A Valentine Message

For the past few weeks my pastor, Dr. Curtis Barbery has been teaching about the Holy Spirit in our Wednesday night Bible Study.  I thought last night's study was particularly encouraging for Christians and thought I'd share some of the main points.  This is certainly not an all-inclusive summary of his lesson-- far from it!

In the two previous lessons he had covered The Ministry of the Holy Spirit and The Fruit of the Spirit: The reproduction of Christ's life in the believer.  This week was on The Sealing of the Holy Spirit, with text from Ephesians 4.  My Bible has a sub-heading Living as Children of Light, which matched his theme well.

He reminded us that for believers in Christ, the Holy Spirit is not a guest within us-- one who comes and then leaves us.  He is a permanent resident.  As our body  is the temple of God, we must give full access of every room to the Spirit.

We are admonished not to grieve the Spirit.  Pastor Barbery pointed out that grieving is closely linked with love.  We can only grieve those who love us.  Some ways we "sadden" God's Spirit are by partaking of the world's evil deeds, taking on the unbecoming spiritual "apparel" of the world, and by living with unholy attitudes.  The Bible mentions bitterness, anger (wrath), clamor (brawling), slander (evil speaking), and malice.  He pointed out that many people are adamant about repudiating the sins of the flesh the Bible speaks of, but harbor these sins of the heart.

But God's word also tells us how we can "gladden" the Holy Spirit.

• Acknowledge His presence
• Act on His promptings
• Accept His pathway
• Apply His present(s) or gifts
• Acclaim His praise
• Affirm His power

Pastor Barbery summed up his message by reminded us that through the Holy Spirit Christians have everything we need to live daily for our Savior, Jesus Christ.

So I will leave you with this Valentine message of love and friendship.  Have a wonderful Valentine's Day with your loved ones.

Shakin' Our Sillies Out in 2nd Grade

Friday was a red-letter day for me as I

returned to dear old Sandhills Farm Life

for a long-awaited singalong.  It was also

something of a reunion, since I was invited

by my longtime assistant Beth Taylor and

TWO former students who are now teaching

at their alma mater: Rachel (Black) Arrington

and Amy (Suddreth) Mathews.  Thanks for

the invitation ladies!

Mrs. Arrington gave me a glowing introduction,

mentioning her own fond memories, such as

nature walks, burning multiplication cards, 

storytelling, and singalongs.

These second graders sat very still and

attentive during those preliminaries.  But

I didn't come for them to just sit still . . .

So we began with a song called

"Shake Your Sillies Out."  And that's just

what we did!

. . . as well as clapping our crazies out,

jumping our jiggles out, yawning our sleepies

 out, and stretching our stretchies out.

I explained to the students my old trick:

if the principal or superintendent happened

to drop in, we would convince them that

our singalong was a READING lesson.

Which, of course, is the exact truth!

In fact, Miss McNeill and other principals

I served under, as well as most Moore County

Schools superintendents have been guests at

my singalongs over the years.  Not to mention

countless parents.

 At least half of the songs we sang today

involved motions.  The children were fast

learners.  In "Boom Boom, Ain't it Great

to be Crazy?" we sang 

"Way up north where there's ice and snow"

"There lived a penguin and his

name was Joe; he got so tired

of black and white . . ."

"He wore pink slacks to the

dance last night!"

All the teachers were entitled to request

their own old favorites.  Their selections

were "The Cat Came Back," "Rocky Top,"

"God Bless the USA," (you should have seen

those young patriots standing tall!) 

and "Jingle Jangle Jingle" (about the cowboy

whose jingling spurs reminded him 'ain't you

glad you're single?').

"And I'd gladly stand up next to you

and defend her still today,

'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land,

God bless the U.S.A."

Our variety of songs are laden with subtle

messages-- and sometimes not so subtle:

"And by the way, if you hate to go to school,

You may grow up to be a MULE!"

A song I learned way back in 3rd grade

is "The Desperado." This big, bold man

came into Chicago just to give the West a rest.

"He wore a big sombrero and a gun

beneath his vest . . ."

"And he horsed around just like

a big tornado . . ."

"And everywhere he went

he gave his 'Wahoo!'"

About midway through our hour, we gave

our voices a rest as I shared a tale from my

new favorite storybook: "The Adventures 

of Molly Whuppie."

I love to dim the lights to remove the 

distractions of our surroundings, allowing

us to transport ourselves into the land

of make-believe.  In fact, a huge factor

in motivation, regardless of the subject

matter, is to properly "set the stage."

If you observe how the students hang on 

every word of these old tales, you'd realize

that children of today are still receptive to

the same things that they've loved through

the ages: surprise, adventure, new experiences.

Molly Whuppie is a new type of heroine,

but overcomes every obstacle in the tradition

of Jack in "The Jack Tales."

"Then the door opened and out stepped

a BIG . . . HIGH . . . TALL . . .

GIANT WOMAN!"

After the story's dramatic conclusion, we 

sang a few more tunes.  When it was time

to close, I taught the children an old John

Denver song that I traditionally shared

with my classes: "Friends With You."

"Friends, I will remember you,

think of you, pray for you . . ."

"And when another day is through,

I'll still be friends with you!"

Yes, I had a wonderful time with my

friends, old and new.  The fun of an

old-fashioned singalong never grows old!

Thanks for the invitation, and let's do it again!

Sliding (but not Sledding) from Jan. to Feb.

We would love to have had snow for the

last week in January, but on the other hand,

it might have interfered with babysitting.

And we can't allow that!

"Welcome to the Loyd house," says Evan,

who is not especially camera shy.

In fact he'll even ham it up and smooch

for the camera.

It was a chilly day, not fit for man, beast,

or grandchild, but that didn't prevent much

fun with imaginative play.  Featuring 

Grandma and Claire "down on the farm."

Claire delights in countless other books

and toys she is quite familiar with.

Now that she is getting acquainted with

real money, she can't resist checking.

Sorry, Claire, it's the same old plastic coins.

One new toy set that all the kids have fallen

in love with is the shaving and grooming kit.

They especially like for me and Grandma

to be their victims-- er, I mean "subjects."

The tweezers, scissors, combs, razors, and

blow dryer are all fun toys-- or implements

of torture, depending on your perspective.

When it's time to go home, Evan does a

half-hearted "hide-and-seek" from Mommy.

But he can't stay hidden too long, because

pickup time also means supper with Daddy

is not far behind.  That's an incentive that

both Jennifer and Amanda resort to for

getting the kids to load up.

On a special Saturday night, we kept 

Brianna and Hunter while Amanda and

Stephen had an evening out.  As you can

see, Hunter likes to hide as much as Evan.

Grandma knows that these children are

well-versed in the kitchen.  So a special

treat is getting to lay out the pizza rolls

and chicken nuggets on the baking trays.

After that great supper, we were all fully 

energized and got right back into play.

For Hunter, that was a few laps around the

 house on the tricycle. Man, can he ZOOM!

Bri and Judy played a new game called

something like "Crackers in the Bed."

I'm sure I'll get my initiation sometime soon.

Bri also proves to be more than a match

for Grandma at "Memory."  It may be

significant that Bri is allowed to keep turning

over pieces until she gets a match.  Who knows?

Whoa!  Hunter has given up his wheels'

for hoofs.  Ride 'em cowboy!

Giddyap! And clear the way!

Believe me, he's not just smiling for the

camera.  He's bubbling over.

Later, things begin to slow down.

Hunter plays an appropriate lullaby.

An original, of course, it helps prepare

us all for a good night's sleep.

So now, it's February.  Groundhog

shadows or not, six weeks of winter

or an early spring, it won't matter to us.

February is for fun! Check back soon.

Party Videos

All of these videos are from our grand

January Christmas party, featuring the

grandkids.  I understand if you don't have 

time to view them all, but I hope you

have time for a sampler.

Kids at Play

More Kids at Play

Evan's Dinosaur

Airplane Parade

Airplane Parade II

I hope at least one of these brought

a smile to your face.

Party Time: the Wrapup

Here are the rest of the pictures from our January

 Christmas party. Videos will follow.  If you 

haven't seen the first batch, you may want to

scroll down to the preceding blog post.

I sure am glad someone suggested snapping

some group pictures while we were together.

L to R: Bri, Amanda, Stephen, Hunter

(Sorry about the red-eye. And can you tell

the kids are saying "cheese"?

L to R: Claire, Matt, Jennifer, Evan

(Is Matt tickling Claire to make her smile?)

Okay, more fun and games.  After Evan

say Hunter torturing action figures with

our new dinosaur, he decided to try it

out on this snake.

The dragon awaits his turn.

But Evan has already worked his way up

to sacrificing this baby doll to the T-Rex.

The girls instantly fall in love with their

magnetic "paper" dolls.  I don't know

what else to call them.

These girls will climb when permitted. And

 it's a special occasion, so anything goes.

Well, not just anything.

Somehow, Hunter blocks out the noisy

surroundings to focus on his puzzles.

Somehow, Hunter, Claire, and Bri all

squeeze into their favorite folding bench.

Meanwhile, Evan prefers a little more

elbow room while fiddling with his CD player.

You can't tell it from this picture, but the

girls have been pursuing the battery-powered

Weasel that goes rolling all over the floor.

Bri has finally trapped it!

Claire decides someone should bring a

little order to the chaos.  So she carefully

arranges the tropical frog collection.

Be sure to check back for the videos.

They're the greatest.  To a Grandpa, at least.