Letters from Linda

New books

2010-01-13T14:49:00.000-08:00

Today the sun is shining and it actually got up to 29 degrees. Some dear friends of ours stopped to visit this afternoon. And I got a box of books in the mail today. As I mentioned in my last blog, I ordered a bunch of books from Christianbook.com. My favorite author is Karen Kingsbury. I read the five books in her Redemption series several years ago. But they are followed by 3 more series that continue about the same family, the Baxters. The firstborn series has 5 books, and the Sunset/Sunrise series has 4 books I think and then the Above the Line series has 2 but 2 more to come yet. The Redemption ones I checked out of the library but then my daughter bought me one of them knowing I wanted to own them all. For Christmas she got me the first two of the Above the Line series. So I decided to bite the bullet and order the missing ones so I could start over and then read on through all 16 of them. I couldn't put my finger on the one she bought me from the Redemption series but I had it in my head that it was the first one. So I ordered the other 4 and all the rest. Now that they are arriving here, I found the one I had and it was actually #2 Remember. So now I have a second one of that one coming and will not have #1 unless I send in another order. I am so frustrated with myself that I didn't look before I ordered. Now it will be another 2 weeks before I will have the whole set and can start reading them all. Oh well, books don't spoil for waiting. I love books! My daughter does too. I used to just have one or two authors that I collected. Now my whole house is nearly full of books. Shelves are completely full, 2 deep and others piled on top. There are books in boxes and piles of books in corners. I have started weeding some out to give to our church library for others to read. But I have so many favorite authors that I can't part with! Who are your favorite authors? We won't part with any Karen Kingsbury, Beverly Lewis, Wanda Brunstetter, Linda Nichols, Tracie Peterson, Liz Curtis Higgs, Nicholas Sparks, Richard Paul Evans, and quite a few others. My favorite all time book was Not My Will by Francena H. Arnold. I first read that one when I was a teen and I've reread it so many times and I cry every time I do. What authors do you collect? What do you do with your overabundance of books?

Blogging

2010-01-08T12:46:00.000-08:00

I've noticed how many of my blogger friends, blog often and about one particular subject each time. I tend to blog less often and just randomly ramble on from one topic to another. Is there a correct way to blog? Am I breaking some cardinal rule of blogging? Does anybody know? Should my entries be short and sweet and about a select subject? For Christmas I was given a Psalm journal. Each day has 3 or 4 Psalms and then one page to journal on. So each day my journalling takes exactly that one page, no more and no less. Maybe my blog should be limited to a certain number of lines or paragraphs. Have you seen the movie Julie and Julia? I did and was rather disappointed in it, but the basis of the movie is that Julie decides to start a blog and each day she makes recipes from Julia's cookbook and then blogs about them. I admire the fact that she blogged everyday. I also admire the premise that she cooked her way clear through that huge French cookbook in one year. I'm not that creative or dedicated though, so you are simply "treated" to my random ramblings about life in general. I apologize.

BJ came home Tuesday getting home Wed. AM at 2:30. He drove straight through leaving his home in Colorado at 9:45 Tuesday AM. But he beat the storm coming in on Wed. night which lasted throughout Thursday and caused two more snowdays at school here. So Wed. night we opened Christmas presents with him and Cassandra has been making lots of wonderful meals for us. Last night the 4 of us even played a game of euchre together. That was fun. The Christmas tree and decorations are still up because Cassandra insisted they had to be up when BJ got here. I am itching to take them down now though, but haven't gotten her to agree yet. We'll see.

We've been sorting through my piles of books I've read. Some are boxed to donate to our church library. Some are bagged up to loan out to friends of mine. Some have been posted and mailed off to other readers through PaperbackSwap.com. And then I got online and ordered another $200 worth of books from Christianbook.com. I love Christian fiction. My daughter does too. We get disgusted with how secular authors so often feel they need to throw in sex and smut to liven up their books. We prefer a good story plot to embarrassing details.

My daughter's "best friend" from preschool on, got engaged for Christmas. This has caused several heartaches in our family. We are happy for the friend, but now that she is the second of my daughter's classmates to be getting married this summer, my daughter is even more aware that she has no boyfriend. I have tried to tell her there are worse things than being single, but it is hard to understand when your best friend is planning her wedding. The other heartache is that although my daughter is one of the bridesmaids, she has been upstaged by a girl who has made my daughter's life miserable since junior high. This other girl is the maid of honor, and loves wielding the power. When they all went to try on dresses and be measured the other day, my daughter ended up driving alone the 140 mile roundtrip while the others, bride included, piled into the maid of honor's car. Then they promptly left her in the dust as they were breaking the speed limit and my daughter won't. She had mapquested the store and when she arrived, they weren't there. So she called them and they were eating lunch at the mall food court without telling her, of course. So she sat alone in her car at the store for half an hour waiting on them. Then when they tried on dresses, the one the bride had picked for them was strapless and not a style my big girl would look particularly good in, but at least it had a full skirt and was comfortable. So the m of h convinced the bride to change to a very tight, very form-fitting, strapless dress. So my daughter had to pay $120 for a dress that will look bad on her and that is so tight and straight she is uncomfortable and can hardly move in it. Then as they left the store, she was told they were going on to two other stores to look at dresses for the bride. They didn't know where they were but would follow the bride's GPS. My daughter was informed they would not let her follow them across town because she drives the speed limit but she could sit and wait there until they called to tell her where they ended up or she could just go on home since she really wasn't even needed any more. Then they took off and left my daughter sitting alone in her car in the parking lot again, but this time in tears. She drove home with a horrible headache and feeling like a total outcast and like she had lost her oldest friend. I was furious and really thought she should call and cancel her dress order and tell the bride to find someone else. But she is too kind-hearted to do that and will just go ahead and be miserable. What can I tell her? Not all girls are as mature as she is. Not all friends act like friends all the time. I am so proud of her for sticking by her beliefs and doing the speed limit even though it meant she had no lunch and caused her to be rejected by the others. Although the bride herself was not overtly mean to my daughter, it angers me that she allowed the maid of honor to be. It angers me that she chose that mean girl to be her maid of honor when my daughter has been a much better friend and much longer than this other girl and she knows how that girl has treated my daughter. We had planned to spend a lot of time and work and money making a very nice gift for the wedding, but I now don't want to do anything special for her at all. I've heard of "bridezillas", but have you ever heard of maids of dishonor? I told my daughter as far as I can tell she has two choices, either refuse to be in the wedding at all or paste a big smile on her face and be a much better friend to the bride than the bride is being to her. Do any of you know of another option that I am missing?

Anyway, that is my blogging for today. Thank you for letting me ramble. I think maybe I'll go try to take down my Christmas stuff.

Happy New Year 2010

2010-01-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

Well, it's a new month, new decade, and new year. A friend of mine recently lost his grandmother at the age of 110. She had lived in 3 centuries, and parts of 12 decades. Can you imagine all the changes she saw? She would have been born in 1899. Just think of her seeing her first automobile all the way to the space shuttle. All the way from the first radio and TV to hand held computers. From crank telephones where you told an actual operator who you were calling to teeny tiny cell phones. I think I've seen a lot of changes in my own life, and I'm less than half her age. My first cell phone (mobile phone) was about the size of a lunch box and sat on the console in my car when I went on my rural mail route. I got 15 minutes a month for $15 and my husband dared to say I "wasn't worth that much money". He thought it was a wasteful expense. Now our cell phone bill is over $100 a month and all 3 of us carry one of those little buggers in our pockets. I grew up without TV due to religious reasons, and you have no idea how often I wish we still didn't have one. I hate how it is on constantly when the others are home. I hate the Dish that brings in so many poor choices of programming. I remember when I was a teen trying to shape up, how I'd lie on the bed or floor and do sit ups and leg lifts and etc. till my muscles screamed for reprieve. Now my daughter has a Wii and Wii fit plus. She does hula hoops and marches in a band and does boxing and kung fu and yoga and step aerobics all without leaving her little balance board in the middle of the livingroom floor. Then when she gets done it automatically weighs her and tells her what her BMI is and even graphs it for her so she can see how she's making progress toward her goal. Do you remember the little "wing windows" on cars? Not sure why I just thought of them, but I did. So much has changed since I was born in 1958. I used to sit and write letters by hand and stick a stamp on the envelope and mail it off to my pen pal. Now I just update my blog and figure she'll check it when she has time. I used to find out what was going on in the lives of my cousins when Grandma came to visit us and told us the latest news. Now I can get on facebook and in no time at all I know what my cousins are doing today and what they had for supper last night and what their kids are up to. I can even see photos and videos of them at any given time. I wonder what this decade will bring our way. More wars? or peace? What new technology that we can't live without? Births? Deaths? Sickness? Health? Marriages? Divorces? Whatever it brings, I want to walk closer to my Lord in 10 years than I do now.

Dare I say Happy Holidays?

2009-12-30T18:58:00.000-08:00

I know, I know. We are to be an example to the world and say Merry Christmas, not Happy Holidays. And I did do that very regularly this season. But I picked this title because I wanted to relate our Christmas but also look ahead to the new year. So please forgive me for deviating from Merry Christmas.

Yes, we had a merry Christmas and I hope you did also. The weather forecast was for 2 days of ice then 20 inches of snow then more ice. So on Wed. we postponed the big family Christmas dinner which I was to host, from Christmas Day to Sunday after. I also changed the menu from ham and turkey and trimmings to soups and snacks and salads and sweets. The storm didn't really materialize as forecast. That was fine with me and I thoroughly enjoyed being "sorta stuck" at home, just the three of us. We got up and opened gifts and ate Land of Nod Rolls for breakfast. Then we played with our new games and then ate lunch. My daughter was really surprised and thrilled with her wii and wii fit plus. She hadn't even asked for one knowing they are expensive. But as a family we had fun bowling and playing tennis on the wii and she has thoroughly enjoyed the wii fit plus, working out for an hour a day every day since then. My big gift from my husband and daughter was a record player that plugs into the computer so you can change your records into MP3 or burn them onto CDs. I will enjoy listening to all my old records once again, when I figure out how to run it. I have my mom's old records of the Chuck Wagon Gang and the Big Brass Marching Band. I have dad's records from his college music appreciation days by all the classical composers. I have the local church groups of my childhood like the Gateway Singers and the New Creations. I have my favorite groups from my college days like The Bee Gees and Bay City Rollers and Cat Stevens. And I may even have some old country like Hank Snow and Hank Thompson. I was excitedly telling my niece about my gift and how excited I was and she tried to burst my bubble by telling me they already sell those old records on CD. Well I doubt they have them all and besides it would cost a lot more to go buy them on CD when I have them already on record and can copy my own. Right? Anyway, we had a good Christmas and I hope you did too.

Today we went to a funeral of a former neighbor of ours. In fact my husband and his brother farm that guy's former land. This guy was 93 and had been in the nursing home for 6 years. As one after another stood up and told stories about this guy and his faith and how he impacted their lives, it became very clear where his priorities had been. And then his son told how he'd been to see his dad on Nov. 28th and they had a nice visit. On the 29th he was called and told his dad was bleeding internally and vomiting. The ER doctors wanted to do surgery but this dear old guy said "nope, I don't want surgery, I just want to go home to Heaven". The son agreed that the family would honor his wishes. So he was put into hospice and when he went to sleep on the 30th, he woke up at 6 AM on Dec. 1st in the presence of his Lord. What more could you ask for? I can't picture anything better than going to sleep and waking up in Heaven. After the funeral another neighbor said to me, "well that is final, there aren't any do-overs" and I said "nope, that's why you have to get it right the first time". So how does this tie into New Years? 2009 is pretty much gone. There are no do-overs. But 2010 is a new year and a new decade and a whole new chance to get it right the first time. I want to live my life in such a way that when I die all the stories told about me will be a testament to my faith and all will know that I woke up in the presence of my Lord.

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and I hope you have a very blessed and Happy New Year!

Christmas is Coming!

2009-12-23T14:36:00.000-08:00

Well, as an update to my last post, the doctor did call the following week and say that my bloodwork indicated an infection so he needed me back in Rochester the next day for another test. The weather was good so we were able to go up and back in one day. The test wasn't pleasant, but bearable. It was a needle aspiration trying to find fluid in the new knee to test for infection. It would take 5 days to culture and he would call me this week with the results. If it is infected, I will need surgery soon to remove the new joint, pack it with antibiotics and then spend two months in an immobilizer with no joint. After two months back in to replace the joint. If it isn't infected, then I am scheduled for surgery on March 19th. I can again begin bugging them for a cancellation and chance to move up on the schedule. He also released me to go back to work with some major limitations. Limited bending, twisting, turning, stooping, kneeling, walking, no lifting over 10 pounds, and sit behind a desk only; rather hard to do as a nurse. I asked work if they could find me something I could do so I don't run out of sick leave and they said no they can't afford to pay me to do less than my full job. If I run out of sick leave then I will have to take leave without pay and that would save them money. So here I sit at home yet worrying about sick leave and trying not to worry. And here I sit waiting for the phone to ring so the doctor can tell me whether it is infected or not. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and he hasn't called.

We finally got the Christmas tree last weekend and it's somewhat decorated. My daughter hung the lights and tinsel and in fact cut down the tree herself. Our cookie exchange was last week so lots of goodies to eat here. It has been snowing since Sunday and now today we have had sleet and snow and more sleet. We are to have ice today and tomorrow followed by snow and wind Christmas day and the following two days. So today I called all my inlaws and canceled Christmas Day dinner with a tentative rescheduling for Sunday if the roads are passable by then. I also changed the menu from ham and turkey to soup so I can make it at the last minute if the roads are good enough for people to travel and so if we have a lot of leftovers we can freeze them. The freezers and cupboards are full and we are hunkering down here to wait out the storm. I had gotten no shopping done, so last week a neighbor lady went with me to push the cart and help me and I did it all in 2 hours at Walmart. Then we went out to lunch and had a nice time together. It was good to be all done. Sunday our high school Nu Hi Chorale came and sang at our church. It is a yearly tradition that I really enjoy; church tour is when the public school choir goes to all churches in our school district on 2 Sunday mornings and sings 3 songs during the service. It is so good. This year though it moved me to tears. I miss the kids so much. I could look at those kids and knew what so many of them have gone through to get to this day and see them looking so angelic in their choir robes. I don't miss the politics or paperwork of my school job, but I do miss the kids very much. I missed the Sunday School Christmas program Sunday night because the roads were so slick with snow that morning that I was a little afraid to go back out on them after dark. I wonder if we will have Christmas Eve service tomorrow night. It will be a quiet day here on Christmas. Neither of our boys will be home so just the 3 of us to celebrate together. It might be kind of nice actually to be able to sit back and actually enjoy family time together.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and that you will reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. It is Christmas because Jesus came to be the Christ and Saviour of the world. He was born so we could be born again. That is truly a reason to celebrate.

Snow storms and doctor appointments

2009-12-10T15:14:00.000-08:00

For weeks and weeks I've waited on my chance to see a doctor at Mayo in Rochester for a second opinion on my knee. My original surgeon did a scope on July 22nd and then did a total knee replacement on Sept. 9th. However, I can still not walk without a walker and even with it I am in a lot of pain and it often goes out from under me and I almost fall. The physical therapists and I discovered that my kneecap was on the side of my leg not in front where it belongs. When I asked the original surgeon about this, he told me I was fine and that if it wasn't better in a couple of weeks he would go in with the scope again. At that point I called my family doctor and asked for a different surgeon. Finally this Tuesday was my chance. A major snowstorm was forecast and I was to be at the clinic at 7:30AM so my daughter and I went to Rochester on Monday night and stayed in a very old guesthouse near the clinic. It did snow all night and all day Tuesday. I had xrays from about every possible angle and then saw the doctor. I really liked him. He was very personable and very thorough and explained everything. He agreed and the xrays confirmed that indeed my kneecap is on the side of my leg. But then after a thorough exam he felt there was more wrong than that and that perhaps my muscles and ligaments might not be attached to the kneecap to keep it where it belongs and to allow my leg to hold itself straight. He said this cannot be fixed with a scope so that would have been another wasted surgery had I allowed it to be done. He ordered labwork to check for infection and he ordered a very thorough ultrasound of the knee to check the muscles and ligaments. He said we may even have to replace the new joint I got in Sept. He will call me next week to tell me the test results and how extensive the surgery will need to be. However, he has hundreds of patients awaiting surgery and he only does 12 per week. So I am worried how long I will wait and how long recovery will be and if I will miss the whole year of work. If I do what will we live on and what will happen to my medical insurance through work? I know, I know, God is in control, but it is hard not to worry.

Anyway, I got done at Mayo about noon or so on Tuesday. It was still snowing and a blizzard warning went into effect at noon Tues through midnight Thurs. AM. So I called home and my husband checked the radar and it was right upon our home at that time. So since with my walker I'd be helpless if I were to go into a ditch, and I had a 70 mile drive home, he told me to stay put in Rochester. So I checked us into a Super 8 for the next two nights. On the way there we stopped at a store for paper plates and lunch meat and buns and milk and juice and cheese. We had a nice room, 2 beds, a table and 2 chairs and a 27" tv. There was a nice lobby with tables and chairs and a fireplace and there was an indoor pool and whirlpool which we had no clothes for. So Tuesday afternoon and night we sat in our room watching the snow out the window. We had sandwiches for lunch in our room. For supper we had pizza delivered. All day Wednesday we sat at our motel and watch the snow blow by and listened to the wind howling at our window. We did go down to the lobby and play cards for awhile and for lunch and supper both Cassandra hiked through the blowing snow to the Denny's next door and brought us back hot meals. The rest of the time we hung out in our room reading books and doing crafts and watching TV and she did homework and we played on her laptop computer. It was an okay break. We were a little sad that we were stuck in a city with movie theaters and shopping malls and restaurants and we couldn't leave our motel. But we were warm and dry and had all our necessities met. About 11AM today Thursday, Cassandra shoveled out our car and got it warmed up and we loaded our belongings and headed for home finally. There was still snow blowing across the road in places and lots of icy patches on the road, but we were careful and we got home safely. It is good to be home. In Rochester they got 13 inches of snow. I don't know how much they got here at home but it was plenty and those 50mph winds made some horrific drifts. This was only our second snow of the season and the drifts look like it's been snowing for months. I hope this is not an indication of what the whole winter will be like. If so, my walker and I may just hibernate until spring. I hope wherever you are, that you are safe and warm.

New Christmas Lights

2009-12-04T09:35:00.000-08:00

On my front deck I have a couple of solar butterflies and a solar lily. It is so cool that all they do is sit in the flower pots and soak up the sunshine and then at night they glow and change colors all by themselves. So the other day I was thinking, somebody should make solar Christmas lights. They keep advertising these LED lights to save energy but just think how much energy could be saved by solar lights. So wouldn't you know, the very next day almost, I found them at Mills Fleet Farm. There they were, solar LED Christmas lights. Now I hate stringing extension cords to the front deck for the lights. I hate going out in the bitter cold each night to plug them in and then to unplug them at bedtime. I've tried putting a timer on the cord so I don't have to go out, but then it gets icy and the timer freezes and won't turn and once again I'm outside in the cold trying to thaw and reset the timer. So this is the perfect solution for me. NO cords. NO timers. The little solar panel sits in the flower pot on the deck with the dead geraniums and soaks up the sunshine all day and as soon as it gets dark my Christmas lights come on automatically. Then after about 6 hours (which is close to bedtime) the lights just go off by themselves. YEAH!!! I love them!

Then I got to thinking about the deeper meaning of all this. Reminds me of the Christian life. Some people have to be plugged into programs at all times to look or act Christian. Some have timers because they only look Christian on Sundays and religious holidays. But I want to be a solar light. I want to soak up all the love and light of the Son all the time so that I will reflect His light to the dark world for all to see.

Random Acts of Kindness

2009-12-02T13:13:00.000-08:00

In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving the challenge on facebook was to make your status each day something you are thankful for. That was easy. The only hard part was trying to narrow it down to one a day. Now in the days and weeks leading up to Christmas, a friend of mine has challenged us to do random acts of kindness each day. His challenge was only for a week, but I can't think of a nicer way to prepare for Christmas, than to carry it on for the month. So I am trying to do a random act each day. For instance, sending a card to a neighbor who is now in the nursing home. So yesterday when I picked my daughter up at the airport, I decided to do a random act of kindness there. As I left the parking lot, the parking fee for me was $2. So I gave the attendant $10 and told him to keep the change and use it to pay the fees for anybody following me out until the $8 was used up. He looked at me like I had lost my mind. I explained that I was doing a random act of kindness to celebrate Christmas. He still looked at me like I was a mental case, but as he tucked the $10 bill into his money drawer he reluctantly said, ok, he'd see who else left the lot. Now maybe he blessed another 3 or 4 people or maybe he kept the money as a tip. I don't know and I don't really care. I felt good doing it and I hope I made someone else's day as well even if it was only the parking lot attendant's. So here is my challenge to you. Try doing random acts of kindness from now until Christmas and let me know of any fun experiences you have with it.

Black Friday

2009-11-27T16:48:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. Mine was okay. Wednesday was better actually. My daughter and I made a turkey and mashed potatoes and corn casserole and cranberry salad and pumpkin pies. Actually she did most of the making and I did the dishes. She had a girlfriend from college over for lunch and then we watched an old movie together. It was a nice day. Yesterday was the family dinner with the inlaws at a hall which I'd arranged. But I had forgotten to arrange for heat to be turned up ahead of us arriving and so the complaining began promptly. For at least 4 hours I watched as one after another tried to turn the heat up although I repeatedly explained it had to be done by computer by a trained person. And when the trained person arrived after my calling him and disrupting his dinner, he couldn't get it to work perhaps due to all the tampering others had been doing. So for 4 hours I listened to complaining and whining and even insulting about how this hall rental had been handled. Thanks so much. It cost them nothing. They didn't have to clean it. They just had to show up and eat. Today we found out that a repairman had to be called and there will be expense to fix this thermostat situation. The food was good. But somehow I lost track of Thanksgiving in the midst of all the whining and complaining. How sad is that?

So now today is Black Friday. I have relatives who planned to be at the stores by 5AM. The newsman said there were 50,000 people in the mall between midnight and 2AM. There were people camping in tents in the parking lot at Best Buy last night in November in Iowa where the temps were in the 20s. Why? What does all the grabbing, fighting, commercialism have to do with the coming of Christmas? The coming of Christ? The radio today was playing a lot of Christmas carols, while people are out fighting to save a buck or two. On TV a lady said she plans to spend $1500 on Christmas this year so she had to go fight the crowds to make such a little amount spread far enough. "Little amount?" The next story on the nightly news was about the face of hunger in America. It showed a lady who tries to feed a family of 2 adults and 4 kids on $150 a month for groceries from her unemployment. The kids only get to eat breakfast a couple days a week. She cried because she couldn't afford to buy a box of cereal for them. She eats her lunch at a soup kitchen many days of the week. And then the bright spot was the story about the 8-yr-old girl who asked Santa for a kidney and a friend of the family gave her one of hers. I know it is called black Friday because that is when the retailers hope to get into the black for the year. But I find it blackly depressing as it points out the skewed priorities of some people and the vast disparities in people's circumstances. So, did I go shopping? Kinda, not really. My husband needed to pick up something at Best Buy for our business so we went closer to noon. I let him out and I went to Barnes and Noble to use the restroom and then bought a couple books I've been wanting to read and did get a gift for my sister-in-law to give to her granddaughter. Then we ate lunch and came home. It was very good to get home away from the crowds. I hope we can put the "thanks" back in Thanksgiving and keep "Christ" in Christmas.

A Note of Thanksgiving

2009-11-24T12:55:00.000-08:00

I have been feeling very guilty about being so slack in updating my blog. I have no good excuse at all. I have just ignored you, my dear friends, for 3 months plus. On Saturday I went to see the movie Julie and Julia with my daughter. We were both disappointed in the movie itself, but in the movie Julie faithfully updates her blog every single day even if she is ill or fighting with her husband or having a bad day or whatever. Every single day!! So that really laid the guilt trip on me. So here I am. First of all, I will give you a brief update on my condition. As you may remember, on July 22nd I went to the hospital for a total knee replacement. When I woke up, I was told I still needed it but the surgeon had only scoped it and would do the total knee later. So on Sept. 9th I went back to the same hospital and that time I did receive a new knee joint. As it turned out, when the anesthesiologist put the femoral block in to numb the leg, he actually paralyzed the quad muscle in the leg. 11 weeks later I still have to lift that leg by pulling on my pant leg or putting a towel sling under my foot. Anyway, after many sessions of physical therapy, it became obvious to the therapists and myself that the joint is also not hooked up correctly. It seems the knee cap is on the outside of my leg, not center, and the joint grinds and pops and slides around in there and hurts and is unstable. So when I went back and pointed this out to the surgeon, he said well maybe he'd have to go in again with the scope and see if he could push it into place. Well, my thinking is, he had two chances so why should I give him a third one? So I am waiting to get into Mayo for a second opinion on Dec. 8th. I am so hoping and praying that the doctor there can somehow put it together without another surgery. In the meantime, I am still walking with a walker, still not sleeping well, still unable to do a lot of things for myself and for my home. And I have now been off work 11 weeks, so the sick leave is flying by. But since I am basically house bound, I have no excuse for not updating my blog on a daily basis. Please forgive me and please keep me in your prayers.

NOW, ON TO MY NOTE OF THANKSGIVING!I have so very much to be thankful for!
1,2. I have several friends who have been struggling with cancer all summer. I am thankful they are still here and I am thankful my knee isn't something life-threatening.
3. I am thankful that my daughter is living at home and going to community college so she is here to help me with the cooking and house and grocery shopping and all the stuff I can't do.
4. I am thankful our crops are finally all out of the field.
5,6,7. I am thankful that even though our well and furnace both had major problems this fall, we were able to afford to get them fixed/replaced and I am thankful for water and heat.
8. I am thankful for sick leave so I still get a paycheck.
9. I am thankful God sent a substitute nurse who ran out of severance pay from her hospital job the same week I had my surgery and she can sub for me as long as I need her to.
10. I am thankful for the new king sized bed my husband finally bought us.
11. I am thankful for having the cupboards and freezers full of food.
12. I am thankful for a nice house (it's not big, it's not fancy, but it's nice enough for me).
13,14. I am thankful for health insurance and for health care workers.
15. I am thankful that almost everything I need is all on one level of my house since I can't do stairs now.
16. I am thankful for my new rolling walker with a seat and basket so I can go to the store some now too.
17. I am thankful for good friends who care about me and call and send cards and bring food and most of all pray for me.
18. I am thankful for southern gospel music.
19. I am thankful for women's Bible study and the camaraderie of sisters in Christ who share in our joys and tribulations and share hugs.
20. I am thankful for my church family.
21. I am thankful for older Christians who are mentors and encouragers and who pray for me.
22,23. I am thankful for good books to read and jigsaw puzzles to put together.
24,25,26. I'm thankful for sunshine and sunrises and sunsets.
27. I'm thankful we haven't had any snowstorms yet.
28. I'm thankful for a car that runs.
29. I'm thankful for clothes to wear.
30. I'm thankful for animals who love us unconditionally.
31. I'm thankful for all five of my senses and that they work so I can so fully enjoy the world around me.
32,33,34. I am thankful for my kids and my husband and my siblings.
35. I am very thankful that my nephew at Ft. Hood only heard the gunfire and wasn't injured.
36. I am thankful for missionaries who put their very lives on the line on a daily basis to help where they are needed.
37. I am thankful for our military who does the same.
38,39,40. I am thankful for indoor plumbing and modern appliances and technology.
41. I am thankful for pain relievers.
42,43,44,45. I am thankful for forgiveness and salvation and eternal life and God's grace.
46. I am thankful for democracy.
47. I am thankful for the 152 religious leaders who weren't afraid to draft and sign the Manhattan Declaration and stand up for Christian values.
48. I am thankful we still have enough religious freedom that they can do that without being shot for their beliefs.
49,50,51. I am thankful for mountains and oceans and miles of corn fields and wheat fields.

Oh, I could go on and on. You thought I already did, didn't you? But there are so many many things to be thankful for. God has blessed me abundantly and continues to bless me so far above what I deserve. I am thankful we have a holiday dedicated to giving thanks so we actually stop and take time to be thankful. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you also take the time to make a list of your blessings. God bless you!

SAVING

2009-08-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

In reading some other blogs, I see where people are talking about saving for the recession, saving for emergencies, saving for job losses, stockpiling for disasters, etc. Now I admit I saved ahead for the Y2K non-disaster. I didn't go overboard, but I did stockpile some necessities just like I normally do during the winter months. I did however, add a few more oil lamps and bottles of lamp oil than I normally would. I am a "saver"; can I blame that on my parents surviving the depression? I have an extra kitchen in my basement that has cupboards of home-canned goods in them. I have cupboards of paper plates and plastic utensils. I even have a spare stove that is electric while my main one upstairs is gas. The original intention was that would be my canning kitchen and not heat up the upstairs. However, since it is also my sewing room and has become the family dumping ground for anything they don't know what to do with, canning there was a major undertaking and moved back upstairs. But it is a good place to use as my survival "pantry". Now, I've been on the Homeland Security website and others and have seen the 3 page lists of "essentials" to stockpile in case of disaster. There are even separate lists based on which disaster we are planning on; a flu survival kit for the pandemic, a live out of your basement survival kit in case of nuclear disaster, and lists of things that will be endangered first in case of a bartering system being instated. There are lists of supplies needed to live off the land, and lists of supplies to never set foot outside on the land again. I sometimes laugh that I could feed a 3rd world country out of the stockpiles of groceries already in my house. Am I paranoid? Or am I prepared? Am I frugal? Or am I over-spending? The Bible says not to be anxious about what we will eat or wear because God will take care of us just like he does the birds and flowers. But shouldn't we also be responsible and prepare for the days ahead so we aren't a burden on others? Where do we draw the line so to speak? What is taking care of our families and what is wasting our family's money? Those of you who know me well, know that I am a "planner". When we go on vacation I take along blankets in case the hotel room is cold and I take along a fan in case it is hot and doesn't have air conditioning. I take along food and extra clothes and extra medications and etc. My husband is a "fly by the seat of your pants" guy. He figures why pack so much when there is a WalMart every 100 miles or less and he can buy whatever he forgot to take along. My motto is to prepare for the worst and hope for the best and usually reality is somewhere in between the two. Recently in Bible study, we were watching a video series When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box, and the speaker said we are accumulating stuff we don't need even knowing that we can't take it with us when we die. He talked about how much money is spent each year by people renting storage units to store the stuff they accumulate. And how we work long hours and ignore the things truly important to us, so we can buy more stuff to store, stuff that someone else will have to get rid of when we are gone. So I guess my question is, how do we know when we have enough stuff? How much do we need to save? I am interested in any of your thoughts on this subject.

And here we go again?

2009-07-28T17:29:00.000-07:00

I went to the surgeon for my checkup appointment today since it has been six days since the surgery. I thought the stitches were to come out today, but he said nope not time yet. So now I have to miss some work next Tuesday to go back to get the stitches out. That's okay I guess. But then they tried to schedule me for August 19th to do the other knee. Now I'm concerned, very concerned. Last week I went in for a total knee replacement and got a scope repair. This time I am going in for a scope repair and afraid it will turn into a total knee. So I don't know what to do now. I want to do it before I hurt the first one again, but I don't want to do it till the first one heals some more. I also don't want to wait and run into ice and snow and slipping and sliding with my walker if he does the total knee. So what do I do? Come on, God, you know you are control on this one. You know you will change my plans as needed. So please, God, just help me make the right plans to start with. Thanks. Will you all pray for me too?

And still more changed plans!

2009-07-23T19:22:00.001-07:00

Well, sometimes I have no idea why things happen the way they do. I know I was surrounded by prayer, so I must accept that God's will was done. Right? But why and how and now what? As you read yesterday I was to have a scope and probable total knee replacement. Up at 4AM, drove through horrible fog to get to the hospital 45 miles away by 5:30 AM. Stuck and dug 3 times by lab to get more blood samples, started an IV, etc. Into surgery at 7AM. Woke up in the recovery room and was told nope you didn't have a total knee. I went back to sleep, woke up again and asked, did I really not get a new knee? Nope, you didn't get a new knee. I was home by 1PM. I never saw the surgeon before or after, but he told my family that yes I have arthritis and yes I need a new knee, but he decided to wait and do it another time when it is worse and try just fixing the cartilage and meniscus this time instead. I wasn't given an ice pack or crutches, just a can of Sprite, a piece of toast and a pain pill and sent home and told to see him in a week. I'm not to get my incisions wet for a week and to keep it elevated as much as possible and do my exercises and take pain pills. That is all. I am so confused. If it needs replaced, then why didn't he do it? Why am I in worse pain now than I was before I had the surgery? When will he do the other one? What will he do to it? Why did I go through 3 weeks of pre-op preparation and all the hassles; 2 trips to the medical doctor, 1 to the dentist, 1 to the eye doctor, 1 to the orthopedics doc, 3 hours prep at the hospital and have to come up with a living will and power of attorney and all the blood tests and ekg and xrays and so on for nothing and so I can just hurt worse than before? I am so discouraged and depressed and frustrated. But yet I am not the one in control. I know that and I accept that. I have to accept that.

Right now in Bible study we are doing a study by John Ortberg from his book, "When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box". Our chapter this past week was that we are not the Master of the Board. He is. He is in control. I know He is. But it is so very hard to not try to be in control. I want answers. I want to know the plans ahead of time. I want to see the game rules. I like to take care of others. I don't like to be the one needing taken care of. I don't like feeling helpless. It hurts to get in and out of bed. It hurts to go to the bathroom. Please pray for me to quit hurting so much. Please pray for healing. Please pray that I will give up and give in and let Him be the master of the board, even if I don't understand. Thanks.

Changed Plans

2009-07-21T17:12:00.000-07:00

Somebody told me the other day that we make plans and God laughs. I don't know if that is true, but I know His plans for us are not necessarily our plans for us. His plans are the right ones though I am sure. I had planned to get a lot of stuff accomplished this summer while I am off work from school. This particular week I was going to take my daughter and go to Colorado to see my stepson and my aunt and my daughter's college friend and some of my cousins. We had our itinerary planned. We were going to spend some time in the Denver and Ft. Collins and then Colorado Springs areas. But my knee which has bothered me for years got a lot worse this spring and even worse this summer. When I was using a cane and not sleeping at night, I went to the family doctor who sent me to an orthopedics doctor who scheduled me for knee surgery this week. There went my trip to Colorado. But the funny thing is my stepson is in California, my aunt doesn't feel up to having company, the college friend is also not in Colorado, and my daughter who was going with me, got a job and started to work yesterday. So much for my plans. Once again God has proven that He is in control. I am to be at the hospital at 5:30AM tomorrow and to have surgery at 7. The doctor is going in with a scope first and if it looks as bad on scope as it did on xray he will go ahead and do a total knee replacement while I am still under. If he fixes it with the scope, I will be home tomorrow night. If I have a total knee replacement, which he told me to plan on, I will be in the hospital 3-5 days, probably until Sunday or Monday. I will then walk with a walker for 4 weeks and do daily therapy and not drive for weeks. I don't know what will happen when it is time for me to go back to work at school. I will cross that bridge when I come to it. In the meantime, I am just looking forward to having it over and hopefully less pain. I will also have to have the other knee replaced at some point and don't know how soon. The surgeon said the right one looks worse on xray but since the left one hurts worse, we will do it first. So if the operating crew gets mixed up and do the wrong knee, so be it, they both need it. Please keep me in your prayers and I will update you when I am home again. Thanks, Linda

How long is an hour?

2009-05-30T12:03:00.001-07:00

Have you ever had a week that seemed like it was about a month long? I remember once the boys asked for the millionth time how long until we got somewhere and Dale said an hour. Then they asked how long is an hour. Dale replied it depends; riding in a car hour and watching cartoons hour are not the same length of time. He had a point. Some hours and some days and some weeks are simply much longer than others no matter what the clock or the calendar says. This was one of those LONG weeks.

A week ago today we got up on a rainy stormy day and took our own sweet time getting ready and then headed south. We stopped to shop a bit and grabbed a bite to eat and headed on down to my hometown. We went to two cemeteries and left our flowers and recalled memories and then we went on our way. But then on the spur of the moment, I called my mom's brother and sister-in-law and asked if they wanted to ride with me to my parents' and siblings' graves. They did, so I swung by and picked them up. I'd never seen their house before and it is a beautiful home. Then we went on across town to the cemetery and met my sister there and decorated my parents' and brother's and sister's graves. Then we went to two other cemeteries and my aunt and uncle showed me where my great-grandparents and an uncle and great aunt and great uncle are buried. While driving and standing in cemeteries we had the nicest visit and shared more memories. It was a fun afternoon. Then I took them home and headed on to my niece's graduation party. Don't tell my niece, but the cemetery visits were more fun than her party for me because I really didn't know anybody to visit with at the party. My sister and I and my daughter and a friend from my childhood and her two kids sat at a table together and visited and that was nice, but most of the guests were my sister-in-law's relatives or friends of their family that I didn't know. Of course my relatives were too busy hosting the get-together to visit with us, and that was to be expected. The food was good as usual. Then we headed home to northern Iowa and got home about 11:30pm. Sunday was church and etc. Monday my daughter and I went to the Mennonite produce auction to get some plants. The place was PACKED and lots of Minnesota vehicles there. You couldn't even get close enough to see what they were selling so we gave up and went to Riceville for lunch and then to a Mennonite grocery store for a few things and then to a Mennonite greenhouse where I spent my gift certificate on lots of pretty flowers. Then we came home and planted all of them.

Tuesday was my husband's cardiology appointment. Now he's been having trouble breathing for a month or so and has been to the doctor 3 times. The first two times they just ordered him another inhaler and another pill. So a week ago Thursday I went with him to a different doctor and insisted they look at the bigger picture. Found out his heart was once again out of rhythm like it was 6 years ago and way too fast again. So put him on Lasix and told us to see the cardiologist on Tuesday. So I went with him on Tuesday. The cardiologist said he needed to be admitted to Rochester that afternoon and I should drive him there. My husband, bless his stubborn soul, said he couldn't go right then because he has corn to haul to town and beans to plant and couldn't we try another med and wait a week or two. So the cardiologist said they'd do an echocardiogram and he'd talk to our medical doctor and go from there. I went on back to work. About 2:45, the cardiologist called me and said based on the echo, my husband needed to go to Rochester immediately and not by car, but by ambulance. So I went back to the local hospital and stayed with him until the ambulance carted him away at 4:00. Then I came home and packed his things and some for myself and my daughter and I drove to Rochester. His heart rate was about 190 beats per minute and just fluttering not moving blood like it should. So they put him on IV meds to slow it down and strengthen it and to drain off fluids. We sat there until after 10pm then my daughter and I went and got a motel room just 1/2 block from the hospital. We were told to be back at the hospital between 7:30 and 8am to talk to the doctors. So we were there by 8, without even a morning coffee, and we sat and waited until 10:30 for the doctors to come through. Then we sat and waited until 1:00 for them to come and take him away to shock his heart back into rhythm (cardioversion). Then we sat and waited until 3:30 for them to bring him back and tell us if it had worked. They said it did, and that he could go home after he had eaten and walked and seen the doctors. So we sat and waited until almost 8pm for the doctors to come and discharge him. Why does sitting and waiting make you more tired than actual physical labor? On the way home we stopped for supper and we discussed who was most capable of driving home. My daughter was so tired she was nearly in tears. I was so tired I was stumbling over my own feet, and Dale couldn't drive because he was still coming out of the general anesthetic. So I drove. My principal had arranged a sub for me for Thursday as well as Wed. so she told me to stay home and rest up. But I went in about 11:30 and my daughter came and helped me and we did paperwork while the sub did nursing work. Friday I was back to a normal work day.

Now we are back to a regular Saturday again. I've done laundry and planted another flower. I slept late this morning and then took my shower. But looking back at this past week, it seems like a month ago that we went to Ottumwa for the day. For only working 1 full day and two partial days, it seems like it was a very long week. Today we have a couple more graduation parties to go to. Dale's still not breathing really well and he sees the cardiologist and has more tests this coming Tuesday. I hope he continues to get better. Monday and Tuesday are my last days with kids at school, then I have Wed. and Thurs. for meetings and paperwork and we are off for the summer! YEAH!!! I have a house to clean and books to read and gardening to do and emails to catch up and so on. But I hope the weeks of summer break last as long as this past week did.

How long was your week?

51st birthday and Kansas City trip

2009-05-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know, I should apologize again for getting behind on my blogging. But I won’t. It has been and still is a very very busy time of year at school and I will get back to it soon. At least I will try to get back to it more often. I won’t promise anything. Only 8 more days of school with kids there and 2 days of cleaning up and finishing up and then it is summer break! I am so looking forward to that. It seems sometimes the staff are more excited than the kids are. Unfortunately some of the kids don’t have good home lives to go home to and the thought of being stuck at home for over 2 months without their friends or any way to get away from it, makes them depressed. But then there are others who have been counting down the days almost since Christmas break was over. I do have mixed feelings because I have so much work to get done yet at school, and yet I want to catch up on my sleep and my reading and my housework too.

So what news can I catch you up on? April 30^th I left on a charter bus for Kansas City, MO with the high school band and vocal groups. We headed out at 5:30 AM on Thursday and got back at 5:30 PM on Sunday. I was asked to go as the nurse/chaperone, but I was also asked to pay my own way. I didn’t think that sounded quite fair since the other school employees going were going for free. So after six weeks of dickering, the superintendent agreed to pay for my trip. ½ hour later the vocal teacher told him I didn’t need the school’s money that another chaperone had cancelled and her trip was paid so I could use hers. Then 10 minutes later the band teacher asked if my daughter could go as a replacement chaperone and use the free trip. Communication? Hello? So the way it shook out, I went for free and I had to pay $200 for my daughter to go along as a chaperone. Everybody told me I was dumb to do that, but oh well, it is over and done with now. However, I don’t intend to do this again. I am getting too old I guess. The two new music teachers are younger than my sons and have a different philosophy than I have regarding behavior and respect and discipline.

Anyway, we did do some fun things in Kansas City. We visited the Truman Presidential Museum and Library. President Truman and his wife and daughter and grandson are all buried there in the garden. I learned a lot about his presidency and the different decisions he made that changed history. Did you know he was the president that dropped the atomic bomb on Japan? Did you know that he was the president who accepted Israel as a nation? It was very much a learning experience. If you’re ever in Independence, MO, I’d recommend a visit there. Then we went to a very elite upscale shopping region and my cousin Matthew and his wife Amber met my daughter and I at 810 Zone for supper. It was a sports bar and the food was awesome! We had Bleu Balls, an appetizer of little cordon bleu nuggets. Then we had BBQ for supper. Cassandra had pulled pork and I had beef brisket and they were both wonderful. Then she and I had hall duty until 3AM. That was my 51^st birthday.

The next day, Friday, May 1^st, we went to the Jazz Museum and the NLB Baseball Museum. They were both fascinating. In the jazz museum we saw a saxophone played by Charlie “The Bird” Parker, and one played by President Clinton. We also saw Louie Armstrong’s trumpet. That was a thrill as I LOVE jazz! The museum is on the corner of 18^th and Vine in downtown KC where jazz was born. We spent our afternoon at band and vocal clinics at the University of Missouri-KC. Then we went to Arthur Bryant’s original BBQ place for supper of chicken, ribs and ham with French fries and coleslaw and baked beans. Then we went back to 18^th and Vine and heard real jazz music performed in the Blue Room.

On Saturday, May 2^nd, we spent the day at Worlds of Fun. I rode the train and the carousel. Aren’t I brave? Then we had a picnic lunch and headed back to the hotel to get ready for going out to the dinner theater. We had a wonderful gourmet meal and then laughed through Jamie Farr’s production Don’t Dress for Dinner.

That night we had hall duty until 2AM. Sunday morning, May 3^rd, we got up and checked out of our motel and the buses headed back to Iowa. We stopped at Jordan Creek Mall in West Des Moines and then headed on home. It was mostly a pretty fun trip. I saw a lot of things I’d never find if I were to go there on my own probably. I’ll have to see if I can download some photos of our trip. My daughter downloaded them to facebook, but it is so windy our internet isn’t working right now anyway. So maybe I can add them later. Of course I can’t post this to my blog until the internet is back up either. Well, that’s my KC trip and my birthday.

As you can see, the internet is up and the photos are now included. Linda

Springtime!

2009-04-23T17:37:00.000-07:00

This is an old picture of Cassandra and her bottle lamb Tiny.

Gotta use green for SPRINGTIME! It's spring! Now, we don't have the gorgeous flowers that my cousin Vanessa has in Arkansas. In fact, the trees are just budding out and we had snow just a couple weeks ago. But hey, it was 70 degrees today! The robins are taking over the world! Well, in my yard anyway. We have 3 new baby kitties in the calf hut outside, and a lot of really fat waddling mama cats to go. The other night nobody had brought in the mail, so about 8pm, after the rain had stopped, I walked out to the road to get it. The smell of fresh rain and nightcrawlers was definitely a Spring smell. Yesterday my husband started planting corn. He was one tired "pup" when he came in last night. He got rather out of shape over the winter and it is wearing him out carrying and emptying all those heavy bags of seed corn into the planter. They are talking more rain this weekend, so the rush is on to get the seed into the ground first.

Several years ago, I wrote a poem and called it Springtime In The Country. I'll share it with you.

Springtime In The Country by Linda Tiemessen

The sun is brightly shining,
The sky is blue and clear.
The birds are sweetly singing,
Butterflies flutter near.
A kite is soaring brightly
Dancing in the breeze.
Newborn lambs come skipping
To rub against my knees.
Mother duck quacks sharply
As her parade she guides.
Both the cow and mama cat
Have babies at their sides.
The new colt in the pasture
Kicks up its heels in joy.
The neighbors down the road
Have a brand new baby boy.
It's Springtime in the country;
The fields are newly sown.
I'm surrounded by more treasures
Than most have ever known.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-16T15:02:00.000-07:00

Here are my Aunt Letha, Uncle Clarence, and Uncle Bob Schaffner on 4-12-09.

This year's Easter weekend was different than any I can remember in recent history. Usually, we get up, see what the Easter bunny left, get ready and go to our church and then go to my inlaws for dinner. But this year, my aunt and uncle had their 50th wedding anniversary on Easter Sunday afternoon clear at the other end of the state from where I live. My daughter and I bowed out of singing in the choir at church, and left my husband home so he could play for the church service and we headed south on Saturday afternoon. At my old home town we had reserved a room at the Super 8, and we met up with my brother and his family and my sister and we went out for supper and ice cream at old family "haunts". Then we went to my brother's and visited until late. On Sunday morning we got up and met my brother and his family and my sister at my brother's church. There, I was so blessed to see a couple of my childhood friends and have a reunion of sorts with them. After church we all went on to the next town where we had reservations for dinner. Then on to the reunion which was very close to the Missouri border. There we got to see all three of my dad's remaining siblings. Every time I see them, I am so blessed by it, but can't help but wonder how many more years I will have them. I love them so much. In my dad's family there were 5 males and 2 females and dad was the oldest of the seven. Our family was a close Christian family and it is always bittersweet to get together and remember the ones who are waiting for us in Heaven. After the anniversary, my daughter and I drove to where I went to church camp for 10 years of my childhood and where I went to church rally for more years than that. It is so weird, how things change. It looked nothing like I remembered, and I am glad there were signs to follow as the road didn't even seem familiar to me. Then we spent the night in a motel in the heart of an Amish settlement and the next morning even though it was raining we got up and went to some Amish shops before heading home. I had a wonderful time with my family and spending time alone with my daughter and reminiscing. But I missed my husband and I missed my home church and our familiar traditions.

Wherever you were and whomever you were with, I hope you were able to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior. He has truly made all things new! He is risen indeed!

Change Your Life

2009-04-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

Saturday, my daughter and I were blessed to be able to attend a women's conference called Change Your Life. The guest speaker was Becky Tirabassi. Have any of you ever seen this woman? She's no bigger than a minute and flits all over the stage like a hummingbird. I figured out quickly that's how that woman stays so tiny too. Wow! And she has so much enthusiasm and energy and motivation to share! It was truly a blessing to spend a morning being inspired by her.

The conference was entitled Change Your Life and I wasn't really sure what all to expect. Was she going to tell us how to lose weight? Was she going to finally give me the key to getting organized? Was she going to impart the secrets of finding more time and energy? Her bio said she is an author, life coach, and speaker who lives and teaches a balanced approach to the physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental aspects of life. If there is anything I need, it is a balanced life. You'd think as much time as I spend running in my hamster wheel, I'd be a whole lot thinner than I am.

So what did she teach us? She taught us about prayer. For the last 25 years, Becky has spent an hour a day, every day, praying and reading her Bible. She said an aerobics class lasted an hour so she thought well, why not spend an hour a day with the Lord too. Here are some notes I took from her 3 sessions of talks.

*Written prayer is pen and paper on a focal point and involves more of the senses.
*I will does not equal I will try.
*Make an appointment with the King and keep it!
*The devil's greatest tool is to keep the believer from praying.
*Prayer is a habit that has to be formed.
*Plan your appointment one day ahead. It does not necessarily have to be the same time every day. Write down your start time. If you're interrupted, put down the time, so you can finish your hour later in the day.
*God talks to us through His living Word the Bible.
*When you open the Word of God, you don't talk back.
*All Scripture is not about me, but all Scripture is for me.
*Read the Bible regularly to know God's viewpoint.
*You will hear from God through His Son Jesus.
*God talks through His Holy Spirit; counselor, teacher, and truth-teller.
*You're as full of the Holy Spirit as you want to be.
*Prayerlessness is a recipe for disaster.
*Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth.
*He waits to be wanted.
*Prayer is a conversation between two people who love each other.
*Tell God, "I can't. You can. I'll let you.".
*It takes 90 days to build a habit.
*Prayer brings emotion to the surface.

Becky had four parts to prayer that spelled out PART.
P=Praise A=Admit R=Request T=Thanksgiving
Her time in reading Scripture included:
L=Listening M=Message N=New Testament O=Old Testament P=Proverbs
Every day she reads a chapter of the New Testament and one of the Old Testament and one of Proverbs, so that she reads through the whole Bible in one year. She listens to what it has to say and looks for the message for her in that passage. She journals her prayers and the things God tells her to do. She has pages of prayer requests so that she doesn't forget anyone she promised to pray for, and also she can record the answers to those prayers as they come. She journals her sins as she admits them to God and looks for patterns in repeat sins.

Out of the 450 women at this conference, I am estimating at least half of them stood and made a commitment to pray an hour a day for the rest of their lives. I am thinking if a woman prays an hour a day every day for the rest of her life, it will not only change her life in every way, but will change her family and her church and her community. I wish you all could have come to this conference too. I hope my notes give you something to think about. If you get a chance to go hear Becky Tirabassi at a Women of Faith Conference or anywhere else, do it. Check out her website www.changeyourlifedaily.com . But most important of all, spend some daily time talking to God and listening to His answers. Let the romance begin!

What is Marriage?

2009-04-04T19:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a sad day for Iowa, at least in my opinion. You see, at about 9AM yesterday, the Iowa Supreme Court handed down a decision that marriage in Iowa cannot be limited to one man and one woman. Therefore, without a popular vote, or a new law enacted by an elected legislature, but simply by a unanimous vote of the appointed justices, Iowa became only the third state of the 50 United States to be a gay marriage state. Yes, our little conservative state in the heart of the heartland ranks right down there, even lower than New York and California who have not legalized gay marriage yet. There are other states who have approved "domestic partnerships" or "civil unions" but only 3 states have redefined marriage. To say I have a problem with that is putting it mildly. Am I homophobic? No, I'm not, in fact I have good friends who are homosexual. Do I think that people in homosexual relationships are unequal to heterosexuals or are worse sinners than I am? No, I don't. I personally don't think homosexuals are going to go to Hell any faster than people who steal or lie or commit adultery are. I think homosexuals in committed relationships deserve equal time off work for the death of a loved one as I would. However, I do not believe that redefining marriage to include same sex relationships is appropriate or wise or morally or ethically or legally right. I believe in a democratic society, laws should not be changed by a select small group of appointed justices, but only by the elected law-making branch of the government. I believe redefining a word does not really change it at all. Gay used to mean happy. Calling a homosexual gay does not necessarily make them happier than they were before. So why redefine it? Just because our marriage licenses will now be reprinted so they no longer say bride and groom, that doesn't mean I'm no longer a bride and my husband is no longer my groom. I had bridesmaids and he had groomsmen and they can't change that. But what will it be now? When my daughter marries, will I not be the mother of the bride? Some men are bent toward having sex with multiple partners. Does that mean we can redefine marriage so that they can have multiple wives legally and expect their employers to cover all 15 wives and 75 children on the group health insurance?

Last week our preacher said that less than 1/2 of evangelical Christians believe there is an absolute truth, an absolute of right and wrong. That most believe that truth and right changes based on the circumstances. Well, get your stones ready to stone me, but guess what? I believe there is a right and there is a wrong. I believe God is truth and Satan is the father of lies. I believe that the truth is always true and right is always right even if you redefine it or rule against it. I believe even if you legalize homosexual unions and adultery and even if everyone cheats on their income tax and every lawyer lies, that it is still sin and still wrong and God will still judge. In the Bible, God uses marriage as a picture of His love for His church. We are the "bride of Christ". So no matter how you redefine it, God created marriage and He chose the only definition that truly matters.

oh no!

2009-03-23T19:31:00.001-07:00

Oh no! Once again I've been shirking my duties to blog on here. You see, I've become a facebook addict. My email is so boring in its continual forwards from others. What happened to sending an email to say hi? Oh, sometimes I get a particularly funny or thought-provoking forward that I am thankful for, but mostly it seems to be the same repetitious political themes, or the same scary warnings that Snopes has already denied for two years. I want to know what you've been doing or who has found a particularly good new recipe that I could make for supper. I want to know how I can specifically pray for you and the struggles in your life. I want to know the answers to prayers in your life so I can rejoice with you. I want to know what you think about things, not what 15 people or 1500 people before you thought was worth sending on down the tubes. I'm sorry, I need to climb down off my soapbox here.

So why do I love facebook? Facebook is current and quick and honest. I can turn on facebook and know within a couple of minutes how my friends' days went. I knew within 3 hours when a friend passed away from cancer. Her husband shared his grief and also his relief that she was no longer suffering and in Heaven. I know what my boys are up to even though they live many miles away; one is even on the other side of the world. I can see photos the same day of my friend's first grandchild. I can talk to my nieces and my sister-in-law and my son all at the same time even though they are all in different states. I can reconnect with friends I went to summer camp with 35 years ago, and people I went to school with and I can visit with relatives who would never call or write a letter. I've even had people who were my heroes when I was a kid, ask to be my friend, right out of the blue! Wow! And the best part of all? There are no forwards on Facebook. Anybody want to be my friend?

Saving Lives

2009-03-05T14:55:00.000-08:00

There is a reason I am a school nurse. It isn't because I truly love puke or paperwork. It definitely isn't because I make a lot of money. I barely make more today than I did as a hospital nurse 25 years ago. It isn't because I like dealing with parents who refuse to be parents or responsible for their children. But today I was reminded why I do what I do when I received the following letter from a second grade boy. It said:

Dear Nurse,
Thank you for fixing my coat
you savd my life.
Other wis I wud be in big do do
I glad that did not hapin
Thank you!!!!!
vary!!much!!!!!!!!!

Now frankly I laughed and then I shed a tear or two. But it truly reminded me why I do my job. I do it for the kids. I do it for the little lives I save. See a few days ago he was sitting on a post when it was time to go in from recess. He jumped down, the post went up under the back of his coat and as he hit the ground running, the coat tore from the hem almost to the armpit through both the outside layer and the lining. When he brought it to me the stuffing was hanging out. He asked if I had some big safety pins or another coat he could borrow. I told him to come back when it was time for the next recess. When he returned, I had hand-stitched both layers of his coat back together. He was delighted, and I promptly forgot about it. Then today, after several weeks of intensely busy days with many very ill kids, he brought me this letter. He handed it to me and said, "this is for you for fixing my coat", and off he rushed back to class. He not only made my day, he made my week and many weeks to come since I intend to save that letter and reread it often. I need reminding that the little things I do can make a big difference and I can "save a life" and keep others out of "big do do". WOW!

Where do you go for hope?

2009-03-03T17:00:00.000-08:00

It's been an interesting few days? weeks? months? Everywhere you turn people are talking about the poor state of the economy. You hear people comparing it to the Great Depression and wondering if they should plant a garden this summer. It seems as if we are constantly hearing about suicides or even worse murder/suicides. And you wonder what could make someone so hopeless that they want to end it all and maybe even take others with them. Often it seems it is because they lost their job or were in financial difficulties. I'm not always an optimistic person, although I try to be. But I often have thought and said, "If I ever messed up my life so badly that I wanted to kill myself, I'd probably mess that up too and end up in worse shape." That sounds really pessimistic doesn't it? I don't mean it to be. I guess what I'm trying to say is that no matter how bad things have gotten, they could always be worse. I don't mean that in a pessimistic way at all. Really I don't. Maybe I should say it a different way. No matter how bad things look, they are better than they might be. Does that sound more optimistic even though essentially saying the same thing? No matter what happens to me and my family, I know my hope is in the Lord and He is still in control. I literally stake my life and soul on the promises in the Bible. My hope for the future isn't wrapped up in my house or farm or bank account or my job and income. I don't care about being "successful" in worldly terms. In Bible study yesterday we talked about the definition of financially blessed. We decided we are blessed if we have food and clothes, our needs met, our bills paid, and are able to give to others.

A year or so ago, my employer gave me the difference between my allotted insurance allowance and the premiums of the plan I chose, but it had to be put in a tax-sheltered annuity or something like that. I called a man I know and trust who works in that investment stuff and said for him to set me up what I needed and send me the paperwork. He wanted me to meet with him and he'd show me my options. I said no, that I trusted him to make wise decisions for me and I really didn't need to understand it all. This year when it was time to do this again, I told him the same thing and he was shocked that I trusted him to do this. Well, first of all, I know him to be a reputable person. Secondly, this wasn't my life savings that I was investing in a troubled economy. I wouldn't go hungry if I lost it all, it was just leftovers that I had never even seen. And thirdly, but most importantly, I trust God to take care of me and my needs no matter what the stock market does. My hope isn't in a tax-sheltered annuity or retirement plan. My hope is in God and in the best retirement plan ever, Heaven.

Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
Romans 8:38,39 says, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 15:13, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

I Timothy 6:6-8 says,"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that."

I Timothy 6:17-19, "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life."

Where is your hope? I am finding more and more of my friends who are looking for a source of real hope. They want to learn more about the Lord. They are hungry for the assurance only He can give.

To old friends and shamrock shakes

2009-02-27T15:07:00.000-08:00

I am so very ready for spring to arrive! Every now and then we get up to almost 50 and we start to believe in Spring. Then we get more ice and sleet and snow and subzero wind chills and we realize we are still in an Iowa winter. This morning the roads and drive and yard were all solid ice with a dusting of snow on top. Wed. we started school 2 hours late and it was barely icy. Thursday we got out of school 4 hours early because it was supposed to get icy. Today it was ICY and so cold you literally got a "brain freeze" walking into the wind! And we were right on time and put in a full day. Go figure! But each day surely means we are one day closer to Spring, doesn't it? This week I stopped at McDonald's and they now have their wonderful GREEN shamrock shakes in for St. Patrick's Day. Now I LOVE St. Patrick's Day and the chance to show my Irish side. And I LOVE shamrock shakes with their mintyness. But I really love seeing GREEN and knowing someday we will see green grass and green leaves and green stems popping up and the days will get warmer and longer and YEAH FOR SPRING!

Okay, you've all heard of "old dogs and watermelon wine" right? My daughter hasn't. She's giving me weird looks. But see, I don't do watermelon wine and yeah we have an old dog who has seen much better days. But I wanted to tell you about old friends. I am still learning the ins and outs of Facebook with the help of my kids. But the funny thing is almost all of my "friends" on Facebook were actually classmates of my three kids and a few relatives. The problem is I either can't remember the last names of friends my age to look for them, or there are too many with that name to narrow it down to which one I knew. But this week I discovered groups. A friend of mine from childhood started a group for those of us who went to a certain summer church camp. So I joined that and then I started finding others who joined and they had friends I knew too and so my friend list is growing and my daughter is proud of me for having friends my age now even though she laughs about how old the friends my age are. Hmmmm... Today I was contacted by a lady who I was flower girl for in her wedding 45 years ago. The only thing I wonder is why she doesn't look older than I do. So now I started my own group to try to connect with old friends from my neighborhood where I grew up who all went to the same elementary school with me. It will be fun to see how many more "old friends" I find that way. Our elementary school and my childhood home have been torn down and a lot of the old neighborhood is showing its age as well.

I see nobody took my challenge to do the letter thing I did a couple of blogs ago. Amazing how nobody at all left me a comment on that one that I worked so long and hard on. Hmmm. Come on guys, you can do it too. Anyway, I have to get headed back to town for a Show Choir Dinner so I have to get off here. In the meantime, may you enjoy old friends and have a shamrock shake.

My Life is But a Breath

2009-02-19T18:33:00.000-08:00

Today's Bible verse says that my life is just a breath to God. I can understand that because sometimes it doesn't seem much more than that even to me. Last year I turned 50 and a lot of my friends are turning 50 now as well. 50 is half a century. It is weird how people my age are getting older and grayer all the time. I really don't feel that old most of the time. I look in the mirror now and then and wonder where all those wrinkles came from. This has been a week of feeling old. On Saturday I was having muscle spasms in my back. But a hot pack and some Ibuprofen made me feel better, so my husband and I and 5 other couples from church met for a Valentine's supper. After supper though the spasms came back in full vengeance until I thought about going to the emergency room. But once again I toughed it through and seemed to get better. Then yesterday morning I woke up at 5AM with the spasms back again. So I broke down and went to the doctor yesterday afternoon. Guess what she decided? I'm having muscle spasms in my back! Go figure! So she gave me muscle relaxers and told me to take them 3 times a day but only while I'm home. So I took one yesterday afternoon when I got home and I slept 2 hours then got up for supper and then slept another 8 hours. Today I didn't take any since I had to work and can't do that at home. This morning I got up for work and my right knee was stiff and hurt and could barely bend. Thought I was going to have to find a cane to go to work with. Tonight I'm eating peanuts and lost half a tooth. Of course it was the one my partial plate anchors onto. Now I was just at the dentist and she told me I needed to get my crowns on the bottom right teeth. This was a bottom left one that is now half gone. Like I said, I'm getting old and in a hurry too. I can't be this old! I have too much to do yet! Where is the time going? I don't even have time to get my house in order, let alone my life! I guess it's time to prioritize. What do I really want and need to accomplish? If my life is just a breath, I hope it is a long, slow breath.

SSome SSweet and SSimple SSentiments

2009-02-15T14:36:00.000-08:00

One of the blogs I love to follow is by my longtime friend, Susan in Washington State. On her most recent blog, she was bequeathed the letter Ff and had to come up with 10 of her favorite things starting with the letter Ff. Her challenge was if we left her a comment, she would bequeath us a letter also and we could have ffun with it also. So I did and she did and my letter is Ss. Those of you who know me or follow my blog, know I love words and alliteration. So this should be a lot of fun for me and hopefully you will enjoy what I come up with also. And, to keep the fun going, if you want to leave me a comment, I will bequeath you a letter also. So here goes, in no particular order:

Sisters
There is just nothing like a sister. It can be a sister by birth, or by adoption or by choice, or friendship. My sister Cheryl was adopted by my parents at 10 months old and therefore was there 4 years before me. She's five years older than me and half my size, but she looked more like mom and dad than I did. We talk on the phone at least once a week and get together as often as we can. I have dear friends who are sisters to me as well. Some I see on a daily basis and they are there whenever I need them. Some I've never met in person, but have pen palled or emailed for years and I know I can always count on them for an encouraging word when I need it most.

Saviour
Where would I be without a Saviour? I would be totally lost for eternity, that's where. Knowing Jesus has saved me from heartache in so many ways. He has saved me from myself so many times. When I am hurting, He is there to hold me close. When I am afraid, He walks beside me. When I am lonely, He holds my hand. When I sin, He forgives me. When I fall, He picks me up. When I cry, He catches my tears in a bottle. When I laugh, He laughs with me. Jesus is very real and very close to me. He can be your Saviour too if you'll let Him. Just ask me how, and I will be glad to tell you.

Sunrises and Sunsets
Have you ever seen anything as calming and reassuring as a sunrise or sunset? I don't think I could ever live in a city again. The best thing about living out here in the country is being able to see the horizon as the sun rises and sets on another day that God has blessed us with. The colors are just unbelievable. I wish I could paint them, or even capture them adequately on film. And here in the midwest, they last for quite awhile. When I was in Nicaragua, I was shocked by how quickly the sun sets. The colors were just getting better and I was waiting for just the right moment to take the photo, and suddenly it was dark. I suppose it had something to do with being so close to the equator. But now I appreciate the slowly changing colors here in Iowa more.

Seas
I have seen the Pacific Ocean in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and Nicaragua. I have seen the Gulf of Mexico only from the air. I have seen the Atlantic Ocean at Daytona Beach, Florida. I love the seas! When I spend too long here in landlocked Iowa, I start to get almost claustrophobic. Standing on the edge of Lake Michigan is the closest I can come here in the midwest. But there is simply nothing that can rival standing or sitting on the sandy shores watching the waves roll in to break on the beach. I love to hear the seagulls as they swoop and sail by in search of a meal. I like to walk along and pick up seashells left behind by the waves. I long for the salty and fishy smell of the ocean. Psalms 93:3,4 says, "The seas have lifted up, O Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea - the Lord on high is mighty." When I see the seas, I am reminded of the God who made them.

Sons and Daughters
I am so blessed to have a son, a stepson, and a daughter. When I was growing up, I always knew I wanted a lot of children. In fact, when I was in high school I sat down and figured out how I could have a child every other year and adopt one on opposite years until I had 26 kids in 13 years. I would have one for each letter of the alphabet. And I was already picking out those 26 names too. I tease my son that after I had him, it took me 12 years to get up nerve enough to have another one. That isn't true. He was the best son anyone could ask for. He never cried. He was sweet and helpful and happy. He told me everything even when he was in high school. So many nights I'd lie awake listening for him to come home from work, and when he did, I'd get up and go sit in the garage and he'd tell me all the details of his day. What I wouldn't give to have him here to visit with and hug once again. But he lives in New Zealand and I haven't seen him for 7 years. I miss him so much. I have a wonderful stepson too who lives in Colorado. It's funny because I don't often think of him as my stepson. He's my son too. It's so good to have him home when he comes to visit. It's fun when he calls for a recipe or canning tip too. Oh sure, when he was little we went through that stage where he'd say, "you're not my mom and you can't make me", but thank goodness he eventually outgrew that and we developed our own relationship. And then there is my daughter. I know daughter doesn't begin with an S but she has 4 letters of s in her name so that is good enough for me. She's sweet and smart and shy and silly and studious and lots of s words so I can include her too. She's also my best friend and we have a lot of fun together. For awhile we thought I might not be able to get pregnant again, but God blessed me with a daughter. I am so thankful to Him for all three of my children.
Spouse
I have a wonderful spouse. He is sweet and caring and talented. He plays steel guitar and does it very very well. He's also silent a lot of the time. Which is nice when he's mad at you, but not so nice when you want to discuss something with him or want his opinion. He used to be somebody else's spouse, but I'm glad he's now mine. We have been married for almost 22 years now. I've come close to losing him several times with open heart surgery, strokes and etc. but God knows how much I need him and lets me keep on loving him here on earth.

Smiles
Don't you just love it when you see a smile? It can be the first gassy smile on a newborn baby's face or it can be the toothless grin of an old man in the nursing home. But a smile is contagious. You just can't help but smile back and when you do, you feel better inside. A smile just lights up your whole face and your heart as well. I try to share a smile with everyone I meet. Even if it is someone I don't particularly like, I try to give them a smile.

Singing songs
I love to sing songs. I don't particularly do it well, but it brings me so much joy. At church we mostly sing the new praise and worship choruses. I like the words to them, but sometimes I long for the old hymns. I love to sing about Victory In Jesus, It is Well With My Soul, Because He Lives I can face tomorrow, and Amazing Grace. When I see cattle grazing on the hillside along the road, I find myself singing He Owns the Cattle On a Thousand Hills. Sometimes my daughter and I will sing a round of The Lord Is My Shepherd as we drive along. When I pull into the garage some afternoons, I can't get out of the car until I'm done singing along with a song on the radio. If you pull up beside me at a stoplight, don't be surprised if I am belting out I've Got a Mansion Just Over the Hilltop. Just roll your window down and sing along with me.

Stories
I love to read! I love stories. You can travel to far away places in a story. You can meet people in a story. A story can become anything your mind makes of it. Unlike TV which shows and tells you how things are, a story can be interpreted in so many individual ways. You can picture it in your mind. Don't you just love to hear someone tell a funny story? Pretty soon they are laughing so hard they can't talk and you begin laughing just watching them laugh! When I'm reading, I can lose all track of time and place. Someone can talk to me and I won't even hear them. I used to get in trouble with mom when I was a girl, because she'd tell me to do the dishes and I simply didn't hear her, because I was far far away lost in a story. My dream is to someday write and illustrate and publish a story of my own. There is just something magical about a story.

Sweets
All you have to do is look at me and you can guess how much I like sweets. Some of my fondest memories of my mother include sweets. Mom made these wonderful Swedish tea rings when I was younger and at Christmas time she'd give them to people who had been especially kind to us that year, like the doctor and the preacher and so on. Another favorite memory is mom's blackberry dumplings. If you've never had homemade dumplings that have been simmering in a pot of syrupy blackberries and vanilla ice cream melting on them, you have not really lived. Then there was homemade ice cream on the fourth of July from the old hand cranked freezer. And I can still see and taste my mom's sweet tea in the glass pitcher with tulips painted on the side and the sweat running down the side of it in that hot humid kitchen with the sun shining through it. New Year's Eve was our only bottle of pop all year and along with it white almond bark and a game of Rook. For my birthday I always chose an angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream mixed together over the top of it. And my mom's chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting that she often took to church potlucks, was something I would love to taste again. Then there was the peach pie and the chocolate cake with cherries and hot chocolate pudding with vanilla ice cream melting into a lake in the middle of it. I had one of those moms who always made treats for the classroom parties and the school bake sales and the church potlucks. I remember her giving a loaf of her wonderful banana nut bread with chocolate chips and coconut in it to a visiting preacher's wife and that lady proclaimed it to be ambrosia. I inherited my love for cooking and eating from my grandmother and my mother and now my daughter has inherited it as well.

There you have it. 10 of my favorite things that start with the letter Ss. I could add so many more to the list; siblings, Spanish, students, spuds, sparrows, swans, sunshine, Springtime, slippers, salvation, safety, scenery, snow, starry skies, sleep, Sierra Mist, silliness, sleigh rides, Sierra, sailboats, Saturdays, Sundays, summer and so many other things. But that will have to wait for some other time. I hope you enjoyed my Ss fun. If you want a letter, leave me a comment. See you soon.

Dare I Dream of Spring?

2009-02-14T12:31:00.001-08:00

This week we actually got up to almost 40 degrees! I got out my spring jacket and wore it to work a couple of days instead of my winter coat. Oh, how great it was, to see the huge snowbanks actually shrinking. But then the forecast was for another snowstorm last night. And it missed us! I have no idea where it went, but it didn't come here. The last I heard they were saying southern Iowa might get 8 inches of snow. But we got nothing and I am so very glad. All the melting snow did cause some flooding this week, but I didn't hear of anyone having anything too bad from it. Our back yard and side yard were underwater as the creek overflowed, but it does that every Spring. The sky is a beautiful blue and the sun is shining and it is 26 degrees above zero! YEAH! The tom cats are chasing the females so Spring is definitely in the air.

This has been a truly horrible couple of weeks at school with so many sick kids! I normally treat 40-60 sick kids in one day, but the last couple of weeks I've had many days of 80-100 kids. One day I sent 18 kids home sick and there were already 90 who had stayed home sick. Another day I started my day with 3 kids vomiting in my office before school had even started! Shall I get on my soap box? I have been so frustrated and angry this week, not with the kids being sick, but with the parents sending them to school knowing they are ill. If a child arrives at school with a temperature of 101 and immediately has their head on their desk or is vomiting before they even get their coat off, you can't tell me there was no indication at home that they were ill. On Wednesday we had a two hour late start for inservice and as soon as school started I had children in my office very ill. When I asked why they hadn't simply stayed home, they told me their parents were divorced and they change homes on Wednesdays. So they had come to school ill so I would call the parent they were transitioning to, to come pick them up so they could be sick at mom's house instead of dad's. Now WHY couldn't the parent who had them, call the parent they were going to and say OUR child is sick? If divorced parents choose to hate each other and retaliate against each other, that is their choice. But for goodness sakes, grow up and be a parent and love your children. It takes a responsible adult to step up to the plate and care more about your sick child than to hold out for your rights as to whose turn it is to have visitation. Oh, I get so upset when I see kids abused or neglected! There are so many parents out there that should have to get a license to have a cat, let alone have children.

Today is Valentine's Day. Yesterday, our school was simply inundated with flowers and balloons and candy sent to children from parents, grandparents, boyfriends and girlfriends. But the sad reality was that out of my 1200 kids, probably 120 of them got all these gifts. That means over 1000 kids got nothing at school and probably a lot of them got nothing at home either, and seeing this huge display of deliveries had to make so many of them feel even worse than usual, more unloved than usual. I have a bulletin board in my elementary/middle school office and the kids love to write things to put on it. Of course I give treats when they do so that helps the interest. For Valentine's Day, they wrote on little pink or white hearts who or what they love. It's always fun to read what they write. Most of course mention family, friends, chocolate, or pets. But then there are the more unique ones; music, jello, Pittsburgh Steelers, a certain teacher, and of course the real people pleasers who say the school nurse (me).

Wherever you are and whomever you are with, I hope you feel loved. John 3:16 says that God loved the world so much that He sent His one and only Son to give us the gift of eternal life. Now THAT is LOVE! Happy Valentine's Day.

Sorry it's been awhile

2009-02-02T18:46:00.000-08:00

Once again, I'm apologizing. There have been so many days since my last post that I wanted to get on here and post, but just didn't get to it. So now this will likely turn into another random rambling playing catch-up.

Where do I start? A week or so ago, on a Saturday morning, I was watching out the window and I saw a whole flock of pheasants walking out of our windbreak of trees, single file. I watched and counted them, all 18 of them as they walked along out of the trees, across the snowy field, across the frozen creek, across the road, down the ditch, up the other side. Then instead of flying over, they all, one at a time, ducked their heads and walked under the fence and up into the neighbor's field where they spread out and began foraging for food. Now why did they walk instead of flying? It was the weirdest sight. At one point there was a gap in the line and 2 pheasants came flying in overhead and landed right in the gap and walked all the rest of the way in the same single file line. As they foraged, they scattered all over the field alone or in small clumps. When we left to go shopping, they were returning to our trees and this time they flew but not organized at all. It was unlike anything I've ever seen before.

This weekend, we went to Des Moines shopping, my daughter and I. My husband had gone to south central Iowa ice fishing with 9 other guys from our area on Thursday. On Saturday my daughter and I went to Des Moines and visited two bookstores where we'd never been before. It's good we don't live closer! Books are our main vice, and it's hard to resist a good clearance sale. Then we went to Jordan Creek Mall and walked around and looked mainly. We bought soap at Bath and Body Works and a couple little things at Claire's and ate lunch. That's funny because we have those two stores much closer to home than Des Moines. Anyway, then we went on to Osceola and checked into our motel there. My husband caught a ride over to meet us at the motel and then he and I went to the Bill Anderson concert at the casino there. I really didn't know much about Bill Anderson except he was country, but his steel player is a personal friend of ours, so we mainly went to see him and his folks. However, it was a good concert and I was impressed with Bill Anderson's attitude and showmanship and the Christian music playing before his concert started. It's nice to go to a concert for $15 and actually hear good music that's not too loud and not offensive and just have talent, not smoke and lights and drama. It was also fun to see Eddie Lange again and to visit with him and his folks. Then on Sunday we got up late, checked out of our motel, ate brunch at Cracker Barrel in Des Moines and headed on home. We got home in time to unload the car, start the laundry and then watch the Super Bowl. It was a nice weekend. The weather in Des Moines and Osceola was warm enough we left our coats in the car when we went shopping. They didn't have nearly as much snow as we do and it was melting. Made me believe Spring might actually come again some day.

The Super Bowl! Well, it was a good game. Both teams made some mistakes. Both teams made some outstanding plays. Kurt Warner our Iowa boy got the Walter Payton award and that was good. And even though his team lost the game, he was classy about it. I wish the Cardinals had won, but it was a good game. Kurt Warner is one of my heroes. It is so nice to see a regular guy make good and the way he lives out his faith in God, is inspiring as well. What did you think of the commercials? I thought some were totally stupid and a waste of money. But some were very cute. I always like the Budweiser clydesdale ones the best even though I don't drink beer.

My son called from New Zealand and talked for 2 1/2 hours during the game. I'm not sure I paid the attention I should have to the phone conversation since the game was on and I had to cheer them on as well. But it is hard for me to be attentive on the phone for 2 hours anyway. I love my son dearly and miss him horribly, but my ear and arm get tired on the phone so long. I wish we could just get together for a nice long visit in person.

Today at work was a total ZOO! First of all 78 kids stayed home from school sick. I saw another 110 kids in my nurse's office and sent 10 of them home. At one point in my day I had 15 patients in my office at once. I about totally lost my mind trying to take care of all of them. I saw everything from blistered feet to face rashes, from sprained ankles to jammed fingers, from bumped heads to sore throats, temps from 100.9 to 96.3. I had kids throwing up, having diarrhea, bleeding, runny noses, pooping, peeing their pants, and removing a metal shaving from an eyeball with a magnet. It was a very busy, very tiring, very eventful day.

Now it is once again below zero. The wind is howling outside. I'm full of good Mexican food and thinking seriously about bedtime. Women's Bible study was good. The house is warm. We got new photos of our Russian exchange daughter. I'm cold and tired, but life is still good.

He is the Lord and there is no other.

2009-01-22T19:50:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-01-18T13:07:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-01-17T17:33:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-01-15T11:20:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-01-12T16:59:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-11T19:45:00.001-08:00

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

2009-01-06T18:06:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-05T08:16:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-03T19:17:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-01T13:32:00.000-08:00

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!

Happy 2009!

2008-12-31T19:09:00.000-08:00

The verse of the day on here today is the one from John where Jesus promises us peace and not as the world gives. And tells us to not let our hearts be troubled. So I'm thinking, "hmmm, we are ending a year of financial disasters, and in Iowa and other places it has been natural disasters as well. We are starting into a new year and a new president and new political policies." There is plenty to be troubled about. Our country is at war in Afghanistan and Iraq and threatening to go to war in other places as well. The unemployment rate is way up. Some people will look back on 2008 and go "YaHoo it's over!" Others will look ahead to 2009 and wonder if it will be better or worse. But Jesus tells us like He did back then, to not be troubled but be at peace. No matter what tomorrow brings or what next year brings, God is still on His throne and still in control. He will still give me peace if I trust in Him. I do trust in Him.

Do you make New Year's resolutions? I don't because they end up getting broken and making me feel guilty. However, I do make plans to try to do better on certain things. I also set goals for myself to try to achieve. For instance, this coming year I really want to do better with my daily Bible study and journaling. I want to be a better wife and plan to try to work through the 40 day Love Dare book. (Family Life is challenging us all to do the 40 day Love Dare and they will send you a daily dare from January 5-February 13 with you ending with a special date on Valentine's Day. I also got the book for Christmas. ) I want to keep the house cleaner. I want to work at becoming healthier. I want to go back to the wellness center. (I really do enjoy working out there when I make myself go.) I want to spend more time doing the things I enjoy like reading and crafting and art and writing. Oh, I don't know. I just want to be a better person and continue to seek the Lord's will and follow His leading. I want to be a better witness for Him.

We had a wonderful New Year's eve so far. First of all, my phone rang at 5AM. It was midnight in New Zealand and my son called to tell me Happy New Year's. Every year he does that and every year it scares me awake because I forget he is going to. But then it pleases me to know that at the changing of the year, he always thinks of his old mum. The day itself wasn't anything too exciting. I did laundry and dishes and such and I talked to a lot of dear people on the phone. But then we went to supper at the home of a new friend from church. She's a sweetie and she made us this wonderful Brunswick stew and cornbread and then we taught her to play euchre and then we had pie. It was so much fun and the stew was delicious. So what made it a wonderful New Year's Eve? Friends and family of course. What could be better?

Here's wishing all of you a happy 2009. May the Lord bless you richly with friends and family and good health and may you know the peace that only He can give. Let not your hearts be troubled.

Unite and Celebrate

2008-12-27T16:41:00.000-08:00

Unite and Celebrate

It's Christmas time once again
With Santas and flying deer.
People are trampled while shopping;
Some look in a bottle for holiday cheer.

War is raging around the globe;
Bodies are sent home wrapped in flags.
Homeless people sleep under bridges,
And carry their lives in paper bags.

Bells are ringing and people shouting;
Cash registers slam a loud ker-ching.
Kids are fighting and demanding
While making lists for Santa to bring.

Where's the babe the angels proclaimed
Those many long years ago?
Whatever happened to Christmas?
I'd really like to know.

I thought this was Jesus' birthday,
A time to celebrate His love,
To stop and pause and look up
At His star shining above.

A time for a silent and holy night,
And Glory to God on high.
A time to ponder His sacrifice;
His gift we couldn't buy.

Peace on earth, goodwill to all
Are more than words on a card.
They are concepts Jesus died for,
So why do we make it so hard?

If He could love us all so much
To give His very life;
Why can't we love each other
Enough to end the strife?

Instead of just claiming to be Christian
And putting on a happy front,
Let's celebrate this Christmas
The way that He would want.

Forgive and be forgiven,
Lift up those who fall.
Let's proclaim Christ to the masses,
And shower His love on all.

Brotherly love to the household of faith,
Goodwill for all mankind,
Christmas peace around the world
The way that Christ designed.

There'd truly be a merry Christmas
All across the earth,
If all God's children joined as one
To celebrate His birth.

by Linda Tiemessen, 2003

What Is Christmas?

2008-12-27T16:32:00.000-08:00

What Is Christmas?

The letter to the editor said we're not politically correct;
To use the name of Jesus, is being way too direct.
He said that Merry Xmas would be the proper thing to say,
Or better yet just change it to Happy Winter Holiday.

Some might be offended by talk of Jesus' birth;
To them He's just another man who walked upon the earth.
They don't seem offended though by Santa or the elves.
Merchants like to see the presents flying off their shelves.

Bright lights and tinsel, greeting cards and alcohol
Somehow hide the reason we celebrate at all.
Peace on earth, goodwill to men, silent night and joy
Aren't really found in parties or playing with another toy.

We have so many holidays to honor people of fame;
We celebrate their birthdays and call them by their names.
So what is wrong with Christmas? Tell me if you can,
Why I can't celebrate the King who was born the son of man.

We celebrate a president who set the black men free.
Why can't I celebrate the One who broke sin's chains for me?
We have a day to celebrate the fuzzy side of love;
True love made the Son of God leave His home above.

Forget the reindeer, Christmas tree, and sprigs of mistletoe,
There's a whole lot more to Christmas I just want you to know.
It's not just another holiday decked out in red and green;
We're celebrating the greatest gift this world has ever seen.

by Linda Tiemessen, 2001

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T11:42:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all of you! I hope you are all having a truly blessed day. May you be surrounded by family if that makes you happy, or may you have peace, comfort and joy wherever you are. Today it is just the four of us. We opened our gifts to each other slowly and joyfully and then we finished making brunch. For brunch we had homemade caramel pecan cinnamon rolls hot from the oven, a wonderful breakfast bake with hash brown potatoes, homemade sausage, eggs and cheese in it, and a grape salad. It was yummy. I got a lot of nice gifts; a book, an apron, kitchen towels, sun catcher, wall hanging, a willow tree figurine, cds, etc. But the best gift I've ever received for Christmas is the reason we celebrate Christmas. For unto us is born this day a Savior! We all needed saved and only a perfect sacrifice would do it. So Jesus came for us. I like the song Go Fish sings about Christmas being about the cross. I have a cross hanging on my Christmas tree too. Jesus came and was born in a manger knowing that one day He would hang on a tree to save the world from their sins. And He died, knowing He would also rise from the dead to bring us new life and an eternal resurrection. That is the full Christmas story. I hope wherever you are and whatever you do for Christmas, that you will fully receive the greatest Christmas gift of all time.

I'm so thankful for safety and for Christmas break!

2008-12-23T17:54:00.000-08:00

Well, we are officially out on Christmas break now! I know, you will remind me that we just had five days off. I had a personal leave day then a snow day and then a weekend and then another snow day. So what do I have to be excited about? For one thing, it didn't snow today and they are saying tonight's storm might actually go south of us. YEAH! For another thing, I am one of those weird people who likes to have things organized and scheduled. I would never make a good ER nurse or ambulance nurse. I like to know what to plan on. Ok, so being a school nurse isn't really all that predictable either when you have 1200 kids who have the potential of getting hurt or sick at any given time. But it is dependable usually in that I know Monday through Friday from approximately 7:45-3:45 I will be at work. And it is even dependable in that I can pretty much count on somebody throwing up, somebody having an accident in their pants, and several somebodies getting hurt. And there are my "frequent fliers" that I can depend on seeing every day for a headache or stomach ache or just needing a hug. I like to know when my days off are coming. I like to plan what to do on those days off. So throw some major snow days on me and I start getting nervous. Do I pack my stuff for tomorrow or wait to see if they call and tell me to stay home? Do I go to the store today or wait and hope I can get there tomorrow? Sounds like I'm back to worrying about tomorrow, doesn't it? But if you give me a snow day, I can't relax and enjoy it and wallow in it. I have to get as much done and be as productive as possible with this extra gift of hours. But if I know it is a scheduled vacation, I can be productive but I can also stop and read a book or work on a craft project or play a game with the kids and not feel as guilty since it is scheduled relaxation time. So, even though I just had a five day weekend, I will now celebrate that I am officially on Christmas break! YEAH!!! The shopping is done, the cards are sent, and there is more than enough baking done to make us all diabetic before the new year comes. So I can relax and maybe even sleep in tomorrow. See, I envy you stay at home moms. Well, kinda. I got to be a stay at home mom for a few years when each of my kids was little and mostly I loved it. I loved being able to set my schedule around my kids and husband. I loved being able to take the time to enjoy life. On the other hand, since I was home, I became my husband's hired hand and his "beck and call girl" as Richard Gere said in Pretty Woman. So my time was still not my own. Oh, I don't know, I am rambling here. I'm glad to be on break. There.

I'm tired tonight. Our son started driving from Colorado yesterday morning. In the evening he was only as far as North Platte, NE. So at 2:30 this morning I suddenly awoke and realized he was still not home. From then until 5:30 I laid awake and prayed for his safety. At 6:30 I suddenly felt peace and thought that meant he was home or close to home. He wasn't. In fact he didn't get here until 1PM. But when I shared this with him, he told me that at 2:30 AM another vehicle passed him and was about 1/4 a mile in front of him, when that driver lost control and rolled into the median. BJ stopped to help him. He said from Omaha to Des Moines it was 45mph travel due to the slick interstate and the sides of the road looked like a junkyard with vehicles everywhere. At 6:30 when I felt peace, he was sleeping in his truck at a rest area north of Des Moines. Isn't it weird how God wakes you up and tells you to pray? I remember thinking, "Why wake me up to pray? If you know the need, God, can't you just take care of it without me?" I guess God wants to know we care. He likes giving us good things. I will praise Him and thank Him for His protection over our son and over me too as I had to drive through all those big snowdrifts on the way to work this morning over unplowed country roads. I thank Him too that I only have 6 miles of those roads to get to work and no longer have to do the rural mail route with over 100 miles a day of those horribly snow-clogged roads. God is so good! All the time!

More Snow and more snow and more snow

2008-12-20T11:29:00.000-08:00

Well, here we go again and again. As you know, I went to bring the kid home from college on Wednesday night because it was to storm on Thursday. Actually it didn't storm until Thursday night late. But then it dumped 6 inches of snow (they had forecast 12). So school got canceled on Friday. Then on Friday most of the day it was blue skies and sunshine. Then I was to work all day at the wrestling tournament today and really didn't want to. But yesterday they canceled it too. So my husband planned a fish fry for tonight with about 16 people. I started making salads and goodies and this morning I thawed fish. But then it started snowing really hard and this afternoon the wind is to come up and blow and drift all this wonderful white stuff and cause blizzard conditions. So now the fish fry is canceled. And tomorrow was to be the Nu Hi Chorale concert at church in the morning and the children's Christmas program tomorrow night. The concert is now canceled and the Christmas program is moved to A.M. with a warning to not come if the weather continues like this.

And so it continues to snow. I can only see the neighbors' farm off and on through all the falling snow. We did however, make it to town in my husband's 4WD truck to get groceries and a few final gifts and we actually went to the tree farm and cut our Christmas tree at this late date. The tree farm was closed, but the owner gave us a saw and said to go help ourselves. It was snowing hard then too and the snow was already past our knees, so we didn't stay as long as usual and weren't nearly as picky as usual. But we got a tree and now we can stay in and watch it snow and decorate it. YEAH!

Have you noticed how fitting the daily Bible verse is on here? I have no idea who decides which verse goes with which day, but it seems each one is so appropriate to that day in my life. Today's verse is Matthew 6:34; "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Now isn't that appropriate? I worried about the storm on Thursday which didn't happen until Friday. I worried about the wrestling meet on Saturday which didn't happen. I worried about getting food ready for the fish fry which didn't happen. I worried about getting to town tomorrow night for the Christmas program which is now not going to happen. So I will try not to worry about our son who is to drive out from Colorado tomorrow. I will try not to worry about our niece who is driving up from Arkansas today. I will try not to worry about our nephew who is coming in on the train from New York today. Each day has enough trouble of its own and thankfully it also has enough joy of its own. I hope you are joyfully enjoying your day wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

Giving Good Gifts

2008-12-18T10:38:00.000-08:00

Today's verse is so appropriate for this time of year. It's from the book of Matthew and it says if we know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our Heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him. Which brings me to my point (somewhat). At this time of commercial gift-giving, what are good gifts? I don't mean which brand of razor do I buy my husband or even if I buy him a razor or a new shirt. What are the good gifts I can give my family? Do you see where I'm going with this? I am sure you do.

Yesterday I worked 8 hours and then I took off and drove to my daughter's college and picked up a load of her belongings and turned around and drove back home with her following me in her car full of belongings. I drove 350 miles on partially snow and ice covered roads in the dark. I HATE driving in the dark since the oncoming lights blind me and I fear the deer are running. I also hate driving in snow and ice. BUT this was one of those gifts I gave my daughter. She has been miserable at college for the last 4 months and finally made the decision to move back home and regroup and find a different college closer to home. Now I will admit I am very disappointed. I nearly cried as she told her friends there goodbye and as we drove away from that beautiful campus one last time. I love that campus and that town as much as she once thought she did. We've made a lot of fun memories there, and I hate to see it come to an end. I know that sounds selfish on my part and I'm sorry. I also still firmly believe that is where God wants her and I believe she will one day down the road regret leaving there. I can speak from personal experience. When I went away to college, a year and a half into it, I made decisions outside of the will of God and I have lived with regrets the rest of my life. I know God has done good things in my life in spite of my taking a detour from his route. But I often wonder how much more I'd have been blessed if I had faithfully followed His plan instead of mine.

So where do the good gifts come in? I am giving my daughter the gift of loving acceptance. I accept her decisions and will support her as she chooses a new path to her career. I will drive 350 miles in the wintry night to move her home. I will welcome her home and allow her to regroup. I will be patient with her as she spends over an hour saying her goodbyes to all the friends she claims she never made there, and as she unpacks and settles back into our home. I will show her that I am proud of her for finishing the semester there even though she was so unhappy and for getting good grades during that semester. I will encourage her as she chooses a new college and new classes and moves again and makes new friends again and starts all over again. I will continue to be the wind beneath her wings and know that she is not coming back to the nest to stay, but only to grow a little stronger before she relaunches.

And I know that my Heavenly Father has watched me make so many mistakes and poor choices in my own life and yet He stands there loving me and holding out His arms for me and trying to guide me in the right way He has planned. I know He loves my daughter too and will bless her and work His will in her life no matter how many detours she takes along the way.

At this Christmas season, may you know and accept the Greatest Gift of All, the love of God and the gift of His Son who brought us salvation and grace and pardon. May you accept the good gifts He gives and may you share good gifts with those you love.

Being Content

2008-12-10T18:10:00.000-08:00

Today's Bible verses on here are I Timothy 6:6-8 which say, "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that."
I find those very fitting. I just finished reading Iowa Farmer Today newspaper and also the Des Moines Register Weekly edition. I read numerous articles that refreshingly gave testimony to those verses. I read a whole bunch of short recollections from seniors who went through the Great Depression. I read about them working for $4 a week and giving their parents their whole paycheck to support the family. I read about a lady who stood in soup lines with her red pail to be filled with soup to take home to feed her family. These were not complaining letters. These were memories of survival and being thankful for having food and clothing even if the food was homegrown and the clothing made from flour sacks. Then I read a letter to the editor where the writer was urging people to quit buying wants and only buy needs to turn around our current economy. I read another story about a woman who raised 4 boys in a two bedroom house, and continues to live in that home in her 90's even though the roof leaked so badly she had to put a shower curtain over the clothes in her closet and drip pails throughout the house. And how community members took up a collection and volunteered their time to put a new tin roof on her house. She was so thankful and relieved she couldn't sleep that night. I read about the homeless men who are being evicted from their one-room shanties and sent to shelters for their own safety and how they want to just be left alone and allowed to enjoy their one room privacy. I read about an 11-yr-old girl who is blind and hoping for a cornea transplant, who is thankful for her one friend who is also blind and who enjoys collecting sounds on her recorder. These two papers were just full of positive stories of being grateful for little things. In this crazy scramble for Christmas sales and days of commercialism, it is good to be content with the basics. When did I last stop to be thankful that I can see or hear? When was I thankful my roof doesn't leak and that I have a roof over my head at all? My cats are better fed than a lot of people in our world. I have food and clothing and a warm house. How can I not be content?

Snow Day!

2008-12-09T11:24:00.000-08:00

Last night, the calling tree called to say we were already two hours delayed for today due to the storm warnings and the snow falling. Then at 6 AM today they called back to say school was now canceled. Yes, I could use a snow day off. BUT I don't want to make it up and I hope this is not a premonition of things to come this winter. Well, we got 8 1/2 inches of snow on top of the ice we got first. Then you add a strong wind to blow and drift it into piles and it is not fun. It is just plain brutal outside. How do I know? Am I not smart enough to stay inside? Oh, I am! I planned to sleep in, get up and make a pot of oatmeal for my breakfast. Then while it was cooling I was going to take a nice hot shower and get dressed in comfy clothes, then put the bedding in the washer. THAT was MY plan. However, my husband decided to get up earlier and go out to his shop. Then he decided to push snow with the skid loader, which he promptly got stuck down the hill in the old horse pasture. Why was he in the pasture? I guess he slid there from the drive. Anyway, before I could make the oatmeal or take the shower, and was just stripping the bedding, he called the house. He needed me to come out and pull the skid loader out with the pickup. So forget the shower, forget the oatmeal, put the bedding in the washer and get dressed. That included clean underwear, then thermal underwear, a tshirt, socks, sweat pants, sweat shirt, winter coat, gloves, ear grips, his insulated knee boots, and the hood up on the coat. Reminded me of when I used to bundle the kids up to go play in the snow and by the time they were bundled one of them would have to go to the bathroom and we could start all over again. Or they'd get outside and play for a few minutes and decide they were bored and come back in. Anyway, that was not my option, so I waddled in all my padding through the big drifts of snow and slid on the ice underneath out to his shop. He took the pickup out and hooked the chains to his skid loader and told me to go. RIGHT! I tried. The pickup tried. We slid and jerked and spun our wheels and blew diesel smoke all over the place and slid some more. So he gets out of the skid loader and comes and takes my place in the truck and gets it unstuck. Then we start over again with him in the skid loader and me driving truck. More jerks and sliding and spinning and backing up and ramming it forward and finally the skid loader was back on the drive! Yeah! I parked the truck right there and started walking to the house. Bless his heart, he took the skid loader and cleared me a path to the house so I didn't have to climb through the drifts, just slide on the ice. Came back in the house and changed out of the warm stuff. Made me a cup of coffee (with eggnog creamer, YUM!) and made a pot of homemade from scratch turkey curly noodle soup and apple corn muffins for lunch. Now it is almost 2:00. I haven't accomplished much of anything today. The laundry is going. But I now have dishes to do and really wanted to wrap gifts and finish addressing Christmas cards. Dr. Phil will be on in an hour. Yeah! Anyway, just thought I'd share with you my snow day on the farm. When we got rid of the pigs, I thought, "Yeah, no more trips out into the ice and snow to help clear hog lots or thaw waterers or load hogs." Nope, now I just get to go out and help pull out the skid loader. This was easier I must admit. But I'm still ready for a nap. Hope you are all in where it is warm and dry.

Early Out for Winter Storm

2008-12-08T12:39:00.000-08:00

Job 37:5-13 "God's voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth' , and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.' So that all men he has made may know his work, he stops every man from his labor. The animals take cover; they remain in their dens. The tempest comes out from its chamber, the cold from the driving winds. The breath of God produces ice, and the broad waters become frozen. He loads the clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them. At his direction they swirl around over the face of the whole earth to do whatever he commands them. He brings the clouds to punish men, or to water his earth and show his love."

Today these verses seem very relevant. We are under a winter storm warning from this afternoon until tomorrow night. School got out at 1:00 to try to get us all home safely before the roads were too bad. As it was, the roads were icy and the car was covered in ice. It was freezing rain and sleet all the way home. I live 6 miles from work so I crept home at 30 miles an hour. After the ice, we are to get maybe as much as 9 inches of snow. Then the winds are to pick up and blow and drift all that snow. It is awfully early in our season to be anticipating snow days already. But it could definitely happen tomorrow. Last year we missed so much school, we had makeup days to do way into June. I don't really want that to happen again. However, I do love the fact that since I work for the school district, if the roads are too horrible, I don't have to go to work. I remember the days when I was director of nursing and had to go to work even if I was breaking tracks through the snowdrifts. I remember one wonderful day when I went out early in the morning and shoveled my way out of the garage only to get stuck so deeply, that I had to shovel my way back into the garage. I don't miss those days at all. I 'd much rather go to school in June. Today I thank God for a job where we get sent home when the weather is bad. I thank Him for getting me home safely. And while I acknowledge His power and control, I think this animal is going to remain in her den. Stay warm and safe, my friends.

A winter Saturday

2008-12-06T17:52:00.000-08:00

Well, it was a cold, snowy, windy day. In other words, it is winter in Iowa. At times the blowing snow was so thick the hill across from our house was all fuzzy like it was hidden in a fog. At other times, there would just be little wisps of snow drifting across the field and the sun would reflect off all the white. We had company. 3 of my husband's musician friends and one wife came to spend the day. They were here from 10 A.M. to 7 P.M. so I fed them lunch and then leftovers for supper. Anyway, while we were eating lunch, the wife got all excited and drew our attention to the front window. As we watched, 7 deer went across the field in procession. They didn't seem overly excited by the fact that deer season opened today. Silly things must have known my husband's license is for second season, which is next weekend. It was nice to sit in my warm house and watch the snow blow by though, knowing I didn't have to go out on the roads and neither did my daughter who is safely at college doing her homework in her dorm room. Are you winter people? I'm not. I like watching it if I don't have to go out in it. But I really prefer green grass and warmer temperatures.

What movies have you watched lately? Last Sunday night we had a "couples' night out" and 24 of us went to the next town for supper at Pizza Ranch and to see the movie Fireproof. Fireproof is a low cost production with some lolls in the acting, but the message is wonderful! Kirk Cameron is the main actor and he is ready to give up on his marriage as his wife wants out. However, he is a fire chief and he is reminded that on the job, they never leave their partner behind. So his dad challenges him to spend 40 days working on saving his marriage. If you get a chance to see the movie with your husband, go. Take some kleenex along though. Today the other wife and I watched Shall We Dance? She'd never seen it before. I love how Richard Gere actually doesn't succumb to desire for Jennifer Lopez, but learns to dance and shares it with his wife. One of my very favorite movies of all time. I know how it is to feel lonely and like something is missing. I love how both of these movies though, point to strengthening the marriage bond.

Well, until next time, these are my ramblings for a winter Saturday. Take care. Watch out for deer.

This Is My Father's World

2008-12-04T19:48:00.000-08:00

Do you know the song, "This Is My Father's World"? Well, this morning as I was driving to work, that song planted itself in my brain and kept repeating itself over and over. Why? Well, first of all there was this absolutely gorgeous sunrise. First there was just a pink glow rising from the horizon like a pink column of smoke spreading up into the clouds. Then suddenly there was an orange sphere peeking over the edge of my world. And only a mile later, there was a burst of glory and this huge orange ball literally leaped into the sky! That's about the time the song started singing in my head. And just one more mile later, there were 12 deer standing in a field beside the road. Some were grazing in the snow-covered field and others were just standing there gazing into space like they could hear that song of the heavens as well. I came to a stop, and suddenly, a few at a time, they turned and sprinted off into a nearby stand of trees. As I traveled on to work, my record got stuck and played over and over. Funny, as I came home tonight, it was dark, and yet when I passed the field where the deer had been, I could still hear that song playing.

"This is my Father's world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father's world, the birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker's praise.
This is my Father's world: He shines in all that's fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere."

That's only two of the six verses of this song, but you get the picture. Even though it was the snow that was white, not the lily and the rustling trees not grass, and even though snow was coming down by the time I got to work, it is still my Father's world. Although it is now only 3 degrees above zero, I can still lift my eyes to Him and proclaim: "This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it." I hope you have a chance to glory in His world as well wherever you are.

The Day After Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T09:16:00.000-08:00

So what do you do the day after Thanksgiving? Are you shopping till you drop? Are you sleeping off yesterday's feast? Did you spend the night at a mall parking lot somewhere waiting for the doors to open? Are you back to work as usual? Maybe you are a farmer and the same chores are waiting for you as always. Or are you writing your Christmas letter and getting the cards ready to mail? Well, at our house we are having our own Thanksgiving dinner. See, yesterday we went to relatives for Thanksgiving dinner. That was fine. The food was good and we ate too much and came home and skipped supper even. But now there is no leftover turkey for sandwiches and we didn't have any pumpkin pie at all. So today my daughter who is home from college and likes to cook, is making us our very own turkey (20 pounds of it) and all the trimmings and I made 3 pumpkin pies and now we can stuff ourselves into oblivion for a second day in a row. Just what I need to do. Oh yeah. But who can turn down good turkey? I can't. And I LOVE pumpkin pie with whipped cream. And guess what else? There is a Mork and Mindy marathon on TV all day too. So I introduced my daughter to Mork and Mindy and she loves it too. Okay, who wouldn't love Robin Williams? I have 5 days off work and something planned for every one of those days except today. Oh, I can think of a hundred things I should be doing, but can't decide where to start so I am just enjoying a day off. I was still up at 7:30, but I ran around in my nightgown for a while and then I played Family Feud on the internet. And yeah, I watched Mork and Mindy. I think I might run to town after dinner. Maybe rent some movies or something. It's so much fun to just have a day off to do whatever I want. Sometimes I actually wish I could break a leg so I could have time off to read a good book and catch up on all my little projects. But I suppose that wouldn't be so much fun either. Well, whatever you are doing, I hope you are enjoying your day as much as I am. The sun is shining and it's above freezing out. This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.

Welcome to my blog

2008-11-27T16:43:00.000-08:00

Hello, everyone. I decided since most of my friends have blogs on here, that I should have one too. So I will give this a try. It's Thanksgiving Day today and I have so very much to be thankful for. God has blessed me richly again this year. No, I'm not rich financially. But I heard that being rich isn't based on how much you have, but on how little you need. God has taken care of my needs. Therefore, I am rich indeed. I have family and friends and food and a warm house and a dependable car and fuzzy four-legged friends as well. I have a job that pays the bills and shelter from the storms of life. I have freedom to worship the way I want. I have a God who has forgiven me so much and showered me with His love. Happy Thanksgiving. Linda