Dad, will you wrestle with me?

Well, things have changed slightly since THOSE days. About 15 years ago. Will asked Andrew, "Are you still working out?" Response, "Yeah, I benched 310 last week." Response, "Well, if you weren't I'd go after ya. Hey, Dad, let's get him." This is what ensued. For about 2 minutes. Then Dad says, "Help, I'm too old for this!!!!"
When the boys were little, after dinner they would run around and around the house. In Italy we could go out doors from every room and get to the balcony. So they could run ALL OVER THE PLACE! I thought that that feeling, whatever it is, had gone once they became men. But from the looks of this photo....I'm not so sure. This was immediately after dinner.
And I will add, it was a delightful meal of good food and discussion. I think we were at the table for an hour and a half. We were cleaning up the kitchen at 8pm! Of course, we had to get the wrestling match over first.

Primary party tonight!

The ding-y microwave

After telling Chuck this story today, he thought I should blog about it. Here's the story:
That's not dingy, as in dirty, but ding-y, like ding, ding, ding. Yes, this microwave dings when it feels like it. Particularly, this thing does not like cold. And cold is below 65F. In the winter I turn the thermostat down at night to 60 or 61. Sometime in the night, it rebels and begins to ding. Sometimes once or twice, sometimes it sounds like an alarm clock. It can be very irritating if we're sleeping upstairs. Yet, Den has gotten up from our bedroom downstairs and come up and unplugged it because it was driving him nuts. It is crazy! It never does it when it's warm, though. Then in the morning I have to slide my fingers over all the numbers a few times (it must like a massage), then clear all the numbers before I can push the correct numbers. It's very frustrating if one doesn't know this trick. So Chuck thinks I need to give it a blankey and night.... Think that would work? If anyone has any clues as to why it does this, we'd really like to know!

Travel adventure

I never want to have an adventure when I travel. I want to get where I'm going when I plan and how I plan. I don't want any interruptions or surprises. Of course, it doesn't always work that way as you well know! But Will hasn't really had any major trauma in all his years of traveling,( well if you don't count walking around Bradford,(is that where it was?) England all night or spending a whole day getting to Scotland from there last Easter break....)
Last night was the CONUS (continental US) experience. He was scheduled to leave Chattanooga at 6:15. I had booked a flight that would fit getting through his Friday classes and still getting home "early" evening. I paid $30 extra to get the flight with a short layover in Chicago, so the trip would be smooth and short. THAT was the second mistake. The first one was to book it through O'Hare in the first place. Problems started in Chatta, though. He didn't leave there until 9-they sat on the plane the whole time waiting! About 9:30 CST he phoned from Chicago and said he made the connection because the plane that was supposed to leave Chicago at 8:30 wasn't leaving until 10:30. As it was, he didn't leave until after 11:30. BUT he phoned about 10:15 to say he was on the plane. We looked at the airport info, however, and it showed it coming in about 11:30. So because our lovely friends, Chuck and Judy were staying here, Chuck and Dennis took off for the airport while Judy and I stayed cozy here at home. At about 12:15 Den called and said there was no record of any more flights coming in that night. Neither one of us (me on the computer) could see any coming in to Eppley. So he said he was coming home. Then I thought I'd try "flight tracker" AND THERE IT WAS 7 minutes from Omaha!! So I quick called him back. Then later he phoned and said he couldn't find Will and didn't know what gate or anything. So I got on United's website, typed in the flight number, AND IT GAVE ME THE GATE! So they found Will *smile* senza baggage, however. (Maybe it was too late for people to unload the planes??) They delivered it today. By 1:15 am, we had our Willy home! That late night gave me a headache all day. We're sooo thankful that Chuck and Judy were here, because if they hadn't been here, both of us would have gone to the airport, given up, and gone home, only to have Will call and wonder why we weren't there! So God was in the working of that motor home (sorry guys!) and kept our friends at our house for the night. Of course, I didn't tell them ahead of time that Will was coming, for fear they wouldn't stay. Travel adventures DO make for good stories, though! AND AREN'T WE THANKFUL FOR CELL PHONES?!!!!!!

Reading reading reading

As you all have probably guessed, I've been subbing all week this week. And if I had wanted to, I could be working tomorrow, too. But I decided when I planned on working today that tomorrow would be my free day. So I turned down a job. Hopefully, I'll get more next week. For some reason, Bellevue has been very busy this month! I guess everyone has flu or some training classes. So when I have free periods or classes that are busy with tests or other individual work, I get to read. I finished From Hope to Higher Ground about Mike Huckabee. It was his plan for America, but not only for him, but ideas for us to make America a better place ourselves. Each chapter was an admonition to stop doing something. The end of the chapter had a list of practical things to do to stop doing the particular activity. He is very positive and upbeat throughout the whole book. Makes me realize that I could be more practical and positive every day. For example the first chapter is "Stop being cynical". Some of his suggestions at the end of the chapter are: Don't believe bad reports without documentation. Read the Bible more; blogs less. Read biographies.Do volunteer work with impoverished, disabled or ill. He also shares many of his accomplishments during his ten and a half years as governor.
Another book I'm reading is Boom! by Tom Brokaw. It is his memories as a reporter during the 60's. You know he began his career here in Omaha? I've gotten up to the Democratic Convention of 1968 and the Chicago riots. America was a pretty desperate place back then.
The other book is one I'm rereading since I first read it probably 8 years ago. It is Christianity, Education and the State by J. Gresham Machen. It is a compilation of several lectures that he gave in the 20's and 30's!!!!! In his lecture on the necessity of the Christian school (from 1934) he says:

It is this profound Christian permeation of every human activity, no matter how secular the world may regard it as being, which is brought about by the Christian school and the Christian school alone. I do not want to be guilty of exaggerations at this point. A Christian boy or girl can learn math, for example, from a teacher who is not a Christian; and truth is truth however learned. But while truth is truth however learned, the bearing of truth, the meaning of truth, the purpose of truth (even in the sphere of math) seem entirely different to the Chrstian from that which they seem to the non-Christian; and that is why a truly Christian education is possible only when Christian conviction underlies not a part, but all, of the curriculum of the school. True learning and true piety go hand in hand, and Christianity embraces the whole of life-those are great central convictions that underlie the Christian school.

You'd think he was living in the 21st century!

Psalm 40, a testimony

I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.

This morning Psalm 40 was the selection for my Bible reading. I use the One Year Bible for my morning devotions, and it is set up to go through the Psalms twice every year. In August of 2002 I was also at Psalm 40. At that point in my life I was very depressed because of our church situation. We had lived here for 3 years and really hadn't found a church that suited us. Either there was good teaching, but, what do I say, a little "fringe". Not really fitting what we believed. Or the teaching was so shallow we felt we weren't getting fed at all. Peanut butter and jelly I called it. We had moved here from Italy from a great group Christians with whom we had good, close community, and here we really hadn't found that community. So I was really bummed.

We decided that Sunday I read Psalm 40 to visit a church that had just gotten a new pastor. I remember before the service, when we went in, someone asked me what I was looking for in a church and I said "Meat and potatoes, not peanut butter and jelly." We were not disappointed. For several weeks we were crying at the end of the preaching because our souls at last were filled. We were hungry for good preaching/teaching, and praise the Lord, this man is a faithful teacher of the Word. Week after week we look forward to his teaching both in the worship service and in the Sunday School hour. He is truly a faithful shepherd teaching with grace, gentleness and firmness.

So every time I get to Psalm 40 in my Bible reading, I remember that Sunday and that God did indeed take my feet from the miry clay/bog and put them on a rock. He put a new song in my mouth. And those of you who know me, know I love to sing!

Buona domenica! (Have a great Sunday!)

Assurance of Resurrection

Another funeral. Another graveside service. Our teacher from our early days at Cono died on Saturday, Miss Dorothy Thompson. My sister most adequately described her; I can't add anything to what she said. Today I was able to attend her graveside service. She was buried here in Council Bluffs, so it was an easy drive. After days of subzero temperatures, today was clear and in the 30's. We could really enjoy the worship time there. I told our friend, Andrew, that it felt like a graveside service for Dad since that day was so cold and sleety. We sang two hymns, read Psalms and heard a short talk reminding us of the blessing of eternal life. It is good to be reminded that this isn't all there is, that death is ended, that we will go some place infinitely better when these tired bodies are laid in the grave. "Higher up and further in." as C.S.Lewis says in The Last Battle.

It was good to be reminded of all this after being immersed in the current political campaign. Life can be a burden, but the reminder of eternal life puts things back into perspective.

I'm reading about Huckabee now. From Hope to Higher Ground. It's been good. But I feel overwhelmed by America's problems and the need for change and HOPE. More in another blog!

Read biographies

I decided to learn about these presidential candidates during this election period by reading their books, their autobiographies or some kind of story about them. We gave Will Dreams From My Father for Christmas. Barack Obama wrote it before he decided to run for president and before the popular Audacity of Hope. It helps to see where he came from. (as well as refutes emails circulating the Internet). Another Christmas we gave him Faith of My Fathers about John McCain. (I guess we thought he'd like these political figures. You can tell what year it was by the books we gave!) So we'll have to get ahold of some about the other two candidates. If I can find books written before they started becoming political it seems there would be less spin. Is there a good book about Hillary?
I am reading the Obama book now. It has been really interesting. I'm only up to the part where he started working at organizing the African-American community in Chicago. He wrote in one part about this sermon that his pastor Rev. Wright preached called, "The Audacity of Hope". (I guess that where he pinched the book title!) It was inspired by a painting of a woman in rags playing a harp with only one string while famine and war raged around her. He describes the service, what the preacher said and how the people responded.

The desire to let go, the desire to escape, the desire to give oneself up to a God that could somehow put a floor on despair.
And in that single note-hope!- I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh...stories of survival and freedom, and hope.
"Thank you Jesus..You brought me from a mighty long way" (the choir sang)
"'Oh, Jesus, ' I heard the woman beside me whisper softly. 'Thank you for carrying us this far.'"

The human heart cries out for hope. I think we as Christians need to open our eyes to a world in despair that is aching for hope. Hope to make it to the next payday. Hope to make it home from Iraq. Hope to get through college. Hope for a happy marriage. I think we need to be out there with the message of hope for a lost and hopeless, helpless world. Instead of mocking a message of hope, we need to give hope in Christ. You'll say Obama's hope in groundless, but people still hear him saying "hope" for jobs, for unity, for peace and we need to take up that cry and make it possible. Am I living in hope? The opposite is despair, and we see that all around. How can I offer hope to those around me?