Found on the web......

Melted Crayons

by Kimberly B. Southall

"Oh, honey! I told you not to leave crayons in the car," I admonished our son. The box of 16 crayons had melted all over the interior of the plastic lap desk in the summer heat. The result was a brownish mass of wax.

A couple of days later when I set myself to the task of scraping the hardened wax off of the plastic lap desk, I began by prying the cardboard crayon box loose. Curiosity made me study the once melted but now hardened wax. Just an indescribable murky color existed. All the pretty, individual colors were gone. Then I turned the crayon box over and made a fascinating discovery. One crayon hadn't become indistinguishable like the others. On the back of the crayon box, there was an unmistakable large blob of the white crayon. It had melted alright, but it stood alone as the one crayon which could be identified. Interesting, huh?

As I gave more thought to the uniqueness of that single crayon, a passage of scripture popped into my mind which gave me pause for thought: You are the light of the world . . . let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. --Matthew 5:14, 16 (NIV)

Am I like the white crayon when heat is applied? Would others know I'm a Christian by my behavior in times of stress? Or would I be better compared to all of the other crayons which melted into an undistinguishable murky-looking mess?

What about you, fellow Christian? We all will have trials and times of stress when the heat is turned on us. Do we let our lights shine before others for God's glory? Remember the melted crayons.

Etsy

I'm considering opening an Etsy shoppe. Does anyone have a review or tips they would like to share? I would love to hear from you!

I love my sizzler. Really. I do.

I have a Sizzler. He spins, he twirls, he rolls on the floor with the dog. He does cartwheels while eating popsicles, he is a study in motion. He is a trial of my patience. He is the light of my life. Days like today, I turn to the stories section of Sizzle Bop and read...just to hang on. To gain some perspective, and to give us both time to just RELAX.

That's why Sizzle Bop is at the top of my Homeschool--->Favorites List. The following is from the site and is used with permission. (Thanks Carol!)

Why is it called "Sizzle Bop?" The title for this site was an inspiration from my much loved but high energy (and high maintenance) son.

One night several years ago, he came rushing into my room, out of breath, to inform me that something “really serious” had happened. It somehow involved flying pieces of broken light bulb glass and smoke. Fearing an impending fire, I flew to the site of concern. Sure enough, there was a light bulb with a substantial portion missing. I found the offending piece lying almost ten feet from the lamp.

I wondered at the laws of physics that had been at work here when I saw what looked like the remnants of a water drop on a piece of glass. I asked my son if water had been dropped onto the bulb. With very deliberate speech, he said that perhaps…when he had been talking…a piece of saliva...might have been expelled onto the bulb. Why had he been talking to a lamp?…I thought. Then I noticed the desert dry rivulets of previous spit streams that were encrusted upon this defenseless bulb. “Son…?” I called quietly. My incredulous tone betrayed the calm I otherwise possessed. What I’m thinking might have happened here couldn’t really have happened....could it? “Son,” I said again… “have you actually been spitting on this light bulb?”

No answer.
He gave me a very wide-eyed and fearful expression.
Let’s try again.
“Son…why were you spitting on this light bulb?”

I could visualize seventeen or eighteen wheels turning in his head. Finally, the answer I shall never forget emerged. “Because I like the sizzle”

In spite of the very clear dangers, I burst out laughing. (I know that many children go through a saying “NO!” stage. Some go through a biting stage. But no one ever warned me about the “spitting-on-light bulbs-stage”). I think the most revealing part of the story can be summed up in the line “I like the sizzle!”

These kids do indeed like the sizzle. They like to

See the sizzle
Hear the sizzle

and often
BE the sizzle

That is a part of their wonderfulness…and also a part of the challenge in sharing daily ife with them. That sizzle can lead them into wonderful discoveries of humor, earning and experience. But that same desire for sizzle can lead them into difficulties. Our hopes in this group is to limit the difficult side with shared strategies and to more fully celebrate the wonderful side that is so often missed.

And here comes the “Bop” part of Sizzle Bop! There is a daily dance of life that is unique to the shared time with these high energy individuals. In spite of all of their challenges, there is a charged and delightful energy that comes with the package. In our family, we’ve chosen to dance to the music, to join in the bop, instead of trying to turn down the music.

Here I sit

at the public library while the youngster participates in the art program. The sky is cloudy, and lightning flashes in the distance. This business of staying home has got to be the most challenging, invigorating, wonderfully exhausting thing I've ever done.


Son is so intelligent, but he's also quite the handfull. He is a sizzler. Do you know what a sizzler is? I'll let you in on the secret next post. I'll give you a hint, though. If you have a sizzler at home and have yet to find the resource I'm going to review -- you'll cry when you finally see it. I did.