Can't believe my ears!!!

Andrea C Parker just released her 11-song cd, and she recorded 3 songs I co-wrote!!!

December Rain (Townley/Wilson/Miller)
Let Us Pray (Utz/Wilson)
Carpenter's Clue (Parker/Wilson/Parker)

You can hear samples at

http://www.indieheaven.com/artist_main.php?id=4005

If you'd like to buy one, leave me a message here and I'll email you her email address:

ackparker@gmail.com

$10 plus $2 shipping:)

or you can use paypal to order, through

http://andreacparker.blogspot.com/2008/09/my-cd-is-here.html

Symptomatic

I'd like to ask for prayer for Liz's close friend, Sonnie.
During the past 3 weeks,
she experienced symptoms ranging from headaches, dizziness,
left leg occasionally losing feeling,
blurred vision in one right eye, and the list went on.

The doctor suspected brain tumors or
Multiple Schlerosis as he reviewed her MRI.
Her spinal tap results were positive for MS.

I believe Sonnie is in her last year of college.
She is an amazing young lady.
Strong in the Lord.

Please pray the Father gives Sonnie
wisdom concerning treatment.

We are trusting Him for financial provision,
as she has no insurance.

Most of all, she is asking the Lord
to draw others to Christ,
through her suffering.

Sarah, Palin and Tall

I was impressed when I saw this today. I believe we are a divided nation, and that we will be. Let's pray for the future leaders of America (and for we/ussens followers).

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1766638341

For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favor as with a shield. Ps 5:12

Women in Black

Well, we survived the trip to the dentist. But I left the "just-in-case" bottle at home. So Hannah & I came back home instead of going straight to lunch.

At that point, I should have stayed home. Really. I should have just stayed home. But no, I had a gift card and coupon for Chick-fil-A, so I kept my promise to my little one. It was just "our" time, since Dan was home with Jacob.

Everything was fine at Chick-fil-A, except that I sat at the wrong place. The lady next to me was dressed in heels and a black dress. I should have known better. She soon approached me, asking me if I would take a few minutes with her to talk about Avon.

I could have gone into the big long story about how my 8 yr old and I never have time together, as she always has to share me (or that I have to share her)

I could have gone into a big long story about how I don't remember the last hot meal I ate. HA.

I could have gone into a big long story about how bad the waffle fries are if you don't get 'em while they're hot.

But I chose to toss my friend Paula's name out there, and how wonderful she is with Avon and if I ever wanted to be a rep, I'd sign up with Paula.

I thought that was enough but Mrs. Avon wouldn't back off until I finally just smiled, and said, "Look. I have nine kids and their STUFF. I don't want any more stuff to keep up with." She and her co-conspirator (other woman in black) laughed and backed down. They made phone calls until the third gal came along for their meeting.

I overheard them talking about other places they would be going, to pass out business cards. Chili's, etc.

Funny thing. Hannah was on the playground for a little while and came out saying, "Watch my hair when I come down the slide!" It was really funny, because of the static.

But every time I smiled or waved, Mrs. Avon looked at me like "oh, maybe she changed her mind!!!"

You betcha, I changed my mind. We'll be eating at home for a while!!!!!



You betcha. I

Oh, I forgot I had YOU!!!!

You know something? When I call my mom, I usually identify myself. Being the youngest of nine, and the mother of nine, I know how helpful it is to actually know who I'm talking with. Every once in a while, when I say, "Hi, Moma, this is Eva" she replies "Oh, I forgot I had YOU!!!"

Up until recently, I thought she was kidding.

Today I was nervous about running a few errands, as Grammie. I've been out of the baby routine for just a few years, but it's amazing how quickly I'd forgotten how to do things.

• Like how to load a diaper bag. Last week I put everything except diapers in the bag. This week I almost poured bottled water into a 3 lb container of formula. There's a reason YOUNG people have babies.

• Like, how to buy groceries for 11 ppl while feeding a two month old his bottle. Baby did fine. I guess I did, too. The true challenge was keeping all the women at the store from slowing me down! Could they not see that I was on a roll? I had 12 more rows to conquer! His happy disposition was not on my side. The more he cooed, the longer the other Grandmas stood in the middle of the aisle. Every aisle. And they had so many questions. And I had all the answers. Yes, he's mine! No, he's not mine! Well, yes, he's mine! I really would have had more kids, if I wasn't so exhausted. And so confused! By the time I was leaving, I was thankful I'd remembered to go thru the check-out.
  

• Oh, and I'd forgotten how to carry a baby in a carrier and grin while swimming upstream in the high school hallway. It seemed simple enough, to drop the forgotten athletics clothes by the office. Actually, it wasn't so difficult to keep a smile on my face, as I was meditating on the fact that I need to drop off the stuff in my right hand, not the stuff in my left hand. Wonder what Michael's coach would have done if he'd brought baby Jacob to gym!!

Tomorrow I'll take Jacob with me to a dental appt for Hannah. If you happen to find a random baby in a waiting room, he's mine.

Labor Day

As we tried to talk with the children about the meaning of Labor Day, one of my kids suggested that today be Mom's Day, since I'm the only one in the house that really knows what labor is! More on that later.

It was a Labor Day like none other for much of the Gulf Coast. Prayers were going up through the day, for those fleeing from Gustav, and even more so, those who dared to tough it out. If it was me, I'd be first in line to get out of town.

Yes, I'm chicken. And I'll continue to be chicken. I plan my chicken-ness. Don't you?

We were also watchful to see if it was turning any toward Houston. I guess I could have made it to Cleveland on my 1/4 of a tank, only to find that they were fresh out of gas. Oh, the gas gauge is broken on Barry's van. Remind me of that if we ever have to sit in traffic for long!

I'm so thankful that Gustav didn't gain strength as it approached the coast. Praying the Lord would have mercy, I shouldn't have been surprised that it calmed a bit. I don't understand natural disasters. And I don't like them. I guess that's one reason I'm chicken. Bawk bawk.

When I think of labor, I think of hard work. Almost unbearable work. Seems like the hardest work I do these days is to train myself to not worry. The projected path of the storm for Tues is right thru Liz & Ruth's college town, and then on to visit Moma and family there. There's a reason the psalmist says "WHEN I am afraid, I will trust in You" instead of "IF I am afraid..." I'm trusting Him to keep them all safe, as always.

But I look at a storm as a picture of the things that we face that are more real than wind and rain. Our lives are flooded with decisions each day, to choose right instead of wrong. To run or to bear the pain. To care or not care. To love or not to love. The waves of darkness can be overwhelming. That's WHEN I am afraid...that's WHEN I will trust in You, Lord. Spiritual storms. No warning for those...no tracking. Or is there?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I managed to celebrate "my" day by slipping away from the house for about an hour. Alone. Several friends have told me about external hard drives, saying I need to back up all my info on my laptop. It's the only place I have all my songs (plus the brilliant lyric ideas that I haven't done anything with YET). So I ventured out to Best Buy, along with half of Houston. It was so busy. I was sure they would be sold out of the one I wanted (on sale). But there was one left. Oh, yes!

Then I went next door, to Office Maxx, to get some Kraft paper, to cover my high schoolers' books. Last year's fine for a damaged book is all it took for me to want to cover them myself! Somebody's gotta be the mama, right? Honey, I reinforce them babies. With duct tape. Every fold, every corner. Duct tape here. Duct tape there. I don't take a chance. And BOYS are soooo rough on their books!

But my true agenda for "my" outing was to buy tape. Lots of tape. And caulk. For Barry. He was painting our bathroom, and was running out of masking tape. You should have seen the look on his face when I told him I didn't like the color! He wanted to say "but YOU picked it!!!" I could tell he was struggling for the right words. He looked around the room. And then looked again. Poor guy. Even after 23 yrs of marriage, he doesn't know what to say. Then he saw the stupid grin on my face, and he knew I loved it afterall.

I then returned to my 17 loads of laundry. Ha. But just when I thought I was tired of washing and folding, I came across a stray. All it took was a navy blue onesie to remind me that it's worth it all. And that was a reminder to pray for my peeps as I do their laundry...it turns my heart toward God, and toward them, as well. I used to pray for my hubby and kids as I ironed their clothes, but I no longer buy clothes that need ironed (or get ironed?!?!).

Yes, I'm loving my life ~ and the fruit of my labor ~ love!

Whoa. I just read this. It was random rambling. I don't dare go back and edit.