****Wisdom****

Did you know that the word "Wisdom" is in the bible (KJV) 234 times and is in 222 verses? Do you think that God is trying to tell us something? Should we seek for wisdom? Or should we just go along status quo?

What does Wisdom mean?

Webster dictionary says: (1) a: accumulated philosophic or scientific learning: knowledge b: ability to discern inner qualities and relationships :insight c: good sense : judgment d: generally accepted belief wisdom among many historians — Robert Darnton>(2): a wise attitude, belief, or course of action3: the teachings of the ancient wise men

A standard philosophical definition says that wisdom consists of making the best use of available knowledge. As with any decision, a wise decision may be made with incomplete information.

Aristotle defines wisdom as knowledge of causes: why things exist in a particular fashion.

In the Christian Bible, the magi (or "wise men") are sent by God to give the newly born Jesus three types of gifts. Wisdom is also represented by the sense of justice of the lawful and wise king Solomon, who asks God for wisdom in 1 Kings 3. Proverbs 9:10 says: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," and 8:13 "To fear the Lord is to hate evil;". The Catholic and Orthodox deuterocanonical books of the Bible include the Book of Wisdom (Wisdom of Solomon).

There is an oppositional element in Christian thought between secular wisdom and Godly wisdom. The apostle Paul states that worldly wisdom thinks the claims of Christ to be foolishness. However, to those who are being saved Christ represents the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:17-31) Also, Wisdom is one of the Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

God thinks that is worthy enough to be a gift of the Holy Spirit, and that it is worthy enough to put in the bible 234 times....do you not think that it is a good thing for us to seek the Wisdom of the Lord? It takes wisdom to make decisions that we are faced with in life. It takes wisdom to be a parent and raise your children in the manner that the bible teaches. It takes wisdom to know when to speak and when not to speak. It takes wisdom to choose the right job. It takes wisdom to choose the right mate, etc., etc., etc.

Life without some wisdom is a life of destruction??? Would you say that could be true? What if you just do not have knowledge???? Do we need to seek knowledge before we seek wisdom???

I believe that we need to gain knowledge in order to have wisdom. How can God give us Wisdom if we refuse to gain knowledge? Of course we need God's help to gain knowledge but, we have to want the knowledge in order to gain wisdom.

I am asking God for wisdom and am committed to gaining knowledge in the process. What is your take on this issue?

Life Changing Events.......

This past week has been a big week for my life. Actually the past 2 weeks.

~~On Wednesday, October 10th I was working at the day care and got this over whelming feeling that Jamie was going to call me and tell me they were moving. Now we had discussed the fact that my youngest brother was trying to get them to move to Nevada for a long time but, that was never really an option. So, 2 hours after I started having this feeling Jamie called me on my cell phone. I looked at my phone and it was 10am. I knew what she was going to say and could not bring myself to answer my phone. I finally called her back about an hour later......She told me they would be moving and that Michael was going out there first to make some money and come back to get them.

I was devastated. I know my brother has to do what is best for his family. (at least what he believes is best for his family) I also know that most of the reason for me not wanting him to move is very selfish!!! My youngest brother has 2 children and lives in Las Vegas and I rarely get to see them but, it has always been. My mom lives in California and I rarely get to see her, and, it has been for a really long time. But, Michael he has been here for close to 12 years. I have been around all of his kids since they were born. I was actually in the hospital when 3 of them were born. There 4th child was born on my birthday. I would prefer to see them go to another country on the Mission field serving the Lord with all there heart but, not to Las Vegas.

Since I was 15 years old I have only lived with my mom less than a year (that was my senior year). Other than that I have been away from my extended family. I ran away 2 weeks after I turned 15 and moved back home my Senior year then when I graduated I went into the Air Force. My youngest brother, Martin, (once grown) has always lived many miles away from me. My middle brother, Michael, well.....that has been different. He lived 2 doors down from me for almost 3 or 4 years. Life is going to be very different!

We have never been able to do much as far as taking vacations. That is a luxury that we usually can only afford something small and for a couple days. Not trips to the west. ( that is why I have only been out there 2 times in all of Cheyenna's years)

So, anyway back to events....I am told that they are moving.

~~On Monday the 15th we had a birthday party for Tahner because his birthday is also Wednesday the 17th but, Michael was leaving that day.

Here is his cake.

~~On Tuesday the 16th we were supposed to go play games with some friends and it ended up being a surprise Birthday party for me. (I guess since I was going to turn 40 on Wednesday the 17th they thought it was a big deal) Here are a couple pictures. (I was having a really bad hair day from the rain. It was very curly and frizzy.) Sara has a couple more pictures but, I do not have those yet. I will post those when I get them.

I was feeding Taressa my icing. She was loving it!

~~On Wednesday the 17th I turned 40. (:-o Not a real big deal but, it was kind of a weird feeling when I would say I was 40. Also, I was flipping through the radio stations in my car (which, I rarely do) and ran across a song that was one of mine and my friend DaNel's favorite songs when we were teenagers and in our early 20's. The song was ~~Boston - More than a Feeling~~ It was on WGRR the OLDIES station.. :-(

Then, I took Michael to the airport. Jamie was doing well until it was time for him to leave. I felt so horrible for her!!!!! Nothing I could do!!! Nothing I can do for her while he is gone except pray for her and be there for her where I can.

You would not believe what just happened. I am sitting here at the store writing this blog and all of a sudden I heard something hit the papers (splat) that were stacked up beside me. I look over and it was a spider about the size of a half dollar. It dropped from the ceiling and landed about 6 inches from me. Oh me oh my I do not like spiders!!!!!!! I finally found it and killed it. But, it was really scary - it landed right next to my open purse also. Thank the Lord it did not land on me or go in my purse I might have had a heart attack.

I took some pictures of there family before we left to go to the airport. It was hard taking him to the airport. But, we had a really nice talk on the way. We talked about what God has done for them and how important it is to take care of his soul and the souls of his family. We talked about how important it is for him to get in a good church and become the spiritual leader of his home. I thank the Lord for the words that He gave me and the nice conversation that Michael & I had. I want them to make it to heaven! He truly believes that he is doing this to better take care of his family. I pray that this is the right decision for him.

Tahner would not let me take his picture until
I took a picture of his caterpillar.

Wednesday night at church Sister Truesdale made 130 cupcakes and brought them for a surprise. She also made a big poster board that said "Happy Birthday to Michelle, Brittany, and Tanner". (Our birthdays were all on Wednesday.) Jewelie Hoopers birthday was also on Thursday the 18th. She taped the poster board to the trunk lid of there car and served the cupcakes out of the trunk. She is really an awesome person and I thought that was very kind!! It was also way over the top! Too bad I do not have any pictures from that or I would post them. But, maybe she will post them because she had Dan taking pictures of everybody.

~~Thursday night the 18th - Derrick was supposed to leave for Red River Gorge on a camping trip with Jason & Raquel and to meet several other people that left Thursday morning. Because of a weather forecasts of severe storms Jason & Raquel stayed the night and they left Friday morning for Red River Gorge. He will be back Saturday night. (It is good they waited to leave because there was a pretty bad storm Thursday night.)

God is really awesome and gives us grace as we need it. I thank him for how he has been helping me through all of this and more. I got to the point on Tuesday morning that I was telling God how he has promised not to give us more than we can bear. I was standing on that promise and He came in such a very special way with just what I needed at the time!!! I love the Lord with all my heart and want to draw closer to Him! He is the reason that I live and OHHHH...What a REASON!!!!!

Thank you very much to all of you that take the time to read my blog. Next post I will tell you about life after 40 :-) hee hee.

The Drought of 2007....

The National Weather service classifies drought areas with the following classifications: Abnormally Dry, Moderate, Severe, Extreme and Exceptional. Southern Ohio in the Cincinnati area has been classified as Severe all year. Following is an exert from the National Weather Service:

FOR CINCINNATI...DAYTON AND COLUMBUS...THE RAINFALL IS AS FOLLOWS:

STATION ...................................SINCE JAN 1............................INCHES BELOW NORMAL
CINCINNATI ...............................19.06.....................................................12.22
DAYTON ......................................28.96 ....................................................0.01
COLUMBUS ................................28.24 ....................................................0.20

STATION ...................................SINCE MAY 1 ..............................INCHES BELOW NORMAL
CINCINNATI ..................................5.49.............................................................12.26
DAYTON .......................................13.97 .............................................................2.79
COLUMBUS ................................12.95 .............................................................4.62

RAINFALL DEFICITS IN THE EXTREME DROUGHT AREA IS AS MUCH AS 12 TO 16
INCHES BELOW NORMAL FOR THE YEAR...WITH MOST LOCATIONS GENERALLY 8
TO 12 INCHES BELOW NORMAL FOR THE YEAR. EVEN IF NORMAL RAINFALL
WERE TO OCCUR FROM NOW THROUGH THE END OF 2007...THE CINCINNATI
AREA WILL LIKELY FINISH WITHIN THE TOP TEN DRIEST YEARS ON RECORD.

We have lived here since 2001 and we are normally unable to mow our entire yard until end of May because there is so much water sitting in the yard from the rain. But, this year there has not been one time that we could not mow the entire yard.

Also, our pond is 4 foot down. We have never seen the pond more than 1 foot low and that is usually in August. Following are some pictures of our pond.

By the way my pond is 25 foot in the deepest part so, it would be a long time before it went dry.

This area is usually about midway on the top board of the deck.

That back edge is where the water usually is.

The water at it's lowest in the past has been to the bottom of the front
play on the deck. That would be about 1 foot down.

This dirt is usually 4 foot under water.

We also went to see East Fork Lake yesterday to see the phenomenon of islands where we have never seen islands before. I grew up around here and do not remember ever seeing the lake this way. (unless it happened while I was away) Following are some pictures of what we saw.

This is dirt that was at one point completely covered with water.

You can now walk all the way around the lake.
Usually you cannot because the water goes up to the trees.

We have kayaked up into this cove before and
it is usually completely covered with water.

We have kayaked up into this cove before also.

If you look real close you can see the turkey that we saw.

This is the main place that we would put in our kayaks.
I do not believe it would be very easy to put in here now.

This is what we call beaver island and all the
stumps you see sticking up are usually barely seen out of the water.

If you blow this picture up you can see the tree laying over
near the back of the picture. We frequently kayaked
up this cove to see the big fish move around and we
would kayak all the way to the tree that was laying over.
We kayak under the tree that is leaning but, not all the way down.

Even if we get normal rainfall for the rest of 2007 we would still end 2007 as one of the top ten dryest years on record according to the National Weather Service.

I have also been told several times that we should expect a winter like the Blizzard of 1977.

I've Been Tagged!!!!!

I have been tagged by my my pastors wife Sister Eisenhart to list 7 random things about myself here they are:

I am Jewish (Jews from Germany) on my Grandmothers side and Cherokee Indian on my Grandfathers.

I do not like spiders.

I work at a Daycare/Preschool.

I am not a coalcracker - I grew up in Southern Pennsylvania (and Maryland, Indiana, Northern Ohio, Southern Ohio, Arizona, Texas)

I love to be around people and am getting over my fear of big crowds.

I married my boyfriend from school - (My boyfriend in 8th grade then moved away came back and he was my boyfriend again in 10th grade, moved away again came back 10 years later and married him.)

God saved me again at the age of 30.

I went to 5 different schools in 3 different states in 4 years of high school.

I am going to tag Deanna Kennedy, Sarah Susan, Heather Dickinson.

****By the way I just realized that Sister Eisenhart and I cannot count because that was 8 not 7 random things.****

Pledge of Allegiance in Schools Today

I had the manager of a local bank email me the following.
I thought it was worthy of repeating. It is oh so TRUE!

New Pledge of Allegiance!

Since the Pledge of Allegiance and The Lord's Prayer are not allowed in most
public schools anymore because the word "God" is mentioned....
A kid in Arizona wrote the following NEW  School prayer. 

Now I sit me down in school

  Where praying is against the rule 

  For this great nation under God 

  Finds mention of Him very odd.

If Scripture now the class recites, 

  It violates the Bill of Rights. 

  And anytime my head I bow 

  Becomes a Federal matter now.

Our hair can be purple, orange or green, 

  That's no offense; it's a freedom scene. 

  The law is specific, the law is precise. 

  Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall 

  Might offend someone with no faith at all 

  In silence alone we must meditate, 

  God's name is prohibited by the state.

We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks, 

  And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks. 

  They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible. 

  To quote the Good Book makes me liable.

We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen, 

  And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King. 

  It's "inappropriate" to teach right from wrong, 

  We're taught that such "judgments" do not belong.

We can get our condoms and birth controls, 

  Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles. 

  But the Ten Commandments are not allowed, 

  No word of God must reach this crowd.

It's scary here I must confess, 

  When chaos reigns the school's a mess. 

  So, Lord, this silent plea I make: 

  Should I be shot; My soul please take!

AMEN

Jesus said, 
"If you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before my Father."