ABC Drama Group

Just wanted to pass along information that ABC Drama Group is starting their 5th season!  We are pretty excited at our house and ready to get
rolling!

Go check out www.abunchofcharactersdrama.blogspot.com to see some of the latest updates.  :)  Hey!  Blogspot works when you don't want to mess with a website!!!!!  :D:D

I have a funny Christmas story to tell.....For Christmas, everyone either has or got a Nerf gun as a present. (image from walmart.com)   Well, we all have had fun blasting each other with these Nerf guns- which hurt enough to know you've been hit, but not enough to keep us from still going at it! 

Josh and I were having a rousing game of it the day after Christmas and both of us decided to do a "sneak" attack.  Me doing a run-by shooting and Josh crawling on hands and knees.  Well, as we both went to "get" the other one, I started running, going to shoot into his alley way, and lifted up my Nerf gun right into his nose!!  Poor guy!  He has a nice little cut on his nose -though I bawled much more than he did.  In fact, he didn't shed a tear while I shed several, feeling like the crummiest sister alive.  I do think it will heal nicely, maybe a little scar. 
I have yet to pick up a Nerf gun yet, while Josh has done more than his share this morning!  Tell me who was really scarred........ :smile:

~Rebecca

Happy Birthday, Rebecca!

This blog has been hacked!!! Oh yes, and just in time, too! :-) This is Becca's favorite sister here, popping in to tell all of her lovely readers that TODAY IS HER BIRTHDAY! So, please be sure to drop a line to wish her a happy one. :-)

Now, just so that she'll hopefully forgive me for doing this to her, I'll insert a bit of my sweet personality and charm to this post. :-) (All the picture below were taken during our vacation last month..)

Dear Rebecca,
   I want to wish you a very happy birthday. You have been an amazing sister to me. We've been through a lot together, but the good times blot out the bad.
  Thank you so much for being my wonderful older sister. I so appreciate when you're interested in my thoughts, ideas, wishes, dreams, interests, etc. You have been such a pillar in my life.  A pillar of strength, calm, endurance, and joy. You have always been one to calm me down a bit when I get 'over excited' (that sounds SO much nicer than 'mad'.).
   You are such a wonderful, Godly woman, my dear!! I pray that God will continue to bless you and that He will continue to guide you down the road He has for you. May you always love and follow Him with all the grace and beauty that He has given you.

I love you so, so, so, so, so, so, so much!!!!!!
Love,
Sarah

Absentminded or Absent?

Yes, I have been "gone" a while.  Whether from Absentmindedness or just being absent, you decide. 

Life has been good.  Correction.   My Lord has been good!  He has been very gracious this season and Blessed us abundantly!  

"What?!?!" you ask, "Isn't He ALWAYS good and gracious"??  

Yes, pat yourself on the back for noticing my sinful ways and let me finish.

Thank you.  :D  

For those of you who know us, there have been some tough times in our past.  Not awful, for that would be putting down those who have had worse.  Just plain ole tough.  
Between the possibility of losing the ranch, the economy being unstable which made Dad's job unstable, to relationships really struggling, the loss of a beloved Bampa, and the struggles of new phases in life, it hasn't all been "hunky-dunky".  

I wouldn't go back and change any of the lessons we have learned, though, for they have all been lessons we needed to learn and hear.  You cannot be made into a pot without losing a bit of clay.

Our Lord, as He always does, was gracious enough to make that season only a season- though not a "season" of 3 months only!  He is gracious to bring the rain and the sun that beats its rays upon us to grow for our time, but then summer settles in where there is the slightest of breaks.  The fall will be upon us soon, and I long to see the results of His work that He has done upon us!  

Or have they already come.  No one knows but One.  and I am sure for each it is a different season.  

In the meantime, our time has been most delightfully spent.  The ranch is now in a stable condition.  (yay!)  We now cannot say we own any part of it.  It is truly the Lord's ranch!!! 

Psalm 50:10

"For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills."

He has taken care of it just as He gave it to us.  But of course, it wouldn't have happened without us doing our hard work and part of it.  Joshua has truly stepped up this year and taken on the brunt of the labor, allowing Daddy to be faithful to his work.  
Josh has matured so much this year- both physically at a strapping 6 foot- and in everything else.  He has stepped across the threshold and left boyhood behind in the way it was planned. We couldn't be more proud of him!  He has such a servant's heart I don't know where there is room for anything left in his body....

With the ranch doing well, we took off over Thanksgiving weekend to spend a much needed vacation!!  For this family that hasn't had one in 6 years we were all in ecstasy!  :D  We drove out to LA, California and spent some delightful days seeing the sights and just relaxing with our family.  :sigh:  (see some pics here)

~We just got back from a delightful party at a friends house, and instead of just doing boring introductions, the hostess asked that we share what God has been teaching us lately.  

I have been thinking about that a lot (actually before the party, but that party brought it to the front of my mind if you know what I mean).  I think what He has been teaching me can be summed up in a beautiful hymn that I have been memorizing.

    Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! 
 Thou art the potter, I am the clay. 
 Mold me and make me after thy will, 
 while I am waiting, yielded and still. 

 Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! 
 Search me and try me, Savior today! 
 Wash me just now, Lord, whiter than snow, 
 as in thy presence humbly I bow. 

 Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! 
 Wounded and weary, help me I pray! 
 Power, all power, surely is thine! 
 Touch me and heal me, Savior divine! 

 Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! 
 Hold o'er my being absolute sway. 
 Fill with thy Spirit till all shall see 
 Christ only, always, living in me! 

 This song speaks to me of how I must be willing to be as wet, yielding clay in His hands if I want to be made into a vessel for Him.  It shows me that He is powerful, so powerful, yet gentle with me.  :sigh:  It has been a good song to learn for me in this season of life.  I also love the melody (which you can hear here!) as it is very calming. 

The Lord has been showing me more about Him as He truly is.  Not just who I have made Him in my mind.  He has been asking me to be willing to give all up to Him- something very hard to do for a first-born perfectionist, type-A personality!   

Ahhh!  If I can only put into better practice what I learn from my Master!  

Well my friends, it is a late night and to bed I must go.  I pray the Lord is Blessing you abundantly this Christmas season!  May He remind you of what you need to remember, and show you what you need to be shown! 

~Rebecca   

Modest Fashion Week

My Sister and her friend are doing a "Modest Fashion Show" where you have fun trying to match your wardrobe with what the "theme" of the day is!!  If you haven't already, join in!  It is going to be lots of fun with prizes at the end!

Today was Flowers.  I actually had quite a few clothing items that have flowers on them, but they are usually pretty small- background designs.  Sarah actually told me what I should wear...and I did.  :)  What can I say, having a fashion diva in the house is pretty nice at times.  It was really handy when I went shopping.  I just let her have free reign bring me clothes.  Although some of them I really didn't care for- weren't my style- I did try on some I normally wouldn't have and really liked!  They are in my closet thanks to her.....:D

Here is my outfit for today.

 

Sweater- Target (LOVE it!)

Tank Top-Walmart

Skirt- Roamon's

Shoes-Shoe Dept

Hat- Walmart

Earrings- Avon (My cousin just became a consultant!)

Better close up with the earrings.  Don't you love how Sarah posed me?  She did such a great job taking my pictures!!  We just both got our outfits on and took each others pictures.  :D:D

 

The Shoes.  Aren't they fun?  Mine are Clarks which are ALWAYS very comfortable
and last a loonnnggg time.  Can't go wrong there.  :D

That's all for me.  I have a couple of posts in mind, but it will have to wait. Did you do the fashion show?  

Love,

Rebecca

Mark Hamby- The Process

Here is yet another piece of golden wisdom from Mark Hamby.  I have had the pleasure to meet the man, and although very focused and not your "soft, sensitive" fellow, he follows the Lord completely and with such humbleness!!  There is much to learn from a man of God like him and I hope you enjoy this tidbit of wealth from him as much as I.   ~Rebecca

The Process 

Today I was reading a devotional written by Oswald Chambers and it smacked me right between the eyes. So if you don't like someone taking a swing at you, you may not want to listen any further. If you can take it, then this is what Chambers had to say:  

"Often, Christians think that if Jesus Christ compels them to do something, He will lead them to success in the endeavor, if only they are obedient to Him. If you agree, then you are in for a rude awakening; our dreams of success are not God's ultimate purpose for us. The question of whether or not we arrive at a particular goal is not of primary importance. What we see as only the process of reaching a particular end, God often sees as the goal itself.

If I can stay calm, faithful and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me. God is not working toward a particular finish-- His purpose is the process itself.

God's purpose is to enable me to see that He can walk on the storms of my life right now. If we have a further goal in mind, we are not paying enough attention to the present. However, if we realize that moment-by-moment obedience and trust are the goal, then each moment as it comes becomes the real standard of success."

I think it was Theodore Roosevelt who said that success was failure upon failure with great enthusiasm. He may have been closer to the truth than he realized.

"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own" (Philippians 3:12).

The Company of the Committed-Mark Hamby

Once again, Mark Hamby of Lamplighter Publishing, hits the nail on the head!  

The Company of the Committed

Elton Trueblood begins his 1961 book, The Company of the Committed, with a sobering question: "What reason is there to suppose that our civilization, in contrast to civilizations which have preceded it, will endure?"

The Roman Empire, one of the powerful regimes of all times, was brought to its knees by a small group of people, known as the Way. They were not merely professing believers who viewed Christianity as something which is merely lived out in church attendance one day a week. Rather, they were focused, energized, and passionate about their faith; in a word, they were committed.

Why are the masses discontented with the church? Trueblood writes, "they are looking for a bold fellowship, and what they find is a complacent society concerned to an absurd degree with its own internal politics or so unimaginative to suggest that the world can be saved by three hymns and a sermon or a Mass."

He goes on to say that, "...Many contemporary seekers cannot abide in the Church [sic] as they see it, their dissatisfaction arising not from the fact that membership demands too much, but rather from the fact that the demands are too small."

As Trueblood sees it, American Christianity has trivialized the community of the committed by reducing the focus to a place, a time, and a person. If America is to endure according to Trueblood, we must become fully committed to Christ and His cause by reintroducing the power, wonder, truth, and beauty of God in all of life, not solely on Sunday.

Where in your life are you too complacent?  I read somewhere that sometimes it isn't what I got out of Worship, it is what did God get out of Worship.  Ouch.

 

I know I thirst for more, but I don't always know how to go about it- or I am scared to be seen as a "radicalist" and strive harder than the rest.  

 

What do you think?  Are Mark Hamby's words true?  Are we too complacent as a Church?  

 

Love,

Rebecca

Mother's Day Brunch

We had a most delightful Mother's Day Brunch this past Sunday!  We used our easy family favorite recipes Oven Omelet, and Butterscotch Sticky Buns, some fruit with sweetened whipped cream, and bacon.  The china was brought out, some teacups placed on the table, cloth napkins used, and just plain old had a fun time dreaming this brunch up!

Oven Omelet is a recipe from a friend which has become a favorite- especially as it is so easy to mix up and you can add meats and/or veggies to make a bigger meal of it. 

You can find it HERE.

Our roll recipe is one we use on occasion as it isn't very good for you....Is so delicious we have to eat it sparingly!

Butterscotch Sticky Buns
From Aunt Donna


1 package cook and serve butterscotch pudding
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
24 white, frozen dinner rolls (the kind that you bake 
1 stick of butter, melted


Grease a Bundt Pan with oil spray.


Combine pudding mix, brown sugar, and nuts.

Layer Rolls in pan, sprinkling each layer with pudding mixture. Drizzle melted butter evenly over all and cover with saran wrap.  Refrigerate over night, then bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

We have done this recipe in the bundt pan as well as a 9x13 or a bit smaller.  It depend on if you want the rolls all covered in sticky stuff or somewhat less of it. 
We especially love the make it that night and wake up to turn on oven and pop them in!  Makes the morning so easy.  :D

After our guests left we loaded up in the car and went bowling in town.  It was a very nice relaxed afternoon.  What did you do?

Rebecca