Preparing for changes.... Topic: People/Family stories Well as the weather here continues to have trouble making up it's mind about what season it is, so life is doing the same. Funny how nature mimics our lives.....is it poking fun or simply mirroring us? (imitation being the sincerest form of flattery) Change is in the air everywhere I look and somehow I never get used to it or expect it. It's always surprising...that's what makes it an adventure though....these changes. As my oldest daughter is starting early adulthood and getting ready to head to college next Fall, some of my good friends have just discovered they are expecting babies!!! These friends are about 10 years younger than I am, but subconsciously I consider us the same age: YOUNG adults. Ha. What a difference in parenting seasons when there is a 10 year difference in ages.
As our church grows, new people are taking over old positions and doing a great job. I have been gradually giving over a lot of my positions of ministry at our church this year due to working at our school and trying to allot my time. Now I won't be working at the school this coming year, so I am wondering where God wants me in the church. I have an opportunity now to do some new things in ministry....that is yet to be discovered...although I'm kind of excited about it.
My parents are needing more help as they age and this is a hard change as I see them get more dependent. There will be times I will have to become like a parent to them as this process continues. My siblings and I have been trying to decide how to handle things and share the load. It's hard to feel like you're sharing the load when you live 2 1/2 hours away.
My kids are growing up, my parents are aging, my friends are having new babies and it keeps snowing, then warming up, then snowing again. I'm sure I don't know what is going on, but through the ages millions of women have survived it......so I will too. Like nature, God directs our days, sometimes confusing us beyond all reason, and helps us in preparing our lives for the things that are before us. I'll just have to remember to look out the window and check the sky before getting myself ready for the day.....and always expect changes....and pray that I can avoid all deadly projectiles!
The Wonderful Cross Topic: Holidays/Vacations The Good Friday service was really inspiring and convicting..... just as it should have been. It was all planned and carried out by our youth pastor and our youth group. They showed scenes from The Passion of Christ interwoven with songs about the cross and readings from the story of the cross in the Bible. That movie is amazing. It is horrible to watch, but when you face what He went through for you, it draws you into repentence.....I don't know if people expect that. I know I didn't anticipate that instantaneous conviction of sin. But as I saw it tonight and as I saw it a year ago in a movie theater, I can tell you...it is an automatic response. And it is not just me. I remember talking to people after seeing it a year ago and everyone I talked to felt that way. It brings across so well the fact that you are not just sad and horrified that He had to die....it's that He had to die because of your sin. It inspires true repentence....repentence that causes changes in your life out of gratitude and a feeling of deep obligation. So here are two of my favorite hymns about the cross for Good Friday. We didn't sing these tonight, but I love what they say.
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of Glory died My Richest gain I count but loss And pour contempt on all my pride
See from His head His hands His feet Sorrow and love mingled down Did e'er such love and sorrow meet Or thorns compose so rich a crown
Were the whole realm of nature mine That were and an off'ring far too small Love so amazing so divine Demands my soul my life my all
Life so amazing, so divine Demands my soul. my life, my all and the beauty and the shame in the glory of His name Oh the wonderful cross
Oh the wonderful cross (2x) Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live
Oh the wonderful cross (2x) All who gather here by grace draw here and bless your name
O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
O sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down, Now scornfully surrounded with thorns, Thine only crown; How pale Thou art with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn! How does that visage languish, which once was bright as morn!
What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered, was all for sinners? gain; Mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain. Lo, here I fall, my Savior! ?Tis I deserve Thy place; Look on me with Thy favor, vouchsafe to me Thy grace.
What language shall I borrow to thank Thee, dearest friend, For this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end? O make me Thine forever, and should I fainting be, Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee.
Our Spring-like weather has suddenly turned back into ol' man winter....just in time for Spring break....how amusing. Today it was so cold, we couldn't even go out and do vigorous yard work, like clearing out the gardens as it stayed in the 30's all day. So we did housework and after lunch popped in Ben Hur. I have never seen Ben Hur all the way through and I didn't realize it was a 4 hour movie....so we sat here all afternoon, hunkered down on our couches and baked chocolate chip cookies. Fun, yet not quite Spring breakish! Tomorrow we're going shopping....there is a Good Friday sale at Kohl's....50% off everything in stock. If that isn't a weird thought....a Good Friday sale...does that seem a little irreverent? Later we will go to a Good Friday service....which I will try to tell you about tomorrow night. Last year it was one of the most thoughtful, moving and contemplative services I've ever been to.
The first part of the week I spent in Phoenix with my 2 younger daughters. We visited my family, wore capris and short sleeves, and helped my sister water her vegetable/herb garden that was already in full swing. The most memorable thing we did though, was going to a drive in movie! I read recently that there are only a few drive in's left in America. What a shame! We had a lot of fun....popped a big bag of corn *microwave kind...no one had home popped kind!* and we packed blankets, lawn chairs,pillows, red hots and water bottles. One of only 3 surviving drive in movie theaters in Arizona is a mile from my parents home. We settled in for a double feature....Robots and Winn Dixie.....both very cute, but I enjoyed Winn Dixie sooo much more. Very good movie with a lot of underlying meaningful themes running through it....I love that. Besides I love a good dog movie! We had my 2 girls with us as well as my 7 year old niece and her mom, my sister. It was great....sitting in the outdoors, watching a movie (They have the sound come through a station on your car stereo too, so it's better than the old fashioned hook-on speaker that have the sound of a transistor radio.) We looked at the constellations, laughed as loud as we wanted to *which was quite loud* and the two 7 year olds danced around the outside of the car with joy at the end of each movie as the credits music played.
So Spring break was not all cold and snowy....but I was looking forward to clearing out my garden. And speaking of winter weather, check out this site. Some guy in Alaska is making a man made mountain of ice on his land. He has a long pipe with nozzles spraying instantly freezing water into the air! Amazing! Some people are so good at self entertainment...they are my heroes. ;) Make sure you scroll down to the bottom part of the page to see some mountain climbers climbing the ice!
In the meantime.....I'm going to make some hot tea.....
The blessings of the Irish... Topic: Holidays/Vacations
*Two days late!* Though I only have a wee bit of Irish blood in me, I looked up some Irish blessings and sayings for ye this day in remembrance of a man named Patrick.....*I can't speak with an Irish brogue, but I can pretend pretty well*
As an aside: we went camping with my friend, Anna's family once for a week and we spoke with different Celtic accents the whole time. Anna can do each accent, including Scottish, Irish, British and even Cockney very convincingly...I got an A for effort. It was one of those very sloshy, soggy, downpouringish camping trips we've made to Colorado....just to give you the big picture of why we found this so entertaining. =) The whole camping trip is memories of trying to stay dry *impossible when camping in tents*, trying to start fires with wet logs, and chipmunks invading everything! We took a lot of drives that trip too. It is a good thing we found something entertaining to do, because all the cold and wet was coupled with having a 2 year old I was trying to entertain and keep dry and warm. For some reason, the celtic accents kept our spirits up and our husbands in less hot water. ;) So here's to the Irish! *cheers*
~May the road rise to meet you; May the wind be at your back; The sun shine warm upon your face, The rain fall soft upon your field. And until we meet some day, 'til we meet some day, May God hold you in the palm of God's hand.~
~May those that love us, love us. And they that don't love us, may God turn their hearts. And they that won't turn their hearts, May God turn their ankles, so we'll know them by their limping.~
~May you live as long as you want, And never want as long as you live.~
~May you have warm words on a cold evening, A full moon on a dark night, And the road downhill all the way to your door.~
~May the Lord keep you in His hand And never close His fist too tight!~
~~And some Irish proverbs~~
The work praises the man.
The world would not make a racehorse of a donkey.
There is hope from the sea, but none from the grave.
There is no fireside like your own fireside
There is no luck except where there is discipline.
There is no need like the lack of a friend.
Three diseases without shame: Love, itch and thirst. *?* lol
You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was. *for my Irish grandad who was only a smidge taller than me*
Soulful windows..... Topic: Other
They say your eyes are the windows of your soul.....so are the windows in your house the soul of your home? ....here's a little soul searching for you....
It started with wanting to take a picture of my cool geranium....my kitchen windows have my most satisfying sills...
The window over the sink is my favorite of all....my friend Tracy made a lot of the cobalt blue pottery and has very nice window sills herself.
Herbs growing on sill......
The window I look out of each morning, hoping for a snow day....heh
Gotta love ivy...
The front windows have the best view.....my oldest daughter's sill...
Another daughter's sill.....great view of the creek...
One of my favorite things about this house is that all the windows have sills. I enjoyed recording them and thinking about how they show the soul of our home...
Spring lost it's spring Topic: Other
I took these pictures a couple of days ago. Spring was peeping it's wee head up out of the warm ground, it's sleepy eyes, winking and blinking, shaking off an unwanted yawn.....heehee. Everyone in town was in a good mood, sporting the slight hint of sunburned cheeks and wearing things like capris and cotton t's.
This morning we woke up to 6 inches of snow! (and I have no desire to go tromping around in it to take a picture.) Spring is so crazy! I'm not complaining though, because I needed a snow day off of school. Company is coming today and I hadn't cooked or cleaned a thing.
Boo boop dee doo! Topic: Humor/memes There is a theme around here this week ??.it?s a delicate subject, but it kept coming up, so I decided to wade in. It all started with my buying 3 new t-shirt type blouses at Sam?s club while innocently doing some shopping. Did you know you can?t try on the clothes at warehouse stores? I asked why one time and the woman said because of the fire code. She offered no further explanation, so I just assumed it?s against the law to have undressed people in the parking lot during fires. Well, you women who wear t-shirts in Spring time know?.you have to have the right undergarments to wear those?.they cling?.it?s a little chilly in Spring?.you need ?protection?. So instead of buying new undergarments, I decided to borrow some from my daughter?s drawer. I have experience buying those protecting, more secure feeling, thicker type undergarments, but the ones I have bought in the past have never fit well and by the time you find out how torturous they are, you can?t return them. They seem to have a life of their own, moving in odd directions, opposite to where I am moving. I end up feeling like Xena, princess warrior and it?s not a comfy feeling, let me tell you. ;) And I want things in the right place, not up in the atmosphere somewhere, jacked up and out. It?s a little claustrophobic I have found. So my daughter had a suitable looking undergarment...it took me a few minutes of browsing and holding things up and pondering?intimidating, but at least I wasn?t spending money on it to try it out. So on it went, then my nifty new 3/4 sleeved, olive green t-shirt. All set, all secure, all right! I was padded, protected and secure. All day, everything was fine?.chilly building?nooooooo problem! There is some weird kind of freedom in being all bound up. *think about that* As evening came things kind of shifted and it started poking me in the arm pit, but I was amazed it lasted that long on this 100% cotton, loose fitting please, comfort loving girl. So I found that I can feel secure without too much whining, but it does have a time limit. What we won?t do for a cute t-shirt!
To ?top? off the week of this amazing new freedom and security, I turned on a comedy show that we watch sometimes as I was cooking dinner tonight. It?s called Bananas and is on PAX as well as other channels. Tonight?s comedian was a woman named Anita Renfro. This lady is hilarious! She?s all about womanly humor and one of her topics was explaining a mammogram. Among other things she talked about laying your offering on the altar, being ?rearranged? by someone she?s never met, feeling like too much waffle batter in a waffle iron and how afterward a little chocolate and caffeine and they fluff right back up! I tried to find a website for her and couldn?t find one, but if you get a chance to see her on Banana?s, I recommend it. =)
?..that?s a wrap?and all I have left to say is?.boo boop dee doo! (since I can?t do the Xena war cry?..and I have tried.)
The balancing act Topic: Humor/memes Something happened to my house while I wasn't paying attention. ......well, ok, I knew it was happening but it was so gradual that I am amazed at how invaded we now are. The invasion? Technology.....yeah, we are all wired up....so wired in fact, that we are now 'wireless' which means such much technology that you don't even need to be wired to a telephone line to be hooked up. Don't get me wrong...I like the technology, but I feel embarrassed to have so much of it. We now can watch the World Hunger commercials on a 47 inch LCD projection TV....whatever that means....I just know it's huge and I feel the need to explain it when people come in and see it. (My husband used his Christmas bonus to buy it, we aren't in debt because of it, I promise!)
My husband became mister gadget beginning in about 1995. When Apple computers were born into American homes, we got one. Now we have 5 Apples.....all different models and years...all used, but still up with current technology. iTunes, iMovie, iShufflethingie, iBook.....i i i...me me me....hmmm This may be too revealing to post now that I am thinking about it! lol
We have so many cords and converters and external thingies lying around...we have boxes of these things....boxes of disks and CD Roms and Mac Manuals. My husband can fix any Mac you give him....that amazes me too! MY husband, who has never been real handy with fixing things around the house, can take whole computers apart, fix them and put them back together. I am truely surprised by this new talent. And it's rubbing off in other areas. He actually 'fixed' my clothes dryer the other day. It was not heating up and now it is....hmmmm.
Technology.....who knew? This is the same husband who, when we were first married, used to like to buy things that didn't need electricity, 'just in case'. *sheepish smile* I can't remember exactly why we did that. I actually have a friend whose family moved off into the interior of Alaska, built a home that runs without electricity, you have to get there by boat and they grow and hunt their own food. I never heard from her again.....scawy.....
So I'll take the wires (and the wirelessness)...and the satellite tv.....as long as I can still get my husband to come out and sit on the front porch with me in our wooden rockers as often as possible to watch the birds that come to splash in the creek there. As long as we support missions around the world and pray for missionaries and go on mission trips as often as we can with our kids....and not turn the channel when the World Hunger commercials come on. As long as we turn off the embarrassingly large tv and play board games with our kids and read books and take walks. As long as we get back to nature and get truely 'wireless' and go camping each summer away from the bustle of the busyness of life. As long as my husband keeps going into the woods every summer to hunt down dead trees, chop them up, haul them home in the truck and stack it to make our own heat for winter.
OK, I feel better now....just gotta find the balance sometimes.....
Websites Topic: Other
In lieu of something to say today, here are some fun websites.....
My appologies if you read this earlier today and went to a site I had posted here....I looked at it again and it had some really crude stuff on it....so it went bye bye....very sorry....
Photography: http://www.theircircularlife.it/ Photography in 24 hour increments
http://www.amyhughes.org/lego/church/ This person is a lego artist!
Games: http://meph.eu.org/ Yeti games
http://games.yahoo.com/ Yahoo games...I play gin, almost every day....very addicting.
Blogs I like: http://www.kerismith.com/blog/ Creative, artsy and a good writer.
http://militarypages.com/cfiles/siteone.asp?p=38&id=23 Bob Zanga's Iraq diary...he died while there and his family kept his blog online...whatever your view on the war is, he has some very touching, wonderful insights into what is going on concerning rebuilding in Iraq.
Pics I took today.... Topic: Other This is the creek in front of my house as it looks today. On the right is what it looked like a month ago at flood stage. Usually it is a dry creekbed, so I am obsessing on it while it's got running water.
My dog Winnie, who is very sweet. She was very curious about what I was pointing at her.
As I was taking the pics of the creek I noticed my crocuses are croaking! Ooooooh, get ready....I love to take pics of my gardens...humble as they are.
March is in like a lamb here this year! I was outside playing 2 square with my 7 year old today and we didn't even need our jackets! I think it was in the 50's, but felt warm with the sun shining on us...and I have not lost my edge in 2 square after alllllll these years! =) That's all for today....
Butt Prints in the Sand Topic: Humor/memes Butt Prints In The Sand
One night I had a wondrous dream, One set of footprints there was seen, The footprints of my precious Lord, But mine were not along the shore.
But then some stranger prints appeared, And I asked the Lord, "What have we here?" Those prints are large and round and neat, "But Lord they are too big for feet."
"My child," He said in somber tones, "For miles I carried you alone. I challenged you to walk in faith, But you refused and made me wait."
"You disobeyed, you would not grow, The walk of faith, you would not know. So I got tired, I got fed up, and there I dropped you on your butt."
"Because in life, there comes a time, when one must fight, and one must climb. When one must rise and take a stand, or leave their butt prints in the sand."
Do you wanna dance? Topic: God things I just got back from our annual church women?s retreat. Forty-five women laughing, crying, talking, singing, praying, eating, dancing. Our theme was Can I Have This Dance? We talked about joy?real joy?not fleeting happy feelings, but a deep rooted joy. Joy is more of a deep contentment that comes from trusting God through this existence that we call life.
As I was pondering the meaning of joy, I realized it was being played out right in front of my eyes. I looked at each woman there, those smiling, laughing, dancing women, and thought about the hard times they had each been through?.past abuse, death of a child or husband, suicide in their immediate families, divorce, poverty, eating disorders, chronic illness, women who had survived cancer, strokes, heart surgeries and ill children, single moms, moms who were taking care of elderly moms, and some who made their own trouble through foolish decisions, which we all do, but some suffer the consequences far more greatly. I realized as I saw these women laughing, singing and dancing that they chose to trust God?they chose joy. It?s offered to each of us, but for some reason, some people do not choose to trust?they choose to be angry, to question ?why me?, and usually they become very bitter, hard people. I have seen this too in some of the women I have known through our women?s ministry and I thought about them?why did they choose to go that way? Our retreat leader, Mary, illustrated this so well (and I'm all into word pictures, so I was all over this)?.it's as if we have these beautiful dancing shoes in a lovely box up on our closet shelf but we never choose to join in the dance. We choose to remain clothed in our comfortable clod-hoppers. But once we give in and put those shoes on, believing there will be a beautiful dance, we are set free from the bitterness and regret. ?You turned my wailing into dancing, you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.? Psalm 30:11
I know some of my women friends here have struggled with putting those shoes on. They were in mourning or depression or self hatred or wrapped up in guilt or pain. To read that list of hard times they?ve been through one would think we are a very dysfunctional bunch, but when you open up your eyes, you start to realize that we all go through hard times?.there is no shame in it, no reason to hide it. It helps to release it and share it?it encourages others to do the same and when we do, we help free each other. One of the things that helped me the most through my own hard times, is that I saw other people who had been through my particular situations and they made it through?.and they still had joy and hope. And I remember even thanking some of those people who were vulnerable with me and shared that they too had traveled through where I was dwelling. It helped set me free.
So get that lovely box down off the closet shelf, put those shoes on, put your trust in Christ and accept his invitation to dance.
As a parting thought?.did you know that God sings? I never read this verse before, but when I read it at the retreat, it made my joy swell to know what he sings about?..
?The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17
After a hard day dealing with your kid, it's good to remind ourselves *myself* of why we're doing this....?!
If you talk to your children, you can help them to keep their lives together. If you talk to them skillfully, you can help them to build future dreams. --Jim Rohn
A child reminds us that playtime is an essential part of our daily routine. --Anonymous
You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance. --Franklin P. Adams American journalist
In raising my children, I have lost my mind but found my soul. --Lisa T. Shepherd
Good parents give their children Roots and Wings. Roots to know where home is, wings to fly away and exercise what's been taught them. --Jonas Salk
All kids need is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them. --Earvin "Magic" Johnson
Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn't have said. --Unknown
Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush; anxious for greater developments and greater wishes and so on; so that children have very little time for their parents; Parents have very little time for each other; and the home begins the disruption of the peace of the world. --Mother Teresa
In general, not real specific Topic: Humor/memes We (my husband and I) are in California for a couple of days.....Costa Mesa specifically....in the land of rain and mud generally and I have so much rattling around tiringly in the old noggin that nothing will come out particularly. That sentence reminds me of Winnie the Pooh for some reason....oh bother.....I think it's the adverbs?
Anyway, our church put us up in a very nice hotel and is paying for meals and expenses for us, and surprisingly, there are a bunch of cool people here we know from Arizona, so we are having such a nice get away as well as the great conference with such radical and encouraging speakers that I am about in heaven. In a half an hour I have to sneak back in to the end of the meeting so as to pretend to have been there the entire time...ha! My rear end is thanking me though and I'm glad to have a little time alone.
So that is my entry today....I'm going to try to be more concise and compact in my entries....the last few have been horrendously long that even I won't take the time to read them. =)
Rain revival Topic: God things
"And the streams are all swollen with winter...winter unfrozen, free to run away now."
It's all soggy outside today. The rain came down on the snow, melted it, and it is all running down our creek now. We are getting used to hearing the creek rushing and tumbling by with all the moisture we've had this year....we open the windows to hear it and I find myself staring out at it several times a day. (The above picture is of our creek) Arizona has very few creeks or rivers that flow all year round, so we have to enjoy it while it is running. Actually we call it a creek but it's really a drainage ditch that runs through our town from the dam. The only time it has water in it is when a heavy snow melts and the water runs over the dam. It is usually a dry creek with a puddle or two from recent rains. A mosquito factory in summer and always an adventurous pathway through town for kids....it winds from the reservoir, through down town and after our neighborhood it ends up at the baseball park, a very happenin' place in a small town. Once the police caught a small time thief because he took the creek path home from a fast food restaurant he robbed (next to the baseball park) and shed his robbery clothing as he went, also dropping cash along the way...and it led right to his home. I have seen some interesting things in that 'creek'....once 3 horses who are housed a few blocks from here got loose and were enjoying their freedom racing up and down the creekbed, their cowboy owners chasing them also on horseback up and down the creek. =) It was fun to watch but I didn't like what their hooves did to our front yard. Another time I saw this guy riding his 4 wheeler down the creek to my neighbor's house, where I suppose he was buying meth...that neighbor is gone now, along with his frequent stop by visitors. I've also seen a road runner walk out of the creek one day as my husband and I were enjoying a summer afternoon on the front porch. It walked up and out of the creek, across our driveway and down our street into a neighbor's backyard. (not the meth neighbor, in case you're questioning this bird's morals) We also have a wonderful array of birds frequenting the creek puddles in Spring and Summer, including huge ravens who sit and make the weirdest noises on the telephone pole by the creek....sounds like they are percolating. Skunks and racoons must also be briefly but memorably mentioned among the critters of the creek.
There is a persistent pattern of rain and snow coming in each week lately...it is like a weather revival after a 6 year drought. The city has been discussing ways to keep our town from drying up just this past year....talking of trucking water in from nearby towns with wells, rationing our water usage with high prices and fining people who watered their gardens or washed their cars when it was not their specified day for extra water usage. Churches had special times of prayer for rain and snow. There were scalding editorials about how the golf course stayed so green while the rest of the town was drying up. There was a huge scandal when a bed and breakfast inn was caught diverting city water through their well pump house and into their inn for free. People were getting desperate. So it was no surprise when the paper ran this front page headline when the rains began this Fall.....Ask and Ye Shall Receive!! I think our town learned a lot during the time of drought, including putting some safe guards and extra resources in place if this should ever happen again. But it's also about faith and hope....knowing through the hard times, the doughts, that things will get better and coming to the place where we know it's a special blessing just to return to 'normal' much less to be innundated with an abundance of what you've been lacking.
People are funny though....as soon as we go dry again, there will be great concern and tribulations and wonderings if it will never end. And we should be concerned. Water is the stuff of life. None of us can do without it, it is vital, necessary, undowithoutable! Yet we usually take the presence of it for granted. The Giver of life, the Sender of water, the Sustainer and Provider wants us to look for more than what we see. He wants us to look for Him, to put our hope, faith, trust and life in Him. Yet we do not seek Him until there is an emergency, as our last resort. A friend of mine who really has no religious persuasion told me thank you for our church praying for rain and snow. My husband, a pastor, was in a shop this summer too when a woman we know who is a self proclaimed 'pagan' and worships the earth as her religion was asked what we were going to do about this drought. She looked at my husband and admitted, "The one you should be asking is him." She of course meant it in a good way, that he somehow had a connection with the giver of rain that ordinary people don't. I guess if I were in charge, I might send a few wake up calls too (maybe weather related wake up calls?)....'hello, I'm here...you need Me....look to Me and find your salvation.' It reminded me of this verse from 2 Chronicles 7:13-14, wherein the Israelites were needing reminding *again* to look to God for help and life....
"When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
I just wish we weren't so stupid. I feel like I'll never take water for granted again.....but then....I'm stupid, so I probably will in time. I'm just so glad and thankful for the weather revival we're having.....and I can't help hoping it will be a revival for the souls in our town too.
Well as the weather here continues to have trouble making up it's mind about what season it is, so life is doing the same. Funny how nature mimics our lives.....is it poking fun or simply mirroring us? (imitation being the sincerest form of flattery) Change is in the air everywhere I look and somehow I never get used to it or expect it. It's always surprising...that's what makes it an adventure though....these changes. As my oldest daughter is starting early adulthood and getting ready to head to college next Fall, some of my good friends have just discovered they are expecting babies!!! These friends are about 10 years younger than I am, but subconsciously I consider us the same age: YOUNG adults. Ha. What a difference in parenting seasons when there is a 10 year difference in ages. 
The Good Friday service was really inspiring and convicting..... just as it should have been. It was all planned and carried out by our youth pastor and our youth group. They showed scenes from The Passion of Christ interwoven with songs about the cross and readings from the story of the cross in the Bible. That movie is amazing. It is horrible to watch, but when you face what He went through for you, it draws you into repentence.....I don't know if people expect that. I know I didn't anticipate that instantaneous conviction of sin. But as I saw it tonight and as I saw it a year ago in a movie theater, I can tell you...it is an automatic response. And it is not just me. I remember talking to people after seeing it a year ago and everyone I talked to felt that way. It brings across so well the fact that you are not just sad and horrified that He had to die....it's that He had to die because of your sin. It inspires true repentence....repentence that causes changes in your life out of gratitude and a feeling of deep obligation. So here are two of my favorite hymns about the cross for Good Friday. We didn't sing these tonight, but I love what they say.
There is a theme around here this week ??.it?s a delicate subject, but it kept coming up, so I decided to wade in. It all started with my buying 3 new t-shirt type blouses at Sam?s club while innocently doing some shopping. Did you know you can?t try on the clothes at warehouse stores? I asked why one time and the woman said because of the fire code. She offered no further explanation, so I just assumed it?s against the law to have undressed people in the parking lot during fires. Well, you women who wear t-shirts in Spring time know?.you have to have the right undergarments to wear those?.they cling?.it?s a little chilly in Spring?.you need ?protection?. So instead of buying new undergarments, I decided to borrow some from my daughter?s drawer. I have experience buying those protecting, more secure feeling, thicker type undergarments, but the ones I have bought in the past have never fit well and by the time you find out how torturous they are, you can?t return them. They seem to have a life of their own, moving in odd directions, opposite to where I am moving. I end up feeling like Xena, princess warrior and it?s not a comfy feeling, let me tell you. ;) And I want things in the right place, not up in the atmosphere somewhere, jacked up and out. It?s a little claustrophobic I have found. So my daughter had a suitable looking undergarment...it took me a few minutes of browsing and holding things up and pondering?intimidating, but at least I wasn?t spending money on it to try it out. So on it went, then my nifty new 3/4 sleeved, olive green t-shirt. All set, all secure, all right! I was padded, protected and secure. All day, everything was fine?.chilly building?nooooooo problem! There is some weird kind of freedom in being all bound up. *think about that* As evening came things kind of shifted and it started poking me in the arm pit, but I was amazed it lasted that long on this 100% cotton, loose fitting please, comfort loving girl. So I found that I can feel secure without too much whining, but it does have a time limit. What we won?t do for a cute t-shirt! 
Something happened to my house while I wasn't paying attention. ......well, ok, I knew it was happening but it was so gradual that I am amazed at how invaded we now are. The invasion? Technology.....yeah, we are all wired up....so wired in fact, that we are now 'wireless' which means such much technology that you don't even need to be wired to a telephone line to be hooked up. Don't get me wrong...I like the technology, but I feel embarrassed to have so much of it. We now can watch the World Hunger commercials on a 47 inch LCD projection TV....whatever that means....I just know it's huge and I feel the need to explain it when people come in and see it. (My husband used his Christmas bonus to buy it, we aren't in debt because of it, I promise!) 
Butt Prints In The Sand
I just got back from our annual church women?s retreat. Forty-five women laughing, crying, talking, singing, praying, eating, dancing. Our theme was Can I Have This Dance? We talked about joy?real joy?not fleeting happy feelings, but a deep rooted joy. Joy is more of a deep contentment that comes from trusting God through this existence that we call life. 
I know some of my women friends here have struggled with putting those shoes on. They were in mourning or depression or self hatred or wrapped up in guilt or pain. To read that list of hard times they?ve been through one would think we are a very dysfunctional bunch, but when you open up your eyes, you start to realize that we all go through hard times?.there is no shame in it, no reason to hide it. It helps to release it and share it?it encourages others to do the same and when we do, we help free each other. One of the things that helped me the most through my own hard times, is that I saw other people who had been through my particular situations and they made it through?.and they still had joy and hope. And I remember even thanking some of those people who were vulnerable with me and shared that they too had traveled through where I was dwelling. It helped set me free.
