Tunes on a Tuesday

Still a bit squeaky-voiced around here, so I'll just sing along in my heart!

Be blessed,

Ginger 

Thursday thru the Web

Broadcasting from the couch yet again.

For the record, teachers, for the most part, find it a pain in the neck to be out sick. 

 Since "Do lesson #24 on page 116" went the way of the TV antenna, leaving a meaningful assignment that a sub can handle can be quite challenging--especially if one is thinking about it at 3:30 am after a lengthy coughing spell.

Said cough convinced me to stay put another day,

 that and all the people who saw me yesterday who murmured,

 "Poor dear, you are going home to bed, aren't you?" 

 in that voice which means,

 "Go away and don't breath on me until  you are germless." 

So here I lie, doing what everyone does in these situations--

surfing the Web!

So with no further ado, here are some of my finds:

 (from here) 

She had me at "scone".

And "gingerbread".

And "cinnamon glaze".

  

(from here)

I have to bring cookies to a baby shower this weekend.

These are high on my list.

Hello, chocolate and mocha.

Yes, please. 

 

(from here)

I haven't just looked at food.  A Geek in Glasses has a simple tutorial for making your own baker's twine.  Uber-cool Christmas packages, anyone?  

Finally, a post on a more serious note from my friend Helen.

God's goodness is a marvel, really, in uncountable ways, but it always astounds me when He gives me something just because

 it would make me smile, like a child tickled by a peppermint fished out of Grandpa's pocket.

If you've read here a while, you know I love all things Anglo, so it delights me to no end that God would bring me a British blogging buddy--one with a tender heart toward Him and and sweet, true words. I hope you appreciate her heart as well. 

What's your latest find?  Do tell all.

Be blessed today,

Ginger  

   

 

Hello, Wednesday

This extremely belated post is brought to you by our Annual Autumn Upper-Respiratory Infection.

Such an event should make me hate fall, but it doesn't.  

I love fall; I'm not sure it likes me.

Being a patient tests my patience.

Anybody?

The marathon waiting room experience kicks it off when there's nothing to read but a battered copy of Family Circle from 2008, and the trip to the pharmacy where one must stand around and be miserable and eye the cough drop selection finishes the job.

Now I'm home, thankfully, on my couch with Zach Neese's book, How to Worship a King, and a large coffee.

Oh, and an Agatha Christie.

Since we can visit today without a)me having to talk  or b) me spreading any germs, what's up at your place today?

Be blessed,

Ginger       

The Search for Normal

In a past presidential campaign, Warren G. Harding promised his supporters a "return to normalcy"--the way life used to be.  He coined the term, but the sentiment is as old as time, I suspect.

Over the last few weeks I've thought a lot about "normal".

What does it mean, anyway?

What exactly qualifies as a normal life, a normal wife, a normal workload, a normal child?

Though those answers elude me, I've concluded that, though we say we want to be extraordinary,

unique,

special--

we really don't.

We want to be normal, whatever that is.

As parents of preschoolers, we declare with utter confidence 

(forgetting for the moment that all four-year-olds are little sponges)

that our child surely must be gifted and obviously must be destined for greatness. 

Only,most of the time we don't get greatness; 

we get normal--

which was really what we wanted all along.

Normal health.

Normal mind.

Normal mixture of joy and sorrow.

(Heavy on the joy, light on the sorrow.)

Normal intelligence

(though,truthfully, if he turns out a little smarter than the neighbor's kid, all the better).

This week, I have listened to a heart tear apart over an elusive desire to be "normal", and I wonder how grateful we ever think to be for our ordinary,

whatever that means.

Be blessed,

Ginger  

           

Hunger and Thirst

This has been a week of fighting:

migraines

discouragement 

being misunderstood

teenagers ;-)

So, in the quietness of this morning,

I want the peace of Christ--

not just peace as the world gives (absence of war),

but the calm center of His presence,

intimacy with Him.

I surrender.

In a Moment

I love the moment 

when autumn kisses summer goodbye.

For just an instant,

they dwell together,

 

flower and leaf.

Color on the ground, color in the sky.

Be blessed,

Ginger