Where O Where Has My Little Jed Gone.... O Where O Where Could He Be.......

Okay... that was a dumb title I know... but Matt was singing the song O where O where has my little dog gone as I was getting ready to type and seemed a fitting title since I haven't blogged in almost a week.... I finally got some of my friends at my new school reading and then just quit typing.... I am sure that my dad has gone into withdrawls, and I cannot stand to disappoint you faithful readers ( JuJu and Kevin) so..... here I am.....

Yes I am alive... It's just been one of those weeks where I haven't gotten home til 9 or later every night and it seemed that the last thing I wanted to was blog.. I could have blogged about all my new booty shaking dancing I am learning while doing the group power class at the gym...but I just haven't....

I have been a bit lost in scrabulous land this week... I got my hinney (that's a southern word for your butt) handed to me a couple of times... I played with a 50 year old from Boston who knew every word in the dictionary.... Last night when I was at Barnes and Noble I saw this book about improving your scrabble game... maybe I should go back and get it... I want to go back and beat that old.... I mean YOUNG lady... (that was for you Jujuj) Happy Birthday to you!!

Anyway... I will attempt to get back on the writing... I have lots more to post from my book I am reading... I am gonna get caught up on it this weekend.

O...one more thing... Pray for my students... so many of them are just having a tough time right now with things that many of us could never handle... Pray I would just love 'em to pieces instead of getting upset!!!! "Til next time....

A Dearybury of A Day

Lots of people have asked me about the title of my blog.... What does it mean to have a Dearybury of A Day??? Well... this Saturday has been a perfect example!!!

1. I squirted Clorox bleach bathroom cleaner on my favorite Khaki pants.... I thought I was spraying Shout!!

2. I discovered my other favorite pair of Khaki's has a big hole right in the crotch... Guess I am gonna be buying some new Khaki's.

3. I went to make some tea and the pitcher hadn't been rinsed since the last batch and there some kind of slimy stuff around the lip... GROSS!!!

4. I was cleaning my rugs that are in the kitchen on the back deck.... I hung them over the edge and the breeze blew one down... When I got it and returned to to the top of my deck the wind blew the other one down.

5. I found a DVD that I have been looking for for weeks... and of course it was right where I put it!!!

6. I folded the quilt my Great Grandma Maudie crocheted for me and just lost it... She died 3 years ago in May and something just hit me when I folded it... I miss her so bad sometimes.

7. I clipped my toenail too short on the second to the big toe on the right foot... It hurts!!!

8. I played Scrabulous for and hour with this girl named Jenny from Ohio, and I only the only time I managed to beat her was when she ran out of time!!!

9. I tried for an hour to remember how to download clip art while using my Mac on the FireFox web browser before I remembered FireFox isn't configured for it and have to use the other browser Safari... You should have heard me..... I was so mad at myself!!!

10. My nieces are here now (4yrs. and 1yr.)... I am baby sitting so Johnnie-Lynn and Lawrence can have a date night... Taylor was playing hide and seek with Matt a while ago while I was getting Sophie to sleep... She pooted and it was Diarrhea.... Her underwear are a mess and she is so upset about not having any on... I know I could wash them out, but I am not that far a long in BB skills!!!!!!

Messy Spirituality.... Part 2

Just a quote from the book I mentioned yesterday...

" Religious institutions do not like surprises and especially dislike a spirituality which threatens the status quo. Threaten others with a loud and boisterous faith, and you will be politely (at first) asked to quiet down; Dance your faith instead of sitting in your pew, and you will be asked to leave; Talk about your faith with passion , and you will get expressions of concern about the inappropriateness of your emotions. Allow others to see your brokenness, and you will be reprimanded for being too open; Hear the music of faith, and you will be warned of the danger of emotional instability."

Just some info I found about our Savior...

Did you know the Bible describes more than 20 different emotions that Jesus felt? And they weren't all happy feelings either! Among others, Jesus felt affection, anguish, anger, compassion, distress, grief, gladness, indignation, joy, love, peace, sadness, sympathy, troubled and weary. If Christ is our model of perfect spiritual and emotional maturity, perhaps we can learn by taking a look at a few of Jesus' emotions!

Not telling you what to think.... just what to think about.

GET THIS BOOK!!!

Here is an excerpt from the first chapter...

" I don't want to be St. John of the Cross or Billy Graham. I just want to be remembered as a person who loved God, who served others more than he served himself, who was trying to grow in maturity and stability. I want to have more victories than defeats, yet here I am (insert your age) years old, and I fail on a regular basis."

As I read that passage, I wept... somewhat uncontrollably... I am not sure why other than that the sweet presence of Jesus just sat down in the room with me as I read...

Specifically, the part about being remembered as a person who loves God got me... I love Him, and I want everyone to know I do...but it seems that most people who know me think I talk too much...I am crazy...I'm a hot head... I have trust issues... I am too emotional...I am a church rebel.... this list could go on, but I digress... It is my heart's desire however that when people see me they see Jesus...but I, like the author of this book says, "am a mess!!!"

The good thing about being a mess though... it is leaves all the more room for the glory and grace of Jesus to shine through in my life... That's what this book is all about... Being a mess yet being embraced daily, no hourly, no minute by minute...by HIS unmerited favor and endless grace!!!

I need that grace... I need to drink it, bath in it, breath it, eat it, wallow in it... you get the point.... In fact we all do, yet so many of us try to walk around all polished, prim, and proper like we some how don't... This book confronts that thought and reminds us all that we have all fallen short of the glory of God and will continue to do so 'til we meet Him face to face.

Should you go on sinning because you can't be perfect... Listen to Paul when he says...BY NO MEANS.... but don't give up and quit....Good grief...what in the world is HIS grace for if we are not gonna soak it up....Did He die in vain??

No... He died for me (and you).... the unending, horrible, awful, emotional, loud mouth, hotheaded, untrusting mess, so that one day I could be with Him!!!!
WOW!!!

Yard Work

Saturday I had plans with friends... I got busy working in my yard and really just needed to spend the day at home so I called my friends and canceled... To prove to my friends that I really was working in the yard and not just ditching them for something else, I chose to make this video... Don't laugh too hard! Have a great week!!!

Can of Worms

Tonight after church as I was surfing around on the web I ran across this blog that was listed as one of Blogger's "Blogs of Note." It was titled "Can or Worms." I was curious just at the name so I clicked on it...

As I began to read the post titled Blogs of Note I almost quit reading because I thought it was just a post about him being on the blogger page... but something made me keep reading... As I read the Lord just broke me right here in my green bamboo chair...

He writes from Iraq... From what I gather he is not there as a soldier, but as a humanitarian worker... He has several links on his page to help children of poverty all around the world...

The focus of this post however was not the children, but the interesting people he met in this particular day... a mentally ill homeless man... a deaf mute man...

There situations to an outsider would have seemed full of despair and hopeless... There they were in this war torn nation with disabilities that would be difficult in even the most luxurious places on Earth... yet this writer said this of them...

"How come a crazy homeless man and a deaf and mute with no treatment possible are the two happiest people I met yesterday? What's more ironic....them being so full of joy or somebody like me struggling to find it?"

I felt so ashamed to have complained this morning about the lumpy ketchup at Hardee's... and how tired I was and that I didn't want to go back to church.... or that the weekend was too busy that I didn't get to rest... or that I have a busy week ahead of me.

As a follower of Christ I have the ultimate joy in knowing that I will spend eternity with Jesus because of His work on the cross, but yet I often live with less joy than the poor mentally ill homeless man and the deaf mute living on the streets in war torn Iraq.

I suggest you go read this blog... scroll back to the top and click on it...or just click here if you don't want to scroll back up... Hopefully, we will all work together to live with just a bit more joy this week ahead.

An Evening At Walnut Grove Plantation

Tonight was SOOOO MUCH FUN!!!! Me and a group of my new friends from the school where I teach went to an evening of "culture" at Walnut Grove Plantation here in Spartanburg...

The event started with a guided tour of the grounds at 5... The tour lasted about an hour, then we moved inside for dinner... The dinner was a traditional 1700's type meal with spinach, roasted potatoes, and a Cornish game hen. (you know... a little chicken)

After the dinner we were entertained by English Country Dancers... After they showed off for a while, they invited all the guests up to learn... We danced for about 2 hours... It was so much fun... They meet 2 times a month in Greenville, and I think the group that I went with is making plans even now to go back.. Below are some pics...

Our Group... from the left... John and Jessica Hollifield..Kristen Hoy, Me, Phil and Beth Radford... Then of course the dancers are in costume... We are standing in front of the main house there on the plantation...

FYI... Kristen has a boyfriend serving in Afghanistan...We both really wanted to go so we decided to go together... Please pray for him... He voluntarily went to an area that is not as safe as the one he was in... Not sure what his name is...But the Lord knows...

Here is our table...The sweet tea was the GREAT!!!!! Our table had a great time... So great that we got a little rowdy at times and we got a few looks from the goody goodies who sat near us...

I used Kristen's camera to snap a back shot of one of the goody goodies!!! :0)

Here is a shot of me learning one of the dances... They were all Waltz type dances... I can hardly wait to go again... Thanks to Beth for encouraging me to come!!! Let me know if you think this is something you would like to do and I can get you the information.

UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!

Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected 29 comments on the "Who Are You" blog. I am so proud of you readers... Now that you know you can do it... Please comment more often... Some of you I still don't really know but I hope to get to know you more through here... Thanks so much for your support. It is good to know people are reading and are entertained from my random thoughts... I even found out that several people from my church have blogs and have been blogging for quite a while... Be looking for some new sites in the blog roll to the bottom right!!!

Speaking of random... This week at school we have had secret pals... Each day we get a small thoughtful gift. You have to ask around to find out information about your person, so it gets you to know each other better... It has been lots of fun to do and... I have gotten some really good stuff... I think Tuesday was my favorite.... Strawberry Tea from Ice Cream and Coffee Beans and a palmetto tree dip spreader...

It has been so neat at how the faculty and staff here have accepted me right into the family. That speaks volumes of the staff!!

One more thing... to my new friend and reader who is a "teacher in Greenville," email me sometime and I will tell you more about my school. It is a great place to work!!! mrdearybury@hotmail.com

Who Are You???

Everyday when I write I often wonder who is out there...and what exactly you think... I know some of you... I dont know many of you... A friend of mine who has a blog asked his readers to respond by just telling him there name...where they are from... and what their favorite kind of ice cream is... Will you do that for me??? He had over 50 comments that day... I will be happy with 10.... Remember name....where you're from... favorite ice cream... Even you PAM RAY!!!!

To comment you DO NOT have to have a google account... just sign in as anonymous but be sure to leave your name when you type the comment...

Also... who are Tracey and Erin... I know more than one Tracey and more than one Erin and I am curious to know which ones are reading!!!

Will write more tomorrow... Tune in!!!!