Window Into My Reality

OK. I drive bus for headstart, right? Where the parents [or grandma or babysitter or whatever] has to come out to put the kid on the bus. So, as I was about ready to leave the Center today, one of the teachers comes out and wants to know if I can take one of the kids righ tback home [uh, hair issues] and I'm like, OK [cuz it's my job]. So, she comes back out with the kid saying that they hadn't been able to get ahold of the mom and did I notice whether the mom was dressed when she put the kid on the bus? Whoa...I stopped looking at what the person was wearing last year when the guys came bounding out of the trailer in pajama bottoms and holding onto his crotch like it was falling off! Very traumatic. So my best response to the teacher this morning was...'uhm, I dunno.' I mean, as long as nothing is falling out, I don't look to see whether they're still in their jammies or not. [and how can you tell anymore anyways?] Anyway, the mom wasn't home ...

Here is an exerpt from an article by Lisa Bevere called "Stopping a Fight Before It Gets Out of Hand" that I thought would share. This deals with day to day relational issues, which is exactly what I have been struggling with. Lisa says, "By overlooking an offense, we are like obediant children who say, 'Father, I know I can trust You with this one. It is too big and painful for me. I refuse to lash back; instead I lay it at Your feet and forgive.' It is a guesture that declares our royal birthright. For forgiveness imitates the Son of God to a dying earth. To overlook means to look above and choose to see things on a higher level than where the offense was committed. It is to pretend not to notice and extend grace and mercy when you would have rather exercised judgment." I was cut to the heart when I read this, as I haven't been doing very well when it comes to forgiveness recently. To forgive as I have been forgiven...and as I wish to be forgiven. I ca...

I know why no one is stopping in at the library this morning...it's Black Friday! The one day to avoid shopping because absolutely everyone's out there shopping. AHHHHHH! yesterday was a good day. I stayed in bed until after ten, though to be honest it was hard to sleep because I could smell whatever it was that my downstairs neighbor was baking. Whatever it was, it smelled wonderful! I puttered around for awhile till it was time to go to my bosses for the meal. It was a side of him I've never seen before, but at least he wasn't drunk just tipsy. It was good though. I was there for most of the afternoon, and then went home and finished watching a movie I'd started. I really enjoyed the Thanksgiving service Wednesday night too. I rode out with pastors. It was like a unity/community service so there was a variety of demoniations represented. I got to sing one of my favorite hymns of all time too "For the beauty of the world." I just got back from visiting my...

With a grateful heart. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and although we should always be thankful, this is the time of year for it to be emphasized sooooo.......a list of things that I am thankful for, because I can! I am thankful for: 1. My jobs. 2. My home. 3. Grace like rain. Not the song, though I love it. I am thankful that God loves me and all that and now matter how much I screw up...strangely I am blameless in His sight because of the blood of Christ. 4. My blogger friends. Even though I worry that I'll become to attached to you all, who are kind of sort of like imaginary friends, but not........you know what I'm trying to say? Please say you do! 5. I am thankful for an imaginitive mind, even though it sometimes gets me into trouble!! 6. The kids on my bus route. I love them so much! 7. Hugs. 8. The starry heavens 9. Hope 10. Life I still haven't a place to go for tomorrow. But I will not despair. I will, however, sleep in!!! Mwuhahahahahaha!!!!!! Happy Thanksgiving everyon...

It is a strange thing. How someone can say, "I'm sorry, please forgive me" and still manage to correct you all at once...it is truly amazing to me. I was shocked that this person actually admitted to being wrong, and at the same time, I was ashamed for wanting it. But it got me to thinking. About Repentance and Forgiveness...how once they have happened...there is healing and restoration. I haven't completely researched it yet, but the verses I've peaked at in James make me think I'm not far off. I wonder, just as one person sinning can spoil others...can one person repenting turn others to repentance? Hmm.... Of course, as in any relationship situation...it helps to know the whole story. Why do we do that, I wonder? Close up and not share what is going on, I mean. I know that sometimes, there are things that hurt too deep to share right away. It is frustrating. Thanksgiving looks to be a dismal day so far. I'm not about ready to invite myself to any...

Going to try something. If this works....all I need now is someone with a digital camera and I could show y'all what my new glasses look like!!!

I found another article on Crosswalk that I wanted to share. This one deals with the Holidays and Singles. It was an encouraging read for myself. Hope it is for others as well.

As promised...a poem... One Woman Alone By: myself One woman alone …… abandoned …… She stand against the cold …… forgotten …… Braving the wind and the rain …… beaten …… With no one left to hear her …… forsaken …… Whether she lives or dies …… ignored …… No one hears the whispers shouted into the wind …… helpless …… Alone she lies …… rejected …… Beaten, bruised, bleeding …… misused …… Words cut as knives …… misunderstood …… Twisted around and around …… confused …… Till she no longer knows who said what …… wondering …… Or why it matters …… weary …… Alone she drowns …… help me …… Beneath the weight of her sorrow …… can anyone hear me? …… Mocked and ridiculed because of it …… why Lord? …… Tears run down her face as they scold …… Jesus, I’m suffocating …… She surrenders and gives up …… I can’t take it anymore …… As she is at last told that her pain is imagined and unreal …… it hurts Jesus …… One Man alone …… Gethsemane …… Arms wide open …… Nails …… Blood flowing freely …… covering, healing …...

Don't you hate it when yousay something stupid and have to take it back? A while back, I answered a "MEME" question thus: Three kid's names I like:Boys names:1. Jonathan2. Mark3. Joshua I will never name one of my sons Robert.Girls Names:1. Sierra2. Jewell3. Angela Never thinking that one of my commenters name, Rob, would most likely be short for Robert. I am such an idiot sometimes. So. To explain - it's not the name Robert...it's the nickname Bob that I don't like. Hope I didn't offend anyone {Rob}. Please forgive me if I did. Purty please, with cherries and whip cream and pudding?!?!?! y'all. Look for a poem tomorrow.

This weekend, and this weekend only, I'll answer any three questions posed to me by the commentors. Be nice and family friendly, please and thank you.

Eye Exam = $69 Prescription lenses = $50 Frames = $29 Being able to see clearly without having to tip my head to compensate for the broken frame = PRICELESS

Each time I think I've gotten a handle on my sorrow over losing my friend, a new wave rises up to great me. And it burns because she will sit there and tell me that she's done nothing to hurt me and that I have done soooo much to hurt her. If she ever, ever says that to me again...I might ask her how to spell a word. {{5 letters ... starts with b - ends with an itch}} And yet - - - I have to remember that love keeps no records of wrongs. I want to scream. Instead, I'm going to go home - have a Little Debby treat - and read a Psalm. Or 1 Corinthians 13.

I was telling this to a friend, and decided to share with y'all. Last night, I went to take an article to my pastor, but he wasn't home...and I couldn't just leave it there without my name attached to it somehow and a note, cuz he hates that...and I didn't have a pen with me...and I almost decided to forget about it until today but at the last minute I decided to whip back around to the library to throw together a quick note for him. And it took longer than I expected. All this to say that when I finally got back to Pastors - - - and was walking across their yard - - - I just happened to look up and I saw a falling star...or is it a shooting star? Anyway. It was beautiful. Long and bright tale, that...well, for what it was, it just kind of mosied across the sky. I love the stars...I always have. I could sit for hours just looking up at them {especially during meteor season} And knowing that God created me, with all my quirks and such, I know that this was His wa...

OK, so I was perusing Rob's blog a little and found an excellent essay on, of all things, Batman Begins - along with a few other movies he threw in to illustrate his point. If you want to read it... Go Here!! One of his comments that caught my attention was this one - "A hero’s journey is a solitary one into uncharted territory." It is somewhat daunting. I am prepared, sort of, for the loneliness that I feel approaching me...that has already seized me. My friend was a large part of my day...well, ok, afternoon. And we did a lot of stuff together, and not just socially. I was her helper for the kids prayer meeting, and I did my best to help her in whatever she was doing. Well, now she's not doing anything and has in so many words told me to bug off. So - I've bugged off -----and now face hours of being alone. I know, I know....it's one of the "great" things about being single....and I am soooo tired of hearing that.....like any of the married people ...

Ten Reasons to Listen to Questions Before You Answer Great article...one I wish I could recommend to several people in my church right now. the key word in that titel is BEFORE. Sheesh. How many arguments could be avoided if we could just learn to listen...myself included.

OK. I will admit it. I have a strange fascination with Batman. I don' t know why exactly, but I do. Wasn't a big fan of Michael Keaton as the Dark Knight, or George Clooney, but did like Val Kilmer. But they gave the new movie to someone other than Tim Burton so it wasn't as comic booky. Although the Scarecrow scenes with the hallucenogenic drug was a bit...intensely gross. Anyhow.......the best line and lesson in the movie is a phrase Bruce Wayne's father says near thebeginning. "Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves back up." And so that put my week into a whole different perspective, doesn't it. While I would get into trouble for saying that I learned a spiritual lesson from a "worldy secular" movie - I did. Verses from the bible: Psalm 37:24 "Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His hand." Psalm 145:14 "The Lord upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are...

Never cut your hair when you're upset. Never! I went hacking at my bangs today, frustrated with how they were hanging to my nose...and hacking is the right word for it. My head was at an angle and so I cut them too short. I have a fringe at the top of my forehead now. I think the hair is less than an inch long. yikes! Perhaps I should hack the rest to match. At least then my hair would compliment my crooked glasses. I realize that I don't sit or stand straight, and so I thought that was the problem with my glasses....but Pastor S took them from me today when I was asking her about it and layed them on the table and no doubt about it...somehow they've gotten bent. Maybe that accounts for the headaches!!!! If anyone wants to see a great haircut, click on my links to the left and go visit Rob...he just got a nifty one. Ok, I think he's cute so I'm biased :P I think that's the word I want there. Anyhow. I'm trying my hand at the novel in a month contest and as I...

The One with Three Here's a little meme that's courtesy of Utenzi. Sorry, I haven't figured out how to do links in the blog yet. Three names I go by: 1. R.A. Slater 2. Sierra/Ciera 3. Bob {well, the person who calls me this is calling me something else right now, so maybe it's no longer} Three screen names I have had: 1. Ciera 2. Jedi Princess 3. Sierraanna Three physical things I like about myself: 1. smile 2. hair 3. eyes Three physical things I don't like about myself: 1. hips 2. teeth 3. uhm......busom [lack thereof] - - - sorry guys, I couldn't think of anything else, and it's the sad truth. Three parts of my heritage: 1. German (50%) 2. Scottish (?%) 3. Those are the only two I know of for sure...although I once had an old man accuse me of being Irish because I was 'so damned stubborn'. Three things that scare me: 1. total darkness 2. the thought of having an accident with my bus with kids on it 3. when good friends go bad Three of my everyda...