Let the children come! Topic: God things Today was a good day. I didn't want to get up at first because I went to bed with a killer headache. When I did, even though I was a little late, I went to our state SBC Vacation Bible School conference.
First of all, having grown up in Arizona in the SBC denomination and now having a husband who is a pastor here, I knew a lot of the people at the conference, so it was a fun time of seeing old friends. I even saw some people who had come who I used to help teach when they were kids!
I also was so glad I went to familiarize myself with the new curriculum. Each year Lifeway chooses a theme and builds a really cool VBS from it that is fun and also has a lot to offer in learning world cultures. This year it is the Arctic Edge. The decorating and music and missions times are revolved around the Arctic Circle region and the Bible stories are about courage to follow Jesus. I chose to teach the missions class because I would get to see all the children each day from all grades. We're brand new at this church and I want to get to know the children. But after going to the missions leaders conference, I was full of excitement about missions itself. We watched the video report of the 5 different missionaries we're studying and praying for that week and it melted my heart. Seeing other cultures and the needs there really brings your heart and mind back around to what is important in life. I'm so glad I went and am ready to jump in for all the right reasons now!
We also saw the children's choir from the church I grew up at (!) perform a musical that had all the VBS music and themes in it. There was drama...really good drama....and it was choreographed so cute! It was very inspirational to see children in today's world putting their whole heart into putting on a production about following Jesus. I know it takes a lot of hard work to put one of those on.
Matthew 19:14Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
Friday night we had a Good Friday service with a contemporary/contemplative flair to it. We were given a nail as we entered the sanctuary, which had a fog machine going up near the stage and red spotlights pointed at a very rugged looking cross in front of the stage. The was a stage set up away from the main area, draped in black where a band played worship songs, mostly related to the cross. Then above the band was a powerpoint of video clips, no audio, of scenes from the Jesus movie and the movie The Gospel of John to accent what the songs or testimonies were saying. In between songs were about 4 or 5 testimonies....one was a scripted one by 'Barabas', the others were from people from our church on how what God is doing in their lives. Near the end, while singing a song about the nails in His hands showing us how much He loves us, people began walking up to the rugged cross, kneeling down to pray, then leaving the nail they had on the altar....this went on for a good 10 minutes while the band played. It was very good...very moving and interactive. When everyone who wanted to was done, my husband (the pastor) said just a few words and the band sang one more song to close.
Saturday morning we had a church sponsored egg hunt and party on our grounds. It was a gorgeous day and we had carnival types of games to play, an egg hunt and free cotton candy, popcorn and drinks. One of the booths was giving away 'salvation eggs' which had colored jelly beans to represent the salvation plan. The women running it told the plan of salvation 125 times in 2 hours!! The eggs came with the instructions to retell it inside. Here is a good example I found online to make your own. Use any color or style of plastic egg and put one of each of these in the egg:
The colors of the jelly beans show how God loves us,
Sin...the bad things we do, (a small stone) not only keeps us away from God, it doesn’t belong in our lives....just like a stone doesn’t belong with jelly beans – you can’t eat a stone!
However, Jesus took the punishment for our sins and died on the cross to pay that price. (red bean)
If we receive Jesus as our Saviour, giving our lives to Him, He forgives us and our hearts are cleansed like snow (white).
Once we have chosen to follow Jesus, we should grow in our knowledge and faith by going to church, reading the Bible and praying. (green)
And eventually we will go to be with God in heaven (yellow – like streets of gold).
We also had people register and fill out an information card with their address so that we can send invitations to them for other events and to our services. It was a good day with a lot of families who came from a nearby school, where we sent out flyers about it.
Sunday was a great morning of worship and celebration! We started at 7:30am. It was not quite a sunrise service, but it was outside on the church grounds, decorated as the 'garden tomb' area, with a pulpit one of our youth girls made out of chicken wire and paper mache that looks just like a real stone! Then we had a coffee and snack fellowship time, Sunday school and regular service. We were so glad God answered prayers and brought back for these services some of the people we had met at the Easter egg hunt! These included one college aged girl who talked a long time with my husband about the paganism she was involved in, and also a couple from Pakistan who would like to join our church, as well as several others.
Today we were sitting in the left turn lane at a traffic light. As rushing cars passed by us, we could feel the car rock as the great puffs of air hit the side of it.
We had just passed a few churches that had cars in the parking lots and I said, "They're all having Good Friday services." (ours is this evening) And when my mind had already gone back into neutral, watching the cars go by, Charles noted with a sigh,
"Today is the day the Lord died."
I didn't say anything, but felt a lump grow in my throat and tears welling up in my eyes, the passing cars feeling suddenly like the blows of a hammer.
It is a Good thing to remember.....because He died for me....
O to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be! Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love; here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.
Life lessons with Dad Topic: Carnival entries I have been in emotional burnout lately, I think. It has been 2 months of revolving emotions, ups and downs. God moved us. We had to leave a church and community we loved deeply (sorrow and mourning), begin ministry in a new church and large city (exciting and draining), and have spent more time with my parents since we live in the same city now. (draining, sorrow, mourning for my dad, who is spiraling down into dementia) You should see the new patch of gray hairs I have to show for my stress.
So if it seems like I’ve slacked on my writing lately, this is why. Times like this can either deplete you or inspire you….guess which it’s been with me? =) So when the Carnival of Beauty was on aging gracefully this week, I didn’t think I had anything to offer. I wrote very, very vaguely yesterday about how our church family is stepping in to help with my dad, to give my mom and sister a small break in caregiving. I wrote vaguely because, to be honest, the details are starting to take their toll on me and I didn’t want to rehash them in my head again.
Then in an instant, God gave me inspiration to write an entry for the carnival and in doing so He also gave me inspiration to keep going in this draining time.
Thank you, God for giving me a little more mental energy…and thank you to whoever chose this week’s Carnival topic….The Beauty of Aging Gracefully, hosted by Carol at She Lives.
My dad had his 81st birthday this past January. Quite a milestone and it has come at quite a price. He was the picture of health up through his 60’s. He always exercised and ate right. He was in a hiking club until 70something and some heart problems forced him to quit anything strenuous, but he still walked each day. In his 70's we watched him go through a lot of physical problems and lots of procedures and surgeries to get to 80! A stent and angioplasty in his early 70's, followed by a pacemaker.... steadily we watched his weakening heart slowing him down to a shuffle. Then prostate cancer and recurring scar tissue from the prostate surgery which made his kidneys shut down for a few days last year. His mind is slowing down as is his body and we have to remind him of things he knew well a year ago. The doctors put him through a year's worth of testing and evaluation to determine if he is getting Alzheimer's disease, as his 2 sisters do. The results were negative, which is a great relief. The diagnosis is dementia, worsened by the kidney failure..…just old age. His body was so strong that it is outlasting his mind it seems.
Everyone knows that your body and mind slow down in old age and that you start needing more medical attention. I knew this was coming as my parents entered their 60's and 70's, but it seemed to happen quickly, like a smack in the face when it happened to my family. It is personal this time.....it hit home....it invaded our lives without permission and it hurts. Shame on me for not being more sympathetic and supportive when friends would talk about their aging parents and how bewildering it is. It is a hard thing to watch your dad lose his ability to go do the things he enjoyed, to watch him spend more and more time in his chair, walking to the kitchen for a cup of coffee becoming a chore. My dad once was an extremely intelligent scientist and project engineer. His job was to be given a problem and to figure out how to solve it and build a machine to make it happen. Amazing....I use to try to listen to him explain scientific or mathematical things and get dizzy!! I just could not think on that level.
He began repeating things he told us several times in one day and needed help thinking of a word to finish his sentences. Then he began talking about things that were complete fantasies (delusions)…..that clients were coming over to lunch for a meeting, that he needed a part or machine and had to go out and get it. Now he doesn’t know my family at times, especially at night, and gets scared and erratic in his behavior, sometimes striking out. One day I spent about a half hour explaining to him ‘how’ to take his vitamins….just how to swallow them. Last week when I went over to take my mom to get her hair done, my dad had fallen and my mom could not get him up. So I went in and saw him lying there on the carpet, my mom had put a pillow under his head,. He was kind of curled into an almost fetal position, and I had to really work with positioning him so that I could hoist him up. (He may look frail, but he is as solid as a rock and about as heavy.) My mom has just gotten approved for some new insurance to help get him into full time care. I could never imagine putting one of my parents into a nursing home…but this is what it has come to. We cannot take care of him anymore like he needs….so another phase of life is about to begin. And while it will be a relief to have him getting the help he needs, it will also be painful to know that we could not keep him home.
When I hear the words ‘aging gracefully’ I think of the Queen of England or of a woman I know at our former church who is 80, yet spunky and just as involved and loving life as she was when she was 40. I do not think of old, shriveled shells of humanity living out their last days in a nursing home. Yet, I have begun to rethink this a little and will more as the days go on, I’m sure. All of us have prayed for my dad, have grieved that he has so little dignity left with his mind being so far gone…and we’ve prayed that God would be merciful and take him home.
Yet, he remains.
As I struggled with that, I came to realize (and actually believe firmly now) that God is leaving my dad here to help us, his family, to grow through this difficult time. To age gracefully, we usually think of the older person aging and doing it with great dignity, but in our case, it is we, the caretakers, who need to deal with age gracefully. We need to learn the lesson God has given us and it is a hard one….especially for the ones who live with him full time and have to deal with his arguing or obsessing on a delusion or being soooooooo slow to understand the most basic of intructions. “Caregiver fatigue” has hit my parents’ home very hard lately.
To speak kindly when he is having a delusional moment (or evening or week), to be gentle when he is being stubborn and combative, to treat him as a person with dignity even though he may not know what is going on, to talk to him kindly, to be patient when he is clumsy, to visit with him, instead of keeping silent and not wanting to ‘get him going’ on some tangent..….these are lessons we’re having to learn.
Hard....hurts....bewildering..... makes you have to grow up in the deepest of ways...and to do it gracefully? But there is a great reward for people in this situation if we will just learn the lesson. We can develop great, deep character, God promises us, if we persevere through trials. And aging can be such a trial.
Romans 5:2-4 And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
They came alongside us Topic: God things There was a family, made up of a mom and dad and 6 children. They were happy as they lived and laughed and grew…..up. These children went off to have their own families, reuniting whenever they could for holidays or vacations, and they were happy as they lived and laughed and grew.....older. The mom and dad of the six became grandparents, then great-grandparents….they grew older together and supported each other in love, laughter and remembering, watching their family grow.
The grandpa fell to frailty of mind and body. The grandma took care of him, along with the grown daughter and granddaughter who lived with them, trying to juggle full time careers with caring for the parents at night. But as time went on his frailty, compounded by the grandma's own weakened body, was too much for her and the family. The children did all they could as they managed their own families, work and their aging parents. But it was overwhelming and they lived and cried and stressed out and grew…..in despair.
There was another family. I do not know how many, but close to 200….they lived and laughed and learned together how to grow…..in spirit and in the love of Christ. They were a church, the body of Christ. They grew and began reaching out as members of this body with the hands, feet, ears, eyes and mouth of Christ. In fact, they reached out to this small despairing family.
Asked if they could just befriend and encourage members of this family, they saw the need and provided rides and watchful care as well as friendship for the grandpa as the grandma (and the daughter and niece who lived with them) got rest and got out of the house. It was a breath of fresh air to this family and they could live and laugh and grow again…..in strength and in hope and in thanks to God for His family and community we have through them. And it wasn't just the physical help that encouraged them, rather, it was the knowledge that they were not alone....they had friends who cared.
My deepest thanks and love to the members of my new church family, for ministering to my physical family. You are a breath of fresh air!
Ecclesiastes 4
9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:
10 If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!
11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?
12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
April is here...by Bethany Topic: People/Family stories
I have shared my bi-line with my oldest daughter, Hannah before. Now it is time to share a word from my 16 year old daugher, Bethany. She wrote about some Easter memories on her myspace blog and I asked her if I could share it here.
So, here's Bethany:
April is here!
I am sitting on my bed and and watching as my clock just changed to 12:00 AM, April 1, 2006. If that isn't exciting I don't know what is. National Humor month is here starting with April Fools Day or "Good Dogs Day" as a sign on the street said. Not only is there lots of laughter this month (which is one of my favorite things to do and it's good for you too) it is national frog month too (and I like frogs). Here's a heads up for upcoming, usually unknown and forgotten holidays this month, the 10th is national sibling day, the 16th is national stress awareness day, the 17th is national cheeseball day, and the 21st is national high five day. Oh, and it's national guitar month!
April always gets people excited (if you don't start feeling unusually happy half way through the month, Get Help!) itis almost May which is graduation and of course prom comes around. Summer plans start getting made and what could be more exciting than summer after all it only comes three months a year (unless you live in Phoenix, or the Sahara Desert). It has the beloved Easter which you know is good all the way around food, candy, and even though I'm NOT (notice capitals) a morning person sunrise service is always really wonderful.
My fondest (cool word) memories of my Dad are at Easter time. I remember him waking me up to go set up chairs at Buckskinner Park early one Easter morning. I was so excited that I got to wear pants to a "church" service that I forgot to look in my Easter basket. It was really cold that morning and there was frost on the dead grass (it has to be dead because we don't have live grass in Williams). I sat in the front row singing along with my Dad on his guitar, then came the usual resurrection message. The sun started to rise higher in the sky to warm things up and melt the frost (so the grass would be wet), and then it could sit back in the sky and watch people (slip on the wet grass). My dad then took us out to eat at a restaurant, then proceeded home to drop me and my sister off to change into dresses for sunday school and remember that candy that had been neglected.
Easters are different now, even though I still get woke up by my Dad and we usually go out to breakfast, I don't just sing and then daze off watching the morning come in. I actually listen (I know wow!). I think about that morning and if it had frost beautifully glazed on the grass maybe with a slight foggy mist. Walking through the garden tombs (which doesn't sound particularly enjoyable, but I have heard they are quite enchanting) in the crisp morning air in your bare feet. Finding that instead of spicing up (or preserving) a dead guy, finding he's alive and right there waiting for you to get up and see him. It would have been the perfect day!
I'm coming down with something.... Topic: Humor/memes
Oh me...I wondered why I was feeling so....blosky. *aaaaaaaCHOO*
Carol, from She Lives is one of my all time favorite bloggers. She is so cool! But I'm afraid I've caught a little something from her that is very contagious...*hack hack* It will soon be rampant and explosive, so watch out!
It's called The Indie Virus. It's complicated, so I won't go into details, but someone named Pearson is spreading this around and it's actually an honor to catch it!
....so here is the purpose:
The experiment, henceforth referred to as "The Indie Virus," has two goals:
1. To bring exposure to lesser known blogs (especially those outside of Technorati's top 100) 2. To explore the metrics behind a viral linking campaign launched by the "little guys" (less popular blogs)
Where it started? Read the comments here at Copyblogger.
Apple green, apple green, I love to paint things apple green... it looks so clean, with satin sheen, oh how I love this apple green..
I paint it on my ceiling I paint it in the bath And when I’m done I look to see my children shake and laugh
Cuz as I’m painting to and fro I splatter paint on hair and clothes On my glasses, up my nose Even green on my pink toes
I’ll paint it in each of my rooms You may say, she is writing on fumes! But I say, Oh no I just love it so… Oh, this green with it's sheen, It's so keen
Tomorrow I will paint with brown And I’ll think of rhymes and write them all down
Carnival of Beauty: Flowers Topic: Carnival entries There is a growing group of Christian ladies who write blogs. Some of us join in the Carnival of Beauty (started by Sallie of Two Talent Living) on a regular basis, practicing our writing skills and sharing our thoughts on a topic that is picked out for us. It is a lot of fun and I've gotten to connect with a lot of fellow bloggers, as well as practice writing on a given topic. (kinda like English class in school, but much more forgiving!) It is not a contest, just a fun exercise in sharing our blogs with each other.
The ladies have taken turns hosting the carnival. (I haven't been brave enough to do this yet.) So go to Amanda's and read some of the entries on the topic: The beauty of flowers.
Maybe next week, you could send in an entry for yourself!
Seeds We've Sown Topic: God things Oh, I love posts like this one, over at my daughter Hannah's blog. I love it when God actually shows you the results of something that you had a hand in...like a gardener who sows the seed after the last frost and gets to enjoy the beautiful blooms in July.
Here is an exerpt from her post:
During high school I was a leader/teacher for Teamkids at our church. I did it for quite a while actually, and I loved it. It was a huge outreach for a lot of kids in our town who needed it a lot. We always hoped it would be for the parents too. There was one family with three kids that came for a while, then moved to Flag. These children were pretty little, I think the oldest was 7. The two younger boys were.. they made me smile. a lot. Dey taltet lite dis (they talked like this), and every week when we'd pick them up on the van one of them would be in raptures with this bright green car we'd pass. he called it the "too fast too fuwious tar. it's so tool Miss Hannah!" They also reeked of marijuana every time they got on.
I went to a service at a church I don't normally go to tonight with a few of my friends (yea I finally went. I've been telling my friend Mike I'd go for a few months now... but now I have so it's alright.) Well, I was sitting there talking to someone, and guess who comes in? The kids AND their mom! I almost started to cry I was so excited to see them in church. I talked to the pastor afterwards and found out they'd been coming for a while, and their mom had been baptized that morning.. their dad has even come a few times.. and the kids remembered me!! Praise God, their mom knows Jesus now! What a party in heaven. Well, it made me very happy. Just another reminder that God knows how to take care of people, and I can trust Him with them.
Beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News.....thanks Hannah!!
Buff for Mayor....Woof! Topic: Humor/memes
Ok, maybe you've read my post on living in Small Town USA, but here is something new. My daughter informed me that our former town just had an interesting election. The current mayor ran for re-election and there was only one other candidate, a dog named Buff.
Only in a small town!
She is no ordinary dog though. Buff is a town icon. She is owned by Scott, the local photoshop owner/photographer in Williams. Almost every day you can find Scott and a handful of other downtown Williams shop owners having lunch at Pine Country Restaurant, including Buff. Yeah, Buff goes everywhere Scott goes, no leash, just faithful friend. (he does leave the dog outside for church though) Everyone in Williams knows Scott and Buff.
My Bible's Sojourn Topic: God things I love my Bible.
It’s not just any Bible, it’s mine. It is like an extension of me…..
....it even resembles my personality! I got it almost 16 years ago on my birthday from my husband. It is hard cover bound, so after a year or so, when it started to show its wear, I got a grey tapestry zippered cover for it. Now, after 16 years of use (I wish I could say daily use, but I’m not that disciplined) it has totally come undone from its hard cover, it is dog-eared and has little coffee stains on it. It also serves as a filing cabinet for an assortment of church bulletins and scraps of paper of all kinds, some pamphlets on becoming a Christian and one on grief, along with a few bookmarks (one from a missionary friend in Togo) and momentos.
Almost all of the bulletins and scraps of paper have Bible study notes scribbled on them. They are notes from sermons, conferences, Bible study classes, retreats and personal study. I never plan to take notes…simply because I don’t plan ahead very well, so the notes have to be put down on anything that has a margin to write in….it helps me to listen better, putting it down on paper. I may never look at that paper again or understand what it means if I did look at it, but I learn best through my eyes. So when I write something down while listening, my brain absorbs it better. (may sound complicated, but it’s just a brain thing)
I have thought about getting a new Bible many, many times (because I’m so embarrassed by it’s condition), but I just can’t give this one up. It’s familiar and comfortable to me. I may use another translation once in a while for study or contemplation, but this one is comfortable in my hands. I can find things more easily and have many important little notes jotted in the margins.
So when I came home from our ladies’ retreat, then moved into this new house and I couldn’t find my Bible, I was a little worried. I had a full scale search going through the house, drawers, boxes, cabinets, shelves, cars. I asked some friends who I had ridden with if they could look in their cars. I called my friend who’s house we stayed at during the move to see if she had found it.
Nothing….it was gone….=(
I got out my old Bible from my teen and college years and used it. It was actually my mom’s Bible before it was mine and it has her name embosses on the front. It is also hard bound, but has fake leather-looking material on it that is now crunchy feeling with age….ew. I enjoyed using it, finding my old study notes from those years, learning from my home church pastor, youth retreats, college conferences and classes.
Because I had about given up on finding it, I began looking through the CBD catalog for a new Bible.
Then a little over a week ago, I got a phone call….
“Hello, is this Christie Lord?”
“Yes,” I said, thinking it was yet another phone solicitor targeting new move ins.
“You don’t know me, but I have your Bible. And I’m in New York.”
*picture me here with my mouth hanging open and starting to laugh in amazement*
It turns out that my Bible had slipped under the front seat of the moving truck and stowed away, undetected, until it arrived in upstate New York! (funny thing is, I never stepped foot in that moving truck, so I don’t know how it got there) She told me that she had been cleaning out the truck after moving from Phoenix to New York and had thrown away some things, like a few clothing items (which solved a mystery Emma was having about some missing clothing) but when she came across the Bible, she opened it and began leafing through it. Now, you could leaf through my Bible for days without coming up for air, it’s just that way, what with all the notes and cool stuff to look at. And that is just what she did! She apologized for going through my things, but I said I didn’t mind at all. I was glad she enjoyed it and I was so excited that she actually took the time to look for me! After reading various notes, she decided she had to find me. So with just my name and my husband’s name, and knowing we might be in the Phoenix area, she tracked us down. She thanked me for leaving that Bible in the truck and said it had ministered so much to her. Some of the notes were exactly what she needed to hear and encouraged her to get closer to the Lord again and to find a church. (WOW) Then she asked if she could keep it for a few more days, so that she could copy down some of the notes….of course I said yes. I was so amazed that a simple ‘mistake’ (and result of my frenetic disorganization) could turn out bringing someone closer to God. It was all masterfully orchestrated.
My Bible went on a mission trip!!
The last thing I had put in my file…er, Bible….was the notes from the ladies’ retreat I had been on with this new church, the same weekend we were moving. So I pretty much new the notes she was talking about. They were just what I had needed to hear too at the retreat. They were the notes from the Bible studies on Joseph’s life….about how God uses the hard things in our lives to develop deeper character. Then He uses the stronger character in us to serve Him in greater ways. It was a God-inspired type of Bible study that Jan Shrader had led that weekend, and its influence was felt across the country!
When I saw the mailman at my door the other day, holding a large mailing envelope, I knew it was my Bible. I tore it open to find out if there was a letter or anything in it to find out more about this woman who had shared some of my very personal notes. There was no letter, but she had put inside the cover a brand new note pad! Maybe she is one of those well prepared people and likes things organized, so my ‘system’ probably had her shaking her head. Ha…=)
I am so glad to have my Bible back…..but I am so glad to have ‘lost’ it for a while. It did good work.
Today was a good day. I didn't want to get up at first because I went to bed with a killer headache. When I did, even though I was a little late, I went to our state SBC Vacation Bible School conference. 
Friday night we had a Good Friday service with a contemporary/contemplative flair to it. We were given a nail as we entered the sanctuary, which had a fog machine going up near the stage and red spotlights pointed at a very rugged looking cross in front of the stage. The was a stage set up away from the main area, draped in black where a band played worship songs, mostly related to the cross. Then above the band was a powerpoint of video clips, no audio, of scenes from 
My dad had his 81st birthday this past January. Quite a milestone and it has come at quite a price. He was the picture of health up through his 60’s. He always exercised and ate right. He was in a hiking club until 70something and some heart problems forced him to quit anything strenuous, but he still walked each day. In his 70's we watched him go through a lot of physical problems and lots of procedures and surgeries to get to 80! A stent and angioplasty in his early 70's, followed by a pacemaker.... steadily we watched his weakening heart slowing him down to a shuffle. Then prostate cancer and recurring scar tissue from the prostate surgery which made his kidneys shut down for a few days last year. His mind is slowing down as is his body and we have to remind him of things he knew well a year ago. The doctors put him through a year's worth of testing and evaluation to determine if he is getting Alzheimer's disease, as his 2 sisters do. The results were negative, which is a great relief. The diagnosis is dementia, worsened by the kidney failure..…just old age. His body was so strong that it is outlasting his mind it seems. 
There was a family, made up of a mom and dad and 6 children. They were happy as they lived and laughed and grew…..up. These children went off to have their own families, reuniting whenever they could for holidays or vacations, and they were happy as they lived and laughed and grew.....older. The mom and dad of the six became grandparents, then great-grandparents….they grew older together and supported each other in love, laughter and remembering, watching their family grow. 
There was another family. I do not know how many, but close to 200….they lived and laughed and learned together how to grow…..in spirit and in the love of Christ. They were a church, the body of Christ. They grew and began reaching out as members of this body with the hands, feet, ears, eyes and mouth of Christ. In fact, they reached out to this small despairing family. 
Cat talk.
I am sitting on my bed and and watching as my clock just changed to 12:00 AM, April 1, 2006. If that isn't exciting I don't know what is. National Humor month is here starting with April Fools Day or "Good Dogs Day" as a sign on the street said. Not only is there lots of laughter this month (which is one of my favorite things to do and it's good for you too) it is national frog month too (and I like frogs). Here's a heads up for upcoming, usually unknown and forgotten holidays this month, the 10th is national sibling day, the 16th is national stress awareness day, the 17th is national cheeseball day, and the 21st is national high five day. Oh, and it's national guitar month! 
My fondest (cool word) memories of my Dad are at Easter time. I remember him waking me up to go set up chairs at Buckskinner Park early one Easter morning. I was so excited that I got to wear pants to a "church" service that I forgot to look in my Easter basket. It was really cold that morning and there was frost on the dead grass (it has to be dead because we don't have live grass in Williams). I sat in the front row singing along with my Dad on his guitar, then came the usual resurrection message. The sun started to rise higher in the sky to warm things up and melt the frost (so the grass would be wet), and then it could sit back in the sky and watch people (slip on the wet grass). My dad then took us out to eat at a restaurant, then proceeded home to drop me and my sister off to change into dresses for sunday school and remember that candy that had been neglected.
off watching the morning come in. I actually listen (I know wow!). I think about that morning and if it had frost beautifully glazed on the grass maybe with a slight foggy mist. 
Walking through the garden tombs (which doesn't sound particularly enjoyable, but I have heard they are quite enchanting) in the crisp morning air in your bare feet. Finding that instead of spicing up (or preserving) a dead guy, finding he's alive and right there waiting for you to get up and see him. It would have been the perfect day! 
I paint it on my ceiling
I’ll paint it in each of my rooms
There is a growing group of Christian ladies who write blogs. Some of us join in the Carnival of Beauty (started by Sallie of 
Oh, I love posts 
blog. I love it when God actually shows you the results of something that you had a hand in...like a gardener who sows the seed after the last frost and gets to enjoy the beautiful blooms in July.
I love my Bible. 
