Thursday Thirteen #18-Baffled and Blessed

Thirteen things that either BLESS my heart or BAFFLE my mind...

1. BLESSED BY: PandaGirl singing praise songs, hymns or making up her own lyrics all by herself while playing. M-m-m just melts my heart to a puddle.

2. BAFFLED BY: Automatic phone messages with electronic people in a box giving me options to "push #1 for English. Marque numero dos para Espanol". AAHHHHHHH! Then the contagion of numbers begins. Once I am to push number 53 to repeat this menu I have HAD IT AND WANT TO S-C-R-E-A-M!!!!! PandaPop actually does scream and make boy-like noises over the phone while I am on the floor laughing my head off at his attempt to get an actual human being on the phone. Wait! When the human DOES get on the phone...the BEST part....is when he/she says, "Hold a moment please" and you are RIGHT BACK TO "push #1 for English. Marque numero dos para Espanol."

3. BLESSED BY: PandaPop spontaneously giving me $$$ for a Scrapbooking Spree. I am like a kid in a candy store. All those papers, embellishments, stickers, 3-D's, rub-ons, stamps, an all night crop, etc. Makes me drool just to think about it!

4. BAFFLED BY: Ebay. It blows my little mind to think that at the EXACT moment that we put something ON ebay, that someone else (usually many someones) will be online at THAT same time, looking for THAT same thing which we JUST put on. Amazing.

5. BLESSED BY: God's beautiful creation. I am moved so deeply sometimes that I just can't take it. His magnificent artistry, intricasy, and detail are overwhelming while at the same time it is simple. For example, the magnificence of the galaxy, stars, and planets versus the simple beauty of the inside of a petal of a crimson red rose. It's all just breathtaking to me.

6. BAFFLED BY: Today's toys. At the Disney store a couple of days ago with PandaGirl I picked up this cute little personal fan with, of course, the Princesses on it. I thought she might "need" it for fun and to cool off when we go to Children's Camp in a couple weeks with PandaPop. I pushed the cute pink button on the side expecting the fan to blow cool air. Well, it did. And it also had these phenomenal magic light up letters appear ON THE FAN BLADES that said "princess", "too cool", and something else that was moving so fast that I couldn't even breathe because I couldn't believe what I was seeing. LOL! These little red lights were somehow programmed by a tiny computer chip to pop up and SPELL words while the fan moved. That is why those computer gurus are so darn MEGA-$$$-RICH. It takes more brain power than I will ever have!!!

7. BLESSED BY: PandaPop always encouraging me to pursue whatever I want in order to know who I am more fully. I "know" that I am a child of God and PP's wife, and PG's mommy, etc. He wants me to discover something amazing that is unique to me and is constantly prodding me to find that "thing" that is just for me. Thanks, babe.

8. BAFFLED BY: Why there is even a discussion about what a "marriage" is like. How it is defined. Who gets to be the mommy and who gets to be the daddy. It seems that there is a big swing from the mainstream definition of what defines marriage. Oh wait! Didn't GOD set those standards in place a LOOOOOONNNNNGGGG time ago? Why, yes HE did. I am all for loving people and being tolerant and not hateful, but I will not succumb to the world's view of what defines a marriage relationship. One man and one woman. Duh. It seems so simple to me. Apparently there is a big fight brewing "out there" over how we can interpret this institution. Humph. I am not bashing anyone. I am just following God's commands. If someone is offended, well, it's not with me....it's with Him.

9. BLESSED BY: Standing by and quietly watching PandaGirl be so girly. I just love it when she is in her own precious world of putting pretend make-up on her stuffed animals, painting their nails, clipping bows on their ears, tying scarves around them and covering them in jewelry, and jabbering to them all the while being completely oblivious to the crazy nut-cake world awaiting her. I cherish these innocent days for her...my sweet baby girl.

10. BAFFLED BY: The extremes in Christian views and methodology. I have friends and loved ones who are Christians, but live life absolutely different from each other. I know where I stand, but get so frustrated with the vast differences in theology, or how to worship or books that are called "Christian". If we are calling Jesus our Savior and way to heaven then aren't we all on the same team? Yet there is yuckie bickering between us all. Crazy and baffling. There are the ones on the far end of the spectrum who believe everyone who is going to heaven is already predestined to go there, the ones who are all about health & wealth and name it & claim it, the ones who will have nothing to do with "traditional church", the ones who are into mantra chanting through contemplative prayer, the ones who say they are Christian but live like they've never even heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, the ones who think they can lose their salvation, the ones who attend church faithfully yet miss out on the personal relationship with God because somewhere along the way the lost their passion and focus, the ones who twist Scripture to fit their own agendas, the ones who believe they have to look and act exactly like the "world" in order to trick them into coming to know the Lord, the ones who build beautiful, sterile, happy little bubbles around their lives so no unclean thing gets in to taint their world, the ones who.....???? You get the picture. I certainly am NOT perfect and don't have it all together,but I do know what the Bible says. I am glad that we don't get to heaven on our own accord, because WE WOULD ALL MISS THE BOAT! Thank you, Lord for mercy and grace.

11. BLESSED BY and BAFFLED BY: the joys and frustrations of being a parent. If you are a parent you get this one. If you are not yet a parent, but will be someday....you just have to wait and experience this paradox personally. Literally from one moment to the next I can swing from sheer joy to complete frustration and back to joy again all at the hands of my darling little girl whom I adore. She is truly a gift from God to me and PandaPop.

12. BAFFLED BY: The God of the universe choosing me to be His own.

13. BLESSED BY: The God of the universe choosing me to be His own.