Cooper

Since you've all read about Cooper being "all strung out" I wanted you to see what he looks like! It's amazing how much this little guy teaches me about God (or how much God uses this little guy to teach me!)

Have you ever had a dog that begged for a treat? (If you've ever had a dog, I'm sure you've had one that begged for a treat!) One thing I realized when Cooper begs for treats is that he gets so excited and so focused on the treat that he completely blocks me out. Sometimes I will hold the treat and give him a command. I want him to focus on me, not the treat. I fully intend to give him the treat, but I want him to hear me first and obey! He gets so frustrated because I won't drop the treat. But if he could just realize that I am waiting for him to forget the treat and obey me.

It made me realize how often I am like that with God. I am blinded by my desires sometimes. Even though my desires might be for good things, I still focus on them too much. I may get to the point that all I can see is the "treat." I am down here hopping around, all frustrated wondering why in the world God won't give it up already. I think sometimes He is waiting for me to stop focusing on the "treat" and focus on Him.


Ain't he cute? 


Cooper 


Cooper 


Cooper 

All strung out

My dog, Cooper, loves to play. He has a basket full of toys in the living room behind the recliner. Every night around 9:00 he gets a second wind and bounces around the living room, flinging his toys around. We play catch, fetch and all that. He's a riot.

Tonight I wasn't paying much attention to him because I was busy doing something else. I heard him growling and jumping around, fulfilling his nightly ritual. I happened to look over, and much to my dismay he wasn't flinging his toy around--instead a big ball of string! I don't know where he found it. I didn't even know I had a big ball of string.

He had flung that thing around so much that the string had begun to unwind. Before I could stop him, he was completely tangled up. He had string wrapped around his legs, head, body and around several pieces of furniture. It took me forever to get him untangled.

So many times he does things that God uses to teach me. Tonight while he was "strung out," he was as happy and oblivious as can be. Isn't that how we are with sin sometimes? Giving no thought to what we're doing. Living in the moment. Completely caught up in the pleasure of it all. Meanwhile, the very sin we revel in is slowly closing in on us. Before long, we are paralyzed and completely consumed by it. And it doesn't take long.

Although God forgives us, it may take a lot of time to undo what sin has done to us. Just because God takes away the guilt, he doesn't always take away the consequences. If I were to put that ball of string back on the floor right now, Cooper would be right back on top of it. Ready for round 2. It didn't really cost him anything to get out of that mess. I took care of it for him. So he didn't learn anything.

Maybe I need to tie some of that string somewhere I'll see it. Maybe it will serve to remind me how quickly I can get into a big ol' mess when sin comes creepin' in.

Photos

stairs 


Random pics 

In case you haven't figured it out, I just learned how to post pics on my blog! Anyway, I am trying to learn the art of photography. These are a couple of pictures I've taken (I also took the pic of Emily). It actually started when a friend asked me to help decorate his apartment. I decided to be clever and drive around town taking some odd photographs that I could blow up and frame (like they do on Trading Spaces). These 2 pictures were in the running (what do you think Jon?). Anyway. My interest in photography grew from there. Since then I have done 2 photo shoots of children & mom's, 1 bridal portrait, 1 session with a couple and 1 session with a single subject. I also play around with still-life.

This has surprisingly snowballed into a much larger thing than I ever imagined. I now have 1 more shoot scheduled, 3 more in the works and a wedding someone is trying to talk me into. Truthfully, I am still just fooling around trying to figure out what in the world I am doing. Hopefully I will be able to take some classes after the first of the year.

Emily

Emily 

This is Emily. She is my adopted niece (she's the daughter of a very close friend of mine). I have no children, so I have latched on to her! Isn't she the cutest thing?
Recently Emily became very ill and had to be rushed to Children's Hosptial. She scared us all to death. She's home now and doing much better, but she needs our prayers for continued recovery.
This little girl means the world to me, and I just wanted to show her off!!
~Aunt Lee Lee

Skipping Christmas

Last year my family began a new Christmas tradition. No gifts! It all began with me. I have everything I need. When my family would ask me what I wanted for Christmas, I couldn't come up with anything. I'd rack my brain and finally make out a list of stuff that I really didn't care if I got or not. Then I had to go through the grueling task of finding gifts for everyone else. We are all so blessed. No one can come up with any ideas or things they want. And buying for my dad? Forget it! He's like the hardest person on the planet to buy a gift for. He has everything, and the stuff he does want usually involves something he will spend two years researching and comparison shopping to get the best deal because it costs so much. After several Christmas' of this, I decided I'd had enough.

Last year I made the proclamation that I thought we should forego gifts since we all had too much junk anyway. That would save everyone from getting the inevitable gift that you know you hate but you smile and say "Oh, wow!" because you don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. And when you get home, you toss it right in the yard sale pile. My mom was all for it. In fact, I think she breathed a sigh of relief. My grandmother was on board once she realized the idea really had come from a grandchild who wouldn't feel slighted with no present from Grandma. We had a hard time selling the idea to a few family members, but in the end it all worked out.

What we decided to do was play "Dirty Santa." Everyone brought a $15 gift and we had the best time stealing from each other. I think there was more laughter in the house that Christmas that ever before. We all spent time in the kitchen together, cooking the big meal. The afternoon was spent watching Christmas movies. Later we attempted to assemble a gingerbread house. I had found one of those pre-baked kits that just had to be glued together with frosting. We spent forever working on that, and when we were done it looked like a condemned building on the edge of town. The roof kept sliding off. We didn't care. The kitchen was filled with laughter and jokes. One of the gingerbread men kept falling over into the "bushes." We named him Uncle Lloyd and decided he must have been hitting the egg nog. When evening came, we piled in the car, loaded in some Christmas cd's and took off to ride around looking at Christmas lights. And not one gift was among us. No tangible gifts anyway.

That was probably one of the best Christmas' I've ever had. No pre-holiday stress of getting assaulted at the mall while fighting with someone over the last Cabbage Patch doll. No fretting over whether or not Uncle Fred will hate the electric socks I bought him. No strain on the budget.

I tell you this, I can't remember what I got for Christmas 2 years ago when we were still doing the gift thing. But I can remember almost everything about last Christmas. The warmth, family, laughter, love. It was better than any shiny gift anyone could have gotten me. We plan to continue with our tradition again this year. I encourage you to consider having a "giftless" Christmas in your family. You'll be amazed at how much more you enjoy the holidays!!

Shoes, Shoes, Shoes

I confess. I have an obsession with shoes. I am closing in on owning approximately 50 pair. Each and every pair was purchased with a purpose in mind (ooh, kind of like when Christ died for each of us....purchasing each of us with a purpose in mind for us....anyway-sorry I get sidetracked sometimes...). Okay, every girl knows that you need some brown shoes and some black shoes. Some casual shoes, some dressy shoes. Some comfortable shoes, some uncomfortable shoes that are only worn for their fashion value.
Some flat shoes, some tall shoes. Some exercise shoes, some 'hey I need to run to the store' shoes. I have them all. I most often find myself wearing my tall shoes (meaning the heels or soles are thick, you know, 'clunky'). See, I'm not short enough to be short, but I'm not tall enough to be tall. I'm stuck in the frustrating middle ground. Often, my pants are a little too long, hence the tall shoes. (Yes, I realize I could get my pants hemmed, but where's the fun in that?)

Okay, now to the story. First, for those of you who know me, you know that I often refer to my life as a comic strip. I feel like a cartoon character most of the time. Things happen to me that, well, don't happen to other people. My boss calls me Lucy referring to 'I Love Lucy') because of all the "situations" I get myself into. Recently I was in his office (while wearing some of my tall shoes), and we were discussing some serious business
issue. (I should stop here and tell you that I usually find it difficult to be still. If I am standing, I am usually swaying from side to side or turning my feet and standing on the sides of my feet or something.) This particular day, I was standing by my boss's desk, and out of habit I turned both of my feet over on their sides. It is such a habit for me to do this that it didn't occur to me that I was wearing these 'stacks' (tall shoes).
You can't really turn your feet in stacks.

At that instant, both of my ankles gave way and I flew into a fit, flailing my arms and bending at the waist trying to recover and avoid falling flat on the floor. I did manage to remain vertical, however I also gave my boss a near heart attack. He thought I was having some sort of attack or seizure or something. I mean, what kind of person is standing in one spot and just falls right there in place without tripping over something? Apparently a person like me. I looked like a 10 year old trying to walk in high heels
for the first time (only I wasn't walking). I mean this wasn't a graceful 'she looks like she's passing out' kind of fall. This was a violent 'I've got a wasp in my shorts' kind of fall. It's sad really. My boss now knows that I am a confirmed spaz. He finds joy in reminding me of that fact frequently.

I share this with you to caution you of the dangers of wearing big shoes. I guess it is an acquired skill. But you know what they say, if you fall off that horse, you've got to get right back on and try again. So I went out and bought 3 more pair of stacks. I am dedicated.