He is the Lord and there is no other.

Today's Bible verse is Isaiah 45:18 and it ends by him saying "I am the Lord and there is no other." It reminds me of a sticker I used to have on the refrigerator that said something like "Our God is an awesome God." My stepson asked what it meant since it seemed to imply there is another god and there is only one God. I am glad that there is only one Lord. I am so very glad that I know Him and that He loves me. I watched as much of the inauguration festivities as I could on my computer at work in between taking care of patients. The thing that really bothered me was the huge crowds of people (2 million?) so large that they could be seen and photographed from outer space, and they were there to celebrate and honor and praise a man named Barack Obama. More than once the crowd began chanting "Obama,Obama, Obama" over and over. They were waving banners proclaiming that their hope is in Obama. Now I know that a lot was because he is the first African American president and I do believe it is time for us to have a president of color. A lot was because he is a Democrat and many are glad to be done with the Bush era. Many were just excited to be there taking part in history. But still it was sad and frightening to me. When your hope is in a man, you will be disappointed. Some say he has a "rock star persona". He is a very charismatic speaker, nobody can deny that. But in spite of all that, he is still a man and still fallible. And he is not the Lord. My prayers are with him and our government and our country. My respect is for his office as president. BUT Jesus is my Lord and my hope is in Him and Him alone.

How precious is life?

Today is Life Sunday and this week is the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. So this morning the sermon was on the value of life. Psalms 139 was the text, and Pastor Rod talked about how precious a baby is when it is born and asked if it was any less precious a minute before birth. And if not then how about a minute before that? If you back up one minute at a time, how far back do you have to go before that minute is the defining minute and life is no longer precious? And looking ahead, how old does someone have to be before their life no longer has meaning? How do we define the worth of a life? Is it based on their productivity? Is it based on their age or their size? I remember when I was getting married and the attorney wanted me to sign my husband's prenuptial agreement. The attorney looked me in the eye and said I needed to sign it to protect my husband's assets because I was "worth nothing". I know he meant financial assets, but it still stings over 20 years later. I gave up my home I was buying and let it go back to the bank and I gave up my high paying government job to relocate to where my husband wanted to live and work. But financially I was "worth nothing". And I really thought I must be worth loving or he wouldn't want to marry me. Right? But how do we place value on life? This week was a tragic week for many people. My cousin's son died at the age of 32 leaving behind a wife and two daughters. There seems to be some debate about whether it was an accident since he was in a garage with a running vehicle, although he was working on the vehicle. A house fire near here killed four young children. My dear friend's brother ended his life at age 40. How much do we value life? This weekend also, three of our friends celebrated 50th birthdays and next week another friend of ours is turning 95. Do we stop to think how valuable life is? Life is a gift we are given by God. He knew from the moment we were conceived how many days we would live. Each minute of each day is a precious gift. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are precious to Him. In His eyes I am worth as much as anybody else is. Celebrate Life!

Thank you, God!

I thank the Lord, for getting me safely home tonight. I give Him all the glory and praise! He is so good to me and I am so undeserving.

Today was one of my all day wrestling tournaments that I have to do blood duty for. It was a big junior varsity invitational with 9 schools there. It was gray and windy when I went to town and the gravel roads were starting to drift some. But I had to be there at 9:30AM and I was told it would likely be done by 4 or 4:30PM. It's one of those things where I don't have a choice, I am just told when to be there. It was a very very long day. We had the usual split lips and bloody noses and scratches to patch up and clean up after. In order to get done in time for the basketball game that was to come in after us, we got no breaks, just kept plugging along through round after round. It was cold and drafty in the gym and the seats got so hard and uncomfortable. But then the basketball game got canceled and I asked why. It seems that the wind had continued all day to the point that the roads were dangerous. I heard how highway 18 west out of town was so bad there was a semi rollover and lots of cars in the ditch. Then I heard about hwy 63 south of us being bad. Then I heard about the gravel roads being completely drifted shut in places. I started getting more and more frightened and worried about how I'd get home. Finally we got done and out of there at 6:30PM. So I called my husband and asked which way to try to come home. He told me the wind was from the north so I should take the north/south gravel roads after taking highway 18 to the west some. So I did. The street even in town was nearly impassable, and the visibility on hwy 18 was bad. Then I turned onto the gravel and immediately was plowing my way through huge drifts, some of which I couldn't see the other side to know how high it was or how far across it was. For those whole three miles, I prayed and begged God to get me safely home and told Him I would glorify Him for it. Each big drift I made it safely through, I thanked Him and praised Him for it. The visibility was so bad, I had to aim for the middle of the road and hope I was still on it. It reminded me of when I used to drive the rural mail route except this time it was dark and I couldn't see very far ahead. We were to go to a church couples' party in town at 7 and a birthday party in another town at 8, but when I finally got in my own garage and the car shut off, I told my dear husband that I was not going back out tonight. So we are home for the night and we will see what the morning brings. I just hope and pray that all those buses and all those families make it safely home to their warm houses tonight too. I'm so glad that God is not my copilot, but He is my pilot. Thank you, God, for getting me safely home tonight.

Where in the world is global warming?

Today there is no school because of the arctic temperatures. We don't want kids walking to school or standing outside waiting on their bus when skin will freeze in 10 minutes or less. This morning it was 30 below zero with 45 below zero wind chills! It has currently warmed up to 20 below zero and it is afternoon here. In fact all time record lows were set in our state. Never before in recorded history has it been 30 below zero here I guess. Wow! We won! The sun is shining so brightly, it is hard to realize that you can't breathe in cold this frigid without almost freezing your lungs. Which brings me to the all-important question: where in the world is the global warming we are to be worrying about? I have a hard time being too concerned about the melting ice cap when we are setting record lows and turning into the new arctic region with our own ice caps.

Thank You!

Thank you so much for your help, Vanessa! Deb, can you read my random thoughts now? It looked fine on my computer and on my daughter's computer when she read it, but when I went back to edit it, it showed up in weird little webdings hieroglyphics thingies. So I'm wondering if that is what y'all were seeing too and thought I was talking in alien or something. I'm sorry. Please leave me a comment and let me know if I fixed the problem. My daughter says other times the font size is too small or the ink color too light to show up on hers and makes it really hard to read as well. I apologize. Thanks, Deb, for asking so I'd know there was a problem. So now you think my whole alliteration explanation was weird too, right? Oh well, what can I say? Can I blame it on the cold weather freezing my brain? Please? When you are stuck at home for days on end watching it snow and when you do venture out it is 35 below zero wind chills, it does weird things to your mind for sure. Today we went to school on time for a change, but then they announced we'd be getting out at 12:30 as there were blizzard warnings coming. Pretty soon they announced we were getting out at 10:30AM instead! So I drove to town to be at work 3 hours! When the kids were gone, I stopped at Pamida and got my husband's meds and some other winter necessities for my daughter's car and headed on home in blowing snow. The roads were drifting pretty good already in places. But I got home okay and made lunch and then did laundry and made a new dessert recipe and a pot of homemade beef stew for supper and a pot of split pea soup as well. I'm the only one who likes split pea soup, so I don't usually bother to make it, but what the hey, I had the whole day practically. Now some cornbread muffins and we will have a feast. The wind is absolutely howling outside right now and although the temp. is currently 15 above zero, it is zero wind chill. They are saying tomorrow's actual high is to be zero and Thursday's high temp is to be 5 below zero (THAT'S A HIGH?)! So we will see if there is school tomorrow or not. We are to get another storm just like this one on Wednesday and more snow on Friday and Sunday. My daughter is to start driving to college tomorrow morning. I am picturing her having to take off through all those wonderful snowdrifts and it is scaring me.
Well, I am going to go fold clothes. Once again, thanks for your help. Please leave a comment and tell me if I fixed the problem. OK?

Just Blogging Along

Well, this Sunday we actually made it to church and home again with only snow on top of icy roads, but nothing impassable. Last Sunday of course we didn't make it to church because of all the ice. So it was nice to be back in a normal routine. We so often take things like going to church and out to lunch and home for a Sunday nap for granted. There are a lot of things we take for granted. Last week the town was out of water because of a water main break. So there were no showers and no drinking water. Or how about when the electricity goes off? It's an adventure to light the candles and kerosene lamps. But then you realize the microwave and tv and computer don't work, or even the garage door opener. What kinds of things do you take for granted?

I don't know if there is a way to answer comments that are left on my blog or not. If there is, would somebody please explain it to me? But a comment was left asking about my random ramblings post; did it mean something or was it a goof? I'm not sure I understand the question. My random thoughts blog was just that, random blogs about different subjects on my mind that day. But if you are referring to my header or title page, yes it was intentional. I like alliteration. Therefore my address to my blog is letters, lines and lyrics from linda, and my title page explains what you will find here as random ramblings, rhetoric and rhymes. I like words. I like to write poetry. I like unusual words. Another favorite of mine is onomatopoeia. So I guess you could say I was being goofy in defining the content of my blog in alliteration. I could also have said it was quick questions, quips and quotes or maybe silly senseless sentences. I hope that answered your comment. I just like to play around with words. And my blog doesn't have a particular theme, but just the thoughts I think. Ok?

By the way, we are under a blizzard warning for tomorrow again and by midweek we are to be 20 degrees below zero actual temperature. Oh yeah, it is definitely an Iowa winter.

Turkeys Today

Remember the field with the deer standing in it on my way to work? Well, today there were 16 wild turkeys standing in the same spot in the same field. Wow! Thought maybe it was a commentary on my being out on those icy roads going to work. You know, only turkeys would be out on a day like this? But the roads weren't all THAT bad and I got to work safely for our two hour late start day. It was a very very busy day in the nurse's office! For many of these kids I am the only medical care they receive. And I fear it will become even more that way as the economy worsens. So after two weeks without medical care, my office was full! I had kids who had fallen on the ice at home over the weekend. I had kids with ear infections and toothaches and sore throats and tummy aches and headaches and coughs. I had kids who needed hugs. I had kids delighted to finally be back at school and I had kids crying and wanting to go back home again. So I guess it wasn't just a day for turkeys, and a good thing I was back at work.

The gift of another day

And so, once again, school is canceled. Therefore, I have received the gift of another whole day off. Of course that is one more day I will be going to school this summer, but for now I will enjoy another day off. Last night I laid out my stuff for going back to work. Then I got the call that school would be 2 hours delayed due to the ice. I also received a call that due to a water main break in town, we were all to bring our own drinking water to work. Now, I'm the nurse so as I went to bed I was wondering how much water I would need to take with me to give out to all the kids taking meds during the day. I also wondered how the school would ensure that nobody accidentally got a drink from the water fountains or refilled their water bottles in the bathroom sinks. See, we were under a boil order. But this morning I got called and told that school was now canceled and the boil order is lifted as well. So I am home again and I don't have to worry about water tomorrow. YEAH!

Today our son left to drive to Colorado. He had planned to leave at 7AM but he was just waking up then. It was actually 9 before he left. But I fixed him an egg sandwich and some hot apple cider for breakfast before he left. Sent him off with his favorite cookies and some homemade caramels, his favorite candy. When he arrived here just before Christmas, he came out on snowy and icy roads. Now he is going back on icy roads as well. I pray that God keeps him safe on that 14 hour drive.

Today is Day One of the Love Dare. Are you familiar with this? Have you seen the movie Fireproof? If you are married or hope to marry, you should see this movie. In the movie, the husband is challenged by his dad not to give up on his marriage until he had completed the 40 day love dare. So the Love Dare is a book with 40 things to show love to your spouse. Actually so far it seems it could show love to anyone. Today's love dare is to be patient and not say anything negative to your spouse. If you go to FamilyLife.com and register, they will send you the daily love dare. Starting today, the 40 days will end on Feb. 13 and then you can celebrate with a Valentine's Day date on the 14th.

So how shall I celebrate this gift of another free day? Shall I watch TV, play a game with my daughter, do some baking, clean house, balance the checkbook, read a good book, take a nap, sew, craft, or what? Should I see how many of those things I can cram into one day or should I just kick back and relax and watch the day go by? Should I write an encouraging letter to a few friends or should I just pamper myself? Thank you, God, for the gift of every day you give us!

Random Ramblings

Well, we are now moving into the new year. What can I tell you about it so far? Did I tell you about New Year's Day? My daughter went off to spend time with her high school friends and left me home alone. What a bummer. I read a book and did laundry and just "hung out" at home. When my husband came in for lunch we even watched some of the Rose Bowl parade. I did the traditional thing and made ham and bean soup and cornbread for supper and chicken noodle soup for the rest of the family who did not grow up on ham and beans.

January 2nd, we went to town for massages. See my family gave me a gift certificate for an hour massage for my birthday back in April and it has taken me this long to get up nerve enough to go try it out. I'd never had a massage before and was quite apprehensive. So I took my daughter along for moral support and split it with her; each of us got a half hour massage. It was wonderful! I highly recommend it. I will definitely go for another one sometime. Then we met my husband for lunch (the service was horrible! and the food was "ok"). We went to our local department store and spent almost $100 on new lights and a potted pine tree and all kinds of other goodies that were all on markdown sales. (I saved over $60, the receipt said!) Then my daughter and I headed off to the community college where she will be attending this next semester. We had gone over on Tuesday and got her registered for her classes. But we couldn't get her books until we had arranged the financing. Everyone was very nice to us on Tuesday; the adviser, the lady in the bookstore and even the dean we met on the sidewalk. So we were not anticipating the experience we had with financial aid. My daughter called and asked if they were there and if we could make an appt. to come talk to them. The woman told her she didn't need to come to the college, but should just register for her loans online. My daughter said no, we needed to discuss her scholarships and grants with them as well. The lady wasn't very welcoming but did say she'd be there all day. On our way there, my daughter told me she had qualms about me going with her, as she was afraid I'd get upset about the cost of her going there and tell her again she should go back to the private college. See, we had gotten a letter from the community college that indicated she should borrow $4000 for one semester there and she had only borrowed that much for the whole year at the private college. So I was definitely upset about that. But I wanted to know why the letter from the community college showed only one grant for $740 when she had received $28,000 in scholarships and grants at the private college. Anyway, when we got there, the financial aid woman asked if she had applied online for these loans yet. We said no, but we needed to find out about her grants before we knew how much we needed to borrow. The woman just kept telling us to apply for the loans. She told us to go down the hall and use their computer to apply for loans since we hadn't done it at home. We tried to tell her that there was money borrowed already for the other college that hadn't all been used and we didn't want to borrow that much again if we didn't need to. She wouldn't listen, just kept telling us to go apply for loans. Finally I said, we don't even have a bill or know how much it will cost for tuition here, so we don't know how much money we need to come up with. So she looked at her little chart and said tuition was $1755 plus books. She added up the cost of books and it was about $315. So that made $2,070 total. Take away the $740 grant they had her getting and she still only owed about $1330. So again I asked why she needed to borrow $4000. I asked how we could get her books and the woman just insisted we couldn't get the books until after we had applied for and gotten the loans. Finally, the woman did refer us on to her supervisor. YEAH! He was nice and efficient and knowledgeable. Again, we explained the whole thing to him. He told us that two of her grants were not accepted at that college or had already been disbursed for this year. However, he got right on his phone and called Des Moines and talked to the guy there about her state grants and when he got off the phone, he told us the good news. Her one state grant will pay all of her tuition totally. The other grants and scholarships will pay for her books and supplies. And there will be money leftover to buy gas or other living expenses or to apply towards a summer term if she wants. Then he made her out a voucher for more than her books cost and sent us directly across the hall to the bookstore where she bought $315 of books. When we walked out of there, she said she was so very glad I had come along with her. She wouldn't have known what all to ask about the different grants and she would not have been as persistent about getting answers as I was. I was glad too and so relieved to know it is paid for. See, that had been one of the things sticking in my "craw". She was throwing away a $32,000 per year private college where board and room and books and etc. were all covered except for the $4000 in loans. And in exchange she was going to pay $4000 plus travel costs and live with us for board and room and etc. to go to a community college for one semester! So at least it is paid for and I can relax about that. I told her that if she never learns another thing from me, to remember this: to always be proactive and to be persistent about getting answers. No matter if it is with a doctor or a college or a car dealership or whatever, do your homework and know what to ask and persist until someone gives you answers.

Then we went to the next town and spent more money on stuff we mostly needed. When we got home, our son had gotten home with his two new yellow lab puppies so we had to play with them awhile of course. This morning they were forecasting an ice storm. So we stayed home all day and did laundry and dishes and baked cookies and paid bills and all that kind of stuff. Oh, we also took down the tree and put the Christmas stuff away and threw out a bunch of sweets nobody was eating. Cleaned out the old stack of newspapers and so on. See, my vacation is coming to a rapid end. Well, I think it is. I am to go back to work on Monday. But I heard tonight there was a multiple water main break in town and the rumor was it could be 3 or 4 days until it is fixed. I don't know what the hospitals and nursing homes in town are doing about it, but my principal says there can't be 1200 kids in school without water available. So we have to wait and see. Oh, and the rain is falling and our son says even our yard is terribly slick since it is 29 degrees out. So we'll see what tomorrow brings. The new year could be as interesting as the old one was. I hope you are enjoying your year so far and that it isn't slick wherever you are.

The old has gone, the new has come

Today's verse is II Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" How fitting for the first day of a new year. Last night as my daughter and I watched the ball drop in New York, I wondered what the new year will bring. I wondered if the Lord will come back before next New Year's eve. I wondered what changes will occur in our country with the new president. I wonder what wars will be fought and which friends and family we will lose. I also wonder how many new friends we will make in this coming year. I think of the babies that will be born this year. No matter how many regrets we might have about the past year, we can rejoice in the fact that, "the old has gone and the new has come." There are a whole brand new bunch of possibilities and experiences ahead of us. The year that my husband had open heart surgery right before Christmas, I remember sitting in the ICU waiting area with a lady from Hawaii. She was telling me about the new year traditions there. She told me that before the new year comes, the whole house is cleaned. All dust is swept away. All leftovers are removed from the refrigerator and disposed of. All that is old is cleaned up so that when the new year arrives, the house is clean and they begin anew. I should do that to my house, but it didn't happen. There are still leftovers in my refrigerator and there are still cobwebs and dust bunnies left from 2008 (and some probably from before that if truth were known). But I thank God that He has made me a new creation. There were a lot of things about the old me that I didn't like at all. There are things about the new me that I don't like so much either, but I know I am a work in progress and He is growing me into what I should be. As I look ahead to 2009, I totally rejoice in the words of this verse, "the old has gone, the new has come!" Isn't it fun to start over with a clean slate, a blank page to write upon? There are new books to read, new friends to meet, new adventures to embark upon, new places to visit, and new things to learn.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!