1000 gifts: the first map ever made

Continuing my list of gifts, blessings that I write down to remember all the wonderful things that God gives me along life's journey (from Ann Voskamp's book and her blog, A Holy Experience).


368. The stars are the first map ever made
My seven year old, Dreamer, had to sit in my office one day while I finished working on a map. She asked on of my co-workers, "Does my mom make nice maps?" and he answered, "the best." Then after a while, she came up with this gem, "Mom, are the stars the first map ever made?" It's true, actually, if you think about it.

369. Beth Moore live

A bunch of my friends from church carpooled up to Casper, WY for one of Beth Moore's Living Proof conferences. She shared wonderful insights gleaned from Acts 3:1-10 and Acts 14: 8-13 about the two occasions where the apostles healed lame men. She had fun stuff to share too like how her grandson learned sign language for "WOW!" (unofficial version, like this picture), and how she loves visiting Wyoming even though the wind blew the bleach right off her hair.

370. Strange violin tunes
One night Blaze was practicing her violin and started this awful, off-pitch version of Mary Had A Little Lamb. "You're playing that wrong!" I call out to her. "No Mom, I'm playing it right. This is "Mary Had A Dying Lamb."

371. Bridal shower - Famous couples game

Here's Blaze oogling all the shower gifts

I hosted a bridal shower for N.L. at my house and had a lot of  fun involving everyone in the Famous Couples Games (we had 35 guests!) Everyone got to pick the names of a famous couple out of a basket: Adam & Eve, Romeo & Juliet, Scarlett & Rhett, to name a few. Then they had to mark who they thought was N.L's favorite couple, least favorite couple, and which couple she thought was most like her & her fiance. Their choices cracked me up!! She picked Shrek and Fiona, but some of the popular votes were Beauty & the Beast, Han Solo & Princess Leia, unfortunate lass & pirate Jack Sparrow, and Elizabeth Bennett & Mr. Darcy from Pride & Prejudice.

372. The "cut store"
When anybody complimented twins on their new bob haircuts they got this month, they would happily say, "yeah! We went to the cut store!"

373. High school jokes
This is an example of the kind of jokes that Stars brings home from high school.
"Ask me if I'm tree." (she poses as a tree, holding her arms out like tree limbs)
"Are you a tree?"
"No." (with a roll of her eyes).

374. Mary Jane jokes 
So Stars was sharing some of her "duh" jokes with N.L. and N.L. shared some of her favorite Mary Jane jokes back. (I've never heard these before, and neither had Stars. They're so awful we had to laugh)

Mary Jane was walking on the beach one day and saw a shark swimming around a man. The man was screaming, "Help me! Help me!"
And Mary Jane laughed and laughed, because she knew the shark was never going to help that man!

Mary Jane burnt down the barn one day, and her mother said "Mary Jane! You're in big trouble when your father gets home!"
And Mary Jane laughed and laughed, because she knew her father was in that barn.  

375. Made-up songs
This is what I heard Dreamer singing one day (and teaching it to the twins):

"Sister, sister, what do you say? We praise God and pray, pray"

376. CRS syndrome ("Can't remember stuff")
We visited the in-laws for Thanksgiving and this is what my sister-in-law Melissa claims she's suffering from . Except her version is "Can't remember sh**"
I thought it was hilarious because I have this syndrome pretty bad, too.

377. Cousins riding horses together
Grandpa B. got his horse Red and Joy's horse Little Bit out for the girls to ride. Blaze and Bre were soon riding them all over the yard - Blaze riding bareback, showing off of course!

378. A bible on the lamp table
I noticed that Joy had a bible sitting on the lamp table next to her favorite chair and I asked her about it - she says she is reading it regularly. She also talked more about her beliefs than I've ever heard her share before. I know two of her daughters, Monica and Crystal, have been trying to encourage her with verses as she struggles with fighting cancer and how sick the chemo is making her. 

379. Footprints in the Sand poem
An old friend of the family, Chris, called me up out of the blue this fall and we've been in touch ever since (mostly via texting). He and his family have been going through some really tough times this year. At one point I told him I was a Jesus freak, but I didn't say anything else: I like to wait and see if other people have any questions or comments about it before I force any more on them.

Chris didn't say much in response, until about a month later, he called me up again and asked me a bunch of questions about why I was a Jesus freak. I ended up getting to share my whole testimony of coming to know God with him. It turns out, he had a near death experience, and is now thinking that it was God who spared his life.

Also, he said that while he's heard about the Footprints in the Sand poem before, recently he saw it again some place and suddenly it had a great impact on him. (Reminds me of how I always loved the song Amazing Grace, but it wasn't until I believed in God that I really understood what the words of the song were saying!)

380.  Finding the verse you've been searching for 
This one is so monumental to me I'm saving it for a whole post of its own...