DogBlog

Innane Babble of the Day...

2011-01-11T11:22:00.001-08:00

FOR some reason today, I thought of about 5 different statuses for my Facebook profile. A lot is going through my mind. Maybe I'm feeling creative? Anywho, I thought I may as well blog my innane thoughts and get them out there and out of my head.

WE'VE had quite a lot of snow in the last couple of days. Our family just LOVES a good snowstorm. This is the first major accumulation we've had this year (unlike last year where we started with our first big snow in October and ended up with our last snow toward the end of March - tons and tons of it!). I fired up the snow blower and blew our driveway and sidewalks and a couple of the neighbors'. I really like using that thing. It's so powerful and saves SO much time and effort. Too bad we can't use it on our stairs out front!

A RANDOM consideration: wearing matched socks might be overrated.

KRISTIN has made up two words today so far: #1: She was referring to her left-over fries and chicken strips and saying that when she reheats in the microwave that they are 'gross-ious'. An aptly illustrative word! #2: She was chatting w/Ell and doing a little dance move that she made up during the conversation. Ell asked what she was doing and Kristi replied: 'A bootie-bobble'...(followed by hilarious laughter.) In the ensuing conversation, Bree called it a 'butt-bobble' - Kristin corrected her big sister (more hilarious laughter). Followed by Bree saying, 'Let's use the words 'bootie' and 'butt' as often as possible and Kristin will never stop laughing.'

OUR dryer may be near death. The back of the drum has somehow started to detach from the rest of it and it makes such a racket when it's running. It's what I imagine it might be like in a factory or in the engine of a running steam locomotive. Maytags are not what they used to be for sure. We bought it 6 years ago...apparently we bought a 5 year warranty that ran out last month. =\ The comforting thing is that I know that the Lord knows we need a dryer, so He must have a plan. We sure don't have the money to buy a new one right now.

I'M going to start attending a group called 'Fresh Start' that meets each Tuesday evening to help with working through issues of the heart. We were supposed to start tonight, but the recent snow and high winds have postponed the first meeting until next week. I'm excited to know more of Jesus and to be free from some things that have been weighing me down for sometime.

WE got a Kinnect (for Xbox360) for Christmas. It is a BLAST. We have all enjoyed using it...it's getting us all up off of the couch and up on our feet and moving! There are sports and games and dancing discs...I have very sore muscles from it. Having been very sedentary for the last few years has taken its toll. I'm so thankful for the Kinnect.

2010-10-23T20:41:00.001-07:00

My heart is broken tonight by the ugly influence of our world on innocent children. I wonder how deeply our own children are affected. I wonder where we have been lax and our enemy has taken advantage of the cracks in our wall. There's part of me...part of my 'momness' that wants to spare our kids from all harm, all pain, and especially all sin and its effects. I am very well aware of the impossibility and even if it was possible, the detriment of this. I'm seeing as our two oldest are beginning their adulthood that some of the ways I've tried to spare them have actually worked to foster fears and prevented maturity. Ouch.

But I know that everything, EVERYTHING is redeemable. I know that when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him (Is. 59.19). I'm pressed tonight to seek God, to get serious. The fresh realization of The War that we are in has scared me - hopefully in a good way. Lord, have mercy.

Just Wondering...

2010-10-08T07:45:00.000-07:00

May I respectfully disagree with some of my sweet friends?

I don't get how the current 'secret phrase' being posted on Facebook is supposed to engender breast cancer awareness. The posting of bra colors last year made more sense...although I still believe the business of our undies is between us and our spouses!

And why would we want to post publicly something that might make anyone picture us doing something so private, so special, so sacred? If there's not enough innuendo and temptation out there, let's just add to the cerebral sleaze-soup that's served up everyday here in western society, shall we?

I just don't get it. That's all.

Summer Salsa

2010-07-04T15:17:00.001-07:00

Ooh, the delicious vegetable-y goodness! This batch was obviously made with red onion. Please pass the baked Tostitos!

Here's the disclaimer: this is OF COURSE, so much better w/fresh tomatoes. Made it yesterday w/store-bought and it was good....but not fantabulously delicious like usual. This is a simple recipe that I got out of the Omaha World Herald years and years ago...It's really more like a pico de gallo. I tweaked it a bit with the oil and vinegar and sugar to suit my taste. It's not very spicy....but I LOVE hot food, so adjust the 'jalapeno-ness' according to your preference. Hope you like it!

OMAHA WORLD HERALD MEXICAN SALSA

4 small tomatoes, peeled & chopped (I usually don't peel them.)

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped

1/4 c. cilantro, chopped

1/3 chopped onion (any kind)

1/4 t. salt

1 1/2 t. oil ( I use canola or sometimes olive oil.)

1 scant t. sugar

1 T. vinegar

Combine all in medium-sized bowl. Serve @ room temp. Makes 1 1/2 c.

And here's a freebie, because it's written on the back of the salsa recipe card:

PACE CHUNKY GUACAMOLE

2 ripe avocados, peeled, seeded, diced

1/2 c. onion, chopped (any kind of onion)

1/4 c. Pace picante sauce

1 t. lemon juice

1/4 t. salt

Combine. Enjoy.

Okay, gotta go to HyVee and get me some avocados to make some Guac for our 4th of July celebration!

Thankful Trumps Crabby

2010-06-28T08:38:00.000-07:00

Missing terribly our two travelers today.

Haven't slept well for three consecutive nights (night 1: worry & prayer for Nicaragua team. night 2: tummy & chimichanga disagreement. night 3: 2 am shower for itching skin.)

Headache.

Lack of motivation to do the 47.34 tasks slated for the day which include: 5 loads of laundry, water plants, wash wall to ready for painting, go for a walk, do 5 lessons in my Bible study which are due tomorrow which I should have spread out through the whole week, painting Kristin's vanity.

My bed is calling out to me: "Napping is good! Napping would solve many of your ills!"

This is one of those mornings where I am tempted to look on the dark side....be a 'glass half-empty' girl.

I am reminded that being thankful is my one way ticket out of this land of lethargy and irritability. AND I am reminded that taking time to allow Jesus to show me His love is NEVER a bad thing. He reminds me that I am WAY too hard on myself and agreement w/Him is humilty and obedience.

YOU are my ANSWER, Lord!...not accomplishing more, sleeping more, feeling physically better. It REALLY IS all about You!!!

Disappointment

2010-04-16T09:20:00.000-07:00

(Do you like the homage to Star Wars? I readily admit it....we are a family of Trekkies and Star Wars Geeks.)

A dear friend sent this to me today:

"I think God is disappointed with me." What's wrong with that statement; why does it bother me?

It's so interesting that this would be brought up today because Dave and I were just discussing last night whether it is appropriate to tell your child that you are disappointed in him/her. We concluded that there are probably better words to use w/kids...words that do not bring shame.
Regarding the Lord, isn't His being disappointed w/us impossible? I mean to be disappointed implies that there was a certain expectation. If God knows what we are going to do anyway, how could He be disappointed? (Apologies to all you 'Moral Gov't' officionados.)
I know that Love hopes all things and that He always hopes we will make the best choices, but He knows us. We are weak. We have limitations and strongholds and difficulties and temptations. Rather than saying He is disappointed with us, I believe it would be more accurate to say that we are disappointed with ourselves. (Which, I believe, is a form of pride.) If He is Who He says He is, then EVERYTHING is redeemable and those of us who have screwed up our lives the most (HELLO, THIS MEANS EVERYONE!) have the opportunity for the most redemption. Reminds me of Isaiah 63:3b & 4

They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.

If there was nothing ruined, we would not see our need for Him. Having 'places long devastated' in our family background and in our own lives is not unusual...quite the opposite. The Bible is FULL of people who made poor choices or bore the brunt of the rotten choices of others. Some of them allowed God to make them 'a planting of the Lord'...to redeem their rotten, sinful choices and to become 'the display of His splendor'. Without redemption, there's no display. Without our weaknesses, His strength cannot be shown.
We have it all backwards: we try to be strong, we try to show that we are handling things well. We hide our weakness, even from ourselves. How silly to not live in reality, to not call a spade a spade and glady give ourselves over to the Only One who can save us from our silly, selfish selves.

2 Cor. 12:9,10 My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Yes, at the very best, I've had poor judgement. At the least, I've been an evil, self-centered, selfish pig of a person and chosen to please me and me alone. I admit it. I fall short. I need help. And I will always need help. My realizing this of late has been a GLORIOUS freedom.
There was a time when I would have beat myself up because I should be 'further down the road'....that I should have made better use of all the teaching and help I've been so freely given. BUT I AM NOT FURTHER DOWN THE ROAD.
And I have to ask myself: have I given Jesus my heart? Is my intent to allow Him to direct me daily? If so, then where I am is HIS doing...I am in this place for His purposes. (AND if I am not yet His, not allowing His voice to show me the path every day, one choice, one prayer can put me on that path.)
Okay, stepping down from the soapbox...

Summer Longing...

2010-04-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

Bree and me, studying & enjoying!

The hanging jars.

A big jar with a big candle!

It's like a vacation spot at home...

I'm excited to say that I do believe that for this year, our winter is past. We have a few daffodils and some tulips that bravely poked out of the ground immediately after the three and a half foot drifts that have covered them since December 24th FINALLY melted a couple of weeks ago! HOORAY!

Kristin (our 8y/o) and I watched the weather channel for a few moments together last week and rejoiced together as we saw 70 degree temperatures in the forecast. She and I both love the hot weather. I won't call 70 'hot', but its' a start. (I grew up in Southern California and LOVE the warmth.)

We are blessed with a lovely covered deck off our kitchen and living room...In the warmer weather David and I sit out there and chat and drink coffee in the am. Sometimes our kiddos join us and it's the best of times. We need to eat meals out there more often this year, I think.

We've hung some gauzy fabric curtains out on the deck that serve no real purpose except to make it feel more "homey". Dave's built us some Adirondak chairs that I LOVE. They are sooooo comfortable. If we're out there after dark, we have 15 or 20 jars of different shapes and sizes in which we place white candles. We hang some (by beaded wires that we've looped around the jar's opening) around the eaves. And we place some on the deck around us. We have two hammocks hanging out there too. Some times I take my guitar out there and make a bit of music.

During the day as we go about our business, our deck calls to us...'Come out and rest!' It's the perfect spot for a quiet moment. We love to have people over to hang out and visit out there. If you are in the neighborhood, come on over and experience the ambiance of the Reno's back deck! I'm longing for a bit of it myself. Won't be long and it will be warm enough...

Compassion vs. Judgement

2010-02-04T01:49:00.000-08:00

I rarely remember my dreams. And if I do, they are usually innane and seemingly meaningless...easily blamed on last night's pizza (or in this case, German chocolate cake!). When our kids come to our room in the middle of the night for comfort from a bad dream, I pray for them and hold them and do my best to get them back to sleep as quickly as possible....but my empathy level is usually rather low. I mean how bad can it be?

I just had the most vivid dream...David and I were checking into a hotel. I preceded him into our room by a few minutes. There were two beds in our room and the one on which I was putting my stuff had drawers in its base. And I did not notice at first, but coming up from the foot of the bed were wasps. Somehow I ended up with wasps all over my left ankle and shin. I don't remember being stung but I was SCARED. There was a can of wasp killer in our room and I stared spraying it like crazy into the crack where I perceived the wasps were emerging before I realized that they were getting on me. When I saw them on my leg I sprayed myself over and over...then Dave came in the room and was asking what was happening! He helped me get them off myself and we were in the process of exiting and getting somewhere else safe to stay when I woke with a start...SO thankful to be safe in our little house.

It FREAKED ME OUT. So much so that I cannot go back to sleep at the moment (I got up at 3:45 am...). All my speeches to our kids in the past 15 or so years about 'taking thoughts captive' are ringing through my head...a simple choice, right? Or maybe not as simple as I've thought. Tomorrow morning I will certainly be asking forgiveness for impatience with them...and this is but one instance in a myriad that has certainly grooved our kids for the need for therapy somewhere down the line!

I'm frustrated with myself regarding my lack of compassion, my easy rush to judgement on things I am not familiar with. I'm tempted to list things I've been judgemental about in the past, but I'm afraid of alienating someone ("You judged me because of that?") Okay, I'll make a short list, but please don't take this personally...it's just my own obtuse insensitivity.

I tipped the scales this week at my all time high weight...YUP. In the past here's my thoughts: 'Losing weight: how hard can it be?' Well now that I'm here, it is hard. Very.

A few years ago I had the DESPERATE need to be on depression meds...my thoughts prior to that: 'C'mon people! Think a happy thought for goodness sake!' Now my experience says that I had NO IDEA what I was saying. NONE AT ALL.

Sad to say, I've also judged children of divorced families...I was COMPLETELY CLUELESS to the total devastation that rocks a child's world when parents divorce. Mine divorced when I was 38 and it made me feel like I was 8 years old. And though it has been 9 1/2 years since they've split, I'm a long way from being through grieving over it.

Hopefully the more I live, the more I will RELAX and quit judging. It's so tiring to judge all the time. Maybe I just won't have enough energy to do it after a while? (if only it was that simple!)

Then I think, hmmmm.....certainly this very subject may be one of the reasons that these verses are in the Bible:

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 2 Corinthians 1:3,4

So I take this to mean that if we haven't received this comfort ourselves, WE AIN'T GOT IT to give out...(I normally don't use the word ain't, but it seemed so appropriate here...) My view is so narrow. I'm so thankful that the Lord's is not. I'm so thankful that

"...we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God...This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most." Hebrews 4:14-16

Lord, have mercy! I desperately need this grace...probably most in the middle of the night (literally....and figuratively). Continue to show me my judgements...my ungraciousness toward others. With Your help I want to turn away from this natural bent to judge. May I see You for who You really are. May I receive Your love and comfort that I may comfort others. May I give out grace as You do...liberally!

Held Close

2010-02-01T07:11:00.000-08:00

We met when I was in 2nd grade...I was 7 years old. It was a brief meeting, after school one day and I didn't get to know much about him, but I loved him.

As 6th grader, I met him again through a mutual friend...it was an awful time in my life. My parents were going through very difficult financial times. We had moved to an area of the country where I was a minority for the first time in my life and I was picked on a lot because of it. It was scary to walk to and from school because of the teasing and threats and rock-throwing. It was at that meeting I think I knew we'd always be together...I started writing to him almost every day and he was so good to keep in close touch with me.

Through all the changes of my growing up years and beyond, he's stayed close and cared so sweetly, attentively. Even through periods where I ignored him, when he ended up last on my list, he's been there.

Most of the time I don't feel like an old person, but as I type I realize we've been together for forty years now. Only an old person can write that! Through the movement of the seasons, his careful, deliberate attachment has spoiled me. I am safe in uncertain times. When it's dark, he draws me even closer. Though I've known him all these years, there is always more to know, more to love, more to have of him...and I think maybe more of me to give.

Wood-Gathering Adventure

2010-01-31T14:15:00.000-08:00

Dan getting ready to sled for his life!!!!!

Kristi on the frozen tundra...

Bree and Easton

Dan heading down toward our truck.

Grandpa's truck, stuck by the barn (built in '47, in case you're interested...)

We heat our home with wood....it's just the nicest heat: such a close, cozy warmth. There is a lot of work to do and a lot of mess to clean up to enjoy this heat, but it's financially VERY cheap since we have an unlimited supply of wood at Dave's Grandparents' farm, which is about a 40 minute drive south of here. We love to stop in and hear Grandpa's stories of the old days and sample Grandma's delicious baking. They are 93 and 95 y/o respectively and they are a treasure.

It's been tough to get wood this year because of all our snow. We had a blizzard the 24th of December and another right after New Year's Day (extending Christmas vacation an extra three days!!) and we've still got about 10" of snowcover, plus GIANT drifts in some areas. Usually, we drive our Suburban (pulling a trailer that we borrow from some kind and generous friends...) into the woods to an area that has downed trees and we start hacking away and loading up! Attempting to venture into the woods with this much snow would be foolish, however and we would certainly end up getting stuck. We discussed biting the bullet and actually buying firewood this year, but just didn't want to spend the $$$. Grandpa mentioned that in one of his half-dozen or so outbuildings, there was a load of hardwood that someone cut a couple of decades ago that we could have if we could get it out of the shed where it was stored.

To get us through the winter so far, we had a little bit wood that we'd hauled last year. And we've bundled up like eskimoes around here (indoors!), trying to use the wood sparingly...but this last week was the end of our wood supply...either we needed to procure more firewood or start busting up the furniture. (We do have a fine furnace/heat pump that works fabulously, but we don't enjoy paying the bill....so we keep the thermostat at about 65 degrees during the day.) We've utilized a space heater and consumed gallons of hot chocolate and tea in our attempts to stay toasty!

Today we decided to load up the family and some snacks and a thermos of hot chocolate and the dog and a couple of sleds...thinking that if we couldn't drive back to the shed full of wood, we could load the sleds with wood and slide it the 50 or so yards down to the truck.

We arrived at the farm and greeted Grandma and Grandpa....Grandpa had a great idea...he'd hop in his 4 W/D pick-up truck, drive back to the shed, we'd load the wood in the pick-up and drive it down to our Suburban and load it into the Suburban. (Yes, our Suburban is 4 W/D. Yes, driving the Suburban back to the shed and loading it straight from the shed to the Suburban would have been less messing around. But when Grandpa gets a brainstorm, you go with it.)

Grandpa hops into his pick-up and sizes up his first obstacle: a 3.5 foot drift (the first of possibly 3 or 4 drifts). The snow has been on the ground so long that the top of the first foot or so is compacted into a hard crust that can be walked on...but driving on it? Grandpa got a bit of a running start and plowed into the drift and pretty much got stuck immediately. (You knew that was going to happen, didn't you?) He tried reversing it and putting it in drive again. He spun the wheels so fast...I was scared that if he did get the wheels to catch on something that he'd jump forward and plow into the barn. He spun the wheels so much that the snow under them melted and he got down to the mud and melted the frozen mud...it was flying everywhere. The wheels were steaming. There was a burning smell in the air. He was high-centered on that giant drift. David and I got shovels and tried to dig him out...meanwhile he kept spinning those wheels. I was hollering at the kids to stay far away for safety's sake but Dave and I were practically under the wheels...especially Dave...and those wheels kept spinning and spinning. It was HARD work. Good thing it was a balmy 25 degrees outside...and very little wind. I'm serious. We were sweating.

After about 20 minutes of this, Grandpa said we should go find as much chain as we could...it was hanging in the southeast corner of the corncrib...a bit of a hike through the drifted snow. Dan wisely brought the sled and we piled about 67 pounds of giant, rusty chains onto the sled and dragged it down to Grandpa's stuck truck. We untangled the chains, David drove the Suburban near and we hooked them up...Dave gunned it on the driveway and the tires spun. No success. He tried again. Nope. Maybe Grandpa will be stuck there 'till spring. It's only forty-something days away. Grandpa doesn't get around too well anymore. Maybe we'd load him onto a sled and pull him out and leave the truck. David gave it one more try and what do you know!!!? He pulled Grandpa out! Celebration ensued. We all cheered and hooted and wooted and clapped and jumped up and down.

After that, Grandpa KNEW he could get through. (SERIOUSLY??) And I don't know what happened at this point...maybe David chatted with him and talked him out of it. But the next thing we knew, Grandpa was parking the truck and going inside.

We hiked up the snowy hill and opened the shed and found a glorious load of wood in wonderful condition! There was also a plastic kitchen, a SWEET 1970's bike with sparkley banana seat and sting ray handlebars (Ebay!!), a rusty old pedal-car in the shape of a fire engine with a very annoying bell on the front and various other junky items.

We'd load a sled with logs and then either Dan or Kristin would ride it down the hill on top of the load of wood. FUN! We loaded the back of our Suburban almost up to the ceiling. It probably took about 20 minutes....(about half the time it took to dig/pull the pick-up out of the snow!).

We were then ready to head inside and have a can of pop and chat with Grandpa and Grandma a bit. We heard today that the corncrib was built in '46 and the barn in '47. They got electricity in 1939. Grandma said that before that, they kept their butter in a 'cave' that was hand-dug out of the dirt in front of their home. There were a bunch of stairs down to the cave. The cave was also used for a storm shelter. Grandma was scared of that cave and very glad the day the electricity was hooked up to the house. Grandpa had pre-emptively bought a refrigerator from the Sears and Roebuck on 24th and 'L' Street, so as soon as they got power, they hooked it up.

They also told us stories about them having a woodstove in the room that's now their dining room. The rest of the house was so cold, they moved their beds into the living room for the winter. In the bucket of water (that they carried in everyday from the well), the dipper used to freeze nearly nightly in the wintertime. Sounds like 'Little House on the Prairie'. But it wasn't so very long ago.

On the way home, we chuckled about Grandpa's great idea and about how he'd had an adventure that he could tell the boys at the donut shop. We also discussed how if we'd just sledded the wood out in the first place, we'd have been home a whole lot sooner. But we also mentioned that our kids' Great-Grandparents aren't just great in name...they really are GREAT people. We count ourselves so fortunate to have them, to be able to enjoy them, to hear their amazing stories of a life that sound to us like something in a movie, to consume great quantities Grandma's DELICIOUS cookies (which she always stores in Maxwell House coffee cans), to just be with them. We don't know how much longer we will have them with us. And we don't want to take them for granted. Thanks, Lord, for such a sweet heritage. (And thank You that no one was hurt in the craziness today!)

Moonless Darkness Stands Between

2010-01-21T19:32:00.000-08:00

Moonless Darkness Stands Between

by Gerard Manly Hopkins

Moonless darkness stands between

Past, the Past, no more be seen!

But the Bethlehem-star may lead me

To the sight of Him Who freed me

From the self that I have been.

Make me pure, Lord: Thou art holy;

Make me meek Lord: Thou wert lowly;

Now beginning, and alway:

Now begin, on Christmas day.

Advent....wassat?

2009-12-04T08:05:00.000-08:00

Growing up, neither our church (Assembly of God) nor our family celebrated, nor even mentioned Advent. At least not that I remember. As I grew older and heard of other types of churches celebrating it, I just thought it was another one of those 'liturgical things' that had nothing to do with me.

Just this year I've learned that the Advent-part of our Christmas celebrations can be a very meaningful part of our preparation and celebration of Jesus' birth. For years Dave and I have had a desire for our family to be less 'sucked in' to the growing meaninglessness of the holidays. I have studied Advent for the past weeks with some of my friends and have learned a TON! May I share?

Advent has similar origins as Christmas...started out as a pagan celebration of the sun/light/fire and was tweaked later on (sometime in the sixteenth century) to become what we call Advent now. Here's some more stuff I've learned:

The advent wreath is round to symbolize no beginning and no ending of our Great God.

The traditional evergreen used in the advent wreath symbolizes the Lord's unchanging love for us. Depending on the evergreens used, there is symbolism behind each type utilized:Laurel - victory over sin and death; Pine, yew - immortality; Cedar - healing and strength; Holly's prickly leaves represent the suffering of Jesus. If you add pinecones, nuts or seedpods to your wreath, they represent resurrection life!!!

There are five candles in an advent wreath, showing Jesus as the light of God coming into the world. There are four colored and one white. The four colored candles represent the 4,000 years that passed between Adam and the coming of Jesus. The white one is the Christ candle...white for His purity and holiness. This white candle is a more recent addition to the tradition...the original Advent wreaths only had the four colored candles.

Three candles are purple to represent His Royalty. I also read that purple is the color of repentance....but that seems a little random to me...or at least not as well-known as the purple being the 'King's color'. One candle is pink...this is lit on the Sunday closest to Christmas (some light the pink on the third Sunday of advent...I guess it varies!), symbolizing our great joy at the of the closeness of his coming.

Advent is celebrated beginning on the fourth Sunday before Christmas. The final white candle is lit on Christmas Eve.

Some families/churches have the tradition of putting up their Nativity scenes little by little with each Advent Sunday...and they put the Baby Jesus in His manger on Christmas Eve.

The lighting of each candle can accompanied by any or all of the following: a short Bible reading, a devotion, a song, a prayer. Many adhere to the tradition of dousing all other lights except for the light from Advent candles during this time of devotion to the Lord. Cool, huh?

On each of the four Sundays prior to Christmas one candle is lit....one on the first Sunday, two on the second Sunday and so on. As Christmas approaches, the candlelight is brighter as His coming gets closer! Some have the tradition of allowing the oldest child to light the first candle and so on down the line. (Insert fire-safety discussion here...)

All that being said, advent wreaths of today can be of any shape and candles of any colors...check out Google Images of advent wreaths. I saw some non-lightable candles made from toilet paper tubes...I saw wire and burlap. I saw candleholders made from apples and all sorts of other materials. Getting the fam together and thinking about the Lord is a good thing whether that includes candles and wreaths or not.

Our own family advent wreath is still in process...and yes, I am aware that the 4th Sunday before Christmas has come and gone this year. I am hoping we'll enjoy the Truth of this little ceremony in our home irregardless of us lighting the candles at the traditionally correct time! The point is not the dates and the ceremony of it all for me...it's more the preparing of our hearts for the real Reason for Christmas.

My apologies for any misinformation above...I've learned this from studying articles on the 'net and from some books and I did not verify the sources...Please feel free to correct me. And also feel free to share your own Advent or Nativity thoughts/traditions. Such RICH truth!

2009-11-30T02:13:00.000-08:00

It's 4:13 am. I woke up at 2:50 and laid there for about 45 minutes...then I gave up trying to sleep and here I am. I used to HATE these sleepless nights. Tonight it's like an oasis. It's dark and quiet and the candles in the family room are flickering. Uninterrupted time to think, to ask God stuff, to get the tangles out of my head.

It has been a bumpy ride this year. Dave's been jobless for ten months now, except for a short stint at a job that did not work out. We have been up and down. We have been more than well-provided-for financially (frequently miraculously!) and never even come close to having to do without the necessities. But emotionally and mentally...oi. Tough times.

I think we've both come to the conclusion that this whole season isn't really about joblessness at all...that it's about being cared for in a different way. It's about our Father being kind enough to take us through the dryest of times to show us our hearts and some decisions that we've made about Him in the past that are not about Truth.

I mean, who sets out in their life to knowingly believe stuff that's really a bunch of hooey? But as I've gone through this year I've seen that there's quite a bit of renewing that needs to happen in me (duh.) For many reasons, I have embraced that which is not the Whole Truth and I have not 'til now seen it clearly. As my dear friend Dawn says, if a person knew they were being deceived it wouldn't be called deception, right?

For about a decade now, my frequent request has been for the Lord to show me my pride, to draw me closer to Himself...and through these past months, He seems to be taking me up on that in an accelerated course of learning. I wasn't prepared for how painful it is to see the partial truths (okay, LIES!) I've believed, to see that I've chosen to play the blame-game instead of resting and trusting. Through these revelations of my shortcomings and the lies I've held close, I've been astounded by the tender, attentive care given to me by the Lord. He's not ticked and wanting to ostracize me like I've thought. I have tasted a new freedom and I sure would like more of it.

I confess that I have been in a very dangerous boat: the U.S.S. Presumption. I see that 47 years of life on this earth does not even SCRATCH THE SURFACE of all there is to know about ANYTHING. And I am most thankful this season to see that I am being RESCUED by the One Who is the Way out, He Who is the Truth that cannot be Refuted, the One Who is the Life I've always longed for.

Pete Thinks Bree Might Need a Rescue...

2009-11-16T14:15:00.000-08:00

The temperature of the pool water....

And the crazy girl who jumped in it. Petey is very concerned, can you tell?

Ode to Petey Sweetie

2009-11-16T07:57:00.000-08:00

Today our family is losing a wonderful friend. Petey has lived with my sister, Marcia, and her family for some years now. He got sick with bone cancer and it has quickly spread through his system. Today will be his last day on earth and our hearts are aching.

The first time I was around Petey, I was visiting California for Josh's graduation. Petey was soooo gentle with our youngest little girl, Kristin, who was about 2 yrs. old. But holy cow....was he a roughneck with the grown ups who wanted to play crazy. He and my brother, Lee got in a wrestling match and Petey gave Lee an ear piercing!!! It bled and bled...Lee never held it against Pete - quite the contrary...I believe it was a bonding experience!

Pete came with his fam on a road trip to visit us a few years ago. He was a great houseguest. He was a very good 'carpet-snack-vacumn' and got along great with our dog, Bella. When it was time for the Baileys to return home and we were all outside saying our long farewells, he also vacumned up something gross that I won't mention here, but has been the source of a funny story and a lot of gagging from Marcia and me.... (ask me later).

When Bree and I visited So. Cal. for our "sunshine fix" last February during possibly the coldest and rainiest and un-sunniest part of the winter there, WE FROZE. But Petey and his best friend, Molly were always there to snuggle up with. They are great heaters. A few times when we were in CA, we ran around the pool in the Bailey's backyard, playing keep-away from Petey. It was fun and a little scary. I was always a little afraid that if he'd catch me, he'd take a friendly nip out of my posterior. One crazy day, Bree wanted some excitement in her life and decided to jump, fully clothed, into the 56 degree water of the pool. Petey was very concerned. I thought he'd jump in after her...

Pete is the reason we have Easton, our three-year-old boxer. When Petey came here, we fell in love with his temperment and his expressive eyes, his wrinkled forehead, the quizzical look that he gave with his head cocked to one side...we loved his lap-dog-attitude in his VERY big dog body. Boxers just pretty much rock.

Just a few years ago, I would NEVER have believed that I could be sooooo torn up about losing a dog. Especially one that is not even my own. But Pete was a pup that was willing to be loved by whomever...it felt like he was ours too.

Petey has been a gift to all of us, but especially to my sister, Marcia. He has been a comfort and a joy in some very tough times for the whole Bailey family. I just can't stand it that they are hurting so badly. It is hard to be so far away from them.

You just never think stuff like this is going to happen and I cannot help but wonder why it is happening. We were all hoping for a miracle. What I am sure of is that Pete was a godsend...Thank You, Lord, for Petey Sweetie Punkin Head. And I am trusting that the same God who sent such an amazing doggy our way will give comfort like only He can and that He'll get us through this time.

Jesus, You have Carried Me

2009-05-17T16:37:00.000-07:00

I can remember my Grandma Bilt (Mom's mom, Mary Vanderbilt who has gone to be with Jesus) often exclaiming, 'Mercy!'....I find myself exclaiming this myself more and more often these days. Sometimes it just seems like there is hardship all around: people getting sick with terrible diseases, families in trouble, people passing away, friends in financially dire straits, scary things happening in government...need I say more?
During these crazy times, it seems things get distilled down to their most basic... during the 'easy' times, I feel like I have some semblance of control over my life, that things are on the right track. I see now that this 'control' is only an illusion!! And during those good times, I'm sorry to say that I do not interact with Jesus as much. Often (sadly) He gets relegated to a spoke in the wheel of my life. When things are hard, I see the Truth that the only stability I have is the Lord; that to live life as I am purposed to live, He must be the center of the wheel. During the simpler times, I forget how much I need to rely on Him (hello, TOTALLY!!) ...and now, during this rougher patch, I'm seeing in a new way that I HAVE TO HAVE HIM...
I'm remembering the hymn we sang at our church when I was little: "Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey".
As we drove home from visiting w/friends and family today, this song came on and I was nearly undone. It's a song that has made me cry and yet comforted me many times, reminding me that I am not alone. Hope you like it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKUV5rYFfk0
And I say, 'Thank You, God, for these difficult days that show me Your Truth, and show me the way out of the death of serving myself.'

Beautimous Brisket

2009-04-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

Our late spring favorite: Beef Brisket! I've loved having brisket in bbq restaurants, but not 'till this year have I made an attempt to cook one. I've found them to be VERY easy...they just take time. It's the kind of meat that's best cooked LOW AND SLOW. I've bought the brisket at Sam's and have been very pleased. The smallest one I've found there was 6 lbs...so if you do not have a ravenous horde at your house like I do, you can freeze the leftovers. I went crazy with the foil in the pan so I would not have any difficult clean up. I cook it in a 9x13. If the brisket is very large, I cut it in half and cook it in two 9x13's. Cook the brisket with the fat down on the bottom. When it is done cooking, flip the brisket over and lift or scrape the fat from the meat and discard. Slice against the grain. We bought whole wheat rolls to serve the brisket on this past weekend. Deee-licious! Also quite yummy on the sandwich: cheese and jalapenos and additional bbq sauce. The following are a couple of recipes we've tried and liked a lot.

Also, oh, happy day, here is a link to a study that points to the possibility that the fat in beef brisket is GOOD FOR YOU!! http://www.cantstopthebleeding.com/?p=13355 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BBQ Beef Brisket

5-6 lb. brisket

2 t. Worcestershire sauce

1-2 t. pepper (I used the 2 t.)

1 t. garlic salt
BBQ sauce:

1c. ketchup

1/3 c. Worcestershire

3/4 c. brown sugar

1 t. lemon juice

(I did not make this sauce....I used Cookies BBQ Sauce from the store.)

Sprinkle brisket w/garlic salt, worcestershire, and pepper. Bake uncovered 30 minutes at 450 degrees in shallow pan. Remove from oven, cover w/foil, bake 7-8 hours at 225 degrees.

For BBQ SAUCE, remove 2 c. of meat juice from fiinshed brisket. combine with BBQ Sauce ingredients.

Chill brisket. Slice thin against the grain. Pour sauce over it. Cover and return to 300 degree oven until hot. (an hour, maybe? the recipe does not specify...)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brisket Marinade

1/2 c. white vinegar

1/4 c. canola oil

1 1/2 c. beer (12 oz.)

2 T. liquid smoke

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 T. salt (this is not a typo...it's really one tablespoon!)

1 T. brown sugar

1 t. cayenne pepper

1 t. black pepper
Combine in a shallow dish or ziploc bag. Add meat and marinate for a few hours to a couple of days.I was expecting this one to be really hot & spicy. I marinated it for a day and a half. It was NOT spicy...but it had great flavor. Cook it as above in a 450 oven for 30 minutes uncovered. Then cover w/foil and bake for 7-8 hours more @ 250 degrees. Can't wait to have it again tonight for dinner!

For, lo, the winter is past...

2009-04-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

Winter lays bare a lot that is normally hidden. And it's been a cold, dark, long, windy winter. Now that spring approaches, it seems the right time to do some maintenance, clearing the dead sticks that have dropped to the ground...and dealing with some branches that have broken from the trees, but have not yet fallen. This is true with the outdoors and seems to be true in my heart.

This winter season has exposed to me that much of what I do is out of fear - and not the good kind of 'don't touch the stove' or 'don't walk in front of a moving vehicle' type-fear. I've been fearful of walking away or 'growing away' from Jesus. I'm afraid of not being a good wife. I'm fearful that I'm not mothering our children well (that's fear supplemented by a generous dose of [false] guilt...) General anxiety about 'getting it right' accompanies me.

I've been reading Jan Karon's Mitford Series (AGAIN.) And the main character is dealing w/a paralyzing fear. As he admits his fear, his cousin's wife says, "Fear is not from God..." Obviously, I've read this before, but this time as I read, it was an arrow straight to my heart.

Newsflash to me: getting it right is not my job! It is God's job.

I've mentioned this before, because it means so much to me...now I'm reminding myself yet again: the Christian life was lived successfully once, by our Lord Jesus. I'm not expected to live that life again....I'm expected to plug into the 2:20 (Galatians) and take up my cross and die daily and give myself fully to Him. FULLY. My thoughts. My words. My actions. My desires. MY FEARS.

And why should I fear anyway? Don't I know that the Maker of the Universe cares deeply and attentively for me? Don't I know that He supplies all of my needs? Haven't I realized after knowing Him since 2nd grade (that's forty years this year, folks...) that what He allows, He allows for my good? Hasn't it sunk in yet that He has great plans for me?

I'm convinced that fear = lack of trust. And lack of trust can be from a lack of knowing someone's character. And it's not like I've never studied the Character of God. But what have I studied lately? The wandering Children of Israel gathered manna daily (Exodus 16)...any that they saved got wormy and nasty. I'm thinking that's part of my issue. I need to be knowing Him more, not resting on what I've learned in the past.The manna that I'm thinking is feeding me stinks and may have maggots...

My fearfulness is also the result of my 'needing' to be responsible for so many things that are not really my responsibility. (for example: keeping my family "happy", the sins of past generations of my family, how others perceive me, and etc.) The Lord knows that this is not my conscious intention, but I often find it 'sneaking in'...it is a tendancy of mine. Some would call it 'control'.

I've been trapped by "What would Jesus do"....I am caught up in DOING. (human doing or human being...?) I've been caught up in the unbiblical "You are the only Jesus some will ever see..." Alas, I tend toward the typical first-born performance orientation. Ew. I hate that.

So as spring 'springs' in our region, and hopefully inside of me, I pray,

'Lord, allow me to let go of all that holds be back from knowing You more, of trusting you fully. I open my hands and give You the things I see, like the busyness of life and my habit of being 'responsible' in a wrong way (control). And please show me what I'm not seeing that holds me back, so that I can repent and ask for Your help! Thank You that You are not silent. Thank You that my struggle is part of the process You have ordained. Thank You that there is no condemnation for this struggle because I am in Jesus. Thank You for this changing season. Thank You for the death of winter and the new life of spring. Thank You for Easter and new life in You.

Is being born-again AGAIN (afresh, over again) Biblical? I'm not sure if there is a chapter and verse to support that concept. I need an overhaul. I could use a new start...

New Favorite: Molten Chocolate Cakes

2009-03-13T17:07:00.000-07:00

We had this rich, dark dessert tonight...I love that it makes one small cake for each family member. No chance of overindulging with a second (or third) helping! We were wishing for some vanilla ice cream and/or some whipped cream and/or some kind of berries to top the cakes. But they were plenty good on their own. Mmmmmmmm.

Molten Chocolate Cakes

1 c. plus 2 T. cocoa powder

1 c. plus 1 T. butter

1 1/2 powdered sugar

1/2 c. flour

3 whole eggs

3 egg yolks

Grease 6 custard cups or soufle dishes. Place on baking sheet. [Deb's note: I used small coffee mugs.]
Melt cocoa and butter in double boiler or microwave. Stir until completely combined. Add powdered sugar and flour; mix well. Add whole eggs and egg yolks. Whisk or mix w/electric mixer until well blended. Divide batter evenly among custard cups.
Bake @ 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until cakes are firm around edges and soft in the middle. Let stand one minute. Run a knife around cakes to loosen [I did not need to do this...] Carefully invert onto dessert plates. Garnish as desired. [We dusted w/powdered sugar...]

Twenty-five Random Facts

2009-03-03T11:16:00.000-08:00

A prompt to compose this list has been going around Facebook (apologies to fellow Facebook-ers who've seen most of this previously as '17 random things'). I thought I'd post it here too. I'd love to know twenty-five random things about those of you who are not presently on FB or who haven't posted theirs on FB yet. Send me an email with your twenty-five! Here are mine:

1. I heartily dislike dark cold winters, but love a good snowfall.

2. The person I admire most is my husband, David. He pretty much rocks.

3. I really like my butter bell. http://butterbell.com/

4. I'm HORRIBLE at most math. Except I'm good at figuring out the tip...no calculator needed.

5. Caramel has replaced chocolate in my favorites repertoire.

6. I love being near the ocean...(why am I landlocked?...oh, yeah, to be near my most amazing hubby...)

7. My home is full of deep colors - no neutrals here.

8. I paint almost all my ceilings the same color as the walls.

9. I have walked in two 'Race for the Cure's, done the running part in a team-mini-triathlon, and walked a half-marathon, and hope to do more races this year...not to win, but just to have fitness motivation.

10. I really like Listerine.

11. I stink at drawing, keeping up with housework & staying calm when our kids are hurt.

12. I really like our new French Press for coffee.

13. I play about 9 chords on the guitar and wish I owned one.

14. Stealing a line from Chariots of Fire: I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me a singer. And when I sing I feel His pleasure.

15. I gave my life to Jesus at a Bible club held at Dossin Elementary School (public), Detroit, MI, in 1969. (2nd grade)

16. Even though I've known Him for forty years now, (forty! shoo-wee!) I'm still amazed that the Lord loves me and has forgiven me.

17. I've lived in Virginia, New York, Michigan, California, Colorado & Nebraska.

18. Walnuts are part of my daily life...they are the protein in my morning oatmeal and if I have a bowl of ice cream, I love a small handful sprinkled over the top. Oh, yeah.

19. I'm thrilled and scared to death to be singing with the Omaha Symphony one night this coming summer.

20. I love art of all kinds and love to create (just don't ask me to sketch anything...see #11).

21. I hope to make a quilt someday. I've made rag quilts, but not yet a 'real' quilt.

22. That our two oldest girls are the closest of friends is one of the biggest blessings of my life.

23. Since I was little, I have been terribly motion-sick. I hate flying, riding in cars, boats, trains and playground swings, but I love rollercoasters. They do not make me sick. Go figure.

24. Not my forte: video games, tent camping, staying organized, sudoku.

25. I'm amazing at Balderdash, Speed Scrabble & Catch Phrase. Fear me.

Thanks for reading my randomness!

Farewell to Bella

2009-03-02T19:28:00.000-08:00

We put Bella down on February 27th. We are missing her greetings - after coming in from our downstairs garage, she'd meet you at the top of the steps and wag her hiney and give her doggy smile. We are missing the way she used to sit on our feet when we sat on the couch! We are not missing her trash-picking or undie-eating ways! She was such a neurotic freak, but so much a part of our family for 7 1/2 years. Strange to dislike and love a dog so much. She was really the first dog I ever really learned to love just a few years ago. (see porque dogblog from 4/20/08) I'm glad we have lots of goofy pics of her. She was a sweet girl and it's tough getting used to being without her.

The Real Deal

2009-01-29T14:25:00.000-08:00

Crazy day, Crazy week, Crazy life...
After 16 years with the same company, my hubby is officially laid off as of tomorrow. Today we cleaned out the company car for one final time. We will be loading up all of his home office supplies, electronics, files, etc. into the car. Tomorrow morning, he meets his bosses (who are driving in from 2 1/2 hours east of here) for breakfast at the Farmhouse (one of our favorite restaurants!). He will hand over the keys and that will be it. So weird. I will pick him up from the restaurant.
Will we laugh or will we cry? Maybe a bit of both. We know we will be taken care of. We know the Lord is taking care of us. This is where the rubber hits the road with our faith. Lord, we believe.....help our unbelief!

Should I Shudder or Shout?

2009-01-13T19:28:00.000-08:00

As the Inauguration approaches I am asking myself some questions: Am I cracked? Am I betraying my Republican roots? Am I wrong to be excited that we have elected an African-American to the White House? Am I going against everything I've learned from Rush Limbaugh's E.I.B. Network? Don't get me wrong...I'd much rather it was Clarence Thomas or even Herman Cain getting inaugurated next week. But I think that we have come a long way from our shameful past of slavery, bigotry, & racial repression (Not that we don't have a whole heck of a long way to go: one of our close relatives still uses the 'n' word. I just hate that.) And I wish some of us on the right would acknowledge that.

But the values that President-elect Obama seems to represent are at the very least, troubling to me. I am concerned and tempted to be so worried regarding the path down which he will lead us. I'm finding myself easily consumed with apprehension over the Change he has made his theme. It's not like I don't know there is a GREAT divide between what President Obama has promised to do and what I believe is right for our country...

As I watch the images of our outgoing President Bush, a president I have such great affection for, I'm sad that I feel no such great devotion to our incoming leader.

Not because I feel like it, but because it is right, I am asking God to bless President-elect Obama and his family. I am asking the Lord to be their Protection. I am asking the Lord to give him dreams and visions. I am thankful that the Word of the Lord says that, "The king’s heart is like a stream of water directed by the Lord; He guides it wherever He pleases." (Proverbs 21:1 New Living Translation)

I need to be careful. I do not want to be guilty of disrespecting the office of our President. I don't have to agree with him, but I DO have to "request, pray, intercede and give thanks for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." (I Timothy 2:1-4 N.I.V.) I won't love anyone to the Truth by dissing our President.

Jesus is Lord. He is the same yesterday, today, forever. His Love will never change. He deserves our praise and our worship. He has allowed Barack Obama to be elected President of the United States. He can do whatever He pleases, whatever brings about His Kingdom. My heart is trusting in Him.

"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are His.

He changes times and seasons;
He sets up kings and deposes them.
He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
He reveals deep and hidden things;

He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him." Daniel 2: 20-22 N.I.V.

Candy Cane Disposal

2009-01-05T11:09:00.001-08:00

Bree and I are taking down the tree today...I like to leave it up until Christmas vacation is officially over: that's today. I just love having it up. I love awakening in the dark, walking down the hall and switching on the tree's soft light to welcome the morning. I enjoy arising early and getting some tea and having my quiet time with God next to the tree. Some years I've left it up so long that I've been tempted to take down the Christmas decor and put up Valentines on it.

We traditionally put up the (artificial) tree the day after Thanksgiving...it is a big production. Every year lately, I say that I want to get a pre-lit tree...the lights take so long to apply and it is a job I greatly dislike. This year, Bree put about 2/3 of the lights on and I actually enjoyed doing the rest! I like so many lights on the tree, that if we did get a pre-lit tree, I'd most likely add more anyway.

Stringing popcorn is a tradition that I just love...we strung popcorn when I was young: a happy memory! It really doesn't take THAT long to string it and I like having something to do with my hands when we are watching all of those Christmas specials on tv! There is just no garland that looks so adorable...kind of rustic. Sometimes we add cranberries. This year we did just the popcorn. Because we have two rather large dogs, we cannot put the popcorn all the way to the bottom of the tree, otherwise the pups would help themselves to the handy snack. This morning, the strings of popcorn have been removed from the tree and are hanging on our squirrel feeder out in the yard. Hopefully our squirrels will help themselves before our next batch of snow falls and turns the popcorn into mush.

We buy our kiddos each an ornament each year, so that when they fly the coop, they'll have some ornaments for their tree in their own homes. In years of late, they have delighted in going to a local store called 'Hobby Lobby' and picking out their own. Our tree is not a themed one...it is a hodge-podge of memories...very casual and just fun. We just pile everyone's ornaments on and reminisce and enjoy them. For now, as we are taking down the tree, we just piled everyone's ornaments in the same containers together. Soon it will be time to separate them and for each to go his or her own way. (sigh)

After taking down our tree today, we have a few dozen candy canes leftover. At the beginning of the Christmas season, I could not buy candy canes fast enough to keep them on the tree 'cause everyone was chowing down on them. I guess the novelty wore off...the candy cane consumption has slowed considerably. But I found this website that should help us out: http://www.typetive.com/candyblog/item/33_candy_canes/ These suggestions will make it easy to utilize the leftovers, but might make it tough to stick to our healthier eating resolutions!

Afraid of the Dark

2008-12-28T11:06:00.000-08:00

I've just realized that I've been fighting the doldrums all week. Why should I be bummed this week? Our sweet family from North Carolina has been here and we've had such a nice time visiting. Christmas is so fun! It is so nice just to be together. I took some of the kiddos sledding and had a GREAT time watching them zooming down the hill together.

So WHAT is the deal? Today I realized that I've been dreading post-holiday depression. How crazy is it to allow my fear of depression that sometimes follows the best days of the year ruin the best days of the year???

I pretty consistently have some struggles during January, February, and sometimes part of March. Nebraska has many cloudy days during that time. It tends to be more cold and dark. I wonder if my Southern California upbringing spoiled me? I DO love the sun!

I'm reminded of a time when David and I were dating long-distance. He came to California to visit me and we were having a grand time soon after his arrival...and I got to thinking that the jolliness was so temporary and started to dread his leaving, even though his visit had just begun. I told him about it and was crying and stuff...and Dave referred to Mark 2:19 where it says that while the party is happening, it is not appropriate to be sad! I have never forgotten that.

So I choose for this next week of family-time and New Year's revelry to choose to enjoy every minute and not waste a moment in fearing the future. So there.

Holiday Happenings...

2008-12-27T20:09:00.000-08:00

We have had such a fun time this week, seeing family, eating yummy food...continuously amazed that Jesus REALLY DID come for us! If we did not know better, we'd think He was too good to be true.

The Reno/Cahill Cousins...

Da tree.

My brother, Lee & niece, Jess.

Christmas Eve table

Guitar Hero World Tour with Brandon on drums, Dylan on guitar, Dan on vocals and in the audience: Kristin, Elly, Morgan and in the back on the couch, Uncle David.

Jeff and Payton setting up the Hot Wheels track!

Ell, Kristin, Bree, Morgan

Clockwise from top: Anjali, Morgan, Alison, Kristin.

Grandpa Reno playing Wii Golf.

Michael & Lisa

Dad and Mom Reno

Jeff & Diane

Deb & David

Kristi cutie.

Strike a pose, Bree!

The birthday girl. Happy 18th, Ells!!

Rock Star: Dan

"You Promised Never to Grow Old"

2008-12-13T14:34:00.000-08:00

This past year, through Facebook, I have 'reunited' with many friends from the past: from high school, from Bible school, from my high school/college youth group, from the early days of our married life. It has been so good. So healing. I am amazed at the Lord's timing in all of this. Last year we 'lost' many friends through some troubles at our church and it was so very painful. I am seeing this reconnection as His kindness to me. (Thank You, Lord!)

During some of these reunions, I've been reminded of this scene from "Hook" (one of the Reno family favorite movies...) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFNaqKZoYt0&feature=related

I've grown up - surprise, surprise. I guess no one can be more surprised than me about that. And sometimes I wonder if, when people find me on Facebook, they see my pics and wonder if it can really be me. I've wondered myself a couple times when finding a friend...thinking, "Do I have the wrong Joe Schmoe?...This Joe Schmoe doesn't look like the Joe Schmoe I remember!" When looking through someone's pictures this week - I did not recognize him - I had an "oh, there you are, peter" moment! For all of you who wonder the same about me, I want to put out a bulletin: I'm still in here...it is still me! I'm tempted to elaborate on that point, but I won't.

It's weird, when you 'leave' someone, it's like they are not allowed to grow up or grow old. Logically, it is a no-brainer: OF COURSE people grow-up and change and grow older. In our memories they don't do that, though. OF COURSE our only frame of reference is what we knew. Still, it seems I never expect people to look any different. Maybe it's because I have not had the great privilege of reuniting with many from my past and I'm not used to it.

So, I just so you know: My earthsuit is showing some wear and tear, but I'm still me.

Happy Landing?

2008-12-12T17:01:00.000-08:00

Until lately I never realized the universality of 'thought war'. I thought it was just me battling every day to try to stay positive...to put down freaky thoughts. Thoughts that are critical of what I say or do (or don't say or don't do) seem to pop in there so readily. Not too often anymore, but I used to have a lot of destructive 'suggestions' pop into my mind. Seems there is always a battle of some sort going on up there. (I probably never admitted it in the past for fear of being locked up.)

Reminds me of the 'renewing your mind' verse in Romans 12 and the 'taking thoughts captive' verse in 2 Corinthians 10. Reminds me too of the illustration that compares my mind to an airport. I am the air traffic controller. I cannot control who flies over, but I do control who lands. Or the bird analogy...I have no say as to who flies over my head, but I DO have a say in who builds a nest in my hair!

I definitely believe that there is a real devil and that he is my enemy and that his mission is to steal, kill and destroy. So much of the destruction we see in our world begins in people's minds. James 1:13-15 talks about the progression of rotten thoughts leading finally to death. Recognizing his evil whispers is sometimes so difficult for me. At times I find myself caught in a web of untruth or partial truth...and I think, "How long have I been fooled by this?"

I want the Truth. I want the Truth in all areas of my mind and my heart. I'm looking around at my life and wanting Truth in every part...I'm assuming that the bits of my life that are messed up or dissatisfying are areas where I am embracing untruth. This seems like a good time for a closet cleaning...so I'm asking God through this job-loss-craziness to help me to take stock and to show me where I am believing lies and to replace the lies with Himself. He is my Way, my Truth and my Life and my only real reason for continuing on.

I am daily doing battle with worry about David losing his job...about our security. Even though I am well acquainted with God's promises, I choose worry quite often. I don't choose it purposely. My intent is not to worry. But sometimes I find myself all in an uproar...all stressed...and then I realize that I have not taken my thoughts captive, that I am letting God-knows-what-kind of nasty birds make nests in my hair! YIKES! I am racking my brain for the verses in the Bible that talk about the progression of truthful thoughts.....just as the above-mentioned portion from James illustrates the natural path of evil thoughts, I know that somewhere is a passage that states the opposite evolution. Can anyone give me an assist?

Adventure on the Way...

2008-11-24T14:08:00.000-08:00

The bombshell has landed. I must say, it surprised me. I did not expect this, but I sure am excited. A little scared, but mostly looking forward to a new experience. It's weird to be in the same situation as so many other Americans are right now...the brotherhood of the unemployed! David got the word this afternoon that as of February 1, he will no longer be with the company he has worked for for the past 16 years.

It's weird...just yesterday morning, we sat around and discussed (hypothetically speaking) where we'd like to move. We talked about all kinds of places: Iowa, Minnesota, Idaho, Montana, Canada, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Utah, California, Missouri, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota (I nipped that one in the bud REAL QUICK.). Since we have been married, we have lived in the same area....covering about 5 square miles!! Our apartment we lived in as newlyweds is 3 miles north. The only other home we've owned, besides the one we are presently in, is 2 miles south! We do love this area...

We do not know what the future will hold, but we know Who our Provider has been and will continue to be. So here's to new beginnings and big adventures! Scumps!!

ad⋅ven⋅ture

/ædˈvɛntʃər/ [ad-ven-cher] -tured, -tur⋅ing.
–noun
1. an exciting or very unusual experience.
2. participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises: the spirit of adventure.
3. a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.
4. a commercial or financial speculation of any kind; venture.
5. peril; danger; risk.

Beholden, Gratified, Indebted, Obliged, Pleased, Thankful, GRATEFUL.

2008-11-19T14:00:00.000-08:00

It is a GORGEOUS November day here in Omaha. I have been cooking and baking and it got so warm, I opened my kitchen window! That's not usual for this time of year. I think it is in the mid-50's...a veritable heat-wave! It is so nice to see the sun. There is a herd of squirrels on our front lawn and hanging from our bird feeders - we counted six at one point.

The Lord has called my name. How can that be? He has drawn me and made me His own. If I did not know it to be so, I would think it was too good to be true. I am being changed and transformed into the person I was created to be by the One Who made me. Whoa. That is amazing.

My mom is here visiting...so nice to have her near. She is wonderful. (even if she DOES beat me regularly at cards...) She just jumps in wherever needed. Right now she is sewing a beautiful dress for Kristin, who will be in our friends Mindy & Ken's wedding next spring.

Our kids are doing great in school...Kristin is having some very slight issues w/chatting a bit and being easily distracted, but this is minor in the big scheme! Dan has adjusted amazingly well to middle school. Elly is having the time of her life, working on her second play of the fall at school. Bree is enjoying and being challenged by her job. We are just savoring these days of having them all living at home with us, knowing these days are numbered!

Even though there is a possibility that David's job could be eliminated by the end of '08, we are amazingly peaceful. This is truly the peace that passes understanding...makes no sense! Sometimes I pinch myself and wonder if I am just in denial. Shouldn't I be freaking?

We have begun to meet with some amazing folks in a small group-type setting...wanting to be accountable, wanting to be the Body of Christ to one another. We are so very excited about this part of our new church family. =)

We are very healthy people. Other than the short-lived, annoying colds and such, we are strong and well. We do not deserve it! So many are struggling with chronic illness. We are blessed with our health.

We have a warm, toasty house that we can afford to pay for...unlike so many who are struggling right now with keeping up with the basics. We are snug and well-fed. (possibly too well-fed)

We have extended family that we love so much. We have many friends that are so very special to us. And we have recently been blessed with re-connecting with many from our past through Facebook. What a wonder!

I think I need to make every month 'Thanksgiving Month"...what it does for my spirit and my emotions to sit and think of all our blessings...I cannot easily describe. What comes to mind is the phrase 'incredible lightness of being"...which until a moment ago, I did not know comes from a book called 'Atlas Shrugged' by Ayn Rand. (Strangely enough, I don't recall ever even hearing of the book until this morning, when a friend [from Facebook!] suggested that I read it! ...and now a phrase that I've heard before, but did not know was from that book comes to my mind! Weird.)

I think that we are meant to live as grateful people. May I live as I was meant to, in this thankful state of counting innumerable blessings and not just BEING, but SHOWING my gratefulness...

THANK YOU, LORD!
"Give thanks to God. Call out his name. Ask him anything! Shout to the nations, tell them what he's done, spread the news of his great reputation!"
Isaiah 12:3 The Message

"Give thanks to God, His love never quits." 2 Chronicles 20:21 The Message

Whine, whine, whine

2008-11-16T17:04:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'd like a little whine with my cheese...

I am sick again for the third time in three weeks....three different illnesses. First it was a vertigo-type thingy. Then it was strep (on the tail end of amoxicillin for that!) and now I have this nasty cold...with a smoker's cough. (No, I do not smoke.) Nice. Tomorrow I will have to postpone my dentist appointment to fix my cracked tooth for the THIRD TIME! I am feeling so selfish and so mad and so worn out: sick and tired of being sick and tired. But wait...

What is the truth about this situation? Is God in control of this? Could He heal me if He thought that was best? Am I stuck here for a purpose? Do I need to be treating my body differently so I am not as susceptible to sickness? What about people who are chronically ill...is it possible to be content when faced with a barrage of sickness? I was pretty sick last year during this time, but I thought it was because I was teaching and my body was exposed to a lot of germs/viruses that I was not accustomed to. So what's the excuse this year? Do I need to be concerned about something I am not aware of?

Nearly our whole family has had something. Will we all be well to host Thanksgiving dinner like we are planning?

This situation is so inconsequential compared to so many...I think of my friend, Nancy, who is going through treatment for her second bout of breast cancer and whose house is in the path of the crazy fires that are scorching California right now. Or I think of our friends K & E who are in a very dangerous part of the world to tell people of Jesus' love. I need the perspective of these situations or I sink into pity-party-mode....and that's so ugly and isolating and non-productive and self-serving.

In my runny-nosed, hacking state, I am mistakenly thinking that the most important kind of healing is physical, but I know that God sees so much more than I do. And that His ideas of goodness and wholeness are beyond what I can understand. What are You working in me, Lord?

Lord, teach me the secrets of asking for what I desire, but allowing You to help me to be content no matter what Your answers are to what I pray. I know Your Grace is sufficient for me and that when I am weak, Your strength can be shown through me. I choose to trade my dis-ease for Your Peace. And I choose to think on You over thoughts of myself that threaten to consume my mind.

Exodus 15:26 He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you."

Post-Election Rant

2008-11-06T13:52:00.000-08:00

The last straw was my post-election observation of a neighbor, whom I know to be staunchly Republican, flying his flag at half staff, after he took down all of his republican election support signs. COME ON! Sheesh...how far are we going to take this?

When Fox News was announcing that Senator Obama had won the presidency at 11 on Tuesday night, I couldn't help it....I cried and cried. And cried. Then Senator McCain came on and gave SUCH a gracious and well-spoken speech, conceding the presidency. I cried some more. I am very sad and very concerned about what direction we'll go as a country. I am sorely tempted to worry. I am fighting fretting about what future our children will have as we go in this direction?

What I don't get is all the pandemonium and all the whining. Maybe it's just because I'm recovering from strep this week and my brain is fogged. Have we prayed for this election? I have. Has the Lord suddenly left the building altogether? Has our mission as the Body of Christ changed? I'm sure I must be being short-sighted and/or naive because to me it seems like everyone is completely freaking out.

I'm aware of President-elect Obama's background and the agenda he ran his campaign on. I'm aware that the house and senate are controlled by the Democrat party more than ever before in my lifetime. I'm aware that things may get rough for conservative people, that there are possibly several Supreme Court Judge seats that our President-elect will fill during his term. It's not that I'm believing we're in for a bed of roses for the next four years.

What I'm holding onto (with both hands!) is that this country was founded miraculously...that our founding fathers put their lives on the line and were supported by God himself as they strove to create a place of freedom. I know that because of the United States of America, the Gospel of Jesus has and still is spreading around the globe. I know that we, as a individuals and as a people are valuable to the Lord.

I'm grasping tightly His promises to never leave me or forsake me.

I'm thinking of the verse that says, 'Happy are the people who's God is the Lord'....

Friends, the god of this country has not been the Lord for some years now. Who are we kidding? Most of us, (even "Christians") are busy with status and power and jobs and money and appearance to make God the Lord of our lives. We have been booting the Lord out of more and more of our society. It's not too surprising that we would vote in someone with values like President-elect Obama.

Now don't get me wrong...it is not that I wasn't hoping for an eleventh hour miracle...that the McCain/Palin ticket would pull out a win somehow. I was praying for a Gideon-like victory. We did not get one. And here we are. And our mission is not changed. The way Christians are known (by our love) has not changed. Most of all, Our Great God Who is the King above all gods has not changed. His love has not changed. His heart has not changed.

What needs to change is us...it's me. It is the way I love and repent and prioritize and live.

WAKE UP CALL!! Time to get serious about my faith! Time to stop trusting in the government to save babies and take care of the poor (in a way that will actually help in the long run to give Life). Bashing our new president and new congress is not going to accomplish anything remotely constructive. I am here and the Lord's commands to be thankful for and in all things still stand. It is okay to grieve for a while, but then I'm moving on. (Are you coming with me?)

Great Expectations?

2008-10-20T15:41:00.000-07:00

I wonder if much of our societal dismay at getting older is linked to the unexpected...we think and dream of our lives as young adults (at least girls do...do guys do that too?). We think about our courtships, our weddings, maybe our careers. We dream of our children. Sometimes we jokingly talk with our sweetheart about getting old together. When do we mull over those middle and latter years? Are we surprised by the disappointments of our later years because we don't take time to think of what is ahead?

Our society deifies youth to such an extent that most of us often don't give our older years any thought (realistic ones, anyway.). Other than deciding what percentage of our income to sock away in the 401K, we don't want to consider the possibilities of aging. I watched some of my friends that preceded me into the 40's lose their 'close-up-vision' and get glasses, but I really didn't think it would happen to me. It has. And I've been disappointed that my body betrayed me like this! I think I have 14 pair of reading glasses around here. (And I look good in them, too...)

David and I are on the brink of having our first kiddos leave the nest....and I've never given too much thought (until very recently) of what life will be like when they all fly away. I'm thinking I need to savor our children when they're here, but also, dream and plan and look forward to those years in a realistic light.

I think I've written before regarding the comment my friend, Norma, made when we were conversing some months ago about how time seems to escalate as we get older. She said that she thinks it's not so much time speeding up as it is that our ability to process is getting slower. That gave me pause! I was downhearted about that for a short time and then I thought: this getting old thingy is part of The Plan! Since Adam and Eve, EVERYONE has aged. If it is part of The Great Design, then who am I to dread or question it?

(Okay, for all you Moral Government devotees, I acknowledge that it may not have been part of the original Eden Plan, but when A. & E. chowed on the fruit, aging became part of the deal...hmmmm...maybe aging is hard because the Original Intent/Purpose was for us to live obediently and stay young eternally???? Not to stir up a huge theological debate about the Government of God, but I just had to include those thoughts.)

Reminds me of my birthday...I LOVE my birthday
(321 shopping days left after today, people!!)
and I attempt to enjoy it as much as I can. I have never, until recently, had a clue why people did not milk their birthdays for all the fun, fellowship, cake, cash & prizes they could. Now that I am feeling my age a bit more, I'm seeing how many dread that yearly confirmation of "maturity".

I shocked a checker in a store recently by asking at what age they granted a senior discount (some stores around here give it as early as age 52.). (I'm 46.) The lady asked me why I'd want to know! I told her that if I am going to get old, I might as well look forward to the perks there are in aging!

Until the lately, I have thought of myself as looking MUCH younger than I actually am. In my twenties I hated my youthful appearance with a passion (talk about youth being wasted on the young!). I wanted to look like a mature woman, and I resented people looking upon me like a kid. Seems like I got carded FOREVER...into my 30's. If I got carded now, I'd probably kiss the cashier. I used to be quite critical of people 'getting work done' (botox & plastic surgery and such). I am still philosphically opposed to that kind of thing, but man, as I look in the mirror these days, I can sure see the rationale!!!

I wonder if part of the problem with us not knowing what to realistically expect when we age is that we don't choose to hang out with older people enough. Back in the Little House on the Prairie days, families often lived multi-generationally under one roof. Everyone experienced by first-hand-observation the whole 'circle of life', day-to-day...the joys, the pains.

Am I growing older? Of course. What might that include? Aches and pains? Will I be able to tell the weather forecast by how my joints are feeling? Will I have illness? Will I be less ambulatory? Will I lose brain power? Will I lose my independence through no longer being able to drive someday? Will I be alone? Amidst the losses (adjusting reading glasses...), I hope that I'll allow myself to grieve the things I lose and I hope that I will take the grace given me to be thankful for my wonderful youth and for my (God-willing) fabulous golden years! (And I hope I won't make my bodily functions the main topic of conversation....oh, wait...do I already do that?)

Fits and Starts

2008-10-08T07:27:00.000-07:00

I am noticing that blog entries tend to come in spurts. Seems like I have very little creative brain activity for a while and then suddenly the bug bites and the creative juices flow again.

I love those seasons of creativity. It is so fulfilling to make something from nothing...I don't care what medium. I love to take a dirt patch and fill it with life. (although my gardens have been terribly neglected this year....seems like the creativity in that area has run thin of late. I'm looking forward to 'putting them to bed for the winter' because everything looks spindly and scrawny.)

I love to choose fabric and sew it into something useful and/or beautiful. I so enjoy putting pen to paper and writing to a friend...or typing thoughts into cyberspace, producing a "published" work of my cogitations! Even rearranging the living room furniture gives me that great outlet for my imagination...even tho' the configurations are quite limited! Cooking and baking satisfying to me in more ways than one. Singing comes under this artistic heading...so fun!

Call me crazy, I am even looking forward to painting the outside of our house this fall (or maybe in the spring if I don't hurry up and beat the cold weather!) Can I call that creativity?T

The thing about these spurts of inspiration is that something gets left in the dust....like now, for instance, Mt. Washmore, (my laundry pile - it is really not a mountain right now...more like foothills...) is calling me. But I must ignore it if I am to finish these thoughts! When I am doing a sewing project, seems like the family dinners are relegated to grilled cheese or eggs. When I choose creativity, I say no to the mundane. Hmmmm. I'll be thinking more on this.

I am reminded of my brother, Lee. Okay, the guy is a genius. His brainpower never ceases to amaze me. He is always inventing or thinking of inventing. He is always studying about something - usually the subjects of his study are quite obscure and so very interesting! Seems like his 'creative radar' never switches off...he's always collecing things that he plans to make into other things. He is the master of using something unconventional to problem solve. An amazing man!

I wonder if this is universal...does everyone love to make something new? Is this one of the ways we can see the Image of our Creator stamped upon us? I do believe He specializes in newness and freshness and originality.

For me, that sweet satisfaction that comes from creating can be summed up in words from Genesis 1: 31 - it is very good.

"See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you." Isaiah 42:9

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. " Isaiah 43:18,19

P.S. The quilt in the pics above is one that Bree made for her sweet friend Kiley's graduation. ( I helped!) (Have I put these pics on this blog before? Can't remember...)

Riding to School with Elly

2008-09-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

As we drove to school this morning, a little baby squirrel came to the edge of our street as if to try to cross in front of us.

I yelled, "Don't do it!"

Elly shouted, "Life's worth living!"

Then she yelled, "It doesn't have to end this way!"

Little squirrel backed up...crisis averted.

(We had a good chuckle after that...) =)

Elly cracks me up!

Bella the Smella & Easton the Beast ("Jooj")

2008-09-08T14:21:00.000-07:00

This is Bella. She is 6. She eats underwear and then yaks it up. Nasty.
This is Beast sleeping with a toy in his mouth. He does this often. He uses toys almost like a baby uses a pacifier. He is soooo funny (except when he chews on Bree's sunglasses.)
"Beggar Beastie" He is a 2 y/o Boxer. (he says, "Got any crunchies?")
Joojy looking out the window at his friend and neighbor 'Sandy', the Labradoodle.
Bella in repose. She thinks she is the queen. (Maybe the queen of barf.)

Take a wild guess at who's the favorite? Anybody want a German Shorthaired Pointer?

Happy New Year?

2008-08-25T10:11:00.000-07:00

If I had continued working at the preschool, today would have been my first day of work. Instead, I am at home, in my exercise clothes, ferrying children hither and yon, doing laundry, ironing, cooking. Now THIS is my dream job. Seriously! I know that I know that I belong here. It is a new season for me!

Don't get me wrong, I am going to miss working with the fabulous ladies that are there at school. They are a bunch of very wise, encouraging, godly women. They are the REAL DEAL. I learned a TON from them last year. It was a gift from Jesus to be there with them. They got me through a very, very tough year! I'll always be grateful for that.

(I'll miss the paycheck too. It wasn't a huge amount, but it helped!)

I've been reading a bit about Rosh Hashanah...I learned that there are several 'New Year' concepts in Judaism, Rosh Hashanah being only one of them. The Sabbath that falls during the 9 day period during Rosh Hashanah is called the Shabbat Shuvah: the Sabbath of Return.

I sure do like that. I'm so grateful that the Lord specializes in new beginnings!! And fall seems the right time for another new start: for some reflection, for repentance before God, for reconciliation before the Lord and before people, for counting blessings, for being thankful, for looking forward to all that the next season will bring. This year, Rosh Hashanah begins on September 29. I hope no one minds if I begin celebrating early.

1 Chronicles 16:34
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Lamentations 3:22-24
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."

Hosea 6:1-3

"Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.
Let us know the LORD; let us press on to know him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."

John 17:3

Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Bike Bug

2008-08-20T16:20:00.001-07:00

Since last Wednesday when school began, Kristin and I have ridden our bikes to and from her school most of the days. Ackerman is about 1/2 mile from our house. About a mile beyond the school is a lake (Zorinsky) with trails around it. The lake is divided in to two parts...one is 4.2 miles around and the other is around 3. I decided to ride the big side of the lake last week after Kristin locked up her bike and went into the school. It was great!!

David expressed concern that if we were going to make a habit of riding to school, that I should get a helmet. Kristin and I both got new helmets last Saturday morning. We rode around part of the small side of the lake that day together. Kristin LOVED the adventure of being somewhere new. She ditched her training wheels just this last summer and is loving the two-wheeled freedom! I had to remind her many times to stay close to the right side of the trail as we tootled around the lake...she was a little annoyed by my reminders! She was so cute when she'd come up behind someone walking in the same direction as we...she'd call, "Passing on your left!". People got a big kick out of her, as did I.

This week, I decided I'd try riding both sides of the lake. I have done it twice now. I try to go as fast as I can without killing myself or someone else. I can tell that if I keep this up I am going to have to explore more of the Omaha biking trails. I was already bored, just doing the same route twice. I need to keep myself interested, as our fam has begun a renewed conflict: the battle of the bulge. (David and Dan have been walking almost nightly for about a month!...since we returned from our vacation.) I believe the main reason I have not kept up with being active in the past (besides laziness!) has been boredom.

Before I do much more riding, though, I NEED a better seat. The bike I have belonged to my wonderful father-in-law. He probably bought it about 15-20 years ago. He gave it to us about 8 years ago, I think. It is in great shape still, but that seat......ouch.

A Difficult Farewell

2008-08-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday I left w/the Cahills & our sweet friend, Ashley, for Sulphur Springs, Texas to celebrate the life of our friend, Larry Cameron. What a special time it was.

At the visitation, so many came to pay their respects. I counted 36 flower arrangements and plants. Sulphur Springs is not a big town, but Larry made a big impact for Jesus and it showed. The family had a container of Sharpie markers near Larry's black and orange Harley Davidson casket and asked each visitor to pen a short note. The casket was completely covered with notes thanking Larry for his friendship, for his example, for his care. At the funeral there was standing room only (and not much of that). The church was half filled with his friends from the Christian Motorcycle Association (C.M.A.) in their cool uniforms. Awesome! Following the very moving service, there was a procession of 76 bikes and at least a mile-long procession of cars as we made our way to the cemetery. Larry loved Nebraska football and each of the bikers flew Nebraska flags on their bikes (a BIG deal for these die-hard Longhorn fans). After a wonderful, horrible, precious, exhausting time, we arrived home Sunday night.

Last night was the memorial for Larry C. here in Omaha. Again, it was an incredible gathering of people who loved Larry. Many familiar faces were there. There was yet another contingent of the C.M.A. at the memorial. I know it must have been a comfort to the family and those very close to him to see all who attended. There were beautiful flowers and precious words from Pastor Ty, Larry's three brothers and his son, Jeremy.

I had the very special privilege of singing at both services. People often tell me that (if I outlast them...) they'd like me to sing at their funeral services. It is an honor to be asked. I am always humbled by it! If memory serves, Larry asked (told!) me one day while hanging out at the Cahill's house that he'd like me to sing at his funeral someday. After Larry's death, Jeff recalled that Larry had a specific song in mind: "How Beautiful" (Twila Paris).

Prior to this week, I don't believe I've sung that tune at a funeral or memorial service. I've done it MANY times at weddings, especially in the '90's. When I learned of this choice before we left for Texas, I was not sure that it was appropriate. Boy, was I wrong. Larry's was a life of service and sacrifice to Jesus lived out in his everyday life as he cared for his children, grandchildren, extended family and friends. He was an extension of the literal body of our Lord Jesus, giving his life away again and again for the glory of the Lord. I can't think of a more fitting song. See the lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/p/paris_twila/how_beautiful.html

Not to be too morbid, but as I looked around at the crowd last night, I saw many who have asked me to sing in their services. I had the thought that Larry's funeral and memorial are some of the toughest services I've sung at in a while...but they will not be the last (if the Lord allows), not by a longshot. I get this unbelievable opportunity to sing to folks whose hearts have been tenderized by great loss. I cannot even express how much that means to me. I don't know why I get this special privilege. I am thankful, though. I am so thankful to the Lord for it.

Grilled Pizza?

2008-08-04T19:26:00.000-07:00

In the past we have tried grilling pizza with limited success. Tonight's creation was the best we've had. The recipe we used for the dough was stiffer than the ones we have attempted in the past. We have yet to figure out how to get the cheese to fully melt before the bottom of the crust gets too dark. We make individual pizzas for each person, made to order. Trying to grill bigger pieces of dough was just too difficult. What I like about cooking the pizza on the 'barbie' is the crispy crust and the intangible 'grill-ish' flavor. Tonight our toppings were: turkey pepperoni, pineapple tidbits, mushrooms, green pepper, black olive & mozzerella.

Here's how it is done:

Concoct the dough and flatten into portions. (recipe follows)

Heat the grill - we use a gas grill and heated it on the 1/4 power setting.

Take sauce (I use our leftover spaghetti sauce - my mom's recipe), toppings, cheese, dough, & a dish of olive oil out to the grill.

You'll need a long basting brush to apply the oil to the grill and to one side of the dough. You'll also need one or two long-handled spatulas for turning the dough.

'Baste' grill w/olive oil.

Place first piece of dough on grill and brush dough lightly w/oil.

Cook for 3-4 minutes w/lid down.

Flip dough & add as quickly as possible the sauce (1-2 T.), toppings & cheese. Don't get too heavy on the toppings or they won't get warm.

Close lid and grill another 3 minutes or so....check the underside of the dough to prevent burning. Reminder: the cheese may not be completely melted before the underside of your dough is getting dark!

Enjoy with your favorite beverage!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grilled Pizza Dough (www.italianchef.com/grilledpizzadough.html )

5 c. all-purpose flour

1 T. sugar

2 t. table salt or 3 1/2 t. kosher salt (I used kosher.)

1 t. yeast

1 1/2 t. olive oil

1 3/4 c. warm water

I combined all ingredients in my kitchenaid stand mixer. (You can do this by hand too.) Mix 'till combined with mixer beater. Change to dough hook and knead in mixer for 4 minutes. Let dough rest 15 minutes. Knead w/dough hook 4 more minutes. Divide into 6-10 portions. (For instructions on storing this dough in the freezer, go the the website above.) Flatten by hand or with rolling pin in to individual portions. Separate w/waxed paper. (Do not stack them more than 4-5 high or the bottom ones will adhere to the waxed paper and not look as pretty when you grill them!)

Trusting the Character of the Lord

2008-08-04T13:40:00.000-07:00

We were shocked to learn of the passing of our friend, Larry Cameron this last weekend. He died in a traffic accident in rural Oklahoma as he was making his way from his home in the little Texas town of Sulphur Springs to his 30th class reunion at Burke High School here in Omaha. From what I understand, the accident was such that he most likely never knew what hit him....reminds me of 2 Corinthians 5:6-9 which tells us that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. I picture Larry on his Harley, waiting in line at the toll booth outside of Antlers, Oklahoma, listening to some tunes on his iPod one minute and then the next minute talking to the Lord and saying, "How did I get here?" Larry leaves behind four heartbroken children a bunch of grandchildren, his long-time sweetheart, Cindi, and a large extended family as well as many devoted friends. He was 47 years old.

When I think of our family's encounters with Larry, I am amazed at and grateful for the Lord's obvious prescence in him....Larry knew how to care for people: the ones he was close to and the ones he met along the way. He was kind and thoughtful. He had an innate way of making you feel comfortable. Adults and kids alike were drawn to him.

I remember being at Diane and Jeff's once a couple of years ago...I answered the phone and it was Larry, calling from Texas to talk to Jeff. I think we chatted for 15 minutes about how he cared so much for his kids and about parenting. He was always friendly and always had time to show it.

As I process Larry's passing it is easy to feel overwhelmed. I cannot help but ask 'Why, Lord?". A man whose life has SUCH an impact for the Kingdom should not be cut short, should it? Then I recall this verse, "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." (Jn. 12:24 NIV) and I think about Larry's brother, Ron, speaking at his class reunion last Saturday night, telling his classmates what Larry would want to say if he could speak from heaven...That so many would hear God's word that never returns void...WOW.

Another thought: how do I grieve and not sin? I am so tempted to be angry at the driver who hit him...but then I realize that I do not know that driver's situation. He was an older man. Perhaps he had a sudden health issue that caused the accident...I do not know.

Why does the Lord allow crazy stuff like this? I guess we will never fully understand here on earth. These are the times where I have to hold on with both hands to Who I know He is...I have to trust His Character and obey His commands to be thankful for all things (Eph. 5:20) and thankful in all things (I Thes. 5:18). This helps me to recall that He holds me, my family and my friends in His Everlasting Arms (Deut. 33:27) and that He will never leave or forsake us. (Josh. 1:5)

John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

End-of-summer-vacation-creativity

2008-08-02T11:32:00.000-07:00

School starts on the 13th for us this year (yes, the 13th of August). Seems like we are starting earlier and earlier. I am feeling that end-of-summer-urgency to have fun with our kids! Since we do not have piles of cash lying around, we are trying to think of jolly things to do together close to home!

We had a day of tie-dying last week. MAN, did we have fun. We bought a couple of white shirts and bandanas from Walmart, some dye and rubber bands from Hobby Lobby. The night before we dyed, I looked for diy instructions on youtube. I found LOTS of helpful videos and some interesting history. We used our rubber bands to 'tie' our shirts We boiled water (incidentally, we did this on one of the hottest days. Next time we tie-dye, which we hope will be soon, we will wait for a cool fall or winter day!), added the dye. We had three colors: pink, red, blue. We dyed for a few hours. It was a BLAST. We dyed old nasty night shirts, socks, towels, even undies! We were scouring the house for whites to dye. My mom dyed a red shirt on which she had accidentally spilled bleach...she dyed it blue and it turned out so cool. We learned how to make a plaid pattern. We learned how to make circles within circles. We even figured out how to make hearts. We WILL be dying again soon. (Our camera is near death, so I cannot post any of our own pics right now...)

Our other project that we did today and also a couple of days ago: homemade silly putty and homemade flubbery blubber. Here are the recipes:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SILLY PUTTY:

3 T. white glue

4 T. liquid starch

food coloring (optional) (red will stain your hands!)

Mix together and then knead and knead and knead. Store in an airtight container.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FLUBBERY BLUBBER

Stir in bowl #1:

2 T. warm water

3 t. white glue

food coloring (optional)

Mix in bowl #2:

2 T. warm water

scant 1/2 t. Borax (found in the laundry section @ the grocery)

Add Bowl #1's contents to Bowl #2. Mix until solution becomes rubbery and forms a ball. Knead until smooth. Drain any excess water. Store in airtight container.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These are similar, but the blubber is more stiff...we think the Silly Putty is more fun! Now I am on the hunt for more out-of-the-ordinary, inexpensive projects for this next week!

This is not a drill...

2008-07-31T19:34:00.001-07:00

A phone call from my dear friend Sarah L. tonight has prompted some thoughts...we were talking about struggles that we have and how when we FINALLY get ready to wheel and deal with the Lord with specific things, how it is just SO difficult to let go. We talked about how we are in a war and when we are close to breakthrough how it seems the enemy of our souls 'steps it up'. When he realizes that his plans to steal from us, to kill whatever is good in our lives, to destroy us are not going to work, he has a hissy-fit. Sometimes it feels like every thing is breaking loose and our struggle is for nothing. Sometimes it feels like we are alone in our battle.

How wonderful to be part of the Body of Christ...how important it is to NOT live by that feeling, to choose to see the Truth that we are not alone. To see the Truth that we are well-cared-for (especially when we humble ourselves and admit to our bros and sisters that we are needy!) How cool is it to admit to those we trust that we are struggling and receive grace from Jesus in our skirmishes.

When Sarah and I were finishing our freshman year in high school (we met in 8th grade...1975!), we went to Youth Camp at Tahquitz Pines in Idyllwild, CA. Tony Salerno was the speaker. That was the summer I got serious about knowing Jesus. Anyway, one night Tony taught on 1 Peter 5:8 (NIV):

"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

He pointed out that usually lions hunt by stealth. Only the old, toothless, lame lion hunts by roaring, hoping to cause such a fright by his roaring that his prey freezes and allows itself to be literally scared to death. When we have Jesus, the Mighty Warrior, within we have nothing to fear from the enemy. I remember Pastor Tony saying that when Jesus is Lord, the devil is just a mouse with a megaphone!

I am convinced that Jesus' desire for us is that we allow Him to be Lord in every area as He directs...that as we give over more and more of ourselves to Him, that He breaks down the strongholds of sin that we have built around ourselves. My goal is to let Him continue breaking strongholds in my life until HE IS MY ONLY STRONGHOLD. Psalm 27:1b

The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?

We are in a WAR, people! This is not a rehearsal!

More Vacation Fun...

2008-07-28T11:15:00.000-07:00

WARNING....WARNING....!

2008-07-25T13:35:00.000-07:00

I am in BIG trouble...I just found a TON of foodie blogs. Oh, the bliss of reading about people's food adventures and foibles and experiments and successes! We have talked a lot in our family lately about limiting 'screen time' (any tv, computer, video game time)...I think I am going to need to heed my own preaching!

I have often said that if I could afford a housekeeper and just cook and bake all the time, I would! And I'd probably weigh quite a bit more...Well, if I could afford a housekeeper then I probably could afford a personal trainer too! =)

Pete and Molly

2008-07-24T17:28:00.001-07:00

These are two of Bone's (my sister's) doggies. Petey is the big whitey and Molly is the little blackie. (Molly is now full grown.) I post this because this activity is what I did most of yesterday...

A Bug or Post-"Vay-cay"-Malaise?

2008-07-24T14:12:00.000-07:00

Oi. I cannot seem to get going here since we returned home on Monday! Yesterday I truly felt drugged...like I had taken a mega-dose of Benedryl or something! I took three naps and then proceed to go to sleep at 9:30 pm, sleeping (except for the brief awakening by our neighbors, the "McParties", in the middle of the night) until 7:43 am! Ridiculous. No one but dogs and newborns sleep this much.

Farewell, Nags Head

2008-07-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

We will miss you!!!

The best day ever!

2008-07-17T19:25:00.000-07:00

We are all sunburnt from yesterday's greatly enjoyable day on the shore and didn't want to spend time in the sun today. We lazed around a bit, shopped at some very fun artsy-craftsy shops on the strip, had a DELICIOUS dinner at "The Dunes" restaurant (I had crab, shrimp & scallops that did not need to be shipped 1500 miles before I consumed them...yum.) and THEN we headed out to the beach around 6:45 pm.

Earlier in the day there had been 'No Swimming' signs because of rip-tides. We were thankful the signage was gone. Don't worry, Grandma, we did not go in very deep. We had A BLAST body surfing & boogie boarding. Kristin (7)and Alison (5 1/2) sat on opposite sides of a large inner tube at the edge of the water and the waves gave them rides in and out of the shore. Diane got some good video of it that I cannot wait to see! They had some cool wipe-outs. Kristin caught some great waves boogie boarding too. The big kiddos were out in the water the WHOLE time, tumbling and swimming and yelling and cavorting. It was great fun watching them and then joining in the craziness.

When we'd been out there for an hour or so, the moon started coming up...Huge, orange and unbelievably gorgeous. We joked that we'd forgotten to put on our moonblock! Beautiful seems like such a lame word to describe it. It was breathtaking. (my camera was out of batteries...)

We came home and showered and ate peanutbutter pie (I'll post the recipe later...) and are now all readying to fall into beddy-bye. We had so much fun tonight that we are all going to try to pack our things tomorrow morning and get our beach house cleaned up quickly so that we can do some more shopping and then go down to the beach again tomorrow night. We are motivated! Only one more day in paradise! We head homeward on Saturday, hopefully arriving in Omaha on Monday evening.

Beach Shots 2

2008-07-16T18:27:00.000-07:00

Dan: "I dare you to cross this line in the sand..."

Melancholy niece Alison.

Beach Shots 1

2008-07-16T16:36:00.001-07:00

Elly rejoicing in her surroundings!

Kristin & Bree searching for shells...

David on the hunt for ghost crabs.

I almost missed it...

2008-07-14T19:21:00.000-07:00

Since we have been on the road my skin has gotten REALLY bad...before we left, I knew I should have gone into the doc to get my quarterly dosage of steroids to keep my silly issues under control, but I kept hoping I could handle it myself with the topical meds I have. Last night I got really bad...or maybe I just realized that I was really bad. Sometimes I don't really let myself grasp that I am spiralling down until I am feeling desperate for help. Anyway, I decided that I needed to try to call my doc today and see if he would call me in a prescription. He is not one to give out meds willy-nilly (which I am thankful for...), so I didn't know if he would. I decided that if he wouldn't/couldn't I'd get online, find a preferred provider in the OBX area and try to get seen by someone here.

Well, may the Lord bless him, Dr. Greg consented to call CVS and I started taking the meds @ about 1 pm. It usually takes two doses for me to start feeling a bit better. Tonight I just took my third one and whew, what wonderful relief.

When I have a severe outbreak like this I look somewhat like some burn victims might look when they are healing: kind of vivid reddish-purple blotches that cover most of my face and usually only some of my neck. I get very self-conscious. People stare. I don't think most people mean to do it. Sometimes when people look 'different', you just can't help it. Sometimes, not too often, people comment..."what happened to you?" "isn't there anything you can do for that?" SO embarassing. Today when we went shopping (I did not want to go, but sometimes it is good to just press through and DO IT.), I wore my big floppy hat and sunglasses most of the time, even inside the stores. It is just easier knowing people cannot see my eyes...why is that, I wonder? Maybe I think that if they don't see that I know they are staring it is less difficult...if that makes any sense....

ANYWAY, after supper Jeff (bro-in-law: Diane's hubby) suggested we all go 'Ghost crabbing' on the beach at dusk. (more facinating info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_crab ) I thought it was going to be like a 'snipe-hunt'....looking for something that does not exist or something we would never really find.

I was exhausted and at first said I would stay behind and go to bed early. Then I decided to go for a short time (I hate to miss a party!)...I was planning to walk with everyone to the beach and then take the short cut home by myself and still have the chance to turn in early. Thankfully, I changed my mind.

Good thing I did because we ended up finding about 25 or 30 crabs! You all who have hunted these little guys know...they are so well-camouflaged that when you see them running on the sand, you wonder if you are really seeing something or if it is your mind telling you that you are seeing something! They are FAST! And fun to catch. The kiddos were running everywhere (10 out of the 11 kiddos came with us, ages 18 down to 4 y/o!) and catching crabs ("I got one!") ("Gotcha!") ("Come back here, you little...!") and depositing them in a cooler we brought (that I thought we toted along just for show!). It was such a great time. Most of the crabs were an inch or two big, but some were 4 or 5"! The sun was setting and the clouds were glorious. We saw a double rainbow from our front deck as we left the house and then another rainbow on the beach just before the sun went to bed.

I had a solitary minute on the beach as everyone was running and exclaiming and rolling in the sand and capturing the unsuspecting little crustaceans! As I was alone, I thanked the Lord for a great time, for the beauty of this place and for our family being together. I felt as if He whispered to my heart, "Aren't you glad you came? I helped you through. I AM here. I AM with you." I wept. I was reminded of other special times at dusk on the beach (Beach Camp with First Family Church youth group at San Onofre, 3-Arch Bay adventures in high school with my dear friend Jerbi, Laguna Beach in 1986 when David proposed...) I wept some more.

It was pretty dark when we headed for home (probably a 10 minute walk). We did let the crabs go before we left! Elly even took a short video of their exodus to the sea! =) (Posted below!)

We arrived home and were looking at the many photos we took of our Ghost crab excursion and Elly asked me how I was feeling. I told her that I'm much better and asked her if I looked any better (mirrors are not my friends when I get like this!). Jordan, our 11/y/o nephew, was listening and asked what we were talking about..he went on to say that he doesn't even notice my trouble much. That made me cry AGAIN.

I was reminded that David and others that love me (Dawn, Mom, Diane, and others) have told me that they hardly notice...and I was again undone by the fact that I really am loved for who I am and not what I look like. I need that reminder because I so easily buy into our society's appearance orientation (It is SUCH a Babylon mentality!). Looking good sometimes seems like it is SO important and because of my health it is not always possible to look good (from the world's standards). I was crying and all the kids were saying, "What's wrong with Auntie?" Lisa gave me a big, LONG hug and I bawled some more! I assured them that the tears were happy ones. My wonderful m-i-l, Karen, said that she rarely notices my skin troubles and reminded me that "man looks upon the outward appearance, but God looks upon the heart". She told me that I have a beautiful heart. I think I'll 'take that to the bank'. I end this amazing day with a full and thankful heart. Life is so hard, but our God is SO good.

Sea shore

2008-07-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

From the left: half of David's dad: Doug Reno,

David's bro in green shirt and khaki shorts: Michael Reno,

in white shirt & black shorts, David's sis: Diane Cahill,

David's mom (in blue capris) Karen Reno,

Michael's wife (our sweet sis in the green shirt): Lisa.

And at the far right, half of my better half, David!

Footprint...(is that yours, Elly?)

The very lovely, newly-8-year-old Morgan Cahill (Happy Birthday, Schmo!), our niece & the oldest little gal of the Cahills six kiddos.

First sight of the Atlantic Shore

2008-07-14T13:28:00.000-07:00

Dan at the Outer Banks. Our nephew, Jordan rejoicing at our arrival. Four-year-old Payton, amazed at the waves!

Pictures of plants as we proceed to our purpose:

2008-07-14T13:19:00.001-07:00

Only in Kentucky would you see the Golden Arches replicated in a giant, green shrubbery salute.

A gorgeous show...the photo does not do justice to this tree's magenta blooms, which, incidentally, we saw as we took a 'necessary break' at yet another McD's, only this time in North Carolina.

North Carolina is SO welcoming. A great percentage of the on and off ramps of Interstate 40 are adorned with these gorgeous day lillies. The amateur gardener in me was amazed and blessed.

On the road again...

2008-07-13T17:18:00.000-07:00

Our travelling fam...

swimming to obx

2008-07-13T17:06:00.001-07:00

Greetings from the highways of our great country! We are en route to the Outer Banks of North Carolina (OBX)! These pix are of El, Dan & Kristin and our nieces and nephews: Brandon, Jordan, Dylan, Morgan, Payton.

"Ell-tography"

2008-07-05T12:46:00.001-07:00

I just have to share: our daughter Elly is AMAZING. She has an artistic eye that I admire so much. When I do a sewing project, I always feel more comfortable when El helps me pick colors...sometimes she picks fabrics that I would NEVER in a million years choose and her choices consistently look fabulous. How does she do that???? Her ability is a gift from the Lord and she uses it well.

Elly has a passion for photography. This needs to be the year that we get her a wonderful camera. She's been snapping away with our cheesey little Kodak Easy Share and getting results that are beautiful. The pictures above are hers. I've been telling her that when she gets famous for her photos, I expect her to support her dad and me!

Through the fire...

2008-07-01T17:22:00.000-07:00

Daniel 3:19-27

Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. The king's command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, "Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?" They replied, "Certainly, O king."
He said, "Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods."
Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!" So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.

Okay, WOW...I am blown away by this passage. I've read it so many times and never noticed that the only thing that was burned in the fire: their bonds. Ropes? Chains? Message to me as I go through the fire : (Jn. 16:33 In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.") When the Lord is in the fire with me and I am with Him, the only thing that gets permanently burned is my bondage!

Notice that the account above does not say that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego saw the fourth man in the fire...so often it does not 'feel' like the Lord is with us when we are in the fire...but as we walk through the fire in faith, others see Jesus!

Thank you, Lord for your POWERFUL Word. You are amazing. May we receive grace from You to walk by faith that we may please you! You are worthy!

Wish I could take credit for this insight...I am studying Daniel with a GREAT bunch of godly ladies (Bree Reno, Diane Williams, Kristi Lambrecht, Pam Lutterman, Margaret Kaspar, Mary Anderson). We are using Beth Moore's study called 'Daniel, Lives of Integrity, Words of Prophesy'. I highly recommend it!

Happy Anniversary, Babe!

2008-06-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

As of last Friday, June 27, David and I have been married for 21 years!

I'm amazed at how opposite we are...how the Lord has put us together to compliment one another.

I used to think people were SO old when they'd refer to something that happened twenty years ago! I AM getting old because twenty years doesn't seem like a long time at all.

Dave is DEFINITELY my better half and meeting him at the Omaha Bible School in 1981 was one of the highlights of my life. He is a great man of God, a kind husband, a loving father and a blessing to me everyday.

I thank the Lord, for you, David!!! Love you!

More Tree Removal Pics!

2008-06-29T14:12:00.000-07:00

TIM-BER!!!

2008-06-28T14:58:00.000-07:00

Oh, my aching back! We had a violent storm blow through last night around 5 pm as David and I prepared to go out to eat to celebrate our anniversary. The weather person was saying that the storm was packing some big winds, but WOW...one of our trees cracked and blew over! I was in our living room at the time and saw some movement out of the corner of my eye...it was our tree falling toward our home! It was about thirty feet tall. The trunk was 35" in circumference. We are so grateful that it missed our air conditioner, that it did not fall on our fence or our neighbor's shed, that no one was nearby to get hurt! Our damage is small, by the way, compared to many in our city.

David and our friend, Rod, did the chain saw work. Bree and Elly and I gathered the branches, broke them into manageable lengths and bundled them together. We also made a woodpile out of the future home-warming chunks (we heat our home with wood). I was surprised that it only took a couple of hours from start to finish. Amazing how small the bundles of branches look out at the street as they await Monday (trash day!). Also amazing, the very small woodpile. We worked hard (like beavers!!)...and I believe I may be sore for a couple of days. Lots of squats. Lots of lifting, stretching....probably better exercise than a boot camp!

Let the rain reign!

2008-06-24T13:45:00.000-07:00

I awoke early this morn to the sound of gently rumbling thunder and a soothing shower. It has kept up pretty much all day now. Our new grass must be smiling.

The hostas I planted a couple of weekends ago are looking quite sturdy. Our sunflowers are over a yard high and seemingly growing by the hour! Even though I did not plant our tomatoes until WAY late, they seem to be growing a ton and there are a couple of teeny tiny tomatoes on one of the plants already.

Some of the branches on our maple tree that grows in the 'danger-grass', closest to our street had some limbs that have grown so much, they were hanging low over the sidewalk and may have been annoying the walkers and runners that pass by our home each day. It was satisfying yesterday to drag out the step ladder and a pruning saw and work up a bit of a sweat getting those sagging branches down and then cutting it all down to fit in our 'yard waste' trash can.

What a wonderful season of growing and changing and trimming.

Soooooooooo Big!

2008-06-20T06:31:00.000-07:00

Our "baby", Kristin turned seven years old yesterday.

Wow. Sounds old to me. Six year olds can still be in kindergarten...they are just out of the preschool stage. (Kristin was actually in 1st grade last year...)

But seven...seven is almost eight which is almost ten. Seven can put a person in the middle years of elementary school. Seven is undoubtedly BIG GIRL TERRITORY!

Happy Birthday, Kristin! It is going to be a great year of learning and growing. I love being your mama!

Go, Bree, go!

2008-06-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

When I was pregnant with Bree years ago, I had an unreasonable fear that I was going to do or not do something that would cause her death. As I write this it is so obvious to me where that kind of fear would originate...but I was oblivious at the time.

I was fearful as my pregnancy progressed that I would miscarry. I DID get in a nasty car wreck when I was about 7 1/2 months along, but no harm was done to Bree or to me! When she was finally born I was so relieved! God had taken care of her and brought her to us! I thought my worries were over!

I remember her having a stuffed up nose for the first few weeks after her birth. She was so stuffy that she would snort as she breathed. The Dr. John gave us some saline drops to help her out. I remember sitting in the back row of church, surrounded by other parents holding peacefully sleeping babies. And there I sat with my stuffy baby making a snort/whistle with every breath in and out. How silly to be scared of nasal congestion...but I was afraid that she wouldn't be able to breathe and still terribly afraid that she might die.

A few months later, I had a 'light bulb' moment...the Lord that kept Bree safe in the womb was the same God watching over her now that she had been born. Sounds so elemental now...I was struck with the fact that she was in His hands and that everyday we had her with us was a blessing and a gift from Him.

Fast forward 18 1/2 years....we are teaching Bree to drive. I had two separate moments this week that reminded me of my fears when she was tiny. One was when I dropped her off at driving school, the other was when she went driving with her Auntie Di just today. Both times it was a, "Yikes, I am not going to be able to take care of her" feeling that nearly brought tears.

So, I ask myself, do I really think I've been the one protecting her all these years? I think I let myself believe the illusion (the lie) that I have been in control, that I have been her protector. I know that in some respects that has been true, but ultimately, just as I had no control over Bree's safety in utero, her safety as she grew, and now as she is learning to drive (and learning quickly, I might add...), I am not and CANNOT be her ultimate Protector. And when I have the right perspective (which happens once in a blue moon), I realize that I would not want to be.

Bree is loved with an Everlasting Love and is supported by the Everlasting Arms. She is in the best hands and I can rest (if I choose to do so!!). Go, Bree, Go!

Let it snow?

2008-06-16T07:31:00.000-07:00

We are still enjoying the newness of having leaves on our trees. It was a long winter and a long, cold, wet spring. Our grass is green! Tulips, daffodils, forsythia, creeping phlox, and iris blooms have all come and gone from our yard. The Stella de Oro day lilies are beginning their summer of carefree color!

So what's all that white stuff floating around on the breeze? Oh, yeah. That's the seed of our state tree, the cottonwood (Populus deltoides marsh, recently adopted by Nebraska in 1972 after Dutch elm disease killed most of the American Elm that USED TO be our state tree...). It fuzzes up the lawn (see photo below!) and lays in little, cloudy drifts on roofs and next to our garage doors. And how in the world does it get in our house? There was some seed floating around above David's Quaker oatmeal this morn. Wish I could get a photo that would do justice to the stuff flying around outside. It really is pretty!

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Tears...

2008-06-12T09:13:00.000-07:00

The storms have continued and our region is reeling from the losses. Our area has lots and lots of wind damage. Many homes have been struck by lightning. Fifty-four of the ninety-nine counties in Iowa are under water. As many of you know, a Boy Scout camp just north of here, near Little Sioux, Iowa, was decimated by a tornado last night. There were nearly 100 boys, ages 13-17 there. They were the cream of the crop from many nearby states, gathering for a week of leadership training. Four boys were killed (three of them were from Omaha) and many, many injured. It is surreal - we don't know anyone personally that was there, but two of the fatalities are sons of friends of our friends. Please ask the Lord to comfort, help and heal the broken hearts that are here.

The power and devastation of these storms puts into perspective our significance and DESPERATE need of Jesus. Without Him, truly we are nothing. We look to Him, from where our help comes.

Mercies....addendum

2008-06-11T06:04:00.000-07:00

WOW. The National Weather Service has determined that we were narrowly missed by TWO tornadoes last Sunday morning! We are amazed again. And very thankful to the Lord...and prayerful for those recovering from the damage. (Link to map: http://omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10355041 Our home is near 156th & Q Streets.)

His Mercies....new every morning!

2008-06-09T20:20:00.000-07:00

A tornado touched down only 1.7 miles from our home early yesterday morning. David and I were awakened at 2:21am by a noise I will never forget: it sounded like an approaching train. I peeked out our window and the trees seemed like they were roiling around. It was raining heavily. Dave turned the tv on and we saw a SCARY radar on the weather. Moments later, we lost power.

We lit a couple of candles and grabbed Dan and Kristin and headed to our basement (Bree and Elly and our dogs sleep downstairs.) When we got down there, the tornado sirens went off...

We have a tiny battery-powered radio that we took downstairs with us. As we tuned in KFAB, we were stunned that no local radio stations were live...they were airing pre-recorded programming! We thought we would be tuning into weather coverage. They finally started covering the storm live at around 3 am.

Our local paper today called the storm the 'Stealth Tornado'...turns out that by the time the weather service issued a tornado warning and sounded the sirens, the tornado had passed us.(It touched down in our area around 2:25, we think.) The storm became severe so quickly that no one knew it was coming. See the following link for further stories, scary photos, etc. http://www.omahaworldherald.com/ If you view some of these photos, you will be completely amazed that not only did no one lose their life during this storm, there were not even any reports of any injuries. Truly a miracle. God is soooooo good.

As we have seen photos and video of the damage, the reality of the danger that narrowly missed us has begun to sink in and our thankfulness has been growing. I drove through nearby Walnut Grove Park this afternoon and was stunned to see 100 year old trees ripped up by their roots - huge trees. The power of these storms is amazing.

We are thankful to be in the hands of the One Who is all powerful and who loves us so much. And we pray that those who suffered any loss from this storm will receive comfort and be drawn close to Jesus. We pray that all their needs will be met.

True View

2008-06-01T12:50:00.000-07:00

I get so bummed when I see that our children don't realize what amazing people they are! I know I am biased, but they are a good-looking, creative, kind, fun bunch of people...and I don't think they have a clue. It is so obvious to David and to me...proud parents that we are!

I think I am JUST LIKE THEM...I do not see myself as my Father in Heaven sees me. This is not good. His view, the true view is what I need to see and agree with and live 'into'. Any other view, a disagreement with Him, says that I know better (yikes, original sin!).

Bree asked me today, "How do we pray for people that do not want God's help?". I am thinking hard on that one this afternoon. And I am thinking that very frequently I am one of those people...unless difficult times are pending, I have the 'I can handle it' attitude. Which totally flies in the face of "...without Him we can do nothing" (Jn. 15:5)

David and I had a nice visit in our Adirondak chairs this morn on our front porch speaking of this very thing...why is it that so many times we are not feeling fulfilled as believers in Jesus? I think it is because we think we have to try and try to live this life that we were never meant to live! Our wonderful Mrs. Nancy Murdoch, an amazing woman of God that has taught us so much, often says that the perfect Christian life was never meant for us to live...that only one Person lived it and as we allow Him the freedom, He lives it through us. Oh, if I could let that thought go from my head to my heart!

Hail to G'ma Curtis!

2008-05-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

Today is my mom, Judi's birthday!!! She is newly transplanted in Southern California. She'll be living her fabulous, retiree-lifestyle in Alta Loma (Ontario area). =) For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of knowing her, Mom is a Jesus-loving, grandkid-enjoying, card-playing, quilt-sewing, book/magazine-reading, cookie-baking, ever-learning machine! I know God's got great things for you there, Mommy! You are greatly missed here, though. We can't wait to see you this summer. Have a happy, happy birthday. I know Jesus is so pleased with your life.

Moving Right Along! (doog-a-doon doog-a-doon)

2008-05-29T06:59:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the last day of school for our three youngest. (Bree was done last December.) WOW. This year seems like it was just a bit longer than a blink. Do you suppose there is some scientific reason that as one ages, time seems to accelerate?

Everyone is moving along the educational highway...Bree onto college or whatever adventure she chooses, Elly into her senior year, Dan leaving Ackerman and onto middle school (in our area middle school is 6th -8th) and Kristin on to 2nd grade. We will have kiddos in three schools. (maybe 4 if Bree goes to UNO or Metro!) Whew!

Sometimes I wish for a sneak peek into what is ahead. Thankfully, the Lord knows and will offer His grace for whatever we face, as long as we keep our attention on Him.

Lord, take Your rightful place in my heart, in our family! Today I see that whether circumstances cause me to realize the reality of it or not, I have NOTHING without You.

Gray or Grey...what's the diff?

2008-05-27T16:38:00.000-07:00

For the past two weeks Mom has stayed with us. It was a treat to have her here and get a 'good dose' of her before she moved to California. AND we had a wonderful visit with my sister, Marcia, aka 'Bone' and her son, (our nephew!) Justin last week. They were lots of fun. Justin was pretty sick for the first few days of his visit. We had to take him to our doc and get him an antibiotic! Hey, Jut, hope you are completely recovered now! All three of our guests flew out early Sunday morning and we are missing them. Our house is not large, but it seems big and hollow and empty!

The weather is no help...our normal high temp this time of year is in the mid-70's. Today we topped out at a chilly 52 degrees with wind and rain. Overcast and dark. Bleah.

Bree and I shopped this morning for some fabric to make some friends some blankets (one for a baby shower, one for a grad present) and we could not get anyone to help us at Walmart. We rang and rang the little bell...no help arrived. I went next door to the photo department and asked the cranky photo dude to call for assistance. He did - I think he whispered it into the p.a. system. Of course, no one but us heard the call for help, so no one came. I should have pursued someone else for help, but I just did not have the energy...

Good thing we don't have much appealing junk food (we have some yucky ice cream and some dried out cookies leftover from Bree's graduation party!) around here, or I'd be chowing.

I'm missing my mom, missing Bone and Jut and not appreciating this stinking weather. I am in a funk. I need to look to where my Help comes from: to the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. Lord, please be the lifter of my head.

A Wild Idea

2008-05-14T10:37:00.000-07:00

On Monday night I decided to paint our kitchen. Bree's graduation party (a Tea Party! - please come, we'd love to have you!) is next Thursday, the 22nd and I am looking around our home with a critical eye.

I painted our kitchen some years ago to match the vinyl floor our home came with. I'd LOVE to replace that floor...but it is not tops on the priority list at the moment. Anyway, I painted the walls of the kitchen a sort of beige- kind of the color of untanned caucasian skin...not a peachy color...maybe something akin to the original color of Silly Putty. WHY? Ew. I don't think I gave a thought to whether it was a pretty color or not, or whether I actually liked the color. I just thought that since I was 'stuck' with the floor for a while, the walls should match. I am SO over that.

Also, I found these adorable rubber stamps-big ones - at Hobby Lobby (yes, the real name of a store here...) a couple of years ago that I thought would make a cute stamped border up near the ceiling of the kitchen. It was one of those projects that I regretted as I began - it did not turn out nearly as cute as it was in my mind! Darn it. I have despised it ever since. I felt like it was tacky and have felt embarassed by it. (just not embarassed enough to do anything about it.)

SO, Bree took all the art & clock & calendar (& the name plaque Miss Joanie Ogg gave me at the end of my senior year in 1980!) & other stuff off the walls and started the cleaning process while I was at work yesterday morning. (What a diligent worker she is.) After noon we moved the fridge and cleaned under and behind it. Nasty. We washed the walls and ceiling.

We bought two gallons of paint at the nearby store we affectionately call 'He Home Depot' because the light in the 'T' at the beginning of 'The' (in the sign on the front of the store) was out for a while, came home and started painting behind the fridge - always a good place to start in case something happens that you need to hide. =)

Uh-oh. Wrong color. I wanted a sagey-grey-green. I got wedding-mint green. Sigh. Back to He Home Depot. Kathy, the paint-lady, was a DOLL. She fixed it for me with just a few squirts from her magical computerized color dispenser-machine.

During this time, Bree reminded me that Elly had a play performance for her drama class at 3:30 that I was to attend (thank you, Bree...I had forgotten!) and as I was picking up Dan and Kristin from their school, I remembered that Dan was having a couple of friends over to the house after school to practice a skit for an upcoming variety show! Bree stayed home with the skit practicers and I went and watched Elly's most excellent performance as 'Sister Toomey' in "Living with Mother Superior". Way to go, Els! ("Louder, Ramona!!")

Okay, so to make a long story short (view the play, supervise skit practice, make tacos for dinner, put Kristin to bed), I actually began painting the correct color around 8:15...Bree joined me around 9:45. We finished just before 1 this morning. It looks AMAZING! We did a really good job. Behr paint is sooooo nice. One coat did the trick. (I should get compesated for this plug.) Ahhhh. As I look in at the kitchen as I come home from work today, I am so happy! (and sleepy!)

Now all we have to do is stain & install the base boards, repaint the railings on the front steps, plant the pansies and geraniums....but first a short nap.

May Knife!

2008-05-09T20:17:00.000-07:00

Twelve years ago tonight I met a wonderful person...his name is Dan. He is the only one of our children who came ahead of his due date - one day early. THANK YOU, DAN! David and I STILL at times look at Dan and say, "Wow, we have a boy!". We had two girls first and then lost a couple of babies and thought we wouldn't have more! Surprise! Here comes little Daniel David Reno! (Kristin came a few years later...I'll tell you about that closer to June 19th.)

Dan is a lot of fun. He loves to make others laugh and he is good at it! He really loves God. He wants to know Him more. He is VERY interested in end times and what it will be like at the end of the world.

Dan loves to listen to books on cd. He has an amazing collection of Star Wars action figures. He is greatly enjoying playing Halo III these days with his dad, his sisters, his cousins, and anyone else he can get to sit down and have a go. Dan has a wonderful singing voice. He has a creative mind and a very good memory.

Sometimes Dan has a tough time sleeping. These are frustrating times for him (and sometimes for his mom and dad). He can't sleep and then he gets bummed out because he cannot sleep and then he gets a little nervous that he won't be able to sleep and....well, I think you get it. Round and round those thoughts go in his head. We have had many discussions about taking our thoughts prisoner, making them obedient to Jesus. We have talked about the fact that our minds are like airports: we cannot control what flies over, but we can control who lands on our airstrip. We have spoken at length about the faithfulness of God and how there has not been ONE night in his twelve years that Jesus has not kept His promise to grant sleep to the one He loves: Dan Reno. The discussions during these sleepless nights are so very precious to me. What an amazing seeker Dan is. His faith is great. I want to be like him.

Dan, I salute you tonight! I love being your mom. I rejoice in all God has done and can't wait to see all He will do tonight and tomorrow and next week and this summer and in the years to come. What a perfect addition to our family you are. You are a treasure! I love you. Jesus loves you a million trillion times more than me.

A Note: When Dan was quite small, we taught him his birthdate: May 9th. He could not say 'ninth'...but said 'knife'. To this day, we all love calling his birthday 'May Knife'.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

2008-05-05T13:46:00.000-07:00

When I was in 6th grade (1973), we lived in a tiny home in Pico Rivera, California. We were surrounded by the rich culture of Mexico! I got a very valuable taste of what it is like to be a minority: I was one of two caucasians in my 6th grade class. (We had an amazing teacher, Miss Harper, whom I'll write about another time. What a woman! I am still in touch with her. She is a dear, dear lady who influences me to this day.)

Probably weekly, our family would exchange a plate of our very American, white-bread-type of cuisine (Delicious, Mom! Thank you!) for a plate from our spicy neighbors across the street: Reuben & Angela Garcia, their adorable 2 y/o son, Reuben, Jr. and Angela's adult siblings, Luis & Hilda. We went into previously unknown culinary territory for our family, sampling beef brain, beef tongue, tripe (the first and second divisions of the stomach of a ruminant, esp. oxen, sheep, or goats,...dictionary.com), chorizo and other more common delights: tacos, burritos, beans & rice. I cannot say I enjoyed it all, but it was good to branch out.

When I met David here in Nebraska in 1983, I was stunned to hear that he did not think he liked Mexican food! I don't recall how we ended up at El Bee's restaurant (Waterloo, NE) early in our courtship, eating chimichangas....hallelujah! He DOES like it! Our favorite Mexican restaurant these days is Hector's (156 & Pacific St., Omaha) - AMAZING guacamole. And we recently tried Rivera's (122 & Blondo, Omaha), a little place run by the parents of one of the preschoolers I teach. Yum. Authentico. Delicioso!

So ends my Cinco de Mayo homage to my affectionate affiliation with Mexican culture and cuisine! Viva la Mexico!!!!! I raise my Baked Tostitos & Pace Picante Sauce (yellow lid) to you.

You're Invited.

2008-05-01T02:35:00.000-07:00

Listen to the invitation from Jesus to you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ0AdeQJ3Rc

Lyrics:

You're My Beloved
You're My Bride
To sing over you is My delight
Come away with Me
My love

Under My mercy
Come and wait
Till we are standing face to face
I see no stain on you
My child

You're beautiful to Me
So beautiful to Me

I sing over you
My song of peace
Cast all your care down at My feet
Come and find your rest
in Me

I'll breathe My life inside of you
I'll bear you up on eagle's wings
And hide you in the shadow of My strength
I'll take you to My quiet waters
I'll restore your soul
Come rest in Me and be made whole

You're my Beloved
You're My Bride
To sing over you is My delight
Come away with Me
My love

(P.S. If you are not yet part of His Bride and desire to be, please let me know. I'd love to help you find out how to do so.)

May Day (night) Musing

2008-05-01T02:03:00.001-07:00

It is a beautiful spring night in our heartland...I am too warm and open the window. I lie back down and listen...

The wind in our trees: a bit more than a whisper, not quite a breeze. A rabbit, lippity-loping through the river rock in the garden under our bedroom window. The uneven cadence of my sweet husband's breath as he dreams. The steady undercurrent of far-off city traffic. Our neighbor's wind chime tinkling a distant descant. Night music...

And I remember:

...when I awake, I am still with You. (Ps. 139:18)

...He who watches over you will not slumber;indeed, He who watches over Israel (me!) will neither slumber nor sleep. (Ps. 121:3,4)

He is here and I am well-cared for.

Restorer, do your work.

2008-04-30T18:04:00.000-07:00

Romans 8:28...an oft quoted verse when one of us is going through a rough patch: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

So many, many times in my life it seems like when I am learning something specific, the information comes at me from a variety of angles and sources. And it seems to me that THIS is the Lord working all things for my good. I'm blown away by the attentive, gentle care of the Lord this week and by His great ability to speak to my heart in ways that I cannot miss (Good thing...I am often a bit thick.) From three separate sources He has spoken a word: Restoration.

I looked up restore on dictionary.com:

re·store (ri stôr′)
1. to give back (something taken away, lost, etc.); make restitution of

2. to bring back to a former or normal condition, as by repairing, rebuilding, altering, etc. to restore a building, painting, etc.

3. to put (a person) back in a place, position, rank, etc.

4. to bring back to health, strength, etc.

5. to bring back into being, use, etc.; reestablish, to restore order

I was BLOWN AWAY by those definitions! Ask me later about this privately, but every piece of this definition spoke specifically to me in regards to the losses of the past year! It is as if these definitions were written to apply to me. Hmmm...

Silly me, I often live my life saying, doing, thinking things that do not reflect the Lord's immense, loving care for me. When I have times like this past week, where He speaks so obviously, with such clarity and continuity, how can I not daily live like Jesus loves me dearly? How can I have those days where I wonder at His love? How quickly I forget. And how quickly I choose to live by my feelings instead of by the Truth that He loves me with an Everlasting Love.

This is one of the highest reasons I see to motivate me to look to Him daily. When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they were allowed to gather enough manna for only one day (except on the day before Sabbath, when they could gather enough for two days...Exodus 16:1-5). Obviously, we need to be reminded daily of His care. Seems as if it takes no time at all to lose sight of our True Source.

Last Sunday, our speaker told us that this is a sure sign of a self-righteous life: going through the day without connecting with Jesus. And I have to admit that in the crazy confusion of life, the stress, the busy-ness, I often do not take time for and with Him. And how very many, many times have I determined to do better, to try harder to make time with the Lord. I'll get up earlier. I'll stay up later. I'll try to get away by myself (Like that ever happens in a household of 6 people in a home with only 2200 square feet!). It is dawning on me that I need to quit trying so hard on my own and start making a U-turn, repent and let Him change me!

Lord, I give up, let the restoration begin.

A right time to hold on and another to let go...

2008-04-25T19:26:00.000-07:00

After some B-E-A-utiful spring weather, we are trying not to complain about a blast of winter here in the heartland of America. BRRRRRR. Is spring springing or not? The tulips and daffodils and forsythia and magnolia are so lovely...but here in the season of spring that is just beginning (according to the calendar), we have a mini-season of winter. We know it will not, cannot last, but it is hard to endure anyway.

One of my favorite Sara Groves tunes, "Less Like Scars" goes like this:

It's been a hard year

But I'm climbing out of the rubble

These lessons are hard

Healing changes are subtle

But every day it's
Less like tearing, more like building

Less like captive, more like willing

Less like breakdown, more like surrender

Less like haunting, more like remember

(hear the whole tune at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lr9M-STe6c&feature=related )

It HAS been a very hard year. Thank the Lord, our family is doing well, but some other relationships that have been part of our lives FOR YEARS seem to have been ripped away from us. We are in a big transition and doing our share of floundering about, grieving, wondering why. I'm thankful that we are not going it alone. I'm thankful to have a new view that God is good and faithful all the time and that we humans are all fallible!

Jesus promises me that there is a time, a season for everything. What is a season? In my mind, it is a period of time with a beginning and an end. I am ready for this season to be over. Seems like we begin to see the end and some other crazy thing happens to drag out this 'Series of Unfortunate Events'!

What is my 'job' while we are in this season? Am I responsible at all for bringing about the conclusion of this difficult time? While thinking of and praying for a friend today I saw that my job is to obey today, to draw close to the Lord, be a seeker of Him, to allow myself to gratefully be in process. His job is to deliver me from this 'captivity' (Jeremiah 29:13, 14). His job is to bring to completion the work He has started in me (Philippians 1:6).

It is a mini-winter season - it had a beginning, it will have an end - hopefully in the not too distant future. Signs of spring are showing, but we may have to endure some intermittent chill before winter is finally a season of the past.

Por que Dog Blog

2008-04-20T16:21:00.000-07:00

What a weird name for my blog you say? Here is the story behind it.

As long as I can remember, I have been at best a tolerator of pets...there have been times when I can say that I have HATED having pets, in particular, dogs. We always had dogs growing up and much of my family of origin liked pets a lot. Maybe I was jealous of the attention other family members gave the dogs...I don't know. Whatever the reason, I did not like dogs, had no desire to own one.

We got our first dog, a German Shorthaired Pointer, about 6 years into our marriage. David did 99.9% of the care-taking of Beau. He was a beautiful dog. Dave spent a lot of time with him and taught him to be a very good boy! However he did have his share of neuroses and quirks: afraid of tile floors, scared of the oven door, the vacumn cleaner, thunder and he did lift his leg on my dad once - in the house. GROSS. He was great with the kids, though. He loved playing fetch - he'd play forever. They'd hide his eyes and hide the ball in our house and he'd use his super-sniffer to find it.

Even though he was such a great doggy, I had little appreciation for Beau until he had to be put down in September of 2001. (One week after 9/11) He had had some seizures that scrambled his brain. The vet had us give him some antibiotic, thinking he had some kind of infection, but the seizures continued. One night, as Beau came out of a terrible seizure, he seemed very disoriented and acted like he did not know us. He had a frightened look in his eye. He growled and started to chase Elly. David chased down Beau, calling his name, which seemed to snap him out of it and no harm came to El. (Thank you, Jesus!) But we decided then that we could not have a dog in the house that we could not trust. We had him put down that afternoon.

Our family was devastated by his death. Dave, Dan and our girls cried for weeks. Literally. I had a hard time seeing them all in such pain. I suggested privately to David that we get a new Shorthair for Christmas. He knew I had no deep love for dogs and was shocked I'd suggest such a thing. I thought maybe getting a new pup would distract and comfort our grieving fam. We gave each of our kiddos photos of our new puppy (that we had picked out a couple of weeks prior to the holiday...) on Christmas morn and went and picked up 'Bella' the day after Christmas in a town about an hour south of us. For our kids, it was love at first sight.

But what were we thinking???? Bella was cute, but grew fast and it seemed like no one wanted to pay much attention to her, to teach her. I think everyone just wanted Beau and maybe we expected Bella to act like him automatically. She grew up to be a pill, always trying to bolt out the front door and impossible to catch when she did escape. She'd tree a squirrel in our backyard and bark and yipe interminably at Mr. Squirrel. She would not come when called. Oi. I must say, I hated that dog. And I let everyone know it. I'm embarassed now to say that when she'd tree a squirrel and would not come in, I'd chunk rocks at her and yell at her. (it didn't do any good, of course)

Fast forward to a couple of years ago...I was preparing to take Freakezoid Bella to the vet. She was a stressful mess when we'd go to the vet: so excited to see other animals and very hard to control. I was commenting to our kids how much I did not want to go. Bree asked why I hated Bella so much. I replied that I hated her for many reasons, but that day, I hated her because I was about to spend $100 plus bucks on a dumb dog that I would so much rather spend on my kids! Bree's reply: "Mom, I love Bella so much that when you spend money on her, it is like you are spending money on me."

Ouch. That was a shot to the heart. I felt terribly guilty! And I started asking the Lord to help me at least like the dog. I asked often.

A couple of months later, I noticed that when I would enter our home from the garage and ascend our steps to the main floor, I began to look forward to the greeting Bella would give me: the wagging hiney, the happy dance. She had always greeted me this way. I just didn't notice it before. I was astonished that even though I was not a big fan of hers, she did not care...she greeted me as if I was her best friend. (Major spiritual lesson in there somewhere...)

Also, she started sitting at my feet in the evenings when we'd all be in the living room together. I was puzzled by this, but it was endearing. Pretty soon, my family was astounded that I was inviting Bella to sit with me on the couch. I think I was amazed too.

It dawned on me one day that I was starting to like her. The Lord was answering my prayer, changing my heart over a period of months. This was not a small thing. I had HATED that dog! When I asked God to help me to like her, I didn't think He would actually do it! (O, ye of little faith!) A short time after this, our kids started commenting what a relief it was to them that I was liking Bella. I had no idea how saddened they were that I didn't like her.

During this time of change, my sister, Bone, and her family came to visit us from California. They brought their dog, Petey, a white boxer. I really liked Petey...such a nice temperament. That got me to thinking about boxers. David and I both talked at length about getting another dog. We looked in the paper every Sunday for many months for ads for boxers. To make a long story short, we bought Easton in September of 2006. Below find a photo of our new baby! Isn't he cute? He is almost two now and (I never thought I'd say this...) he is a joy.

I think this Doggy Love is so significant to me because I am changed because I prayed! Jesus heard me. My kids continue to comment about how they notice me enjoying the dogs. And I am emboldened to ask the Lord to keep changing me. I have a new hope in Him. I see His work and I am amazed.

genesis

2008-04-19T20:07:00.000-07:00

Writing used to be a staple in my life...I used to grieve the days and weeks that I did not journal, thinking that all that was not recorded of my life was lost! I'd like to make blogging a part of life nowadays for a few reasons. One, I LOVE to write! Two, it has been a toughie of a year, complete with the onset of some scary anxiety attacks (who, me?...yup!); I'm hoping that blogging will be one type of therapy for me. Three, I'm hoping to be less of a private person...to share more, maybe learn more, maybe be a better friend. I'm thankful for this very convenient outlet and looking forward to dividing and hopefully conquering some of the battles in my mind, with the Lord's help, of course. When I am weak, He is strong!