Funny "facts"

(taken from "Your Skin Weighs More Than Your Brain" by Barbara Seuling)

We have been taking little snippets from this book at bedtime - to stimulate fun for learning about the human body. It is always a great way to remind the kids that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made"

Psalm 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

1. The strongest bone in your body is your thigh bone, or femur. It is stronger than concrete. [struck a chord with us - we have been doing a lot of concrete]
   
2. Humans and giraffes have the same number of bones in their necks - seven. Giraffes' neck vertebrae are just much, much longer. [didn't know that - cool!]
3. A person in bare feet leaves such a strong scent in his or her footprints that it is possible for another person to follow his or her trail. [ummm - does that mean I have to *sniff* for them?]
4. The added stress of lots of physical activity causes bones to grow thicker and stronger. On the other hand, lack of physical activity results in bones getting thinner and weaker. [good arguing point for the wii fit or guitar hero :) side note on guitar hero ... do you like it if you have it? We were in Best B*uy the other night and it actually looks kind of fun. I would be ALL over the drums, though. The guitar doesn't even tempt me - should have been named drum hero.]
5. By the end of the day, a person has shrunk about 1 inch - temporarily. The next morning, a person is back to his or her old height again. [please measure me at night :)]
6. Your skin weighs more than twice as much as your brain. [that means that my brain weighs 1/2 of my skin = my brain is big!]
7. You use about 43 muscles to frown. You use just 17 to smile. [that's because it is hard to smile while you are exercising - see #4 above]
   
8. A 3-month-old fetus (in utero child) already has a distinctive set of fingerprints. [fearfully and wonderfully made]
9. No two sets of fingerprints are alike. Even identical twins have different fingerprints. [didn't know that either]
10. An average adult has more than 5 million hair follicles. About 100,000 of them are on the head. [If you are having trouble thinking of how HUGE God is ... just multiply that number by the number of adults ... and factor in Luke 12:6-7 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.]
11. Pain signals travel to the brain more slowly than other touch signals do.
12. Your brain stops growing at about 15 years old. [maybe why teenagers think they know everything?]
13. Your brain is more active at night than during the day. [!!!! Go figure.]
14. You use 200 muscles to take one step. You use 300 to stand still. [now, how does that compute with #4 above? Wouldn't that stand to reason that standing still would make your muscles stronger?]
15. You use 72 muscles just to speak one word. [Now that explains a lot]
16. As you get older, you will lose your sense of smell before any of your other senses. [whew - can I get an amen!]
17. You will spend about 0ne-third of your life asleep.
18. Your eyes are the same size at birth as they are the rest of your life. [cool!]
19. Every person has a unique tongue print. [really?? Probably more convenient to do finger printing, huh?]
20. A 6-year-old laughs about 300 times per day. An adult laughs about 17 times per day. [ there's something wrong with us adults, y'all. This is a good reminder to not take life so seriously - to laugh more. Just this morning, John and I were talking about this and just did a half-hearted "HA" - that alone made us really laugh. It's easier to laugh than you think - try it!]

This book is a fun read - a lot of interesting things in it. I have always had an interest in biology and physiology, so it is right up my alley. The kids are enjoying it, too.

Then Sings My Soul Saturday - Third Day

This song has been on my mind the last couple of days as I have read a couple of blogs of people are hurting for various reasons. It is a good reminder to cling to Him - He is the only reason for our hope. He is the only reason we can go at times.



Check out more at Signs, Miracles and Wonders.

House pictures ...

I realized that I haven't posted any recent pictures of the house, so here are a couple.

We have been trying to work around the weather, so progress seems slow at times. Yet, when I look back at pictures from this summer, the progress is evident.


I took this from the tv antennae tower this morning. It was pretty clear, so I mainly went up to enjoy the view a little.


We have been taking pictures from this same spot as the house grows. You can see the remaining pour needed on the back wall - it is going to be a very tricky, labor intensive pour unless we can find a concrete pump somewhere.

The walls still need a lot of work to get them cosmetically beautiful ... unless we decide to cover the walls with stone.

The sun came out today!!!

As much as we have needed the rain here in Alabama - enough is enough! (At least for a little bit). It has rained off and on for a good 3-4 days and sometimes at long stretches at a time. Needless to say - we have a LOT of water hanging around.

The kids and I headed out for my haircut today (Yippee!!!), and on the drive we discovered several new lakes that we had never seen before, waterfalls where there are normally not any, normal waterfalls SUPER-sized and just water everywhere.

Here is a sampling of pictures from today:


This little cute one is on the main road into our property - not very big, but very cute :) Also, it has a really nice sound - kind of like those little tabletop versions that you have to pay good money for. God made this one for free.


This is normally a nice meadow for cows ... not today.


View the other direction.

Then, we headed up to Noccalula Falls - we just had to check it out. For a review of some previous pictures of Noccalula Falls, look here.


This is the portion that was mostly just exposed rocks when we first arrived in AL. Back then, the kids stood on the rocks and fed the duckens.


Here's the little walking bridge almost engulfed in water.


This is the most full we have ever seen Noccalula Falls. It has been a fun little adventure to watch the falls recover from just a trickle when we first arrived to this!


Picture of the kiddos

ps - don't make fun of Hadden's highwaters ... he was prepared!!! :) In reality, he protested about having to change his pants, so I just let him wear them ... hmmm, would I be a really bad Mom if I showed them to his perspective wife later (much later)??


One of me that the kids took. Sorry, you can't really see the haircut there - it was windy.


We exchanged taking pictures with someone, so the kids and I got to be in one together.


No swimming now!! Remember this post (scroll near the bottom)!?

We had a good time scouting around for water. We also have counted our blessings that we did not purchase a couple of properties that we had looked at that were in the flood plain. The kids and I drove by one and it was under water - a LOT of water. Very thankful we are on a high spot where the water has someplace else to go :)

New Year's Resolve

Since the majority of you were probably not attending our church yesterday, I am going to steal share some ideas from our sermon with you - with some additional comments thrown in.

Most people aren't good at keeping New Year's resolutions. Most resolutions treat the symptoms and not the root of the problem. We need Christ to supernaturally empower us to make necessary changes - commit to following Him, becoming more like Him, in order to "fix" our symptoms. When we start focusing our efforts on being nearer to Him, being more like Him, desiring to be in the center of His will - that is when the symptoms are seen through the lens of Christ and take proper perspective.

Please understand that I am not suggesting that God is a "fix-it", "heal it" or a "bless it on demand" kind of God - it just may be that we see things differently after viewing our problems through His point of view.

I have been in kind of a spiritual "slump" lately - and have been frustrated with it. Many things our pastor said yesterday struck a chord with me, but nothing more than his quote of Beth Moore - something like "resolve to allow nothing to come between us and Christ" - nothing.

So, this was how my prayer went this morning while I was walking:

Lord, that is what I desire. NOTHING between you and me. You first, John second, kids third, and me last.

Yes, me last. I have found that selfishness has crept in during this spiritual slump along with its good friends grouchiness, grumpiness, quick temper, just plain old ugliness. I don't want any of those - I want the fruit of the Spirit:

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

That's what I want in 2009 - resolve. RESOLVE!

1. Praying - asking God to pour out His Spirit, asking Him for the desire to read and pray more, asking Him to reveal His Word to me
2. Disciplining myself to read, even if I don't "feel" like it. I am currently reading through the Bible in "historical" order - following a plan that puts Scripture in order as to when the events happened.
3. Joining the next women's Bible study at church - I skipped the last one because it was a study I have done previously. I just really need somewhere to "go deep" about spiritual things - I had a core group of wonderful ladies in PA and have not yet found that group here. This Bible study will help.

So, there you have it - thanks for your prayers!

Then Sings My Soul Saturday

I really enjoy Chris Tomlin music - this video is cool to me - he is talking about the title track for "Hello Love"


Here is the only version I could find of the whole song from YouTube:


Enjoy! Check out more here.

Just a couple of pics

Here is a super quick update -


John standing on full-height walls! We now have 3 full-height walls, a footer for the stairs and tomorrow (hopefully), we will prep for the 4th full-height wall. It's getting exciting!


Our dogs all enjoyed a siesta on their new "blankies" today while it was rainy and cold outside. I found some fun fleece fabric and padding and put them together for their Christmas presents.