scraps and rambles

2008-01-22T02:30:00.000-06:00

I'VE MOVED...over to Wordpress. I have the same address except it is wordpress instead of blogger. I got tired of having so much trouble putting in photos. I still have to add my Christmas pictures, but when you read my entry, you will at least understand why I've been behind. I hope to be writing more soon but things may be erratic for awhile.

2007-11-27T08:57:00.000-06:00

TEACHING AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS ISN'T EASY...it is a miracle! At least in the area this "old dog" is learning them. God has been working on me in the area of reconciliation and peacemaking in a concentrated way since last September when I attended the PCA Women's International Conference in Atlanta, GA. I had heard about Peacemakers through seminars at General Assembly (our annual denominational time for worship, business...for the ruling and teaching elders...and renewal...seminars for those in ministry...teaching and ruling elders and wives and any type of ministry that would flow out of their responsibilities. As time goes on there is a renewal of friendships with people we have known over the years in different locations. We love it and are always inspired.) ANYWAY, now that you are totally confused by my ramble:) back to my point.

At the Women's Conference, I attended one of Tara Barthel's seminars on reconciliation. I had read her blog some before that and may have even had her book on Peacemaking Women (that she wrote with Judy Dabler) but meeting and hearing her in person was a whole new ballgame...to say the least! It was like the difference between a gloomy day and a sunshiny day:) She was saying all the same things in person that she had said on her blog, but with this cute face, naturally curly hair, puckish smile and funny, lovable, open way about her that completely changed how it came across. (Now when I read her book or blog, I can see her smile and hear her laugh and the intensity level changes.) I was starting to "get" what she was talking about but in the way a person learning a new language is starting to understand parts of the conversation as they learn that language. It was slow going...very slow.

For once, I decided to give myself some time to "learn the language" instead of trying to learn it all at once, "fix" all my relationships that were uncomfortable and move on from there. The first step has been the hardest to learn..."Get the log out of your own eye". When I need to work through a problem with someone, I need to deal with that first! I now realize why. The first time I had to do that, I realized how much it forced me to put myself in the other person's shoes and see the problem from their viewpoint...and feel their hurt. When I sat and thought through things from that point of view rather than my usual "prosecuting attorney's" point of view, I was able to truly empathize with them and even hurt with them over the pain I had caused them.

In some situations, that is more difficult. Then I have to go even deeper to the very foundation of my salvation and remember the great price Christ paid for my sin...and how great that sin is. It is so easy to minimize my sin...as it is my "fault" in messed up relationships...but that usually happens when I compare myself with other people, not Christ. When I see my sin (which I have been seeing more clearly in our recent study of the ten commandments!) for what it is, it is a lot easier to put the failures of others toward me in proper perspective...and forgive them.

So to recap the year+, I have seen God changing this "old dog" for His glory. I have so far to go, but I have started some of the baby steps I have known I needed to take and have appointments for some other baby steps. In this year+, we have seen a Women's Ministry Council developed at our church that is working to develop a broader women's ministry here. We have been studying Peacemaking Women at our monthly meetings and trying to apply it to our lives. Right now, there is a peacemaking issue that we don't know the answer to, that we are praying about...for wisdom and direction...that affects all of us.

During this past year, we were privileged to have Tara speak to our ladies through a delightful providential blessing that brought her to our area despite a full speaking schedule. God used her to bless our ladies and many in the community. Last month, Ron and I had the chance to go to a Peacemaking Pastor's conference in St. Louis that was very helpful as well. The thing that hit me during that weekend was hearing Alfred Poirier and Ken Sande talk and seeing how they do not give up on people. They and their session keep after people who are sinning, with love and hope because they know that the gospel works! That was such an encouragement to me. I think that may be at the heart of why so many of our churches are hesitant to use church discipline. Of course, there is fear of how a person will react or that it will turn them away, but I'm not sure we REALLY believe the gospel "works". We don't really believe that it is the "power of God to salvation" (both now AND later!)

One challenge that Ken Sande threw out a few years ago at a Peacemaking Seminar at General Assembly is a scripture that I have not been able to get away from: "A new command I give you: Love one another....By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." It has nothing to do with keeping certain rules (or not doing certain things); whether we have an icthus fish on our car; what denomination/non-denominational church we attend; how we are baptized. The way Jesus said people will be able to tell that we are His disciples is whether we love each other. Unfortunately, for the vast majority of churches, that is not a word that describes us. Then we wonder why people aren't drawn to attend or be part of our group. There IS a reason. Non-christians are VERY observant in this area of life. This is why the church grew so rapidly in Peter and Paul's day and sadly, it has a lot to do with why it isn't growing so well in the US. Whether we are "old" or not, we need to change our ways. The most important advice I can give is, be sure this change happens from the inside first. It is a change that has been perculating on my mind for a long time. Attitudinal change comes slowly and often imperceptibly. I'm encouraged that it IS coming. When the external change comes in ways people see, the internal change has happened. There is nothing fake or contrived about it. Then when you are in the "talks" of reconciliation and the inside change has happened already, the apology will be real. You can't fake or rehearse those talks because they have to do with the relationship and you don't know what the other person will say or how they truly feel. Obviously, it is all a process and mistakes will be made all along the way. The important thing to do is make sure the changes being made are on the inside first and not just external decorating on a rotten, termite infested house.

To review, (because I need it) the foundation of all reconciliation is based on MY sinfulness compared to a holy God and the great mercy, grace and forgiveness He has shown me when I was in a hopeless position and totally unable to pay Him back. (NOT my goodness compared to this other person who is less good.) In light of my position with God, I can now forgive this person who will never be as indebted to me as I am to God because their debt to me is insignificant by comparison. Of course, I can forgive them even though it may cost me, I can forgive by God's grace. So that is what I am learning over this year+. The act of forgiving/reconciliation is WAY more internal than it is external and it has a lot more to do with my relationship with God than it does the other person...but it does involve them often too.

2007-11-01T07:10:00.000-06:00

HALLOWEEN--EVIL OR HOLY?...I bumped into this very thought-provoking Halloween article from a favorite blog Second Drafts. I learned a lot about its origins that I hadn't heard before. It turns out it was written by someone we even know! Ha! I guess if you live long enough, you get to know a lot of people:)
I'll have to include some cute trick or treaters as well. In case you can't tell, one is a flamingo, the other a robot. Their photos came quickly. I don't have my grandson's yet.

2007-10-21T16:53:00.000-05:00

A STEVE WEEKEND ...is now over. We had a delightful weekend that started Friday night when our future son-in-law arrived from Austin, TX. He had not met Ron yet and originally this was to be the weekend he would meet Ron and ask for Dawn's "hand" (and of course, the rest of her as well:). For those who know the story, he called in September when she was visiting the U.S. to ask then because he wanted to give her the ring rather than wait until Thanksgiving when he will go to Ukraine to visit her. Ron gave them his blessing, but still wanted to meet Steve in person. This was the weekend. We were able to have our calendar fairly free of events to attend and enjoyed getting to know him better. He was able to help me with my resume that I am writing (and thinking through some of the issues I need to think through for that). The weather was beautiful both in temperature (70's) and sunshine. The only missing ingredient was Dawn!

Unfortunately, a number of our friends that we would have liked him to meet were out of town. Oh well, that was the downside, the upside was that we had a fun weekend with an almost family member.

2007-10-21T15:59:00.000-05:00

MY FIRST MEME...I've been tagged by Tara for a meme. Here are the rules: turn to page 161 of the current book you are reading and read the fifth sentence. I am one of a group of people who read more than one book at a time, so I will tell you what I'm reading and why (if there is a reason), then I'll give you the sentence.

The two books I'm reading as I prepare for our Thursday Bible Study are:

1. The Formation of God's People, Israel (from the Adult Biblical Education Series) by Jack B. Scott. (A study of Exodus-Deuteronomy) There are only 142 pages, so I'll quote from that page.

" Moses' warnings to them that they could not ever expect to earn their own righteousness by their works but would surely fail to obey God perfectly, prepared them for broken hearts that would learn to turn to God and to look to Him in faith to provide that need which they had for a new heart that would obey the Lord." (I can hear Tara in the background cheering:)

2. THE UNFOLDING MYSTERY: Discovering Christ in the Old Testament by Edmund P. Clowney. This is a short book following the Old Testament Patriarchs, Moses, David and others and showing how Christ is there (not just in the New Testament). The author pulls so much of Scripture together, it is a joy to read...like seeing a puzzle fall into place.
By taking liberties so this will make sense in its context, this is my quote:

"Will the cry of the Lord's abandoned servant be heard? Yes! After the cry for salvation, David bursts into a vow of praise: I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the congregation I will praise you."

3.This is the book we are reading for our Sunday School class: THE TRUE WOMAN by Susan Hunt. Page 161 doesn't have five sentences. Here is the last one:

"The true woman will unleash her God-given femininity in expressing her love for Jesus with a holy abandon."

4. The last is a book I'm almost finished, but whose author is always very thought-provoking. I took some liberties with this sentence so it would make some sense (sentence 6 makes more sense alone than does sentence five). LEADING WITH A LIMP by Dan Allender.

"We hold on either to what we wish to remember or to what serves us well to recall, and we flee from the parts of our story that most deeply expose and unnerve us."

Here are some of the ones I would like to tag (unlikely that they can fit it in, but it would be fun to hear). Dawn, Holly, Halfpint House/ Megan, Dodo/ Caron, Dawn Treader (if he responds, I'll faint!).

And that's the end of my first meme.

2007-10-17T12:00:00.000-05:00

REALITY CHECK...in many areas lately. I'll mention them in the order they come to mind, not necessarily priority. Maybe as I write, I can make some sense of all of the reality that is clobbering me!

1. I may not be as marketable as I had hoped. (And I wasn't wildly impressed with my marketable skills as a nurse with an eight year hole in my resume`.) I had my first conversation with a nurse recruiter yesterday. Realizing that I present much better in person, I need to learn how to manage this new way of doing job interviews by email/phone. I hate it! If I can call the person when I'm ready to talk, with all my information in front of me, mentally ready, that is fine...but impossible! I put my call in yesterday and 6 hours later, while I was on call waiting for someone in a billing department to take my call, the recruiter's call beeped in. It was late in the day and I knew if I didn't take it then, I was done for until the next day, so I took the call and of course, stuttered around as I looked for my materials and infomation so I could make sense. I had pushed a wrong button and couldn't find a number for the job, so that complicated things more, so I just launched into the other questions I needed to ask her. Basically, I came out of that conversation felling pretty dumb. She sounded very together and knew her "spiel"...and didn't seem to know much about the area of my questions. Somehow, I think that 60+ age on the registration blank, pigeonholes me before she has even seen me. I'm hoping for a better showing this Saturday at another hospital's Open House. We'll see how it goes. Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out how to write up a resume` for the first time in my life! (I have never had to do that before for ANY job.)

2. I'm functioning in the area of my non-spiritual gift for the second year in a row and it is getting to me! There is a lot of improvement. Last year I was working in two areas of non-gift. One area is totally delegated to others who do it sooo much better than I. This year, I'm co-working in an area of non-gift as I co-teach with a woman who is gifted in teaching. The more I work with her, the more sure I am that this is her gift...and it isn't mine. The saving grace for me...and the reason that I'm not more of a failure...is that my gift is exhortation/encouragement. I don't pick out the points as easily as she does...in fact, it is often tortuously difficult for me to see them. They just jump out at her. I've noticed that about my husband too--he is a teacher. My motivation in doing what I'm doing is to encourage people to do what they do well or aren't sure they can do.
The problem with working in my area of non-gift is that it takes so much of my time to that, that I don't have the time to do the "people"/one-on-one work that I need to do to develop a lot of things that have gotten started. I know that others are doing that, but I really miss the contact with people. I am not a cave-dweller and that is what I have to become in order to be prepared to teach on the Thursday nights that I teach.

3. Overall time management, although improving from what it was before I went out of town, is not up to par. I feel like I have a lot of balls in the air and if I'm not careful, I'm going to get hit in the head when they all start to come down. There is no way I'll be able to catch all of them!

4. I'm getting pretty overwhelmed with homesickness as in, I just want to go home! I want to see old friends and be where it is easy to get outside and get the exercise I need. I want to be in my one story house and work in my garden and get my house in order (as tenents keep tearing it up). It is not against people here. I have some good friends here. I just long for long time friends who know my kids and remember things about them and ask how they are...because they know them. I don't know if these feelings are ties to the upcoming wedding or what, but the fun of a wedding is when your friends around you are excited for you and your child (that they know). I guess that is what is missing from this happy time. I'm far from the people who are so happy about this whole event and love to discuss the details.
Well, I think that is about all the "reality" I can handle for now.
I will have to refer to something from my Bible study to encourage my soul so I don't fall into a hole. Actually, I do have something pretty great. We are studying Exodus 19-20 along with Psalm 19. Psalm 19 was talking about general revelation and the Exodus passage talks more about special revelation. One of the writers that I was reading (I think it was Jack Scott) said that in special (or natural) revelation, here is one of the things that happens:
Every morning when the sun comes up, it preaches a sermon. The light of God always triumphs over the darkness!

How is that for a cool picture? It might be enough to make me a morning person...almost:) That might dispel the darkness for today...and remind me that I'm focusing on the wrong "reality".
m

2007-09-20T17:25:00.000-05:00

WELCOME TO A NEW FAMILY MEMBER. No, it's not a new baby coming, but another son-in-law! When we first got our email address, we added the number 8 to our name because that was how many family members we had. With the coming of the last two grandchildren (a month apart), the number jumped to 10 so with Steve joining our family, that will make 11!

He popped the question last night in Austin, TX and got that ring on Dawn's finger just in time for her to go back to Ukraine tomorrow. Over the next few weeks, she will be planning how to smoothly transition out of Ukraine. That will help them know when to set the wedding date. The latest date will be in June (before their next birthdays). Of course, they would like it to be sooner, so we'll see how it all works out. It is interesting that this happened the week of our 39th wedding anniversary...which is tomorrow.

I guess I should tell you a bit more about Steve. He lives in Austin, TX...and has lived there most of his life. He is active at Crosspointe Church...a PCA church in Austin that is located near the YMCA. He is the oldest of three boys. He is 6'3" tall making him the tallest son-in-law marrying the shortest daughter:) He is 39...celebrated his birthday the week he met Dawn in July. (He was with a group from his church that was on a mission trip there. He was praying for a wife...a woman who was strong-willed with a strong spiritual foundation. When he met her, he knew he had found what he was looking for! He plans to go back to Kiev for Thanksgiving and Dawn was already planning to come to the US for Christmas. She had delayed her HMA (furlough) until May.

They are looking forward to God continuing to guide them in the weeks and months ahead. Our prayers are with them as well.

For more from Dawn, click here http://dawn.covblogs.com/archives/022231.html

2007-09-08T08:12:00.000-05:00

HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN…there is nothing like home! I can’t believe I’ve been home a week now. I’m almost caught up on my rest. The laundry is caught up. I have almost everything put away from the trip. (Car travel is not efficient when it come to how much you take with you! The cleaning isn’t. I’m mostly out of my daze. I’m so NOT back into my routine.
I will definitely have to boogie from now on because this coming Thursday, we will be leaving for Columbia, SC for a college reunion of mine. I didn’t graduate with this group, but I started with them. Back then, it was called Columbia Bible College but it’s “new” name is Columbia International University. I attended for 1 ½ years before going to nurses’ training in Philadelphia, PA. (I planned to go 2 yrs. but because of some course changes they made, the funky load I was taking and course conflicts that second semester of my last year, I couldn’t take enough courses to make staying there worth the expense. I dropped out, lived with my grandparents and worked. It was good preparation for me for the real world that I would run into in nursing.) But that is another story/rambleJ
This morning, since I had another unwanted early wakeup, I got my homework for Sunday School done. After I write this, I plan to finish my last hour of my last continuing ed course for my TX license. Hopefully, my certificate will arrive in the mail today and I will be able to get my paperwork for the TX license in order by Monday or Tuesday at the latest. I also have homework for a Tuesday evening meeting that will meet in my home (that also means some houseworkJ after that, I’ll get the packing done for us to leave the house about 4 AM on Thursday for a 5:59AM flight out of Bloomington (about an hour away). I expect the week to go by VERY rapidly.
In the middle of all of this activity, there is a LOT of thinking going on which is not being reflected in my blog. By the time I get my thinking on paper, I like it to have some order/sense to it. Right now, it is not making a lot of sense to me or anyone who would even try to read what I would try to write. It is easy to write what is happening. It is very difficult to write what is going on in my head in this year that my mother has died, that I have been mostly alone for three weeks, visited a few old friends who are going through some hard times right now (in different areas), and am pondering/trying to discuss some important decisions to be made.
I am also struggling with spiritual issues that I sometimes feel I’m hitting a wall on. Do you ever feel like you keep failing in the same ways over and over and what’s the use of trying anymore? I feel very useless to God (in many ways that is probably NOT a bad place to be). I even have some days where I feel that I am failing in areas I thought were resolved long ago. That is VERY discouraging! So there you have the tip of the iceberg. I got a glimmer of hope from my prep for Sunday School tomorrow. Maybe there will be more encouragement because right now I could use a little in this realm of life. I’m tired of feeling so down. And on that cheerful note, I’ll close so I don’t drag you down with me.

2007-08-26T16:49:00.000-05:00

AND ONE MORE WORD...about my visit in Dallas. (I had numerous interruptions when I was writing my last blog that resulted in my blog being deleted and my having to start over again!) One thought train that got derailed in that process that I want to be sure to get back on track has to do with a special group of new friends I have made during this visit. They include a number of 30ish singles who include my hostess, they are mostly from the Veritas Sunday School class of Park Cities Presbyterian Church. They are a special group of mostly professional young men and women who love Christ. If your view of singles in this age group is a bunch of misfits, you have a very dated caricature in your mind. That does not describe this group at all! The women are lovely, the men are delightful. They are working with the children in their church on Sundays, helping during the week in a downtown mission, going on mission trips and generally ministering along with many others in their church for Christ and His kingdom. I have been very privileged to get to know some of them a little better on Sunday noons at lunch. My hat is off to these delightful men and women that I have met. I hope some of them can get together...if that would provide a good match! Meanwhile, I'm glad they have each other for some great friendships. Thank you again group for your friendliness and hospitality:)

2007-08-26T14:33:00.000-05:00

TWO WEEKS DOWN, ONE TO GO...before I head for home. I'm so ready to get home. It's not because this has been unpleasant, but because I'm far away from home and too far from friends to be able to drop in after work! I know a few people in the Dallas area, but they either live far from where I'm staying or I don't know them well enough to just "drop in". Here is what I've been doing.
WEEK ONE--This week I spent in classes from 9 AM to 3 PM in Plano, TX (about 20 miles north of here). The review was very helpful and the notebook was a great resource. It also gave a lot of information that is available on the internet for which I am very glad.
WEEK TWO--This week was my first clinical week. One of the hardest things about it is the hours! I am a night owl and getting up at 4:30 AM is not easy for me. The early rising is really not as difficult as the early going to bed. That is about the time my brain is starting to revive from the day:) Anyway, my schedule is 5:45-2:15 PM for work. That will continue this coming week. I have enjoyed the people I have worked with. They do a hard job under difficult conditions and they genuinely care for their patients. When you are dealing with patients with memory problems, multiple health issues and in some cases, non-compliance, it is quite difficult to help them AND keep their families happy. Not every nurse who is competent and cares about her patients stays calm when attacked by the family by phone, that she isn't doing her job. As I said, it is a difficult job....often impossible.

My plans are to pack the car on Thursday nite and head for work on Friday with a full car, ready to leave after work so I can get on the road (and beat the worst of the Dallas rush) and out of TX. I hope to get about 4 hrs. down the road (McAlester, OK?) b/f stopping for the night. Then I plan to get at least to the IL side of St. Louis on Saturday so I will be able to get to church at least, on Sunday. It will be nice to be home! I have enjoyed the hospitality I have had here. About that I have not one complaint! I just want to be home. I am weary.

My extracurricular activities here have been the following: a weekend trip to Tyler last weekend to visit a few old friends and catch up with them. Of course there wasn't enough time to do all I wanted to do, but that is normal. I had three people I needed to see and I got to see them plus visit a good friend whose husband passed away that week. They had been married 63 yrs. I can't even imagine being married that long. They adored each other and it showed. It was a privilege to be able to visit with her. I also was able to worship at Fifth St. Presbyterian Church. It was our home church for 16 years and it was so nice to see many old friends even if it was for such a short time. I also ate dinner with some friends from our Old Cutler years during my week in Plano. Yesterday, I trotted (by car) down to Waco to meet Dawn's beau Steve. We met for lunch and talked and talked...mostly about her of course, but also about him and his family. It was nice to get to meet him in person. I guess I know why I'm weary. This three weeks has been very busy. It is time for me to sign off and take my Sunday Afternoon Nap!

2007-08-21T20:43:00.000-05:00

I thought you might enjoy the following link...especially if you are feeling either run-down or run-over. I'm sorry I can't give credit to the blog I got it from but I have forgotten. My guess is
Palm Tree Pundit (that's it!).

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Reverend Countess Martha the Encompassing of Bumpstead under Carpet
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Here is my other title:

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Her Exalted Highness Duchess Martha the Amicable of Colquhoun St Cahoon
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Very Lord Ron the Kind of Withering by the Wold
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

2007-08-11T22:38:00.000-05:00

ON THE ROAD-DAY TWO…After my “long” 2 hour doze, I woke up and got moving and on with my day. I was focused and headed for Texas! On the way to breakfast, I put some of my things in the car. At breakfast, one family was from Carrollton, a suburb of Dallas. They were on their way to visit family in Indiana. When I told them that I had lived in Tyler, they knew of it because of Pine Cove, where they had gone for family camp (and where two of our daughters worked).
Today seemed to go much faster than yesterday. One reason is because I stopped less often. Yesterday, I felt I had to stop at rest stops because they were there and I didn’t know when the next one would come along. Today, I spent most of the time on 69 which goes through towns so you can stop when you need to. You also need to slow down for each town, so once I got going, I didn’t want to stop! I tended to go in 2 hour segments today and that worked much better. It also worked better to leave before 8 AM. One larger town I went through, I think it was McAlester, OK, was before a lot of very small ones and I wanted to see if I could make it to TX before stopping for lunch. I got a milkshake at about 10 AM to hold me and I did fine until about 1 PM when I stopped in Sherman, TX for lunch. I had one disc to go when I hit Dallas traffic and was needing to follow specific directions to get to where I am staying. It is now night and I still don’t know how my book ends. They are in court and a whole bunch of things are resting on this case. When I find where I put my earphones, I’ll listen to it. I arrived here safely at about 4 PM after one minor wrong turn in Dallas and about an hour lunch break and stroll in Sherman.
This evening I have spent my time settling in, putting things away, showering, washing hair, eating supper and just generally R-E-L-A-X-I-N-G! I have been wound pretty tight getting ready for this few weeks and it feels pretty good to be here…in one piece…with no responsibilities…for a few minutes. What has been forgotten, is forgotten. (So far, that is all my jewelry that I don’t wear all the time.) Aside from the boredom of it, I could do worse. I seem to have the really important things like medications, forms for work and uniforms. So now I am ready to go to bed and sleep. Good night to all.

2007-08-11T22:07:00.000-05:00

ON THE ROAD-DAY ONE…I have completed the first 450+ miles of my 800 mile trip to Dallas, TX from IL. It is an adventure of sorts. I have never driven this far alone. I’m not the one in the family who likes to drive. Since Ron loves to drive, the most I’ve ever done is an hour or two here or there when he got tired. The day went much better than I expected today (Friday). Of course, I have been planning for it for weeks! I had the car stocked with audio books and miscellaneous CD’s. For starters, I listened to Romans…yes, the whole book of Romans! Something hit me on chapter 4:15. Hearing it made it more powerful. “…but where there is no law there is no transgression.” I realized that the reason people want “no laws” is not because they just want to “be free”, it is because God has put inside each of us a realization that our hearts aren’t right (see Romans 1-2) and He has revealed enough about Himself that no one is without excuse before Him if they have rejected Him. The problem isn’t laws, it is our hearts. The laws show us that we are sinners in need of a Savior. Our hearts tell us there is a God but we want to run the opposite direction. How wonderful that God intervened (5:8) by showing His love for us “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And that was where one of my rambly thoughts went for the first hour!

After that I listened to an audiobook called I Wish You Well (dont have the author handy right now). I didn’t finish it today, but enjoyed it a lot. It was set in the mountains of Virginia, not far from where my mother grew up, in the 1940’s. The characters are interesting with a lot of “real life”action. Actually, it is harder than real life. A lot of sad things happen, but there is also plenty of humor and beauty as well. It is the kind of fiction I like…about real people. It could easily be a biography of someone growing up in that area in that time period. I’m looking forward to tomorrow and hearing “the rest of the story”.

My plan was to travel more than half way the first day and Joplin, MO was more than half way. On top of that, there weren’t many large towns after that over the border in OK, so Joplin looked like the best place to stop. Ron made the reservation for me at the Super 8 there. I wouldn’t recommend it. It wasn’t so awful that I felt my health would suffer for staying there or I feared for my life during the night, but it was borderline. I think the bedspread was the oldest, shabbiest bedspread I’ve seen in a motel in a long, long time! I kept my valuables with me. My problem is I have certain areas where I am sort of tight. When I am just spending the night and not using any amenities, I hate to pay for them at a nice motel even though I do enjoy them. I took a sleeping pill so I would sleep really well during the night. I woke up at 2:30 AM and didn’t get back to sleep until about 5 AM! That is the story of Friday (great!) and Friday night (Ugh!).

2007-07-29T00:40:00.000-05:00

SIXTEEN HOURS DOWN, FOUR TO GO...I finished my long continuing ed (CEU) course today that was worth 16 hours toward my 20 CEU's that have to be done in addition to my RN refresher course. I felt like I had really accomplished something when I printed up that certificate this afternoon! The nice thing was that I didn't fit the category of the slowest to finish taking the course either. The course was on the Psychosocial Needs of the Older Adult. They made the point that forgetfulness is a natural part of aging and is not necessarily a sign that you are or will be getting one of the dementia diseases. It is natural for your brain to process at a slower rate. I kept being afraid it would take me a really long time to get through this course, but it took about 11 hours. That was the next to fastest choice in the group they gave. What a relief! I do know that my attention span is not nearly as good as it once was. I have to back up and reread things that I didn't before. It is humbling to have limitations that were never there before, but a relief to know that they aren't worse. A few years ago I would never have believed I would be able to do this.

Now I am up later than I should be on a Saturday night so I had better get to bed soon...and to sleep. My next few weeks are not heavily booked. I'm trying to think of the people I need to have lunch with before I leave town...and meet with them so we are caught up with each other. Three weeks is a long time to be gone. Adieu for now.

2007-07-27T11:35:00.000-05:00

NEED A LIFT?...Here's a great sermon I downloaded from a favorite preacher of mine--Joe Novenson--from July 8 while he was visiting at Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas, TX. If you like what you hear, there is more where that came from at the church where he is pastor--Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church, Lookout Mountain, TN (I think. It is close to the border of GA, but I think it is in TN) It is near Chattanooga, TN. His illustrations are so graphic, they really help me "get" the gospel! Here is the link: http://pcpcsermons.org/
today it is very convenient to get to. after Sun., it will be in the archives.

2007-07-27T08:44:00.000-05:00

I ALMOST FEEL COOL...I'm sitting on the couch typing my blog on my new laptop computer (with Windows Vista...not a Mac), listening to Pandora radio (never mind that it is Josh Groban and Il Divo) finishing my morning yogurt (laced with bran). So the truth is that I'm not really all that cool. :) I just feel that way because I somehow have learned to function on a computer (when it does NOT come naturally). I have learned how to navigate on the internet now and can actually find information that I need. Now, I am enjoying this lovely music.

But just to show how totally uncool I really am, when I was in Best Buy a few days ago to get something tweaked on my new computer that wasn't broken after all, I was asking about a mouse...where they were in the store. My mind went blank on what they were called. All I could think of was turtle or frog:) I was describing what I wanted and told them the words turtle and frog (knowing they weren't the right words). When they realized I was talking about a mouse, it was all they could do to keep from bursting out laughing. Aren't brains weird? I know it isn't just mine. ha!

I'm almost done with my first online course. It is for 16 continuing education units (CEU's) to fulfill the needed 20 required in addition to my RN refresher course that I will be taking in August. It is a very interesting course on Psychosocial Needs of the Aging. I am seeing all kinds of applications to people in my church as well as the two aging adults in our house:) It covers a lot of helpful information re what is normal in terms of memory/forgetfulness, mental status (depression, etc.) as well as a lot of tangible ideas for help in many of the areas affected by the problems of aging...some the result of "maladaptive lifestyle coping choices" made throughout their lives. (Don't you just love semantics? They make horrible things sound so normal. Or to put it another way, they can make insanity sound sane when it is anything but!) That can cover all of us! Whether it is in the areas of lifestyle (alcohol, drug abuse), not having a broadspectrum of friendships in all ages, eating too much or simply not asking for help when you are feeling overwhelmed because you think you should be able to cope.

The one about friendships was really interesting. I see that a lot when women (who statistically outlive their men, often stick with their own age group. At a time when they need their close friends, they are sick or dying as well. Often when they need a good support system, they have no close friends left...and don't even know how to relate to people outside of their age group. (That's where the genius of passages like Titus 2 are so helpful. If we have had a lifestyle of spiritual mentoring throughout our lives, we will have learned how to relate to a variety of ages...and will have close friends across age lines.) How many times have we found that obedience to God's commands is really for our benenfit? This is another one of those times when my nursing courses have helped me with my church ministry. I'm glad to be getting back in the saddle again.

Well, I won't ramble on re the outworkings of this interesting course. I know it will be helpful in real life as well as in relating to many patients. Today, I plan to do a few errands. Then return to my course. I'm almost done! It will be so nice to have 16 CEU's done!! I hope your summer is going well. Mine is almost over. I have all my paperwork done for my trip. The books I want/need are arriving this week. Uniforms are washed and ready. Papers are in a folder. I'm as ready as I can be...for Aug. 10. My last minute trip will be one to the library for a batch of audio books...to keep me awake for the drive. Adieu for now.

2007-07-05T20:33:00.000-05:00

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY...I've been so busy since I got home from General Assembly that I haven't had much time to blog. I decided to take some time right now to do it. Before I forget, I have to tell about something funny, not hilarious, that happened while I was there:)

On Thursday of the that week, we went to a women's activity--lunch and fun "seminars" at Independent Presbyterian Church. One of the seminars was called--"Shop Your Closet" and was led by Alexis Ketchum (I hope I spelled everything right) from Franklin, TN. (She goes to the same church as one of my daughters so I don't want to mess up the information.) It was a great seminar--interesting, funny, enjoyable and helpful. I learned a lot. One thing I learned was that we all can wear belts:) I'll bet you didn't know that did you? Well, she demonstrated it for the cynics in the group (moi) and sure enough! Of course, she is thin as a rail, but she said that if you have a tummy, get a wide belt with a big buckle and don't buckle it tight at your waist, let it sit where it is comfortable (and you don't have to keep adjusting it). Then wear it a little loose so it is almost like a V (not that deep) and the buckle "hides" your belly/bulge and the angle of the belt sort of camouflages it. She showed both ways of wearing the belt and her way worked...don't ask me why...or at least all the reasons why. So since G.A. I have been trying on belts when I walk through stores to see how they look/fit. One of these days I may get brave enough to buy one:) A few of my friends and I were joking afterward that if we all come to G.A. next year and a lot of the ladies are wearing belts, we'll know we have Alexis to thank for her influence on all of us:) She had a lot of helpful stuff on putting clothing capsules together and mix and matching things that you aren't used to mixing as well as looking to see what you need to finish off your wardrobe to make it stretch with less clothes. (How to get the most from your clothing dollar.) I'm glad I went.

Since I returned from G.A., I have been working on sorting and getting rid of a lot of stuff here. I'm getting tired of having a lot of things I can't find a place for and decided that this was the summer to do something about it. My daughters have gotten the help of an organizer for me and I look forward to her coming on Wednesday so she can help me out the quandry of where do I start? in some areas.

Meanwhile, we got started working on retirement plans again for down the road and one of the bug-a-boos is my insurance. Due to my youth (the guffaws can stop now), I will not qualify for medicare until age 65 or 66 and that is about 5 more years. I have just enough health issues that I can't go that amount of time without insurance. So the thought of reactivating my RN license came back to my mind and I started investigating what would actually be involved. Since I haven't worked for more than four years, I will have to get an RN refresher course that would qualify for the state of TX. Tracking down all the leads led me to a program that involves three weeks in the Dallas area (most of August) where I can take the course AND do the clinicals. Now I am up to my ears in paperwork, getting ready for all that has to be done between the Board of Nurse Examiners in TX (for my temporary license), checking on airline tickets and on and on. My brain is a bit fogged. I've gotten most of the important wheels in motion. My study materials are in the mail. By tomorrow, most of my forms should be signed, notarized and on their way. Next week, I'll get my CPR card updated (with the required course) and then I'll just be waiting for replies from everyone...with plenty to do in the meantime. Hopefully, all the details will get worked out such as...should I drive and use our car or fly and rent a car? find a place to stay with someone or stay in a motel with my odd hours...at a high cost? (my shift will be 6 AM-2 PM for the clinicals) There are a LOT of decisions to make and I don't have the wisdom to make them all...nor does Ron. Fortunately, I can depend on Christ for that, but I also will have to slow down and be quiet long enough to listen...not my strength. I need prayer.

2007-07-02T10:06:00.000-05:00

HOW DO YOU PROCESS YOUR POLITICAL BELIEFS?...Are you in your 20's or 30's? Do you have connections with the PCA? Then Craig Dunham at this blog would like to hear from you this week! http://seconddrafts.wordpress.com/2007/07/02/studying-the-body-politic/#respond

He is doing research on an article for a PCA magazine and is wanting information from people like you. He is trying to get to the heart of how people in your/his age group process their beliefs when making political decisions. Look at his blog and see what he is trying to do. He explains himself much better than I can:) I've read some of his articles before and they are rarely predictable...which I like.

Of course, I'm dying to give my opinion, but I didn't make the age cut...drat!

This is a very interesting read. It's not too late to get your comments in. He is adding questions each day this week. I've enjoyed reading it...very thought-provoking. You are sure to find things you will agree AND disagree with. You don't have to be PCA to enter your comments. m

2007-06-29T13:04:00.000-05:00

I'M FEELING LIKE THE BOUNCING BALL THAT LANDED WITH A THUD...I've been home more than a week now from Memphis and Franklin and still feel like I will never catch up around here! I think that two weeks away out of the month of May plus VBS plus a women's event was too much. My brain feels totally scrambled and I can't seem to get any organized thoughts moving in my head. Well, just a few, but not enough to do me any good.
Last weekend I got some gardening gaps filled so our tiny yard would look good for the remainder of the summer. I still don't know if all the plants are in the right location for the amount of sun they will get but the timing worked out great last weekend. It was cool AND rainy so the plants hardly even drooped after being replanted.
I'm doing a little work in the house, but the debris seems to be multiplying before my eyes. When my brain gets mushy like this, I have a much harder time going through stuff and knowing what to do with it.
Yesterday was a great break. I went to Bloomington (about an hour away) and met a new friend for lunch at Panera bread. I was supposed to help her but I think the visit helped me more than it helped her. I listened to some CD's on the way (that Tara Barthel was getting rid of on her blog one day) and they were JUST what I needed. They were from the WIC Women's Leadership Training Conference this past March (I think...or 2005). Barbara Juliani's talk on the Heart of a Teacher was really great. One thing she said that I needed to hear was that prayer is how we let God know that we have nothing to offer Him and we can't do anything on our own...expecially the christian life! (not a direct quote...it is a blend of her quote and how I processed it.) That really got me. Even though I know I can't do it on my own, it is only intellectual knowledge based on my actual prayer life. Her words were very convicting and very true! I think I needed the drive to listen to the CD's. The lunch and fellowship with another pastor's wife was pure gravy:)
Today, we will be going to a baseball game! We really aren't great baseball fans...especially me:) The local team is the Peoria Chiefs. It is now a Chicago Cubs farm team. That has changed since we have been here I think, but that is the way it is now. In the local competition between the two teams--Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals--things can get pretty lively. Some families can get divided over loyalty to the teams. If I had to choose, my choice would be in the direction of the Cards, but we'll go and sweat tonite with a group at this game and enjoy it. i'll end of visiting with people and miss most of what happens on the field:) I just don't know enough about baseball strategy to stay riveted on the game. Besides, it moves ever so slowly.
Since the bouncing ball has bounced from topic to topic, I'd better stop for now...and eat lunch:)

It was almost a shut-out. Peoria won 9-1 I think. At the last minute, the other team made a run. I think they were from Iowa. It was a fun evening and the weather was great. I needed a jacket!

2007-06-10T08:52:00.000-05:00

OUR NEXT DESTINATION...MEMPHIS, TN...that's right, we're headed to the Presbyterian Church in America's (now do you know why we usually use the initials PCA?) General Assembly tomorrow. For Ron, as a teaching elder, it is a week of meetings...listening to reports of committees, doing business of the denomination mixed with prayer and worship. He actually enjoys it. He enjoys hearing what God is doing in the Missions arm, the church planting arm, the Christian Education arm, etc. of the denomination. He runs into all kinds of people that he has worked with over the years in other churches, presbyteries at the presbytery level and sometimes on the mission field when we were working with a "faith" mission. We have friends that we see almost every year that we get to catch up with and people we never expect to see. It is always an interesting week from many perspectives. There is usually some big theological issue that is being hashed out on the floor. This year is no exception. There is a big study paper on a topic that I still don't know if I understand. The exciting thing is that here the issues are related to "What does God's Word have to say about this?". We served in another presbyterian denomination before this one was started and in many discussions, that was not the starting point. It became more and more frustrating. We still often have disagreements but at least we DO agree on our starting point. Often if things get tense on the floor, the moderator will take time out for prayer or singing of a hymn or two to change the focus. Have you ever heard a room full of about 1300+ men heartily singing hymns? There is nothing like it to warm your soul!
For the women, there are seminars, some luncheons, special speakers and the main gigantic book table that we can pore over for resources and booths from a variety of organizations (further resources). Some women watch the proceedings from the visitor's section. (That just doesn't happen to be my forte.) I find it very refreshing for me. It "fills my cup" and energizes me to go back home. I often have people I am looking up to get further information on certain topics where I need more help.
In the evenings--Tuesday through Thursday--there are wonderful worship services. Depending on the presbytery where General Assembly is held, the worship services are quite different. Usually they have a more traditional night, a more contemporary night and a more mixed night, but not always. The congregational singing is always fantastic. It is weighted more heavily male and they really sing. Some raise their hands in worship, some don't. I love that we don't all do it the same. I love that we have not thrown out the old hymns. Some of our people are putting new tunes to some of the old ones. Some I like, some I don't. I guess that's the way it is with changes. The evening worship services are a highlight. We have some wonderful preaching--sometimes well-known men, sometimes not.
Can you tell that I love to go to General Assembly. It is a wonderful week for both of us...for different reasons. We look forward to this week as well. At the end of the week, we'll take a few days in Franklin, TN with our daughter and her family there. Then we will head home with the books and information we have gathered and try to put it into practice:)

2007-06-04T23:09:00.000-05:00

I'M PLAYING CATCH-UP AGAIN...hopefully, you'll bear with me over the next few days as I catch up on my blog with all the activities of the past few weeks.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS CAROLINE...our oldest granddaughter turned four on May 25. Her aunt in Ukraine even found her a crown:) I had to show you some photos. This was taken on her birthday when we went to visit her G.G. (great-grandmother--she has 2 in Seattle). The birthday party was the next day. What could be more fun than having a bunch of friends over to a gymnastics gym for a birthday party? After the kids jumped and played and bounced around there, they came into the party room that we had set up and had pizza, cupcakes and drinks. Of course, there were lots of balloons and best of all, a pinata. (That family tradition started at her parents' wedding reception.) When the kids finally broke it open, there was lots of candy and a bunch of finger puppets too. I think the kids had a lot of fun as well as the parents.

SPEAKING OF BIRTHDAYS, QUINN turned one on April 30. I have a photo of that too but can't get to it. I guess I'll just have to use one from Caroline's birthday weekend. Quinn is running all over the place, says a few words and is trying to keep up with big sister. I'm not sure she realizes she is a little kid.

I'd better quit while I have two photos in place safely.

2007-06-02T12:01:00.000-05:00

TARA BARTHEL VISITS HANNA CITY, IL...I guess if you are going for an amazing news headline, that is ours. Now for the photo to accompany it. Whoops! Your absent-minded photographer was not as alert as she thought on the day of the seminar! I took the camera with me to the church, I looked at Tara's photos of her family, we talked about blogs, etc. Do you think that even once, it crossed my mind to take a picture? NO, not even one time! When I got home, much later that evening, after a nap, I remembered my ditz-headedness. So there will be no photos of the event...no not even ONE. That is how I know that I was even more dazed than I realized from my trip. So Megan, of Halfpint House, you don't ever have to feel inferior around me:) (Actually, I can give you about 50,000 reasons why you wouldn't have to, but we won't even go there.)
I'm looking forward to talking more to our ladies tomorrow, but the ones I talked to on Wednesday...or have heard from...have been so encouraged by Tara's talk on the Four G's of Biblical Conflict Resolution. (See the Peacemaker pamphlet from Peacemaker Ministries.) One lady from a nearby church told me she was so grateful we had told her about Tara. (We put an ad in the local paper that goes to a lot of the small towns around here.) Another older lady who was once a member of our church, wrote me a letter to thank us for having Tara. This is not to glorify Tara, but to glorify the Lord. The message of the gospel that was presented by Tara with the emphasis on God's grace, love and mercy is one that is not heard around here much. I don't believe that these christians would ever say that they are working their way to heaven, but the many live as if their salvation rests functionally on their performance and they get so disheartened. This presentation reminding us of how much God has forgiven us in Christ, how we are to forgive others, not motivated by guilt, but because of the grace that has been shown to us was like putting salve on wounded hearts. Her personal illustrations and honesty touched people where they live. I know God was there and trust that it was the beginning of a special work he will do in all of our hearts...starting with me. We are grateful to both Tara and her friend for the sacrifice of most of the day (plus preparation) that it took for her to be with us. It meant a lot.

2007-06-02T11:10:00.000-05:00

HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN...after a week away, we arrived home late Tuesday night from Seattle after a very crazy day! I HAD to be home in time for Wednesday morning the 30th. We have been planning a ladies' seminar with Tara Barthel for weeks. When we first knew about it, we thought it would be later in the summer, so I got our tickets for Seattle with the coupon that gives a major discount before June 1. AFTER the tickets were purchased, we got the final dates for the seminar--May 30...the day after I would arrive home. Since that was the best date for everyone else, I knew it was possible to do it. I don't have children and their schedules to deal with. So of course, the problem to manage (which was totally out of my control) was the plane scheduling.

Our flight was Seattle to Dallas, Dallas to Peoria. It was scheduled to leave at 12 noon. We were loaded on the plane and at 1 PM we were told that the minor hydraulic problem was a major one that would cause, at best a major delay and at worse, a cancelled flight. By the time we were off the plane, there was a long line of people waiting to get rerouted. My husband stood in line while I checked the board for the next flight to Chicago. It was leaving at 1:25 PM. Since their line only had two people in it, I got in that one and happily, there were two seats on the plane to accomodate us. I motioned to my husband to come over, we showed our ID and we were good to go. The agent warned us that we would not have good seats and we would not have our checked luggage. I told him that was the least of my worries. I needed to get home!

We got to Chicago an hour later than our original plan and the flight from Chicago to Peoria that is often cancelled, wasn't. We got in about an hour later than the flight from Dallas was supposed to get there, but WE GOT HOME! By the time I got some things typed into my computer for Wednesday and had my things all lined up for the morning, it was 1 AM. I slept well and our day with Tara went very well. More on that later. TO GOD BE THE GLORY! (I don't say that tritely because we were praying to get home on time for Wednesday and others were too.)

2007-06-02T10:49:00.000-05:00

SEE THE FOLLOWING ARCHIVED BOOK LIST. I'M JUST GETTING AROUND TO UPDATING IT! Between my mom's death in March, burial in May and the Bible study preparations and meetings in between, I have not had time to catch up on this TBR reading challenge. The other goof I made was in having way too many books on depression and I just was not up to wading through them all. I'm entering my prime reading time now with recent traveling (where I finished one book) and car traveling where I'll probably finish a few more partially done ones.

TBR CHALLENGE! I'VE ENTERED A CHALLENGE FOR 2007 (TO BE READ) TO COMPLETE A BOOK A MONTH...of my choosing, that I've been wanting to read for awhile. The TBR Challenge is here. It wasn't hard to find 12 books I've been wanting to read. Unfortunately, none of them are fiction...or even light reading! I'm WAY behind in NEED TO reading. If I keep up with the challenge, there is a CHANCE that I could win a prize during a drawing in month 3 or 6. Knowing my past history, I won't hold my breath:) Here's my list:

Getting Over the Blues-Leslie Vernick
Depression: A Stubborn Darkness-Edward Welch
Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave-Edward Welch
Perfecting Ourselves to Death-Richard Winter
Real Love for Real Life-Andi Ashworth
~~To Be Told~~-Dan Allender-Great! very helpful in sorting thro' floods of memories. MAY
When I Don't Desire God-John Piper
Simplify Your Time-Marcia Ramsland
Too Small to Ignore-Wess Stafford
Each for the Other-Bryan Chapell
The Way We work-Cynthia Tobias
His Word in my Heart-Janet Pope

Alternates:

Women Helping Women-Ellyse Fitzpatrick/Carol Cornish
Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace?-James M. Boice
Holiness by Grace-Bryan Chapell
The Proper Care and Feeding of Marriage-Laura Schlessinger
War of Words-Paul Tripp
The Second Half of Marriage-David and Claudia Arp
for balance, I must choose some fiction!...and here are my final additions to the list.
~~Miss Julia Hits the Road~~-Ann B. Ross-funny espec. if you have lived in the south.JA
~~Losing My Mind~~-Thomas DiBaggio-1st person view of Alzheimer's by atheist-gloomyJA
Cry, the Beloved Country- Alan Paton-couldn't get into it. quit.
Whose Body?-Dorothy Sayers
Under the Overpass-Mike Yankowski
Winesburg, Ohio-Sherwood Anderson
Till We Have Faces-C.S. Lewis
Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down-Marva Dawn
either Windows to the World; Triumphs of the Imagination; or Realms of Gold-Leland Ryken

So there you have it. I plan to read 12 of these books this year. I hope I make it. I've been wanting to read some of these books for a few years!! It's time I do it.

One thing that tends to spur me on to action is a need--either mine, that of someone close to me or someone for whom I feel responsible. All go together to motivate me to get the depression books read. Just today, someone I know was taken to the hospital and most likely admitted for a related problem. I need to have a better handle on how to minister to people (frequently women) who struggle in this area. It is very common and is NOT a simple one to deal with. Some of the other books are for personal growth. It would be fun to read a good fiction book. I'll check around and see what I can find to add to the alternative list. I would hate to be off-balance:) (For those who know me, you can keep the sarcastic comments to yourself!) I'd better move along and try to finish this blog so I can get the photo in that I wanted to put into my Christmas blog, so I can enter that one! This traveling (and the sickness that often comes with it!) puts me so far behind. I'll say adieu for now as we start 2007.

2007-05-01T12:51:00.000-05:00

COMING ATTRACTION...and she will kill me for saying this--Tara Barthel. She is coming the end of this month to speak in little Hanna City. How exciting is that? When we were at the Presbyterian Church in America Women's International Conference last fall and heard Tara speak, something in my head (the Holy Spirit?) said, "People in your area would listen to this lady. She has the right accent." It's true that we have a lot of speakers in our denomination with southern accents. Of course, I know that when people speak from God's Word, He is always able to get His truth across to us. I just find that often there are "silly" things that get in the way, like accents, lifestyles that people can't identify with, and on and on. Here was someone who told it like it was, in the right accent:) I barely dared to pray that Tara would be able to speak at our church...SOON. I'm sad to say that I was not full of faith that moves mountains. I probably prayed it once or twice and left it on the back burner. After all, her speaking schedule was full for two years ahead! Maybe it would take our church that long before we were really ready for what she had to say.

I kept reading her blog, praying and starting a group that is working to develop an expanded women's ministry at our church. Who knew? Through some really cool providential circumstances, Tara ended up in Peoria, IL and will be speaking at our church on May 30! Our team (who have been studying PEACEMAKING WOMEN was dumbfounded! She can come and speak to our ladies!? We have been praying re the date--turned out to be a Wednesday--and when she would come--the end of May.

Now the registrations are coming in and I'm blown away. We have ladies coming from little towns all around here. Many are friends or relatives of people in our church. Some came through a local newspaper ad, some through the peacemaker's website. Others are in our presbytery. Most are in three's and four's but will probably add up to about 75. I can't wait to see how that will multiply in numbers of churches represented. This morning I, little Miss Stoic from way back, got choked up over the whole thing. The thought that 70 ladies could go back to their homes and communities with a better understanding of the gospel and how it affects our ability to deal with conflict? What could be more awesome? I think that calls for some Hallelujah's, Glories and an Amen, sister. Don't you? Only God would be able to bring that about.

2007-04-28T23:42:00.000-05:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Here's something fun to do. follow the link above and enjoy:)

2007-04-26T18:00:00.000-05:00

AND NOW FOR PRINCESS CAROLINE...our first and only granddaughter for three years until our population explosion of last year...that we all enjoyed! (and I will say right here that her mother would kill me for calling her "princess" anything. I was just using it for variety in the blog. Don't you think "princess" just goes with the name tho'?)
Anyway, she will be four on May 25! She is growing up to be a very lovely young lady. She has quite a variety of interests. She loves watching animal planet with her dad, snakes, dinosaurs, thomas train, reading, cooking with her Seattle grandma, playing with her friends, doing art projects...her interests are many. She also does gymnastics. She has quite a large vocabulary and is good at making up stories/imaginary creatures and LOVES the grand stories her dad tells her of wonderful inaginary places that have yet to be seen and discovered. She is no longer a baby OR a toddler, but a little girl. She is learning about the fruit of the Spirit now with her mom. Photo will be coming. I don't know how to get one off of shutterfly where I have many:(

2007-04-26T17:40:00.000-05:00

HEEERE'S WALKER ...our first grandson, third grandchild. He will be one on May 31! He is a little sweetheart. Now that he lives "only" eight hours away, we are able to see him a littlemore often than we are able to get to Seattle to see our granddaughters. He is a very sweet baby. He has a look that will be a real ladykiller when he is older. It is a cross between "Aw, shucks" and "Hi, how are ya'". Add some dimples and you have one very happy, mellow, sweet boy. He is also very verbal--in syllables, not noises. It will be very interesting to see the direction he goes, along with our granddaughters, with their lives.
Of course, our chief concern is that they love God. Everything after that is gravy. Walker is on the verge of living up to his name--walking:) Right now, he is able to get around so fast crawling, that he isn't anxious to slow down to walk. He has two little teeth now. (The photo was taken when he only had one.)

2007-04-26T17:22:00.000-05:00

AND NOW FOR QUINN...our second grand. I'll start with the birthday that is coming the soonest--April 30th--our sweet Quinn. It's hard to believe she has only been here a year! She has a mouthful of teeth and I'm told is running around the house. It will be fun to see her in about a month. I suspect she is similar to many second borns that I have known in that she wants to keep up with her older sister. She has quite a mischievous twinkle in her eye. She lives in Seattle with her parents and big sister. The verse on the quilt I made for her when she was born is Joshua 1:9-"Be strong and courageous...for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

2007-03-30T10:24:00.000-06:00

WALKER'S BAPTISM...was done at Parish Presbyterian Church on March 11. It happened about a week after my mother died. I think it made the occasion more sobering for me, but was also a reminder of the legacy of faith that Walker has. It will not put him in any more special standing with God certainly, but it is a wonderful treasure for any child to have generations of people before him who have loved the Lord...and prayed for him before he was even born or known about. With my mother's death, came the end of one generation. Now we are the senior living generation for our children and grandchildren, on this branch of the family tree. It is a sobering thought.
The week before Walker's baptism, his church was organized officially. The term for it in our denomination is "particularized". Their temporary meeting place is in a historic church that is called a community center. It is quite pretty and historic looking. We are glad his parents have settled into a church where they are happy and can worship in a meaningful way.
During his baptism, Walker was happily verbal. He was smiling and talking to the pastor, George Grant. Finally, George stopped and looked at him and said, "Walker, I think you may end up being a preacher someday!" Who knows, stranger things have happened! He has a grandfather who is one, had a greatgrandfather who was one plus a number of Southern Baptist preachers on his dad's side of the family tree. It wouldn't be surprising at all, if he became a pastor:) We shall see. Our hope and prayer for him is that he grow to become a man of God

2007-03-30T09:26:00.000-06:00

CATCH-UP...that's what I'm doing today! This month has flown by and since we got back from FL, I've been playing catch-up most of the time. Today I'll catch you up on the high points of the month and we'll be able to get into April caught up with each other...sort-of.
We arrived home from the funeral and my grandson's baptism, on March 13. Two days later, I needed to be ready for my regular Thursday evening Bible study that started in January. That is what has been hounding me each week. It is something I enjoy working on, but I am not a teacher and never feel prepared enough. It is one of those relentless tasks. I feel I have to put everything else on hold and prepare, prepare. I felt I was getting the feel of Colossians and the method used in our teaching guide, when I went out of town and got out of my rhythm. Now I'm getting back into the groove again.

On top of that, my cousin from OK came to visit the Monday after I got back in town so I was forced to clean my house (not nearly so much for her as for me! It had gotten very bad.) By the time she arrived on Sunday afternoon the 18th, I had the cleanest, most dust-free house I have had in a very long time! I had rearranged my basement family room (too bad I didn't take a "before" photo!) as I cleaned and was able to camouflage some of the debris down there and make it into quite an inviting space. Whenever I am able to clear away clutter, I always find that I am able to think much better. Now the only place I have to fix up is the office. It is a mess, but is a very small room with a door that can close on the mess:) I'll get to it after the Bible study is over.
While Susan was here, we went to Galesburg one day. She took the train into Chicago one day. And the final day, after her very tiring day in Chicago, she slept in and then we took a little time in downtown Peoria down by the riverfront. I was supposed to get tickets for a Caterpillar tour, and did...for the wrong week!! By the time I realized my goof, it was not possible to repair the damage:( During our trip, we took "flat Stanley" with us to all the sights. He was sent to her by her nephew Joey. She ended up having two "flat Stanleys" actually.
That weekend, Miss America, who is from the town where she lives in OK, was home visiting. The mother of Miss America teaches in the same school system with my cousin and agreed to take "flat Stanley" home with her during the spring break so he could get photos with Miss America, who was truly on vacation. Since Susan was coming to our area, she had to make "flat Stanley Xerox" for the trip to IL:) During the trip, both Stanleys were injured--the original's arm was torn/broken and the xeroxed one's head was torn/neck broken:) so they were mailed back in a shoebox hospital bed! my cousin is nothing if not creative!
That takes us to this week. It was also eventful. My husband had one of his "migraines". Over the years, he has occasionally had what his doctors have often called "silent migraines". He doesn't get much pain, only spots in front of his eyes that block out his vision when he tries to read. Usually excedrin and lying down for awhile has brought relief. often, if he feels one coming on, he takes the excedrin right away and it is gone! This week, that didn't happen. after 3 days (over the weekend) of that nuisance, he called his doctor to get some relief. The doctor wanted his eyes checked out! So our week, a fairly busy one already, got 3 additional doctor appointments added in...before thursday afternoon! The eye dr. called his migraine an ocular migraine. It doesn't change a thing, just gives us another name to call it! This was my week for 2 preps--a leadership team meeting and a Bible study.

We got through it all though, found out that his eyes are fine, got medication for prevention of the headaches, pain medication and set up an MRI for after Easter to be positive that there is nothing else going on in his head. (We won't even go there! :) I think we are both relieved to have this cared for, at least for now. Today he has a funeral and then should have time to work on the rest of his preps for the weekend. I'm taking it slow today and catching up on things around the house and have the week off from a Bible study but will get to catch up and maybe even get ahead on some preps coming up.
We will be going out of town on Mother's Day weekend (leaving the Thursday before) to have the burial of my mom in VA. Most of the plans for that have been made now as well as reservations. All of our children will be able to come, for which I am very glad. I am going to prepare something to say for that, but haven't even started on it...and won't until the Bible study is done. I know it will be difficult and want to complete the one thing before starting what will probably be an emotional project.
The final upcoming project that seems to have fallen out of the sky--of course it is one of those providential delights--is the upcoming visit of Tara Barthel. But come to think of it, this blog is getting long and I should probably put that in a separate entry. More later.

2007-03-04T00:59:00.000-06:00

GOOD-BYE MOM...after eighty-two years on earth, my mom passed on to heaven tonight at about 10:45 PM EST. Those are the raw facts. I said my good-byes when I visited there in October with my brother and sisters. I didn't expect to see her alive again after that visit even though my youngest sister and I had plans to meet in FL for Easter weekend and the week after to visit my mom. God had other plans. This past Thursday, she appeared to be at death's door and totally unresponsive. On Friday, she woke up, opened her eyes and even though she couldn't swallow well or respond to commands, or even talk, she was following people across the room with her eyes and trying to talk. That lasted for a day and a half and then she went rapidly downhill this afternoon. Some close friends were with her and read scripture to her and prayed with her in her last hours. Other friends were with Carl and helped him to the nursing home so he could be with Mom awhile during her final hours.
We are now making plans for either a Tues. or Wed. funeral (depending on when Kathy can get here from Amsterdam) at Penney Farms Retirement Center. It is about an hour from Jacksonville, FL.

But just think of stepping on shore and finding it heaven;
Of touching a hand and finding it God's;
Of breathing new air and finding it celestial;
Of waking up in glory and finding it home!
(Don Wyrtzen...thanks Dyan!)

Thanks for your prayers for our family and for Carl as we make this new adjustment. We will be having a family burial service sometime this summer in Waynesboro, Virginia. (She will be cremated and buried next to my father.)

2007-02-21T09:55:00.000-06:00

PERSONAL NEWS FOR FEBRUARY CATCH-UP...I have blogged so little in February, I thought I'd update you on what has been happening in a chatty, newsy blog so you can get clued in on our life lately. I'm going to TRY not to get lost in the details because my time will run out on me.
I'll back up to January a bit to give some context to February. Two big events happened in January that were sort of culminations of a dream I have had since we moved here three years ago January--the start of at least a Women's Bible Study for all ages and the development of a women's ministry that would help the whole church (vs. something separate only dealing with women). I think I'll put this in a Journal form and it will be easier to follow.
1/9-Second meeting of our Leadership Team--first real business meeting, start of study of Peacemaking Women by Tara Barthel and Judy Dabler.
1/18-First meeting of our Bible Study--I had expected about 10-15, but 22-25 signed up! ages 16-80+ I would say that our average attendance is 20! I'm dumbfounded.
Our Bible study is on Colossians and involves preparation and discussion. The group has done really well participating. It meets weekly and despite the preparation which is agony and time consuming for me, the lesson is fun.

1/21-Ron's favorite uncle in Talequah, OK passed away at age 93. His death was sudden but not exactly unexpected due to his age and diminishing health. He was alert and able to get around but was getting weaker and weaker. We decided to go to his funeral since so few of the extended family could get there. It was a week after that really bad ice/snow storm in OK/MO and parts of IL. (Some of the motels where we stayed still had a lot of the electric co. people staying there as well as some people without their electricity on yet. It was still VERY cold.) We were glad we went to the funeral and got to see the family. It was about a 10 hour drive. We were there for a few hours and then had to head home. It seemed like we weren't there for very long, certainly compared to the drive, but we were glad we got to go.

2/5-7-Moody Founder's Week-We took a couple of days and went to Founder's Week at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. We went for the speakers (only the ones we really wanted to hear were later in the week) but we went when we did to hook up with a good friend of Ron's from when he was at Moody...and beyond in some of his other schooling. He and his wife have ministered in Canada for years (where he has always been a citizen). The last we saw them was in the mid-70's! As you can imagine, we have all changed a bit since then. We had a lot of fun together.

Of course, we have had our share of lousy weather, absolutely frigid cold (single digit and sl. below 0 is my definition!) and the most snow since we have moved here. That translates into lots of days staying IN the house. I can't really sew because I have all this studying to do for weekly Bible studies and monthly leadership team so this extrovert has struggled with cabin fever some.

2/17-last weekend a couple from our church that was married at a justice of the peace the first time around, had a renewal of their vows to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Their attendants were the original two!! It was very sweet and a first for Ron.

Now I'm caught up. This weekend will be the church valentine party called Sweets for the Sweet. It should be a lot of fun.

COMING EVENTS: March 2-3--a few of us are going to Covenant Seminary for a Seminar by Diane Langberg called: Behind Closed Doors:The Abuse of Power in Marriage, the Church, and other Relationships. I'm excited partly because of the young women who are going to the seminar and I have found Diane to be an excellent and wise speaker from whom I have learned a lot. I'm glad she will be so close.
The next weekend we are delighted to be going to the baptism of our sweet grandson, Walker, in Franklin, TN. It has taken his parents longer than they had anticipated to find a church home, but now they have found it in Parish Presbyterian Church with George Grant as their pastor. Of course, Walker's grandfather (Ron) will also be able to participate in the baptism as well. He has loved being able to have that privilege so far, with his three grandchildren, thanks to the graciousness of their pastors.
Well, this has been a very informative email. I got my links worked out, so i was able to get you linking all over the place. Blessings to you.

2007-02-21T08:40:00.000-06:00

AND NOW FOR MY FIRST FORAY INTO WRITING...a book review on Amazon.com. My motivation was greed:) Tara Barthel was giving away free stuff for those who would write reviews of her and Judy Dabler's book Peacemaking Women. That was a no-brainer. I'm recommending it to all kinds of people already, why not get a free CD of a retreat for doing it? So I did. Actually, I had to do it twice!! I had the first one almost done and hit a wrong button and poof!, it was gone into the world of computerland, never to be seen again. I had just edited it and everything. Talk about irritating! Of course, the second version wasn't nearly as good, but I got it done and sent it, notified Tara, and my free CD is on its way as we speak! I'm becoming a sucker for free prizes (that are worth something to me). There may be some additonal side benefits from that simple book review down the road as well. We'll see. You'll be the first to know;) (that's a wink isn't it?)

Our Ladies' Leadership Team (soon to be renamed) that meets once a month is studying this book together. It is a great study. we're also discussing many issues re ministry, leadership, community, outreach, etc. that get my brain working overtime. It is quite stimulating. Last night we got into some interesting discussion re leadership. Afterward, I was wishing I had asked some more follow-up questions--probably in the areas of spiritual gifts. My views on leadership have changed considerably over the years. For a long time, I felt that everything could be resolved with pure consensus. Now I realize that we are to submit to our spiritual leaders (not blindly mind you) b/c they are "spiritual" leaders. That puts the pressure on us when we are choosing them to be sure they are the people with spiritual gifts, maturity and godliness that they need to be. We need to pray especially for them to have the wisdom they need to make the tough decisions. When we disagree, we need to go to them and ask questions of them realizing they may not be able to give us all the facts that went into their decision-making because of confidential information. At least we will have presented our questions to them and not gossiped about them, their decision, and the possible motives behind them when we are really unaware of the true facts of any of it before we talk to the person.

Spiritual leadership is not something over which we are to get "big heads" because it is purely of God and His enablement that we are able to do it. He sovereignly gives the gifts (and can take them away), He energizes the growth in grace, He brings about the maturity through the circumstances He brings into our lives. There is nothing about the process that develops a spiritual leader that should cause him/her to be proud. Once the person is actually in a position of leadership, there is rarely much to build up one's pride (apart from appearing publicly, if that does it for you) because there is always someone who is unhappy with any given decision (big or small), always a reason for others to criticize (because they don't know all the facts behind the decision-making process), always a reason to attack your motives (which they absolutely do NOT know!). I guess that is what is at the heart of the matter re spiritual leadership! Those of us who are in that position, realize how far short our motives fall at any given time and we realize that apart from Christ and the Gospel of grace working in our lives, this job is an impossible one! Isn't that where God wants us to be? Totally aware of our need for Him? I guess if the complainers and attackers bring us to that point, we can even be grateful for them:)
But where are those who at this point are not in positions of spiritual leadership in a given church. Hopefully, they are developing their arenas of spiritual leadership whether in their family, a group at school, or their sphere of influence. That's the thing about spiritual leadership. It isn't always the kind that is out front, leading a group. That's why each church needs everyone to be spiritually leading in their area of spiritual gift under the authority of the spiritual leaders of the church. I think of the encouragers and exhorters who often work stealthily conversation by conversation, building up people, exhorting them in appropriate ways from God's Word. Churches need more of them, church leaders need a lot more of them influencing people in the church in Godly ways of living, encouraging people in the church to live out the gospel in the ways God has equipped them. That is only a minor illustration of using one gift in a few ways.
Spiritual leadership...especially in an actual leadership position in a local church carries with it a LOT of responsibility before God and before other people. I certainly don't want to minimize that at all. But the leader cannot be paralyzed by his/her own realization of personal inadequacies, personal desires of followers or other factors when it comes to decision making. Yes, I am more than inadequate before a holy God, but I am "in Christ" now. I have all His resources available to do His work in His way. I need to listen to the people I am responsible to lead, but I don't have to do things the way they want, especially if they are spiritually immature or unaware of other ways to carry out the same mission. I am their leader. I have to do what is best for them spiritually in a way that will cause them to follow. Part of that involves knowing where they are, seeing where they need to go and figuring out how to bridge the gap with them and for the glory of God.
I have to decide whether I am going to please God or please people or to say it another way, who do I fear most, God or people's opinions. If my first concern in making a decision is what x will think or how y will take this decision, I'm making an idol of other people. I'm very familiar with that. I lived in that prison for MANY years. I still go there sometimes. It is a horrible place. My primary concern needs to be what does God want? What does His Word command? What will He think about this decision? For both now and eternity that will have been the most important concern.

2007-02-02T11:29:00.000-06:00

HOW DO YOU LIKE THE NEW LOOK? for the few of you who read this, I changed to the new blogger/google account today AFTER I did all my posting and decided to go with a different template while I was at it. Can you tell that I am ready for spring? It is frigid here right now. This morning it was something like 2 with a windchill in the -single digit range with a LOT of wind. I'm staying in today. Between reminding me of my years near the beach in FL, the tropical waters of Jamaica...ooooh! I can't even go there. Needless to say, these are very soothing/restful colors for me. I hope you enjoy the new look for now. I need something that does NOT look like winter!

2007-02-02T09:23:00.000-06:00

IT'S FEBRUARY AND TIME SEEMS TO BE FLYING...January seems to have completely melted into thin air. We missed the first week since we took our Christmas break in Seattle then and caught colds from the grandchildren that carried over into our time back home. I've been in the middle of starting a women's Bible study at the church and although most of the hard work was done--choosing the book/materials, deciding on the day/time to meet with the leadership team, and publicizing it. There is the constant work of preparing the lesson each week. For some, that isn't any big deal, for me it is agony. Preparing a lesson does NOT come easy. First, I have to prepare it for myself, then I have to plan how to teach/lead it. I am NOT a teacher. I can facilitate group discussion and add in points. I can even make some good points, but I am not a teacher. My transitions are NOT smooth. I guess I know enough about what makes a good teacher to know that I am not one. I do know I married one. I consider myself fortunate since I have had to listen to him in varying degrees for over 35 years:) I am somewhat gifted in encouragement and exhortation so I can lead a group but I am not a teacher. The good thing about this is that to survive all the preparation and leading of the class, I have to depend on the Lord. I am convinced that is why He often puts me in this kind of situation. In this situation, there is no way that I can coast! To add to my "agony", the group I thought might get as big as 10 or 12 (my comfort zone) blossomed to 25 and although they haven't all been there in one week, 28 are using the books and studying! It has changed how I can even teach the class!
I'm getting over the hump in our Bible study now where it is starting to be fun...in the actual Bible study. Last night we were discussing different things about the theme of the book, key verses, etc. It was fun hearing the discussions about different verses and why different ones thought they were key verses:) It was also interesting to hear how different people summarize and divide a book. Some want to cover every detail, others want to get the broad picture. Did I mention that these discussions carried over in a group of about 20 women ranging in age from 16-80+? There was laughing and smiling as well as seriousness happening. Our prayer time ended last night with prayer in groups of 2's and 3's for our specific application and our asking for help from the others in our small group for accountability if needed.
So between the Bible study (good), a visit to family (good), a quick trip to OK for the funeral of Ron's favorite uncle (age 93) last week (sad but good to see family), and now second colds for us in a month (ugh!) and facing a couple of days in Chicago at Moody Founder's Week walking out in weather that will be 15 degrees tops(!), we dread the weather but look forward to seeing at least one of Ron's very good friends from his days at Moody and after (overall, good). It has been mostly a good month with the last few weeks being extremely frigid. This is not the warm winter that last winter was.
Meanwhile, I have been keeping up with my TBR reading by listening to tapes of books from my alternate list. (I haven't had time to read.) I'm trying to get off the TV and listening to audio tapes is a good way to do it. I'll have to blog later on some of the books I "read". Good-bye January 2007. I hope February doesn't fly by quite so fast so I can get something done.

2007-01-11T14:47:00.000-06:00

TBR CHALLENGE! I'VE ENTERED A CHALLENGE FOR 2007 (TO BE READ) TO COMPLETE A BOOK A MONTH...of my choosing, that i've been wanting to read for awhile. The TBR Challenge is here. It wasn't hard to find 12 books I've been wanting to read. Unfortunately, none of them are fiction...or even light reading! I'm WAY behind in NEED TO reading. If I keep up with the challenge, there is a CHANCE that I could win a prize during a drawing in month 3 or 6. Knowing my past history, I won't hold my breath:) Here's my list:

Getting Over the Blues-Leslie Vernick
Depression: A Stubborn Darkness-Edward Welch
Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave-Edward Welch
Perfecting Ourselves to Death-Richard Winter
Real Love for Real Life-Andi Ashworth
To Be Told-Dan Allender
When I Don't Desire God-John Piper
Simplify Your Time-Marcia Ramsland
Too Small to Ignore-Wess Stafford
Each for the Other-Bryan Chapell
The Way We work-Cynthia Tobias
His Word in my Heart-Janet Pope

Alternates:

Women Helping Women-Ellyse Fitzpatrick/Carol Cornish
Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace?-James M. Boice
Holiness by Grace-Bryan Chapell
The Proper Care and Feeding of Marriage-Laura Schlessinger
War of Words-Paul Tripp
The Second Half of Marriage-David and Claudia Arp
for balance, I must choose some fiction!...and here are my final additions to the list.
Miss Julia Hits the Road-Ann B. Ross-funny espec. if you have lived in the south.JA
Losing My Mind-Thomas DiBaggio-1st person view of Alzheimer's by atheist-gloomyJA
Cry, the Beloved Country- Alan Paton-"reading" now FB
Whose Body?-Dorothy Sayers
Under the Overpass-Mike Yankowski
Winesburg, Ohio-Sherwood Anderson
Till We Have Faces-C.S. Lewis
Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down-Marva Dawn
either Windows to the World; Triumphs of the Imagination; or Realms of Gold-Leland Ryken

So there you have it. I plan to read 12 of these books this year. I hope I make it. I've been wanting to read some of these books for a few years!! It's time I do it.

2006-12-21T16:53:00.000-06:00

A DELIGHTFUL VISIT...from our daughter Holly and grandson, filled our week last week. It was so fun to have a baby's smiles and laughter fill our home, especially at Christmas. That is probably the hardest thing about our move here. Since this isn't "home" to our kids, they aren't in a rush to come here for Christmas. It hardly seems worth the effort to decorate the house (even tho' I do) when no one will be coming here to visit. Since we have been here, we usually travel for either Christmas or New Year's so I don't want to have a lot of complex decorations to deal with after the holidays. This time, it was fun to have some family come. I know Walker is too young to understand much about Christmas but it did cheer us up just seeing him and his mom. Thanks Brandon for letting them come for almost a week. I know you missed them. Thanks Holly for giving your time to drive the 8 hrs. to get here and giving up some work that week. We really appreciate it a LOT!
In other news that same week, our daughter Dawn was able to close on her apartment that she was trying to buy in Kiev, Ukraine. The costs have been rising rapidly and she felt that she should try to purchase her own place to maintain control of her housing expenses. Now she will be blogging about her experiences as she does some work on the small apartment she has purchased if you care to read here. It should be an interesting read. Dawn did not inherit her mother's rambliness, but rather her father's brevity and succintness (except when in a conversation with a bunch of females:)
Getting the photos in this blog may delay it some so I'll pass on my wish for a wonderful Christmas to my few brave readers.

2006-12-09T19:26:00.000-06:00

AND NOW FOR THE ACTUAL GIFT...(drum rolls please!)
This is a mug made by Mopsy herself. She even sent a teabag. Sorry Mopsy, I don't even consider this a White Elephant. The colors remind me of the years we lived in Jamaica and south FL and will warm me up in body and soul as I remember some very good friends from that time of my life (20-30 years ago!). True, it doesn't match my kitchen, but how many mugs do? The tea will be great. (I'm not a coffee drinker.)
The down side of this exercise is that I really feel bad for the person I sent my gift to. It really is a White Elephant! I'm not sure she will be able to use anything in it:( Happy opening to my fellow White Elephant contest players. This was my first blog WE event and it was a lot of fun! Thanks for making it fun in the middle of having a sick child and moving to a new home Megan. I hope the Christmas party for all of you was successful and fun.

2006-12-09T19:03:00.000-06:00

MY WHITE ELEPHANT ARRIVED...after a few hours of Christmas shopping, I arrived home tonight to find my White Elephant gift (from the Half Pint House White Elephant Exchange) waiting by my mailbox! How exciting! It came from "Mopsy" in CO accompanied by this great artwork by Sam on the outside:

I proceeded to open the box and found this lovely one inside! So far, no White Elephant! I'm feeling worse and worse about the White Elephant I sent. You all are extremely creative! This must be a really horrible gift, right!

I guess the suspense will have to continue to the next blog. I've never been able to get two photos in a blog and it seems that three was more than I could manage! Part II is coming.

2006-12-03T21:07:00.000-06:00

AND NOW FOR A QUIZ... I bumped into this one for those of you who enjoy quizzes. I am so glad I was able to figure out how to cut and paste it. You have no idea what an accomplishment this is for this "old dog". So give the quiz a try and see how you score. I don't think it is very accurate. I wasn't paying that much attention in high school because I was so busy talking!! I do think I learned a lot through life experience, reading, and teaching children (no, I didn't homeschool them. I just learned a lot from what they discussed about classes and course content.) Anyway, it was a fun test to take with even funnier results.

You paid attention during 91% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

Do you deserve your high school diploma?
Create a Quiz

2006-12-01T16:24:00.000-06:00

JUST A NOTE...to let you know that I've added some photos to some of my recent blog entries and even added an addendum or two. It's not like I have hordes of readers that I'm going to throw off by making these changes, but I thought that I'd let you know that there are some new photos since you may have looked last. I finally downloade my camera:) martha

2006-12-01T11:29:00.000-06:00

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW...well, it did! We are covered in snow over a blanket of ice and freezing rain. As a result, the Peoria area has broken it's longstanding (since 1929 I think they said) record for the MONTH of December. We had about 10-11'' of snow by the time it stopped this morning at 11ish. The December record had been 5"! Despite all the snow plows being out all night, the roads including interstates are impassable largely due to many of the cars, trucks, etc. that are stuck in ditches. Many of the exit ramps are blocked with cars that must have been going a bit too fast for the weather. They are telling EVERYONE to just stay home!! That is extremely unusual for around here. I'll download a photo for you, but it is hard to show the impact of all the snow. It is quite beautiful if you can stay in. This view is from our back window...and down aways while it was still snowing!

2006-11-30T11:23:00.000-06:00

TIME IS FLYING!...since I last wrote, we have been to Franklin, TN to visit one of our daughters and her family. Life seems to get quite busy. I always have such mixed feelings at this time of year. It reminds me of past Christmases with family members who are either no longer alive or who were healthier, times when our family was together instead of spread all over the world, times when old friends were closer geographically.

The harder I try to maintain some family traditions, the more difficult it seems to be. I miss them and more than that, I miss the people we made them with. We had very few traditions, but they were ours--pizza on Christmas eve; reading scripture together on Christmas Eve (often after a Christmas Eve service); opening gifts on Christmas Eve, enjoying some unexpected gift concoction that Christy would come up with (one year it was anonymously delivered gifts with names on wrong gifts revealed after we opened them:); I liked the fruitcake tradition that was started when we lived in Jamaica, but the family really didn't. It was like no other fruitcake you have eaten because i dislike candied fruit, so I substituted dried fruit for it and put it in a dark fruitcake cake batter. In Jamaica, it seemed that EVERYONE made fruitcake and soaked it in rum or brandy (ugh! to the brandy ones). i really liked mine. Now it seems like so much effort for so little enjoyment. I may try it one more time, but it hardly seems worth the effort when everyone seems to complain about it. i guess to me, it is a memory of a wonderful time of my life (along with others) where I learned a lot, when our babies were coming and they were learning so much, of Robbie and Judy and Jennifer and Michael and Jeff and Miriam and Bobbie and Marilyn and Walford and Jenn and a LOT of good times and patient people!

Come to think of it, that may be what the many traditions we have at Christmas do for us...they remind us of the people who started them with us, or the ones who passed them down to us or the people we shared them with. Maybe that is why it is so hard to get rid of the really useless ones. I guess when we are developing the Christmas traditions we will use in our family...or which ones we will continue to keep and which we will jettison, it is good to think about what we really are passing on. Which are the traditions that pass on the true meaning of Christmas to our children/grandchildren? Those we will want to keep. Which contradict what we WANT to pass on about Christmas, Advent and Christ's first Coming? We will need to jettison those. What new traditions can we start that will make it clearer to our children/grandchildren...and ourselves, what Christmas is all about? Maybe this Christmas is the year to start some of them.

So as you can tell, I get very sentimental this time of year. I rebel against all the rushing and hurrying to get the perfect gift. We already have it--Christ! I don't take enough time to stop and enjoy Him and the complete sufficiency of the gift He gave us of Himself and His substitutionary death on the cross for our sin...and of course, His powerful resurrection from the dead and victory over sin and death.

God help you as you seek to worship Him this year with your Christmas celebrations.

2006-11-16T22:54:00.000-06:00

WHAT AN EVENTFUL TWO WEEKS!...I won't be able to cover all that has happened the last two weeks, but it has been very eventful. One major event was that our Leadership Team of ten women met for the first time a week ago Wednesday night. The meeting went very well and I was excited to see the caliber of women I will be working with. They are great! Only one was missing and she had a double whammy that day--the impending birth of her third grandson (following the stillbirth of her second one about 1 1/2 yrs. ago) and her recovery from thyroid surgery that was starting to go south that day. The next day, her grandson was born safe and sound, but she ended up in the hospital with a very high blood pressure and possible stroke. Fortunately, after a few days of tests, medication changes, ruling out of some very bad diagnoses, a day of physical therapy and discharge, she has no diagnosis, but in many ways is improving. She still has a paralyzed lower leg, severe headache and weakness but overall is improving. Since all the follow-up appointments are after thanksgiving (including physical therapy) she will be going to Kansas City to give support to her daughter who will be having surgery there next week.
I was able to spend much of Monday at the hospital with her and parts of some other days when her husband needed to do various errands. It sounds like I'm really sacrificing doesn't it? Well, I'm not. She is my friend and I have enjoyed the chance to be with her. She is from a large family and the sister who normally would have been able to help has been out of town. I'm so glad I was able to be available. I always feel so unnecessary around here which results in worse loneliness. It was nice to be able to be a real help to someone.
I'd better stop for now and get to bed. Tomorrow is Chocolate Days at the Quilt Shop where I sew. They have it once a month and I've had to miss the last few times. I'll get to catch up on my sewing AND have all the chocolate munchies I want + lunch. How is that for a great deal:) martha

2006-10-29T22:36:00.000-06:00

HOME FOR GOOD!...I hope. I arrived home on an earlier flight than originally planned Friday. We had a good week. Each day was filled with feeding my mom her meals, getting her back to her room for her naps (that tend to be longer) and going to Carl's apartment to sort through things or do things for him. Of course, the time ran out on us, but we got quite a bit done. there are some boxes still waiting for us, but they are very few. More "stuff" was picked up and taken to the resale shop to be disposed of. One of my sisters got some clothing for Carl that fit him comfotably and keep him warmer. We set some plans in motion that will hopefully make his situation better.
I've now had this in draft form for awhile and it is now 11/16 and i'm not done with it! Last weekend, we found out that Carl had worked around some of our plans to help him and sabotaged them. I'm glad I've had experience raising children because this is so much like that time. (only much worse! We have no authority over him.) You get to a point where you can't do anything to change the situation. (Technically, he isn't at the stage where he is incompetent. His judgement is just not very good.) We have done what we can do to help but there is a limit to what we can do to protect him from himself! We were fortunate in our child raising that we did not have problems this severe to deal with.
I will close this down for now since it is as complete as it can get. Last weekend, I was pretty distressed. I'm doing better today:) martha

12/1/06 another addendum! I just added the photo with my siblings. We are from left to right: me, my "baby" brother (3 yrs. younger), an american airlines captain who lives with his wife in PA. Next is my truly baby sister who is 20 yrs. younger and lives in amsterdam. She is a first grade teacher in an international school where she works with her husband. Last is my sister born on my first birthday. She is mother of 4, grandmother of 9 (one of her kids has 8 children!). She will work full-time as a nurse again starting in Jan. after teaching nursing in a nearby junior college this past year. Her most recent area of experience (for many years) has been with insurance companies as caseworker doing utilization review. She lives outside of Baltimore, MD.

2006-10-21T12:01:00.000-05:00

THE WANDERER IS OFF AGAIN...this time to Florida. My mom was recently put on hospice care in the nursing home she is in about an hour from Jacksonville, FL. That doesn't mean they expect her to die right away, but the signs of some of the systems of her body shutting down are there. Her mind is nearly gone already. She usually knows who we are, but carrying on a conversation with her like we once were able to is about impossible. In many ways, this designation is anticlimactic.

I cried when I visited a couple of Christmas seasons ago (2004?) and realized she would never be walking again, her memory was fading fast and the vibrant, alert mother I had known was rapidly disappearing. It was a difficult Christmas that year as we sat in the chapel of her retirement community after struggling up the stairs to hear their presentation of Messiah. As we settled in our seats--she in her wheelchair and I in my chair and I relaxed from the stress of trying to get her in the door (we were a few minutes late) I let the words and music pour over me. I remembered the many Christmases I had been with my daughters and husband either singing or listening to Messiah. The tears flowed and I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw that she was blank. She couldn't seem to figure out what was happening. There would be no more visits to catch up on people we had known over the years. She couldn't write anymore or keep up on her email or discuss books or ideas. It was all too confusing for her. The mother I knew was gone. Each visit since then, she disappears a little more.

That was also my first Christmas away from long time friends. I had lived in TX for 16 years--a long time for me. My husband had retired from that church and we were temporarily filling in for a church outside of Peoria, IL. There was little there that was familiar. No one there knew my family, my children, my mom or carl. I felt as lonely as one could feel. I guess that is what the spiritual Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child is talking about--a loneliness like no other. Your mother is the repository of family history, family memories (even though her perspective is different!) and so much more. My father had been dead since 1973...and his death was sudden. When we went home to visit, we saw my mother and caught up on all these people she wrote for years! Many of them I never met, just saw their pictures in college year books from King's College. Others had been friends from various mission fields or supporting friends. I hadn't known many of them well because I came to the U.S. for high school when my parents went overseas to Costa Rica when I was in ninth grade. I didn't speak enough spanish to be able to go to school in Spanish. Of course, my growing up years were difficult just as everyone else's. I did many things differently with my children...sometimes not as differently as I thought at the time.

Anyway, this really is a ramble...my youngest sister born when I was almost 20, is coming to see my mom during a school break in Amsterdam. My other sister and I decided to join her and try to ease the pain of what may be her last visit with mom. I have no idea what to expect of this week. I do imagine that it will probably be an emotional week. I don't feel up to the challenge...AT ALL. Right now, I am beat in almost every way. My 91 yr. old stepfather has had some new problems recently so I have no idea what challenges will be put on us because of some of his needs. It will be quite a week. I need any prayer that is offered for me.

2006-10-21T11:50:00.000-05:00

AND NOW FOR THE FINAL OF MY TRIO OF GRANDCHILDREN...SWEET CAROLINE...Here she is at the airport all ready to travel. I flew with her mom, her and her baby sister from Nashville to Seattle. They both did very well on the trip. Those DVD players are worth their weight in gold on a long flight when the boredom sets in from coloring, etc. Quinn slept quite a bit.
To explain Caroline's get-up, she had on her backpack and uses the front ties to hold her baby like her mom's bjorn. Her baby's name is "Bear". Sometimes she feeds Bear like mom feeds Quinn. I enclosed the photo when she was smiling. In the other photo she was making a face and sticking out her tongue! Caroline is almost 3 1/2 (going on 20). She is quite a character as you may be able to tell.

2006-10-21T11:42:00.000-05:00

AND NOW IN THE EQUAL OPPORTUNITY DEPARTMENT...here's a picture of Walker and his mom. Can you see that I'm sharing photos from our trip? I love this picture of Holly and Walker. It shows a mom delighting in her baby and a baby thrilled with his mom. I'm just glad we were able to capture it in a photo. Walker is a month younger than Quinn at about 4 months old. The two of them were so cute. The are both happy, smiley, fairly laid back as long as their needs are met, bald, and have big eyes. We were able to get a lot of wonderful photos to see often. It was a tough choice to pick only one, but here it is.

2006-10-21T11:05:00.000-05:00

BABY QUINN ABIGAIL ON THE DAY SHE WAS BAPTIZED...I finally got the pictures from our trip downloaded. This is Quinn on October 1, 2006 in Seattle, WA. I have another photo of her with her grandfather who was able to baptize her at her family's home church but I could only choose one picture! Here she is at a little over 5 months old.
For those who aren't familiar with baptizing babies or who consider it an empty, unbiblical tradition, I'm not here to convert you.* I just want you to know that the Biblical aspect of it is tied to circumcision in the Old Testament where the infant was not old enough to make a decision re whether he wanted to be a part of the covenant family. His parents made the decision for him until he was old enough to turn away. Meanwhile, he had all the advantage of being part of that community (prayed for by them, taught by them, influenced by them, etc.) until he made his personal commitment at age 12 or 13. For Quinn, there is no set age, but at some point, she will receive Christ for herself (we pray).

Meanwhile, she is part of the covenant community/visible church until then. One of the vows made during the baptism is by the congregation that they will support this family and encourage them and pray for them, etc. That is one of the "why's" of Sunday School, prayer for the children of our church, youth ministry, etc. To build them up, teach them God's Word on a level they understand so they will understand what it means to be a christian and how it applies to their everyday life and at an early age, repent of their sin and receive cleansing from Christ.

This is an awesome responsibility for her parents and extended family. It is also an important responsibility for all of the members of the church as we seek to encourage our children who grow up in the church whether it is through direct, formal ministry to them or indirectly as we model the christian life before them and encourage them personally in their walk of faith.
Welcome Quinn to our family and welcome to your covenant family as well.

*(I really meant it when I said I'm not trying to convince you. I do have Biblical texts for this, but am not including them here since that is not the purpose of my blog at this time.)

2006-10-10T21:41:00.000-05:00

MANY OF MY GOOD FRIENDS ARE GOING THROUGH VERY STRESSFUL TIMES RIGHT NOW...it makes me feel like some of my stress is pretty minor. Here's an example: one friend has been having lumps to be biopsied in various places this year and had more found in her thyroid last week. The good news came today that they weren't malignant...yet. They will probably need to come out. She has been dealing with one thing after another lately and with more grace as time goes on. The circumstances don't get any easier, but she seems to be able to manage with more calm with the grace that only God can supply.
Another friend has a husband who had bypass surgery a month or two ago with re-hospitalizations afterward due to irregular heartbeats. It looked like that was getting under control when he developed a new one last weekend. She keeps getting bad news re his condition that they try to put as positively as they can. She doesn't know how to deal with what they tell her and is having to lean heavily on the Lord as she literally waits for Him. I have learned a lot from her over the years as I have watched her wait on God. He always meets the need she has and has proved Himself sufficient. She has habitually remained calm in the middle of some pretty major storms. (They are now home and getting some sleep.)
A new friend has been suffering this week in the wake of difficult and sad events happening in her church. She is using this time to learn more about how to be a peacemaking woman (also the title of a book) in the middle of circumstances that are not peaceful. She has also offered hospitality to two of us going to a seminar this weekend which I know has been costly to her (at least in time and effort when she is stretched).
Another friend is worried about her college aged daughter who has started dating a really nice young man...who is not a christian. Her worry has been channeled into prayer for her daughter and the young man, and some very straight conversations re this situation. Already she is seeing signs of God working, but they are still dating.
So my mental prayer list has been on overload as these and others have come to mind during the day. My mother is not doing well in the nursing home. She loses more and more of her contact with reality. Now she is physically going downhill. Her birthday this week (84) is likely to be her last.
We had a dangerous episode with my stepfather over the weeked which probably will not encourage him in the direction of getting more care, but should. I have vowed not to live this far from my children when i am in this situation. (If I am this unfortunate.) My sister and I plan to get to Florida the end of this month to visit mom and give my youngest sister (20 years younger) some moral support when she comes over from Amsterdam. So my traveling isn't as over as I had thought! Neither are my days of leaning on the Lord in times of inadequacy.

2006-09-27T22:14:00.000-05:00

I'M NOW ON THE LAST LEG OF A THREE LEGGED TRIP...it has been a lot of fun, but I get weary after a week or ten days away from home. I left home September 14 and have had a lot of fun--both at the PCA Women's International Conference that was held in Atlanta, GA for that long weekend, and for the week+ afterward in Franklin, TN with all our grandchildren (3) and children (3). It was an unexpected pleasure getting to be together and so much fun to see the grandchildren all together. Quinn and Walker (a month apart in age) are so cute together. they both smile a lot and seemed to enjoy each other. Quinn Abigail (5 months old) can turn completely over. Walker (4 months old) is working on it and can go one way. They are both at such a cute age. Caroline (age 3) kept everything quite lively as well...in a different and often unpredictable, way.
As of yesterday, Christy and her two girls and I are in Seattle. Ron is to arrive this evening. Her husband arrives home from a business trip in Australia on Friday. The big occasion of the week is Quinn Abigail's baptism. That is why we made the trip now. Her grandpa will be able to have some involvement in it since we are in the same denomination as the church they attend. That is always a joy for my husband.
It is now October 4 and we are home. Everything went according to our plans as outlined above, for which we are grateful. Today is my day to "get it together". I'm sure it will take more than one day for me to do that. Along with catching up, I am working on a reading project for a mini-course I will be taking at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis, MO October 13-14. The topic is Women's Ministry and will be taught by Tasha Chapman and Judy Dabler. I've enjoyed the reading so far. The only problem is that it is so good, I keep rethinking my earlier plans for a group that will be doing some planning for a women's ministry at our church. I guess I had better take one step at a time and get the full picture before making any major changes. If we decide to add to our reading, we can down the line. I'm so glad I have someone else to go with me to the seminar. Pam is great both administratively and instructionally--huge weak areas for me. Hopefully, between the two of us, we will be able to communicate to others in the group what will be helpful for our church. She has been here working in the trenches for years. I am very much the newcomer.
I'd better bring this ramble to a close for now and get on with my day. hopefully, in a day or two, I will be making way more sense in fewer words.

2006-09-12T18:43:00.000-05:00

ONCE AGAIN I'M PACKING...This time I will have three trips rolled into one! Thursday evening three of us will be flying to Atlanta, GA and the PCA Women's International Conference. One lady is from our church and one is from our presbytery--a new pastor's wife (second career). She and her husband are planting a church in the Champaign/Urbana area near University of IL. Since my daughter is coming to this conference from Ukraine, we will be having a family reunion in TN after the conference. This is a very special treat for us. When we were all able to be together last Christmas, we thought that would be our last time together as a family for two years.

This coming weekend, our daughter from Seattle will be coming to TN with her two little ones. Her husband's impending business trip to Australia precludes his being able to come. On Sunday, after morning church, Ron will drive to the Nashville area (about an eight hr. trip) so by that evening, we should all be there. Dawn will be there until Thursday morning (our anniversary) when she will return to Ukraine. Ron will return to IL on Saturday most likely. Christy will also be meeting some college friends, so she will be in Franklin until Tuesday when she, I and her two children will fly to Seattle. Ron will join us on Wednesday and we will be there for about a week to help out until her husband gets back home. Our last Sunday there will be Quinn's baptism. We are looking forward to that. Time has flown since she arrived and it is something that we needed to get done. By the time we get home, it will be October! I know I'll have a lot to do to catch up by then. I'm just hoping I'll be able to remember what happened during the conference:)

I don't take all these flights for granted. I don't discuss the niggling fears in the back of my head. I find it best not to entertain them. They often lead to more fear. It seems that the last few years, we have often had to travel near anniversaries of 9/11 or near times when there have been major scares of one sort or other. All we can do is once again trust God and know that His will is good and perfect. It is not always easy. If something horrible does happen to one of our loved ones, we know that God will give us the grace we need when we need it...not before. So far, His will has been to allow us to arrive safely at the planned destinations. I pray that will happen this time too.

2006-09-11T18:48:00.000-05:00

9/11...WAS IT ONLY FIVE YEARS AGO?...It seems like it was much longer ago than that! That was the day that I learned new lessons about God protecting my children...and which ones needed protection!
At the time, one of our daughters lived in Ukraine (she still does). My prayers often included prayer for her protection, among other things. I didn't find myself nearly as preoccupied with that for my daughters who lived in the U.S. Our only married daughter at that time lived in New York City and was in her final year of her Ph.D program at Columbia University. Her husband worked about six blocks from the World Trade Center on Wall Street for Goldman Sachs. That morning he was in a conference room that looked out toward the towers, making some phone calls, when the first plane hit. He hung up the phone, called his parents in WA state and our daughter in Manhattan to tell them what had happened and to tell them that he was okay. Then he went out into the large office nearby to tell others what he had seen. They didn't believe him but about that time, the TV's in the office that were set on CNN showed the second plane hitting the towers. At that point, they headed for the exits because they figured their building would be next!
Fortunately, I did not watch the news that morning like I often did because I would have never been able to get through to Christy on the phone. She called me a short time later to let me know what happened so we could be praying for Bryan specifically and for their protection. We knew about when he started walking the nearly 10 mile walk home. When we heard that the whole building had collapsed, we were concerned again re how he was and where he was. It took a few hours before we were able to hear that he had arrived home safely through all that dust.
Another concern that morning, as details unfolded, was for my brother. He is an American airlines captain who lives in Harrisburg, PA (not far from where the last plane crashed into the ground) and flies out of Kennedy in New York City (where at least two of the flights originated). I got on the phone to try to call him and amazingly, he answered the phone. That never happens! It was his day off that day and he was home. It was such a relief to hear his voice.
Since that day five years ago, our daughter and her husband have had two little girls and moved to Seattle, WA (his hometown) to be near family. We no longer live in TX, but in IL. Our youngest daughter is now married and no longer lives in TX, but in TN where they moved when her baby boy was two weeks old. This time, it was not God's will for our family members to be directly affected in the tragedy. Another time, we may be. Only God knows. I'm glad I don't. I think that part of what it means to walk by faith is to be able to trust God with each things He brings into my life as it comes. I don't have to anticipate with dread all the horrible possibilities (which would be very easy to do). I must walk by faith, trusting that He will not allow anything into my life that He won't give me strength to bear. (I Cor. 10:13) I also know that all that He brings into my life will work for good. (Rom. 8:28)

2006-09-09T11:58:00.000-05:00

BALANCE...DOES IT EVER COME?...This morning I was taking some time to read some blogs and came across some new ones that I enjoyed. One theme that I often wrestle with as I read many of them, which came through clearly in one (that I don't want to reference because I don't want to pick on the person) is a "me and mine" thinking that seems to permeate many of the blogs I read. Let me explain. For some reason, many blogs that are written by people who have something to say, are often written by homeschooling mothers...of every stripe you can imagine. Many of very solid, Biblical people who desire to grow in their faith and obey Christ in their lifestyle no matter what it demands of them. I very much admire many for what they do because if involves a lot of sacrifice on their part. Some are into the self-sufficient grow your own food/ get land for you and your children/have as many children as you can school of thought which I think is fine as an option but not as a requirement for all christians. Of course, they range all the way to people living in cities with middle class jobs and lifestyles making the homeschooling decision one year at a time (and everything in between.)

Without going into the variety of schools of thought among the varying bloggers...and there are many, one thing seems to come out that concerns me. There seems to be a lack of interest...at least in the comments that get made...about mission...to those who are different, to those who are unlike themselves, to those who are less fortunate in some way. One blog I read today was a comment re a boy in the neighborhood from a family with a lot of problems, who likes to come over to play with the son of the family. The mother feels that it is ok to let him play with the son as long as she is able to be aware of all that is going on. The problem came when he asked to go to the bathroom in the house. Evidently, a younger sister's babyseat was on the toilet and he wasn't able to figure out how to remove it in time to avoid having an accident. His accident resulted in a puddle on the floor of the bathroom and in other parts of the bathroom. Of course, this caused quite a bit of cleanup for the mother. The story was humorous...with an edge.

All the comments to the blog were at best sympathetic to the mother of the family (as I would be) and many said things like...I have a family like that in my neightborhood and won't let my children play with them at all... I find these attitudes to be very sad. What did Jesus mean when He said, "When you did it to the least of these, you did it to Me?" For those of you who know me, you know that I was unable to not send a comment to that blog. I tried to be tactful and kind, because this mother was wise in what she did (to supervise the situation) but the attitudes after that were echoed by so many are not those we are to have toward those God places in our sphere of influence. The people God places in our lives that need ministry are never convenient or neat. But what is our priority--a clean, neat house/life (something i've always wanted, but never been able to accomplish) or do we have an eternal view toward our friendships and interactions with others including those in our neighborhood?

I confess, for the sake of honesty, that I have failed more often than succeeded in this area in my life in terms of having people in to the house for hospitality, but there have been times when I have had to make decisions re children that were difficult to have over because of the mess they caused, when I knew that ultimately the kingdom was more important than how much I had to clean up after them. I wish I had had more kids in more often when my kids were older, but that is another story for another blog. More and more today, a healthy christian family is a rarety. Children and teens are attracted to it and want to be a part of it. Are we going to be short-sighted and push them away because all we can be consumed with is our neat house or a tidy life? May God grant us grace to know how to be obedient to Him as we minister to the people around us who need His life-changing grace in their lives.

2006-09-06T05:29:00.000-05:00

UNTANGLING THE PAST...is no easy task. When you try to discover the tangled past of a church, it is even more complex because each individual views it through different eyes. We have been here nearly three years now. Before we came, an outside team had come to review the church and assess whether they had a future or not. They felt they did with many qualifications and a lot of work ahead. We were asked to come for a year to help untangle things, but felt that partly because of the culture here, nothing would be done in one year so decided to stay when asked. People here do not easily share themselves with outsiders. This year we are just beginning to get beneath the surface of a few peoples' lives. In some cases, we hear glowing reports of how wonderful the past was. If we hadn't heard the versions of that same past from grown children of the very people who thought it was so great, it would be tempting to believe the happy reports. When reports are extremely different, we figure the truth is somewhere in between the two. However, there are some objective reports that indicate that there have been many difficult years here...at best.
Now that I am starting to work to develop a women's ministry...in very early stages...I am finding some pockets of resistance--especially from the "rosy past" people. (This has not come as a shock by the way. It is borne out by past experience!) My theory is that the women are the often the heart of the church and once you start changing what is being done with them, you are disrupting a balance that has been developed. If your church is "dysfunctional"/unbiblical in the way it is operating presently, it will respond/react that way. Of course, the whole church rarely responds to things, it is groups within the church that we call "the church". Rarely, an individual's response is not seen as a church's response. So, since our leadership team is not yet up and running, the one to attack last week was me. Oh joy, oh bliss!
A few months ago, Ron and I had an interaction with a family unit and I told him I thought the honeymoon was over and the gloves are coming off. The good thing about it is that now we are finally finding out what is actually going on in some of the peoples' heads. The bad thing is that they are often the ones who parrot back the most information and are obviously NOT internalizing any of it. (Again, no surprise.) For any people in leadership including pastors, remember this: do not believe the praise that is heaped on you when people are first getting to know you and like your teaching. Those will often be the very people who will turn on you when you make a decision they don't like. You still must love them and reach out to them, just beware and NEVER believe peoples' praise. Do whatever you do as an act of worship to God with no expectation of notice or reward here on earth. I think it is in Mt. 25 where Jesus talks about the pharisees who have their reward now when they are praised by people. What you want is to be paised by your heavenly Father. It is His praise that is most important! To the degree that we can live that way, we can be at peace with God and the people we are serving. When we look at the beginning of Phil. 2, we see Christ's example...one that is impossible to follow without the enablement of the Holy Spirit living in and through us. On my own, I can't live like this:

5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

Whenever this comes to mind, it puts things in perspective for me. Look what Jesus was entitled to...and what He was willing to give up for my salvation. This is not so that I can feel guilty and grovel, but so that I can appreciate and enjoy the gift I have and through the power of the Holy Spirit, live out this kind of lifestyle to those God places in my way.
I'm coming to believe that we'll never untangle all the messes of the past here...and it may not be necessary. We do need to be connected intimately with the great untangler of messes both in churches and in individuals so that He can work the changes that need to be made in us through those events...such as learning to forgive others for the pain and hurt they caused me or my loved one. Only God can work forgiveness in our hearts and it is needed for our personal freedom. Holding grudges hurts us, not the other person.
Grace and peace for this new day.

2006-09-05T17:04:00.000-05:00

LABOR DAY WITH A LARGE EXTENDED FAMILY...that's how we spent our Labor Day afternoon yesterday. We had an indoor picnic with a large family (originally seven children) who now have five living. One attendee was the daughter of their daughter who died at age 26 of colon cancer. This child (who was two at the time) is now grown and married and preparing to leave for West Africa to be a missionary. One of the things that were done was to look at photos from her aunt, of this girl's mother all through her growing up years until the newspaper obituary. After discussing various details/stories about the pictures, they put all the photos in a big envelope and gave them to the young woman to put with her valuables that will be left here in the US while she goes overseas.
The aunt who passed on the pictures knows a lot about being on that side of the good-byes. She and her husband spent many years in Colombia, South America as missionaries with Wycliffe. Even though they can't live there anymore, they still work on the translation projects for their people. About a year or two ago, the New Testament translation they had spent their lifetime working on, was completed. Yes, they live in IL now, but they still work with the Wayu people when they can...and have a son working with street children in one of the major cities in Colombia.
I am always challenged as I visit this family, to see the godly fruit that these parents' lives and examples have borne with their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. To God be the glory!

2006-08-31T07:17:00.000-05:00

HOW PEOPLE CHANGE...is the title of a book I have almost completed. It has been extremely helpful to review the material that I "learned" at a seminar last March (I think). To me, it is a helpful overview of what the christian life is: a lifestyle of faith and repentance as God works to finish the work He has started in us. Our Redeemer has rescued us from our sins, given us His Spirit, made us His bride, and placed us in community with one another. Community is not the icing on the cake, it is the cake! Of course, the book carefully gives the Biblical framework for all this and more as well as a helpful diagram to visualize how God uses heat (any circumstance--good or bad--that comes into our life) to show the true fruit in our heart--either thorns or luscious fruit. The basis for any good fruit is the cross--the work that our Redeemer did to save us--past, present and future.

I realize as I try to summarize this, that it probably makes it sound more confusing. Summaries were never my forte:( The book is full of scripture (all written out so you don't miss it) and many concrete illustrations of what they are talking about. The authors are Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp. Although this is the more recent of the two books, it is the prequel to Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands--People in Need of Change helping People in Need of Change by Paul Tripp. That book goes into more detail re the how's of bringing about change in others/in community. This book is definitely the prequel in the sense that until we understand what really happened with our salvation and the direness of our situation before salvation, we won't appreciate the work of our Redeemer. I love the subtitle of the second book because it communicates why we can't help others change when we are overcome with our own self-righteousness. (a particular struggle of mine.) People have to understand that we know that we are just as in need of change as they are...maybe different areas, but just as in need of change.

The major point that hit me between the eyes in both books has been the fact of my functional idolatry (putting something before God in my life) as being basic to most of the other sins. ex. desire for peace/comfort at end of tiring day becomes an idol when i put it ahead of gloifying God at the expense of serving my husband when I know he needs it, because I want to meet my needs instead of his. There are myriad other illustrations, but hopefully you get the point. When I got that concept...and it didn't come easily...it has been revolutionary. It has opened my eyes to incredible selfishness and sin that I had no awareness of before. Yes, it can be very depressing...except for the fact that I have a Redeemer who took care of all that garbage on the cross. I need to appropriate it regularly. I don't do it as regularly as I need to, but it has been helpful. At times when I get inappropriately angry over something, I can take a look at what my functional idol is at the time. It is quite an eye-opener! I came from a community that was learning this at the same time and we were keeping one another on our toes. That is not the case here. It has been harder to do alone. I'm a "community" person, not a "lone ranger". I'm slowly developiing a small community here, but it has been very slow! I'd better stop now. The sun is up and I must go exercise!

2006-08-23T11:57:00.000-05:00

THIS CATCH-UP MONTH IS FLYING...and there still seems to be so much more left to do! It seems I keep working on this Women's Ministry Development and nothing much shows for all that I am doing. I am asking 10 women to be on the Leadership Team because I don't really think all ten will say, "Yes". I have gotten five yeses. I have actually had numerouse conversations with them over the past year. I have five more almost cold contacts to make. Many are interested in seeing a Women's Ministry developed but I'm sure each has something different in mind. We will need to do some reading to get on the same page in terms of overall Biblical foundation for what needs to be done, then we can develop a plan for our women specifically.
In the meantime, we will start a Bible study (for everyone) which will give us an opportunity to meet together over the Word. Hopefully that group will be large enough that we will be able to get a pulse on what some of the need is. When we meet in that context, it tends to be less self-centered and more focused on what God wants. It also helps us focus (in prayer) more on the needs of others rather than on our own personal needs. When we can study God's Word in the context of community, it will become the much more living and breathing Book that it is supposed to be.
I have been preparing the Bible study and have most of the lessons done. I am changing how it will start by adding an exercise the week before they get their books. I had wanted to have the Leadership Team chosen and meeting long before now, but there have been multiple interruptions including my schedule. Now, it looks like there may be one more interruption. My Seattle daughter has asked for help flying back to Seattle from Nashville. I'd like to help, but that was about the time I was planning to do the final work of getting things up and going for the Bible study. Overall it will mean probably a one week delay in starting, but it knocks out a chunck of time that I had planned to finish up working on all kinds of things! I was revved to come back from our family get-together in September and get all the copying done for the Bible study as well as lining up all the final details. That was also going to include meeting with the Leadership Team. Now the meetings are going to have to be rushed before my trip and I'll have less time after I come back to "get my head together". I'm trying on the decision to go to Seattle (her husband leaves on a business trip to Australia the day before she returns home from her trip). As I try it on, it seems that many of the problems I had with it are not insurmountable, they will just complicate the planning beforehand. That especially relates to medications and clothing!! Why does life continue to keep getting MORE complicated?? This morning I got myself organized with my calendar so I am ready to line up the people I need to meet with.
As I update this blog, it is a few days later. The team is still not together. Final answers are not given and I haven't even been able to contact everyone. I've had one group meeting that was quite difficult (not the team) that I am still getting over and digesting. (Trying to keep what was profitable and get rid of what was unprofitable.) I know there is a reason for the slowness that all this is taking...and in the long run, it will be benficial. I just wish I could figure out why. I guess I'll know a year from now. Ultimately, it is all in God's hands and for His glory. I hate that everytime I get involved in a process like this, it causes misunderstanding and conflict. If I didn't work so hard ahead of time to prevent the very conflict that erupts, it wouldn't be nearly so frustrating. I think often it does bring to light some areas that are very hidden and dark and sinful in the way the church has been malfunctioning for a long time. (This goes for any church I have participated in this.) When obvious change is on the horizon, people in charge of these areas are threatened. I don't mean that they don't love the Lord, but they have become focused on the wrong things to the detriment of the overall church health. I can't really speak to the specific issues because I am not in a position of spiritual authority over them. Unfortunately, they think they have the authority to tell me what to do and that is a false premise. It has worked in the past because people were afraid to cross this particular group, but as far as I am concerned, the stakes are too high to allow them to continue to think that they can control what is done in some of the areas they think they should be able to. This is beyond my level. It will be dealt with by others higher than I. Meanwhile, I'll continue to pray. I'm not totally sure what to ask for apart from God to be glorified and His kingdom to be advanced.

2006-08-15T15:37:00.000-05:00

I'VE FINISHED THE LAST OF THE SISTER/BROTHER QUILTS...as of late last night and now I must get reading. I'm preparing to lead a Bible study on Colossians in October and have a lot of prep work for that as well as infrastucture work for a women's ministry in our church to prepare for. I need to read a LOT to get ready for all the above. Today I read two more chapters in a book I have been working on titled How People Change by Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp. I went to a seminar they led a few months ago on the topic (great content!) and wanted the review. It will be a great enhancement to the Colossians study because they quoted heavily from Colossians. It is enough to make a person get excited about the practical outworking of our theological beliefs that are outlined in that book. Who is Jesus? How does being a christian affect my everyday ability to function in a fallen world? How do I deal with other christians? Some of them are hard to get along with.
Because these men are not "just" pastors, but counselors as well, they have had to deal with the nitty gritty of the answers to these and other questions. I find the book to be readable with some really helpful illustrations that I can hang my hat on. So far, I've just read the Biblical/theological foundations for the book including my relationship with Christ and what that consists of and why I need community/the church...and why they need me. This is not meant to be a thorough review of the book. If you have read it, you know it isn't. I'm trying not to give the good illustrations away because they flesh them out better than I could in a short review.
Having lived in a small community (for about three years) that is committed to NOT changing as well as a church that is also struggling in the same area, I think of myself as someone who wants to change. Of course, I have been forced into it more often than I can say. Looking back, I have found that change usually has resulted in my good in some way. The events that lead to it were not always pleasant ones, but depending on my attitude, it had a positive effect on me in new areas of my life. A premise of this book is that while we christians are here on earth, our lives are not meant to be happy or fun, necessarily. We may even lead lives that are quite difficult at times but God uses all the things He brings into our lives to change us to be more like Him. Our time on earth is the time for change...the kind of change God wants to make in our lives. It is rarely the kind of change we want at any given time because His perspective is on a much grander scale than ours is. When we get to heaven, change will not be necessary. It is so easy to confuse the time frame and get those time frames reversed. These two men give us a great reminder from scripture that the time for change is now and it will continue to be until Christ returns or we go to be with Him.
The great things about studying Colossians (that keep popping up in this book as well) are the many reminders of who Jesus Christ really was/is, what our resources for living a life "worthy of the Lord..."are, including the wealth and treasures of the gospel that has been given us, the fullness of Christ and the great grace He has shown us. As I write about this, I realize what a poor job I am doing of making this concrete and what a great job they did! I'd better stop writing so you will be thirsty for the book and not bored by my description of it.
As I close, I will tell you that as I read the book, I realized how self-righteous I have been since being here. I felt that if I could make a huge change (that has felt like an earthquake in my entire life!) by coming here, people here, whose lives aren't so altered could make a few changes. Of course, it doesn't work that way! Just as God is using these huge changes in my life to point out areas where I was trusting myself and not Him or loving things other than Him, He will have to use the things He brings into the lives of individuals here to change their attitudes. That usually happens one person at a time in response to prayer. It can't be rushed. I wish it could. Then I could move on down my to-do list to something else and I wouldn't have really changed a bit. I'm so glad that God is in charge and not me. He is so much wiser than I. he really doesn't care about most of the changes that other people see. What He cares about are the changes that most people don't see--my attitudes, my desires, my goals...my heart. What is happening there? That is where He wants to change me to most! That's usually where I am least interested in having Him work. How much I need His redeeming grace!

2006-08-11T10:50:00.000-05:00

ONE DAY AFTER LUNCHEON...Yesterday, I hosted a luncheon for the Little Peoria Garden Club...of which I am a member. The operative word is "little". This group has been meeting for many, many years, but it is a very small group made up mostly of one family now because the older ladies are diminishing. (We lost another one last month within a day after our last meeting.) There were nine of us yesterday which is almost as many as I can manage without major moving of furniture. I'm not really one for fancy meals/luncheons because I agonize over so many of the details. What to eat? How much will be enough? Is it colorful enough? (I especially think of this with a ladies' luncheon.) And the list goes on. Yesterday however, things went really well. a friend came by ahead of time to help me set up. I served the plates from the kitchen (something I rarely do) and it worked REALLY well. I gave less choices than I often do (based on some questioning of others more familiar with the group's tastes) and that simplifies drinks (water or raspberry iced tea?), serving dishes and utensils and gives way more space on the table. It makes for a lot less confusion overall. It was great. I offered seconds which no one took. Additional rolls, butter, lemon slices, salt and pepper were all on the table. Making the time to plan ahead really helps a lot and simplifies serving the meal and being able to enjoy it with the guests.
This group often has namecards, so even tho' it sounds formal, it isn't really that fancy...or time consuming. In this day and age, with all the scrapbooking material/cool rubberstamps available, namecards take a very short time to make, add a nice look to the table and take away one more bit of confusion before the meal of who is to sit where. In this case, we had roses rubberstamped on lime cardstock. This way, everyone knew where they were to sit.
All in all, it was a fun meal. we all enjoyed the visit, I made foods that were able to be done ahead of time, a friend helped me serve the plates and we even added an avocado garnish:) My friend said, "This looks like a $9.95 salad plate at a nice restaurant." (In some cities, pricing would be much higher.) Sounds good to me. The company was great as well. We learned a lot about geraniums and how to grow (and winter them) in this part of the country.

2006-07-31T19:26:00.000-05:00

AND NOW FOR THE QUILTING SIDE OF MY LIFE...since I haven't talked much about it for awhile. On Thursday, I picked up my two quilts (throw size) from the woman who quilted them and they turned out great! What a relief. That meant that I was able to take advantage of "chocolate days" at my local quilt shop.
It is only one day per month and is designed for us to be able to finish projects we are working on without interruptions as mundane as fixing meals:) They provide lots of chocolate nibbly food for the day (not a huge temptation for me) and lunch and we get to sew to our hearts' content. They usually do some type of mixer game that we can play while sewing or having lunch so we get to know each other a little better. I haven't been able to go for months so this was a great treat. They have a huge cutting table that makes it very easy to evenly trim the quilt before putting the binding on. Basically, I got both quilts trimmed, the binding on one and much of the binding sewed together for the other one so that when I got home, I was able to complete the job and have both quilts done...except for the labels. One is for my brother and his wife and the other is for my sister and her husband. I have one in the works for my youngest sister who took a little longer figuring out what colors she wanted. If I work things right, I'll get a quilt made for each during my 60th year plus the two for the new grandchildren that got made. Not a bad accomplishment! I would be glad to keep either of these quilts. They came out even better than I expected them to. What a treat!
Well, here is the quilt for my brother. the colors don't show as well as in real life, but you get the idea. The border is sort of a teal with rust dots in it. Of course, the photo doesn't show the beautiful quilting that was done. In one block, is a large leaf, in the next, a smaller one framed (on point) with a bracket design that also goes around the inside rust border. The square where all the brackets join form a sort of four-petaled flower. Along the wide, teal border is a freehand leaf design. The quilting is really beautiful! I'll include the next quilt in another blog.

2006-07-26T08:58:00.000-05:00

LAST NIGHT, I MET WITH OUR SESSION...to present some items for approval and present what I have (not a lot of specifics) in terms of vision for the women of our church. They were very open and receptive to the planning so far. I am excited to be able to move ahead with specific asking of the women for a steering committee so we can start praying together and working toward developing a women's ministry at our church. This week, i'll be meeting with a trainer who lives in a nearby town, to get some help from her. I feel like the ball is rolling now in a way that I have to move with it. I can't change my mind and move on to something easier. The important thing is that some others will be willing to buy into this as well. It will be exciting, though I'm sure not always easy, to see what God is going to do here.

2006-07-19T14:09:00.000-05:00

THIS IS CATCH UP TIME...and I've been working at it in lots of areas of my life. Today it is in my devotions. I've gotten way out of balance there! So just as I have had to clean out closets and throw away, I'm having to study and clear away the clutter in my mind and this afternoon, spend some more concentrated time in prayer. My brain works so much better when the house and my life are cleared away and the clutter is tossed out. That is what has needed to happen for quite awhile. As long as I keep "running" and don't take the time for quiet with God, I get more and more stressed and react more and stay calm less. So today is one of those days to catch up in the most important area of life...my relationship with God...so that I can relate well to all those people that are around me.

2006-07-17T16:08:00.000-05:00

ORGANIZING AND THROWING OUT!...that's what I've been doing the last few days. I got to a point after our second move in Hanna City (to this house) that I just had no where to put things, so I quit opening any more boxes and tried (in vain) to find places for what I already had out. I never have been able to manage all the clutter and once I got home this summer, I decided to tackle this downstairs clutter that never seems to stop! I'm not finished, but have filled multiple garbage bags with trash and debris that I'm realizing I really do not NEED. I added some storage area that is helpful, cheap and flexible so I can store all the varieties of things that need storing:sewing supplies, scrapbooking materials and multiple miscellaneous stuff. The piles on the floor are almost gone now and I even have space to put things.
I have emptied some drawers in my room as well as this craft area in the basement, so I'm pleased to be getting some control over the mess. The really hard area to attack will be the laundry/storage area. It is so hot outside that I really can't do much out there. This is a great way to spend my time and clear out stuff and now, know where a lot of it is. My head is clearing up already. Yeah!

2006-07-17T15:41:00.000-05:00

HERE IS THE FINAL SHOT... this seems to always have been a family favorite over the years. We have usually lived in places where there aren't a lot of cemeteries with gravestones. This was especially true in FL, partially true in TX. The girls have always been touched by this little headstone from the year before their own dad's birth. It is wobbly now (run into by the mower?) but is still standing almost 70 years after being put there.
In this age where people are still trying to decide whether abortion is moral (that can't really be a logical or truly scientific decision anymore, can it?) and on what grounds it is actually legal, there seems to be something God put in the human heart that tells us that this was a human being. This was someone made in God's image...a little lower than the angels (as opposed to a little highter than the animals.) That is something our forebears knew without all the scientific information we now have. They had more faith abounding in the culture then. They had to. They didn't have answers to all their "why's" but they did have more trust in the One who created everything. The personal decisions re abortion, need to be made long before one is needed. It can't be an emotional decision, it must be a theological and rational one.
If a child results from a sinful/illicit relationship, God forgives as we make changes in our life and repent. The solution to "problems" that result from sinful behaviors are not solutions that involve covering up the results of our sin. Abortion does that with many physical, emotional and sometimes psychological consequences. If we can trust an eternal, sovereign God to forgive our sin, can't we also trust Him to guide us in providing solutions to our sinful behavior that don't result in more cover-ups or death? The answer to the rhetorical question is YES!
Well, my ramble was totally unexpected. That was not a topic I planned to write about today. It relates though, so I'll leave it.

2006-07-17T15:09:00.000-05:00

NOW TO TIE UP LOOSE ENDS...here is one of the photos from the cemetery (Ron's parents). I'll have to show the final photo in the next entry!
The group photo of Ron's class is not the whole class, but only those that wore their t-shirts for the picture.
The final photo is the one of his baby sister who was born almost exactly a year before he was. If she had lived, it is unlikely that I would have a husband! He and his brothers were each about six years apart. So once again, God's sovereignty is seen through a sad event as well as the happy ones.

2006-07-14T08:58:00.000-05:00

HOME AGAIN! I seem to have this recurring theme, only this time I really am home for awhile. We had a wonderful weekend in WI. Ron's 50th High School Reunion was great. We took the day and puttered around Chetek eating lunch at Bob's Grill and driving by the home where Ron grew up, where his mom lived after she remarried/retired, where some of his grandparents lived and so on. Some of the places rated a photograph, others landed in the memory bank...because they look better there than they do now. Ron was full of stories about growing up that day. It was fun to hear them again.
We ended at the cemetery. We haven't been there since his mom's funeral three years ago. The headstone had been cleaned up when it was engraved with the date of her death. She lived over 50 years after her husband died, raising her sons (the oldest in college, youngest in kindergarten) finishing her college degree in the summers (she had gone to normal school) as she taught during the school year. She scrimped and saved, put her three sons through college, saw them all marry and have a total of eight daughters. One became a high school principal in CA, one a minister (my husband) in FL, TX and now IL, and one a junior high english teacher in WI. Best of all, they became really great people (in character). In her 94 years, she buried a stillborn daughter (whose grave is also at that family plot), a husband (age 48) and her oldest son (age 56). The men both died of heart attacks. Her second husband who she married about the time she retired from teaching, she also buried after a few short years of a happy marriage. She was a really neat lady. With all of her saving, she still had some money left over to leave her kids! (I don't think I'll be able to do that if I live to be 94.)

We went to several of the family plots there getting dates off the headstones that we might want. We did find a person we hadn't heard about, so we are checking with a family member about her since we haven't seen any photos in the family pictures even though she lived to be in her 20's.

The reunion was fun. I have been to enough of them to have met a few of the people so I didn't feel like I was totally among strangers. Since this was a small town, most of these people knew each other all the way through school. Fortunately, some of the people Ron had known very well were there so we got to visit and catch up. Of course, the evening flew by and even though we weren't at church and didn't have to lock up the doors, we were still in the group that stood around and visited and was the last to leave! I guess it is hard to break some habits:)
Sunday afternoon, we were at Ron's brother's home in Menomonie. Their two daughters live in the twin cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) in MN which are about an hour away. Their older daughter is single now and is a social worker, their younger daughter is married with three children ages 10,6,3. She was born the same year as our oldest daughter. The children are lively enough that you know the "lights are on" (as one friend puts it) but not so wild that they are uncontrolled. They were a lot of fun. The youngest boy was born the same month/year that our older granddaughter was born. He is quite a little imp. It was fun to visit with the girls and catch up with their lives between the antics of the kids...and eating of course:)
Once again, I have two photos that go with this blog. I may have figured out how to do that too:) Wow!

2006-07-04T05:23:00.000-05:00

HOME AGAIN...ALMOST FOR GOOD. We arrived home on Friday night about 9 PM after almost 2 weeks away and a total of 2600 miles traveled. We only have one more short trip this coming weekend for Ron's 50th high school reunion in Chetek, WI and we will be home for the summer...what's left of it:)
It always takes a few days to get reoriented to life here. Saturday was spent getting the laundry in order...including the ironing which is now all caught up:) We attended a 50th wedding anniversary celebration and the rest of the day, Ron prepared for Sunday. Monday was our day off to rest and further catch up. The only outside activity we did was to finally get over to visit our youth pastor and his wife to see their new baby girl born last Wednesday. She was 9 pounds 7 oz. and looks half grown. She even has a double chin! She is a sweet and calm baby though and that is what parents really like.
We also got to visit the wife's parents who are missionaries in India. I have no sense of time, but realized we stayed way too long. Ugh! I wish I could pay attention to the time. I hate to be checking my watch when I'm visiting and that is the only way I know how much time is passing. I hadn't had a chance to visit with the new mother for awhile because I've been out of town so much, so I was catching her up on some projects we have been talking about. When her mom got home from some errands, we got talking about quilting and... Her mom did start supper b/f we left and I washed dishes so I could assuage some of my guilt.
Our week at General Assembly in Atlanta, GA was great. There weren't as many activities as there often are, so we weren't running like crazy people and I didn't get as tired. There were less seminar periods. The down side was that a lot of the ones I wanted to attend were at the same time. The up side was that once I decided on what I was going to attend, I could go and enjoy it and remember the few I attended.
One of the highlights for me was in an affinity group (separate from the seminars) for pastors' wives, our small group included an assistant (now associate) pastor's wife who served with us in TX, Susan Hunt, Karen Grant, a former college acquaintance who worked with my mother later on and who I see each year plus others I haven't known before. Susan and Karen were especially encouraging in the Biblical sense toward many in the group encouraging us to stop and pray for one who had had a number of deaths in her family. They were wonderful models of encouragement and selflessness. I can't say I was surprised, but it was like drinking from a refreshing stream. That 45 min. or one hour flew.
The week is always a great one because we see so many people from different stages of our past. It was nice to catch up with some of them as well as have the elder and his wife from our present. This is their second year to attend and they seemed to find their way around real well!

Now I have to digest a lot of the material I received...especially in regards to our women's work. We are trying to broaden our church's ministry to women and want to do it wisely and well. That will start with a Bible study in the Fall (we hope). It will also need some other structure for future development. That is the part that will take wisdom. I'd better stop my update for now with that or the ramble will get bogged down. More on our trip later.

2006-06-16T10:13:00.000-05:00

NOW TO MY EVERYDAY LIFE...with all the upset from the little schedule that I do have, I'll tell you a little about what I'll be working on during our trip both in terms of "catching up" and in terms of learning while I'm at General Assembly.
I've been working for quite awhile somewhat stealthily, to see what we can do in our church to reach the bulk of our women and pull them into some form of meaningful community--Bible study, prayer group, etc. There is one group that meets...and has met together for many years. They have prayed together since their children were young...for the most part...and now many of those children are grandparents! Those ladies have a prayer group, study the Bible together, and have a Sunday School class. Their needs for christian growth, community and outreach are met and they take their responsibilities seriously.
Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, the "younger" women (from approximately 60 on down) are not involved to anything like the degree of their mothers and grandmothers (as far as a Bible study, prayer group, etc. are concerned). Many are working outside the home or have children/grandchildren to keep up with...not unusual in this day and age in most parts of the country. The question is, how can we involve these women in a meaningful women's ministry without unnecessarily shoveling guilt (which many already feel) on an overwhelming to-do list? How do we help them see that this time will be encouraging when their experience in church has often been one where they feel they don't measure up? How can we encourage them to experience the encouragement that comes from spending meaningful time in God's Word with other women who are there to build them up in Christ? That job is up to the Holy Spirit.

There are a few of us that want to start a Bible study (at least) in the Fall. We have the blessing of our Session (church leadership). Right now, I am working on choosing which book of the Bible to study and a new area of choice opened up recently. i'll be looking through those books, going to some seminars, talking to some people at General Assembly and asking for lots of help and wisdom from others.
I need to settle down at home to do my local homework of talking with my local ladies and doing the groundwork that is needed one on one. For as long as I have been praying re all of this, I know that God's timing is perfect. He knew when these babies were coming and I needed to be away helping with them. Maybe I need some of the information from General Assembly before I get my ladies together in terms of groundwork, I don't know. At any rate, this is the timing that is happening. I would give anything to have someone else do this. It will definitely be a group effort, but I am the one with the vision for it...unfortunately. I have experienced the difficulty in the past that comes with major change. I don't know the specifics for this situation, I just know that it will be a difficult job. The rewards down the road will be fantastic, but early on, it is always difficult. I look foward to the next few weeks/months of growth. I know this will be a very stretching time for me and our women. It is their church. I'm the temporary one. We will need good, Godly leadership from our women. My desire is for God to be glorified both in the process and in the outcome which will never be static...I hope!

2006-06-15T22:54:00.000-05:00

DO I FEEL DUMB...I have been wanting to get a photo of my latest grandchild put up and post at least one blog before leaving town and I couldn't get into it! I tried every password I could think of yesterday and when I sat down tonight, it finally came back to me! ugh! I can be such a dingbat!
I've been home almost a week from Waco (as of Saturday) and I'm getting ready to leave again! I'm starting to feel like a bouncing ball...bouncing in and out of town since May! This is the first trip that Ron has gone on. We will be gone almost two weeks. The first week will be business--our denomination's General Assembly will meet in Atlanta, Georgia starting Tuesday night. After it is over, we will go to the Jacksonville, FL area to visit my mother in a nursing home, and stepfather in the same lifecare community for a few days, then come home with a quick stop near Nashville, TN to see our daughter and her husband so Ron can at least meet his new grandson. It will be a VERY brief visit unfortunately.
So tomorrow I will get the photo posted so you can see Walker's face, and i'll have gotten this part of my life caught up. Then there will most likely be silence for the two weeks we are out of town because I won't have much access to a computer. I look forward to the month of August when we will be home for the whole month...as far as we know now. I have a lot of people I need to catch up with to say nothing of my house, etc.
Now for the cutest grandson a person could have. Here is Walker's picture. Of course, the photo doesn't show his sweet disposition or his alertness or his almost smile (even though he was supposed to be too young for that at the time). He is a very contented little soul. I hope he does well on the two day trip to TN from TX that will start tomorrow. (Friday)

2006-06-05T16:12:00.000-05:00

WE ARE RECOVERING FROM LAST WEEK'S DELIVERY...His name is Walker Scott. He weighed in at 6 lbs. 14 oz. and as the first in this family, has managed to keep three people busy with all the admiring, holding, diaper changing and feeding. My daughter is doing well for a new mother and taking her responsibilities in stride. Her husband has been busy calling friends, updating their website and of course, getting ready for their move which will take place next week! It's amazing how many pictures that first child has taken of them. He is the first grandchild on his father's side and the first grandson on ours, so he is getting photographed at every turn.

He seems to be fairly easy going. He fusses, but doesn't get hugely ruffled when things don't happen immediately--which isn't often:) It will be interesting to see him grow and see how his personality changes. For now, we are just enjoying his being here. My husband won't get to meet him for a few more weeks, but I'm sure he will be just that much cuter by then:) I must move along for now. He is sleeping and I have a few more things to do. A picture will come soon.

2006-05-30T13:39:00.000-05:00

IT LOOKS LIKE TOMORROW IS GOING TO BE ARRIVAL DAY FOR OUR THIRD GRANDCHILD...unless he takes longer to get here (but we won't even go there!) His mom will go in to be induced at 6:30 A.M. I leave here at about 2 P.M. for Waco and am to arrive at 6 P.M. Hopefully, he will be here by then, or close to it. Since I won't be at my own computer and they have a Mac, you probably won't see any pictures of him until i get home about June 10. Tomorrow should be an exciting...possibly tiring, day. I must move along and finish my chores.

2006-05-29T15:57:00.000-05:00

THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO PUBLISH A PHOTO...the bad news is that I can't seem to get two in one blog so here is a picture of my two sweet granddaughters at the oldest one's third birthday party (a few days early) and the youngest's nearly three weeks old celebration as well! Don't the two of them already look like they will be a handful? They are cute as pie already.

2006-05-29T15:19:00.000-05:00

YEAH! SUCCESS AT LAST...or at least I hope so. If everything worked out right, i will have a photograph on this website of my new granddaughter Quinn when she was about 3 weeks old. If I finish typing this blog and find that the picture is either the wrong one or it didn't publish like it said it did, i'll have to find a way to make it work before you get to read this. My friend Caron has been coaching me along...telling me that I can do this. So I hope she is right. The next thing I will have to do is learn how to make a link to my blog so other people can actually read it:)

My youngest daughter is also expecting a baby...and is overdue. I'm happy to know that her doctor won't let her go more than a week late. He will see her tomorrow and will either induce then or Wed. I leave here Wed. for Waco and hopefully, her son will be there by the time I arrive. I'm always relieved when they arrive safe and sound. It is something I don't take for granted.

I will close with a picture of my Seattle granddaughters. Aren't they cute? They are Caroline and Quinn. Doesn't Quinn look alert? Pardon me for bragging. I don't get to do it often. Bye for now.

2006-05-23T14:32:00.000-05:00

HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN... I arrived home last night after about 4 1/2 hours in the air from Seattle to Chicago...first class:) Now that was a treat! Then I was in the airport about 3 1/2 hours waiting for my flight that got me home...on time...at about 9:30 PM CDT. It was a long day and it felt wonderful to be in my own bed...with by own husband:) Needless to say, I slept in this morning and it felt VERY good.
I'm catching up on email, mail and laundry as I write. I also checked my plants that were started shortly before I left. They are all alive and thriving. My garden (of flowers) looks nice.

I DO miss little Miss Cuddles (Quinn) and Caroline's tales and made-up characters. Her latest is a "feometer". From the various descriptions of this animal that I have been able to glean, it is usually found in the water and can be very colorful. (ex. some have been "seen" that were purple with black spots.) No one seems to quite be able to catch or to photograph one!)

For now, I'm catching up on rest and finishing up on VBS craft preparations that will take place while I'm gone. The two ladies that will do VBS during VBS have led the work nights to set everything up and done a great job with that. I just have to teach a few people how to do a "macrame" wordless book bracelet. It is basically made with one knot. It should be quite easy for them to learn...especially since some want to learn it.
Well, on to my afternoon of a short rest and folding clothes...and waiting for our next baby. He is due in two days which means he could come at any time. I will be leaving for TX 5/31 to see him and help out there.

2006-05-19T00:51:00.000-05:00

TIRED AND WEARY...that's how I'm feeling about now. I love visiting out here in Seattle with my now two grandchildren, but the weariness that comes with a new baby and all the work that entails is now coming back to me in a new way:) Shopping trips take longer than I remembered and often must be cut short for naps (for the older granddaughter) or feeding the younger one. Just getting out of the house in the morning is a major accomplishment! We did laundry yesterday and doing wash and drying it between all the other activities took all day long.
It is certainly worth the effort to do what we are doing. Each child is a delight! Our almost three year old--Caroline--has a mammoth vocabulary and an imagination to go along with it. Tonight she regaled her dad with tales of her day that were quite imaginitive, to say the least! I never know what direction her comments will take. For certain, they will be interesting and unique. She is a wonderful big sister to baby Quinn who tolerates the kissing of the feet and head pretty well. If Quinn starts crying, Caroline comforts her with, "It's okay, your big sister is here." It is quite touching.
Quinn just eats and sleeps with short awake times when she shows us how strong she is. She looks around and pays attention to all that is going on. Like many second-borns, she seems to take it in stride. Noise doesn't seem to phase her much and she doesn't "freak out" if she doesn't get immediate attention.
All in all, this family will do well after I'm gone I'm sure. Of course there will be hard days, but they will do well. My daughter and her husband work well together and enjoy their children. My daughter's in-laws are nearby too and they are extremely helpful. I can't even imagine what that would be like. I've rarely lived near any family.
I will be leaving here this Monday and will be home about 10 days before visiting another daughter and her new baby--who hasn't arrived yet. I'd better call it a day for now and get to bed.

2006-05-11T16:45:00.000-05:00

TALK ABOUT CHANGING DIRECTIONS MIDSTREAM! That's what happened today. I woke up this morning expecting to fly out of the Peoria airport at about 3 PM. I was headed for Seattle via Chicago, for 11 days there with my daughter and her family including their newest daughter, Quinn. It seemed that all was going well, I was putting the final items in my suitcase and planning to tidy up around the house when the phone rang.
American Airlines was calling to tell me that my flight was being cancelled due to bad weather in Chicago and changed to an early flight in the morning. It is quite a windy day and thunderstorms are predicted for the afternoon even though none have materialized yet at close to 5 PM! So I will arrive in Seattle about 1:30 PM tomorrow instead of 7:30ish tonight. What to do?
I decided to have lunch with a friend that I have missed talking with for weeks and had a lovely time visiting and catching up. It was a delightful and refreshing time. Now I will be able to have a quiet evening at home with some light housekeeping that will leave things more orderly for Ron and probably make my life simpler when I return for a breather before going to Texas.
I guess it all worked out well after all. Sometimes life gets so busy and hectic that i don't have the sense to stop and breathe. I think God figured it would be a good idea for me to do just that before going to WA where things can get pretty busy. It will delay my arrival by about 1/2 a day (as far as awakeness goes) but gave me an unexpected breather that I am enjoying. Thank you Lord for taking care of me when I am not always wise enough to take good care of myself.

2006-05-04T09:55:00.000-05:00

ANOTHER DAY IN ST. LOUIS! I went with a group from the classical school where I have been teaching an art co-op class in the afternoons this year, to the St. Louis Art Museum yesterday. We took two vans and a car. It turned out overall to be an uneventful day but a very interesting one. I was so worried we'd be delayed and I ended up being one of the ones who delayed us in the morning:( I was copying some sheets to make the trip interesting for the kids, got delayed in traffic and was very embarassed.)
We arrived about 5 minutes late in St. Louis (3 hrs. away) for our docent. They were very gracious and took us around for a highlight tour of the museum. I learned a lot. I think the children did too. The tour with the docent was one hour. She showed us a few paintings and told us stories behind them. It was a very interactive presentation that also included a lot of interesting stories behind the art. One story that was especially interesting was the story of the Burghers of Calais. It is not a painting but six life-sized statues. The real life ones are in Calais, France. Five of the six smaller copies are in this museum. It is a human illustration of people giving their lives for others.
After lunch we divided into groups and toured again on our own for about 45 minutes. We girls took one route that took us through a lot of art objects from Asia, Egypt (including mummies), Africa and New Guinea. Some of the items were rather dark as in witch doctor paraphenalia, masks, etc. Others were Asian porcelain or brass objects that were beautiful because of their color or intricate design. There was also a section of furniture that had some very intriguing pieces in it as well as ornate clocks and silver pieces. there weren't duplicates of any one item so it was quite interesting and as you can imagine, with a group of 2-6 graders, I was not able to read the information on them like I would have liked. We were just getting into a section that had shields, swords and armor, but our time ran out...or rather the time others decided had run out because they had planned to end the day with an hour at the zoo!! I must say, that took me by surprise.
I felt that we had such a limited amount of time for the art museum and we lost an hour of that. Oh well, I wasn't totally in charge of the trip, so on we went to the next thing.
The boys meanwhile, had gone to the U.S. artists and had seen the art I had wanted to see. For some reason, I didn't think to look for the area of artists that we had studied all year. . duh! I really enjoyed the trip and hope to return soon on my own.
I had hoped to include pictures of my new granddaughter Quinn here, but I can't seem to get them to coordinate with the dealy that transfers them. Hopefully, I'll be able to figure out how to do that soon. I'll be leaving for Seattle in a week. I have VBS crafts to get in order before then. I must get going!

2006-04-30T14:45:00.000-05:00

GRANDBABY NUMBER TWO--It looks like today will be the day for grandbaby #2 (a little girl) to come. Her mom just called to let us know they were leaving for the hospital via the grandparents' house to drop off older sister. If this little one arrives with the speed of her big sister, she won't make it to May, the month she was supposed to arrive. I think they will be glad for a non-May birthday. So far their family has an anniversary, father's birthday and older sister's birthday in one week (in May). This will add an April birthday to mom's April birthday and balance things out a bit.

LATER: They left home about noon Seattle time for the hospital. Quinn Abigail showed her face at 3:12 pm! She certainly didn't take her time. She weighed in at 7 pounds 9 1/2 ounces. From the sound of her in the delivery room, she is a feisty little soul. I look forward to meeting her in about 10 days.

2006-04-26T22:36:00.000-05:00

A YELLOW BELLIED CHICKEN...THAT'S WHAT I AM!
This is my fourth entry and I still haven't told anyone about my blog. Talk about being a chicken!! I'm realizing how boring my life probably is to anyone who might choose to read this, yet I feel that I need to tell people about the blog so I can get some feedback and be stimulated to write. I guess I'll do it after I return from St. Louis. We're leaving tomorrow afternoon. Our seminar starts Friday morning and goes all day and all day Saturday. My understanding is that it is the life of Abraham so I guess that will be a study of a few chapters in Genesis. I'll enjoy seeing the contrast with the way Bible Study Fellowship does it since that is what we have been studying there. My main reason for wanting to use Precepts is that it can be used in the local church and our local church needs something like that. I also like having people taking apart scripture "on their own" i.e. looking at key words, paragraphs, key ideas, etc. so that everyday people are learning to study scripture for themselves and don't see it as something only the teacher does. That makes for a healthier church--when people are actually IN the Word instead of reading books about it or listening to speakers who tell them about a Bible study they have done. Of course, those are not bad things, they just don't go far enough and lay people forget that the "normal" is for them to be studying the Word on their own.
We also plan to enjoy the hospitality of a former roommate of our daughter's in Kiev. She is now married and living in St. Louis and has frequently offered hospitality before. This time we took her up on it. We will enjoy being in a home.
Hopefully, the first of our new grandchildren will arrive next week. Christy is hoping for this weekend to finish up some things around the house. Any time she gets after that, she will enjoy before the baby comes...up to a point!
I discovered today that my current phone contract is up and I am entitled to a new phone and a better deal for the same amount of money. I may upgrade so that I can get a good picture of the new baby from the delivery room. That would be fun! Then Ron could use my old phone and upgrade his phone situation. I'm sure it would work better. I'd better stop the ramblings for now and send this even though it isn't being read yet:)

2006-04-23T21:36:00.000-05:00

ANOTHER BUSY WEEK
I'm feeling the pressure to get a lot of things done before going to Seattle,WA in about 2 weeks. I felt like the more I tried to finish projects, the less I was getting done...until last week. I just set aside some actual days to do certain looming projects and for the most part, I got them done! I didn't get much else done, but those big jobs are completed! hooray! This week, I don't have the same kind of pressure, but it will be a busy week in a different way. I can't let any grass grow under my feet!

I am completing plans for VBS crafts (with help) and it looks like the crafts I tentatively lined up will work out ok. I checked the cost on some of the portions I was unsure about and I think they will work. i kept notes on prices so I know which stores to return to when I have to complete the shopping. I will have to find time to make the samples this week...or maybe next.

Tomorrow will be my last Bible Study Fellowship study for this year. We will leave Thursday evening for St. Louis to take the Precept training together on Friday and Saturday. That should be interesting. I hope it will be useful for our church. Next week will be a bit crazy! I'll be going to the dentist, having evening events two or three of the nights and to top it off, that Wednesday, I will be going to St. Louis again with about 20 2-6th graders. I have been teaching an art class at a nearby classical school on Wednesday afternoons and this is the final event for the year. Our art group is too small to be able to go to the art museum and have a docent, so almost the whole school is going! We will have a docent for an hour to give us highlights of the museum as well as the Monet exhibit. I am very excited to be able to go but I have a feeling that it will be a rather exhausting day.

All these activities are being pushed together so that I can go spend some time with my daughter in Seattle after she has her second daughter. I'm looking forward to that. I have her quilted wall hanging almost done. the binding is sewn on turned and pinned in place for the final sewing. After that, all I have to do is add the label and her name and birthdate on the front. When I get back from that trip, I should have about ten days to catch my breath before going to TX to be with my youngest daughter after she has her first baby. What a fun way to start off my 60th year!

2006-04-18T09:10:00.000-05:00

FILLING IN THE BLANKS
As I read the last post, I realize that, as usual, I assume people know me. Of course, they don't. I talk away and leave out important imformation and throw in lots of unimportant details. For example, I didn't mention that we lived in TX for 16 years. I also didn't mention that for us, that is forever!! Until then, we had never lived anywhere as a couple, longer than seven years.

As a young child, our family moved A LOT. I don't know if it was because of that or because of my basic nature, but I just wanted to have roots somewhere. By the time we moved to Ft. Lauderdale, FL the summer after my first grade year, I had had 4 major moves in my 7 years of life and they didn't include the minor moves within the major moves. (One of the moves was to Bolivia and I know we moved to more than one town during the almost 3 yrs. we lived there in the late 1940's.) I was very happy to settle in Ft. Lauderdale. It was our home until my parents became missionaries again when I was in ninth grade. It was still our home in the U.S. though because my grandparents had moved there by then. That's where we (children) went for vacations and holidays from high school and college. That is where I met my husband, married and started my marriage. Even when we were missionaries, we came back there to supporting churches and to see friends and family. That was one of the things that made the move to TX very difficult in 1988. We had no roots anywhere near TX. It felt a lot like we were jumping off the edge of the world...even more than when we went to Jamaica as missionaries.

So you see, I don't just have the average approach to family and location that many have. It often becomes my idol because I want it for my security and when I want it that much, I am putting it ahead of God. In essence, I am saying, "God, I don't really believe you when you say that Your grace is sufficient for each day. I want to be in control of my life situation--where I am, where my children are in relation to me (geographically) and I don't believe that you can fill that empty hole that is there when they are not near. You are not enough to comfort me in that loss." When I have that attitude, my heart's idol factory is at work and I am putting very good things ahead of God and telling Him that He is not enough. At that point, I have to repent of the adultery of my heart that is just like that of the Israelites in the desert or during the time of the prophets.

He has more planned for me than enjoying my family--which is a wonderful thing and which I do when able. He also wants me to reach out in ministry to others, not just from the vantage point of my own comfort but out of the discomfort of my life. Some of my best ministry opportunities come from the times when I don't have everything figured out and put together and I'm ministering out of my sense of need to others who are needy. But more on that another day.

2006-04-14T13:50:00.000-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
This is a big week. I turned 60! I never thought this day would come. I can never say I am young now...or even middle-aged. I think I am officially old. I'm not ancient or decrepit, but definitely old. I have very young grandchildren for my age (an almost 3 year old and 2 due in May--a boy and a girl). That is why we weren't able to have a family celebration together (which I would have loved). With daughters living far away (seattle, WA and waco, TX) and in the late stages of pregnancies and our oldest daughter just back at her home in kiev, ukraine, no long term friends (we have only lived here 2 years), it made for some sad aspects to turning 60. I think that at this time in my life, my family, old friends and familiar surroundings are most appreciated.
Evidently, God thought I needed both a change in venue and a change in attitude. He picked us up from Tyler, TX 2 years ago and moved us here. I know this is where He wants us to be but there have been times that living with that has been difficult.
At a recent seminar we attended, it was underlined once again for me that at times of anger or extreme sadness with what God's will is for me now, i have to look at where my heart is. Am I worshipping Him first or am I worshipping another idol made in the idol factory of my heart? Some of my personal idols are: staying where I am when I finally find my niche in a given church body, being as close as i can (geographically) be to my family, having some good, long-term friends who will tell me the truth, not what i want to hear. Instead, I need to be spending more time with God alone instead of with all the other accoutrements that are good, but that I often substitute for God. Obviously, my idols are not bad things by themselves, except that they keep me from worshiping the one true God wholeheartedly.
There is no one here that I know from before in my life: no relatives, friends, friends of friends or family. it is just us. The winters have been long and cold. As with any church, there is always someone who is there to say words that are discouraging and disheartening. Fortunately, there are also those (and more of them) who are encouraging and uplifting in their words and actions. Two years have passed, we have made new friendships and relationships. I'm learning how to survive winters and grow tulips. God is good. Joy comes after mourning. Just as we look forward to spring in this part of the country, I look forward to this new stage of my life and what I will learn in my walk of faith both with God alone and in community with my fellow believers in my church.