Dr. Suess

"And will you succeed? Yes indeed! Yes indeed! Ninety Eight and Three Quarters guarenteed!"


Thursday, August 31, 2006

But Even If .....

Pearls and Dreams





Daniel 3: 17&18 17 If you throw us into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from the furnace. He will save us from your power, O king. 18 But even if God does not save us, we want you, O king, to know this: We will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up."


When I was in the third grade, I had friends that wanted me to do something with them. I don’t remember what it was. My guess, given the time period, would be, go with a family to see the Exorcist, or play the ouji board, or some other such thing. My Mom was adamant that I was not going to do it. Her reasoning was “We do not do that, WE are Christians.”



She did not leave it at that, she explained the keeping ourselves pure, our testimony and all the appropriate things a parent should do. All the things that have worked well with my children as explanations as to why we don’t do some things, but for me, I didn’t like the answer.



I went to bed that night. Stood on my knees and stared out the window at the stars. I started to cry and became angry with God. In my 9 year old head I started to blame God for my being left out of my friends life! It was His fault. This God in the stars … HE could let me go play if he wanted to!



Suddenly, I teared up, and I angrily, started to tell God what I thought. “It’s Your FAULT! I am sorry I picked you! I don’t want you in my life! I wish you weren’t my savior!”



I sat down on my feet and immediately was horrified by the things I’d said in anger. I jumped to my feet and grabbed the window. I bawled and begged God for forgiveness. “PLEASE GOD! I didn’t mean it! PLEASE PLEASE Don’t leave me! I love you God. I want your Son. I need your Son! I DO want you in my life! I don’t mean it God! Please! I didn’t MEAN IT GOD!!!!”



I cried myself to sleep that night. I never told anyone of the events of that night.



Over the next several years, I went through my life doing everything I could to serve God. I was going to be the best servant in the Kingdom. I knew I’d done a foolish thing. I often wondered … did I ruin my chance at Heaven. I loved God so.



At times, I could hear God speaking to me. I grew spiritually. I knew that what had happened was a flash moment of a young angry girl, too young to understand rejecting the King of the Universe. The Merciful Father would not hold that against her. Not when she never acted on it. Not when she repented.



But the questions haunted me …clear into my 30’s. Often the doubts would come … in questions, dark and sneaky “doesn’t matter how much God loved you, you rejected him. YOU committed the unforgiveable sin. You committed blasphemy. You’re a fraud …pretending to be a Christian.’’



The devil tortured me for years with that. Having fun at my expense.



Finally, about 7 years ago, I became fed up. I was tired of the haunting. I realized that to me, it really didn’t MATTER if I had committed that sin or not. It wasn’t going to change my stand for God. My love for God.



I stood at the doorway on the way out to church one day as the voice was particularly snotty and told the devil. “You may tell me whatever you want. You may remind me daily that as a 9 year old girl, I became angry with God and told him that I sent him away. And, I may, very well have committed the one sin that can never be forgiven. Only God knows … YOU Don’t even know. So, satan, take notice. Today, regardless of where my salvation stands, that does not change my behavior on this earth, nor my love for the King of Kings. When I die, I may not Go to heaven because of one act of rejection as a 9 year old girl. But until that day, I will serve him with everything that is in me. I will stand on his word. I will pray, I will sing. I will trust him. I will stand on his promises. I will tell his story. I will LOVE him. I will SHOUT about his love and I will SERVE HIM with everything that is in me. So, satan, in the name of Jesus, GET BEHIND ME.



He was never able again to taunt me. I’d made my stand for Christ. If lived or died in eternity, If God saved me or not … I would make that stand. I would stand. I was at church last night, watching the Beth Moore series on Daniel. Suddenly something caught my eye … I wasn’t the first to make that declaration … I smiled as I heard the words I’d once declared.



I realized …God had given me the words that I’d needed. I’d never memorized them. I’d read them several times, but God brought them to me when I needed them.



Daniel 3: 17&18 17 If you throw us into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from the furnace. He will save us from your power, O king. 18 But even if God does not save us, we want you, O king, to know this: We will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up."

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Schedule :Broken Arrow Apostles Build

Pearls and Dreams

Broken Arrow Apostles Build
dates subject to change because of weather or labor (early or late)

September 8 Day Before Chalk floor plan, remove slab forms.

September 9 Day One Wall Raising Ceremony, first official day.
Frame and Sheath exterior walls, finish interior walls; top plates; plumb/brace.

September 16 Day Two Set trusses; sub facia; Install sheetrock nailers and stiffbacks; Intstall outside offit nailers; start decking

September 23 Day Three Finish decking; gable soffit; roofing metal edges; start roofing; o/s doors; install blueboard; set windows; build porch


September 30 Day Four Finish roofing; start vinyl siding

October 7 Day Five
Interior wall insulation; vinyl siding; set porch posts

October 14 Day Six Finish vinyl siding; set porch railings (Samuel's 17th Birthday! What a birthday parth hey?)

October 21 Day Seven Set interior doors; start trim; Install closets and shelves; start interior and exterior painting

October 28 Day Eight Continue Painting; set cabinets, stain cabinets, sand and prime floors, start shed

November 4 Day Nine Set formica tops; install vinyl floor; finish painting; finish & paint and shed

November 11 Day Ten Install misc. hardware; final clean- up; lay sod

November 18 Day Eleven Landscape finish all misc. details

If a few of the churches get together we can work a couple of thursdays or friday's so that we're finished before November 18! Drove by today, they poured the slab. We are definitely on our way!!

Jerry's Kids

This Labor Day will be the 41st year for 2 things ... it will be MY 41st labor day on this planet ...and it will be Jerry Lewis' 41st labor day doing the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon for Muscular Dystrophy.

I'm sitting here tonight, and I saw a public announcement for the telethon and it caught my attention. 41! I'M 41. I had no idea that his number of hostings equaled my age!

Ironic. There are those who say, that the Muscular Dystrophy Association has done most of the research that has brought Myasthenia Gravis from a mostly fatal, to a not so fatal disease. Would I BE 41 to be celebrating this MDA telethon that shares my AGE ... if it weren't for the telethons themselves?

The research moments that have come across the Quest Magazine in the 14 years that I've been a Jerry's Kid ... has been unbeleiveable ... ALL of my research knowlege has come from the MDA. I know that in the 70's, pre and post Aristotle Onasis, they did remarkable things to bring big changes in the disease In large part due to Jerry Lewis (who was said to have had a friend with Myasthenia and pushed for it)


I have gotten a little help directly from the MDA ... supportive phone calls. I've turned down their medical care. Leave it open to those who don't have medical access to good care through other avenues. I do. I get the magazine ...that HELPS! I want to go to the support group. Those that I've met have been very very nice! Carying, and loveing.

Make no mistake this week ... as you see a Fireman standing around an intersection reaching for your window looking for some change ... Fill his boot. It helps.

It helps people like me ... to get drugs that help me go from being able to not read because my double vision is to bad I can't see ... to being able to write a book. It gets treatments that improve the muscles so that with therapy, and treatment ... I can go from not being able to lift my leg to climb a stair, to being able to working out and enjoying my life with my kids.

It helps people like me ... no longer having to go into the hospital in Myasthenic crisis becuase the medications keep me stable and stronger.

It helps give safer, stronger and less risky drugs.

Give to Jerry's Kids ... You might be surprised dto find out that you're spending time blogging every day with a Jerry's Kid every day.

I grew up sending my August Allowance to Jerry's Kids. I never dreamed I'd become on of HIS KIDS!

Please ... Fill the boot!

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Giggles

Pearls and Dreams

I decided that since Freckles was going to his new home today, maybe he should smell nice and fresh, and look his best. Cathy, gives her baby's (cats) baths, so, maybe ... so, I get a bath ready for him ...and I stick him in the bath.

Now, because he's a white cat, and he's gotten into things ... grilling charcoal ... unmixed koolaid ...he's had a couple of baths ..and I wasn't expecting too much trouble. It's the shampoo he tends too balk at.

So, I stick him in the water. He stiffens, but doesn't do anything else, but meow, kind of a protest. I start to wash him and he protests a bit. I pulled him out and scrubbed him on the toilet and the towel, mostly for my own comfort, I was getting dizzy leaning over the tub. He seemed to like that too.

I stick this white, black spotted drowned spotted little rat back in the water, and he just sits there, moaning. A deep, mournful ... horrible ..graveyard deep moan. "Oh help meeeee I'm being tortured" moan. I start to laugh, because he's perfectly relaxed as I'm rinsing him off. Then he looks up at me as if to say "hey, this doesn't feel half bad"

While he's looking at me, the deep moan goes again.

Wait ...he's lovingly looking at me and the poor pitiful begging me to stop torturing him moan is still taking place!

I look down at my side. Sitting next to me by the side of the tub ... Twitch ... His Daddy cat ... PLEASE PLEASE STOP GETTING MY BABY WET!

Oh brother!

When I got Freckles out of the tub I had to pick Twitch up, too, to let Twitch know that Freckles was, indeed, Okay.

Geesh, that cat has too much estrogen for a male cat!

From my sick bed

Pearls and Dreams

I am up from my sick bed to post a couple of up dates. Wanda's Wings has found a home for Freckles. So he leaves our abode to find a new home tomorrow. :*( We are sad. I hope he will be happy.

Today's mail brought lab reports from doctors offices. My glucose tolerance test that was challenging the glucose insulin ration was fine ... got to be nice & sick for nothing. He said it's a bit wider than what is normally seen in insulin resistence, except in his patients with anorexic type eating disorders. Since I have ED-NOS and have been known to restrictive eat ... and I'm low on protien in the blood. His best guess is ... I'm not eating enough and or skipping too many meals. Cool it, straighten up, my body is not going to loose weight that way. And, it will kill me to do it.
yada yada yada ..got the full lecture on the phone when he called thisevening.

After he called, my PCP called to talk about my lab work from ealier this week. My kidney functions aren't too good. (not low, high) meaning my kidneys are having to work too hard. It has one of two most likely causes .... the medications I'm on. In MOST of her patients, almost all ... they'd take at that, and say push fluids and assume that's the problem. Test again. The other possible cause ... not eating enough food ... dehydration ...making kidney's work to hard to flush out the medications/disease antibodies out of themselves because they don't get the proper nutrients and fluids to do so.

So, before she puts me through all kinds of kidney biopsys etc ... she wants me to increase fluids dramatically, she's sending results of my tests and her suspicions to my treatment team, and a note to endo and 2 other docs and suggesting those notes go to phschiatrist as well ... oh joy.

It seems that ... while I'm not counting to make sure I'm not eating more than 250 calories a day ... I'm doing a fairly good job of restricting myself ...far more than I'd thought ... my 41 year old, and not so h ealth bodycan't play these games.

Docs orders ... fluids ...lots of fluids ... rest ... green tea for my caffiene fix rather than coffee... stop arguing with PT and do onl what he says not what he says x3. Plus ...eat when I'm supposed to, and how much I'm supposed to ... not skipping of meals and 1/3 of my meal when I do. No m ore tricks, because my body is telling on me. and it won't allow it ... and if I continue ... I can't be the woman that God has called me to be.

I have 2 choices ... keep playing games.
And never be who I want to be. Or find healing and find out who the woman God created me to be just really is.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Pluto's Demotion

Pearls and Dreams

Pluto ... Pluto has been demoted. Pluto, according to "The powers that be", is now, a Dwarf Planet. Dr. A mentioned the possibility of this demotion earlier this week and asked for his readers comments. I sarcastically commented they couldn't do that because when I memorized the planets, I used the sentence
My Very Effecient Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizza's.

It got me thinking. First ... The Powers that be. Who are they to demote a planet. God made the Planets ...they get to demote it to a dwarf planet?


But, seriously ...we got through our lives thinking we know how things are. Then someone comes along ...and changes the rules. Decides what is, isn't. It is something else. It belongs in a different classification. It doesn't fit in the rules as they've been accepted.

Did anything change in the way Pluto was created? No
Did anything change in the way Pluto orbited the sun?
No
Did anything change in ANYTHING about PLUTO itself? No ...only in the way MAN classifies and views Pluto.

Things in our lives change. Rules change all the time. Right, wrong ...acceptable, unacceptable. Jobs come and go. Neighbors come, family goes. Business go up, sky scrapers fill the sky,(and at times,are horrifically brought down by terrorists, changing our hearts and landscapes forever!) Pollution fills the air, then laws are changed to clean it up. Politicians change their stands with the whispers of the voice of pulic opinion.

Everything changes ... even what we think we know to be of true, scientific fact ... My Very Effecient Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizza's ...scientific fact ..subject to change by the Powers that be in charge of the sciences at the time. This has been going on since the time of Job (don't believe me, read Job chapter 8, don't like the King James, read it in the New Century, it's today's English ...talk about change) Job 8:8&9
"Ask old people; find out what their ancestors learned, 9 because we were only born yesterday and know nothing. Our days on earth are only a shadow."


Hebrews 13:7&8 told us what we can depend on

7 Remember your leaders who taught God's message to you. Remember how they lived and died, and copy their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

What can be counted on. God's message ... not the disagreement that religions fight over ...
But the message of Jesus ... to love the Lord Your God with all your heart mind and strength, and to Love your neighbor as yourself.

You can't depend from day to day on what we think we know ...or our mothers might stop delivering to us what they've always delivered when we've expected.

But God ... He is the SAME ... YESTERDAY TODAY and FOREVER ...and that is love.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosover believes on him, shall not perish, but have ever lasting life. (John 3:16)

Pluto, may not be today, what we thought it was yesterday. But Jesus ..is still the same.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Just for show

Pearls and Dreams
I have a blog planned for later today ...but for now, here is a picture to show you one of the reasons we qualified for a Habitat house. There are a few reasons you can qualify ...

either your rent is too high for the quality of housing (not true in our place..well, the lot rent for the lot is about standard anyway)

Too many people living in too small of living quarters.

or ... substandard housing ...which is a fancy way of saying the house is falling apart.

roofdamage

This ... is the reason why there will be not cute little waterfall rock things when we move into the new house. I want to hear no running water that does not come from a faucet when I get into the new house!

Friday, August 18, 2006

Family

Pearls and Dreams

Last week my mom took me to a Christian Concert ...Andy Shust. We ran into my niece. Her friend took this picture
PkNannaRebekah

We noticed a distinct lack of family resemblance ...NOT.
:D

We are all very happy to have this picture.

I want plastic surgery on my arms :/

Tonight ... I got to hear Mike Warnke ... I'd heard him quite a bit when I was a teenager and young adult. Sooo fun. My kids love him.

Warrior Ministries honored my kids, both of them. It was really neat. I'll have to put tomorrow what the plaques said tomorrow because I can't get to them right now without drawing attention to me doing it right now. I was really proud. It was soo cool. It was nice to see that someone else had noticed that my kids are hard workers.
EDIT: here is what the certificate says :

Warriors of the Cross

The board of Directors for Warrior Ministries of Oklahoma hereby awards to: Benjamin Eagler

and recognizes this unique individual, as True Warrior of the Cross. This award is given to Benjamin Eagler because of his uncompromising mission to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ by equipping and helping others to be effective ministers of the Gospel. Warriors of the Cross are people who have been recognized by our Board of Directors, as a person who has accepted the call of God upon their lives, to encourage, equip, and challenge others, by their example, to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

Dated this 18 day of August 2006

It is signed by the director of Warrior Ministries and has the Warrior ministries logo and is nicely framed.
Their attitudes ... "wow! I didn't know people got stuff like this. I was just doing this stuff for Jesus!"

Yea, well, that's kind of WHY you got honored kiddo!

My kids drive me insane, but I am sooo proud of them I can't see straight.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Broken Arrow Apostles Build

IMGP0036Southpark
Habitat for Humanity
Build Project

Habitat Family Partner
Donald and Peggikaye Eagler

Donald and Peggikaye are the parents of 16 year old Samuel and 14 year old Benjamin.
Donald and Peggikaye are disabled, although, fortunately, neither needs a wheelchair.
They have completed a rigorous program of 450 hours of sweat equity, completed 10 months of Money Management classes and attended more than eight Home Buyer Workshops in preparations for home ownerships. (we did 9).
Through determination and faith (and prayers) they have finally achieved their dream of ownership.
Broken Arrow Apostles Build
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. When will construction begin?
A. We have tentatively set the wall raisting for Saturday, September 9, to coincide with the International Building on Faith Week - September 10 -17th.
Q. How long will construction take?
A. On average 8 to 10 weeks, although bad weather could extrend the project to 12 weeks.
Q. Where is the homebuilding site?
A. 616 S. Cedar St. Broken Arrow (not sure on the street, our sign on lot says Ave not St.)
Q. How will we recieve information before and during the building process?
A. We ask each church to have a project coordinator who will be our point of contact throughout the process.
Q. Is there an age limit for youth who want to participate?
A. Youth must be at least 16 to participate.
Q. What days of the week will we work?
A. Construction takes place on Saturdays. If a church has volunteers available on a Friday we may be able to schedule a workday if a construction supervisor is available.
Q. How many volunteers will we need to send?
A. That will depend on the number of churches participating. If we have 12 Apostle churches, each will only be required to send 2 to 3 volunteers each week. 25 is an ideal number on site at one time. Congregations may choose to split the day into morning and afternoon shifts to accomodate more volunteers.
Q. Can our church participate even if we were not able to raise the $1,000 tithe?
A. Absolutely! we beleive that your congregation will benifit greatly from this experience and we encourage all churches to participate at some level.
Q. What is the deadline to participate on this project?
A. To accomodate the scheduling process, we need a commitment by the end of August.
Q. We have members with specialized experience (for instance landscaping) that would like to volunteer during that phase of the building project. Is that possible?
A. Yes, we will be developing a tentative construiction schedule that you can use to determin when those activities will occur, and have a weekly contact person with your designed Project Coordinator throughout the Project.
We, are on our way.
September 9th ... come build with me ... grab a hammer!! :D
Edit: My sister called this afternoon to say there were some holes and a storage building on the lot that my nephew got some pictures of. (as well as a few golf balls, we're evidently taking someone's golf practice lot!) So, when I went to pick up Samuel from school, we drove by to see the holes ... When we turned the corner, there was a cement truck ...and all the rebar sticking up out of the ground. Just as we turned the corner to stop and look in front of our lot, the very first of the cement for our foundation came out of the cement truck! We 'just happened' to get to see the very first of the foundation pour out of the truck and onto our lot. It was soo cool!!! Praise God!! I was so excited that he let me see the start of the project. I had both boys with me!

PICT0590

PICT0612

PICT0615

PICT0619

PICT0620

PICT0621

PICT0624

PICT0630

Monday, August 14, 2006

Favor?

Pearls and Dreams

I need a favor ...if you go to church, and your church has a website ...would you give me the link to your churches website, either on here, or email it to me at
PearlsOfAnEagle at aol dot com I have been asked to help our churches web design team in doing some of the writing on the website.

It was suggested that I look at other church websites.

so, I need to go church website surfing.

Wash N Curl

Pearls and Dreams

I recieved the hard copy of the contract for the book today!! It will be mailed tomorrow. I will be on my way to being a published author, not just a free lance writer!

Well ... my hair was plenty curly, and ...it was still curly when I woke up this morning and stayed curly through my work out, till I came home and washed it out. Not bad. Guess it works! It also only cost $3.49, so really not a bad experiment. My cats love the smell of it, one of them wants to eat my hair ...um, not good.

I'm still extremely tired and dragging. Not sure I have my perky back. I did go do my work out. I was furious with my PT, he made me back everything in half! Half the repititions, half the weight! Excuse me? I was only doing 6 lbs at 6 repititions! So down to 3 lbs and 3 repetitions ...growl. I wasn't happy.
We will be talking tomorrow, yes, tomorrow.

I have a pain in my thigh ... it really hurts. It's deep in my thigh ... in the muscle. Most of my pains are joint, tendon, ligegment, joint ..connective tissue type pain ... this is deeeeeep in the muscle ...about 5 inches about the knee. The last time I had this kind of pain, it was a blood clot in my arm from the port that I had for IVIG therapy. But, I'm not seeing any kind of color changes in my leg that are making me think blood clot ...just the pain, throbbing, deep ..painful ... ouchy!

I do see neuro tomorrow, and I will mention it to him.
Amoung other things.

Samuel starts school on Thursday, homeschooling begins again for Bj. House ...should begin in September.
Things are moving ahead ... :D

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Various Assundry Things

Pearls and Dreams

I had a friend when I was in high school that used that phrase a lot. "Various Assundry things". I still miss Jeff. He was a unique person. Jeff Moon was his name. He was a big brother (not really, kind of adopted each other). He slept through my high school graduation. :P

I'm wondering if I'm an advertising sucker ... I bought "Wash N Curl Shampoo" ... I'll see tomorrow if it made a difference in my pin straight hair. I sometimes sleep with curlers in my hair and make it curly, but the curls never last. We'll see if this helps.

I've been contemplating my childhood today. To the elementary school teacher (who I'm not going to name, but she's been to this site before) who kept me in at recess because I was writing stories instead of doing my math ... um ... er ... uh ... I told you then, and I'm tellin you now ... I'm gonna be a writer when I grow up! You said when I get my book published you'd apologize to me ... guess what Ms. ***... :D


I think I'm feeling a bit snarky this evening. Snarky is my new word. I have no idea where I got it from.

Tomorrow I am wearing my new suit that I bought last month. It will be too hot for it, but I'm dying to wear it, and the singer who always turns the A/C on in the sanctuary too cold is singing. So, the church will be plenty cool enough to wear it.

Today I did nothing but lay around ... resting. Not sure I did my body much good ...got lots of sulking done. I'm not too keen on doing nothing but resting. I find it annoying. Maybe that's why I'm in a snarky mood.

I find it anoying that the autoimmune body sees excitement the same as it sees stress. It is not fair that good times are greeted by the immune system with the same treatment as bad times. I'm having the best time of my life (at least of recent years) and I'm feeling just as bad. NO FAIR! I want to run and jump and scream and squeal ..and instead I'm being forced to take care of myself. SNARK.

My cats are loving it.
My kids are loving it.

It's just my husband and myself that are having a hard time with it. Snark.

Well ... I'm going to bed so I can make it to church tomorrow. I am planning on going and looking at dishes after church and go out for coffee with him. He deserves it.

Good night!

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Yep, yep yep ...

Pearls and Dreams

Ground has been broken ... we have a flat dirt pile, ready for a foundation!

Samuel has been successfully transferred, complete with complete shot records ... to Broken Arrow (GO TIGERS!)

Step by step ....

oh ...edit ...tomorrow morning, I take mom in for the appointment with the neurologist to go over the neuropsych testing.

Survivors Can Thrive!: Share a Secret, Stop the Silence, Silence the Shame

Survivors Can Thrive!: Share a Secret, Stop the Silence, Silence the Shame

Important ... life changing ... courageous.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Closer and Closer

Pearls and Dreams

Broken Arrow Paper

Organization finds slow suburban spread
By TIM STANLEY World Staff Writer
8/9/2006

View in Print (PDF) Format




Fourth Habitat home planned for Broken Arrow
For an area nonprofit that helps lower-income families become homeowners, a new project in Broken Arrow could serve as a model for its future efforts in the suburbs.
Map
The Tulsa chapter of Habitat for Humanity, which has built 137 low-cost homes -- mostly in north and west Tulsa -- since it formed in 1988, has planted three in Broken Arrow so far and has another one planned for construction soon.

Most land for Habitat projects is donated, so the organization has to build where it can get land, Gary Casteel, Habitat executive director, said. Habitat officials would like to put more homes in Broken Arrow and other suburban communities, but high land costs make acquiring property there more difficult.

That's where older sections of the cities could come to play a bigger part in advancing Habitat's mission, Casteel said.

"Hopefully, community leaders will look at their older downtown areas and see the opportunity there for decent affordable housing, whether through us or other options," he said.

Habitat, a faith-based organization with chapters all over the world, will build one of its upcoming homes in Broken Arrow's downtown area -- on vacant property donated by the city.


The city acquired the property several years ago to accommodate a street widening project.

Giving it to Habitat to convert for low-cost housing is consistent with city goals, Broken Arrow Mayor Richard Carter said.

"The city is encouraging downtown development and one of the things we look at is a way of bringing families into downtown -- and new housing to replace vacant lots or dilapidated older structures. Habitat is a good way to accomplish that," Carter said.

Casteel said the family has been selected and the project should begin in mid-September with a workforce of weekend volunteers pitching in, including help from Broken Arrow churches.

"Once we have the slab, it'll take 10 Saturdays to finish," Casteel said.

The new Broken Arrow home, one of 25 Habitat has planned for 2006, will be about 1,100 square feet. The organization already has funds to cover the estimated $60,000 cost, Casteel said.

The Habitat program works like this:

The chapter selects a family from a list of applicants in the area. The family is required to put in 500 hours -- Habitat calls it "sweat equity" -- assisting with other Habitat building projects, including their own house. When the house is ready, it's sold to the family at cost with no interest charged on the mortgage.

Volunteers make it all possible, Casteel said. Habitat officials reach out to local churches for support, recently meeting with representatives from several in Broken Arrow.

Churches are invited to sign up to help build or fill other supporting roles, such as providing refreshments and lunches.

"The support has been good on our previous projects in Broken Arrow," Casteel said. "There's a lot of community spirit there."

The Broken Arrow project could also help with Habitat's wider mission effort. The organization hopes to find 12 Broken Arrow churches to help fund a home-building project overseas.

"It's called our House For A House commitment and we're asking that they donate $1,000 each," Casteel said. " Of course, we welcome any help of any kind they can give."

The organization's three previous Broken Arrow houses are on Houston Street, North 14th Street and East Greeley Street. The upcoming project is on South Cedar Avenue.

Habitat-Tulsa officials have a long-range plan for the metro area -- to build 1,500 houses by 2025.

"We're a little behind," Casteel said. "That would put us building 70 a year from here on out. But we're confident. Our goal is to eventually eliminate substandard housing from the area."

The organization is buying more properties in North Tulsa now, thanks to a $500,000 grant from a local foundation to build houses there, he added.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Tim Stanley, 259-9650
tim.stanley@tulsaworld.com

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

September 11 Tribute

Pearls and Dreams

911

On September 11 bloggers all over the internet will be paying tribute to individual people lost in the tragedy. Please join us so that not one person is left out of the tribute. If you go to this site, then it explains how and why this is being done and will assign you someone to pay tribute to. In the meantime, I will be learning all I can to pay tribute to Michael Edward Gould to do justice to the tribute I'm writing.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Pictures

Pearls and Dreams

Thank you Wanda for taking, developing and emailing these to me!!!

Peggi&Don

pk2
One of my Salvation army outfits.

PK&boys
Boys and I, and the kitten Freckles (born in March)

PK&freckles
Freddy Freckles Kreuger and I ...trying to save my finger.

kittens
Sugarfoots latest offering (no one told me a cat doesn't have to go into heat to ...um ... give us kittens again. We'd planned on getting her spayed this month!!! And she was still nursing Freckle's until 5 weeks ago!! These babies were born last weekend. The spotted one looks exactly like Freckles as a baby)

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Books are the soul of sanity.

Pearls and Dreams

I have been tagged by Cathy on one of my favorite subjects! BOOKS!

1. One book that changed your life:
"Edge of Eternity" By Randy Alcorn. An allegory of the walk of the christian life. An incredible story full of symbolism and strong truths. At the end, when the main character gets to the bright city and sees 'The Carpenter' (Christ) he says "but Lord, I am not worthy!" and The Carpenter looks at him and says "My son, you are worthy because I have MADE you worthy."

At that point ...in that one sentence .. my walk with God was changed. From why would God want me ... I'm not worthy ... to OH! That's why he wants me! HE made me worthy, the pressure is off me to BE worthy but on HIM. I only need to be what he created me to be.

2. One book you have read more than once:
Chronicals of Narnia ... over and over and over again. Was a yearly tradition.

3. One book you would want on a desert island:
My New Century Version Bible

4. One book that made you laugh:
hmmmm "omma Get the Hammer – There is a. Fly on Pappas Head"– by Barbara Johnson Actually, anything by Barbara Johnson ... just her titles make me laugh.

5. One book that made you cry:
Chronicals of Narnia or Edge of Eternity ...toss up
6. One book you wish had been written: Why It's OK to Be Imperfect" or "I'm Normal in My Abnormalities" (A quote by my oldest son as he learned of his tourette's dignosis and what that meant)

7. One book you wish you had written:

hmmmmmm finished Monday Musings. Which, may be a necessity now. ;)

8. One Book You Wish had Never Been Written: Lolita ... not only is the story line unecessary ...but my ears got tired of the phrase born of the book in the scandal I won't mention.

9. One book you are currently reading
A Man Named Dave

10. One book you have been meaning to read:
The Oath by Frank Perretti

Now the real fun part...I get to tag 5 people...
Wanda's Wings ... my dear good friend Wanda! (where oh where has my wanda friend gone? Oh where oh where could she BE?????????)
Dr. Deb ... who I have found to have such interesting idea's and insights. I can't wait to find out what she reads!
The Journey ... my wonderful friend Deneice (who actually started me on blogging)
Raine's Days ...because I bet it will be interesting, and I'm homesick. ;) (she's the nearest person to Mariposa I can tag)
Biscotti Brain ...on of my early blog connection who always reads and does fascinating things. By the way, I still have the book you sent me, and it is a reminder that you said one day you'd be buying a book of mine that was similar to it. :D

Friday, August 04, 2006

Praise the Lord with Hand flips and Cartwheels

Pearls and Dreams

Wow ..I'm in shock. Total shock. I have seen God work out some absolute miracles in the last 8 months of my life.

One of the things I had given up was getting my book published. No way was I going to do it in the condition my marriage was in. I gave that up, and over to God.

As I've posted before, God worked wonders.

Shortly after ... I got a call from the publisher ..we're still interested.

However, the harddrive with my book on it (not saved to disk) had crashed ... and ...oh my ... entering the book ... letter by letter?

Thanks to the help of my oldest son ... it got done this summer.

I sent it in.

I got the email on the first that I would hear from them within 2 weeks.

I got the email this afternoon.

It is a yes!

My devotional book Friday Fellowship will be published!!!

Don't know many other details than that!

I know the most important ...God is good!

Don't mess with me! *sweet smile*

Pearls and Dreams

The vaccination records are still a mess.

However, the pressure is off.

I recieved a call today from the district we're going to. "The transfer has been approved, we're excited to recieve this young man!"

We talked about the shot record situation, that my copy was water damaged in a water pipe break, and that what our doctor has is missing some records as well as what the school has (which, doesn't make any sense either ..evidently the state records are missing some)

However, all we have to do now is wait a week for the nurse to go into her office at the district we've been in ... so that we can get the hard copy of what I enrolled him with 2 years ago.

She said it was unusual for transfers to be approved before the enrollment ..but an administrator, named Mr. N from the leaving district stepped in today and pushed the paperwork.

It is good to have friends in high places! The same friend who's name got Benjamin some respect last fall. I'd just casually emailed his wife an email last night ...about midnight ... mostly to say ... geesh the summers gone by and we haven't seen each other ...here's my family update ...oh, here's a prayer need ..and what's your prayer needs.

She tells hubby, hubby goes to work and gets Samuel's situation fixed.

She hasn't even answered my email! :)

Mr. N was once a youth pastor at our church and was Samuel's accountability partner ... he and Samuel are very close and he is very very interested in Samuel's educational future and what is best for Samuel.

It is good to have friends in high places. *grin*

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Pearls and Dreams

Pearls and Dreams

I am contemplating changing my blogger ID Yosemite Picture to another YOSEMITE PICTURE. Which, is currently the ribbon falls picture.

Any votes (picked from the pictures below in the BA meeting!) ?

edited

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Welcome to Blogger's Anonymous!

Hello, Welcome to Bloggers Anonymous! Thank you Dr. A for letting me host this weeks meeting. I do hope everyone finds it enjoyable. If you don't catch the tour bus with the first group, another will be along shortly, I've asked that they drive back and forth all day to make sure everyone gets to come! Our first stop along the way is not our actual destination. We are meeting here in Mariposa, California on our way to Yosemite National Park.
Yes, I know, I live in Oklahoma, but I was raised in Mariposa and would much rather take you to my home than where I live now. :) Mariposa is a very small community that's primary role is to be the 'Gateway to Yosemite.'

The history of Mariposa County was far more glorious than the town (not even declared a town by the census) turned out to be. Mariposa County was one of the original counties of California, created at time of statehood. It was the largest of the state's original counties, but territory that was once part of Mariposa is now in twelve other counties: Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Madera, Merced, Mono, San Benito, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, and Tulare. Thus, Mariposa County is known as the Mother of Counties. Part of the county's territory was given to Tulare County in 1852, to Merced County in 1855, to Fresno County in 1856 and to Mono County in 1861.
Mariposa Main Street

Mariposa is also known for it's Courthouse, the oldest FUNCTIONING courthouse in California. It is a beautiful piece of history.

MariposaCourthouse

Ok ... Let's hop on the bus and head out of town, but before we do, let's stop here to get drinks. The resteraunt was once our only fast food place. It was an A&W ... before we moved a way, it went through being an A&W Serve You, to a Hawks Dog (owned by the Hawkins family, friends of ours, who served killer foot longs with tomatoes and sourcream! YUM) and several other re incarnations. Whatever the name on the door, the food is guarenteed to be good and the service friendly.

Load up, and let's head on up the highway!

Wildflowers in Midpines

Enjoy yourself on the ride, read, talk amoungst yourself, watch a DVD on the screen up here. There is pop in the ice chest and a picnic basket full of various snack (chips, candy etc)like things if you didn't get something at the resteraunt.

Look! Out the window! It is the beautiful Merced River

Merced River
Dr. A, lean back in the window of the bus! These mountain roads have sharp turns and steep inclines! The river can be seen INSIDE Yosemite as well as from the road. Geesh!

Cathy and Moof, see if you can entertain
Dr. A and keep him contained till we get there. Get him a lap top so he can blog while riding this bus!

Our first stop in Yosemite is going to be Yosemite Valley.


YosemitefallsfromYosemiteValley

If you get here before I get back to give you the itenerary, entertain yourselves with playing frizbee, looking at the wildflowers

Yellowstarthistle

Neonursechic ... Dr. A is feeding the Bears! Get him a laptop!

Carbear
Ok ...back with the Itenerary (after a bit of a delay ... got chased by a bear myself ... AOL froze with one sentence left in our BA meeting!)





There are several things planned today!
Activities:
Hiking

Popular Hiking Trails

Vernal Falls
Nevada Falls
Taft Point/Sentinel Dome
Half Dome
Yosemite Falls
The Panorama Trail
The Four Mile Trail
Mirror Lake
Ostrander Lake
rock climbing
BACKPACKING
Biking
Swimming and rafting on the Merced River
Swinging Bridge and the Vernal Falls pool are common locations for swimming. For those who do not like the cold water, a few heated pools are available. Rafting ranges from drift rafting on the valley floor where guests can rent rafts for $15 (per person) for a slow and gentle 1 hour or more ride down the river. The other option is White Water Rafting on the Merced River. Pk here ... in all my years living in this area, my mom NEVER told me that white water rafting was available! Why?? Mary Anne and I are headed over there ..anyone want to join us?
Horseback riding

Lea ... I can take you to just outside of Yosemite if you want, to El Portal where there are some good Running spots. When I was in 6th grade I ran my first long distance run ... I won 5th place ribbon and a T shirt that said I Ran El Portal! We trained for WEEKS in the hills in Mariposa before, and we still were shocked by the steep mountains and the difference in running and walking them.


You can always go check out some of the beautiful waterfalls in Yosemite ...Vernal and Nevada are always breath theives!
VernalandNevadaFalls

A popular fall here, is Ribbon Falls, many people see it on postcards, pictures, greeting cards all over the country and never know what they are looking at.
yosemite ribbon falls

yosemite Let's sit here at the base of El Capitain and have our picnic lunch. A childhood friend and Park Ranger has arranged for us to have a picnic of fried chicken, Potato Salad, green salad and all the fresh California fruit we can stand! Heartlander's ...if you have never had California fresh fruit, you're in for a surprise ...there is nothing quite as tasty and sweet and juicy as a California apricot, or orange, or cherry, blackberry's ..just about anything you can imagine. The rolls ...those, those are fresh and made from a bakery in Mariposa that is owned and operated by the parents of a friend of mine from the third grade! I've asked for regular, whole wheat, honey wheat and rye ...so dig in. Something to please everyone!

Moof, No! No gingerale and Jim Beam! Put that away! We don't want anyone falling off a cliff or into the river! Trust me, I have plenty of drinks ordered for dinner ...including Grateful Deads.

Someone get Moof a Laptop! She's sneaking the Jim Beam anyway!

Ok, when we take off, stay in pairs for safety, these are mountains and people fall ..or get hurt by bears etc all the time. Also, if you each carry laptops, and anyone gets elevation sickness, or starts doing something really risky and rediculous ...you can hand them a lap top to help settle them down ...a few minutes of blogging and they'll be just fine! So all of you, watch your partners for the need of emergency blogging!


Ok ... for those that would like to take a tour with me of MY Yosemite ...let's head on out!

First we'll head up to Tioga Pass
TiagaPass2
Wolfbaby ... I think you'll find some lovely things to sketch up here!!
Then we'll go on over to Chilnulna Falls. Chilnualna_Falls Yosemite National Park




Yosemite
Ready to rest? Pull out your travel chairs. We can just sit and take a seista or blog. Or, how about sitting and watching the wild life.
Golden-crested_Ground_Squirrel-

Mule_Deer_near_Wawona_in_YNP

And if you see one of these ...don't FEED IT!
YosemiteBlackBearTagged_wb
Before we head on to our dinner meeting place, let's head up to Lambert Dome to look at Tuolumne Meadow's (Tow Wall Oh Me)
Tuolumne_Meadows_from_Lambert_Dome-1200px

Let's Head on down to Mariposa Grove for dinner ... where we have waiting a delictible dinner prepared. California Tri Tip, artichokes steamed to perfection, green salad with raspberry vinegerette, and all the fresh rolls you can imagine! For those who don't like red meat, just tell the caterer, they have a caterer truck around the grove, and have access to other foods to suit your fancy.

Along with dinner is every imaginable drink, including Ms Moof's Greatful Dead's! Have no fear, Trams are taking us to the campground tonight!


Before we head out in the morning we will all go look at Yosemite's Pride and Joy HALF DOME

HalfDome

And before we all leave, my Ranger friend (TIM) has arranged for everyone to take a commmerative picture of Yosemite from Tunnel View

yosemite

Welcome Wanda's Wings to her first BA meeting!
I hope you enjoyed your Blogger's Anonymous Meeting ...I sure enjoyed hostessing it!

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Complications

Pearls and Dreams

Early transfer to a district you are moving to ... isn't easy. First, the district we're going to was suspicious. They acted like the fact that we wanted to come was an unusual request. They gave us the paper work, grudgingly, told us we needed the contract for the house. I asked if we needed any other information from the district we're living in currently. "no".

Wait the 2 weeks till the 'enroll transferring students' date, we go in, with the paper work filled out and contract from Habitat. "Shot records and unofficial transcript please" HUH???!??!?!?! Why didn't you tell us this when I asked if you needed any information from the district???? BLANK LOOK
Off to old district to pick up shot records and unofficial transcript. We get the transcript, no problem. Shot records ...ugh, already sent over to the high school. Call ... it will take 24 hours. Pick them up tomorrow at the Registrars office.


So, today, we go to pick up the shot record after I had weird dreams about it last night. Dreams of being stopped at the school by a security guard ... and unable to find the registrars office ... purposefully led in the wrong direction ...weird weird weird. We get to the school to pick up the shot record and the lady behind the desk looks at us like we're insane. Shot records? At a school? School nurse? "I've never met a school nurse!" At this point, my dream is coming back to me in a flash. This is so not cool. In the room a conversation is going on about students the district is loosing to transfers ... in district. Students who live in the district but are transferring to other districts for various causes (will be moving, parents working in the other district etc) and how annoying it is for students who benefit the district to leave ...how DARE they leave! I'm standing there with my honor roll student ... top 3rd of his class ... top 99%ile of the STATE in Pre SAT's and Pre ACT's and in my head I'm thinking give me the shot records and don't ask any questions ...let me out of here! She finally looks under his name and hands me the envelope. As I reach for it, she snatches it back and says "I need photo ID" Sigh ... ok. (She'd obviously forgotten that step, but it still annoyed me at that point.) Got the shot record ...on our way! YAHOO!So ... We proceed onto new district with shot record in hand. We hand it to the nurse who becomes concerned. The people in the office who'd been short and suspicious are now friendly and welcoming. Obviously ..they'd faxed for the initial file of my son and no longer think I'm trying to hand over a problem student. The nurse becomes concerned as she looks at the record. "there are no polio records here"
I'm stunned ...if I were to skip a vaccination for my children, which I wouldn't, POLIO would be the last one I'd skip! My HUSBAND'S DISABILITIES are caused because of POLIO! Trust me, my children got their Polio vaccines! My Mother had polio! No one was going to let Polio vaccines by in this family! As they look at the records together ..they are confused, they've never seen shot records like this. The clinic is missing. GROWL. So, they look him up in the health department to see if he's there (um ..you couldn't have done that yesterday???) However, having never gotten his shots in the health department .. he wasn't in the system. So, we call the pediatrician's office to see if they can get one. I am told they'll call back within the hour. We sit and wait. And wait. And wait. I learn that they had in fact requested the initial file. The district IS happy to have this particular student moving in and is more than happy to take him early. While waiting, 3 other students from the same one we're moving from come in and check their status ... still on the waiting list. One (who Samuel knows) and is told "we've been told that they will probably not take any transfers from out of district" I panic. I'm told after they leave not to worry, it won't effect us. We wound up waiting 90 minutes and giving up (good thing too ..they never called!!!) and we went home ..as we drove by our property (2 blocks from the service center) and saw the sign posted for the city meeting that will announce our building *grin* and saw that pruning of the tree took place. Which means ... things are moving on our lot. I had asked them if our district could block the transfer, they said ... for no reason to transfer, yes. For this reason, they can make it difficult. They can and HAVE in the past, sabotaged transfer processes of students they didn't want to loose but knew they had no real reason to block the early transfer. So, given the trouble we've had with this district in the past ...why was I the only one surprised that this turned into a 3 ring circus?