Spring!

(I'm at school today, that's why I have so much time to write! :))
I finally got out in my yard on Tuesday. It was one of the perfect Midwest spring days. (Is there such a thing?) It was 70+ and NO WIND. So I trimmed all the dead old growth off the plants, got the backyard gardens cleaned up and part of the front yard. I think I lost another chysanthemum to the cold winter, but two of them survived. Do I cut the butterfly bush all the way down, anyone know? I don't know if I'm terribly out of shape or if it is something else, but everytime I rake, by evening my left arm aches like crazy. I could hardly sleep it hurt so bad. Makes me not want to rake! I still have leaves to get out of the tree gardens in both the back yard and the front.
We're getting our willow tree cut down, too. It is old and has lots of dead branches. The power company trimmed it back this winter and it looks absolutely terrible. It has been a good shade tree, but Den is afraid a big branch will blow out in some storm this summer. And also with the tree going down now, we'll be able to do some landscaping back there this summer. We'll see how it goes. Will would like a hot tub.....
Tuesday I also went to the school track meet at Ft. Calhoun. I love going up there because it is one of those country towns and it has my name! The throwing fields are right next to a farm with a big white farmhouse and a big red barn. So picturesque! Andrew came up, too, and cheered on his "students" that he coaches. It is also fun to catch up with other moms that I don't see very much anymore.

Faith, mighty faith

I've had several ideas cooking in my head for the last few days. I know I haven't written much, and not much is going on. But yesterday our school had a "Walk-a-thon" to raise money. I heard that it wasn't so well supported as it was last year. Sometimes we focus so much on the fundraiser and not enough on God, who is the God of the impossible. Our school has bought property, gutted a building and plans to remodel the building and build another building next to it. All before next fall. How can that be done? We believe that God can do it. Sometimes we focus on the obvious-the economy, the time, the distance, and we think that this can not be done. We need to focus on our God who wants to get glory for Himself. These students need to see what God can do. Their young faith needs to be strengthened. They need to set up "stones" in order to teach God's faithfulness to their children. This morning I read that after the death of Joshua there grew up a generation who did not know the Lord. Why didn't they? Why didn't their parents teach them? Where were those stones that were supposed to stimulate questions on their behalf to teach them God's steadfast love? Our school needs those stones, and we need to keep God in front of them all the time.
I'm hearing about parents who are not going to send their kids to our school next year. It is moving to a corner of Omaha that is farther away. Is Christian education only important to our family when it is "affordable" or "convenient"? Is that what we want to teach our children about following Christ? Are we not being like those represented by the seed that fell among stones that when things got tough, we give up?
I am reminded of the verse of a hymn that we sang in college:

Faith, mighty faith the promise sees and looks to God alone,
Laughs at impossibilities and cries, "It shall be done!"

To let you know I'm still alive

I'm subbing in third grade today, so while they are out at PE, I'll write a quick two sentences to let you know I'm still here. Last week I started with a cough about Tuesday or Wednesday. It quickly went into something worse like a low grade fever and bad cold, stuffed up head, achey chest and a rash on my right arm. Who knows what THAT is. Anyway, after lying about for three days, missing a graduation concert and party and dragging myself off to church yesterday, I decided that was all I was going to take and I'm at school today. I do feel better than I did last week, but not totally my energetic self yet. My brain is in low, really low, gear. Good thing it's only third grade! And there are only 14 and they are lovely! :)

Big trip starting this weekend. Andrew will have a week to see what it's like to live on his own. He'll be fine except that he'll have to find his own food! I'm glad he always has some place to go on Sundays. That's the worse day to be alone.

See I didn't have much to say. If I didn't talk to you much at church yesterday don't be offended. I couldn't think very well and even conversations that I did have I felt like I had to think of every word. Now, maybe that wasn't such a bad idea....

Over the Ord..a time capsule

This desk is a time capsule. See all those air mail letters on the left? They are all letters from my friends in Scotland that I saved from my first few years away. We had four absolutely marvelous and unforgettable years living in Scotland. Leaving there was heart-wrenching. I had crying dreams for weeks even before we left. The first year was the worst. I never really recovered totally. I've never had such a group of friends as I did there. My letters were from (and this will only mean something to those who lived there!) Mairead, Tricia, Janet Docherty, Elizabeth, Cathy Sunderland, Carol MacKenzie, Christine MacKenzie, Bessie, Janie, Minnie, Norelle, Val Graham, Helen Christie, Chris Nicolson...can you believe all that?! I still stay in touch with most of those friends, but some of them have died. One of the letters from Elizabeth described Bessie's funeral. That was very touching. If I keep reading, I may find one telling about Janet's. I do have one from Elizabeth after John died. It's a wonderful letter of hope and peace.

One of the fun things about these letters is since they were written nearly 20 years ago (most between 1989 and 1993) our children were very young or still babies. What fun to read about what we/you were all going through! Holidays, pregnancies, outings with friends, work around the home, ill health, school progress. It's also fun to read about my children's club in Castletown. What happened with it after I left, and how my friends were keeping it going. Now I expect a comment from one of you Scottish friends reading this! *smile* We've come a long way from those pen and paper days, but there is nothing like pulling out those old letters and reading them again.

This is what I get into when it's another dark, cold, cloudy blustery day. You'd think it was the end of November! Oh, and by the way, it snowed this morning! Yeah. But it didn't stick.

I'm monitoring testing....

I thought I'd blog while I'm watching 8th grade students take their annual achievement tests. OCA didn't have enough teachers to cover both the senior classes and the testing rooms, so they asked me to come over and help. You know how I love to be here. On Monday when I finished I went to finish the afternoon in 2nd grade. That class is the sweetest class with two darling boys and 10 sweet girls (They are the 1st graders that I took a photo of last winter with all their Bibles! They were very excited to have me in their room again. Maybe a litte too excited... The teacher is reading one of the American Girl books to them, one about Felicity. So this morning I brought Linnea's Felicity for them to see. Don't worry, Linnea, the teacher said she wasn't going to let them play with her!

Yesterday was dark, dark, dark. Those heavy dark, cold rainy days really bother me. I woke up with a headache, but it went away fairly soon. I wrote letters, read and tidied up the house. Since Andrew's car is broken, there was no car for me to go anywhere. Not like I really wanted to anyway in weather like that. However, by 4 it was an absolutely gorgeous day. After dinner Den, who had gotten new running shoes, and I went for a 3 mile walk along the bike path. The sun was just setting as we returned. Ah, I love Midwest evenings! There was no wind and the sky was clear and sunny. I DO love living here...except for no sea.

I'm reading a biography of Ben Carson called Gifted Hands. He is a neurosurgeon who separates Siamese twins. He is a brilliant man and a Christian. He talks about how his mother kept after him and his brother to work hard and do their best in everything. One amazing story takes place when he was in his first semester at Yale. He had done very well in high school and easily gotten into Yale, but he says that he really hadn't learned how to study. When it came time for his Chemistry final, he knew that he hadn't learned what he should and he was going to fail. Since he had wanted to be a doctor ever since he was 8 years old, he began to panic. That night he prayed and asked forgiveness for not working all semester like he should have. He prayed that God would help him study, then he worked and worked all the problems in the book. But by 1 am he was too tired and went to bed. During the night he had a dream about the test problems. He was working on them in his dream. When he woke up, he could remember what his dream was so he wrote down everything he could remember. When he got to the test, THOSE WERE THE EXACT QUESTIONS ON THE TEST! He wrote the test and ended up getting a 97. However, he never again procrastinated about studying. He knew then, for sure, that God wanted him to be a doctor.

"Italian" visitors

One of the blessings of being in the Navy and living around the world is that our friends come from all over. These friends aren't really Italian, but he was our chaplain at the base chapel there for three years. Our children are nearly the same ages; they have their girl and two boys like we do. Our families, along with two other families, did many things together those three years. Tim and Marsha were driving from Wisconsin to California and stopped here Sunday evening. We had a lovely Italian dinner and had a good visit before bed.
It's lovely to be able to just pick up where you left off! And the bond we have in Christ makes our time together all the more special.
Anyone else driving through? Make sure to stop for the night. There is always dinner and bed and breakfast!

Whirlwind weekend

I went down to Covenant College this weekend to see "Guys and Dolls". Will played Lt. Brannigan, the policeman who is always trying to catch the gamblers on Broadway. He never quite catches them in the act, but it's funny watching him try. The part isn't huge, but it's funny. Will is good at playing the tough guy. Our friend Jim thinks he needs to wield that billy club a little more forcefully! He does poke at them with it. I got to see the musical twice. And it was great both times. I tell you, Covenant College has some fantastic singers! The harmony, the solos, all fantastic!! Much of it is men's harmony, and that is such a treat these days when we rarely hear men sing in church let alone have several who harmonize. Another of the main characters was a guy (have to say "guy" since it was "guys" and "dolls") from my mom's church who sang with two other guys. It was a fun song sort of in a round. Denny and I are going to rent the video so he can get the idea of what Will did. The video is with Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando made in 1955. The musical must be set around that time, I think.

It was spring in Chattanooga. Blooming forsythia, red bud, a few dogwood, flowering cherry, pear, apple, daffodils, hyacinths. Ah, and green grass. What a pleasant change for a few hours!! The drawback was that it rained the whole weekend and "thunderstormed" all day Saturday. Whether it was that or just the stress of the trip, I ended up with a migraine on Saturday and didn't get up until 4pm. Oh, I kept trying, but I didn't finally start pulling out until then. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to miss Saturday night's performance.

After Saturday's performance I did get a chance to talk to Will for awhile and visit his room(s). He rooms with three other guys. They sleep in one room, and study/hang out in another.

Sunday I went to New City Fellowship, the PCA church in downtown Chattanooga. A very lively service! I enjoyed it, but I don't think I could go there every Sunday. Of course, Jim Ward is the music director, so we rock and rolled! It's fun to sing one of his songs in church while he's leading the music. The highlight of the day for me was getting an invitation to the "Drexler Dinner". The friends with whom I stayed have Sunday dinner for their nieces and nephews (8 of them!) who go to Covenant. They invite a friend each (or so). College students are so energetic! And hungry. I peeled 10 pounds of potatoes before church. Sara had roasted several roast beef and cut up carrots, a college girl made a huge bowl of salad. It all disappeared in less than an hour! They live in a lovely old house and the tables were decorated so beautifully. It was a great way to end the weekend.