Hair cut... and cake.

I can put this one on here because Aaron NEVER looks at my blog....
This is the cake I made him for his surprise party tonight. :-D
He's loved "Joe Cool" for as long as I can remember.... I made all the frostings with butter and cream and it's YUMMY...but they didn't work too well for decorating. :-P

Then haircut... I got 13 inches off...

Before:

And After:

(this one is a stupid pic of me, but a good one of the cut...)

And that's all for now...I have a lot to do. ttyl!
~Joanna

http://lowcaloriedates.blogspot.com/

It's a wonderful life.

And I'm running on a happyness high. (insert massive grin that is better than the typical colon/dash/capital 'D')

March tends to do that to me... it's a perpetual party every year. I LOVE it!! Spring is coming, and despite rain (and this week, more and more rain) and clouds the grass is turning green and it's getting warm. Sandals and tee shirts are a must for every day, and an occasional jog through the wet warmth is absolutely delightful.

And there's the birthday factor. Rachel first, then Aaron, Tyana, Grandad (which we remembered even though he's celebrating every moment in the presence of his Precious Lord) then Me, then Jared. (which, btw, his is today, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY JARED!!) So we eat a LOT of sugar, play a LOT of games, get a LOT of phone calls... and my dresser gets to be redecorated with "Wish" and "Blessings" and "We Love You" all on beautiful cards. I LOVE cards. I always leave them on my dresser forever after my birthday. They make me happy. (insert another grin... a little bigger than the last. WHOA, not that big, you're making my face hurt)

Gentle Savior, lead me on.
Let Your Spirit light the way.
Gentle Savior, lead me on.
Hold me close and keep me safe.
Lead me on, Gentle Savior

And Easter. It's not always in March, but I love it when it is. Good Friday has never been a sober event in my mind...it's way too victorious. I can't get Christ's death and resurrection separated in my mind to the point that I can spend more than a few minutes dwelling on His death... the story has a happy ending...let's get to it!! heee. My Jesus is a beautiful Lord, and He is a victorious Lord, and He conquered death, and He is the same yesterday, today, and forever!!

It's also an anniversary. I was baptized on Easter Sunday in 1998. It was an April Easter, but in my eight year old mind the significance was entirely in the fact that it was Easter, and that the water in the Niangua River was *REALLY* cold, and I have no idea what the date was. hehe. It's written down somewhere....

Funny how time changes things...that Easter so long ago... If I'm remembering right than there's only one person outside of my family that attended my baptism that our family is still closely associated with. We had communion there, by the river, and we all sang and prayed...and froze...

Anywho, I've gotta run. Thanks for tuning in. :-D

God bless!

~Joanna Renae


Look at me standing
Here on my own again
Up straight in the sunshine

No need to laugh and cry
It's a wonderful, wonderful life
No need to run and hide
It's a wonderful, wonderful life

Come Unto Me

Come unto Me,
Bring Me all of your burdens,
Show Me your wounds and I'll soothe them,
Come, Come unto Me,
Come, oh come!
Drink now of my goodness and rest your soul,
Oh come unto Me!

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
So, somehow, within thirty minutes of publishing my last entry our almost-healthy household managed to be plunged into the depths of a stomach flu. Within 6 hours of publishing I was unable to stand up straight and running a fever...So I was slept 'till 5:30 the next evening. It was only a 14 hour bug...thank the Lord. Everybody is well again. Except maybe Jonnah. She's been laying around all morning with a headache, but is otherwise fine.

Missed Wednesday night church, which was rough. I HATE missing church. I'd rather go sit in the basement by my lonesome and listen in then stay home. It drives me nuts to sit here at the house when I know that everyone is there...

BUT, tomorrow is Sunday. Sunday's are good. I'm well enough that I AM going to church. (<---period) <><><><><><><><><><><><>

Pinky and The Brain. The most ridiculous, pointless, insane show I have ever watched.

The kids love it.

Basic overview: two lab mice that have been genetically altered, resulting in one having an over sized head and an inordinate desire for world domination and the other is utterly insane. (insert jingle: Pinky and the Brain, they're Pinky and The Brain, one is a genius, the other is insane, they're Pinky, they're Pinky, they're Pinky and the Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain....NARF!)

We got a dvd of 22 episodes this week. There are a few memorable lines, such as The Brain's attempt at trash-talk with an umpire of the New Hampshire Pinapples that ends with the Brian, in all is 3 inch, enormously crainiumed glory saying in his dry monotone: "As a token of my disrespect I shall kick some soil upon your footwear." then proceeding to kick a couple teaspoons of dirt onto the toe of the cleat that is 10 times his size..

The said shoe kicked him across the stadium.

Another would be the animal rights activists who broke into the lab to "rescue" the animals, then "released" them from 500 ft above the Amazon jungles with no parachutes, no padding, no nothing..just dropped them out of the plane. One zealot says "Can mice fly?" and the other answers with "sure! Just like monkeys!"

And so the insanity continues...


It's amazing what kids will allow to absorb their attention.

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

If a man loses everything he owns
has he truly lost his worth?
Or is it the beginning of a new and brighter birth?
No life can escape being blown about
by the winds of change and chance
and though you never know all the steps
you must learn to join the dance...

And I could lose every dream
I dreamt that I could carry with me,
But I will reach the other side...

Well, the night is cold and dark
But somewhere the sun is shining
And I'll feel it shine on me
I'll keep on tryin', I'll keep on tryin'
I will get there (I will get there)
I will get there somehow
Cross that river (Cross that river)
Nothing's stoppin' me now
I will get through the night
And make it through to the other side...


***********

I'm out of talk.

Goodbye.

~Joanna

Well, if passion can lead to prayer
Maybe prayer can give us faith
And if faith is all we've got
Then maybe faith is all we need
And may the angel of His presence keep your heart
And when your prayers give flight to your dreams
May the only scars you see on their wings
Be the wounds of love

ahem.

I'm really not very good at it.

Life, that is.

In fact, I'm really rather bad at it.

But that's okay, because He loves me anyway, and it's His life, and if He wants good from it He can make good from it. So there.

************

I can't seem to get everything done that I need to get done on any given day. And it's not like I just don't have time, 'cause I look back on my day and see all the time I wasted, but it didn't feel like I was wasting at the time... So nothing gets done and I get frustrated and start over the next day.

And the next.

And the next.

And all I can do is keep starting over.

*sigh*

My yesterdays don't have to ruin my todays, and my thens don't have to shape my nows... but somehow they do. To get free of what was and live in the Christ that is... THEN we could accomplish things. THEN we could be a continual outpouring of love. THEN we could make a difference, and do something that will last...

But we have to make then a now.

Like...now.


WHOA. Talking myself in circles here. Shutting up.

<><><><><><><><><>

Tonight Mom and Dad took Micah and I out to eat as a reward for memorizing the book of Jude. It's tradition. First reward dinner is usually for the Sermon on the Mount. I got that when I was about 11. Then comes either the book of James or Romans 6-8. I did James. Got that one when I was 14. Then I did a bunch of random stuff. Some Psalms, Philipians (church project so no reward dinner) etc. Then started 1st John last March and ended up switching to Jude. I did Jude in November, and Micah finished it in February. Since it was so small it didn't hardly count, so we just stayed in Marshfield and got Mexican at a little joint that reminds me of Cielito Lindo's in Springfield. It was fun. The waiters were a riot. All of them jabbering away in their half-english half spanish, and trying to be suave... hehe. Cracked me up. I didn't laugh out loud though. I was tempted when a couple came in and the waiter put on a deep voice and called the girl "Senorita". . . which wouldn't have been funny if her dude hadn't looked at him like he'd called her a dirty name.

Hickville. Marshfield is the home of the rednecks... bwahaha. I almost hate it.

But not quite.

See, there's this beautiful little red-brick church that lives here...redeems the whole town by it's presence...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm supposed to go to bed now. I have a lot I need to get done tomorrow. (see, here we go again) And children's choir is starting up again tomorrow evening.
Oh hey! That means we get to have church... Yay! :-) Now just to convince Jason that we need choir practice on Wednesdays too...


♥♪♫♪♥♥♪♫♪♥♥♪♫♪♥♥♪♫♪♥

Good night dear people. Rest in Him. Trust Him.
He makes all things beautiful...in His time.

~Joanna


The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all

Love or glorify?

The answer seems so very simple: Glorify through loving.

Yet it's somehow a massive question with so many twists and turns that when you overhear parts of one conversation about it, sit in on another, and read the perspectives of two very well known (and not entirely contradicting) authors, then it becomes rather confusing.

You know what? I really don't care what technical definition is the most correctly stated... I know that I've been instructed by the word of God to love Him, thank Him, praise Him, and delight in Him. I know that if I obey Him He will use me to His glory... So I'm gonna love Him, thank Him, praise Him, delight in Him, and
pray that somehow my life brings Him glory, 'cause that's the best I can give...

**************

I love reading Google.com/News. It's waaay better than a newspaper. I can brows a hundred headlines in a second, and I generally read about .3 full articles...

This weekend the Southern Baptist convention declared that they have a "Biblical duty to fight against global warming."

I didn't read that article.

I did read the one about the sheriff in CA who crossed the center line and plowed into a group of four cyclists on a road where thousands of people ride every weekend...he killed two of them.

I feel worse for the officer than the dead cyclists. Nothing like making stupid mistakes and watching people suffer because of them. I'd honestly rather wreck and paralyze myself for life than kill someone else...

It's bad enough to disappoint parents, and crush little kids with unfulfilled expectations, and break hearts by unintentionally misleading them...

Then there was the train in Argentina that smashed a double-decker bus at a rail crossing. 17 people died. 65 injured. In that case the driver of the bus ignored warnings and signs and tried to cross ahead of the train. The bus was cut entirely in half.

I'd rather be the train driver than the bus driver...

Mistakes happen. Some cost more than others...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The family is playing "Fact Or Crap." I missed out on the start 'cause I was in the basement (treadmill decided that it wouldn't go more than 14 min tonight, but I was okay with that. My neck hurt.) So I'm sitting out for tonight. They're having a blast.

So'm I.

Jen Lopez is such a germ-freak that no one is allowed to visit her babies' sterilized nursery without surgical masks and having scrubbed with alcohol based sanitizer. I guess if all my friends were walking around with filthy diseases eating them inside out then I wouldn't want them touching my babies either...

Thank God for Christian friends and family...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I know me well enough to know
whatever this life may show
that the only thing
that's good in me is Jesus.

*********************

Josh and Tyana were here this evening. Josh brought his viola and we played as a quartet for over an hour. It was a blast. Did some wild and deliciously discordant and chaotic Tchaikovsky. oooooh yes.

After the music we all sat around and talked until Josh said "Let's go Babe."
Then we sat around and talked more. Then he said "We need to go now." Then we stood around and talked...

I love them.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The game is packed away, it's late, and I have work to do tomorrow.

Good night.

~Joanna

Long ago and far away
In a land of fairy tales
I met you and was swept away
On a silver sea with dreams for sails.
Night was day
And day seemed right
Everything made sense
Saw it all in a brand new light
But now it's love that's in past tense.
~Jason's original song idea.. long ago.

Maybe too much music...

A week ago I was deprived. No music anywhere, unless I put in a cd. iPod was dead, and wireless internet wasn't working, so internet radio wasn't working... and Cd's are VERY underused around here, because there's so much perpetual noise that Mom can't generally take music on top of it all. It's understandable... there are 15 of us living in 2200 sq ft, and 8 of us are musicians, and all of us like to sing (good or bad or ugly, doesn't matter) and we none of us move nor speak like mice...

So yeah. It's usually pretty loud.

Now I'm thinking I might be a little overdosed. Two shuffles means that I can rotate and use Becca's here at the house and carry mine with me, and NEVER have to be without one.


Since last Friday I don't think I've been more than 3 hours without music, unless it was to sleep. That's scary. I don't FEEL like I've had too much, but thinking about it makes me wonder...

It's also made me reevaluate how much useless music I have. I mean, entertainment is good and all, but when you've got background music, and half of it is meaningless or in a foreign language then what's the point? It kinda runs your life... living to feel good, living for love, living for Christ...it's all going in, but only one is right...

I've been listening to a LOT more GLAD and the 'Complete In Thee' album, and just turning it off a lot. I'm remaking my iTunes list (not by choice, but because the computer with all my music on it got the hard drive replaced without back-up cd's being made) and I've got a ton more good (truly good, as in pure, lovely, encouraging, Christ centered, etc) music in this one than the last.

Not that I'm throwing out Amici and Groban. lol. Just that I'm weighing down the other side of the scale a little more. :-D
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The treadmill outran me tonight. It decided it had had a good day...

Stupid thing.

<><><><><><><><>

There's a devotional I get in my email every day... I don't generally care for it, but today's was sweet:

"My mother was an amazing woman who somehow managed to raise three children who never thought of themselves as deprived. Many happy times and scrumptious meals were enjoyed around our old, scratched, worn and downright ugly dining room table. That dilapidated table made the entire room ugly -- until the day Mama bought the blue tablecloth. As she spread her treasure across that shabby table, an amazing thing happened. Not only did the table look beautiful, the whole room looked better!
"Love is like that, its mere presence transforms the ugliness of life into a beautiful trophy of grace. Love covers the scars of sin. Love heals wounds and eases the pain of the past. We all need to be loved and we all need to love.
"Friend, across your defeats spread the hope of a tiny baby lying in a manger! Across your pain, spread the unconditional love poured out on a cruel cross! Across your doubts and fears, spread the promise of an empty tomb! The love of God covers all and changes everything."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bears are playing Evansville in the Valley Tournament tonight. At the moment we're winning....

********************************

I have to go practice...Federation is day after tomorrow, and tomorrow I'm gonna be in town ALL day. SO, I guess I should quit.

God bless...

and keep...

and carry...

and strengthen...

~Joanna


Here in your room
Where nobody can see
Voices are loud
But seldom clear
But beneath the confusion
That's running so deep
There is a promise you must hear
The love that seems so far away
Is standing very near

I'm soooo not in the mood to write....

I have to go down to the basement and run on the treadmill... I'm procrastinating against such a dastardly concept by writing here.

That means you're likely to not be entertained.


I'm fried. Exhausted. Why? I don't know. I spent the day pretty discouraged and short tempered, and fighting a massive headache. A half-hour ago I was so low that I was breaking through into the molten center of the planet.

Since then I've read today's "Streams In The Desert" entry, and a couple of very sweet blogs, and Psalms 73 (probably my all time favorite verse is 73:26) and Elizabeth Elliot's daily devotional. Elizabeth Elliot was sweet and encouraging, as she always is, and Streams in the Desert had a precious reminder:

"In the still air the music lies unheard;
In the rough marble beauty hides unseen;
To make the music and the beauty needs
The master's touch, the sculptor's chisel keen.

"Great Master, touch us with Thy skillful hands;
Let not the music that is in us die!
Great Sculptor, hew and polish us; nor let,
Hidden and lost, thy form within us lie!"

By the way, both devotionals are in the links in my sidebar... Those, combined with Oswald Chambers "My Utmost For His Highest" are my regular reading. They have been since the start of the year, and I thank God for all three. I've never been into reading "Christian" literature. I figured my Bible and my church were enough, and half the time I didn't understand anything those people were saying.
Mom has an old copy of Streams in the Desert that she's read over and over again. I kinda swiped it after picking it up countless times and ALWAYS finding something precious in what I read. Then she started reading the Elizabeth Elliot blog... I love Elizabeth. I stole the link from her and made it a habit. Whichever of us gets to it first in the busy mornings generally reads half of the entry out loud to the other. It's pretty delightful.

And I've already talked about "My Utmost For His Highest" before. I still think he can be totally wonky, but for the most part, I love it more every day.

--------

The other day I found a comment I left on an old blog. I was praising the author for keeping their entry concise, packed with information and interesting... and me wishing I could do the same. That was almost two years ago. I'm still wishing.


Something interesting:

1) The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you’re 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!).

2) The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!

And now, I'm off to put laundry away and run. Or jog. We'll see.

I pray the Lord will bless you with His presence every day,
I pray He will protect you every step along the way,
Help you love what's right and lead you far away from wrong,
I pray that you will follow Him your whole life long.

~Joanna Renae

But the meadowlark said no,
For the old king loved her so,
She couldn't bear to wound his pride.
So the sun god flew away and when the king came down that day,
He found his meadowlark had died.
Every time I heard that part I cried.


The above was written at 8:00ish... It's 11 now. I published, then sat around...then said something about running and Mom said "You haven't practiced today." Darn. I have Federation on Saturday and neither of my songs are quite memorized... So I practiced. and practiced. Poor Dad... He's usually at the office or working somewhere when I practice because I usually do it in the afternoon. I think Hanon about drove him wild.
10:40 Mom said "You need to head to bed soon." I had no clue what time it was...so bolted to my room, changed my clothes and ran downstairs... I was planning a 25 minute jog for tonight.
BUT, the treadmill has decided that at 8 years old it has the right to decide how long it will operate. 14 minutes last time I worked out, 13 tonight... It's REALLY maddening. Funny how things start thinking they know better than their masters. Like, maybe, kids for instance.

Like, maybe, me for instance.

*cringe*

With that happy thought, I'm going to try to sleep.
Ha.

Farò quello che mi chiederai
Andrò sempre dovunque tu andrai
Darò tutto l'amore che ho per te

oh happy day!!

Beautiful days are so fun...

Today was so beautiful.

The weather was so wonderful that it hurt. I know it's only pretending to be spring, but it's a lovely break from the cold, so I pretended with it, and went to choir in the springiest outfit I could muster without digging into the clothes boxes...

Choir is fun. Strike that. Choir is one of the highlights of my life. People I love singing and laughing together for a solid hour, then visiting and (quite consistently) coffee after. I got teased for calling tonights coffee strong, but it was SUCH an improvement over the last stuff I had there...and we're out of the hazelnut beans, so I had to grind forever to get any kind of potency to the pot... and it was yummy.

I've been making iced coffees around here a LOT. If you do enough chilled milk and make sure the coffee is cooled then you don't have to water it down with too much ice...it's almost as good as a iced diet pepsi max....but not quite.

And we got to sing "All the way my Savior leads me." It's only recently become a favorite, and it's growing more and more dear with each time I hear/sing it. It's absolutely precious.

When my spirit, clothed immortal,
Wings its flight to realms of day
This my song through endless ages:
Jesus led me all the way;
This my song through endless ages:
Jesus led me all the way.

And Dad, preaching about how the Lord will not despise our offerings when we do what we can... Tyana and I were talking about a song that the Marshall Family sings: "She Hath Done What She Could." It's been one of my favorites since the first time I heard it. I can't find the lyrics anywhere, and I don't know where the cd is, but I remember some:

She hath done what she could
and the work, it is good.
Precious oils, pure and sweet,
She hath poured at His feet.
For His death she prepares,
In His sorrow, she shares,
She hath done, she hath done
What she could.


Then this song is SO stuck in my head, and all the kids and I have been singing it all afternoon and evening. It's SO cute...



And I really haven't anything serious to say. I just had a great day, and wanted to tell people. :-D
So...

Goodnight.

:-)

~Joanna

When somebody loved me,
Everything was beautiful
Every hour we spent together lives within my heart
And when she was sad,
I was there to dry her tears
And when she was happy,
So was I
When she loved me