What is Growing On Around Here?

Sophie has nothing to do with this post, but she is so stinkin' cute, I just had to include this adorable picture of her in her bed. She's doing much better since her bout with vastibular syndrome in October. She's 14 and slowing down, but we are cherishing every day we still have her! I can't walk by her without a pat, a smooch, or a little sweet talk. She's just too cute to pass by!

I know, I know....mysterious brown seeds in a bag...looks bad, doesn't it? Well, they are for growing, but it's not what you think! Steve's new hobby is edible mushroom growing. Right now he has several different types of fungi growing in our various closets. Not only is he now the family "Mushroom Man", but he has really grown into a really "fun guy". Hey, a guy's gotta have a hobby. Why not a hobby you can eat?

Yep, this is exactly what it looks like. Mushroom spawn growing in toilet paper rolls. Oh, that sounds so bad and illegal, but it's more like a compost heap in a bag. He's growing oyster mushrooms right now. I hear they're "to die for". Let's hope not. Maybe if the mushroom thing doesn't work out, we can still use the toilet paper. Hmmm....maybe not.

Reach for the sky, amaryllis! It feels like spring in my kitchen right now. I'm just waiting for the blooms to "pop". Ironically, this is the gift I "stole" from my mother in law during our Christmas auction. That's right. I stole it from my mother in law. No one else was brave enough! (or maybe dumb enough, come to think of it)

My Jasmine tree blooms every so often year round, and I love it best in the winter when everything else is covered in snow outside. It smells heavenly, although my allergies don't agree. I don't really have much of an "indoor" green thumb, and I generally kill my indoor plants, but this one chose to live for some reason. Maybe it's all the coffee grounds I put in the soil, or that I sometimes decide to water it.

Winter blues getting you down? Grow something! Sea Monkeys, crystals, venus flytraps....check your potato bag...maybe there's already something growing in there. Don't overlook moldy bread or the back of your refrigerator! Have fun and let me know what you're growing. (unless it's illegal, and then shame on you!)

F E A R L E S S in Progress

The topic of fear gets overlooked so much that I think people forget its power over them. Think about it...Marriages. Why do people mess them up? I believe most if not all causes are due to some kind of fear. Fear of being alone, fear of not being valued. Fear of being hurt. Fear of not being able to measure up....the list goes on. How about the alcoholic? He is scared to death. Scared of real life. Scared he can't make it without the anesthetic. Just plain full of fear and he doesn't know why anymore. Why does the kid engage in things he shouldn't? Fear of not being accepted. Fear of being teased. Fear he'll never be good enough. Fear of not fitting in.

I can't say it enough and I'm a broken record because I've said for years. All things are either done out of love or out of fear. Those things we do out of fear are doomed to fail. Since most people are afraid of failure, you can see why this would be a self-destructive mess.

I'm no expert on this topic, but I know what it is to fear, and I know what it is to love, and I certainly know the difference and have seen the outcome. Think hard enough and you will find things in your own life that fit this description. It is an eye opener.

Max Lucado talks about Eve in the chapter "God's ticked off at Me" (Fear of Disappointing God). I think it's interesting how he sees this. So most of us know or should know by now that Eve went ahead and ignored God's command to "not touch the tree of knowledge". We all know she believed Satan when he said she'd be like God if she ate of this tree. Stop right there. Max puts it this way.....

"Most people would say she was defiant, pride filled and disobedient...but wasn't she first afraid? Afraid that God was holding out, that she was missing out? Afraid Eden wasn't enough? Afraid God wasn't enough? Afraid God couldn't deliver?" "Eve quit trusting God and took matters into her own hands" "They ran and hid" "they mishandled fear and fear did them in".

Whew! And that's just chapter three!

Hoops Madness and other Stories

On Saturday, Beaverton was hosting the basketball games, and we had one at ten and another at two. We played Clare at 10 and won...nice clean game, the girls all had fun. Everyone, including the other team played hard and did their best. Then came the game at 2 with Evart. We had already seen some of Evart's antics and frankly, we were not impressed. I don't like to talk against kids, so I will instead share my disappointment over either the parenting or the coaching this girl is getting. This girl singlehandedly knocked three of our girls to the ground, knocking the wind out of one, stepping on the head of another, not to mention her overly aggressive running over anyone in her way, ripping the ball out of her own teammates hands! The ref was obviously not very good, as it took him 3 times to finally call a foul on her! We have 3 girls in tears, and this girl was allowed back in the game time and time again to terrorize our players. We're not talking aggressive play. We're talking out of control roughness. Natalie heard the opposing team cheering when our girls were knocked down. It was the worst case of bad sportsmanship that I have ever seen at this level. We watched them play the team before ours, and the coaches kept walking over to talk to their coach about this girl's out of control behavior, but because she was the only one scoring all the points, nothing was done about her. We were really worried that someone was going to get seriously hurt, so it added to the stress of the game.

While our girls had every reason to retaliate, they did no such thing! I was so proud of them. We have some very talented players on our team. Each one contributes something different and they work so well together. They don't have to get nasty and they have great attitudes. After that horrible experience of playing an unfair team, they could still come off and say they had fun. Oh, and our team won by one point. Oh, yes, it was a very exciting game. We all peed our pants and screamed ourselves silly. In the last few seconds of the game, the nasty girl tried to rip the ball from our player's hands, and I guess she thought it was okay to push her in the process. She then took off down the court with the ball, thinking she was making the winning shot. The ref finally called that foul on her, and the game was ours. I just hope somehow she learns a lesson before it's too late. I really did feel sorry for her! I could see how much she wanted to succeed, but somewhere along the line, someone gave her the wrong idea about what success is.

Despite all of that, we have really enjoyed watching the games. We have great coaches and parents! The best part is, Natalie is having fun and she's excited about basketball! Serena thinks the best part is the concessions. Okay, I'll give her that.

I guess I have no other stories for now, since I went on so much about the game. Maybe I'll catch you next time. I do have some interesting things to share!