Progress

The guys we hired to frame up the front porch finished today. There really is a lot left before it's finished , but Andy can peck away at it as he has time.

The Kids / Our Front Porch

Christy asked if I could come up and watch Grace, Aiden and Naomi while she took Patrick and Asher to an appointment for Patrick at CHOP on Tuesday. She was going to have to leave her house by 9:00 am, and I didn't want to have to worry about getting there in time and fighting traffic on the Expressway, so I decided to go up Monday after dinner and spend the night. They have a spare bedroom that is quite comfortable for me. In my packing, though, I forgot to take my camera along. So there are no pictures of my time there.

I spent all day Tuesday with the kids. Christy was gone from 9:00 am till 5:00 pm. Fortunately, Christian went with her so she didn't have to deal with traffic, 2 children and 4 hours of specialists and their observations/diagnoses.

It rained and blustered all day, so the kids and I were stuck in the house. We read stories and played games all day, taking a break for lunch. I taught them a song I had learned in grade school from CEF club:
I am the resurrection and the life,
He that believeth in me though he were dead,
Yet shall he live, yet shall he live,
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me
Shall never, never, never, never die -
Shall never, never, never, never die.

Then Grace tried picking out the melody on the piano. While she was doing that, I French braided her hair. I just can't leave her hair alone. Every time I'm with her, I feel compelled to do it. Fortunately, she doesn't mind. But she doesn't mind most things. She's so easy and accommodating.

Around 3:00 Christy called to say they had just finished and were on their way home. She suggested I put the kids all down for a nap to give me a break. Actually, they were doing very well and I didn't feel like I needed a break until she suggested it. Then the idea sounded like a good one, so I tucked them all into bed. I didn't know if they would actually sleep, but all 3 of them did. There was no fussing or noise at all. They must have been really tired. I had to wake them up in an hour.

We had scheduled our construction friend to start the framing for our front porch on Tuesday, but because of the rain and wind, he put it off till today. This morning 3 guys came and worked all day, so progress is being made. Yeah!

They should be finished with the framing in another day, maybe a day and a half.

Not much to report...

I was glad we finally got rain yesterday. It had been so dry for so long. My rain gauge says we got .6 or .7. It's hard to tell for sure because a leaf is floating on top, and I'm trying to read it from inside the house.

Because of the dreariness of the day, though, I didn't have a lot of energy. I went grocery shopping first thing in the morning. That was a fairly pleasant experience because the stores and parking lots were not crowded. Either the hour was too early or the threat of rain kept people away.

When I got home, I was overcome with the tiredness and succumbed to a nap in bed! Gasp! I actually slept at 10:30 in the morning.

But because of my indomitable work ethic (nowadays known as obsessive/compulsive behavior), I was able to do some baking in the afternoon. I got 2 loaves of applesauce bread done and a batch of cookies. And I experimented with a new recipe for dinner. I was looking through my Whole Foods Cookbook and found a recipe that sounded good and good for you. It had tomatoes, spinach, kalamati olives and zucchini in it, along with feta cheese to give it some zing. It was pretty good, but not fantastic. I might make it again just because I have more of the ingredients left over that I needed for this first time.

After dinner I went to church with Andy for worship team practice. While the team rehearsed, I oversaw the guy who was doing the slides. He was a fairly new recruit and needed to be "trained." He loses his place easily, then panics. So hopefully, today will go better than the last time he did it.

I filled up 2 bird feeders a couple of days ago and they have been busy with lots of tufted titmice and chickadees and an occasional flicker, nuthatch, cardinal and downy woodpecker. Blue jays and turtledoves are ever present, too.

This coming week promises to be more exciting...stay tuned!

Field Trip

We always have a staff meeting on Wednesday afternoons at the church. These meetings include all the pastors, interns, woman counselor and myself. Usually they're intended for touching base, prayer, all of us getting on the same page, etc. But occasionally Pastor plans a field trip. Yesterday we all got into a church van and traveled to Camden. There's a ministry there that has been operating for a number of years ministering to ex-convicts and prostitutes. What a ministry! We were very excited to see firsthand what is happening in that city.

I confess I was not too comfortable being there. It's depressing to drive by all the boarded up homes and observe guys dealing drugs.

But there's hope in the hopelessness of that situation. Lives are being changed, people are being ministered to.

My Father's Hands and South Jersey Aftercare are currently being run by Bill who was a powerful big-wig attorney before he got involved in drugs, then mishandled funds in a trust in order to support his habit. He was caught, stripped of his license to practice law and served a 15 month jail term. God used that experience in his life to bring him to Himself. Then God also gave him a desire to serve others who were caught in the web of sin.

Bill's wife is with him in this ministry and recently began working with the prostitutes that walk the streets. She boldly walks up to them, begins a conversation with them and prays for them.

Bill was so encouraged by our being with him and caring about his ministry, but I think we were the ones who were blessed. God is at work - nothing is too hard for Him.

Hungering for God

I have discovered that doing mindless work doesn't have to be boring. So how do you spice up the job of cleaning bathrooms? Well, you really don't have to think much about that job, so you can let your mind drift in other directions. My mind was drifting in all kinds of rabbit trails today. It all started with remembering a message I heard once about hungering for God. It made such an impression on me that I even remembered when it had been preached. I searched through my journals for that particular day and found it. January 3, 1999. Pastor challenged us to fast one day a week - to lay aside one of God's gifts (food) to feast on God alone. Some things I wrote down:
1. Fasting is a voluntary trial.
2. The greatest obstacle to knowing God is His gifts.
3. We should not be preoccupied with God's gifts, but focus on the Giver.

Before that Sunday, Pastor had me order about 100 of A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God, that he then made available to everyone on Sunday. I picked up a copy and started reading. What a great thought-provoking book! It is chock full of deep spiritual truths and applications for our walk with God. Chapter 2 is especially challenging, The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing. We tend to enthrone God's gifts and dethrone the Giver. God always intended that He Himself would be the greatest source of our pleasure. The gifts that God has given can be the source of the ruin of our souls. Tozer says: "There can be no doubt that this possessive clinging to things is one of the most harmful habits in the life. Because it is so natural, it is rarely recognized for the evil that it is. But its outworkings are tragic."

I guess I have to ask myself: Do I love God for Who He is or for what He does for me? In a way, it's both because everything I have is from Him. But what if everything is taken away, including my first born child that I was so eager to have? Is God still good? Is He still rich in love? Is He still my All in All? Is He more than enough? It's a great mystery to me how we can go through difficult and dark circumstances but experience the wonderful peace and joy of the Lord. How is that possible? Because He is a great God - He is good - all the time! And He is with us as we go through our valley of the shadow of death. There is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still.

So circumstances shouldn't matter if my joy is in the Lord. He is constant and His gifts are constant. He is the source of my joy, not my circumstances or His gifts.

And that is when God is most glorified in us - when we are most satisfied in Him!

It was another beautiful autumn day. The maples in our side yard are beginning to turn red. Every year I notice that they turn one branch at a time. Isn't it interesting how it looks like the tree is reaching it's arms toward heaven. That reminds me of the verse that says the trees of the field clap their hands.

"The whole earth is full of His glory!"

Andy had a load of lumber delivered today in preparation for framing up the front porch. He has scheduled a crew to come in next week to help him with the framing.

For dinner tonight I made a salmon quiche. Mmmm-mmmm!

The leaves on the trees are falling...

When Amy was in high school, she and a friend formed a "band." I think they practiced 1 or 2 times, then that phase was over. However, out of that came a happy little memory. Amy composed a song. I think she should have published it, because it is memorable. Every fall we think of it, sing it and smile! The words are catchy, too...

The leaves on the trees are falling, falling, falling;
And I'm falling in love with you!

Then last Christmas she made the candle in the picture for me.

Today was such a beautiful fall day, I just couldn't stay inside. So I planted the rest of the pansies I bought several weeks ago. I procrastinated on planting them because the impatiens were still doing so well, I hated to pull them out. But with the nights getting so cool, it was time.

I don't know how long these pansies will last because rabbits like to eat the flowers. And the other day, I noticed that some I had already planted had been just pulled out and thrown aside. I think the culprit there was a squirrel I had seen digging in my gardens. I realize that God created squirrels with the instinct to bury nuts for the winter and they are only doing what they were created to do. But God also commissioned man (and me!) to be keeper of the garden. I have to confess that the only kind of squirrel or critter I like in my gardens is the plastic kind. They're a lot cuter, too!

I planted some pansies in front of the hose. I wonder if that was wise. Of course, I'll be careful if I use the hose, but what about other people (who shall remain nameless)?

My chrysanthemums are in full bloom. Aren't they beautiful?

Remember the 2 little mums I brought home from the office a couple of weeks ago? The one was looking like it was dead, but I am happy to report that with a little water and TLC from "Dr. Phyl" they are very much alive. Note the new green growth at the bottom:


I wandered around the back yard just enjoying the scenery and snapping pictures. The sassafras grove is absolutely brilliant today. The pictures don't really do it justice, but here is the general idea:


Andy had a day off today from Nativity work, but is involved with Walk Thru the Bible which is being held at our church. He's not staying for the whole thing, just being available to make sure that things are going as they should. He did get in a bike ride earlier, too.

We are hosting our small group tomorrow night so I made a pumpkin roll this morning. Andy loves that treat, so he'll be very happy.

3 & 7 in 2

We packed a lot into the last 2 days.

On Monday morning, I had to go in to work for 2 hours. I had to be there at 10:00 am to take a call from our payroll service to give them the hours of all our employees. I'm sure everyone appreciated getting paid on time, including me.

I took off the rest of the day to go visit and help Amy. Dawn had planned to go to Amy's herself and in telling me about that, suggested I go, too. She didn't have to talk much to get me to agree to that. She actually got there about 45 minutes before I did, then I stayed a couple of hours later on the other end. Amy, Dawn and I started working on Amy's garden. We pulled and pulled and pulled weeds, getting 2 truckloads full of them to take to the dump. She sure has a LARGE garden! Dawn and I were commenting today (Wednesday) that the backs of our thighs are sore. Gardening is good exercise! Hmmm...I wonder how many calories we burned.

After Dawn left, I spent a little more time in cutting down perenniels, digging out a couple of bushes Amy didn't want any more and digging out some volunteer walnut trees (courtesy of squirrels).

I stayed for dinner and some picture taking with the kiddos.



On Tuesday, I spent the morning baking applesauce bread and cookies to take along to Christy's. Andy and I both went up for the purpose of babysitting several of the kids while Christy took Patrick for a neurologial appointment. When we got there, we decided Andy would stay with the 3 bigger kids and I would go with Christy, Asher & Patrick to the doctor. As it turned out, we made the 1/2 hour trip to the neurologist in vain, because she thought her appointment was at 2:00, when in reality it was 1:00. So we arrived 50 minutes late and had to reschedule. In my book, it wasn't a wasted trip because Christy and I got to visit, virtually uninterrupted for 1 whole hour!

While we were gone, Andy took Grace, Aiden and Naomi on a bike ride. It must have worn him out, because when they got back, he lay down on the floor and went to sleep. I can't believe how he can do that - even with Naomi jumping on him and pestering him in all kinds of ways as only she can do!

Christy fed us dinner which included my applesauce bread and cookies. I was surprised to notice that there were only 2 slices of bread left - in one meal! One loaf of bread lasts a week at our house!

Andy was able to talk with Christian and offer suggestions about the work he's doing on his brick walkway and patio. We were pretty busy while there and only got 1 picture taken. I caught Naomi with my purse on one shoulder and my camera case on the other shoulder. When I told her I wanted to take her picture, she posed nicely with a funny face.

So I got to see all 3 children and all 7 grandchildren in the space of 2 days.

One final picture I couldn't resist. Our sassafras grove is turning brilliantly orange. I don't think these trees are at their peak yet, but this is what it looked like today.

Fall

This beautiful dogwood tree is what I see when I stand at my kitchen sink. The leaves are a beautiful dark red right now, and it is full of little red fruit that keep the birds and squirrels busy all around it. I love the various colors of fall. God is so creative. But soon the leaves will be gone and the trees will look dead and gray/brown. I'm not crazy about winter, but I like that we have seasons. I think that's more interesting than having perfect weather every day. And I confess I love snow! Oh, here's a tidbit of information: Andy bought a snowblower. He thinks he's justified in buying one because: 1. he's too old to be doing a lot of shoveling any more and 2. all our snow shovelers have gotten married and moved away. (How dare they?!)

So what's been happening here? We've been busy but not overwhelmingly so. Our upstairs apartment guests left on Thursday. They left the place in good condition, so I basically just had towels and sheets to launder, then make the bed.

Andy worked all day at church on Saturday - on the walls of Bethlehem again. He says they're making good progress.

Dawn came over last night and had dinner with us, then went with Andy to church for worship team rehearsal. She stayed with us overnight because they had to be at church again this morning by 7:30.

After church today, the pastoral staff (with their spouses) was invited to the Sr. Pastor's for a meal and fellowship time. That was fun.

I didn't do much yesterday besides some laundry and a few errands. It was so nice outside so I sat on the deck and got some sun for about an hour. The sun was warm but the air was cool - perfect.

And that's about it...it's nice to have a report with not much going on for a change!

Grace, God's Grace

The other day as I was just going about my day, I remembered something I had read once in Oswald Chamber's book, My Utmost for His Highest. I got the book down off the shelf and started to look for my random thought, when I came across a paper Dawn had stuck in there once. It had notes on it from a sermon Andy had preached back on February 14, 1999. I remembered that sermon as one of the best I had ever heard him preach and I had taken good notes myself. So I started checking through all my journals until I found it. His message was comparing Grace Givers to Grace Killers.

His starting point was Colossians 3:12 - "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience."

So here is what Andy shared in his message - the difference between the grace giver and the grace killer:

Lord, make me a grace giver. Amen.

What a beautiful, glorious fall day today. Sorry, Meggan!

My doctor wanted me to get blood work done, so off I went this morning to suffer through that. It wasn't so bad, though. I lived through it and hopefully, my blood is good and healthy. He was concerned that I had Lyme's again; he says I live in Lyme's country. And I'm happy to report that my cholesterol didn't need to be tested, the doctor says my cholesterol is "a dream."

When I got home, I ate some breakfast (yes, I had to fast before the blood tests), then started in on my laundry and cleaning. It was a nice easy day. My day off really was like a sabbath rest (not counting the cleaning and laundry).

Andy worked on the front porch, the first he was able to since vacation. He was happy with what he got done. I helped! Actually, the only thing I did was make one pencil mark on the post so he would know where to put the cross beam.

Our upstairs apartment guests have been helpful to have around. Marilyn is going to make dinner for us tomorrow night which will be nice for me after working all day. And Jon helped Andy a little this afternoon with the porch. Andy is now as far as he can go. He is hiring a friend who is a contractor to come in and help him frame out the porch, but that guy is on vacation next week. So it will be another couple of weeks before anything more will be done.


Yesterday I left work a little early and spent the time in my gardens. I had bought some mums that I put in several pots near the house.

I also took out some impatiens that were looking peaked and planted some yellow and purple pansies in their place. I didn't take out all the impatiens yet, some of them look really good. But it won't be much longer, I suppose, before we'll have some frost and they'll be gone. I love those pansies. I just have to be careful where I plant them because the rabbits like to eat them. Sometimes, the pansies even make it through the winter. It's such a treat to see their cheerful little faces peeking up through the snow!

Last week someone brought in several little mums into the church office. They sat there for several days and eventually dried up from lack of water. I took 2 pots home and watered them. One revived but I think the other is beyond hope.


One last picture. This is the view from my kitchen when I stand at the sink. I really like this bush. I think it's some kind of hawthorne. It has dainty white flowers in the spring and these bright orange berries in the fall. It keeps its leaves all winter, not shedding them until spring. Doesn't it make a pretty picture?

Creativity

I never considered myself an artist. After all, I can't draw anything to look realistic. I can't paint pictures or even walls & woodwork in our house. I've tried to at times, just to help Andy in his projects around the house, but I end up getting more paint on myself or the window panes, etc. It's better to keep me away from that stuff.

But I was thinking about this and decided since we're created in the image of God, we all have that spark of creativity and artistic ability. He is the perfect and infinite Creator, we are mini-creators. He created out of nothing and everything was beautiful. We create out of stuff we have on hand, and it is often imperfect and incomplete.

So I was being creative yesterday - in my kitchen. I admit I'm not as capable as my sister or my nephew, but I have my own bent - God-given, I might add. I had a good time just working away, creating a batch of cookies, a loaf of English muffin bread, another loaf of bread, this time applesauce bread. I also made a taco casserole and a blueberry-kiwi dessert.

By the way, I used to be a pretty awful cookie maker, but when Amy was old enough to start baking, she turned out awesome cookies. My own daughter taught me how to make good cookies. I am now turning out awesome cookies instead of awful cookies. I actually have people asking me for the recipe - a good sign!

Why all the creating yesterday? A couple of weeks ago, a 16 year old boy in our church had a skate boarding accident and has been in a coma ever since. He was not wearing a helmet and landed on his head. The church has been providing meals for the family so they are free to go visit and spend time with him, instead of worrying about preparing meals. So I made the taco casserole and cookies for them and took it to their house yesterday afternoon. (I also had a zucchini bread in the freezer and a salad I included in their meal.)

We also asked our upstairs apartment guests to join us for dinner. I made salmon on the grill for them, plus a rice pilaf, applesauce bread, green beans & garlic with turkey bacon. And for dessert the blueberry kiwi treat.


I was not the only one being creative yesterday. Andy was at the church with a group of guys working on building the walls of Bethlehem for our Living Nativity in December. He was gone all day. At one point I needed him because the lid on the applesauce was too tight. I tried and tried to get it off and finally had to give up because my hand hurt. So I drove over to the church to have someone with muscle open it for me. I thought it would be a good opportunity to take the camera along and show you what he's doing. They have a lot of work left to do. Every Saturday from now till Thanksgiving will be spent on this project.



And just as God was pleased with His creation and said "it is good," so doesn't it give us satisfaction and a sense of fulfillment to have a productive and creative day?

Alive & Well

Wow! What a busy week this was. But I'm happy to report that I made it; I'm still alive and very well.

Last Saturday, we had another couple arrive to stay in our upstairs apartment. Jon & Marilyn are missionaries to Portugal. Our church has supported them for 20 years or so. They are here for 2 weeks trying to connect with our people and for us to get acquainted with them. They are empty nesters, (a little younger than us), so we have some commonality. They arrived last week right at dinner time. I wasn't expecting them for dinner, but fortunately I had been cooking spaghetti sauce all day. I had also made a pumpkin dessert to take to the Coffee Connection in the morning. Only about half of it got eaten, so we also had a dessert to serve.

I was still so tired on Sunday. I couldn't help myself, so just laid down for a little while in the afternoon. I very rarely take naps, but slept for an hour. Then I slept 8 hours that night as well. On Monday, it was a normal day of work - 8:00 - 4:00. In the evening, I dusted the furniture and vacuumed the whole house. I hadn't dusted the furniture for several weeks, and I noticed one day last week, someone had dragged something along the top of the dining room table. The line was pretty obvious. But no more. Bad dust - banished for another week!

Andy had been planning for a while to ride his bike to the shore. It's a 73 mile trip. His mom and dad are there right now and plan to be there another 3 weeks or so. Their being there made it a good idea to ride down now so he could take a shower when he got there. So he recruited a buddy to make the trip with him. They left early Tuesday morning around 6:50 and arrived at their destination in Ocean City at 11:10. That made an average time of 17 mph. His buddy's wife and I drove the car down and met them there.

We ate lunch with our friends and Mom and Dad, then went to the boardwalk. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. We walked up and down, had an ice cream cone, then drove on home again.

Our lawn was in desperate need of mowing with not a lot of extra time for doing it. Andy got the front and close to the house done on Tuesday evening. I did the trimming on Thursday evening while he was at the church with an appointment. Then I was able to get off work early today, came home and finished up the back section. It looks a lot better.

On Wednesday evening, I was involved with an event at the church: Ladies' Night Out. It was a missions emphasis and I was in charge. It took a lot of preparation, but I had a lot of help. We showcased 8 different countries from around the world where we have missionaries. We actually gave everyone a "passport" when they arrived, then they had to get it stamped at each country they visited. Women could do a craft at one of the countries. And there were samples of food from each of the countries. It was really a fun, informative and profitable evening.


I have a lot planned for tomorrow, but I'll let you know about that after it's done.

Till tomorrow then...