😦 Had to leave my family this week:
🙂 two daughters took me to the airport and one took both her kids out of school to see me off
😦 when we were within sight of the airport my daughter asked if the flight was full so I called my son to check. He asked if we had listed me for the flight. No, we both forgot. So as we pulled in, he listed me for the flight.
🙂 Southwest had no line, so we walked right in
😦 my suitcase was overweight, so I said that I’m going to PNG and will just pay the extra
🙂 the ticket agent processed the fees and then looked at my girls and asked if they were my family and did they want to escort me to the gate!!! 🙂 🙂 It made me cry to even think that they could come to the gate. He issued passes for all four to go with me. 🙂
🙂 such fun to ride the airport tram with the kids:)
🙂 when we got to the gate, I was given and ‘A’ boarding pass right away!!
🙂 we had time to have a nice lunch altogether and even play some games as we waited
:0 they took me all the way to the entrance to the ramp and waved. I had a row to myself
🙂 got my luggage in LA and met another missionary with Wycliffe flying to Bogota
😦 then began the five or six hour wait to try and get on the next flight. I didn’t buy anything to eat or drink on my way to check in and got dehydrated.
:(As I checked in to get on the standby list, I asked about checking my bag all the way through to Port Moresby to avoid customs in Australia. but they said they couldn’t do that when I am standby.
😦 😦 after two hours or so of waiting, I went to just see how things were going. The lady said, “Didn’t they tell you that it could take six DAYS to get on this flight??? no, no one told me that. So I called a friend and my kids for prayer and started to pray. There were 30 people on the standby list and at least one lady had been waiting for six days.
🙂 I somehow had peace and didn’t feel that I needed to frantically try and make other plans. I just sat there and prayed. But, I felt that I couldn’t just pray for me to get on this flight. I needed to pray for all of us. So I prayed that all 30 of us would make the flight. It was a long wait!!
finally they began to call folks for the flight to Brisbane.
First 8 were called, but the gal said that there would be more
then another 8
then a few more
Finally there was just me and one other gal, everyone else was gone to the other teminal for the flight
They called each of us!!! Wow
She went to one gal and I went to the other to check in our baggage
I told the lady that I knew my bag was heavy and I had a credit card. The lady said it looked okay and then asked if I was stepping on the scale! I said no, it is heavy. She said it’s okay and proceeded to check me in with no extra fees 🙂
🙂 🙂 as she handed me my boarding pass, she said, “I checked your bag to Port Moresby”
Wow, they don’t do that!!
When we were grouped together to go through security, I told everyone that I had been praying that we would all make the flight.
In Brisbane, I just did the quick transit, with no customs.
I made all of my flights and was in Ukarumpa and home by 4pm
God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.
FBCHendersonville is the most mission oriented church I have ever attended. We are in the top 100 of all 46,000 SBC churches in mission giving. We also have personal relationships with many missionaries on the field. There’s a lady in our church who regularly sends me e-mails of prayer requests and letters from missionaries. I had hoped she would get the e-mails the pastor referenced Wednesday night.
So far, not so. So I presume that I will not get them. It is an interesting story. Sad but triumphant. The following story takes place over about a weeks time and consists of three e-mails our pastor got from a missionary in Kenya. I may have told this before, but one of our missionaries was visiting Nairobi on business, but she took a taxi to go to the mall. While about a minute from the mall, the taxi driver got a phone call. “Don’t go to the mall, there has been an attack.” So she missed being in that attack. The following is condensation from the three e-mails she sent our pastor. Best I can remember from Wednesday. This is the next post.
There was a village chief who, with his wife, converted from Islam. They trusted Christ and witnessed for him in the village.
One night some Islamists came to their house, when the lady opened the door, they shot her in the stomach and kidnapped her husband. That was one e-mail. Couple of days later:
The lady is in the hospital. She will recover. But they have found the body of her husband. He was tortured before being killed.
That was the second e-mail. Then, later:
They held a funeral for the slain chief and because of the threat, there was a contingent of police attending the funeral. Also, five Islamists attended.
As a result of the funeral, all five of the Islamists were converted and half of the police contingent trusted Christ.
So there was weeping and rejoicing in Kenya.
That’s all I know, as reported by our pastor at the Wednesday night service.
I thought it was worth posting.
I attend a very mission oriented church. I never realized there were so many ways to serve as a missionary. All I ever knew was the missionaries they brought into our school to share their stories. They always had a picture of a monkey being cooked in a pot of stew. It looked like a boiling baby.
To those of you who serve and have family who serve, thank you.
🙂 Jo’s travels and answers to prayer – thank you for sharing them with us
🙂 Chas’ story
😦 Went to sleep last night with husband sick
😦 Woke this morning to the dog throwing up
🙂 Cleaned up the mess, husband is still sleeping, dog seems better
😦 🙂 Remembering my Uncle John today. He was a passionate man who, when he should have been thinking of retirement, moved to Ukraine and planted churches and started a centre for orphans who age out (when they turn 16 they are simply left to their own devices). He loved to tease his nieces and always had a twinkle in his eye.
Yes, Kim, you have. I had checked it out some years ago, but it seemed a little overwhelming to me at the time, so I didn’t pursue it much after that. I’m considering taking another look, though, as I feel I’m starting to get on top of some things now, and flylady may not seem so overwhelming anymore, but may be an assist along the path I’ve already started on. Thanks.
😦 Most of the snow melted, but not nearly all, and we have had several more inches. The ground is now covered, which, because of major drifting, wasn’t even true after we had our foot of snow.
🙂 February is two weeks away.
🙂 This week I worked on a project I’ve procrastinated on for ten years . . . well, for several of those years I had reasons I actually couldn’t do it . . . but I have now scanned in the family photos, and will now work to make some books of them. (My sister and I went through the photos after Mom died ten years ago and gave each sibling a small box of photos. But the idea was that the ones we would all want, I would scan in and somehow distribute.)
😦 I have very few of Dad’s side of the family, only a couple of his parents and none at all of him before he met Mom (age 35). I also don’t have any photos of most of his siblings.
🙂 I found some fun photos, such as ones of the pets Mom had in Africa: a monkey and a dog (the dog, Cricket, later gave its name to my own childhood dog).
🙂 I found, and scanned, a letter Mom’s mother sent airmail to Nigeria, congratulating her on her upcoming marriage to my father. (My grandmother died while Mom was in Africa, and Dad never met either of Mom’s parents. Dad’s parents died while my brothers were growing up; my oldest brother has only the vaguest memories of the last grandparent.)
🙂 God has a purpose for all of us, no matter where we are.
🙂 🙂 🙂 My dad’s surgery went well. He fought all the way. Even the morning of the surgery he threatened to leave over and over. I am grateful for my sister who insisted he will stay, like it or not. Also thankful for my sister-in-law and brother who were there with my mom.
I am also grateful that we had decent weather to get to the hospital until the surgery was over. A little over ten miles from our home, the weather started getting nasty.
😦 SIL was turned down for a job he hoped he would get for this semester. He needs a job and benefits.
🙂 Another SIL had his own firm and another fighting over him for a job. That was nice. He decided to stay put. Hard decision.
😦 Another family gathering postponed due to the weather. We started out for Iowa, knowing there was going to be snow, but my MIL called saying the snow was thick, and the SIL who had to travel the farthest decided to stay home. This gathering was supposed to be at Thanksgiving, but got postponed due to illness. Then we were going to meet two weeks ago, but that was the coldest weather in 20 years. We are thinking of waiting until Easter. Then it only rains.
🙂 Supporting missionaries. Our small church gives to a few missionaries in various places.
🙂 Kim & 6arrows – I went to Flylady and had a good laugh. Step one was to shine your sink. Well, first I had to empty the sink of all the accumulated dishes from the past 3 days with migraines and long work days! They are now stacked neatly beside the sink awaiting washing in a few minutes, but the sink isn’t shined yet. 😦
Our church supports many missionaries. The money raised thru Global Advance nationally is pooled and distributed among the missionaries we support. The missionaries do not have to scramble to raise their support when they are on furlough. They do, however, tour their supporting churches to inform us of what they’ve been doing and how God has been working.
Re Flylady. Don’t sign up for the testimonials and other stuff or you will be overwhelmed. Just get the daily missions and the basics. Start at the beginning and do what she saids. It all starts with shining the sink. If you have to keep the sink clean you will do the dishes! She has a great story of how she got out of an abusive marriage, suffered depression, and found her calling in life.
I get “on and off the wagon” on a regular basis. Right now I am back on. I love that FLY stands for Finally Loving Yourself and that housework not done properly still blesses your family and that nothing says I love you to a sick family member than a clean toilet in which to throw up.
I find I am happier when I follow her plan.
🙂 The travels of Jo, Kathaleena’s dad’s surgery & a link to some wonderful tributes to Kare’s Uncle John on FB.
🙂 Slept in until 9 this morning, I needed it.
😦 The house is chilly, but our weather has been so hot and dry, with our air badly affected by the raging fire in the hills. They’re hoping to have it contained sometimes Sunday, last I heard. Started by 3 guys trying to start a campfire. They lit a piece of paper which flew up in the wind and landed in some very dry brush on land that hadn’t burned since 2002. Up everything went in the blink of an eye. Several homes lost.
😦 The governor has declared our state to be in an official state of drought.
🙂 Busy day ahead, some of the gals from church organized a lunch out (ostensibly in honor of my birthday — which was in November 🙂 ). We’re late with our birthday lunches, but they’re always fun. Then it’s to a Cowboy poetry and music festival tonight, which I’m attending as research, if you will, for a feature story I’m working on. It starts with a free chili feed. 🙂
🙂 The cat was purring and trilling and giving me love bites trying to get me up this morning.
😦 But last night she’d staked out a spot right smack in the middle of my bed, causing me to have to wind myself around her in some uncomfortable contortions.
Donna, is that what it’s called? Trilling? Our cat never just purrs, there’s always a higher purr, like he’s harmonizing with himself. I had never heard that before.
Well, I call it ‘trilling.’ 🙂 She purrs and then it spirals up into this cute little “trill” as she head bumps me. I have to say this is the most affectionate cat I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. 🙂
🙂 Cowboy the dog has the soul of a poet. 🙂 I guess he probably just needs someone to transcribe it into human language. 🙂 Maybe we then we could take our show on the road.
😦 So what would flylady say about my Christmas lights? At least I have the good taste not to turn them on at night now that it’s mid-January. But I am beginning to understand the mindset of just leaving the dang things up all year long so you don’t have to go through the hassle.
😦 The city of L.A. has outlawed those thin plastic bags so we all have to remember to bring our own bags to the store now — or pay 10 cents for an old-fashioned brown paper bag, which I can’t figure out why they didn’t go back to in the first place??? Sheesh. I keep reusable bags in my car but invariably forget to bring one or two into the store with me when I shop.
🙂 Had some interesting fb interactions this week on the death penalty (with very liberal professing Christians, many taking the position that Jesus was against the death penalty, and a fair number of non-believers who were frustrated with bringing the Bible in on this discussion at all).
Separately, the next day, I posted a link to a new book that was on sale for 99 cents (via kindle) by an author I’d not heard of before (Stephen Altrogge – anyone else familiar with him?): “Untamable God: Encountering the One Who Is Bigger, Better, and More Dangerous Than You Could Possibly Imagine.” I commented that it sounded interesting.
First comment from someone: “Isn’t this the God I grew up fearing?”
Hmm. Still pondering a response (or whether to even post one) to that. Thoughts?
“Is it possible that your view of God is too small? Too safe? Too tame? Too comfortable? Is it possible that you have settled for a low, uninspiring, limited view of God? Is it possible that your passion for God suffers because your vision of God suffers?”
🙂 Ann Taylor Loft was having a sale today. Everything full price was 40 to 50% off. I had a $15 Birthday Credit. New sunglasses for me and new socks for BG, $3.59!!!
🙂 Also had a $10 Birthday Credit to Victoria’s Secret so I got something else for $5.00 because they had a section marked down to $15.99 each.
😦 Of course all of this was offset by the power cord I had to buy for BG’s computer. They do most of their school work and all of their homework online on their MacBooks and she spent the night with a friend last night. Their new puppy chewed the cord. Mr. P tried to splice it back together and tape it up with electrical tape but it didn’t work.
Those Apple power cords appear to be deliberately fragile, based on our experience, and terribly difficult to repair. 😦
🙂 😦 We’re just in from a walk on a gorgeous day in arid California. Even our governor, a former Jesuit, has been muttering about prayers for rain . . .
😦 Listening to Bill O’Reilly’s CD Killing Jesus, which some of my FB friends have seen me comment upon. Riddled with biblical error. Does anyone–any female in particular–believe Mary walked or rode a donkey up hill 8 miles to Jerusalem to have Jesus circumcized in the temple when he was 8 days old?
It goes on. Surely even two authors trained at Catholic colleges would know Mary was unclean until day 40–which is why the trio was in the temple on day 40 and met Simeon and Anna?
I’m listening because two people in one week recommended this book. The first is an 80 year old sensible woman in my Bible study. The second, however, is a non-church going friend who couldn’t stop listening to it and lent me the CD. She’s off traveling for a month, but I’m hard pressed to think how I’m going to respond when she asks me if I liked it.
Haven’t read any of O’Reilly’s books, I’m not particularly a fan of his — on his show, he goes especially off-kilter and cringe-worthy whenever he tries to delve into the topic of the Bible or theology.
Michelle, a friend loaned me a book she wrote to read. When I returned it I prayed that she would not ask how I liked it. 🙂 When I saw her at church she was talking to several folks, so I just handed her the book, smiled, and walked on.
Jo, an editor sometimes has that task. You work with a book that’s hideous and the first thing the author wants to know is “Is it good?” and then (assuming it isn’t a book that has been accepted for publication), “Where should I send it to get it published immediately so I can become a best-selling author by this time next year?” OK, so they don’t usually say it quite that way. . . .
Michelle – I was surprised by your friend who agreed with you, but then lauded Reza Aslan’s book, Zealot. I got the feeling she didn’t actually read the link I posted. I didn’t say anything more on it, because she’s your friend, & I wasn’t sure any further comment would be appreciated.
Lee often uses the texting option that let’s him speak the message, & it is turned into text. So one morning, Emily received a text from him that read, “Watch out for black guys.”
It was supposed to be “Watch out for black ice.” 🙂
Karen, recently our daughter was sleeping and her boss called, probably asking if she could come into work since someone was sick. Well, apparently her phone has several options when someone called, including turn off the ringer or text a reply, and the text option has some “auto answers” that you can send quickly. So she told us she “sleep-texted” her boss. Instead of turning off the ringer, she sent a reply: “I’m in a meeting.”
I notice people make a lot of mistakes on Facebook, & texts, too, I’ve heard, because “autocorrect” chooses a wrong word. Because the word is not then underlined by spell check, people often miss the mistake.
Another thing I’ve heard of is people using their phones to check Facebook, & accidentally “liking” things they didn’t mean to.
Recently, there was some hullabaloo on a local Facebook page about a page some high school kid is running on which there is a lot of nastiness (of a sexual nature) & some cyber-bullying. While checking out the page in question, I noticed that my pastor had accidentally “liked” a pretty nasty post, & another friend accidentally “liked” another one.
(I brought that to my pastor’s attention. He thanked me for catching that, saying he must have “fat fingered” it, & he went & “unliked” it.)
🙂 Good sermon this morning on Rom. 8:10-11, with some uplifting messages about our eternal future.
😦 Our pastor made a request (which he’s done in the past, a few years ago, though, I think) that everyone bring their Bibles with them to church. I think most of us do, but there apparently is a number of people who don’t — the older lady I bring doesn’t bring hers, for example. Although the sermon verses are printed out for us (along with the sermon notes), I still prefer to follow the passage in my Bible so I can get a better feel of the context of the passage, what went before it, what sections come after. I guess I’ve just always taken my Bible to church, even when I’ve been in churches where pew Bibles are provided (which isn’t the case at our current church since we rent facilities and would have no handy place to put them).
🙂 He didn’t say anything about using electronic tablets or other devices to access the Bible, but those obviously count as bringing a Bible to church also. I still prefer a well-thumbed hard copy on my lap.
🙂 Nice lunch out yesterday with several friends from church.
🙂 And right on the heels of that, I had a fun time that evening at the Cowboy song-and-poetry festival. It was held in the clubhouse at one of the local horse stables (dating back to 1940) only about 8 miles away from my house. I always love being around horses, even when they’re tucked away for the night. Is it strange to love the smell of manure? I suppose it is. 🙂
😦 Another day of near 80 degree temperatures out here today. This feels almost unprecedented for January, even for us in L.A. — we can get periodic temperature spikes all through the year, even in winter, but this has gone on now for a good 2+ weeks — with more of the same to come, they’re saying. It’s beginning to get confusing, it no longer feels like January at all. Where’s our rain??? Is Someone trying to tell us something?
😦 Bad news. My neighbor — the only other guy on the block who still had his Christmas lights up — was taking his down when I got home from church this afternoon. Which means …
🙂 Luckily have have a lot of vine-like vegetation in front of the porch frame where the lights are strung — and the lights are tiny. So unless they’re turned on, they really don’t show up, even in the daylight.
Still, I suppose this signals that it’s time I get my lights taken down, too. And with it being a sunny 77 degrees out there, my neighbor was in his Hawaiian shirt while he did the January chore. Only in California.
Donna, I use my iPhone at church because then I can have the print large enough not to need my reading glasses. There was a study done on reading on a screen versus reading in a book or magazine and people retained more on a paper copy – they figured it had something to do with place on the page, right side, left side etc. On a screen one simply scrolls with no reference points.
Chas, my daughter didn’t tell her boss what she had done. She just told us, and she thought it was funny. (In case it wasn’t clear, she didn’t mean to send a message to him that she was in a meeting; she meant simply to have the phone stop ringing, and she must have hit the wrong button.) She said someone at work was sick, and she figured that had probably been why he called.
Donna, while you have 80, we still have several inches of snow on the ground. It was two weeks ago today that we got our foot of snow, and we already had half a foot on the ground. While a lot of it melted this week, we got several more inches this weekend. Basically we have had several inches of snow on the ground the entire month.
Last time my dad was in the emergency room, his teeth were lost (a bridge). They were replaced although he wasn’t thrilled with the new ones. This time his glasses were lost. Please pray they are found. Things seem to get lost in the sheets. 😦
Karen @ 10:05- I tried voice dialing my wife, but her name is one that is not spelled as it sounds, so the phone won’t recognize it and dials someone else.
I think when Lee calls me, he just has to say “home”. His will ask, “Did you say Home (or whatever name he said)?” & he has to say “yes” before it will send the call.
I am one of the three people left in the country who don’t have a cell phone. 🙂
Michelle, some of those things bothered me, although I don’t remember the apparent combining of circumcision and dedication. I was more concerned with the reason Jesus came. It is very difficult to separate the spiritual from the material. As we live, we see things very differently, according to whether we have eyes to see/ ears to hear or we don’t. When you read or listen to those with no spiritual awareness, it is quite different than how someone see who has the spirit. To try to explain such things is very difficult also. Imagine Jesus’ dilemma!
Hopefully, those who read this book are also drawn to study the bible and read other books. Everyone has the opportunity to seek deeper in some way. Human authors will all fall short, of course.
I seem to remember O’Reilly saying once that the Jesus book deliberately stayed clear of any spiritual significance, they used the biblical accounts but wanted to present a straight-forward, more clinical account of his death.
As I’ve said before, whenever he begins to talk about Christian doctrine, O’Reilly seems to really botch it all so horribly that I can’t listen!
Kare, using an iPhone would be hard, I’d think, the screen is so small. A Kindle or other tablet is an easier size — but I still prefer a book-form Bible, for some reason it’s just easier for me to find my place in them and to grasp the context since you’re able to see more than just one screen shot of text.
I’ve downloaded the Bible on my tablet & iPhone, but rarely spend time using it in those formats (though I read most of my other books that way).
Thanks for your comments. I will probably finish listening to O’Reilly because I need to be able to discuss it with my friend.
That assumes I can tolerate the errors . . . 🙂
I saw your exchange, Karen. I have a number of friends with whom I just agree to disagree.I’m continually amazed at how little overcross in terms of liking books and movies I have with my friends. Perhaps I’m the curmudgeon? 🙂
Wandering Views 
😦 Had to leave my family this week:
🙂 two daughters took me to the airport and one took both her kids out of school to see me off
😦 when we were within sight of the airport my daughter asked if the flight was full so I called my son to check. He asked if we had listed me for the flight. No, we both forgot. So as we pulled in, he listed me for the flight.
🙂 Southwest had no line, so we walked right in
😦 my suitcase was overweight, so I said that I’m going to PNG and will just pay the extra
🙂 the ticket agent processed the fees and then looked at my girls and asked if they were my family and did they want to escort me to the gate!!! 🙂 🙂 It made me cry to even think that they could come to the gate. He issued passes for all four to go with me. 🙂
🙂 such fun to ride the airport tram with the kids:)
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🙂 when we got to the gate, I was given and ‘A’ boarding pass right away!!
🙂 we had time to have a nice lunch altogether and even play some games as we waited
:0 they took me all the way to the entrance to the ramp and waved. I had a row to myself
🙂 got my luggage in LA and met another missionary with Wycliffe flying to Bogota
😦 then began the five or six hour wait to try and get on the next flight. I didn’t buy anything to eat or drink on my way to check in and got dehydrated.
:(As I checked in to get on the standby list, I asked about checking my bag all the way through to Port Moresby to avoid customs in Australia. but they said they couldn’t do that when I am standby.
😦 😦 after two hours or so of waiting, I went to just see how things were going. The lady said, “Didn’t they tell you that it could take six DAYS to get on this flight??? no, no one told me that. So I called a friend and my kids for prayer and started to pray. There were 30 people on the standby list and at least one lady had been waiting for six days.
🙂 I somehow had peace and didn’t feel that I needed to frantically try and make other plans. I just sat there and prayed. But, I felt that I couldn’t just pray for me to get on this flight. I needed to pray for all of us. So I prayed that all 30 of us would make the flight. It was a long wait!!
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finally they began to call folks for the flight to Brisbane.
First 8 were called, but the gal said that there would be more
then another 8
then a few more
Finally there was just me and one other gal, everyone else was gone to the other teminal for the flight
They called each of us!!! Wow
She went to one gal and I went to the other to check in our baggage
I told the lady that I knew my bag was heavy and I had a credit card. The lady said it looked okay and then asked if I was stepping on the scale! I said no, it is heavy. She said it’s okay and proceeded to check me in with no extra fees 🙂
🙂 🙂 as she handed me my boarding pass, she said, “I checked your bag to Port Moresby”
Wow, they don’t do that!!
When we were grouped together to go through security, I told everyone that I had been praying that we would all make the flight.
In Brisbane, I just did the quick transit, with no customs.
I made all of my flights and was in Ukarumpa and home by 4pm
God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.
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FBCHendersonville is the most mission oriented church I have ever attended. We are in the top 100 of all 46,000 SBC churches in mission giving. We also have personal relationships with many missionaries on the field. There’s a lady in our church who regularly sends me e-mails of prayer requests and letters from missionaries. I had hoped she would get the e-mails the pastor referenced Wednesday night.
So far, not so. So I presume that I will not get them. It is an interesting story. Sad but triumphant. The following story takes place over about a weeks time and consists of three e-mails our pastor got from a missionary in Kenya. I may have told this before, but one of our missionaries was visiting Nairobi on business, but she took a taxi to go to the mall. While about a minute from the mall, the taxi driver got a phone call. “Don’t go to the mall, there has been an attack.” So she missed being in that attack. The following is condensation from the three e-mails she sent our pastor. Best I can remember from Wednesday. This is the next post.
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There was a village chief who, with his wife, converted from Islam. They trusted Christ and witnessed for him in the village.
One night some Islamists came to their house, when the lady opened the door, they shot her in the stomach and kidnapped her husband. That was one e-mail. Couple of days later:
The lady is in the hospital. She will recover. But they have found the body of her husband. He was tortured before being killed.
That was the second e-mail. Then, later:
They held a funeral for the slain chief and because of the threat, there was a contingent of police attending the funeral. Also, five Islamists attended.
As a result of the funeral, all five of the Islamists were converted and half of the police contingent trusted Christ.
So there was weeping and rejoicing in Kenya.
That’s all I know, as reported by our pastor at the Wednesday night service.
I thought it was worth posting.
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I attend a very mission oriented church. I never realized there were so many ways to serve as a missionary. All I ever knew was the missionaries they brought into our school to share their stories. They always had a picture of a monkey being cooked in a pot of stew. It looked like a boiling baby.
To those of you who serve and have family who serve, thank you.
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🙂 Jo’s travels and answers to prayer – thank you for sharing them with us
🙂 Chas’ story
😦 Went to sleep last night with husband sick
😦 Woke this morning to the dog throwing up
🙂 Cleaned up the mess, husband is still sleeping, dog seems better
😦 🙂 Remembering my Uncle John today. He was a passionate man who, when he should have been thinking of retirement, moved to Ukraine and planted churches and started a centre for orphans who age out (when they turn 16 they are simply left to their own devices). He loved to tease his nieces and always had a twinkle in his eye.
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Good stories of God’s faithfulness, Jo and Chas.
🙂 Pretty snow falling right now.
🙂 Improvement in tidiness this week in a few areas of the house that needed it.
😦 Stress on my husband.
😦 Some struggling with the winter blues for me.
🙂 Good Bible study led by my friend K yesterday. We’re in 1 Peter, chapter 1. Much comfort in the last two verses:
24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
“But the word of the Lord endureth for ever.” Praise God!
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Another good missionary story, Kare. Thank you. 🙂
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6Arrows, have I mentioned Flylady.net to you. Check it out.
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Yes, Kim, you have. I had checked it out some years ago, but it seemed a little overwhelming to me at the time, so I didn’t pursue it much after that. I’m considering taking another look, though, as I feel I’m starting to get on top of some things now, and flylady may not seem so overwhelming anymore, but may be an assist along the path I’ve already started on. Thanks.
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😦 Most of the snow melted, but not nearly all, and we have had several more inches. The ground is now covered, which, because of major drifting, wasn’t even true after we had our foot of snow.
🙂 February is two weeks away.
🙂 This week I worked on a project I’ve procrastinated on for ten years . . . well, for several of those years I had reasons I actually couldn’t do it . . . but I have now scanned in the family photos, and will now work to make some books of them. (My sister and I went through the photos after Mom died ten years ago and gave each sibling a small box of photos. But the idea was that the ones we would all want, I would scan in and somehow distribute.)
😦 I have very few of Dad’s side of the family, only a couple of his parents and none at all of him before he met Mom (age 35). I also don’t have any photos of most of his siblings.
🙂 I found some fun photos, such as ones of the pets Mom had in Africa: a monkey and a dog (the dog, Cricket, later gave its name to my own childhood dog).
🙂 I found, and scanned, a letter Mom’s mother sent airmail to Nigeria, congratulating her on her upcoming marriage to my father. (My grandmother died while Mom was in Africa, and Dad never met either of Mom’s parents. Dad’s parents died while my brothers were growing up; my oldest brother has only the vaguest memories of the last grandparent.)
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🙂 Such wonderful stories of God’s goodness.
🙂 God has a purpose for all of us, no matter where we are.
🙂 🙂 🙂 My dad’s surgery went well. He fought all the way. Even the morning of the surgery he threatened to leave over and over. I am grateful for my sister who insisted he will stay, like it or not. Also thankful for my sister-in-law and brother who were there with my mom.
I am also grateful that we had decent weather to get to the hospital until the surgery was over. A little over ten miles from our home, the weather started getting nasty.
😦 SIL was turned down for a job he hoped he would get for this semester. He needs a job and benefits.
🙂 Another SIL had his own firm and another fighting over him for a job. That was nice. He decided to stay put. Hard decision.
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😦 Another family gathering postponed due to the weather. We started out for Iowa, knowing there was going to be snow, but my MIL called saying the snow was thick, and the SIL who had to travel the farthest decided to stay home. This gathering was supposed to be at Thanksgiving, but got postponed due to illness. Then we were going to meet two weeks ago, but that was the coldest weather in 20 years. We are thinking of waiting until Easter. Then it only rains.
🙂 Supporting missionaries. Our small church gives to a few missionaries in various places.
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🙂 Kim & 6arrows – I went to Flylady and had a good laugh. Step one was to shine your sink. Well, first I had to empty the sink of all the accumulated dishes from the past 3 days with migraines and long work days! They are now stacked neatly beside the sink awaiting washing in a few minutes, but the sink isn’t shined yet. 😦
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Our church supports many missionaries. The money raised thru Global Advance nationally is pooled and distributed among the missionaries we support. The missionaries do not have to scramble to raise their support when they are on furlough. They do, however, tour their supporting churches to inform us of what they’ve been doing and how God has been working.
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Re Flylady. Don’t sign up for the testimonials and other stuff or you will be overwhelmed. Just get the daily missions and the basics. Start at the beginning and do what she saids. It all starts with shining the sink. If you have to keep the sink clean you will do the dishes! She has a great story of how she got out of an abusive marriage, suffered depression, and found her calling in life.
I get “on and off the wagon” on a regular basis. Right now I am back on. I love that FLY stands for Finally Loving Yourself and that housework not done properly still blesses your family and that nothing says I love you to a sick family member than a clean toilet in which to throw up.
I find I am happier when I follow her plan.
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🙂 The travels of Jo, Kathaleena’s dad’s surgery & a link to some wonderful tributes to Kare’s Uncle John on FB.
🙂 Slept in until 9 this morning, I needed it.
😦 The house is chilly, but our weather has been so hot and dry, with our air badly affected by the raging fire in the hills. They’re hoping to have it contained sometimes Sunday, last I heard. Started by 3 guys trying to start a campfire. They lit a piece of paper which flew up in the wind and landed in some very dry brush on land that hadn’t burned since 2002. Up everything went in the blink of an eye. Several homes lost.
😦 The governor has declared our state to be in an official state of drought.
🙂 Busy day ahead, some of the gals from church organized a lunch out (ostensibly in honor of my birthday — which was in November 🙂 ). We’re late with our birthday lunches, but they’re always fun. Then it’s to a Cowboy poetry and music festival tonight, which I’m attending as research, if you will, for a feature story I’m working on. It starts with a free chili feed. 🙂
🙂 The cat was purring and trilling and giving me love bites trying to get me up this morning.
😦 But last night she’d staked out a spot right smack in the middle of my bed, causing me to have to wind myself around her in some uncomfortable contortions.
😦 My outdoor Christmas lights are still up. Sigh.
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🙂 Cowboy writes poetry?!!
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Donna, is that what it’s called? Trilling? Our cat never just purrs, there’s always a higher purr, like he’s harmonizing with himself. I had never heard that before.
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Here’s a link to the work my Uncle and Aunt were doing in Ukraine: http://newhope4orphans.blogspot.ca
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Well, I call it ‘trilling.’ 🙂 She purrs and then it spirals up into this cute little “trill” as she head bumps me. I have to say this is the most affectionate cat I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. 🙂
🙂 Cowboy the dog has the soul of a poet. 🙂 I guess he probably just needs someone to transcribe it into human language. 🙂 Maybe we then we could take our show on the road.
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Cowboy writes love poetry to anyone he has “played with” at the dog park.
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😦 So what would flylady say about my Christmas lights? At least I have the good taste not to turn them on at night now that it’s mid-January. But I am beginning to understand the mindset of just leaving the dang things up all year long so you don’t have to go through the hassle.
😦 The city of L.A. has outlawed those thin plastic bags so we all have to remember to bring our own bags to the store now — or pay 10 cents for an old-fashioned brown paper bag, which I can’t figure out why they didn’t go back to in the first place??? Sheesh. I keep reusable bags in my car but invariably forget to bring one or two into the store with me when I shop.
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And that’s a rather long list Misten/Cheryl. 🙂
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🙂 Had some interesting fb interactions this week on the death penalty (with very liberal professing Christians, many taking the position that Jesus was against the death penalty, and a fair number of non-believers who were frustrated with bringing the Bible in on this discussion at all).
Separately, the next day, I posted a link to a new book that was on sale for 99 cents (via kindle) by an author I’d not heard of before (Stephen Altrogge – anyone else familiar with him?): “Untamable God: Encountering the One Who Is Bigger, Better, and More Dangerous Than You Could Possibly Imagine.” I commented that it sounded interesting.
First comment from someone: “Isn’t this the God I grew up fearing?”
Hmm. Still pondering a response (or whether to even post one) to that. Thoughts?
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Sub-text description of the book I mentioned:
“Is it possible that your view of God is too small? Too safe? Too tame? Too comfortable? Is it possible that you have settled for a low, uninspiring, limited view of God? Is it possible that your passion for God suffers because your vision of God suffers?”
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🙂 Ann Taylor Loft was having a sale today. Everything full price was 40 to 50% off. I had a $15 Birthday Credit. New sunglasses for me and new socks for BG, $3.59!!!
🙂 Also had a $10 Birthday Credit to Victoria’s Secret so I got something else for $5.00 because they had a section marked down to $15.99 each.
😦 Of course all of this was offset by the power cord I had to buy for BG’s computer. They do most of their school work and all of their homework online on their MacBooks and she spent the night with a friend last night. Their new puppy chewed the cord. Mr. P tried to splice it back together and tape it up with electrical tape but it didn’t work.
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Those Apple power cords appear to be deliberately fragile, based on our experience, and terribly difficult to repair. 😦
🙂 😦 We’re just in from a walk on a gorgeous day in arid California. Even our governor, a former Jesuit, has been muttering about prayers for rain . . .
😦 Listening to Bill O’Reilly’s CD Killing Jesus, which some of my FB friends have seen me comment upon. Riddled with biblical error. Does anyone–any female in particular–believe Mary walked or rode a donkey up hill 8 miles to Jerusalem to have Jesus circumcized in the temple when he was 8 days old?
It goes on. Surely even two authors trained at Catholic colleges would know Mary was unclean until day 40–which is why the trio was in the temple on day 40 and met Simeon and Anna?
I’m listening because two people in one week recommended this book. The first is an 80 year old sensible woman in my Bible study. The second, however, is a non-church going friend who couldn’t stop listening to it and lent me the CD. She’s off traveling for a month, but I’m hard pressed to think how I’m going to respond when she asks me if I liked it.
Sigh.
Back to Egypt and WWI.
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Haven’t read any of O’Reilly’s books, I’m not particularly a fan of his — on his show, he goes especially off-kilter and cringe-worthy whenever he tries to delve into the topic of the Bible or theology.
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Michelle, a friend loaned me a book she wrote to read. When I returned it I prayed that she would not ask how I liked it. 🙂 When I saw her at church she was talking to several folks, so I just handed her the book, smiled, and walked on.
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Jo, an editor sometimes has that task. You work with a book that’s hideous and the first thing the author wants to know is “Is it good?” and then (assuming it isn’t a book that has been accepted for publication), “Where should I send it to get it published immediately so I can become a best-selling author by this time next year?” OK, so they don’t usually say it quite that way. . . .
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Michelle – I was surprised by your friend who agreed with you, but then lauded Reza Aslan’s book, Zealot. I got the feeling she didn’t actually read the link I posted. I didn’t say anything more on it, because she’s your friend, & I wasn’t sure any further comment would be appreciated.
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🙂 Going to church
😦 Going to church alone. Husband is still sick.
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🙂 A funny thing that happened recently…
Lee often uses the texting option that let’s him speak the message, & it is turned into text. So one morning, Emily received a text from him that read, “Watch out for black guys.”
It was supposed to be “Watch out for black ice.” 🙂
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Karen, recently our daughter was sleeping and her boss called, probably asking if she could come into work since someone was sick. Well, apparently her phone has several options when someone called, including turn off the ringer or text a reply, and the text option has some “auto answers” that you can send quickly. So she told us she “sleep-texted” her boss. Instead of turning off the ringer, she sent a reply: “I’m in a meeting.”
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Cheryl – That’s funny.
I notice people make a lot of mistakes on Facebook, & texts, too, I’ve heard, because “autocorrect” chooses a wrong word. Because the word is not then underlined by spell check, people often miss the mistake.
Another thing I’ve heard of is people using their phones to check Facebook, & accidentally “liking” things they didn’t mean to.
Recently, there was some hullabaloo on a local Facebook page about a page some high school kid is running on which there is a lot of nastiness (of a sexual nature) & some cyber-bullying. While checking out the page in question, I noticed that my pastor had accidentally “liked” a pretty nasty post, & another friend accidentally “liked” another one.
(I brought that to my pastor’s attention. He thanked me for catching that, saying he must have “fat fingered” it, & he went & “unliked” it.)
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Cheryl and Karen
The boss didn’t thnk it was funny.
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🙂 Good sermon this morning on Rom. 8:10-11, with some uplifting messages about our eternal future.
😦 Our pastor made a request (which he’s done in the past, a few years ago, though, I think) that everyone bring their Bibles with them to church. I think most of us do, but there apparently is a number of people who don’t — the older lady I bring doesn’t bring hers, for example. Although the sermon verses are printed out for us (along with the sermon notes), I still prefer to follow the passage in my Bible so I can get a better feel of the context of the passage, what went before it, what sections come after. I guess I’ve just always taken my Bible to church, even when I’ve been in churches where pew Bibles are provided (which isn’t the case at our current church since we rent facilities and would have no handy place to put them).
🙂 He didn’t say anything about using electronic tablets or other devices to access the Bible, but those obviously count as bringing a Bible to church also. I still prefer a well-thumbed hard copy on my lap.
🙂 Nice lunch out yesterday with several friends from church.
🙂 And right on the heels of that, I had a fun time that evening at the Cowboy song-and-poetry festival. It was held in the clubhouse at one of the local horse stables (dating back to 1940) only about 8 miles away from my house. I always love being around horses, even when they’re tucked away for the night. Is it strange to love the smell of manure? I suppose it is. 🙂
😦 Another day of near 80 degree temperatures out here today. This feels almost unprecedented for January, even for us in L.A. — we can get periodic temperature spikes all through the year, even in winter, but this has gone on now for a good 2+ weeks — with more of the same to come, they’re saying. It’s beginning to get confusing, it no longer feels like January at all. Where’s our rain??? Is Someone trying to tell us something?
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😦 Bad news. My neighbor — the only other guy on the block who still had his Christmas lights up — was taking his down when I got home from church this afternoon. Which means …
🙂 Luckily have have a lot of vine-like vegetation in front of the porch frame where the lights are strung — and the lights are tiny. So unless they’re turned on, they really don’t show up, even in the daylight.
Still, I suppose this signals that it’s time I get my lights taken down, too. And with it being a sunny 77 degrees out there, my neighbor was in his Hawaiian shirt while he did the January chore. Only in California.
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Donna, I use my iPhone at church because then I can have the print large enough not to need my reading glasses. There was a study done on reading on a screen versus reading in a book or magazine and people retained more on a paper copy – they figured it had something to do with place on the page, right side, left side etc. On a screen one simply scrolls with no reference points.
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Chas, my daughter didn’t tell her boss what she had done. She just told us, and she thought it was funny. (In case it wasn’t clear, she didn’t mean to send a message to him that she was in a meeting; she meant simply to have the phone stop ringing, and she must have hit the wrong button.) She said someone at work was sick, and she figured that had probably been why he called.
Donna, while you have 80, we still have several inches of snow on the ground. It was two weeks ago today that we got our foot of snow, and we already had half a foot on the ground. While a lot of it melted this week, we got several more inches this weekend. Basically we have had several inches of snow on the ground the entire month.
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Last time my dad was in the emergency room, his teeth were lost (a bridge). They were replaced although he wasn’t thrilled with the new ones. This time his glasses were lost. Please pray they are found. Things seem to get lost in the sheets. 😦
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We’ve got about 3 – 4 feet of accumulated snow on the ground and it is coming down in great big flakes right now – so very pretty 🙂
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Karen @ 10:05- I tried voice dialing my wife, but her name is one that is not spelled as it sounds, so the phone won’t recognize it and dials someone else.
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Peter – Oops.
I think when Lee calls me, he just has to say “home”. His will ask, “Did you say Home (or whatever name he said)?” & he has to say “yes” before it will send the call.
I am one of the three people left in the country who don’t have a cell phone. 🙂
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Michelle, some of those things bothered me, although I don’t remember the apparent combining of circumcision and dedication. I was more concerned with the reason Jesus came. It is very difficult to separate the spiritual from the material. As we live, we see things very differently, according to whether we have eyes to see/ ears to hear or we don’t. When you read or listen to those with no spiritual awareness, it is quite different than how someone see who has the spirit. To try to explain such things is very difficult also. Imagine Jesus’ dilemma!
Hopefully, those who read this book are also drawn to study the bible and read other books. Everyone has the opportunity to seek deeper in some way. Human authors will all fall short, of course.
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Karen doesn’t have a cell phone! 😯
I seem to remember O’Reilly saying once that the Jesus book deliberately stayed clear of any spiritual significance, they used the biblical accounts but wanted to present a straight-forward, more clinical account of his death.
As I’ve said before, whenever he begins to talk about Christian doctrine, O’Reilly seems to really botch it all so horribly that I can’t listen!
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Kare, using an iPhone would be hard, I’d think, the screen is so small. A Kindle or other tablet is an easier size — but I still prefer a book-form Bible, for some reason it’s just easier for me to find my place in them and to grasp the context since you’re able to see more than just one screen shot of text.
I’ve downloaded the Bible on my tablet & iPhone, but rarely spend time using it in those formats (though I read most of my other books that way).
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It’s also faster to find other references in an actual book form Bible.
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Thanks for your comments. I will probably finish listening to O’Reilly because I need to be able to discuss it with my friend.
That assumes I can tolerate the errors . . . 🙂
I saw your exchange, Karen. I have a number of friends with whom I just agree to disagree.I’m continually amazed at how little overcross in terms of liking books and movies I have with my friends. Perhaps I’m the curmudgeon? 🙂
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Michelle – Nah!
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