God is in CONTROL

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Sleepless in KC




So today, I get this txt. msg. from Bethany -- "In honor of it being the Lord's Day this morning from 3-5 am I sang Campbell "Amazing Grace" 402 times and "Jesus Loves Me" 338 times. She went on to say, "Campbell liked the singing and it kept me from being frustrated."

It's sort of like Terry said about prayer this morning, quoting C.S. Lewis, "I don't know if prayer changes God, but it DOES change me."

Campbell DOES have her sleep issues -- Some people have quoted what they like to call the baby verse in the Bible, "We shall not all sleep but we WILL all be changed." 1 Cor. 15:51

My mother always used to say, "this too shall pass". And that's what Bethany & Mat know and it keeps them patient during this stage of C's development.

For these stages I like what HE says in Isaiah 40 "He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young." That's my kids right now -- so it speaks to my heart!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Word Art



Starting back to school always means sitting through in-service activities. Every year the administrators want to make certain we are keeping our students engaged in the learning process and provide in-service workshops to keep us abreast of what's going on in the field of technology. Being digital immigrants - teachers my age can appear from the dark ages to the digital "natives" or ("millenials" as they are called -- the 10 yr-olds to 31 yr. olds). So it's important to keep up.


I tried to prepare myself for school by taking some classes this summer in skyping, blogging and how to use the cell phone to an educational advantage. Yesterday I learned a new concept -- making word graphs from paragraphs of written text on a web site called wordle.net and then having students write summary sentences about the main idea of a text.

That looked like fun . . . so

I pasted in the text from my last blog post. It enlarged the words I said the most frequently in the text -- and put them into a graphic design. hmmmmm. See how large the words "favorite" and "time" are.

I got to thinking -- would I want my conversations
put in graphic form?

What WORDS do I use the most?

What do I talk ABOUT the most?

WHAT or WHO should I bring into conversation
more often than I do?

I think I know what you would tell me the center of my communication has been these past few months.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Blessed!

Marshall arrived yesterday for his two-day visit. He's been working some 90+ hour weeks -- He came exhausted and we are thrilled he was able to spend a part of his vacation here and at the same time, visit friends in both OKC and Dallas. Bethany came for a longer stay to be able to spend time with her brother and anxious for Campbell to have some quality time with her favorite Uncle.


Before picking Marshall up, Bethany and I had gone up to Owasso to show off Baby C to some friends and by the time we did lunch, and made the airport -- the little Princess was all tuckered out from several interrupted naps. . .She never quite got enough rest the remainder of the day so we had a very LONG night and by 3:00 am it was time for Nana to walk the floor and try to soothe down our little "nap striker" Several choruses of "Campbell, Jesus Loves You" with the vacuum cleaner as back-up music -- by 3:45 this morning she was sound asleep. Pappa and I took her bouncy chair upstairs to our room to let Mommy sleep -- by 6 AM she was wide awake, ready to eat and play with Uncle M.



It's been a GREAT visit and I feel blessed we have gotten to be together twice this summer. --- Everything I've prayed for. In case you can't tell, I miss our kids SO MUCH, them living so far away -- and when they leave -- this house seems pretty empty!

If your family lives close to you or far away -- make whatever time you get together special ---
cook their favorite food
set the table with your best dishes,
even eat in the dining room
but let them know that they are your favorite folks in the whole world!!!!
Your people are your great treasure and you're
doubly blessed if they live near by!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Having Lots of Fun!!!


With school starting this week, my trips to Kansas City are curtailed so Bethany and Campbell came home for a few days. With our kids both living out of state, I miss them soooo very much and any time we get to have them I clear my schedule so we can hang out the entire time -- I set up my classroom early and edited this year's course outlines. Marshall comes in tomorrow afternoon -- the first time home in over a year and we'll have him for only 48 hours -- so we're savoring every minute of his visit -- and tomorrow night we'll have both kids here together for dinner -- just a few short moments!


Campbell has had some sleep issues and her mommy was needing "girl time" with friends yesterday morning and it just so happened that Terry had a meeting, so it was Campbell and Nana Jan-- just the two of us.

I was ready -- Baby Bjorn pack -- two bottles -- bouncy seat -- floor gym and instructions on how to calm the little lady from Bethany's newest discovery "The Happiest Baby on the Block" DVD.


Mommy left, C started to fuss -- I figured it was time for a walk -- loaded her up in the baby pack and walked around the block -- which put her to sleep for about 30 minutes. She woke up -- played on the baby floor gym for awhile and then --



She got hungry and restless -- fed her the bottle Bethany left -- she gulped in down in about 8 minutes -- started to REALLY fuss -- decided it was time to try out the "Happiest Baby" routine -- so "swaddled, soothed, -- turned on the vacuum cleaner for white noise and in 2 minutes Campbell calmed and in 5 she was soundly asleep in a deep sleep . Piece of cake -- Guess I HAVEN'T lost my touch! -- who'd have thought the vacuum cleaner would be such an important part of the baby nursery or that standing outside near the AC compressor could quiet a crying baby?


Pappa and C time - -He's done nothing but grin since she's gotten here. The two have bonded quite well!





So much fun to show her off at Church this morning to all the wonderful people who prayed for her consistently these past 8 months!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

What Am I Holding On To?

In the past week I discovered I have lost something that was very important to me -- my lime green ipod! 'Getting to the season of life where I have been known to misplace things, I turned our house upside down trying to locate this special treasure. Terry gave it to me last Mother's day and I use it when I work out. I was really bummed when I couldn't find it. I wracked my brain trying to remember the last time I had seen it in it's usual place on the kitchen desk -- I was beginning to get a bit obsessed with this significant loss, when I remembered an older Indian missionary, J.C. Johnson, many years ago quoting Augustine. We are creatures of eternity and NO THING in time can satisfy us. WHEW -- that made it all take on different dimension.
Something else God brought to mind were the words of Henry Blackaby in his Bible study, Experiencing God, Don't hold ANY THING in your heart that you can hold in your hand.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Vamos Por Mas


This weekend was one of those special weekends that you mark time by. We housed two gifted women Pastor Daysi from Honduras and her 17 yr.old niece, Heide from Boston who translated. It was amazing to watch them as they worked in sync with each other. Heide could both hear her aunt's next thought and while speaking what she'd just previously heard. It was exhausting for both -- Pastor Daysi not speaking English and totally being out of culture -- Heide talking for two at times as she communicated her aunt's ideas. They had both fasted before coming to determine God's message they were to present.



They met with various groups to encourage and give a word, taking these opportunities very seriously. Heide, captain of her La Crosse team, shared with the teens last night what it's like to be one of a few strong Christian in her high school.



Thoughts that resonated with me --
One was the difference in members and "sons" in a Church family. Pastor said members check in -- and check out if they don't like what they see happening. "Sons" are there to stay because they are family. Family always comes home. Members can leave and often times do leave. "Sons" lend a shoulder to support. They may not always agree -- they may argue and fight -- but they always come "home" because family works through things together.

On Yesterday, Pastor Daysi said -- The past is behind you -- God gave her Isaiah 43:18 -- "Forget the former things -- I am doing a new thing. That was good news to this church family that has gone through some struggles while waiting a very long time to begin building.

Lastly, was something that God impressed on her earlier this year as HE shared with her that HE was taking their church to a new level -- the words "Vamos Por Mas" - going for more!

I like that: not being content with average or short supply -- but going for more!!!

More joy, more ministry, more opportunities to reach out for HIM.

It was no accident that her timing to come was the week we were going to finally be signing the loan documents.-- Pastor Daysi been praying for God to show her when to come to Tulsa and HE impressed her it was now.

Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance. Jude 1:2

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