Along the road
Topic: Humor/memes

One horrid thing about being in Colorado is the roads. Towns in the mountains usually began as mining settlements, so it was imperative to build roads that went up into the mountains to where the mines were. Some of these roads are still not much more than mule trails, skirting the edges of mountains, 10, 11, 12 thousand feet in elevation, sheer, rocky walls on one side of you, sheer rocky drop offs on the other side. Sheer rocky mountain terror to drive on….for me. Charles has no problem with the roads (if he doesn’t, he is a good faker). He zips along hairpin curves and narrow roads while pointing and telling us about various landmarks or what the name of that “fourteener” is. (for the uninitiated, a 14er is a mountain that is over 14,000 feet in elevation.) Pretty cool to look at, but not when you’re in fear of careening off a cliff as your ‘tour guide’ points them out.

I always say, “Does everyone have their seat belts on?”

Someone is always the wise cracker (don’t know where they get that) and spouts off, “Like that would help if you go over a drop off like that! Hahahahaha”

“Very funny, put your seatbelt on!”

I have terrors about these roads and my kids make fun of me….psychotically sadistic bullies! I have started closing my eyes when it is realloy bad…I used to try to mentally drive and guide the car, which just makes me nuts and weird and a great big target for sadistic children. The first time I felt that way was on our honeymoon. We were driving to an old abandoned mine and ghost town and were WAY up in the air on a narrow dirt road that was tilted toward the abyss when we came upon a boulder in the road. There was no choice but to back up (not a fun thing on a windy mountain single lane mule trail) or inch back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, until you had the car turned around. *Terror* I began crying and begging him to abandon the car and walk back with me, but he insisted on bringing the car with us. **men** So I got out of the car and stood there crying and hiding my eyes while he turned it around. Neither of us was in a very amiable mood for a few hours.

Two summers ago we had the privilege of having a 4 wheel drive truck with us on a trip to Colorado. What was I thinking ? Going with my husband to Colorado with a 4 wheel drive vehicle!? I must have been out of my gord. Anyway, my kids got to see me in ‘terror mode’ as we drove over the “4 wheel drive only, not kidding, turn back NOW you wimpy little city cars” road over the 12,000 foot mountain pass between Silverton and Lake City. Yipes! My kids still talk about it to anyone who will listen. And still, after two years, they think it’s hilariously funny that their mother, the one who birthed them, nurtured them and gave them their sense of humor (whoopsy on that one), was hysterical, having terrors and crying on this road trip. NOT one of my favorite stories, but it makes people entertained, so why not write it down in the permanent record? Besides, if my kids were to tell the story first, they would add many more unpleasant details!

On our way into Lake City the first time this week, I was driving the girls in for showers while Charles was content to stay and fish, fish, fish at the campground. I did not remember that road…obviously. Nope, didn’t remember the constant downhill steep grade while going around hairpin curves with NO guardrail! Not that a guardrail if going to really help up on a windy road like that, but it’s just nice to have it there, comforting you as if to say, “Don’t worry, I’ll catch you if you go to far over.” So I put it in first gear and went about 15 miles per hour while making some Texan really miffed behind me. I did pull over ASAP to let him by, but not soon enough to nix the miffedness.

On the second trip into town, me driving, (you see how desperate we were for showers that I would do this again?) I was more confident, but I did make the girls change the music we were listening to. It was Relient K singing “We’re going down down down in flames” (I am not embellishing….it really was the song that was on and it was very unnerving!) They changed it to the next song, which was, “We’re gonna have a breakdown”….on to Superchick and Christian girl power songs. Lol I started feeling empowered and even joked with my girls about how driving roads like these can make you feel this almost uncontrollable urge to drive off the edge. I got them back good…no laughing this time…just bugging out eyes looking at me in the rear view mirror. Oh, that was good…..

Seeing my reflection....
Topic: God things
As I’ve said, amidst all the whining about camping, we love to come to Colorado. Charles grew up spending weeks of summer here and we came here on our honeymoon, although we only camped one night of that trip. There is something about the high mountains that is restful and restores you, relaxes you and makes you reflective. Funny after writing that I realized all those adjectives beginning with re….cool.

To ‘re’ do something is to do it again. You had it once and need to get it again. Re-lax means you lost your ‘lax’ and need it back. (No obvious puns here, I’m being serious.) To re-store means you’ve lost your store of something vital…your store of peace, rest, freshness, spiritual strength. Re-juvenate means to get back that youthful feeling. Renew…to feel new again, reflect (I do not know what flect is a root word for…I will try to remember to ask Hannah, my Latin-taker.)

I certainly have been doing a lot of reflecting this week. I think that’s what rest if for. Your body stops and your mind goes, “Ok, now I’ve been meaning to go over some things with you…..”

I’ve been reading Psalms because I thought it would help me to express my feelings about God’s creation since we’re out in it 24/7 this week. But the Psalms I’ve happened upon, by God’s hand I’m sure, are helping me to deal more with my inadequacy, my acceptance of some things in my life that I should not be accepting, and also dealing with enemies and the unjust. I can’t share anymore about that, but I wanted to share how God’s used this time and how He works.

He is so surprising…sneaky really…always so timely and good…so understanding and patient with us (me).

The long hot day....
Topic: Holidays/Vacations
It's hot.....

Bethany, Emma and I are sitting in the pop up trailer, tired of flies dive bombing us and mosquitoes trying to nibble us. Beth brought homework (?) and is trying to finish 10th grade Literature. Emma is writing a story. She has a spiral notebook, it is less than half the size of an 8x10 spiral notebook and she has over half the pages FILLED with her tiny, tiny handwriting. I don’t know if it will continue or if it is only a phase, but she has become a story writer and songwriter this year, always scribbling in notebooks. She used to rewrite stories she already knew, like The Lord of the Rings stories, but she would change a few things to make it suit her, but these are her own original works. She won’t let any of us read them until months later when she feels more confident about them, but the ones I’ve seen are pretty good for a 13 year old.

I am also scribbling in a full sized spiral notebook…and I do mean scribbling. Since I am so used to typing on a computer for everything except grocery lists, my hand writing is sorely, sorely gone downhill. Of course it doesn’t help that my hands are chapped beyond all reason from scrubbing them after outhouse visits and being outside all the time. I am blogging on paper. It’s very strange and feels disorganized, but I’m sure I’ll be able to sort it out back home…or maybe I’ll use Charles’ laptop next week at the cabin to type it up on Word. (I am typing this at the cabin, but using Hannah’s laptop.)

I don’t miss the computer, I’m just used to jotting down ideas now as they come and it’s less convenient on paper….hand cramps, bugs squished on notebook paper, dirt, wind, lack of light at night to write. (my best thinking time)

Hannah and Maggie are outside. Hannah is finishing up Anna Karinnina by Tolstoy. On v acation last year, she read War and Peace, so she felt it was tradition to bring ol’ Leo along on vacation. She is almost done with it and told me this morning that we have to find a bookstore soon. She’s never without a book, but is ravenous about reading while on vacation. I brought some books too. I am not an avid reader, but I like to read if there is nothing else to do. ;) So I brought Katharine Hepburn’s autobiography and am enjoying that. She is so honest and self depreciating…she sees herself honestly. Going over events in her life for the book helped her to evaluate how selfish and stupid she was (quite often) and I feel like it passes on a kind of worldly wisdom. She refers to God and to her mistakes as sins, but I think it is more of taking them in stride and not actually being repentant of anything.

I also brought a book that is being circulated between some of my grown-up-lady friends from church. It is called “Called to be his helpmate” about being a more effective partner as the wife in a Christian marriage. I am waiting until next week to read it though. I have to be honest and say that I would probably find the book irritating while living in primitive conditions that my husband likes to put us in each summer. ;) The friend who read it though think it is a very practical and wise book. I’ll let you know what I think of it in the near future.

I said Maggie is outside, but she is actually going in and out of the trailer, being restless. She needs someone to play binka bonka (badminton) with. I think I’ll go hit a few with her.

The two brothers have gone down to the marshy creeks…no, not to look for moose, they’ve given that up….to fish for trout. They slathered up with sunblock and bugspray, all toxic I’m sure, and will return absolutely disgusting but happy when they return, especially if they caught fish OR had adventures. =)

Da da da dun dun.....DUN DUN!
Topic: Holidays/Vacations
We have two more nights camping, then it is off to that nice cabin for a week. It will be like Christmas! Flushing toilets, showers, a washer and dryer, indoor cooking, the Rio Grande River right beside us…electricity, water, a refrigerator, electricity, ahhhhhh. You cannot even imagine my anticipation I feel ….like ‘Lisa’ on Green Acres “Dahling, I love you but give me indoor plumbing!”

Poor poor Charles. He is realizing on this trip more than ever that teenaged girls are not the best troopers when in primitive conditions.

He is trying his best to put up with us, but I’m afraid we have all had our moments of extreme irritability. But then there are times when we have all just had showers at the RV park in town and we are sitting in the pleasant park enjoying being with each other and enjoying the outdoors. It didn’t hurt that we had just had a steak dinner in a nice restaurant for Hannah’s 18th birthday and there was a youth group from Texas (i.e. cute boys) playing Frisbee in the park. I am just hoping that they will remember the pleasant things and not the irritating, hard, dirty and smelly things.

Goodnight, sleep tight...
Topic: Holidays/Vacations

Nighttime has been interesting here. We love to camp by running water, especially for it’s soothing effects at night. All you here is the rushing water and occasionally a deer or bear crashing through your camp. (Last year it was a raccoon who opened our latched ice chest and we heard crunching and licking…..we went out early in the morning to find our eggs half eaten along with some other items thrown around.)

We had a site by a stream the first night, then moved up where Rick’s site was, up by the fishing lake. Fishing, fishing, fishing. Here it is beautiful, aspens and spruce trees everywhere at the top of a mountain, over 10,000 ft elevation. There is a breeze during the day and the views are wonderful. But at night it is so quiet, you can’t even imagine the stillness.

The first night here, I heard my ears ringing and that kind of ocean sound echoing in my head as I tried to sleep. The only things I would hear where my family’s breathing patterns- which is only irritating when you’re trying to sleep. I heard an S shaped hook clinking against the trailer post, husband breathing, my own nose whistling….arg! So I turned on my flashlight and rooted around in my makeup bag for one very used, old earplug. Heaven! I put it in one ear and laid my other ear on my pillow and went to sleep soundly.

Oh, and we have a signal at night to roll over when someone is snoring. One of the girls will give the trailer a good shake. When you feel the trailer shake, it’s time to lay on your side. Ha!

Our 8 year old, Maggie, is sleeping next to Bethany, 15 and Emma, 13. The first two nights she cried, whimpered and struggled in her sleep and scootched around until she was uncovered and lying horizontally across the top of the bed. The third night I put an extra seat cushion to fill in the gaps of her ‘mattress’ (she is sleeping where you put the table down and use seat cushions to make a mattress) and she slept just fine, much to the relief of her sisters.

Now when she wakes up at night and can’t see anything (it is pitch black here at night, no moon as it goes down early here) Bethany will just reach over and hold her hand and she goes back to sleep.

So you can see how getting out of normal routine and lifestyle can also help develop coping skills and problem solving. =)

Herrrrrrrrre Moosie, Moosie, Moosie
Topic: Holidays/Vacations
Everything here around Lake City is about moose….by the way, it’s not mooses or meese, as you might think or want to argue about, it’s just moose, whether it’s one or a bunch. In the past few years, the forest service has released several pair of moose in this area with it’s boggy creeks. They are reintroducing them here because I guess they ran out of them.

Charles and Rick have been listening closely at night and in the early mornings to try to hear a noise they thought must be a moose calling. They were even getting good at making the sound and thought the animal making it was moving closer to the camp when they made the sound.

Last night we decided to go moose scouting. So we piled in the truck just before sunset and drove slowly on the back road along a marshy creek. No moose…..although at one point Rick was joking around saying if he sees a moose, he’ll signal by going, “THERE’S A MOOSE!” (he yelled out the open window) At that moment a female deep jumped up, startled out of her wits I’m sure, and bounded away. Very funny. Poor deery.

We turned around and headed back slowly, still keeping our eyes trained on the creek when I saw a dark brown animal grazing about 200 yard away in a meadow. The more we looked, the more we decided it was a moose! Charles and Rick decided to get a closer look and walked across the meadow, about half way to the animal.

The girls and I just watched them as they got smaller. Then we heard them clap and yell to get it to lift it’s head as dusk got duskier. We saw a flash go off, then another, then we saw them heading back. As they neared the truck I called out the window, “Was it a moose?” at which point Rick held up a cow pie bigger than a dinner plate and said, “No, a cow.”

The flashes we saw were of Charles taking a picture of Rick holding up the cow pie. We heard the mysterious call of an animal again this morning, everyone stopping to listen and concentrate, at which time we all decided it was a cow.

I am going to have to find some kind of stuffed animal or picture of a cow in moose disguise for some Christmas gifts this year!

A walk in the park...
Topic: Holidays/Vacations

In Lake City, there is a famous ice cream parlor called the San Juan Soda Fountain. It has an old fashioned, heavy oak counter with all the familiar looking equipment and menu of a 50’s soda fountain. There are about 20-30 flavors of ice cream and for some reason it’s the best tasting ice cream you’ve ever had! Maybe it is the atmosphere in the shop, or the quaint mountain town outside. Maybe it’s that we always take it over to the town park across the street and eat it while sitting barefoot in the soft grass, looking up at the high mountains that surround the town. Or it could just be that they have the best ice cream ever. If you stop in, you have to try the mocha almond flavor….there is something really satisfying about toasted almonds in ice cream stuck in a freshly made waffle cone.

The girl who waited on us in the tiny grocery store told us Lake City has only about 450 people who live here year round. This was emphasized by a framed photo in the Mocha Moose coffee shop. It said, “Lake City before tourist season.” And the photo was of a handful of shop keepers along with 8-10 dogs sitting on the front steps of the coffee shop lazily waiting.

Along the town square there are gift shops, an organic grocery store, a steak restaurant whose owner is from Italy and think Maggie, my 7 year old, looks like a princess and was talking to him with her eyes. She was on cloud 9 after hearing that and kept staring at other people trying to “talk to them with her eyes.” =)

Down the street from the soda fountain is an espresso shop. The next time we were in town we stopped there. Hannah had Chai tea, Emma had French vanilla Italian soda and a blended iced mocha frappe for me. Very cute shop called the Mocha Moose.

Meanwhile back at the campground, there were fresh brookie trout for dinner. They were very good. Only Emma didn’t try them (city girl).

We have now banned the headphones and Gameboy, by the way. The girls are getting more into playing cards, Chinese checkers, badminton (binka bonka), and reading their books they brought. They are also much more pleasant….we’ve found that the more they get into their own heads with the music, games, or at home computer games and television, the more irritable and zombie-like they become. So back to rules….no Gameboy or music hooked into your ears while camping…unless there’s a long car trip to be endured.

Fareware to civilization.....
Topic: Holidays/Vacations
All packed up with a full pickup and pop up camp trailer, we headed out Thursday morning for our annual family camping trip. This year it is to Colorado.

My husband grew up going on camping trips to Colorado from the earliest memories he has of cramming in with six kids into an old pickup with a cab over camper, driving on dusty mountain roads (that are now well kept and a lot of them paved), fishing, fishing, fishing, and fishing, exploring old mine areas looking for minerals like gold, silver and amethysts in the mine trailings that have built up over years and years of mining, memories of hiking as a teen and young adult in the high mountains.

Our vacations are nothing like that. My husband and I were blessed with four girls, none of whom like to fish or be without showers and flushing toilets for very long. Two years ago he took us camping for two weeks in Colorado (about one week past our limit) and he almost had a mutiny. We paid a lot for showers those two weeks at $5 per shower at the town RV park. So this year we are camping for one week, then going to a cabin with electricity and running water for another week…good compromise I think….especially since the cabin is free! (a ministry to full time ministers by a wonderful group of people that we got a letter of invitation from about this time last year)

But back to modern day camping. We don’t have an RV with a generator for microwave oven and satellite tv, or a trailer full of 4-wheelers (although we’re jealous that we don’t) to go zooming around forest roads. But we aren’t exactly Robinson Caruso either. Our pop up trailer may not look like much to anyone else—it is a 1972 Pleasure Seeker with gold and aqua interior—but it has padded benches to sit on, beds to sleep in, a door to walk through and an indoor stove to cook on. To us it’s luxury after tent camping all of our married life with kids from babyhood to teenaged, fighting off biting flies and mosquitoes while cooking and sitting huddled under a tarp waiting out a freezing rain storm….two years in a row while Maggie was a baby, the rain was not to be waited out and it poured the entire week we camped, nothing was dry. In other words…we love our little trailer!

Charles has made so many concessions over the years to keep us happy on these trips, it no longer resembles much of what he grew up with. Teenaged girls need concessions…he is a wise dad. So we let them bring their CD players (stocking up on batteries), one of them has a Gameboy which has been highly coveted this week by all the sisters (she shares well though), two laptop computers and a bunch of DVD’s to use when we’re desperate for “real life.” He is letting them sleep in this year too…usually they are jumped upon and squashed if they don’t get up for breakfast. Yesterday they didn’t get up until 10am. Today it is 9:15am and I am waiting breakfast on them—yesterday they ate cookies I think.

I got up an hour and a half ago and Charles and his brother Rick, who is joining us this year, were already gone—fishing. They left the coffee above the dying coals on the fire grate to keep it warm for me—very thoughtful. A little hazelnut creamer and I was one happy pup. I had fully intended to get up and make them pancakes before they left, but I have had two nights of wakeful sleeping and I made the mistake of closing my eyes again after Charles got up. We will be going into town today to take showers and walk around looking at touristy shops in downtown Lake City.

...back after these messages....
Topic: Holidays/Vacations
I will be taking a break from making any blog entries while we take a little trip....without computers. We will be happily, lazily taking a vacation to Colorado...a week of camping and then a week in a cabin.....all in places above 10,000 feet elevation.......just picture us humming John Denver tunes, roasting marshmellows and reading in the hammock. (one at a time)

I promise to take plenty of pictures and return all refreshed and inspired in two weeks.

God bless .....and don't hate me because I'm on vacation! =)

Sammiches
Topic: Humor/memes

This is a cute picture I found on a blog featuring different artists each day. I had just finished eating a tuna sandwich when I saw it....

I think this will become my new response this summer when my kids say "I'm bored!" .....I"m sure to get lots of eye rolling!

Perfect! I just showed it to my 15 year old and what did she do? Rolled her eyeballs! My evil plan is working....bwahahaha

yippee!

ps....this is what happens when I can't think of what to say and only got 4 hours of sleep last night.....I'm sorry. =)

Out of whose picture?
Topic: God things


There is a commercial on tv right now that flips my lid every time I see it. Commercials have become somewhat of an art form in themselves the past few years…I wish there was some was to capture and archive them. I’m sure a VCR would work, but how to know when the commercial will air and on what channel…now that is a dilemma. The ad I am talking about is for HP digital photography. It has a catchy tune by The Robins called Out of the Picture and the guy in the ad is sitting in a chair, holding up pictures beside his head of….his head! It is so ingenious….each time he holds up a new picture, his head beside the picture becomes part of the new picture. At the end, he holds up a full sized picture of his head and it becomes just a frame he is looking through and he puts his head through the frame, the object being the realistic quality of photos you can get from the new HP printer. Are you getting all of this? If not, and you haven’t seen the commercial, I found where you could watch it on the internet.
Go to the TV ad entitled Francois 2. You won’t regret it. =)

Photography is a hobby of mine…I wish I had more time to play with it. I plan to get back into this year….with my new digital camera and all my free time. =) (Now if I just had one of those fancy printers!) I love how you can take an ordinary picture, add special effects, make it artsy and give it your own signature style…..take an image from reality and tweak it to become a creation of our own.

Art is something we create, using our God given talents. I once read a quote from the late musician, Rich Mullins, that was a response to someone asking him if he thought that God wrote the songs through him, since there was so much originality and theology in his writing. He responded, of course not! He said God gave us creativity and he thought God enjoyed seeing what we created and used for Him….what we would say about Him, write, sing, paint, and draw. I agree. God created art for us in nature, in animals, plant life, in all the kinds of people He created. And I think He enjoys seeing us create things, express our thoughts, express our love and praise to Him. It’s our part of the sacred romance.

We can create and add our own signature style to things of earth, but it’s a huge mistake we people tend to make to add our own ‘style’ to our image of God. He’s given us the Bible and shown Himself to us through it and through nature. We need to accept who He is and that He is above ‘figuring out’ or making Him into an image of human proportions. He is so much more….so infinite, so holy. He came down to our level to die for us and give us such an easy way to bridge that expansive gap between Creator and creation, caused by sin. I don’t think He would have gone through all of that, becoming the sacrifice for our sin, if it didn’t matter what we believed….if sin wasn’t a big deal. It is a huge deal! And He is so patient with us while we figure that out. (…as we should be with others, by the way, with that big old pole sticking out of our eyes.)

Jesus showed us such a loving, approachable view of God, that sometimes I think we have lost the sense of His holiness and unchanging quality. I see it everyday…on the news, tv shows, in my own church, even in my own mind and life. We justify things that the Bible says are unacceptable. We cannot reinvent our God to suit our own style or beliefs….I think it is awesomely graceful of Him not to just smite us here and now when we do that. **lol** What the Bible teaches us about Him is so far above where we put Him sometimes. So these are the thoughts that came out of my heart today, after seeing that commercial and thinking about art, creative styling and trying to think of what God is telling me through it.

I saw a poster once, I bought it and put it in my room as a teenager. It said, “Eternity will be at once a great eye opener…..and a great mouth shutter!”

Don’t you love it? God is….God. Nothing we say or do changes who He has been since the Beginning. If we all got more into reading His Word (that He gave to us, protecting and preserving it over the years) rather than in listening to who others think He is, we would live differently I think. Maybe we would start seeing things the way He does. I think we would even start to sin less and see others as He does and love them more.

Start today…here is the tool I use online to do word searches on different topics in the Bible.

Rest area 2 miles ahead?get your shoes on!
Topic: God things


Our church is gracious to us. My husband is the pastor and has had a rough year. He has been making lots of changes in how the church does it’s work and had a bout with depression last winter. So our church is giving him a month’s sabbatical…plus some time in the Fall for a trip to Israel that a church member gave to us. I always thought that a sabbatical was a period of time off of one’s regular job to do further research and study in an intense way….i.e. a college professor working on a doctorate degree. On an internet search, I found, http://www.thesabbaticalcoach.com/ which makes me laugh. I guess some people may need a coach to get them to rest. Another sight urged “Relax with God and Minister to Yourself”. Oooo, it seems that there are a whole slough of people out there ready to schedule you and plan your whole ‘rest’ for you. heehee

We are just doing it the old fashioned way, really old fashioned….like from Bible times. It turns out as I have looked into it further this year that a sabbatical is a period off one’s regular job for: rest. Obviously the word comes from the same root as Sabbath, the day of rest. God wants us to rest, He commanded us to rest at least once a week, not only to turn our minds and hearts to Him for that day, but also to physically stop and rest for a day. As some of you may know, a pastor’s Sunday is usually far from restful! So for the month of July, we are resting. I guess you could say we’re taking a ‘month of Sundays’. =)

It begins….tomorrow! We have some plans, including a camping trip to Colorado for 2 weeks, but we are resting from being in charge: of church business, resting from meetings, resting from preparing sermons and organizing stuff. *Whewwwwww* I think it will take a while for it to sink in, but I can already see the relief and gradual relaxation my husband is feeling. Oh, he is not sitting around with a tv remote in his hand. So far, he has mowed, trimmed and weeded the front and back yards, even in his allergy season….he has done a couple of repairs around the house that have long been neglected….he has gone for a walk with me every morning this week….he’s going to ‘town’ with me tomorrow and giving our outside dogs baths. “Yay!!” Clean dogs are my favorite kind!

I have to admit, we need a rest because we are not very good at resting in our normal mode of busyness around our house. This year was especially crazy with me taking on a 4 day a week volunteer position at our church school. We are worn out…..a kind of worn out that I am not sure a month off will bring relief from….but we are grateful for it. We are trying to learn to rest from ‘activities’ and spend time renewing our focus and priorities, including God, the Word and family. Simplicity….that is what I am searching to describe. A simpler lifestyle….seems ‘simple’ but in our world of kids’ activities, church, obligations and ministry, life is far from simple….it’s more like ‘catch a few minutes while you can’ to talk, spend time with our kids or to just sit and veg.

Of everything this year has held, I think depression took the biggest toll. King David was a cool guy. He had this godly understanding of human nature long before psychology ‘explained’ it all to us. Psalm 42 talks about depression and the toll it takes on our minds and bodies. I will just include one verse, but do look at it…even if you’ve never been depressed yourself, it can help you understand a smidgeon of what depression is like.

Psalm 42:11
Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

So as we rest, I may not blog much in July, especially while gone camping.

…no internet….? I can do that.

’On your sabbatical ye shall rest from thy typing and striving and clicking and info-bites. All other days, ye shall surf, but on the sabbatical, thy fingers shall not type’.

Then again, this is a very restful creative outlet for me, so on the days we have electricity and a phone line, I may be able to get some entries…as well as some pictures. Did I mention my husband bought me a new digital automatic OR manual setting camera for my birthday? (I got it early due to vacation plans.)

Paul Harvey and Prayer
Topic: God things
This entire entry is a Paul Harvey radio program quote from an email I received today. I think it is worthy of being passed along with a whole-hearted AMEN!


Paul Harvey says:

I don't believe in Santa Claus, but I'm not going to sue
somebody for singing a Ho-Ho-Ho song in December. I
don't agree with Darwin, but I didn't go out and hire a
lawyer when my high school teacher taught his theory
of evolution.

Life, liberty or your pursuit of happiness will not be
endangered because someone says a 30-second prayer
before a football game.

So what's the big deal? It's not like somebody is up there
reading the entire book of Acts. They're just talking to a
God they believe in and asking him to grant safety to the
players on the field and the fans going home from the game.

"But it's a Christian prayer," some will argue.

Yes, and this is the United States of America, a country
founded on Christian principles. According to our very
own phone book, Christian churches outnumber all others
better than 200-to-1. So what would you expect-somebody
chanting Hare Krishna?

If I went to a football game in Jerusalem,
I would expect to hear a Jewish prayer.

If I went to a soccer game in Baghdad,
I would expect to hear a Muslim prayer.

If I went to a ping pong match in China,
I would expect to hear someone pray to Buddha.

And I wouldn't be offended.
It wouldn't bother me one bit.
When in Rome...

"But what about the atheists?" is another argument.

What about them?
Nobody is asking them to be baptized. We're not going to
pass the collection plate. Just humor us for 30 seconds. If
that's asking too much, bring a Walkman or a pair of ear
plugs. Go to the bathroom. Visit the concession stand.
Call your lawyer!

Unfortunately, one or two will make that call. One or
two will tell thousands what they can an! d cannot do.
I don't think a short prayer at a football game is
going to shake the world's foundations.

Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other
cheek while our courts strip us of all our rights. Our
parents and grandparents taught us to pray before
eating; to pray before we go to sleep.

Our Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. Now a
handful of people and their lawyers are telling us
to cease praying.

God, help us.
And if that last sentence offends you, well ... just sue me.

The silent majority has been silent too long. It's time we
let that one or two who scream loud enough to be heard
.... that the vast majority don't care what they want. It
is time the majority rules! It's time we tell them, you don't
have to pray; you don't have to say the pledge of allegiance;
you don't have to believe in God or attend services that
honor Him. That is your right, and we will honor your
right. But by golly, you are no longer going to take our
rights awa! y. We are fighting back ...
and we WILL WIN!


God bless us one and all ... especially those who denounce
Him. God bless America, despite all her faults. She is still
the greatest nation of all.
God bless our service men who are fighting to protect
our right to pray and worship God.

May 2005 be the year the silent majority is heard
and we put God back as the foundation of our
families and institutions.

Keep looking up.

Vacation Bible School week!
Topic: People/Family stories
It’s a busy week with Vacation Bible School and all of our other activities, but here is an off-the-top-of-my-head summary of the week:

-There are 6 children in my kindergarten VBS class and there’s not a dud in the bunch! =) Ok, well no kids are actually ‘duds’ but some can make your life miserable and I am glad to report that I don’t have any of those in my class this year.

-I have 2 very good teenaged helpers for the week who I have watched grow the past 8 years into really great kids…fun, responsible and like to serve others. I love seeing children mature into older kids, then teens and sometimes you get to see them into early adulthood. It’s cool to think I have had a very small hand in their spiritual development through teaching in the church.

-We went for a drive Monday afternoon up the mountain near our town. It rises to over 9,000 feet and it’s a favorite drive for us. We have seen a black bear up there before and this time saw 2 separate bunches (flocks? Herds? Gaggles?) of wild turkeys! We even saw a set of adults turkeys with at least 2 little babies slinking along after them! (turkeys don’t waddle or run, they slink along, neck stretched out in front of them, moving swiftly with a smooth gait) So cute and so rare a sight.

-Also on Monday we woke up to irritating smoke coming in our bedroom window and looked out to see lots of smoke coming from something burning downtown. It turned out to have begun in a local downtown bar and spread to an empty adjoining historic building. It was put out, but later in the day, the fire started back up and was once again sending a great cloud of smoke into the sky.

-I helped cook a church dinner Tuesday night and it was fun to get together with a group of about 25 leaders from the church who want to help the church have a more effective outreach. Also had a time of concern, giggling and ‘fishing’ when a friend of mine flushed her car keys down the church toilet! Imagine the comic timing she has to be able to flush the toilet at the precise time her keys are falling out of her pocket! ….I am sorry to report that she never did retrieve them. =(

-Today is Wednesday and we made playdough at VBS and I let the kids choose what color to add to their own lump. My hands are now dark blue with pink and green splotches. (Anyone know how long it takes for food coloring to wear off of skin?)

-At the end of VBS we got a report that main street and 3 blocks surrounding it had been closed off and evacuated due to a possible bomb in the recently burned out building downtown. It was soon opened up again but it was quite a little excitement. The drive home was interesting too with downtown access closed off and construction closing several other main roads in town. For a town of 3,000 and only 2 flashing red lights, it caused a little traffic!

-This afternoon we washed down the abandoned swallow’s nest that I ranted about in an earlier blog. The 2 babies that had hatched had each taken a fatal leap onto the porch…..each too little to fly yet. We have reclaimed our porch now and feel quite firm in our resolve to sit there the rest of the summer without letting swooping birds drive us out.

-Goodnight. There is a feint throbbing in my head, thunder booming outside, the smell of rain coming in my window along with a minty smell from the garden and the light from my monitor here has a psycho moth diving at me in a kamikaze frenzy.

-Well I didn’t post this last night because of the moth problem. After a moth came in to visit my eye, behind my glasses I decided it was time to turn off the computer! I also didn’t sleep very well, thinking about moths being in my bedroom in the night.

-Today is Thursday and the sky is welling up with thunderclouds and there is a cool breeze in the air…very refreshing.

-VBS was good on all counts. Our theme today as we ‘traveled’ each day across the U.S. on a ‘ramblin’ road trip’ was Wyoming and Yellowstone park, so my preschool class played with water, made nature Bible verse bookmarks, and took a walk to find wild strawberries. My helpers hid candy strawberries in the grass around the church. It’s hard to decide sometimes who has the most fun…the children or the helpers!

-Tomorrow is the last day and I’ll miss my little students….you should see and hear them practicing their songs for parents’ night. You just haven’t lived fully unless you’ve watched children singing with all their hearts about God’s love. I hope to post some pictures of them here soon.

Life means so much
Topic: God things
As I begin a week of teaching Vacation Bible School, I'm feeling overwhelmed by the amount of effort it takes. I found myself wishing it was just over...gritting my teeth and getting it over with. Then...as God always does when we need it....He reminded me....each day is a gift.....none of them are a loss if we take the opportunities He gives us to serve. Oh, I don't mean just teaching Vacation Bible School or sunday school. We can serve the people we're around every day....our family members or friends, coworkers. Or, consider the popular idea of random acts of kindness. =) This week, for me, it's Bible School. The children of our town are our mission field. God cares for them so deeply and wants to use our little Bible school to reach them and their families. So it's not a waste of time or something to be endured...it's a gift.

How did God remind me? I came across these pictures of last summer's mission trip. I didn't get to participate because we had a tragic funeral to help plan and a devestated family to comfort, but my two oldest daughters went. I got to see how serving affected them and it was beautiful to see how God not only blessed them but He worked through them of their own free will. One of the days, they got to go over the border into Mexico and spend time with the children at an orphanage. They brought gifts for the children, but those who went received much more than they gave away. Being used by God to bless others and to spread His message is an awesome privilege.

One boy, Jonson, 11, who went with them befriended a little boy who was playing on the playground barefoot. Somehow Jonson found out that the boy didn't even have a pair of shoes and without a thought, Johson took off his fancy tennis shoes and said, "Oh take these, I have more at the hotel." He rode back across the border that day barefoot and wore his flip flops the rest of the week because those were his only extra shoes.

Here are the pictures I came across....







The other way He reminded me was hearing this song. Sometimes you know God is speaking to you and this song did it for me tonight.

Life Means So Much

Every day is a journal page
Every man holds a quill and ink
And there's plenty of room for writing in
All we do is believe and think
So will you compose a curse
Or will today bring the blessing
Fill the page with rhyming verse
Or some random sketching

Teach us to count the days
Teach us to make the days count
Lead us in better ways
That somehow our souls forgot
Life means so much
Life means so much
Life means so much

Every day is a bank account
And time is our currency
So nobody's rich, nobody's poor
We get 24 hours each
So how are you gonna spend
Will you invest, or squander
Try to get ahead
Or help someone who's under

Teach us to count the days
Teach us to make the days count
Lead us in better ways
That somehow our souls forgot
Life means so much
Life means so much
Life means so much

Has anybody ever lived who knew the value of a life
And don't you think giving is all
What proves the worth of yours and mine

Every day is a gift you've been given
Make the most of the time every minute you're living

~Chris Rice~