WELCOME TO 4 AND 20 SPARROWS! IT IS A BIT OF BLOGGING GOODNESS JUST FOR YOU...FILLED WITH THE RIDICULOUSNESS OF LIFE, MY RANDOM MUSINGS AND THE KNOWLEDGE THAT GOD IS ALWAYS GOOD! COME IN AND ENJOY!

Thursday, December 30, 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

  Events we like to refer to as catastrophic, (we are ripe with melodrama) have forced 2010 to be a totally sucky year! Things beyond our control have transpired to cause us to seek high cliffs. We won’t do it. Fret not, (if you even are) but it has been the weirdest year since we peed our pants in the lunch line in 4th grade because the teacher would not let us go. HAHA!!! After our mother got through with her; she not only let us go, she checked on us several times a day, offered us suckers and stopped smacking the back of our hand with a ruler! Boo-Yah!!!!!!   Here is the deal; we have had so many people say to us that 2010 was terrible for them or their loved ones. With tragedies, and deaths and hurricanes and pestilence and mountains of junk mail and gum disease and Reality Television that makes us want to rip our own ears off and stuff them in our purse just so we don’t even have to hear about them on commercials. Fortunately, they made this thing called a ‘mute button’ on the remote (or “remuter” as our youngest has always called it!) which we have almost worn out. If we ever disappear, and they need DNA to identify us, just check the mute button on the remote, it will be covered in it.
   Plus, we have found out that people don’t mean to be whiners, but 99.9% of us are. (Dept. of Random Figures) That’s what kept the Israelites wandering around in the desert for 40 years, you know! It should all be about counting our blessings. Yes it should. And we do that too. We spend time counting blessings and thanking God. We journal our thanks too, we also journal all of our craziness! What our family does with the journal volumes we have amassed after we are gone is their own problem…… Journals that really probably will only be of interest to our self and God, and maybe they even bore God…who knows?
     So then the fam will be torn. They will feel guilty if they throw them away. Besides what if someone finds them in the trash and learns what a true nut their mother was???Oh the humanity! Well, they could burn them, but that feels too pagan…like a pagan rite or a goddess ritual. They would like to avoid all lightning bolts so, of course that will stop them cold.
   Well, you know they will end up stacked away in the attic,(the journals , not the family) and if the world should continue to turn then great,great,great grandchildren will find them and ask; A.) Why was great, great, great Noni such a Loon, and B.) What exactly is cursive? Are we reading a foreign language? Because, by then cursive will be like hieroglyphics or eight-tracks…..completely irrelevant. “Daddy, they will ask our great, great grandson, why didn’t she just spend time in the groove-a-tron when she felt sad? Why did she record her feelings? Why didn’t she just go have her weekly cerebral-wash like everyone else?” Then he will have to explain that all we had were rudimentary tools at this point. Things called books, even empty ones to write absolute drivel in! And sticks with lead, and people still did that and they hooked all their letters together because they were taught to, and somehow it seemed faster, and of course, they were fundamentally stupid.
    Let’s see, where the heck were we? Oh yeah, 2010 blowing like a hurricane and, or, sucking like a tornado. Many have experienced this. Not everyone. We see people reporting great blessings and strokes of “luck” on line….We are truly happy for them when we read about it. Really. Seriously. Because it is such a hopeful, wonderful thing; even that person in school who whacked us repeatedly in the legs with her hockey stick during P.E. field hockey games is prospering. We hear she just acquired another land grab! Good for her. May her stick proudly wave!
   But for those of us who have had a wee-bit-o struggle in the big 2010…we are lurching toward 2011 like a thirsty man in the desert, heading toward the BIG oasis. As though, it held the secrets of the Universe, as though we were going to get a knock on the door from Publisher’s Clearing House immediately after the first of the year. As though great waves of peace and prosperity, and all the crap the politicians promised are really going to happen! YAY! Who’s ready to only pay $4.25 a year in taxes, and get several large breaks for owning Poodles??? We are! We are! Even though we own no poodles, we would purchase several, or borrow our mother’s. They are old and they smell, but they have lovely little bows. (The poodles, not our parents…)
     2011, the year of possibilities! The year when ANY thing could happen. Any GOOD thing!!! Grown children could begin to enjoy their lives and do things you wish to report on CNN. Credit Card companies could call and tell you that since you have been such a faithful (aka/stupid) customer, they are going to wipe out your balance to zero! What? Shudd-up! It could happen!
     And, all other nations could not only forgive us all our debts, BUT they could pay us back what they owe us too, thus causing a surplus. Government servants; as in all of our law-makers would then actually have the wisdom to use those funds wisely. This would put us in the black for the next century causing the world to once again fear us as the Super Power we are; and stop trying to blow us up all the time.
     But seriously, why doesn’t everyone just forgive everyone’s debt? How does America owe its own self money? WTHeck……How stupid is that? If we owed our own self a bunch of money, we would just say, “Hey, Tonya, don’t worry about it, we forgive ya, just let it go!” to which we would reply, “Gasp! You don’t mean it! Why, thank you!” We know America owes everybody and their brother, but they owe us too! Just do one great big ol’ write off, and Voila! Just like that… Problem solved.
   Enough of that. We have like; fitty more fabulous ideas that could change the course of the Nation’s financial outcome, and stimulate the economy to such a degree that it would need giant doses of Ritalin just to keep from reading FDIC backwards. But we will keep it to our self; as most people would rather have root-canal than discuss the economy, and by ‘most people’ we mean us.
    Anyway, so as we head into the New Year let’s let all the 2010 crud go! Let’s also pick our battles carefully and just lay down the sword whenever possible. Let’s plant flowers as soon as we can hack through the frozen ground without a jackhammer. Let’s turn our faces to the sun, the minute we spot any, and soak up all that vitamin D-3. It’s the big thing. It is supposed to give us dopamine and serotonin and make our endorphins swim through our bodies like pods of happy dolphins! Ignore the 45-SPF sunscreen, it is passé.
     Oh, yes, we hold out great hopes for 2011! Not in the New-Agey, Harmonic-Convergence, tape crystals to your Chakras kind of way, but in the; “Dearest Lord, please send good things, please shine upon us and touch our hearts. Please fill us with your joy, because it is our strength…” Like that! Happy New Year everybody! The wish could not be more heart-felt. In 2011 may all your roses bloom and may all your bread land butter-side-up!  Tonya Willman
©2010

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

*~12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS~* *disgruntled housewife version*

On the First day of Christmas my true love sent to me
A steam-mop and a Snuggie.
On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Two rubber gloves and
A steam-mop and a snuggie.
On the third day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Three shots of gin
Two rubber gloves and
A steam-mop and a Snuggie.
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Four collie turds
Three shots of gin
Two rubber gloves and
A steam-mop and a Snuggie.
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Five old bat wings
Four collie turds
Three shots of gin
Two rubber gloves and
A steam-mop and a Snuggie.
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Six asses braying
Five old bat wings
Four collie turds
Three shots of gin
Two rubber gloves and
A steam-mop and a Snuggie.
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Seven Fords a-leaking
Six asses braying
Five old bat wings
Four collie turds
Three shots of gin
Two rubber gloves and
A steam-mop and a Snuggie.
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Eight brats a-sulking
Seven Fords a-leaking
Six asses braying
Five old bat wings
Four collie turds
Three shots of gin
Two rubber gloves and
A steam-mop and a Snuggie.
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Nine plumbers plumbing
Eight brats a-sulking
Seven Fords a-leaking
Six asses braying
Five old bat wings
Four collie turds
Three shots of gin
Two rubber gloves and
A steam-mop and a Snuggie.
On the tenth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Ten toe-nail clippers
Nine plumbers plumbing
Eight brats a-sulking
Seven Fords a-leaking
Six asses braying
Five old bat wings
Four collie turds
Three shots of gin
Two rubber gloves and
A steam-mop and a Snuggie.

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Eleven loads of laundry
Ten toe-nail clippers
Nine plumbers plumbing
Eight brats a-sulking
Seven Fords a-leaking
Six asses braying
Five old bat wings
Four collie turds
Three shots of gin
Two rubber gloves and
A steam-mop and a Snuggie.
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Twelve Barca- loungers
Eleven loads of laundry
Ten toe-nail clippers
Nine plumbers plumbing
Eight brats a-sulking
Seven Fords a-leaking
Six asses braying
Five old bat wings
Four collie turds
Three shots of gin
Two rubber gloves and
A steam-mop and a Snuggie.
Tonya Willman ©2010

Friday, December 17, 2010

The Essence: “Silver and Gold, have I none…”

Here is the Essence of "Merry Christmas".....1 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; 3 who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. 4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” 5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Then Peter said,"Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” 7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God. 10 Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Acts 3:1-10 (emphasis mine) 
     This passage speaks so much about how we have come to look at Christmas, and what the true meaning actually is. We have come to see it as all about silver and gold. Madly dashing. Hustling and bustling….And commercials that you are so sick of you want to pull and “Elvis” and shoot out the screen, so it is a very good thing you do not own an actual handgun. Thinking pitiful thoughts like: how? How can I cover everybody I need to cover on what I can afford??? How will they know I love them? How will they know I care?...silver and gold I do not have...
    
The absurdity of it must make Jesus weep. Did I fall for it myself this year? Of course I did. I tried not to, but I still did it a little bit. But; I remember clearly standing in an aisle in Target one year with only a certain amount of money in my purse and a long list. I remember crying right there in the aisle. I felt hopeless. Hopeless! How absurd is that??? I have all of the gifts, blessings and riches of my Father’s house at my disposal. I can share the same grace and blessings and power of Christ that Peter and John shared in the scriptures above. The retailers, the jewelers, the car companies, the new-fangled high-tech gadget makers, the marketers; they would all have us believe that they supply the wonder. But there is NO competition. They were filled with wonder and amazement.”(verse 10)….. Hey Madison Avenue, try topping that!
    “Silver and gold I do not have.” But I give you love. And I share with you that the one whose birth we are (supposed to be) celebrating is real. He changes lives. He heals and restores. He loves you. Oh, how He loves you. THAT is the gift. That is the gift He brought to us. We worship Him as the Christ Child in this season, but please remember who He grew up to be and who He is. You don’t know? Are you unsure? Read His word and find out (start with the gospels) who is He really…..
   Well…I want to leave you with one more present. Jesus made the most radical statement in all of history (lots and lots of people ignore it if they can) He said:” I am the Way the Truth and the Life, and NO ONE comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 (all emphasis mine)
     So when we read this we can know that He is not just “a good man” or “a good teacher” as so many claim. Because that is NOT what He claimed. These are the most powerful words ever spoken. So, He is either; mad, a liar, or He is telling the truth. You must decide. Who did the Christ Child become? If He was either mad, or a liar why are you celebrating Him? If He is the Way, the Truth and the Life…then I am extending the greatest gift He gave…… to you! It doesn’t have a bow, but it has bliss, it doesn’t cost me or you a thing, but it cost Him everything. It doesn’t sit under a sparkly tree, but He shed his blood to take our punishment on a tree. It doesn’t have a return receipt. His gift is for all of eternity; you can rest in it, rely upon it and draw peace from it. It has thousands of uses, and it even comes with a beautifully bound handbook that the God of the Universe wrote… (66 books over 1500 years, over 40 authors, *** from many walks of life (i.e. - kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, poets, statesmen, scholars)IN different places (i.e. - wilderness, dungeon, palaces)AT different times (i.e. - war, peace)IN different moods (i.e. - heights of joy, depths of despair)ON three continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe)IN three languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek)***  Each book dovetailing with the next. Each book inspired and God breathed so that they flow together to tell the story of eternity, and your place in it.)How handy is that? Want to know more? Ask Jesus Christ to reveal Himself to you, talk to a Christian friend or email me, I would love to talk to you. OR be all kinds of BOLD and ask Him to forgive your sins and be your Savior right now! Talk about a NEW YEAR!

Merry Christmas!!!
Tonya Willman ©2010
Check out some of these great facts at:

***http://www.allaboutgod.com/
      http://www.christiananswers.net/
      http://www.wayofthemaster.com/
                                                         

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Thank You

As I am building this new site, I realize that all of my slide shows are in sync......hmmm. I like the little slide shows. I can't always control every image that goes into the theme, but no matter. I like all the gadgets and gizmos. I found some more, but they put ads on them. Pffft! So off they came!
It is late and I am sleepily waiting for a pc scan to finish up....(shudd-up all you MAC users!) but I am thinking about all of you out there tonight. My dear friends, old and new. Gold and silver. You are so lovely and shining in my life. I was thinking that I would get myself a 'sad' light this winter because it depresses me so. But I do not believe I will need one. I think the Lord has put you all into my life as my "Sad" light. You just shine to me. Some of you make me laugh so hard I am considering my first depends purchase. And some of you are so profound you make me stand in awe. And then, of course some are both, and you never know when it's coming.
It is like when the light filters down through the trees in the summer, and the breezes bathe me with the scent of the roses and the lilacs. For the first winter in a long time it is not as hard! That is really something. And, I believe that each one of you (and you know who you are) has made that difference. Don't ever think that God does not use your beautiful souls in a million ways!
I know that people joke about Facebook and the other social networking sites, but I believe that they can be used for amazing purposes. The rest we will just have to ignore! (and you know who you are...) *snort*
As a dear friend of mine would say, I love you all to the moon and back. Thank you for supporting this blog. Thank you for making the snow and the slush and the slop easier. If I sit really still and close my eyes...I can feel the golden warmth from each of you flowing around me like a gift from God.

The Return Of The Mad Clicker!

Hello my Fellow Babies! I iz not chompy no more!! My blog iz back, I iz bouncy!!! Seriously, Oh my dear! What a trial, but what a learning experience. Here is what I have learned:
1. I don’t need no stinking ads! I barely made enough to get that bag of groceries I had my
     eye on…..then they took it all back anyway, because apparently I am on-par with a Nazi
    War-Criminal-Ad-Clicker…..which I did not do no-way, no-how, contrary-wise!!!!
2. You DO NOT have to feel humiliated if you didn’t do anything wrong, therefore, I choose not to.

3. I am NOT tech-savvy! I mean I KNEW I wouldn’t get hired on by the Geek Squad anytime soon, but I
    had this tragically naïve idea that I somehow knew what to do with all the HTML’s and RSS’s and wid-
    gets, and Java Script and URL’s and flingies and thingies…..

4. Researching for days, only to find out that; like Dorothy, what you needed was in your own back-
     yard….well, it blows like a hurricane!
5. Having your feelers hurt and your lip all stuck out serves no purpose except to get on the nerves
     of everyone around you. Plus it ticks God off! Do you trust Him or not?
6. I like Blogspot. In fact I LOVE it! It is not their fault. Adsense works with lots of Blog Sites, oh sure
     Google is behind it all, but I believe it was also behind Watergate, the “New” Classic Coke…
     and the Hindenburg Disaster as well. It’s amazing what you find out doing all kinds of research at
     2:00 A.M.
    
7. I must write! I had words falling out everywhere! They were, like, in my pockets and purse and just
     randomly lying on the floor. I found a whole paragraph stuck in my bra. I need to say things; whether
     anyone listens or not. But it is SOOOOO fun to have people listen! It is Divoon! It is like finding a ten
     dollar bill you forgot about in your pocket, or the waitress saying “It’s on us!!!” O.K. I have never
     actually had that one happen, but I bet it would make some happy endorphins flow.

8. Without the ads for AARP, Men’s Speedo banana hammocks, Scientology, trips to the Holy Lands
     (boom baby) and Target holiday specials I have all the room in the world *Snoopy Dance* I can
     put all the widgets and gadgets on here I want!!! I have been like a tot in a toy store!!!! It has been
     ever-so-swell.

9. You MUST spend time looking over every little thing on here. I tried to make it random and eclectic.
     I tried to make it like my posts….”what’s coming next?” “We don’t know!!!” Squeeee!
So finally, my furry little bunnies….I iz so happy! I iz singin’ Happy Birffday songs to Jesus, an some 100 Monkeys stuffs 2!!!!  And I iz NOT chompy no more!!! Merry, golden, beautiful, happy, wonderful Christmas, and God bless us all, everyone…..

Friday, December 3, 2010

THE GARDENER

I have been thinking about the spring. Not trying to rush things, as much as just thinking about the beauteous things that are to come. My husband is the gardener here. He creates an amazing secret garden for me to play in all spring and summer. He is magic with what he does.
   He always begins our spring gardening after the really heavy rains. That is the best time to transplant or pull the weeds up when the ground is saturated. When we grab hold of the dandelions at that time that’s when they just come right out. So smoothly, so little effort on our part, every bit of the root just slips out.
     But as the ground dries out it becomes much more difficult. Lots of times, especially with the tough strong weeds, you can only pull off the top that is showing. But, the root is still there as strong as ever, and will grow another weed just like the one you yanked off.
   That is so much like my walk with the Lord. The weeds are the sins that come up in my life. The saturated ground is like my heart; saturated with the living water of God’s Holy Spirit. When the ground of my heart is saturated with His Spirit and power, the weeds slip out easily. And, if I don’t let them get big, if I catch them before they grow down deep (by His power) they almost pop out
   The bigger the dandelion, the bigger the sin. The longer it has been there the deeper and stronger the root has grown. Sure you can yank the top off, and I might even look tidy and cleaned up. But the Lord is the ultimate gardener. It is His goal to remove every weed/sin as soon as it springs up, because it is so much easier to free the ground of my heart.
    Some sins in my life have been there for years. I have tried so hard, in my own power, to up-root them. But, do you ever see the ground spit the seed out itself? No the ground is simply there to grow whatever has been planted, beauteous flower, delicious food or useless, annoying weed. The ground, as my heart, is merely a receptacle, a holder of the seed, good or bad.
    It really has taken me a life-time to realize that I am not the gardener of my heart. He is my gardener. The wasted years of trying to pull up the weeds myself (no matter how saturated the ground) made it lay fallow, unusable, unfruitful in that particular area of my life. Actually certain sins can grow so deep that they actually have little rootlets and runners. You think a thing is gone in your life. Even with the Lord removing it. But the runner silently grows underneath, side-ways in the ground of my heart and it pops up almost stunning me, because I really think it’s gone. These tricky little rootlets branch off in lots of directions.
     I am not a very good gardener. I go at it all scatter-shot. It takes my knowledgeable husband to keep the garden in order. I have yanked up important things, and accidentally nourished weeds, because they looked interesting at the moment and filled in so nicely. My ignorance is staggering. It is the same in my heart. I must rest in Jesus. I am the ground. He is the gardener. He always plants good seed. Some weeds are tricksters and make a fool of me. I actually nourish the sin along, thinking I am doing a good thing! But my job is to let Him tend this garden of my heart. Let Him pull up what needs to be removed, and water, tend and nourish what needs to grow and mature.
   Oh yes, and there is the pruning. I have been known to prune a plant until it looks like a Charlie Brown stick. I have also begged to leave something growing that I thought looked wild and wonderful, Bill gently reminds me that this plant or that plant is getting away from us…until I have to give in, because even though it is a perfectly nice plant (like my wisteria) it is choking the heck out of the poor lilac bush!
    So I will give my pet wisteria a haircut, but I don’t like it. I always imagine it hurts it… Silly I know, but sometimes it hurts me when God has to prune things from my life for my own good. But it is so important because I can miss the fact that some things are choking others out. But God doesn’t miss a thing. He is patient and kind. He is the Husbandman. He treats the ground of my heart tenderly while He works to make the plants of His choosing flourish. I need to be still under His hands. Soak in the sunlight and the richness and the beauty. I need to seek His grace and the watering of His Spirit every day, to quietly wait and watch as He creates.
    I miss spring and summer. I miss the golden light and the greenness and the vibrant color. But God gardens in my heart every day. It is not seasonal; He will produce rich fruit daily in my life if I will let Him. I have learned two very important things; first, keep the soil well watered with His Spirit through prayer and the word. If the ground dries out, I am in trouble. Second; I cannot pull up the weeds myself, any more than I can produce the delicious fruit on my own. It is Him, not me that does both.
    So how does your garden grow? Sometimes mine is weedy and unproductive. Sometimes it flourishes with beautiful fruit from the seeds the Gardener has planted. Sometimes the soil is rich and well-watered. Other times it is dry and rocky, weeds love this soil and flourish there, tough and stubborn. The good thing is that it is a work in progress. God never gives up. Just as the Garden of Eden will one day be restored to its full beauty, I will also see my heart fully flourishing and producing fruit for its Creator.