Scrambled Eggs

I have been thinking for several days on what I wanted to write about in my blog, but nothing really seemed fitting. I thought about talking about the up coming wedding, but that really is still in the planning stages and my brother hasn't reveal completely everything on that yet. I even thought about talking about the war, but I have to many thoughts about that one that could make people angery So I will stay away from that one. I even thought about comparing Washington and President Bush. I still might someday. I even thought about writing what I had heard about Mummification and that fact that Egyptians would actually raise and kill cats to sell as mummies. But the mummification process is Way to gross.
Then I said to myself, "Well today is the anniversary of Katrina and I could say something about that", but what could I say that has not already been said except they are not the only ones hit by hurricanes and they got on with thier lives without complaining so get on with life.
But everything I thought about writing just didn't sound that interesting.
But today I had an interesting conversation with someone about my brother and his upcoming marriage and how he found Heather on Eharmony. And I told the person that people have been pushing me to find "the one". He told me something that I really already knew about, but sometimes need to be reminded. He told me to not hurry things. It is better to take your time and be sure that "the one" is whom God wants for you life. And I was reminded of something very special. Now I don't know how special this is going to sound to some of you, but for me it has always meant a lot. Ever since I can remember, when my parents prayed, either as a family or during bedtime devotions while I was growing up, they prayed for me. Now Lots of parents pray for their children "God bless our children and may they grow up to serve you, Amen." My parents weren't like that. My parents prayed that I would serve God yes, but they also prayed for someone whom they had never met, My Husband. Here I am five, six years and they are praying for my Husband. It always and still does amaze me that my parents would pray for me in that way and not only that, but that God is even now answering those prayers that my parents prayed Even 20 years ago.
I have to remind myself so often that God knows who I am going to marry. When I was born God looked down on me and said, "Ah, Alicia is one of mine and she is going to someday marry . . . , but first her parents will spend many hours in prayer for them and she is going to worry, and cry and have to deal with people pushing her, but when the time comes I will bring them together."
And then and only then will it be a match made in Heaven.

Secret Revealed

Okay I have been given permission to reveal the long awaited news. My brother has asked his girlfriend to marry him and she said YES!
YAAAAAAAAAA!
I am so excited about the whole thing to the point where I was gnawing at the bit to blog it. I am very happy for Clifford and Heather. The Wedding is going to be in Boston on May 12. Poor Cliff was going through names of people that he is going to ask and is pretty sure will come. He personally had almost 80 just on his list and that wasn't including Heather's guests.
I have always wanted to go to Boston and now I have the opportunity to go. How cool is that! I am hoping that maybe, just maybe there will be time to do a little site seeing before the wedding. That would be so much fun. I would really like to go to the place where the Mass Bay Colony was so that I could connect with my family heritage.
Anyway. I just had to tell all tonight because my fingers were itching and I did promise that I would tell all as soon as I was allowed to. Secrets really are fun, but not when it can be some of the best news ever.

Monarch Butterflies and Japanese Bettle Traps

I discovered something rather unusual the other day. A Monarch in the Japanese Bettle Trap outside our house. Monarch butterflies have always held a special place in my heart. One of those reasons is because when my brother and I were younger we used to search high and low for the tiny caterpillars on the Milkweed across the street from us. We would take them home, and take care of them until they became butterflies. We had hundreds and many of them we named becaus they were special. One butterfly in particular was Zaccheus. By the name I am sure you are getting the fact that he was tiny. When he emerged as a butterfly he somehow or another got stuck in the crystalis causing him to only be half the size a normal butterfly should be. We knew he would never make it south and he didn't. He died after only a few days of living on our flowers outside our house. We kept him until he accidently got broken.
So back to the butterfly in the trap. He was flapping all around going crazy. His wings were getting damaged and many of his scales had been wipped off. I tried everything to get him out because I didn't want him to die in with all those nasty bettles. YUCK! First I tried a stick and then a flower, but he refused to even land on either of them. He almost acted even more frightened then he had when he was stuck. Finally I started to close the bottom half of the trap from the butterfly as he flew closer to the top. Some how he slipped back several times until finally He got stuck and I was able to carefully get him out of the trap where he flew away as fast as his wings could take him.
For the last couple of days I have been trying to find something in that story. There is so many thoughts you could get out of something like that.
The trap is sin and the butterfly is a Christian. Christians sometimes have a way of finding themselves in strange places where they get trapped by sin unable to get out. They flap around in panic only to cause damage to themselves. After awhile someone finds the Christian stuck and tries to give them aid, but the Chrisitian is so set on getting themselves out that they refuse all help. Finally weakening the Christian starts to fall in with the crowd, but as soon as he does the feeling of the others causes him to take flight again in hopes of escaping and all of a sudden he is cut of from the crowd and slowly lifted away from the problem and set free by a Savior.
Maybe it is a bit far fetched, but my expierence left me thinking. I am thankful there is a Savior who can Lift me up when I fall into sin.

Secrets

Have you ever had a secret that you wished you could tell, but if you did the punishment could be "death"? Well I have one of those secrets. Of course once I am given the go ahead It will be plastered all over this blog.
Did you ever have secrets when you were a kid? I had lots of them. Secrets such as my secret hiding spot. There was a place that I loved to go with my flash light and just sit there and no one could find me. It was in a little cubby hole in the downstairs closet under the stairs. It was one of the best hiding place I could find. No one ever suspected me of being there.
Or the secret dream world I would be in while doing my school work. I was the daughter of a shierf. I did all my school work at the jail house and helped put criminals away including the man who had murdered my mother. I wore cowboy boats, I loved to ride horses, I even had my own horse and cat (later it changed to a Jack Russel Terrier), and I also had an annoying brother. When I got into highschool I fell in love with the cutest boy in town. Just wished that dream world was true there.
I even had secret money hidden away. Do you know how fun it is to put 5 maybe 10 dollars in a special place only to find it again five years later still there?
Everyone has secret thoughts that they don't want anyone else to know about. Some people may have secret thoughts where they only let their best friends know. Secrets are so hard to keep secret that if you aren't careful you could be telling the secret that you were told was a secret. That's when that crazy situation gets even crazier.
Sometimes, though, Secrets aren't meant to be kept silent. Watched a movie on Sunday called Speak. It was about a girl that had a very dark secret that she kept to herself for a year. They thought maybe she was on drugs or something. They weren't really sure. She hardly ever talked and kept closed in. Finally through her art teacher and drawing, the girl was able to face her secret and reveal to her friends and family that she had been raped. It was an amazing thought to think that people around us that act "wierd" may have secrets like that. Secrets that need to be told and not doing so.
Even with that said I am very thankful for secrets. As a matter of fact I am very thankful for my secret. The secret that will be revealed in time because it makes me a very happy person.

Corn on the Cob and Living By Faith

I had my third meal of corn on the cob today. Most of you probably don't really care, but I thought it was good. You may not know that the only vegetable that I like to really eat is corn on the cob. (Of course that is not to say I won't eat tomato sauce on my pizza.)
This year I plan on savoring every bite because I may not get much this year. So many crops in this area were damaged to the point of no return and corn is a big crop around this area. I was talking to the lady where I bought the corn from today and she said they were blessed that mosst the floods and nasty rain missed us completely. Even with the several days of major heat and humidity didn't affect the crops. The peaches looked and smelled good and the lady said that even they were really good.
I thought of the fact that so many people no longer have an income this year because everything was wiped out by floods not to mention they may not even have homes. But no matter what they will continue on and those who trust God will see awesome things happen.
I have been reading about Elijah and Elisha lately and both of them found widows that had nothing at all and when the prophets asked the women to give everything they had they did it. Of course the women thought they would die or in the case of one her sons would be taken away, they were blessed because they trusted God to take care of them no matter what.
I wish I had as much faith as those women did. Most often I complain or worry about getting enough hours at work so that I can pay my school bills. But I have yet to be in want of the money to pay. Amazing!
Maybe corn on the cob is better than even I thought.

Conserving Cool Air

It is rather dark in the house today and it is not because we are having a storm. All the windows are closed and it is not because it is cold. Mom covered all the windows to keep the cool air in and the hot air out. They are predicting very hot weather with a heat index of 110 degrees F.
It is only 9:30am and the last I looked it was about 85 and it felt like 93.
We are all trying to keep the lights off, one to keep it cool and two to help give other people who have air conditioners more electricity.
I am about to step outside because I have to go print the bulletin for church. I am stalling because I really don't want to go out even though I need to.
Today I am thankful for fans because without them we would be dying of heat.