MI-5, MENUS, BOOKS & MISC.

I'm sorry. Haven't blogged in a while. Here's mish-mash of different things to catch you up:

Jim's Mi-5:

1. Tell us a story about something that happened in your childhood.

The first thing that jumped into my head was the first time I had to give a "speech" in school. It was in Fifth Grade, and Mr. Borgerson was my teacher. Our assignment was to give a "how-to" speech. My speech was "How to Make a Fall Hut". I think it was the stupidest speech ever. I talked about using acorns and horsechestnut shells to make dishes. I thought I was brilliant at the time, but it makes me laugh now. I did get an A.

2. Did you have a favorite story as a child?

My favorite stories were the ones that Ma and Uncle Ted used to tell about growing up. I think my favorite was when Uncle Roddy used sheep turd as bb's in his mouth.

3. Have you ever been sold on effective advertising only to find out the product was less than you expected?

Oh, I'm sure I have. The first thing I thought of was Kabam or Kapow or Kawham or something toilet cleaner. Didn't do a thing. Commercial looked good though.

4. Do you have any vacation plans this summer? Weekend away plans?

We have some plans, but I'm not entirely convinced we'll see them through. We want to go camping, and we would like to go to York's Wild Kingdom. (I have two free passes from a Shaw's promotion.) If we make it camping, I'd really like to go back to Lost River Campground in New Hampshire and go to Lost River and Santa's Village.

5. Do you have any summertime traditions?

Not that I can think of. There's always the occasional cookout, of course, but I guess that's it. I know when summer hits I tend to crave macaroni salad and ice tea. Does that count?

Menus for Next Week:

Monday: Chicken Cheese Quesadillas, Salad
Tuesday: Mandarin Topped Pork Chops, Rice, Leftover Salad
Wednesday: Subs, Chips
Thursday: BBQ Chicken, French Fry Grill Packets
Friday: Eben's 10th Birthday--he'll get to pick. Most likely, Pizza Hut P'zonnes.

Books:

I've been reading quite a few books lately, and thought I'd let you all know what they were:

Broken on the Back Row, and Falling Forward, both by Sandi Patty. Outstanding. Both of them.

Get Out of That Pit, by Beth Moore. Another good one from Beth. Tied in very, very nicely with Falling Forward.

Five Love Languages, by Gary Chapman. This was life changing. Seriously.

Rekindling the Romance, by Dennis and Barbara Rainey. This books was ok. Probably my least favorite of all of the books I've read. It was based on the fact that men only have one subject on their minds.

Right now I'm reading The Prodigal Comes Home: My Story of Failure and God's Story of Redemption by Michael English. I think that the book will be good once it "gets going" a little. Right now, it's a lot of background childhood information, and I'm still waiting for it to get started.

Miscellaenous Note

Dwane and I have been going through some marriage classes. I'm really enjoying them. Pastor Mitch thinks that we have an excellent opportunity to be marriage counselors. Can you believe that???? He said that Dwane and I have experienced some things that he can't relate too. A lot of broken marriages need counselors that can relate to them, and Pastor Mitch and his wife have simply not had some of those experiences. How miraculous would it be if we become "unofficial" marriage counseors??? (Apparently, you have to be "licensed" in Maine to be an "official" counselor---we'd just be "I have a couple I'd like you to meet" counselors.)

So far, we have completed chapters on Communication, Leaving (your parents), Cleaving (to your mate), the wife's role of Helping, and the wife's responsibility of Submitting. Next week will be he Husband's role of Leading, and the husband's responsibility to be "Loving".