Skeet/Trap shooting

    About a year ago, my family and I attended an event called, "Babes n' Buck shots".  My father is involved in a "Shooters" club with a good friend of his, and one night the men of the group put on an event for their ladies; hence the name, "Babes N' Buck shots".  I found out, scarily enough, (haha!), that I love to shoot a gun.  What a stress reliever! At the end of the night one of the gentleman had talked to us (mom and I) about coming to the gun range and learning how to skeet/trap shoot. It was one thing after another, and kept getting put off; weather, health, other obligations kept getting in the way). Today, smoke was in the air due to local fires around the valley and beyond. We didn't let it deter us from a date with a clay birdie and a gun.  

     It hit the first four targets, WAHOO! (As my back/arms got tired from holding the gun, I gradually became worse at shooting)   The instructor said to me that not many can do that.  The gun was a bit heavy, and my back wasn't very strong due to my scoliosis and sitting in a wheelchair, but what arms strength I had helped.  And I had FUN!!! It's not so much vision that was a factor , but timing, and with practice I KNOW that will improve.  In fact, I am seriously considering taking lessons from him once a week or so and investing in equipment so that I can do this at home or out camping.  The gun can be modified a bit with my short stature. I found it difficult to lean my head into it so that I might better aim for the target. With a shorter "butt"  (the part that rests in your shoulder  when you shoot) I wouldn't have so much trouble reaching nor holding it up

Is it really bad that I reeeeally enjoy shooting something....whether it's a pistol, bow and arrow, or shotgun?   HAHAHAHA!!!  (Evil grin)  I scare myself sometimes =D

Lee Stroble ~ "Our Words"

• What is hindering my prayers from being "effective"?
• What "seed" 's am I sowing into the kingdom, my family, my mind?
• Am I being "fruitful"? (in word, deed, thought, etc.)

     These are the questions that are popping up as I sit here pondering today's message by a member of our church.  He shared that these words were rolling through his head as he was preparing today/s sermon on , "Our Words".    

     Other thoughts he shared

• Don't overlook the seed  (in which you plant, or is planted in you)
• The little things matter
• The things of the Kingdom are not always immediate

 
This last point really spoke as I have been rather impatient with the process of seeing God moving in and through me. 

Hebrews 11:3 ~ The worlds were formed by the WORD of God

(Matthew 15)   Matthew 12:34 ; Luke 6:45) out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks

Proverbs 18:21 ~ The powers of death and Life are in the tongue

The crux of his message was found in James 3, but what stood out to me was verses 2-4

      ~ ² For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body
Get my words under control , the body will follow 
Submit them to God (I am doing this very thing as I type)

     "Line me up with Your Word , Lord!"  
Don't "manage" your sin, start *agreeing with* / *speaking* the Word

³ If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. ⁴ Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.
Your mouth steers your life! (*Anyone besides me hearing bells, whistles, sirens,  seeing flashing lights, neon signs?)

I am setting my course with my tongue
(Lord, here's my tongue. I give You control)

A little spark can get out of control

L'shon Horah (sp?) the poison also hurts you

We cannot change our tongue, but .....GOD CAN!

Speak LIFE/BLESSINGS over others

Line up your words with THE Word

I can't/I won't = Bondage

No longer a slave to sin, but to CHRIST

Philemon 1:4-6⁴ I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, ⁵ because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, ⁶ and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.

Romans 8:12-13
¹² So then, brothers,^[a] we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Start Professing Truth

Joshua 1:8⁸ This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Jeremiah 31:5
Again you shall plant vineyards
    on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant
    and shall enjoy the fruit.

Breathing New Life into an Old Pastime

All excited about the blog when I first started, now the past couple of years excitement seems to have waned. After encouragement from a dear friend,  I am trying to go at it again, this time with a bit more vim and vigor.

Ideas!   I love to write, but have difficulty finding what to write ABOUT! But sometimes get bored with a topic.  Or get part of it down and then forget about it as I get busy.  I will try to write as things happen. This way, FB doesn't monopolize ALL my time. 

Events of the day
Sermons
Life's ponderings
What I am reading/watching

might try my hand at poetry/short stories again. 


Someone once said it was wrong to blog about blogging.  But sometimes, writing gets the ideas flowing, ya KNOW?!  =D

I welcome ideas too!

Observing a Speech Therapy Appointment

This Post has been MONTHS in the making



Since becoming a Para-educator, the usual route of interview and hiring has proven most difficult, I decided to take a different approach.
The employment endeavor has become quite frustrating....to a point where I felt I would be old enough to retire before ever finding *any*thing! Volunteering was taking forever and everyone seems to have enough volunteers anyway.  (Besides, who wants to hire someone with a wheelchair and service dog?)

I found out about working with "G" by word of mouth through my mother. She happened to be taking with his mom at the tennis court and mentioned me wanting to work. "G" needed one on one time outside of school/speech therapy with someone and would I be interested.  Of Course!!!  

Something stretching me out of my comfort zone (as I had been praying for)

 I observed a session of his speech therapy at Community Medical Center.  I really tried hard to remain silent during this time. but caught myself saying an encouraging word here and there or making a comment to his therapist. (I hope I wasn't too disruptive).

My favorite part of the afternoon; His speech therapist pulled out her list of questions to ask while he had a picture in front of him.   His reply ...."Holy. holy smokes! There's a LOT of them!"  I chuckled....I couldn't help myself. But I encouraged him with an "I think you can do it".

Flashcards
V -sound 
WH- questions
CH-sound  (thinks we should work on SH- sound first)

This was interesting, working on the SH- sound.
He used a straw, placing his tongue underneath a straw while he said the word "shoe'. (this helped him with tongue placement. Children with downs syndrome have an enlarged tongue/ and often split palate so their speech is not always clear.

Also working on pronunciation of his 'S' sounds. (as in the word 'Cardinals'
I learned a new term today, called "lateralizing". That's what 'G' does.  When he speaks, often times the air comes out the sides of his mouth rather than the front.





So, academically speaking, the stuff he needed help in just didn't jive for me. Not so much the speech help either, but it is still something we strive to do, even though all we do now is respite, ..... We play his favorite game of all time :YAHTZEE!!!!   I have had to give him pointers. He goes for the same rolls all the time, and it affects his scores, so I tend to beat him a lot.   He IS improving!  He has beat me on occasion, but rarely.  I sometimes have a hard time remembering the rules, its  game I grew up on, but I AM getting older, lol! 
On occasion, he will bring a new game. One of our sessions together, he brought over his Sno Cone machine, and we made sno cones. YUM!   =D

The summer is almost over now, but one thing he enjoys doing is riding his bike. WE talked about going riding , but whether or not that will happen is a mystery to be solved. Life kind of became crazy for all of us.  Some of us having surgery, me falling and injuring my left leg (more than once)

I will share more as we go on   (HE loves to beat me at games, and BOY does he call me on it when I make a mistake or forget something, LOL! ) .