Moving — Again
April 13th, 2008
Is it my imagination, or did the girls look like they had fun last night? (Hint: the bikini top-wearing fashion statement is related to me in some way). Amazingly enough, Bren got to sleep by 3 a.m. and was rested enough to keep from falling asleep in church this afternoon.
While I sat in the truck this morning waiting for Bren to emerge from her friend’s house, I rolled the window down so I could smell and feel the cold air. It hit me just how much I am going to miss about Alaska. I love the cold, I just don’t like the brutal frigid air. After I took this pic I hung my hand out the window and tried my best to memorize how good it felt. I know soon enough I will be hanging my sweaty hand out the window, letting it float on the hot Missouri summer air.
Let’s Lose Sixty Pounds And Buy New Clothes!
December 23rd, 2007
All showered and make-up applied, I stood in my little walk-in closet this morning wearing a t-shirt, a towel wrapped around my waist, trying to find something to wear. It’s the Sunday before Christmas and I knew everyone at church was going to be in their nicest outfits, looking very festive. I had nothing.
I grabbed a brown pair of jeans and a brown blouse, then set up the ironing board. While ironing my top, Bren came in looking very pretty and plopped down on my bed to watch me. “You’re not wearing brown on brown are you?”, she asked.
“Yes, I am. I have nothing else to wear.” I finished ironing and put the blouse on, then the jeans. I heard a stifled laugh coming from Bren’s direction and turned to looked at her. “What!?
Now, Where Was I?…
February 15th, 2007
Seattle.
Our five days in Seattle were a whirlwind, made much more enjoyable by a little red Mustang rental car. I grinned like a teenager when the guy handed me the keys. Sports cars never did much for me visually, but those engines….Now I know what the fuss is all about.
Cancer.
Spending hours every day for three days in a cancer treatment hospital was very sobering. Bald heads. Weak bodies. Hopeless expressions. Fear. Angels in white coats. The level of care and compassion in the hospital staff was a bit of a shock to me after a lifetime of militalry hospitals. It was amazing to see and feel.
Friend.
Leah and I got to know each other better, as women who share a hotel room for a week are likely to do. She is strong and funny and insanely clean. I love her more now than I did a week ago. Leah and her husband returned to Seattle on Monday and she underwent a double mastectomy yesterday. We, along with others in our church family and her mother, are helping to take care of their four children while mom and dad are away. Please pray for Leah’s quick recovery and safe return home to her kiddos.
Bren.
Sigh. This week Bren hurt someone she cares about in order to obey God’s word (2 Cor 6:14-15). It was a test in believing God at His word and trusting Him completely for the outcome. It was, and continues to be tough. Knowing she did the right thing hasn’t made the knot in her stomach and ache in her heart go away. We’ve been praying together daily, asking that God will bring glory to Himself through this, because all she feels like she did was make a young person bitter.
Music.
Rick, Bren, and I, along with Bren’s friend Rachel, attended this concert in Fairbanks on Saturday. Perfection. Amazing. Beautiful.
I missed you.
Blessings.
217fRamble With Me
January 25th, 2007
That flowy black blouse I love to wear because it covers my bum and is not form-fitting in the least (and I never have to iron it)—well, Bren wouldn’t let me wear it tonight. She hates that blouse. She went to the laundry room in the basement and brought up my green striped button-up Lands’ End shirt, then pinned back my too long bangs with a few bobby pins, and put a pair of her earrings on me. Giving me a once-over, Bren delcared me fit to be seen in public and we were out the door to church.
We didn’t make it to church. I took the ramp to the highway and drove us to The Mother Ship instead. Oddly enough, I run away to that very public place when I don’t feel like being around people. What’s really going on when I do this is I don’t want to be around people I know. I was irritable and didn’t want to plaster on my fake smile and say, “I’m fine, thanks”, when I really didn’t feel fine. I would have rather worn a sign around my neck that said, “I’m grouchy, don’t talk to me.” It’s difficult not being able to talk or pray myself out of feeling that way.
Long Post, Grab A Cuppa Coffee
January 21st, 2007
Click on the scripture references to read the text in NKJV.
Make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding; for if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the Lord, and discover the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding” ~Prov. 2:2-6
I read a lot of books, articles, magazines, blogs, ezines, and sermons. I listen to sermons online and at church. I attend a women’s bible study and receive additional bible teaching at church on Wednesday nights. I have a varied church backgroud having been a member of Assemblies of God, Church of Christ, PCA: Presbyterian Churches of America (Reformed), three Southern Baptist churches, and three Independent Baptist churches, one of which we are currently members of. (Any military family will understand all these moves!). And I completed two semesters of bible college (I had the pleasure of being the first student to receive an F from one of the professors, so I have nothing to boast of here).
Alice In Wonderland Is Creepy
January 18th, 2007
Auditions for the high school production of Alice In Wonderland began today which had Bren in a bit of a state. I was glad we began the day with bible study at the chapel, as hearing great teaching from God’s word has a calming effect on her. Bren felt the audition went well and is looking forward to attending the second session today after school.
(For some reason, I have never liked Alice In Wonderland, even as a child. It was just too weird for me then, and it still is today. Tell! Is there a story that creeped you out as a kid?)
Still not feeling to great, after dropping Bren off at school I came home and napped, waking up when Rick returned home from work a bit early. He had a dinner to attend in town this evening so we didn’t go to church. I was feeling ill and Bren had a lot of school work to get done, so we laid around the livingroom; she working on a paper, and I on my bible study lesson. At around 8:45 p.m. we turned on the t.v. and AI was on. We watched a bit but ended up switching the channel to watch Top Chef. It was unbearable listening to all those awful singers audition. They weren’t worth enduring, even for the ocassional halfway decent voices. I second Keith’s sentiments big-time!
Tomorrow is going to be busier than today was. Bren has her class at the college in the morning then will spend her afternoon at the high school for drama and more auditions. I invited two friends over for dinner tonight (Thurs) and haven’t a thing in the fridge to eat, so I will be doing some grocery shopping and housework to prepare for them. One of the gals, whose husband is deployed to Iraq, has a little boy that she’ll bring with her. I hope he likes the poopers. I look forward to talking with the ladies and getting to know them better.
I’m so thankful that God keeps us even when we are so busy and our minds are far from Him for a time. I pray I will be sensitive to the Holy Spirit in the midst of the busyness so at the end of the day I don’t have that feeling of having missed Christ. He’s here with me; I don’t have to miss Him!
1faeMuch About Today
January 16th, 2007
Good:
Not So Good:
Surprising:
Enjoyable:
Wanting:
Looking Forward To:
Fun And Games
January 15th, 2007
I often wonder how it is that I wake up with a song in my mind when I haven’t heard it in a long time. This happened to me this morning; I woke up singing in my mind the following hymn. What a wonderful way to wake up.
There is a redeemer
Jesus, God’s own Son
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah
Holy One
Jesus my redeemer
Name above all names
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah
Oh for sinners slain
Thank you oh my Father
For giving us Your Son
And leaving Your Spirit
‘Til the work on Earth is done.
When I stand in Glory
I will see His face
And there I’ll serve my King forever
In that Holy Place.
Thank you oh my father,
For giving us Your Son
And leaving Your Spirit
‘Til the work on Earth is done
~ Keith Green
It was peaceful and quiet this morning as we headed for church. It began snowing and still is as I write this at 3:20 a.m.
A Day In The Life…
January 11th, 2007
A proper blog post is somewhere in this brain of mine, but evidently it’s not ready to be born yet because I’ve been sitting here all evening typing and deleting all kinds of nonsense. If after a hundred tries you don’t succeed, stick to the basics. Here’s what happened at our house today:
6:30 – 25-below zero; got up and made Rick oatmeal for breakfast. Watched morning news and a bit of Today. Checked email.
8:00 – Woke up Bren
9:30 – Bren and I attend the first class of a new ladies bible study at the chapel.
11:15 – 15-below zero; Post office to mail packages for mom and dad and sister
Quiet As a Church Mouse
January 8th, 2007
After lying in bed for awhile I determined that sleep wasn’t going to arrive anytime soon – after all, it isn’t even midnight yet – so I climbed out of bed, fumbled in a dresser drawer for a pair of socks (since I have no idea where my slippers are) and slipped into our little, very cold office to see what the rest of the world may be up to.
I wanted to blog all day today but didn’t get the chance, so now I shall. Since my bible and notebook are downstairs I can’t post today’s sermon notes, nor one of the beautiful hymns we sang today in church, so I guess this will be filed under the “general” category unless something unexpected comes out my fingertips. I’ll start at the beginning.
I woke up at 8:30 and went straight in to wake Bren since she wanted to help me get Sunday dinner in the crockpot before getting ready for church. Rick had to get up early this morning to see off some troops that were leaving for a deployment. I thought he was still gone but found him in the kitchen hovering over the kettle making me a cuppa coffee. He turned down the light for me when he saw me navigating my way with the vision one barely-open eye could provide. I know I scrunch up my nose when I squint like that, and along with my rumpled night clothes and severe bedhead…well, Rick needs much grace to gaze on me with love that early in the morning. He may be just sneaking glances at me as to not hurt his eyes, but I could hardly blame him for it. To my great surprise, Bren came straight down and we proceeded to put together the meal with just a few outbursts of bickering. We shoulda had coffee first.
Rick left ahead of us to return some movies at BlockBuster and said he would meet us at church. We are still in the grip of a deep freeze and it is no fun at all to be dressed up for church on a morning like this. When we got out of the car Bren and I locked arms and leaned into each other to keep from sliding around. Bren kicked herself all the way in the church doors for wearing heels. “What was I thinking!?, she kept asking to no one in particular.
The first message this morning was on “Knowing God vs. Knowing About God”, the second was a sermon in an ongoing series on personal finance. (Because of our unique winter circumstances here in Alaska, we have Sunday school, then first service; a thirty-minute break for snack/coffee/fellowship, then we resume worship and have a second message. This way we don’t have to return to the church in the evening).
After church Bren and I drove to the store to pick up fresh veggies returned home to put the meal together while Rick yelled football updates to us from the livingroom. Alaska is four hours behind the East Coast, so we only get to watch the last half of the second Sunday game. Beside an hour-long game of three-way gin (Rick won), each of us spent the rest of the afternoon quietly doing our own thing in different areas of the house.
I need to get a good thermostat. The first one we bought was off by 20 degrees on the cold side; the second, our current one, won’t go below minus 20. I know this because it was about 30-below today, but I suppose it really doesn’t matter when it’s this cold, does it? It’s not like I’m going to say, “Oh look honey, it’s warmed to 15-below, you can go shovel the driveway now” Nuh-uh.
My feet are cold; it’s time to move to a warmer part of the house.
Be safe. Blessings!
Late For New Year
January 3rd, 2007
Normal life has resumed and I’m glad. I can only take so much holiday when that holiday consists of us staying at home. The three of us. Together. For days on end.
The Christmas decorations are down and sitting in a pile on the livingroom floor waiting to be taken home to their boxes where they will remain for the next eleven months. Thanks to a New Year’s Day G.I. Party, the house is looking quite spiffy, and very bare.
New Year’s Eve bonfire at the church. Click to enlarge.
Late For Everything
December 28th, 2006
It was 20-below today and this room we call our office is very cold. I have yet to live in a house where all rooms are created equal in the heating and cooling sense. The housing rules state we are not to have space heaters, so we don’t have space heaters, we have a space heater. A really really safe one. Really. Rick has it in the bedroom, but he’s under lots of covers and I’m tempted to go in there and steal it so my toes don’t go numb. I’m too lazy to go find my Uggs.
Just Keep Reading, Reading…
December 5th, 2006
There isn’t a Bren in sight. The computer is mine, mine, all mine!
For some reason Bren’s laptop has lost it’s ability to access the internet even though it’s connected to the wireless. I haven’t a clue about these things so I haven’t gotten it fixed yet and Bren has pretty much taken over the home PC. By the time she goes to bed I’m too tired to write, so my blogging has suffered. I suppose I should kick her off for my blogging time each day.
The highlights of the past few days—
Wednesday Night Worship
November 23rd, 2006
Those who are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing, to declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. ~ Psalm 92:12-15
We had a wonderful time of worship this evening despite the small number of us. I love it that God’s family can come together – many or few – and be so blessed by offering thanks and praises to God as a church.
Since we didn’t have a piano player tonight we chose hymns we knew well and sang heartily to the LORD. After a message on Psalm 103 from our pastor, we shared praises, concerns, and prayer requests with one another. Following prayer we enjoyed time talking over coffee and dessert.
I was especially moved tonight when this handsome gentleman, Al, gave praise to God that he is feeling better than he has in quite awhile. Al has been in a lot of pain for a long time, doctors unable to find the source. I had not approached Al to introduce myself, so I did so tonight and was so glad I did. I love him and his lovely wife already. If you would, please pray Al’s body will continue to heal.
Our pastor and his wife returned home safely from a missions conference in Florida yesterday and it’s good to have them back with us. After Rick serves the troops at the dining hall in the early afternoon (we will have an early meal there as we do every year), we will go to the pastor’s house for awhile.
Our Decision
November 20th, 2006
He who walks with wise men will be wise. But the companion of fools will be destroyed. ~ Prov 13:20
We have prayerfully decided to homeschool Bren and are completely peaceful and confident in our decison. Since we have a few years of homeschooling behind us the decision wasn’t a difficult one to make, but we didn’t want to assume it was the right thing to do without thinking and praying more about.
The confirmation we are making the right decision was given to us by way of the sermon yesterday morning during worship. The pastor preached on being set apart as God’s people, being diligent to remain uncorrupted in this perverse generation; how bad company corrupts good morals. Occasionally I would sneak glances at Bren to see if she was taking it all in and she would smile back at me.
We have a busy day ahead of us, beginning with going to school to withdraw Bren and cleaning out her locker. I’m not sure how it will go as we need to find out if Bren can attend her drama class today through Wednesday, and next Monday. She is teamed up with a guy to perform a scene from Arsenic and Old Lace for a grade, and his grade depends upon Bren, so she needs to be there.
Right now Bren is thrilled with the prospect of being able to get enough sleep every night and having the time to do things she used to enjoy, like cooking and baking and reading for pleasure. She’s also hoping to get a volunteer job. To her, life seems better already.
I appreciate all the words of support and all your prayers. Thank you.
11/16/06
November 16th, 2006
This morning before Rick left for work I made sure he went in and woke Bren up at 6:30, then I dozed back off since he didn’t need breakfast today. I woke up at 7:00 and knew Bren hadn’t gotten up. I called to her and she stumbled out of her room with her eyes barely open.
“What time is it?”
“Seven”
“What!?”
“Your dad went in and woke you up at 6:30.”
“I just laid back down for a few more minutes!”
“Well, I guess it turned into thirty minutes, didn’t it? You better move so you’re not late for school again.”
Why don’t people like us ever learn that “just a few more minutes” is just torture? We feel awful in the morning no matter what time we get up, so why don’t we just get up and feel awful and get it over with? Oh yeah – because we don’t want to. Sigh.
1f49Daylight Dwindling
November 4th, 2006
I took this pic on our way home from the ski lodge this evening. This road, going left, leads to our street. Beautiful full moon tonight!
Another cold day here in paradise. Looking at the frosted white treetops against the clear, brilliant blue sky was breathtaking. Good thing I don’t have to actually work in our “office”. With the view, I’d never get anything done.
This afternoon we had a very nice visit with the pastor of the church we have been attending. If we had any doubts about whether this is the church the Lord would have us at, they are gone.
The pastor left at 3 p.m. and we found ourselves rushing out the door to take a drive up to the base ski lodge before it got dark. We thought that was pretty funny, but soon we won’t have to rush because there won’t be much daylight to speak of, yet alone to see by. I managed to get a few photos that you can see here.
O Worship The King
October 9th, 2006
O worship the King, all glorious above,
O gratefully sing His power and His love;
Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,
Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.O tell of His might, O sing of His grace,
Whose robe is the light, Whose canopy space,
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
And dark is His path on the wings of the storm.
The earth with its store of wonders untold,
Almighty, Thy power hath founded of old;
Established it fast by a changeless decree,
And round it hath cast, like a mantle, the sea.
Thy bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.
Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail;
Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end,
Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend.
O measureless might! Ineffable love! ~ William Kethe
It was good to be in the house of the Lord today! We sang this hymn which is one of my favorites.
Back to Reality
October 5th, 2006
Our household goods are here :) The delivery is set up for tomorrow which is nice; we’ll have a three-day weekend to work together to get the bulk of the boxes emptied out.
The next few days are going to be very busy, and since we no longer have the wireless connection at home, my postings may be sporadic until I get the DSL hooked up. My goal is still to post daily, though.
We didn’t go to church last night. Rick is still sick with a cold and was completely wiped out when he got home last night. I made the command decision to stay home and make him go to bed early. Bren was also tired after spending almost four hours working on a project at the library after school. Me? I’m just enjoying my last couple days of being a lazy housewife before it’s time to unpack the house.
Bren woke up this morning at 5:30 cursing her XX chromosomes. Since she was ready for school early I drove her through BK for breakfast then dropped her off at school. I’m now sitting in the billeting office, which is a real fun place to be early in the morning. There are four other people sitting around looking at laptops, ESPN is on the widescreen t.v.; luggage, janitor, coffee, travel plans, cologne. It’s 27-degrees outside. Life is good.
On to orientation.
Later then ~
My Freshman
October 4th, 2006
The kids at school don’t seem to know what to do with Bren. I’m convinced that at least one kid probably thinks she’s an undercover cop, spread the word, and now everyone’s avoiding her like a term paper.
Bren’s had several occasions when the upper classmen have had good conversations with her then are shock-and-awed when they discover she’s a freshman. Evidently, the super duper Secret Code of public school is Thou shalt not mingle with, speak to, act slightly interested in, stand next to, breath the same air as, or hold an intelligent conversation with a FRESHMAN. I think the penalty for violating this Code is picture expulsion from the yearbook and six months of penance to be carried out in the library during lunch break.
