I need to pay attention to my posture. Therefore, I've been thinking about the word posture a lot for the past few days. Prior to even looking the word up in the dictionary, I kept thinking, "How is my posture with God? Have I positioned my attitude and my life to honor Him? Am I living on the straight and narrow as they say?"

Speaking of straight and narrow, I decided to look up that saying as well. This is how Dictionary.com put it: The way of proper conduct and moral integrity. [Probably alteration of "Straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life" (Matthew 7:14).] INTERESTING!!

To be honest, I'd have to say that my posture regarding God probably isn't as good as I'd like to believe. Do I read from the Bible daily? No. Do I always treat my husband with respect? No. Do I ever gossip? Yes. Do I judge others? Yes. Am I guilty of not always honoring God with my thoughts, words and actions? YES! Hmmm...doesn't sound like a very straight and narrow life.

Following my chiropractor's instructions will give me good physical posture while heeding God's Word will provide me with perfect mental and spiritual posture. The latter is what I desire the most. I realize that only Jesus is perfect, but if we want to spend eternity with Him, then we have to adopt a posture that reflects His. One that is straight and upright. How is your posture?

Thankful Thursday

It's Thankful Thursday once again! If you decide to write a Thankful Thursday post on your blog today, please visit Greg's General Store and add your post to Mr. Linky!

I am thankful for the beautiful weather we have been having. It does so much to lift my mood!

Despite the inconvenience it caused on Saturday, I'm thankful that the "stand-off" involving a neighbor was a hoax. It could have been a lot worse than it was.

I'm thankful that Sam's foot has healed after a slight break 4 weeks ago! (Especially since he only wore the boot for 2 weeks because he said his foot felt fine!)

I'm grateful that I'm back in school and getting the hang of student life after being out of school for 22 years! I'm slowly finding my way around campus!

I was not in the mood to go to church choir practice last night, but I'm glad I did. It's been a long week, and I felt that yesterday should have been Friday. Choir practice got my mind off of other things and helped me to relax. I'll miss not being in choir next school year. Since I'll be going to school full-time in the fall and my classes will all be held at night, I have to give up singing in the church choir.

I know my list could go on, but I must get to work! Happy Thursday everyone!

I Love a Bargain!

I love a bargain! I found this Fix-It and Forget-It calendar at our local Christian book store. Since it's April, it was on sale. Rather than paying $14.99 for it, I paid only $1.97! I don't need a calendar, but I do want the recipes! I've gotten the actual cookbook from the library in the past. I would much rather use my crockpot to cook with instead of my oven or stove-top, especially during the summer. My kitchen is very sunny and is the warmest room in the house during the summer. So grilling out or using the microwave or crockpot are my favorite choices when it's warm outside.

This is what it looks like when you open up the box.

There are two recipes on each card. I can either keep the cards in this box or put them in my recipe book. I love this find!!

God n Dog

It Was All a Story

Thank you for your prayers concerning the post below, but it turns out to have been a lie. The "victim" made up the whole thing. It sounds as if he may have been under the influence of something. I feel badly for everyone who was affected by his actions. His story worried us all, inconvenienced a lot of people (including interrupting a funeral), and cost a lot of our tax dollars. A SWAT team was called in for Heaven's sake!!! I just pray that this guy gets some help.

Please Pray

As I was sitting here, home alone, I heard a lot of sirens going off. I always say a prayer for whomever the sirens are for when I hear them. They sounded close but not like they were on my street.

I just went outside to get in my car to go to Cooper's first baseball game of the season, and I saw that my block and the next block up from me are closed off. There are police cars and fire trucks everywhere. People are milling around watching. I saw my neighbor and asked her what was going on.

Apparently, someone was shot in a family dispute in the next block. The victim was able to crawl out of his house, but the gunman and supposedly two other people are still inside. This block of homes consists of all old row homes. The gunman is threatening to burn the house down. These row homes don't have firewalls between them. So everyone in that block has been evacuated.

I can't believe the police are letting people stand outside and watch. I came back inside just to be safe. I had to call Eric to tell him I can't get to Coop's game (Coop is at the field already with Eric) and call Sam who is at the mall with a friend and his family. I could walk to Cooper's game, but I want to be here when Sam gets back.

Please pray!

UPDATE
Everything seems to be over with, but I don't really know what happened. I haven't been able to find much news coverage. HA....I wrote that sentence and the NBC news van just drove by!! I guess I'll tune in at 11 PM.

I went out to my porch as one of the fire trucks was leaving (I thought) and was told to go back in my house. At that point, I noticed the police telling everyone to go inside. Our two blocks proceeded to be closed off for about the next 4 hours. Eric & Coop were able to sneak in the back way, but Sam was stuck at a friend's house for a while.

I heard different things from different neighbors, such as the guy escaped; there were drugs involved; and there were chemicals in the house, possibly a meth lab. Like I said, I have no idea what went on. All I know is that my neighbors and I were pretty much held hostage in our homes all afternoon, while the immediate neighbors of this family were ousted from their homes! Thank you for your prayers!

Play Ball!

Here we go....the start of another baseball season! Over 600 kids are signed up this year! Cooper is out there somewhere! This will be his last year in this league due to his age.

My hubby, Mr. President, making his speech at the Opening Day Ceremony! Would you ever guess that he & I are actually introverts?

Even the local Chick Fil A cow showed up!

Sitting in the dug out!
We're looking forward to many special MOOments this season!
(C'mon, how could I resist?)

Ultimate Blog Party!

Hey everyone, 5 Minutes for Mom is hosting the 2010 Ultimate Blog Party! The point of the party is to help us connect with other bloggers. Plus, you have the chance to win a prize! You should see their list of prizes!!! It's pretty long! So head on over and join the fun!

I would like to win the following prizes:
USC25 - $25 Barnes & Noble Gift Card from Baba's Farm Life
US96 - A Laundry Prize Pack from Mama's Laundry Talk
US14 - 10 Free Custom Bumper Stickers from Build a Sign
US88
US41

I'll probably add more to my list before the party is over. There's too much to choose from!!

Changes

Last night I started back to school for the first time since graduating from college 22 years ago! I was surprised to find that I wasn't really nervous about it. Sometimes age is a good thing...it can give you some confidence and helps you put things into perspective. Yes, I'm a student again, but I'm a mom & a wife first. (My nerves were replaced by "mommy guilt", so I made brownies for the boys before I left for the evening!)

Since it's a graduate class, I figured there would be people around my age in attendance. There are only 8 of us taking this course. Two of them seem to be my age and are married and have kids. The others are in their early to mid 20's. Two of the younger girls are preschool teachers like me. My professor and I figured out that Cooper's 5th grade teacher was one of her students!

All in all this first time back was a good experience. The environment is relaxed since it's such a small class, and we all seem to have things in common with one another. I don't think the course will be a breeze, but I'm looking forward to the challenges.

I had to go back over to the campus this afternoon to buy my books ($155...UGH!) The bookstore is located in the University Center, which is basically the student center. Now I did think I'd feel a little weird going in there, but actually I didn't. It was a very nice building; the girl who waited on me was very sweet and wished me luck in my class; and nobody looked at me like, "Who is that old lady?"

It's definitely a very different experience the second time around; especially when you have to hurry home after buying your textbooks because you want to get there before your kids arrive home from school!

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

I've had a request from Julieanne over at From the Beginning for my peanut butter cup recipe. I got this recipe from the February/March 2008 issue of Taste of Home magazine. Here it is:

1 cup creamy peanut butter, divided

4 1/2 teaspoons butter, softened

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups (12 oz. bag) semisweet chocolate chips

4 milk chocolate candy bars (1.55 oz. each), coarsely chopped (I just got one of the really big Hershey bars)

Colored sprinkles, optional

In small bowl, combine 1/2 peanut butter, butter, confectioners' sugar and salt until smooth; set aside.

In small microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips, candy bars and remaining peanut butter; stir until smooth.

Drop teaspoonfuls of chocolate mixture into paper-lined miniature muffin cups. Top each with a small teaspoonful of peanut butter mixture; top with another teaspoonful of chocolate mixture. Decorate with sprinkles if desired. Refrigerate until set. Store in an airtight container. Yields 3 dozen.

**I had difficulty dropping the chocolate mixture into the paper muffin cups. It just took a long time. I then tried putting some of the mixture in a baggie and snipping the corner of the baggie so that I could just squeeze the chocolate out. This was kind of messy. If anyone has a better way to do this, please let me know!! Thanks Julieanne for requesting the recipe!

I didn't do my "I Get To Tuesday's" post today because I woke up with a migraine this morning, and I had to go back to work after my nice 5 day weekend. I still have a headache. UGH! Praying you all had a better day than I did!! Blessings!

Peep Sunflower Cake

Here is the Peep Sunflower Cake that I made! Originally, I was going to take it to church on Easter. At the last minute we decided to have some friends over for dinner on Saturday night, so I served it then. Everyone thought it was cute and yummy!

Some Easter Pics

Sam & Coop's Easter baskets.

The boys hunting for eggs! It took them forever to find the last two!

The Easter Beagle brought Otto some Snausages and a new frisbee!

Eric and I before church. Not sure what's going on with Eric's hair!

I got my Hyacinths!

The Lily and Poinsettia People

The lily and poinsettia people. That's what my coworker called them. It took me a brief second to get what she meant. Those people who only attend church on Easter and Christmas. She said that she was hoping they would really hear the gospel this weekend and begin a relationship with Christ.

As I pondered this, the thought came to me that it will probably take more than an interesting sermon to reach this special group of people. It will take us. Those of us who call ourselves Christians. We who are God's sons and daughters. We who are the body of Christ.

We are to be His hands. His feet. His voice. His heart. Jesus' last command before departing for Heaven was: "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." Mark 16:15

I know. This command is difficult for me, too. However, on this day, Easter Sunday, let's try to do what our Lord & Savior has commanded us. It can be as little as shaking hands and genuinely welcoming "Lily" to your church or as big as inviting her over for Easter dinner. Let's just be obedient today of all days!

Lily photo from FreeFoto.com

Update: I'm in our church choir. Today we sang at both services. Our choir pews are on the alter facing the congregation. So during the services I looked at all the faces to see if I saw anyone unfamiliar. It took me a few minutes, but I finally found a few. All of them were in the back pews! I didn't stand a chance in trying to greet them when I was at the front of the church and they were at the back!! Thankfully, Jesus' last commandment is meant for EVERY day! So even though I wasn't successful today, I'm sure I'll have plenty of other chances. I did at least introduce myself to the woman I'm supposed to teach Sunday School with in April & May! She's fairly new to our church, and I hadn't met her beforehand.

Easter Eggs

I snapped some pictures yesterday as Cooper dyed his Easter eggs. His response to me was, "Really?" Like I'm so uncool for wanting photos of him doing his eggs! Sadly, the teenager (Sam) didn't want to participate this year. Even Coop told me he is too old for the Easter egg hunt happening at our church today. That surprised me because he'll take free candy any day! (He joined the school choir in 4th grade because the teacher promised candy at the end of the school year. She didn't deliver, so he didn't participate in choir in 5th grade! Yeah, that's my kid!)

I believe he is drawing a Spartan on this egg. Don't ask me why!

Now for the dying!

There's that smile!

BEAUTIFUL EGGS!

MMMMMM......

....Homemade peanut butter cups! SCRUMPTIOUS!! Later this weekend I'll be attempting a Peeps sunflower cake. If it turns out well, I'll post pictures.

Good Friday

Thankful Thursday

I have been out of the blogosphere for so long that I didn't realize Greg over at Greg's General Store is now sponsoring Thankful Thursdays. I am glad someone has picked this up! If you have a Thankful Thursday post, please stop by Greg's blog and join us this week.

I am thankful for my Easter break! I had today off and don't go back until Tuesday. Our kids have the same break. Oh, and that we're having actual spring like weather makes it a double blessing!

Eric doesn't have today off. In fact, he's having a stressful busy day. However, I am thankful that he is taking a little time to go over to the baseball field with Cooper and throw the ball around. (Although Lord, please give me the strength to be nice despite his stressed out mood!)

I am thankful that I'm 1/3 of the way done with my student profiles for my upcoming parent/teacher conferences.

I am grateful for the mom of one of my students who brought her month old daughter up to me this week and said, "I thought you might like to hold a baby."

I am especially grateful that my nephew and his girlfriend decided they will have the baby that they are expecting together. They decided against other alternatives. I'm looking forward to having a great-nephew in July!

By the way, I'd be REALLY thankful if someone stopped by to clean out my rabbit's cage. I'd give you a Reese's Easter egg! Yes, I'm resorting to bribery.

And God, thank you that my pizza dough is rising for tonight's dinner!! (He is even in the small things!) Amen!

Hyacinths

The Hyacinth is my favorite flower! I can look at this photo and imagine the fragrance coming from them.

On Sunday, I was at the grocery store for the first time in weeks (since I hadn't been able to drive). As soon as I walked into the store, I was bombarded by the fragrance and beauty of the Easter flowers...particularly the Hyacinths. I was actually taken aback because I had forgotten that it was the time of year for them. I couldn't believe that I had forgotten about something that makes me happy! I was tempted to buy one but didn't because I knew my grocery bill was going to be quite large. Maybe I'll treat myself this weekend.

Thank you God for the beauty and delicious scent of my favorite flower!

Photo from FreeFoto.com