Windmills

Good morning!

I just returned from a quick trip to western Texas. For a fiftieth anniversary party. For my husband’s aunt and uncle. It was well worth all the traveling in two short days. Great people! Great cause for celebration!

As we drove home to Tulsa across western Texas, we saw a lot of nothing. But endless fields. Some with cotton. A few cattle. It was flat as far as the eye could see. Until we spotted the windmills. Or wind turbines as they are called.

I love the sight of them, standing tall against the blue horizon with their stark white contrast. It reminded me of the classic, Don Quixote, that I read as a child. Quixote and his tilting at windmills. Or attacking imaginary enemies. Except there was no wind this Sunday morning as we drove by the miles of wind turbines. There was no attacking. They stood motionless in the summer sun.

I wondered if they were losing money. Standing there with no motion. Powerless. And just how much money did one of those huge monstrosities cost any way? So I Googled it. Like any other red -blooded American would probably do. Just in case you’re interested, you can buy one for yourself on Ebay for a mere $114,900.00. And free shipping to boot! That can’t be an easy task! And for the record, west Texas houses some of the countries largest wind farms. You know what they say, everything’s bigger in Texas!

Man can harness the wind to create power. Free electricity. But did you know the greatest power of all exists within the wind. It is a spirit. Ii is everywhere. It is Jesus. And he can control the wind.

Let’s all let his breath of life fill us today! And create his power within us.

When Jesus woke up he rebuked the wind, and said to the waves Quiet! Be still! Then the wind died down and it was completely still. Mark 4:39

Love and laughter,

Sandy

It’s not goodbye.

Good morning!

As many of you know I’ve been writing this blog for years. Every day. The ideas, the pictures, or the verses just pop into my head. Day and night.

Well, they’ve stopped popping. Call it writer’s block. Call it the end of a season. I’m not exactly sure what to call it. All I know is it is no longer flowing. And to be honest with you, I’m sure you are tiring of my boring little stories. About me. My world is pretty simple.

I currently am taking a college class that requires my undivided attention. I need to complete a semester’s worth of work in a month, so that is where my focus is going to currently be.

I love you all dearly, and I thank you so much for reading my amateur little blog.

Please do not stop reading God’s word. Every day.

I won’t. I will just stop the writing. For now. Who knows what the future holds for me? For now I will continue being a wife, a daughter, a mother, a grandmother, a relative, a friend, a student, a teacher, and most importantly, a child of God.

That’s the cool thing about being a child of God, we will all have eternity to spend together. We never have to say goodbye. Only temporarily. Until we meet again.

This is not good bye. It’s just see you later.

Au Revoir. Good bye until we meet again.

May God bless you wherever your path may lead.

Now may the Lord of Peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. 2 Thessalonians 3:16

Love and laughter,

Sandy

Summer School

Good morning!

Thursday was the last day of school for our students at Kendall-Whittier. Friday was my last day to pack up and check out of my classroom. From the moment I walked out the school doors, I had an action packed, fun-filled weekend full of festivities with family and friends.

My summer vacation was short lived. One weekend. Today it’s back to school. For me. Not as a teacher, but a student.

I’m NSU (Broken Arrow campus) bound to work on completing my teaching certification. Online.

I am the one learning. Not the one teaching. READ 4013.

I actually enjoy being a student. No matter my age. I always have. Learning. Growing.

How about you?

Do you enjoy learning and doing new things? Or are you content right where you are?

The choice is yours. Every day. We can change and grow and improve or we can remain rhe same and become stagnant.

The same holds true for our faith as our education. You don’t have to enroll in summer school to grow your faith. The only book you’ll need, you probably already have. Pull it off your bookshelf, dust it off, and give it a try. Read God’s word. Learn his character. Grow closer to him. Communicate with him daily. Through prayer. Gather with his people in fellowship. Develop a servant’s spirit, doing for others. And love. Then watch your faith grow.

Let’s all live. Our lives fully. By learning and growing. Before we die.

Today I’m one step closer. Summer school.

How about you?

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16

Love and laughter,

Sandy

Swaddle

Good morning!

Swaddle.

To wrap someone (usually a baby) in garments or cloth. To restrict movement of their limbs.

This is Pierce. My newest grandchild. He is a newborn. He is swaddled. That’s what we do with babies. To keep them warm. And secure.

We’ve been doing it since Jesus. Every nativity scene depicts Jesus swaddled.

I love to hold a newborn baby in my arms, once I’ve wrapped them tightly like a little burrito. Swaddled.

Every now and again all of us have those days where life just doesn’t go right. Where we’d love nothing more than to escape the chaos and return to a simpler place and time. To be swaddled. Figuratively, of course.

Did you know that each of us are wrapped in God’s love? We are swaddled. By God himself. He holds us in the palm of his hand. Now that’s security!

Whatever life is throwing your way, rest in God’s love. It wraps you in protection. Just like that precious little baby, Pierce.

This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Luke 2:12

Love and laughter,

Sandy

Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder

Good morning!

My hibiscus had its first bloom this year! I usually buy a new plant every year. But this one is different.

As a child, one of my favorite childhood memories was vacationing in Acapulco at the Las Brisas Hotel. Each villa was built on a terraced hillside and came with its own jeep and its own pool. They would provide a fresh basket of fruit poolside and float fresh hibiscus blooms on the top of the pool each morning.

Ever since then, I have loved hibiscus! I buy one every year, and place it on my front porch where it reminds me of tranquil ocean views of tropical places far away. Geographically, but not in my mind. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I’m not much of a gardener. I never have had rhe time for it. And the poison ivy always seemed to find me. My hibiscus plants usually die each year due to the hot Oklahoma summers. Even in the shade of the front porch.

But this past year, my husband talked me into moving it indoors and keeping it alive. Which is exactly what I did.

It’s been in and out on several occasions with our remodeling and our Oklahoma weather. But just a few days ago, we woke up to this. It’s first bloom of the year! It survived!

It’s the oddest color I’ve ever had! It’s certainly not Acapulco, but the 96 degree temperatures could fool you if you just close your eyes.

God’s creation is quite beautiful. It’s all around us. All we have to do is open our eyes.

I love Tulsa for its changing seasons. We experience all four of them each year. And so did my hibiscus.

I thank God for the beauty of summer. Hibiscus blooms. Lush green grass. Sparkling water all around us to refresh us.

For a few short months. Only to wither and transform to autumn. Change. It’s the fabric of life. Things live and die. But the word of God endures forever!

Happy unofficially Summer! 😎

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of Our God endures forever. Isaiah 40:8

Love and laughter,

Sandy

School’s Out

Good morning!

School’s out for summer!

No more pencils. No more books. Empty lockers. Empty hooks.

Not exactly Alice Cooper’s lyrics. Today we sign off on our rooms and technology for the year. The classrooms will be empty.

At 5:00 p.m. the construction crew will begin construction on our school. The teacher walkout set them back a few weeks. New HVAC and some remodeling will await us when we return in August.

School’s out for summer. I’ve never had a job where I had a summer vacation. Before now.

I have no intentions of resting, but rather furthering my education. A little trip would be nice.

What are your summer plans?

We all at some time or another need to rest. Even God did so on the sabbath. And Jesus in the wilderness. That’s what summer vacation was intended for. After helping with the family crops that is. Originally. Or if you are working on remodeling Kendall-Whittier.

Whatever your plans may be, may you find rest. In Christ. And in summer. 🌞🏊

Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest awhile. Mark 6:31

Love and laughter,

Sandy

Maneki Neko

Good morning!

We went to dinner the other night at P.F. Chang’s. We often sit at the bar so we can watch the current sporting event as we dine. Plus you get much better service.

In the middle of the bar facing the front door is a ceramic cat. I’ve noticed it there before and always wondered its purpose. Is it some type of Asian liquor? Is it a cookie jar? Or is it simply a decoration?

I finally just asked Erin, our waitress. She was more than obliged to give me the full rundown. Maneki Neko, the lucky cat, is part of P.F. Chang’s culture. Every P.F. Chang has a large Asian style ceramic cat which is holding one paw up. The lucky cat is a symbol of wealth and luck, and many Asian businesses use it in hopes of attracting customers and wealth to their location.

Each location also adds a little local flavor to its enormous mural above its bar. Tulsa’s has a scissor-tailed flycatcher, their state bird represented.

I’m not a big believer in luck. I choose faith. In fact, the only cat you’ll find around my home is a black one. And most people don’t find them to be too lucky when they cross their path. But I couldn’t be more blessed with wealth and luck since we inherited ours from my father-in-law. Of course, wealth to me means health and happiness much more than monetary dollars.

How about you? Do you believe in luck? Or faith? There’s an awful lot of both casinos and churches in Oklahoma.

I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer my needs to be met by God’s riches in Christ Jesus over the luck of a ceramic cat any day!

But I do love their sweet chili brussel sprouts!

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Phillipians 4:19

Love and laughter,

Sandy

The Name Says It All

Good morning!

Boudreaux’s Butt Paste.

My youngest daughter recently had a baby. She asked me if you need to put diaper rash cream on your baby’s bum every time you change them. I told her no, just if they are red or irritated or have a rash. She then went on to tell me his dad was using her face cream on their baby’s bum. Every time a diaper was changed.

I told her I’d pick up some diaper rash ointment for them.

A trip to CVS pharmacy, and I delivered a large jar of none other than Boudreaux’s Butt Paste.

There’s nothing finer to heal a baby’s behind than Boudreaux’s. Not to mention its name has a catchy ring to it.

It’s made quite the name for itself. It gained it’s popularity from being recommended on Oprah Winfrey’s television show. Brad Pitt spoke of its miraculous healing powers on two of his children’s diaper rashes. It’s even a NASCAR sponsor. It’s name, Butt Paste, can be found on the rear quarter panels in giant red lettering. It can also be found on other skin parts than just bums on those much older than babies. Those with chapped lips, psoriasis, shingles, jock itch, and acne also sing its praises.

The name says it all.

Just like Jesus. The name of all names.

Boudreaux’s Butt Paste may heal, but the name of Jesus saves!

Try some today for whatever ails you, skin wise. But turn to Jesus for the name that truly says it all!

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12

Love and laughter,

Sandy

Last Days

Good morning!

Last night I wrote up my final week’s lesson plans for this year. I wanted to end the year on a good note. We just have three short remaining days left together.

I wanted to review this past year’s standards in a fun, meaningful way. I wanted to offfer closure. Goodbyes.

Last days.

I saw it as a time to reflect on what they’d learned, and celebrate their successes as they promote to 5th grade. And to say our good byes before I gently nudged them on into their futures.

Many teachers do not see it the same. It’s a countdown to the finish. Many students and teachers alike have checked out mentally these past two weeks that we are making up from the walk out. The teacher next door to me is more of a placate and vegetate kind of guy. His class often watches movies or listens to music or plays games on their chromebooks.

I teach in a Title 1 school. Poverty runs rampant. We may be the only healthy relationship these students know. I try to offer an example of consistency and order in some of their otherwise chaotic lives. I believe in respect and order and routine in the classroom mixed with equal parts of love and fun.

My last week is more about celebrate and appreciate. We are having a pizza party in math tomorrow as a celebration. For all 25 of my students promoting to 5th grade with a little hands on fractions. What better way to learn what 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 8/8 is than a pizza? For many, pizza is a rare treat. One that I can afford to provide them.

We will then move on to evaluate and stimulate. Writing Wednesday lets them get to grade me! Time to reflect on the bests of the year and critique me! Then they’ll fill in the blank of a simile or metaphor, “I am like a___________because_____________.” I plan to give their simile to their next year’s teacher as a sample of their work and personality. Then comes the math games. An outdoor scavenger hunt Wednesday with 10 math problems over 4th grade math standards as a review. Then outside to find the numbers they wrote as answers taped to rocks, trees, etc. Each number has a corresponding shape to review such as trapezoid, parallelogram, rhombus. They will draw the shape next to their answer on their paper. Prizes will be rewarded to those who complete them correctly. Thursday offers more of the same.

Before they leave, I have prepared a packet for each of them with the alphabet in cursive to practice (something schools no longer teach, but I do) as well as their multiplication facts, a book of their choosing from my library to stay fresh on reading through the summer months, and a little personalized note on what I will miss about each of them.

Last days.

Many think we’re in them. And I’m not talking about school here. I’m talking about life.

Now is a good time for us all to reflect on and evaluate our own lives, and make the necessary adjustments to live more Christ like. Now is the time for us all to celebrate the last days that Christ was on this Earth as a living example for each of us to pattern ourselves against. These last days are certainly a promotion none of us want to miss!

May this week bring last days to all that are joyous and engaging!

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty for people will become lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful and unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 1 Timothy 3:1-5

Love and laughter,

Sandy

In Memory

Good morning!

It’s Memorial Day! It’s officially summer. Kind of. Not on the calendar, but at the cemeteries, the lakes, the pools, and the schools!

Hot dogs abound!🌭

Today we honor our dead. Both our personal loss and our war heroes. Cemeteries near and far are decorated with bright floral arrangements and U.S. flags flying. It’s a beautiful sight to see!

We honor our war heroes with tribute at the cemeteries, on the television channels, and by closing many places of business.

One war hero outshines them all. He fought the greatest fight of all. The greatest battle in history. He died on the cross. His name was Jesus. He died not to protect his country, but all mankind. He died for you and me. For the forgiveness of our sin. No American flag flies over his grave today for he was not an American. He stood for all peoples. A cross symbolizes his bravery. 🕇

As you celebrate this holiday today, one we celebrate for many different reasons, don’t forget to pay tribute to the greatest war hero of all. Thanks to Jesus, the battle’s already won. Satan is defeated. No tanks, no air squadrons necessary, just an old wooden cross.

Here’s to the many wonderful memories we all share with loved ones lost. Today may they be made fresh and anew upon your heart. Until we meet again. Thanks to Jesus. ❤

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. Colossians 1:13

Love and laughter,

Sandy