Another year older and wiser. I thank God for His blessing to a sinful and undeserving man.

That blessing includes (but is not limited to)

• A Proverbs 31 wife
• 7 beautiful daughters
• Pc4
• a great church family
  
• a great job for a wonderful company
• my parents who raised me to fear God.

I’m sorry that I have not posted the answer of the riddle.
The answer is a chimney.

I’m doing the happy dance. My new best friend Sandy sent me a coupon code for CBD. Well, it’s the first time I’ve ever heard from her, but you’ve got to love anyone with a good coupon code after such a long dry spell, right?
Thanks Sandy!

Here it is:
Christian Book Distributors code: 251426AE Good for 10% off a purchase of $35 or more, valid until 4/13/07

10% off is great, right?

Now try this on for size:
Between now and March 31, Vision Forum is giving away a $50 gift certificate for every $95 of merchandise purchased. That’s an effective discount of over 30%. You can’t redeem the certificate until May-December, but for a 30% discount I’m not going to complain!
Just think: you can buy 3 Geneva Bibles now and get a 400 year old Framed Geneva Bible Page for free in May. Just a suggestion…those pages are just the most incredible idea…I wonder who thought of them…
If you want to be my friend, remember to enter my source code in your order: inashoe.

There you have it: 2 great discounts
Use them wisely.

Today while we were out running errands, I saw a panhandler at the light ahead. As we approached, I realized she was standing exactly where I would be stopping. I casually eased my elbow up onto the edge of my door, inconspicuously locking it.
I glanced quickly and read her sign: Hungry and homeless. God bless you.
I tend to be a bit sceptical of a well fed, healthy-looking man with 4 good limbs who can spend the day dancing from car to car, but my heart went out to this woman as she stood there. She looked a little ashamed and a little desperate. She had a little too much makeup, not quite enough clothes, and a bruise on her jaw. It was the bruise that caught me.
I don’t give money to strangers – rather, we give to the church and to charitable organizations of good reputation. But I didn’t want to just smile and hope she found one of those organizations.
Feeling a little sheepish, I beckoned to her. I told her quickly that I couldn’t give her any money but did she want a peanut butter & jelly sandwich?
Without hesitation, she thanked me and nearly snatched it from my hand. The light turned green and we moved on. She smiled and waved as she gulped down the sandwich.
It was a very small thing, and I felt small about it, but I was glad to have brought her a little joy.

Our next stop was the dentist, where 4 of the children had appointments. Our insurance company had rejected a $30 claim, and I inquired about it while we were there. The receptionist found that it was because our daughter’s cleaning was done 3 days shy of the every-6-month minimum. There was no disputing this claim.
She shrugged. “I’ll just write it off.”
And just like that, we were $30 richer.

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed.
Proverbs 19:17

Our son is growing. There’s no doubt about it. He now eats like two horses, and poops like two horses too.
Another clue: he is occasionally waking up to eat during the night, something he hasn’t done since his last growth spurt. I think the technical term is sleep regression.
What do you do when a baby who has been sleeping through the night suddenly starts waking up again? Well, if you’re not too lazy you give him a quick feeding and put him back to bed. Theoretically, this is enough to satisfy his enhanced Growth Spurt hunger levels, while not encouraging the habit of midnight snackage. When his growth slows to a more normal rate, he’ll resume his old sleep habits. Congratulations.
If you’re lazy like me, you bring him to your bed and let him nurse over the next 2 hours while you doze fitfully. Then, because you can’t really sleep with a baby in your bed, you drag your lazy carcass out of bed and put him back in his bed. As you trudge back toward your own bed, you hope you aren’t encouraging him to wake up for a 2 hour long, 5 course dinner every night at 2 AM.
With girls, this plan works.
I’ll let you know how that works with boys.

(or why teach your children Church History)

Psalm 78 1:7

1 A Contemplation of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, 3 Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done. 5 For He established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers, That they should make them known to their children; 6 That the generation to come might know them, The children who would be born, That they may arise and declare them to their children, 7 That they may set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments; 8 And may not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not set its heart aright, And whose spirit was not faithful to God.

emphasis mine

There is real tangible benefits to us and to our children when we take the time to teach them the glorious providence of God and the mercy he has shown to his people in times past.

Little children, never give
Pain to things that feel and live:
Let the little robin come
For the crumbs you save at home,-
As his meat you throw along
He’ll repay you with a song;
Never hurt a timid hare
Peeping from his green grass lair,
Let her come and sport and play
On the lawn at close of day;
The little lark goes soaring high
To bright the windows of the sky,
And fluttering on an untiered wing,-
Oh! let him sing a happy song,
Nor do these gentle creatures wrong.

A good friend of mine (thanks Darnell) sent me a link to the following video.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-KWYYIY4jQ]

Methinks there’s a lot of truth in them jokes!

To the 2 spiky white hairs I pulled this morning from the front center of my hairline:
We regret to inform you that you have been relieved of your duties in the front center position of the scalp.
Your inability to maintain a seated position reflected poorly upon the organization’s image, giving an impression of disorder and carelessness. Your flamboyant white mode of dress made this problem too apparent to ignore, forcing your termination.
You are invited to apply for a new position at any time, however we believe that you will be better suited to the sides or back of the organization rather than the front center.

To the rest of my hair:
In light of recent issues, we have instituted two new policies affecting employees in the front center department:
a) Employees are required to remain seated at all times. We will gladly work with those whose age or other physical limitations make this a challenge and will provide styling gel upon request, but will require that they adhere to the standard as far as they are physically able.
b) Front center employees are strongly encouraged to wear the standard dark brown uniform. Employees wearing white will be held strictly to the policy above.

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For those who are wondering, I have no objection to the white hairs that are beginning to appear here and there – I’m delighted that they are white, since I always admired beautiful silvery hair in older ladies.
But I can’t stand the ones that insist on standing straight up. In front.
Prideful hairs, beware.