Just A Simple Observation........

Trying to prepare for my upcoming trip, Shannon's work related travel, various doctor's appointments, and trying to finish up school with my boys has left me a little overwhelmed this week, so I do not have a Bible study post to share with you today. When I return from my journey, I will post again about what I am learning through my studies of the women in the Bible. So today, instead of a devotional post, I will share with you something that I observed around my home.

I hope you enjoy it.
God Bless, Amy:)

We always have a lot of these gorgeous butterflies around our home.



They fly away.......



and then they come back......



with more of their butterfly buddies.



What is interesting to me, is what attracts them to our yard. You probably can't tell by just looking at the pictures, but it is not the beautiful surroundings. What attracts them to our yard is our dog Allie's pee and poop waste.

I remember thinking one day, as I watched a lot of them flying all around her pee and poop waste, how odd it is that these beautiful, delicate creatures spend all their time in search of such disgusting things. I mean with all of the beautiful greenery around our country home, they want to sit and feed on Allie's pee and poop waste.

Then God pointed out to me how hypocritical and judgmental I was being towards these beautiful creatures......It was almost as if I heard Him say, "Amy, isn't that exactly what you do sometimes?.....I created you in My image, but look what some of your time is spent doing....gossiping, watching inappropriate television programs, worrying, not helping out at church as much as you should, reading romance novels instead of reading My Word........"

Proverbs 15:14
The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.

Then I thought about how the butterfly leaves the pee and poop waste, only to come back with more buddies to enjoy it with.

As Christians, don't we do this same thing?......Sometimes we drag our friends and family members into things that are "wasteful" activities, because we don't want to be alone in them. And sometimes we follow our friends and family members into these same types of "wasteful" activities, because we don't want to feel left out, or seem different than anybody else.

Proverbs 13:20
He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.

I looked up the definition of waste on Wikipedia.
Waste is an unwanted or undesired material or substance. It is also referred to as rubbish, trash, garbage, or junk depending upon the type of material and the regional terminology. In living organisms, waste relates to unwanted substances or toxins that are expelled from them.

So much time in our lives is wasted on waste.

Humbling, isn't it?

There is so much to learn about life from just a simple observation........

Are You Smarter Than A Seventh Grader?

Yesterday both of my boys finished their achievement testing for this school year. It is always such a relief to me when they have reached this milestone. This school year has seemed to move so quickly.

I was never any good at taking standardized tests in school.
I always made good grades on daily work and chapter tests, but when it came to achievement tests I never performed well.

Maybe I was nervous. Maybe it was just too much information at once. Maybe it was both.

I try not to put too much stock in the scores that my children get on these tests.
Don't get me wrong, I am proud of them when they do well. But I am also proud of them when they don't. Their scores don't define who they are as students or people to me.

I think it is unfair to judge their complete year of work on this one test each year.
How they work each day matters much more to me. I care more about their attitude and effort towards their school work than I do the letter grade they receive. (That doesn't mean I want D's and F's all the time, but you know what I mean.)

Each year I serve as a testing proctor. I usually just work with one or two students that need to be tested alone for different learning needs.

This year I was blessed to work with a precious girl in the seventh grade.
As I was helping her, I realized that the questions on this seventh grade achievement test were hard!

The listening skills portion of the test, in my opinion, was the hardest part of all. I'll be honest with you, I couldn't even answer all of the questions they asked about the passages. And I was the one reading them! Pitiful.

I wondered as I was reading over some of the other sections of the test how I would score. How would most adults score? It's humbling.

It's so interesting that sometimes as parents we expect our children to accomplish things that we could not even accomplish ourselves.

Anyway, I'm glad it's over, because it means school is almost over. Summertime here we come!:)

P.S. Thank you, Mia(and girls), for your prayers. This year was a great testing experience for all three of us. I also received a sweet note from the mother of the girl that I worked with, and she said it was the most relaxed her daughter had ever been during testing.:) At the bottom of her note was this verse from Psalms. It made me think of you, Mia.

Psalms 145:7
They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.