From the mouth of babes....

Please allow me to share a conversation my daughter had with her oldest daughter who is 5 1/2 yrs old. Shana spent the weekend w/o kids at her sister’s new home just 1 hour away. They were shopping at Hobby Lobby and Shana found a really nice cross to hang on her living room wall.

Monday morning, she was getting ready to hang the cross and KK asked her why she was hanging it up. “So when we look at it, we will remember Jesus.”

“But mommy we already know about Jesus in this house.” said KK. Well mommies have to think quick sometimes, so Shana said, “That is right, so what if every time we think about being thankful, we look at the cross and be thankful to God for all we have.”

The day progressed and evening came. Billie was clearing the dishes after dinner. He was complaining about having to handwash the plastic dishes. (Strawberry Shortcake, etc.)

KK was watching him. Billie noticed little eyes, so he stooped down to apologize. He was sorry for complaining. He told her that he should be thankful for the plastic plates and then KK said, “That’s ok Daddy, if you can’t find anything to be thankful for just go look at the cross.”

WOW! “If you can’t find anything to be thankful for just go look at the cross.”

Are you thankful for the cross? Does it just represent a story from a book or has it became real to you! Are you thankful for the pain and blood and sweat and tears that the cross instills in each of us. Knowing that Jesus took what was deservingly ours, so we did not have to endure that kind of death. Whether you are a believer or not, the cross speaks to you! Are you listening? I ask myself the same questions.

Corny...is it?

Corn...Corny, Corndogs, 'Jimmy crack corn and I don't care', Corn husk dolls, 'Knee-high by the 4th of July'..... Sweet corn, shoepeg corn, white corn, grilled corn, cream corn, corn bread....

Why is she talking about CORN, you ask? Well, I was listening to Rush Limbaugh Show today and heard some discussion on ethanol use. Now, mind you, I like listening to Rush b/c he makes me think about where I am on the issues.. sometimes I agree w/him sometimes I do not.

Ethanol gas as a different source of fuel has always sounded good to me. Get us out of foreign oil, the quicker the better is my motto. Ethanol sounds like a good way to do just that. Until the discussion today.

a. the government will have to subsides ethanol by 45 cents per gallon- where will that

money come from? Why you and I of course.

b. corn is used in so many ways the cost of corn WILL go up in

price - simply economics supply/demand.

c. cost of EVERYTHING ELSE will go up - b/c corn is used in so many

things .

d. IF we go to ethanol as an alternative, we then have to

import our food - if so, do you want our food imported?

The last remark(d) was made by a farmer who produces corn and other items, he spoke about how many farmers are producing more corn and less soy and other vegetables. Why, b/c that is where the money will be. A well known economist has written a book on the dangers of ethanol use. (I wish I had written down his name)

Why did she write on this in her blog, you ask? Just to get others to question and to look at the bigger picture.

I personally would rather import my oil than import my food supply. I personally would choose to conserve more gas in my vehicles. I personally would like to see us drill in Anwar (the 1/10th we were planning on using) or start using our off-shore wells more, than go for the "Corny" alternative.

A Father's Day Story

The local Christian radio station had people calling in w/stories of their fathers. Well, I had to call in and actually got on the show!

This is what I shared:

My story...(my father who passed away 5 yrs ago) About 27 yrs ago, my parents were building their very first home. (we rented all my life)
It's spring time in Ohio and my dad and uncle was clearing the land, noticing a lot of snakes in the woods, they were taking precautions. Well, my dad felt a snake on his leg, grabbed his pant leg..had my uncle cut into the pants to what my dad thought was it's head. My uncle cut a hole in the pants to find MY DAD'S WHITE HANKERCHIEF! It had fallen out thru a hole in his inside pocket..
To this day we still refer to that story as the "Tale of the Great White"

My dad was a short, stocky guy who loved life and kids! In our old neighborhood, he was the "Pied Piper of Woods Ave." To just catch a glimpse of he and my mother walking the neighborhood kids down to Lawson's story to buy them all a popcicle was a real hoot! Or how about the day he stopped long enough to hit one ball and run around the bases w/those short legs of his,(our side yard was the playgound for the neighborhood kids) before he went off to work.

He always took time to listen to you! And his laugh was contagious!! I think I miss his laugh the most! Saturday night I was ironing clothes for church and watching a HGTV show...they were rebuilding a couples back yard. At the "reveal" the wife was totally surprised when she saw her aging father walk through the back yard. Her surprise gave me away to tears when I heard her say "It's my dad." and she ran to him! I was so happy for her but I cried for 15-20 mins thinking, "how I wish I could say that, It's my dad!"

Then as I think of my heavenly dad (Abba Father) I will have tears again as I see Him face to face and say "It's my dad!" This time the tears will be joyfilled!

I wish my dad could have met his great grand daughters, saw "short-stuff Jilly get married, or seen my sisters kids graduate from high school, or enjoy time with my brothers little ones. But it was not in God's plans. I am just thankful that I had him as long as I did!

IF you dad is still alive, call him! Let him know how much you love him. Show off his picture to others and say proudly "It's my dad!"

Say Cheeze!!!

Stephanie Jill Ogle Gorman - 2007

Assorted pictures of Graduation Day with Jill's friends and family.

We had a great time together and are so glad they will be living closer.

The pic above is of Jill and her mom and mom2 !

I never ate so much Mexican food in my life! (boy was it good)

Jill , Warren and her friend and her husband.

Jill (note the red hair) and her daddy! (my favorite picture)





The happy couple! Almost 1 yr strong!

The End!

( well maybe one more) How does

Dr. Stephanie Jill Ogle Gorman sound to you??

Lazy, Hazy, Crazy ....

Today is Thursday, just a normal Thursday. I can’t believe it is the end of May 2007. My dad always told us kids that “as you get older, the days get faster.” Boy was he right. Shana and Billie will be celebrating their 7th anniversary next week. (They have been together 9 yrs total) As I think about their life together, I can’t help to be overjoyed with all God has given them. Of course, I am not EVEN counting the 3 adorable daughters they are responsible for. We have watched both of these adult children grow up, take on life and allow God to lead them all the way. That is really neat to watch.

Just 2 weeks ago on a Thursday, we were in Ft Worth preparing to watch Jill walk down the isle to receive her Masters degree. That was a joy also. Jill and Warren are now prepping to move into a staff position at a church much closer to home and getting ready to celebrate their first anniversary. YEAH! I finally have my sons.

18 days ago, we spent a wonderful time with old friends from NLR, Arkansas. In about 5 weeks we are going home to visit our mothers. That puts us into the middle of July! AUGH! Where does the time go?

I hope the lazy, hazy crazy days of summer find you and your family enjoying each other, helping a neighbor enjoying a BBQ and filling yourself w/joyful worship towards our Father. I hope that your desires will coincide with His desires for your life.

Max Lucado says it so well….
" You do something no one else does, in a manner no one else does it. And when your uniqueness meets God's purpose, both of you will rejoice ...forever."

Joy, Debi
John 15:11

Grands...weddings....family outings...dancing...

The week of Billie's brother wedding was awesome. I flew out to Dallas for the wedding and to help Shana with the girls. Thursday started out as a day at the Ft Worth Zoo but the real zoo were the 30+ school buses that had got there before us. Plan B- we went to the Science & History Museum and had a blast! The girls enoyed playing in 'watertown' with their daddy and Auntie Jill. Then Auntie Jill had a blast playing 'grocery store' with the girls! Friday was spent getting last minute things for the wedding (KK and LB were flower girls in the wedding) After rehersal dinner, Uncle Warren and I took the girls back to their home and I started rolling hair in sponge curlers while Uncle Warren sat and watched Dora and BluesClues with each neice. All I heard that night was "Uncle Warren can you carry me? Uncle Warren, Uncle Warren." (they love their uncle!! Thanks Warren, you were the biggest help that night as I rolled hair at 11pm! We put them to bed and next thing you know-it's morning! Day of wedding! It was a beautiful day. The reception was located downtown Ft Worth complete w/dinner and dancing.
I got to dance w/KK but my heart was 'filled to the brim' as I watched those little darlings twirl around in their long dresses. Then Jill and Warren drove me to meet Lisa, my dearest friend. We enjoyed a drink at Sonic and then drove onto her home. Stayed up late (of course) went to church on Sunday, had lunch and then she took me to the airport. It was so short but it was great to re-connect with a dear friend. (Please check out her book I have told you about)

See pics above.

Entertaining...

The Bible says that you may be entertaining angels unaware. Meaning, that you may not know who you are helping out in life, was that person just hungry or was that an angel to whom you just showed kindness to? Well, we noticed that we were entertaining a mother robin unaware in our soffet (picture #1) Steve had to dig out the nest (picture #2) and fix our security light. And in the process we found 2 eggs (picture #3)

How this mother managed to get into the soffet in the first place, we may never know. The amount of straw was amazing! Then again, mothers are amazing!

We stand outside most evenings after a walk , talking to our neighbors and never noticed this till last week. There was a third egg that was not broken so I put it in a baggie for our neighbor's son to take to show n tell. (it has a crack in it so the baby would not have survived)