Read Angie's Thoughts

I've always known there were two things I wanted when I 'grew up' - a porch swing and a dog. Well, it seems God found it time that I be at least half-way grown up, as He has blessed me with a wonderful three legged border collie named Maggie! God brought Maggie into my life the same way He brought Calli (my 2nd cat) into my world - through a student at school. One of my students had his mom bring in a dog for show-and-tell and when I saw his mom and opened the door, I came face to face with the cutest little dog I had ever seen! I'm totally a dog person and I've rarely met a dog I didn't like, and I can honestly say it was love at first sight! My student got up and told us the story of Maggie's life. She had gotten her hind left foot caught in a coyote trap and was stuck in it for almost three days and the leg had to be amputated. His mom (who is a vet and amputated the leg) told the kids that Maggie didn't let the fact that she only had three legs s...

I just finished reading a book called "Falling Into the Face of God" by William Elliott. In it, he goes into the Judean desert for 40 days like Jesus did. The book tells about his adventures he has and all the thoughts he has as God leads him through his time in the desert. There were a few things he said that caught my attention, but this one really struck a chord in me: "Then a deep sadness wells up from within me as I realize there has always been a secret, hidden part of me that has always felt I'm not doing things right or good enough." Boy, can I relate to those feelings! I think one of the biggest impacts the traumas in my childhood had on me was that I grew up believing I wasn't good enough. I honestly believed there was something innately wrong with me that made me unlovable.  Children are very ego-centric by nature, they think the whole world literally revolves around them. I believed my mom had left because I had done something wrong, something so...

Well, I've been at this 'looking for a new church' thing for over a month and to be honest, am not sure if I'm any farther along than when I started! It has been hard. Getting out and meeting new people has always been hard for me and the past several Sunday  mornings I have found myself spending a lot of time trying to talk myself out of even going to church. It gets to the point where I just have to force myself to get up and get ready. I tried one church for a month and really enjoyed my times of worship there. Then, last Sunday, the pastor re-did the bulletin and put more of their beliefs in it and I read that they believe in women pastors. Since I don't believe that is Biblical, I knew I had to start looking again. The hard part, though, is trying not to make a decision based on my personal bias. I went to a different church this morning, a church that a friend of mine and her family go to, and one of the first people I saw when I walked in was my old landlord ...

One of my parents came up to me this week after school and said she had talked to her son about what to get his classmates for Valentine's Day. She was telling him that because the class is so small, he could do somthing really fun. She suggested a few different things and then he interrupted her and said, "Mom, I don't want to get those girls anything that they will read something into - I want to get them something gross!" Spoken like a true boy!!

"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you." ~ Exodus 20:12 Of the 10 commandments, this one is the hardest for me understand and live out. It's easy to honor my father since he has given up so much for me and we have such a great relationship. I struggle with honoring a mother who left when I was three because she had more important things to do. She never made me a priority in her life and was only being a mom when it was convenient for her - usually a month or so in the summer. I can't recall her ever having made a single sacrifice for me. Her life has been the epitome of selfishness and I don't know how to honor that. I have been so blessed, however, to see this commandment lived out in the life of a friend of mine in a way that encourages me greatly and touches my heart. Last year, her dad was diagnosed with cancer and died within a few months. During those last weeks, she would take 2 weeks off o...