Weekend Happenings

Good Friday morning!

First things first, if you and your daughter are scrapbookers, check out the website http://www.kidscanscrap.com/. I got this website from Crazy for Crafting! (see my Blog List) a couple of months ago. It's a fun site for kids and every two weeks to a month she has a contest. You complete the assignment, send her a picture and then she picks a winner. The prizes are really nice. Roxie tried one of the assignments (a scrapbook page about herself), and she and I are doing the current assignment. I start a page with pictures and paper, and she finishes the page with embellishments and journaling, etc. It's a fun website to keep up with if you like to craft.

Also, there is a new beef stew recipe on the sophistimom blog (see Blog List and click on) I'm trying this week. I had wanted to try it New Year's Eve, but I stuck with the old and familiar. However, it's going to be cold this weekend, so it looks and sounds like a good time to have beef stew.

I tried the Chocolate Frosty Smoothie from Lisa's Blog. She's right. It's very good. Austin loved it... Josh wanted the strawberries OUT... Roxie liked it, but not a whole glass. (Roxie's friend, Courtney, drank two full glasses). I'm going to try the Healthy Pina Colada this weekend.

This weekend is an incredibly "light" one for us which is great. Josh has a lock-in at the church Friday night. Austin is playing football Saturday morning. Roxie's playing basketball Saturday afternoon. There's nothing planned for Saturday night so I'm going to slide in a Faulkner Family Movie Night. If Fireproof is out, I'm going to rent that movie. I want to watch it as a family, and if it is as good as everyone says, I'm going to buy three copies of the book it refers to for gifts for each of the kids when they get engaged. (I would buy the DVDs, but they will probably be obsolete by then. We'll probably be watching movies off discs the size of dimes.) I'll let you know how it was on Monday if we get to rent it.

Of course, church on Sunday and after church on Sunday night... 24!!!! That's right. Austin and I will be sitting in our respective chairs with our automatic weapons in our laps anxiously awaiting the return of Jack Bauer. Gotta love 24... if you're old enough! Roxie... don't think so!

Usually, when we have a weekend as "open" as this one, something big happens and it disappears, but we'll see.

Now, for all of you who couldn't sleep last night because of the cliff hanger, I'll finish my little story.

Pigeons From Heaven - Part Two

As I was walking to my car on Friday afternoon, I was berating myself for being such a "weenie." I was at my absolute lowest and I still refused to do what God said to do. "What is it going to take?" I asked myself... and God answered.

I saw something dark go over my head out of the corner of my eye, but I didn't look up. I heard a tremendous crash directly above my head, but still didn't look up. I felt a large object land on my head, and I COULDN'T look up! A huge pigeon had flown into a window of the (old) SouthTrust Building and had fallen, stunned, on the Most Stubborn Woman in the World. I dropped everything immediately because from my vantage point, I was unable to see what was on my head.

Then the flapping began and the huge pigeon began hitting my face with its wings. Of course, I still didn't know it was a pigeon. I was thinking along the lines of a vulture, condor or some other enormous man-eating predator. I grabbed the bird and tried to snatch it off my head. The claws were stuck in my new navy blue headband! (Remember, this was over 20 years ago. It was fashionably acceptable for me to wear a headband!) I twisted and pulled and screamed and finally wrestled the pigeon off my head, and in a complete and utter hysterical frenzy, I threw the bird into the plate-glass window of a loan officer's cubicle in SouthTrust Bank. (The horrified look of the young couple applying for a loan on the other side of his desk is burned into my mind forever.) I picked up my purse and ran directly into the street, leaving in my wake one very dead five-pound pigeon.

"Do you really think God dropped a five pound pigeon on your head to get your attention?" you may ask. Yes. Yes, I do.

On Monday morning, I turned in my notice. It was the right thing to do. It was part of God's plan for my life, and it was His love and patience that taught the Most Stubborn Woman in the World a very important lesson (again). Sometimes I think it is so easy for us to take for granted the things we learn as children in Sunday School. The Lord's Prayer comes to mind in this situation. "Our Father, which art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come, THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in Heaven." (I've checked all the translations -- it doesn't mention Belinda Faulkner's will even once!)

After much prayer, and the news that Austin would be joining our family, God's will for our lives became clear to us (without pigeons), and we prayerfully decided to live solely on Mike's salary. God has blessed us time and time again, and I must say, I thoroughly enjoy His plan and perfect will for my life much more than dinging cars or wrestling giant fowl out of my hair every day!

Book

Okay, guys. The Book of the Week is Humor For a Woman's Heart 2. I would also recommend Humor For a Woman's Heart 1, but I have not personally read that one... yet. The description on the cover says, "Stories, Quips, and Quotes to Lift the Heart." It is a collection of articles from Christian writers such as Chonda Pierce, Patsy Clairmont, Susan Duke, Becky Freeman (my favorite), and many, many others. The book is divided into two and three page articles on many different topics (age, body image, technology, house cleaning, etc.). It is light, funny and many times inspiring. In such a "heavy" world, it is a nice book to read and remember God wants us to laugh and have a joyful spirit.

Like I said, I usually read one or two after my daily Bible readings. Buy one for yourself and another as a gift for a friend. (Give it to her for no reason other than to say, "I love and appreciate you.")

Have a great weekend. Encourage someone this weekend. Compliment someone this weekend. More importantly, listen to someone this weekend. I'll be back next week with a fun winter party (all white), a sweet treat recipe, a chilly seasonal tradition, a special date (this one costs a little) and another book for you and your little one.

Talk to you on Monday!