The Best 10 Cents I've Ever Spent

So the other day, I went to the grocery store. When I returned, I came in with a load of bags.

Ladan (semi-shouting): "Look, it's a really special present!"

Chet: "It's a bunch of groceries."

Me: "Yep, groceries. But I did get you a present." I pull a banana out of the bag and take it to Ladan. "Look, it's a banana."

Ladan gets down from the couch, throws his hands in the air as he begins to jump up and down, screaming, "LOOK! IT'S A BANANANA! (Yes, there are four syllables in this word.) IT'S A REALLY BIG BANANANA! OPEN IT! OPEN IT! LOOK, DADDY, IT'S A BIG BANANANA! THANK YOU, MOMMY! THANK YOU, MOMMY!"

If you've ever spent $.10 and had a more exciting result, please let me know!

Other fun things:

• Ladan has started memorizing Psalm 118:24, which reads, "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." We've been singing the song together in echo fashion for a week now, and he does such a great job. We have to get it on video, because he actually sings a bit of harmony each time, and it's really good.
• Chet only has a few more weeks of class in this semester. He has some crazy amount of stuff to do, but he's really cranking it out. He's getting things done in a jiffy.
• Ladan is potty training, which is going fairly well. However, I'm really tired. It will be worth it in the end.
• We had a great time playing with the Murray girls tonight. Ladan could join their family and have the best time ever!!!! And Gabe would have the time of his life too! And, I must admit, that hanging out with four very fun girls provides a great deal of satisfaction for me too! :)
• I officially have a photo of Gabe hanging in our house! We had his 6-month photos taken, and I was able to get one of Ladan and Gabe together framed, and it's on the wall already! The great thing about it is that I love the photo, frame, matting, and the price I paid at Hobby Lobby to put it all together.
• I wore sandals again today, and my feet didn't freeze! Could it be that spring is officially here?!
• I just realized that if I pick all the crumbs up off the floors of our vehicles (which haven't been vacuumed since July 2005), I might be able to fill an entire ziploc bag and re-use them the next time I need bread crumbs for a recipe. Totally kidding! Actually, the exciting part is that I am actually going to get this mess cleaned up in the next few weeks. I can hardly wait! We finally have access to outdoor outlets so we can vacuum our vehicles ourselves, and I'm not pregnant, so I'll be able to physically maneuver in such a way as to effectively extract all the nasty pieces of junk from our vehicles.

And, finally, I've really been enjoying Psalm 73 lately (printed here in the English Standard Version):
A PSALM OF ASAPH.
Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
5 They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
7 Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
8 They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
9 They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
10 Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them.
11 And they say, "How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?"
12 Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.
15 If I had said, "I will speak thus,"
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
16 But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.
18 Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
19 How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
20 Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself,
you despise them as phantoms.
21 When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
28 But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.

What is this teaching me? When my focus is on the LORD, nothing else will be more important or more desirable to me. He WILL fulfill ALL His promises! He is gracious and helps me redirect my attention to what really matters--even when I am like a beast to Him. What an amazing God! Worthy of our praise and worthy of all glory! May He also be the strength of YOUR heart and YOUR portion FOREVER!