Prayer is Sitting On God's Lap

We homeschool, so we are able to pray if we want during school hours and even "study" religion.  We are using a new curriculum this year for our oldest...Sonlight....which includes a lot of reading.  So, I am reading aloud some of the subjects to him so he doesn't get too overwhelmed and bored right away.  One of the ones I am reading is about a canabalistic tribe in New Guinea....yuck!  But, he has a small book called Why Pray? by John F. DeVries that I am enjoying much more that people getting their heads chopped off and eaten.

The title for today was Prayer is Sitting in God's Lap.  The author talked about his memories of childhood riding on his grandfather's lap while mowing the lawn....even feeling relaxed enough to fall asleep.  It brought back memories for me of snowmobiling with my dad....not on his lap but riding in front of him...keeping my hands warm in two holes in the dashboard that were near the engine and, yes, falling asleep on his poor arms.  I felt safe and warm even as we zoomed around Minnesota in the winter.

But the best part of today's lesson was one I really needed to hear.  You have read about how tired I am in past posts because of my cute little baby.  So many times, I crawl into bed in a stupor and not very coherent.  I usually....usually remember to pray.....but many, many times, I fall asleep before I get past the God bless so and so part.  But here is what this book said to me today...

If you sometimes fall asleep in prayer while you are "sitting on God's lap", don't worry or feel as if you've disappointed God.  If your Father needs you, He will wake you.  Your quiet heart is a joy to Him.  Prayer is meant to involve the same delight a little child feels on a grandfather's lap - and so much security that you might drift off to sleep!

Isn't that awesome!!!  I really, really needed that encouragement today....maybe some of you needed it too!

Noah's Ark

Don't anybody move!!!

We visited a wild animal shelter/zoo thingie recently (where I was bitten by fire ants in the previous post), so I thought I would share a few pictures of our day.

First of all the good news....it is free.  They just ask for donations, if you are able.

The bad news is....some of the animals roam freely....see the above picture. 

Okay, it really isn't bad news....but the boys were making me nervous with the llamas....they just kept creeping closer and closer....you can't really tell from the picture, but that little green you see peeking out from between the two redheads is my 5 year old boy.

Here he is with his cousin who was in town visiting us.  I kept envisioning the llama doing something and the big guys reacting quickly and my little guy caught....but really  nothing happened....I don't think they even spit at the boys....quite patient really for llamas.

The really dangerous animals, lions, tigers, bears, monkeys....they kept in enclosures.

The most fun of the day though was the ostriches.

They are really cool to see up close and personal.  They have long eyelashes and big Vegas showgirl type wings that they kept flapping up and down as they walked.  Dye them blue and put Rosemary Clooney and that other girl with the nice legs behind them and get ready for "Sisters....sisters....never were there such devoted sisters...."  Anyway, suffice it to say, they were awesome up close.....but the most fun I think we had that day is when they would "chase" the kids back and forth along the fence.

It was fun and if you ever get to the North Georgia area,check out Noah's Ark. 

Fire Ants!!!!

When we first moved to Georgia almost a year ago....there was one thing each and every conversation with the locals included.....a warning about fire ants.  We were warned how much it would hurt if bitten....that a baby had died after having her car seat put down on a fire ant hill.....that fire ants have some sort of way of communicating with each other so that when they bite they do it simultaneously....you get the idea.

Thus began the constant diatribe from me every time we arrived at a new location, "Look out for fire ants!"  "Watch where you are stepping, there might be fire ants!"  "There is a big fire ant pile here, be careful!"

We recently had family in town from Minnesota and we decided to take them to a local wild animal shelter/zoo type place.  When we were a few minutes away from our destination, I realized I had forgotten my camera.  Although I have become much more sparing in my picture taking because with 6 kids, I am years behind in my scrapbooking - so more pictures taken = more behind in making my books = more guilt that I am not treating my kids the same = imagined conversations with the younger children when they are old about why mommy hardly took any pictures of them and the older kids have tons which must mean that mommy didn't love them.... anyway, this was a big photo op, so I was really bummed that I didn't have it. 

My family was following us because there were too many to fit in one vehicle, so when everyone arrived,  I needed to share my despair, so I hopped out of the van while Rainman got the stroller ready and walked over to my sister's van to share the news.  She is the one that got me hooked on scrapbooking, so I knew she would commiserate with me on this horrible development.....then I felt them.....little things crawling all over my ankle.....and then...owww, that hurt.....ooh, get them off....play it cool...."No, it doesn't hurt that  bad.....I'm fine."

But, it really did hurt and boy there were a lot of them....all at once. 

Freaky, really. 

I am fine now.  However, nobody warned me about the little blisters that would be left behind in the coming days.  I had a ring around my ankle where my sock stopped that was blister, after blister and a few on my wrist from where I had brushed them off and made them angry....apparently.

So, yes, I was the one to get bit by fire ants after warning the kids for a year to be careful!!!

This is a picture my sister took of a different fire ant hill that day....the one I stepped in was camouflaged a LOT better.... notice the poor little moth being led to a fiery grave...

I think that my incident did help the kids future safety though - because they saw how quickly I stepped in them....how quickly I brushed them off of me....how quickly they bit me....and the loads of blisters I got later.  I should have taken a picture of them, but I didn't want to show the world my "cankles"!