some random things

1) I love this picture of Paul and me...we have remembered how to laugh together again and enjoy being together. For that I am grateful beyond words...now if he can just STAY on track. ANd if I can just stay in the "he's forgiven and we're working on getting past it all" mode, we'll be better every day as a couple....right??

2) I was fixing my necklace at Joy's house and she's said "what's that..." it was my MUSCLE!! WOOHOO!!

3) Book club last night...fascinating conversation, great food, and of course, the required laughter as we left. I am blessed with a great group of women in my life.

4) Judy comes today!!! I won't see her till Friday, and she's flying in late...but I'll take it!! Like the old Heinz commercial...ANTICiPATION!!

5) Patrick informs me that "Auntie Ger, I was really bored on ship and there was nothing to do and I couldn't sleep one night...so I read your blog" Now how am I supposed to take that?? Really....

6) I love my MOPS table...they are all beginning to open up alot. Sigh. Kandyce's last meeting was today....but at least there's still Victoriously Frazzled!!

7) A MOPS mom and friend told me she wants to be like me when "she grows up". She made me cry, telling me that I'm wise and don't mince words and stay calm and concise and to the point. I was really touched...not how I see myself at all...

AND what if we all lived like this???

The Clay Balls. . . A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could. He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone! Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left. Then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away! It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel It doesn't look like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it. We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. Or the reverse, we see only the outside clay that seems so much better than ours, and we discard it because we're threatened by their "better clay". But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person. There is a treasure in each one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person, and if we ask God to show us that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth. May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay? May we see the people in our world as God sees them?