Nana Scriv's Safe Place: October 2012

Monday, October 15, 2012

I've taken a very long break from blogging. It has been a very busy summer, but I just lost interest in blogging for a while ..... or perhaps I simply had nothing to say. This blog is simply my own therapy for documenting the steps and events in my life. So the exceedingly hot summer which involved three trips to Branson and two weeks in Hawaii were certainly worthy of talking about .... maybe it was because when we were 'going somewhere' I was working every single hour I could get to help pay for the fun we were having.

Then I was doing my Bible Study this morning from Asbury's Prayer Journal. And I read James 4:3 "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." Oooouch, I am working my head, hands and heart off just for my own pleasures? Maybe it is time to retire and slow down.
http://grandkidsonly.blogspot.com/2012/05/boys-in-branson-in-may.html

http://grandkidsonly.blogspot.com/2012/08/trip-2-to-branson-girl-cousin-trip.html

Selfish in the Lava Spa

So here is the prayer: "Lord, bring to light what is hidden in darkness and expose the motives of my heart so that nothing will hinder my faith and service."    It is time for self-examination of my heart, so here are the questions I am challenged to ask of myself:

+ How does shopping for anything make you feel? I really don't consider myself much of a shopper. When I need to buy something, I just want to go get it and get out of the store.
+ Why do you buy the brands and styles you do? Why buy things just because they are on sale?      I'm not all that much into brands and styles but I do have a major problem with only wanting to buy things that are on sale.    I don't think I necessarily buy things just because they are on sale but I only want to buy the sale items.
+ Why spend $20 on pizza when it could buy a mosquito net that will save an entire family from malaria or help free a woman from human trafficking?   We definitely eat out too much. However, I've gotten into the 'groupon/living social' community to save and often use those for other family members so that they can enjoy eating out. I do also contribute good amount to the needy and do it with a happy heart.

Self Enjoyment on the Maui Beach

+ Why do you take 4 vacations a year when you could take one and send three young adults to the mission field? If I took four vacations a year it would be because I am 74 years old and don't know how much longer it will be that I can travel. I work hard to pay for those vacations and I do help send kids to summer camps, home schooling classes and contribute to missions. I can do better so I will work on that.
+ Why are your closets and garage filled to capacity? That is something we are working on just because we know they are 'things' that mean nothing to anyone after we are gone. We've got a long way to go but the closets have gotten better over the past 5 or 6 years. I definitely need to clean out -- I just have not taken the time to do it. Why???? God forgive me, I must clean out and give away. I've always hated having garage sales, I prefer to just give it away.

+ Why do you own 10 Bibles, 5 coats, 40 pairs of shoes and kitchen gadgets you never use? Once again, God forgive me. It is not that I have any special attachment to the stuff .. it just takes time to get rid of it. Why or why???? is it because I am lazy ..... I believe that must be it.

+ Why are your spare rooms empty when 3,000+ children are crowded into Oklahoma's shelter today? Because I raised 5 children and am enjoying the 'empty nest' I think this is total selfishness.....totally selfishness in myself. Ouch! And we did one of those kids some 20 years ago and experience the heartbreak and pain that accompanies troubled children. We've invited guest into our home and experienced the pain of having to ask them to leave please. However, all of that is selfishness on my part.

+ Why did God bless you if not for you to be a blessing to others? That is exactly right, every blessing is to be shared. I do share but I can always do more. Right now a lot of my sharing is with needy grandchildren and kids who mismanage their own resources. I'm learning and I'm endeavoring to do better.

Self Pleasure looking into a Crater

+ What is the younger generation in your life learning as a result of your habits? Well, the grand kids are learning that Pops and Nans can be a lot of fun and that we love them and want to spend time with them. We do make efforts to sow good seed into their lives.

The reason why I overindulge myself??????
1. I have experiences scarcity in the past.

2 I believe that God's Word teaches that He wants to prosper and bless me and to enjoy his goodness...such as opening up the windows of heaven and pouring out a blessing....and I believe I am to share that blessing.

3. And I am willing to let go and allow God to speak to me about what he would like for me to do with the resources He has blessed me with.

WHAT IS IT?

Now that I have decided to break the silence of three months of non blogging, I will post a serious post and a 'for nothing' post. This is my 'for no reason' post:

I became involved in the Groupon and Living Social Community around Christmas time last year. This ment I was purchasing things on line for half price. The vender gets half of that and Groupon or LS get the other half or one fourth of the going price. It started out with items as Christmas Gifts and it was fun. After my Bible Study this morning, I see it was part of my Self indulgence. I love to save money. I purchased a number of restaurant Groupons, took family out to lunch or dinner and gave some of them away. There were hair services, manacures, massages, 3-day get-a-ways, you name it. Most of them turned out to be a good bargain and a few were duds in which I got credit back.

Having said all of that, I'm going to talk today about the results of purchasing for the benefit of taking Grandkids out to activities during the summer time. I have already blogged about one art class which Hailey, Lily and Rosie did.

http://grandkidsonly.blogspot.com/2012/03/art-class.html And then there was the Purple Glaze experience which four grandkids did and that is posted on the Grandkid blog. But about myself:

First of all, Sorenson has an employee party once a year and this year on June 7th, we were taken to The Purple Glaze. I remembered the story of the Red Plate and I had no other thoughts in my mind so I decided to make a special Red Plate for special occasions. Often when we have family over, I will use my red plates so I thought on Birthdays or Special Events, the special person could get the special red plate. Well, it looked pretty pitiful when I was painting ... no one gave me any hints on how to do it so this is what was produced. When I picked it up after firing a week later, I was very happy with the plate. HOWEVER, it was cracked which made it no safe for use with food. The lady was sorry and gave me a $25 coupon to come back in and make another one. I never did.

Then on June 18th was when I took the grandkids and Ken back to the purple glaze for their Living Social Summer Activity.

http://grandkidsonly.blogspot.com/2012/07/grands-and-summer-tim-activities.html

I really did not want to make anything again because I wanted to take pictures and help the kids where needed. But I ended up making a little snack dish or spoon holder ....however you wanted to use it. When I went to pick it up a week later, it also was flawed. I had put too much paint on the dish and when put in the fire, it had not dried enough so the paint separated. Once again it was not food safe.

Then I also had a Living Social with the Tulsa Art Studio for four people. I was going to take Paula and Barbie for a ladies night out but it got cancelled and was about to expire. So Friday Oct 12, the Scharpf Girls went with me to use the $70 expenditure rather than loose it. You can see that blog at

http://grandkidsonly.blogspot.com/2012/10/art-class.html

The problem is, I have now decided that the artistic gene passed me by. It was to be modern art using various mediums for depth and layers. We were suppose to go with just anything. We started with a blank canvas and she told us to tear up newspaper, scrunch it for depth and glue it on with matte paint. I asked her if we were to have something in our mind about what we were making and she said no. So my mindless creation continued to be a mindless creation as I worked through the two and a half hours of art class. Ten minutes before the class was over, I told her I hated my work. What I had created was 5 or 6 blobs of color and nothing flowed together. I did observe that I must really LOVE red and yellow. So the teacher helped me to swirl the colors together but it is still nothing. I think I am a realist, I have to be able to see something that is real. So I brought my unloved creation home and asked Ken for his help. Out of this mess of canvas, newspaper, paint and eggshells, I asked him to tell me what he could see. Out of the four angles the first is the one I find anywhere close to making any sense. It is a whirlwind but there is an angel flying in and maybe another one behind him coming.