Why a hedgehog?

Excellent question! In spring 2004, we visited a children’s museum that had a hedgehog as a pet. We thought it would be so fun to have a hedgehog! We started asking around a little bit. They, like dogs and children, reflect the way they have been raised from babies. If they are used to people and socialization, they will do really well with people. That wasn’t the time for us to be getting a hedgehog, but a couple of years ago, we started thinking about it again…

Stickers in the pocket of my robe.

Where did you get this one?

Actually, from a hedgehog breeder in North Central Texas! (local pet stores do not carry them as a general rule — but have had a couple over the years) Go figure… We started trying to get one — as a baby– last spring (’07). You just don’t want to know how many hedgehog disasters we have been through to get Stickers! If the deal with Stickers had fallen through, I was going to take the sign from the Lord that we are not meant to be hedgehog owners!

Stickers sporting two quills that looked like horns.

Peek-a-boo Stickers

Stickers being introduced to the dust mop. Later, we will train her to use it!

Is she prickly?

Um, yeah. Prickly — and downright painful when she wants to be. Most of the time, she’s just your basic prickly. NEVER soft, except for the white fur around her face.

Does she bite?

Nope — no need. She’s prickly. If she smells food on your hands, she’ll try a nibble — but she always licks it to taste first, so if your finger is still there, it’s your own fault.

What does Duchess think?

Duchess REALLY wants to play with her — as in toss her to and fro, play fetch USING her, etc. She’s most disappointed that she can’t get Stickers in her mouth comfortably. But she can’t, so Duchess, outweighing Stickers by about 7,000 times, doesn’t bother Stickers in the least.

All in all, we are having a great time with Stickers. You’ll have to come play!

Oh, it’s TV-free week at our house, did I mention? I usually make that include all screens (computer, Gameboy, etc.) but I didn’t have the gumption this go-round.

One thing that I scheduled us to do this week (this will show you how pathetic I am that I had to schedule this) was to go ‘watch the stars come out’. Riley has been asking for OVER A YEAR to do that! (I know, really! I recognize how sad I am!) So Wednesday p.m. I told the kids to have a blanket and bug spray in the car before church. After church — the talking and the what-not — we piled into the car, headed north, stopping at McDonald’s for sundaes (and cinnamon melts for me — pause for ‘yum’ thoughts!), and went to a lawn on the ACU campus to watch the stars come out. It was too bright for actual star-gazing, but it was glorious fun to sit with my family and find a star that, 8 seconds prior, had been invisible. The weather was AMAZING and almost cool-ish. It was free (except for the sundaes) and a precious memory.

Go make a memory with your family.

Emily got married. Greg had his 4th baby — 1st boy! Beverly is at a conference! I feel like such a slacker…!

These are just for laughs. Vann has a challenge.

This is one of my elders. I don’t know his wife well, because she is unable to come to church due to caring for their child. A beautiful story of choosing to love.

1. Where is your cell phone? table
2. Your significant other? hard worker
3. Your hair? straight
4. Your mother? learner
5. Your father? warm
6. Your favorite thing? family
7. Your dream last night? iphone!
8. Your favorite drink? peach tea
9. Your goal or dream? author
10. The room you’re in? office
11. Your kids? hilarious
12. Your fear? failure
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Abilene
14. Where were you last night? friends
15. What you’re not? athletic
16. Muffins? spice
17. One of your wish list items? landscaping!
18. Where you grew up? Louisiana
19. The last thing you did ? camera
20. What are you wearing? shorts
21. Your TV? petite
22. Your pets? family
23. Your computer? new
24. Your life? happy
25. Your mood? thoughtful
26. Missing someone? parents
27. Your car? gas-guzzler
28. Something you’re not wearing? perfume
29. Favorite Store? Target
30. Your summer? relaxing
31. Like someone? yeah…
32. Your favorite color? yellow
33. When is the last time you laughed? comedian
34. Last time you cried? ummmm…?
35. The person who sent this to you? friend
36. Who will/would resend this? unknown
37. A good book? changing
38. A good movie? funny
39. A good song? happy
40. One word to share? peace

I picked this up at the library — mainly just because I was curious about the picture:

First, I loved it!! Second, I’m not sure I can recommend it to normal people, because I know few people who are as fascinated by why our brains do what they do as I am. In short, a neuroanatomist (studier of brain anatomy) had a stroke at age 37. She talks about the stroke and her recovery from her scientific point of view. I found it so fascinating. It also contains VERY good advice/ help for caregivers of anyone with any type of brain trauma. She also talks about how many YEARS it took her to fully recover some functions, even though 5 months after the stroke she walked onto a stage and gave a speech about the brain that had been scheduled before the stroke. In short, I really liked it and found it tremendously valuable, but I’m not sure everyone would.

I’m currently reading this:

And I recommend it to EVERYONE. The subtitle says “a modern-day slave (co-author Denver Moore was raised on a plantation in Louisiana), an international art dealer (co-author Ron Hall — from Fort Worth), and the unlikely woman (Ron Hall’s wife, Deborah) who bound them together.” Ron Hall and Denver Moore are scheduled to speak at ACU this fall and I am SO there! Can’t wait. Denver was never educated in a classroom but he has some amazing gold in wisdom. Beverly has one excerpt that I just got to today that I love. (The book has one chapter from Denver’s point of view and one from Ron’s).

“I slept in the doorway of that United Way over on Commerce Street for a
whole lotta years. And every mornin for all that time, a lady who worked there
brought me a sandwich. I never knowed her name and she never knowed mine. I wish
I could thank her. Funny, though. That United Way buildin was right next door to
a church and for all them years, nobody at the church never looked my way.”

“When you is precious to God, you become important to Satan. Watch your back,
Mr. Ron.”

“You know, if you ain’t poor, you might think it’s the folks in them big ole
fine brick churches that’s doin all the givin and the carin and the prayin. I
wish you coulda seen all them circles a’ homeless folks with their heads bowed
and their eyes closed, whisperin what was on their hearts. Seemed like they
didn’t have nothin to give, but they was givin what they had, takin the time to
knock on God’s front door and ask Him to heal this woman that had loved
them.”

I’m a little more than halfway through it. The little gal that checked me out when I bought it said that she was reading it — up there at the cash register — but she could tell the last 10 chapters were going to make her cry, so she had to put it away while she worked! I think I’m almost to that point! But it is a book about breaking through stereotypes and pre-conceived ideas about your fellow man.

Happy 4th to one and all!

Now, to bore everyone with my soul-baring true confessions:
You know, bless my soul, I don’t think of myself as having very many natural gifts other than the desire to learn to do better in order to compensate for not having a natural gift. I’m not a cook, decorator, organizer, or bargain shopper by nature. Which makes me a little bit of a flop in the wife and mother department if not for my unrelenting determination to learn to do better (or learn who to hire to do such things!) And, truly, I am always willing to learn and thanks to the miracle that is youtube, I can learn all manner of things. So I have watched this video no fewer than 3 times, and I will NEVER be able to do this — but I will try to the death!

While we’re on the subject, in my constant, yet ever-so-sad, quest for improving this area of my life, I did see a tip to keep a set of folded sheets in the pillowcase of the set. Handy.

For a praise update!! Riley’s foot is broken in the same exact way that it was (but it was 7 months ago, not 8 — late November) but on the opposite side. It’s not quite as bad and, for some reason, there is no pain at the site of the fracture, but on the opposite side. So, doc wanted to treat it like a sprain instead of a fracture! We are SO thankful! He’s on crutches and in a brace/ splint for 4 weeks (for the brace — the crutches are just as pain dictates). Which means we are headed to the pool tomorrow! YAY and “Thank you, Lord!!” On the way to the ER I remembered that the Dr.s parting words in January when he took off the cast were, “It all looks great. You’re free to do whatever. I don’t like trampolines much, though.” Yeah, he was on a trampoline. He was at a church function at a local gymnastics center. I think we’ll remember longer than 6 months to stay off of trampolines!

Saw Wall-e tonight with the kids. Very cute, and I really like the message about taking care of our earth AND our bodies.

Does anyone have any great plans for our country’s 222nd birthday?

Of course our emergency room visit took a while and we got home at bedtime needing to eat dinner. By the time we ate and medicated and propped the foot in bed, I just wanted to collapse in my own bed. Collapse I did, but sleep wouldn’t come. I kept thinking of the injury. Even though we witnessed indescribable grief and pain at the hospital, I could only think of my own baby boy and his painful injury. I kept replaying the moment in my mind over and over. I didn’t even see it happen – only heard the awful wails after the fact – but I pieced together in my mind what he relayed had happened and watched it like a movie stuck on the same loop.

I finally crawled out of bed to find a new image to put in my brain. I grabbed my Bible, curled up in my chair, and started reading. “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother…” (John 19:25) That’s as far as I could go. I thought of the horrific images Mary must have had burned into her brain. I imagined the black days between Friday and Sunday. Her baby boy lay motionless behind the stone and she longed to think of him as the pink, squishy newborn she had nursed or as the precocious young man in the temple speaking wisdom. But she couldn’t shake the image of the broken body on the cross. Was her joy complete when she saw him whole again – or could she only think of the tortured body on the cross? He forgave me for my sin that kept him nailed there – I wonder if she ever did?

Mary probably never struggled to grasp the enormity of what it cost for her to have eternal life. There was likely never a communion meal of remembrance that Mary composed a shopping list in her head or counted the minutes until the restaurant opened. The image of her own baby boy broken and nailed to a cross was a picture in a locket forever in her brain. Each moment of remembrance was filled with agony of the memory combined with flooding gratitude for what it means for each of us.

May I be Mary-minded and walk in constant remembrance and gratitude of the precious lamb of God sacrificed so that I may be pure before the throne of God.

How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts
that lead to death so that we may serve the living God! Hebrews 9:14

The phone call came on a Tuesday morning, just as my family was yawning awake to face another busy day. Not at all unexpected, but unwilling to verbalize what was reality, my dad simply said, “Well, you know why I’ve called.” And I did. My grandfather’s victory was won: he was finally free of a body imprisoned by pain.

I set about my day making plans for leaving my home — getting my children’s school work squared away, church obligations taken care of, and substitute plans in place for my absence. My husband performed the same juggling act for his work. The next morning we packed up here, my “grown-up home” where I have a family and a job and a mortgage and friends and church family and church obligations — and headed to my childhood home. We left West Texas, with its scrubby mesquite trees and arid climate and drove to my childhood home, the claustrophobic embracing trees of North Louisiana with its oppressive humidity and heat. We gathered to celebrate the life — earthly and eternal — of my grandfather, a crucial part of my heritage of faith.

The morning we left Louisiana, I took a walk as the rest of the world came awake. I watched the sun rise over the bayou and cherished this place, my home — the place that knows my people, my kin, the place that knows from whence I came, the place that has known me and loved me from the beginning. It is so comfortable here. Here I feel so much “at home” … but not quite.

My thoughts turned to my “grown-up home,” where I would be going later that day — the place where my friends surround me and love me in spite of my weaknesses, the place where I raise my family and serve the Lord in His church. So much “at home” … but not quite.

Then I thought of my grandfather. He was finally home. He was where I long to be. The world says, “You can never go home again.” Scripture says, “I am going to prepare a place for you” (John 14:1-3). We haven’t even been home yet! The world says, “Home is where the heart is.” Scripture says, “Set your mind on things above” (Colossians 3:1-4).

Our heavenly home knows from whence we came:

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13).My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,your eyes saw my unformed body.All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:15-16).

Our heavenly home also loves us in spite of our weaknesses. Better yet, “My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Paul reminded the Philippians of our citizenship in heaven (Philippians 3:20-21). Each time a precious saint of this earth passes into heaven, I am reminded again that this earthly house and body that I am blessed with are only meant to be temporary shelter, not a permanent dwelling (2 Corinthians 5:1-10).

Lord, don’t let the attractions of this world block the beauty of my eternal home. Remind me daily of the things of You that are truly important and lead me to recognize the things of this world that are simply burdensome distractions. Put on my heart a longing for my Home.