Tag Archives: praise and worship

Peter Pan and a Most Refreshing Sleep

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My two youngest and I headed to Norman for Thanksgiving two days early and returned the day after my husband and our oldest headed home.  Franklin and Bailey are tied to the school calendar while Caden, Emma, and I enjoy the flexibility of a home-school schedule.  As our travel days were officially school days, I checked out Peter Pan on CD for the drive.

Written by playwright J.M. Barrie from his original play, Peter Pan is both a familiar story that my children enjoyed (with some challenging vocabulary and structure), and a story with some interesting ideas for adults to gnaw on.  I love these kinds of reads.  I’d not read Peter Pan and have particularly enjoyed thinking through one of the scenarios Barrie presented.

The beginning of the book introduces the reader to three siblings, John, Michael, and Wendy, and their parents Mr. and Mrs. Darling.  While the children do not tell their mother about Peter, who begins to visit them at night, Mrs. Darling knows the name Peter both from her own childhood and from her nightly arranging of her children’s thoughts and experiences from the day.

It is the nightly custom of every good mother after her children are asleep to rummage in their minds and put things straight for next morning, repacking into their proper places the many articles that have wandered during the day.  If you could keep awake (but of course you can’t) you would see your own mother doing this, and you would find it very interesting to watch her.  It is quite like tidying up drawers.  You would see her on her knees, I expect, lingering humorously over some of your contents, wondering where on earth you had picked this thing up, making discoveries sweet and not so sweet, pressing this to her cheek as if it were as nice as a kitten, and hurriedly stowing that out of sight.  When you wake in the morning, the naughtiness and evil passions with which you went to bed have been folded up small and placed at the bottom of your mind; and on the top, beautifully aired, are spread out your prettier thoughts, ready for you to put on.

I found this idea, a mother sitting beside her children unpacking and airing out the day, re-arranging experiences and thoughts, and hiding naughtiness, hoping it would stay hidden, to be interesting.  I’ve thought about this idea off and on for two weeks.  I certainly don’t assume to know anything about the author and my mind’s wanderings might warrant correction from a theologian, but this idea has been comforting to me.  I’ll explain why.

I love the idea of my Heavenly Father sitting beside me every night helping me understanding and make sense of my day, clarifying and correcting while allowing for discernment.  I imagine Him arranging my thoughts (and problems I might be wrestling with) with His finger, much like the technology of touch screens allows us to grab and move apps on our iphones.  I choose to believe He “airs out” my day for me, refreshes me, and allows me to start each day with new joy and strength.

I often go to bed worn out after a day of work on a project, or lay down thinking about a problem or situation.  When I wake up, I have a solution.  During my sleep, I’m given an idea:  a plan or process for completing a project, a new approach, or the perfect last lick.  While I do believe my mind works better rested than worn out, I believe too that God is ever present and ever active in the supernatural and I believe He downloads into our life (and mind) when we are willing.  In fact, I often pray that I will recognize and act on His will for my life.  Maybe my sleep is one of the few times in my day that God can hold my complete attention.

Job 33 – 14 For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it.  15 He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds

I also often wake up in the middle of the night with a praise song playing in my mind, as though a portion of a known song, (6-10 words), is stuck on repeat.  I will go back to bed and wake in the morning with the same song playing.  I think the song has, quite literally, been playing all night long.  The words are always in line with whatever my spirit is wrestling with.

For example, most days I’m sure that this new season is exactly what God has been prepared me for.  I am usually able to stay focused throughout my day and am confident at the end of the day with our home school experience and my Me and Thee Studios progress.  But occasionally I doubt myself all day long.  I had one of those days earlier this week and remember being discouraged when I went to bed.  I don’t remember the song God placed in my Spirit but I think it was a known song and the gist of the refrain was that God is in control and that He has ordained my steps.  Jeremiah (31:26) says of revelatory dreams, “At this, I woke up and looked around. My sleep had been very sweet.”  My song filled my thoughts every time I woke up throughout the night and when I woke up the following morning I remember thinking, “Thank you, God, for Your faithfulness in bringing me peace.”

I pray God is generous in unpacking and airing out your days as you invite Him to reveal His will in your life.

PS – The roll out for our collection of faith-based leveled readers is right around the corner.  Our final anthologies go to press in mid-December.  Check out more about Me and Thee Studios, our original praise and worship music, and our faith-based Early Reader Collection at http://www.meandtheestudios.com/.  Don’t miss the “Store” where you will want to reserve your “early bird” collection(s) and receive our 10% discount (available only until 12/31/13).

I humbly recommend the following…

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I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m “thrifty”.  I don’t mind when my name and the word thrifty are used in the same sentence, nor do I mind frugal, careful with money, economical, or penny-wise.  I would be a little more sensitive should someone use the words tight, chintzy, cheapskate, or miserly in reference to the decisions we make for our family.  In my mind, the words communicate a different heart and approach to life.  The former synonyms I embrace, but the later do not accurately communicate our values.

While I’m clearly setting the boundaries here I might add that if you ever compare me to a featured character on TLC’s Extreme Cheapskates, we’ll have to sit down and visit.  Have you ever covered your eyes because you were embarrassed for a character on a TV show or in a movie?  I felt that way for the 1st man in the 1st season’s episode and had to stop watching.  That was my 1 and only attempt at watching that series.

We enjoyed Thanksgiving this past week with our “others”.  My last blog entry recounts the general organization of our annual holiday with my mom, my siblings, and their families.  This year we were blessed to share 3 nights at Jacob’s Ladder, a church retreat between Oklahoma City and Tulsa.  The adults shared a large cabin while Grammars and Bailey (our soon to be 18 year old) bunked with most of the kids in 2 bunkhouses.  We moms spent most of our time preparing meals, keeping up with laundry, and doling out water and snacks as pairs of cousins came in for short rests throughout their days of exploration and adventure.

I also mentioned that “coffee” with my sisters was a top-priority.  We don’t often solve the problems of the world, but we do catch up on life.  One of the things we regularly share is our experiences with new products and services we’ve tried throughout the year.  I benefit from their experience and often make decisions about purchases based on their input.

I’m not sure how my mind connected these two ideas (my spend-thrift ways and the joy I find in discussing new products with my sisters) into an idea for my blog but I thought I’d share a bit about some of my purchases this year.  My humble list below is certainly not Oprah Winfrey or Good Morning America worthy and I make no guarantees with my “Thumbs Up!” or “Thumbs Down!”, but my experience with the following random list of products might be helpful.

“Thumbs Up!” – L.A. Colors liquid eyeliner (Family Dollar), L.A. Colors lash building mascara (Family Dollar), and Maybelline Modern Metallics eyeshadow (Wal-Mart) – Don’t ask me whether or not these contain bat guano because I honestly have no clue about the ingredients.  I do know that I’ve had more compliments on my eyes this Fall than ever in the past and at a savings of more than $40 for these 3 products alone (when compared to the price of “quality” products I’ve purchased for several years from a very good friend of mine), I’ll be purchasing them again.

“Thumbs Down!” – White Rain body wash (Family Dollar) – Nothing beats a nice lather in the shower.  If lather makes you happy, White Rain body wash will not.  Resist the 97ȼ price tag.  You’ll be disappointed.

“Thumbs Up!” – Kendale Farm broth (Dollar Tree) – I mentioned this at Thanksgiving and thought my sisters might vomit; however, I’m sold and I’ll tell you why.  A product of the USA (that was their most obvious concern) this broth is yummy, is gluten free with no added MSG (does contain yeast extract with naturally occurring glutamates) and is $1.00.  Score!

“Thumbs Down!” – A 2nd hand purse – I like having a new purse every year (and to clarify, when I say “new purse” we’re talking the $40 variety).  I don’t mind buying gently used clothes for myself or our children so I generalized that buying a “gently used” purse would be the equivalent.  I was wrong, and my reasons might be very uniquely mine, but I’ve decided that “newness” of a purse really does matter.  Cute jeans are cute jeans, even when they’ve been worn and washed 10 times, but a soft leather purse that no longer smells of leather is really not the same.  It might as well be my typical $40 purse of questionable material.  The purse in question is bigger than I would normally buy for myself and, unlike a new “gently used” shirt that you might wear once every 2-3 weeks, a purse is a daily accessory.  It’s hard to ignore the fact that it isn’t quite what you’d like.  I’ll be back to hunting for a great deal on a nice new purse that I really love!

“The jury is still out” – Zulily – I love the idea behind Zulily and I REALLY want to love it.  My issue is that I have had to return 2 of my 3 purchases, and even though I can get Zulily credit for the purchase price, I have to spend $10. in shipping to return an item.  Because they handle products from so many vendors, their sizing charts are not consistent.  I typically wear an 8 but lean toward a 10 rather than a 6 as I prefer “loose” to “tight”.  Not 1 of the 4 items I purchased in my first Zulily experience fit.  Even though I had used the sizing chart and opted for the 8-10, it hung on me as though it were a 14.  There was no hope and the entire purchase had to be returned.  My second fail happened this past month when Clark’s were a featured product.  I love Clark’s.  More specifically, my feet and my high arches love Clark’s.  When I received the 2 pairs of Clark’s I was disappointed to find that 1 was actually “Privo” by Clark’s.  They’re not the same.  The sole was paper thin with no support.  I assume that Zulily passed on the product description as they received it from Clark’s, but I need the complete specifics.

“Thumbs Up!” – Zulily’s customer service – I love dealing with customer service agents who are helpful and understanding.  On the other hand, I dislike customer service departments that seem to have a policy of arguing or accusing the customer of somehow being responsible for the issue.  Bravo, Zulily!

“Thumbs Down!” – Privo by Clark’s –  I think I’ve sufficiently covered this one.

“Thumbs Down!” – Target online – And while we’re on the topic of poor customer service, these guys probably have my name and number in a “customers we’d rather not deal with” databank.  For the reasons mentioned above (my dislike for customer service departments that seem to have a policy of arguing or accusing the customer of somehow being responsible for the issue) and for making the customer jump through multiple silly hoops like a circus dog I won’t be shopping online with Target any more.  By the way, I really dislike the question,”Can I help you with anything else today?” when to that point in the conversation they have not been helpful in the least.

“Thumbs Up!” – doTerra essential oils – I’ve been interested in essential oils for several years but wanted quality, and certified quality in essential oils is pricey.  I could rave for several paragraphs about doTerra’s Family Physician Kit.  Suffice it to say, I love the idea that I have something in my medicine cabinet to try as a first line of prevention and proactive defense that is natural and safe for my family.  No long list of “possible side effects”, they smell amazing and have worked well on the ailments we’ve tried them on at this point.

“Thumbs Up!” – coconut oil – If you haven’t purchased a jar of coconut oil yet, what exactly are you waiting for?  Obviously, we substitute coconut oil for vegetable oils in our cooking and baking, but that’s only the beginning of its many uses.  I use it as a base for essential oil treatments (i.e. a fantastic “vapor rub”) and it can be used as a lotion and sugar scrub base for the whole family.  Its antifungal properties make it the perfect choice for eczema and an alternative to daily athlete’s foot spray.  For a more complete picture of the many uses for coconut oil check out these fascinating 100 (yes 100) at http://wellnessmama.com/5734/101-uses-for-coconut-oil/.

I wonder if, in your family’s attempts to balance health, wellness, convenience, and finances, you’ve stumbled onto products and services you would strongly recommend or avoid like the plague.   I’d love to read your suggestions!

PS – The roll out for our collection of faith-based leveled readers is right around the corner.  Our final anthologies go to press in mid-December.  Check out more about Me and Thee Studios, our original praise and worship music, and our faith-based Early Reader Collection at http://www.meandtheestudios.com/.  Don’t miss the “Store” where you will want to reserve your “early bird” collection(s) and receive our 10% discount (available only until 12/31/13).