As Time Goes By

Impulsively on Sunday I got in the car and drove to Cono. (See August 21st blog). I have been home all summer, and I just needed to get away. I've wanted to go over there all summer. So into the car I jumped and sped away to the music of U2 Joshua Tree turned up so loud I couldn't hear the noise of the Scion roaring down the highway. I was pumped! I had hoped to arrive early enough for evening service and their good musical harmony, but the service started at 6, and I didn't arrive until 7. However, Hans Deutschmann was preaching! (They are missionary friends who taught at Cono for 20 years and are now in the Czech Republic. They will be in Omaha the end of September.) So I got to visit with Hans and Gretchen a little. I stayed with Andrew and MaryAnna and caught up a bit on their lives. Cono is absolutely beautiful! I didn't want to leave. More pictures forthcoming on Flickr.
I left Monday after noon and thought I'd go by our old house. We always drive by, but we never stop. So I thought I'd see if anyone was home and take pictures. No one was, but I took pictures outside anyway. This is our old farmhouse. My dad bought it in 1971, we moved into it 1972; they sold it to some friends of ours in 1978. So we really didn't live there for very long, and most of that time I was in college. But it was a great place to come home to.
A funny thing happened on the way out to the farm. I stopped at the four-way stop in Walker (population about 600) and there in a truck at the other stop sign was our old friend Dave! He was in my brother's wedding and a friend of all of us. We met up at the local convenient store for a quick catch up and a look at his new granddaughter's picture. Are we that old already?
More in the next blog about the rest of the trip.

Moonstruck

I've been an avid skywatcher ever since I was little. I think I've posted about sky events already this year. Here is another! If you click on "here", it will take you to earthsky.org and tell you about the lunar eclipse early morning on August 28. Since I've linked the site, I won't go into all the details. Hope you get up early enough to see it! Looks like we'll finally have clear weather.
The moon was gorgeous last night shining on our pool and the fields beyond. Great to have some fall weather, cool and dry. Does energize one, doesn't it?

Life's Simple Pleasures

I love clean. I feel so satisfied when something is clean and organized. Just ask mdiber! Growing up I was thrilled on the nights when we had clean sheets, clean nightie and taken a bath. Ah, what pleasure. I washed windows yesterday. I just had to take a picture through the front just to remember how clean they were! Of course it rained all over them again last night. But this morning they don't look any dirtier. Yeah! I'm amazed how such a clear view of the neighborhood makes my whole house seem cleaner. It was so much cooler yesterday that I could open all the windows and clean the floors and windows. Today is supposed to be even cooler. Maybe that means baking....

Last of the Summer Wine?

(Did any one else notice that my picture was deleted? Reasons?)
Will left this morning, so last night his group of friends got together one last time. Will is making PinaColadas, the Bacardi is for looks, but the Kitchen Aid mixer does a super job of crushing the ice! Thought it would be a funny pose. Good times. Will turns 21 a week from today. Back at school, though, darn.

I think he had a good summer. He is a thinker more than a talker, so when we did talk, it always gave us something to think about. He's a Barak Obama fan, and is working on starting a college democrats group. We'll see how his school year goes.

I'm doing OK having put two of my children on planes in the past week. I suppose one gets used to it. Now I guess I start my real life. Andrew is grown up with an adult job. The other two will get there eventually. Just as Will is a little panicked about this being his senior year and Linnea is panicked about writing a thesis and applying for PhD programs, I'm trying to find my niche. One grows up and has kids, but one doesn't think about what happens after that! So I suppose I'm in a transition phase trying to find my new self.

For now, though, it's get the wash finished and set up some kind of plan for teaching the children at our church on Wednesday evenings. So far no one has a plan, so I'm going to spend the rest of my day working on SOMETHING. It will be fun. At least maybe I'll get tonight planned.

Cheers!

Here I raise my Ebenezer

Every year on this day, August 21st, our family remembers our move from Michigan to Iowa. In a way, it was a move much like Father Abraham going to the promised land. It was 1965 and our parents were concerned about education in the public school and were looking for an alternative. In April of that year, we were visiting an aunt and uncle in Huntsville, Alabama. While we were there a touring choir from Cono Christian School sang in their church. Our parents were impressed. A few weeks later, they went to Iowa to scout things out. I guess they loved it. So we moved in August. My dad left his family and friends for the first time, found a new job in Iowa where we didn't know anyone and began a totally new life. That decision changed our family. The school was a boarding school; we were day students. We had friends that were from all over the United States and the world, missionary kids. Cono later enrolled/enrolls international students. So we did not live the typical isolated Iowa country life. We all sang in that touring choir and went all over the United States. We still run into people who know Cono or Cono people or went to Cono in all parts of the US. We have been blessed immeasureably through our parents' decision not only in the lifelong friendships that we made but also in what we learned through the quality Christian education that we received. Another one of those covenant blessings. "All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be your children's peace."

Our dad is in a nursing home now. He doesn't talk much and can't see us. We miss the old dad, (well, sometimes!) but we are so thankful for his obedience to God in leaving his father and mother and going to a "new land". Mom keeps him and us cheered up. And keeps reminding us of who God is and what He has done and is doing for us. Today we "raise our Ebenezer" to remember and commit ourselves to remaining obedient to his God and our God.
[The photos were taken three years ago when we were last all together. It was our parents' 50th wedding celebration. (Yeah, my brother has six sisters!)]

Sunday evening musings

It's pretty quiet around here this evening, so I thought I'd sit down and write. I got up this morning and the field and sunlight were so beautiful, I had to take a picture. The air was so clear, and the cornfield so smooth. I found out today how to estimate the bushels of corn per acre. Pretty interesting. Did you know that it takes 80,000 kernels to make a bushel? That's an awful lot of kernels to count--"Hey, Will, hand me another ear!" Really you don't have to do it that way. Write me later, and I'll tell you. One can learn lots of things in dinner conversations over Sunday lunch.

It's been a busy weekend. Friday evening we went up to the home of some old friends who had an open house for their son and his new wife. We saw lots of friends from other churches we've been to. That's always a good time to catch up. These little church functions. Many of us have children the same age, so we're getting into the wedding stage in our lives! This was the second one in their family. Now I have new readers of this blog. And we can hopefully stay caught up. Whenever we see these people, we always say we MUST stay in touch. After all, we live in the same area, generally. But our lives get busy, and we procrastinate. Den had such a blast, gets a little crazy. It was fun to see him with his guy friends again.

Saturday I went to a wedding and Den ran 15 miles!! He's hoping to run in the Omaha marathon on his 55th birthday, September 23rd. He is REALLY PUMPED about it. Just ask him about it. He bought a little GPS thingy that tells him all kinds of things besides where he's running. Like what his pace is, how many calories he's burned.. um, like I said, ask him.

This afternoon I reread, Death in the City by Francis Schaeffer. I read it 30 years ago for a class in college. He compares our culture and situation to that of the period of Jeremiah where God's people knew the truth, but didn't want to believe it or act on what they knew. Because the "church" didn't continue in truth, the whole culture did not know truth. Sounds like our era. And he wrote it 40 years ago. We've changed somewhat, and are farther down the post-Christian road. He emphasized truth, as he always did, and how having absolutes really does give man significance. In conversations this summer, I found that some have difficulty communicating God's absolutes to, as Schaeffer puts it, "the man without the Bible". This is the way I think we've changed since Schaeffer's time. Now not only will people say, "I don't believe in an absolute or absolutes." but rather, "It's OK for you to have absolutes, but they're not for me." or "That's the way you believe, but my truth is just as valid as your truth." Schaeffer puts it, "If you want a significant man, with absolutes, morality, and meaning, then you must have what the Bible insists upon--that God will judge men justly." We don't like to talk about God judging much. So in talking about the gay lifestyle, even children raised in Christian homes have difficulty saying that it is morally wrong. In their minds some have a relativistic thinking that says, "It's morally wrong for me, but it's OK for them because they love each other. " But because God is holy, has absolutes, and will judge justly, the person has significance. It raises the importance of the individual, restores him/her to wholeness. Of course, Schaeffer also emphasizes speaking this truth with love and compassion, just as Jeremiah preached with tears. The other part of the book, besides the Jeremiah part, was from Romans 1:16-2:1. That's the "man without the Bible" section. And that's our culture, basically. He closes the book with a chapter on living like we really believe that he is a God who is there. Christians MUST pray, or they are sitting in the materialist's chair and are living in what he terms "unfaith". Reminded me that I need to always be praying and believing that God does reach into time and space and make a difference. I need to live like I believe it. Not very good at summarizing what I read, but this gives some thoughts.

My new flower love

We grew up with a mom who loved plants, who had green fingers as well as thumbs, who made us weed and water and who could landscape her yard beautifully. To this day, and she's in her 70's, she still has fantastic flowers. Having said all that, I thought I knew pretty much about flowers...it's hereditary, isn't it?? But I started working in Lowe's garden center and, much to my delight, I made lots of new flower friends. Among them is this Mexican heather. Oh my, I love it! It even resembles Scottish heather. I first noticed it in the hanging baskets outside the store. By the first of July the rest of the hanging baskets looked pathetic. They were over-exposed, over-watered and root bound. I wanted to throw them all away. One benefit for me, however, was that they discounted all the hanging baskets. Like down to 2.50! So I bought two of them. When I got home, I found out that there were FIVE plants in that one little basket. I transplanted them into these pots on the pool deck. They love lots of sun and to be semi-moist. Not too hard. They are THRIVING on the pool deck. Too bad they are annuals. I may be tempted to try to bring the pots in and see if I can keep them alive all winter. But my living room is getting rather full of over-wintering plants!!