My Name is Phyllis

I have always been unhappy with my name.  It's too unusual, it's hard for people to spell, it's too THIS, it's too THAT. My discontent with my name may have started in high school when one of the boys in my class teased me by calling me Phyllis Diller.  Here's a woman who made a living by being ugly and making jokes about it.  I didn't want to be associated with her!  

But recently, the Lord has been speaking to me about this issue and the need for me to be content in all circumstances and situations.  We are told that in heaven Jesus will give us a new name and I got to wondering if I would even be happy with the name He gives me.  I really should practice contentment in this life, here and now.  

Then this past weekend I went with 125 other women from church to Lancaster County to our women's retreat.  Our guest speaker was Christine Wyrtzen who spoke about being a daughter of promise.  In one of her sessions, she listed 10 characteristics of an orphan and 10 characteristics of a daughter/child of God.  One of the characteristics of a daughter is that she has a name that means something.  Rev. 2:17..."I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it."  Christine told a story from her childhood that one day she overheard her parents talking about her, discussing a test she had taken in school.  The father told her mother that Christine didn't do very well and was afraid she wasn't very smart.  Christine remembered that conversation and for the rest of her life worked hard to get good grades and do well, but always thought of herself as "dumb."  Years later when her dad was dying, she told him this story.  He was shocked that she had overheard that conversation and told her that a couple days later she had taken the same test and had done very well.  But the overheard conversation, which really was never meant for her to hear, stayed with her the rest of her life.  Then Christine had always hated her middle name of Eloise.  So recently she decided to research the meaning of the name.  And wouldn't you know it:  it means "smart."  What a sense of humor God has.  

So that made me curious as to what Phyllis means.  Google came through with a meaning of:  

Phyllis \ph(yl)-lis\ as a girl's name is pronounced FILL-iss. It is of Greek origin, and the meaning of Phyllis is "greenery". Greek mythology: a character of this name dies for love, then is transformed into an almond tree. The name is used by poets to stand for the idealised country lass.

Greenery???  Well, what do you know!  I love gardening and have ever since my mother led a 4-H flower club for me and my sister when I was 10.  Yes, I would say God does have a sense of humor.

So then I was curious to see if there were any other famous Phyllises besides Phyllis Diller.  How about Phyllis George, Miss America of 1971? 

 

Or Phyllis McGinley, an American author of children's books and poems.  

 

Or Phyllis Schafly, a Constitutional lawyer and a politically conservative activist and author who founded the Eagle Forum.

 

Well, I've decided it's time I become comfortable with my name and rise to the challenge of giving my own meaning to my name. 

 

Spring is Here!

Yesterday felt more like the first day of summer than March 20th, the first day of spring.  But who can complain about such a beautiful day.  With it being so pleasant, I had to spend a little time sitting on the deck in the sun, enjoying the magnolia tree in full bloom.  Other flowers are blooming, too, and I noticed the grass is greening nicely.

I was getting rather warm and switched to flip flops, which led to feelings of a need for a pedicure.  So since I needed to get out of the kitchen to keep my sanity, off I went to indulge myself.

Andy spent the day working in the kitchen.  He painted the beams and ceiling, then also all the walls.  Everything got the first coat of paint.

Because I spend a majority of my time in the kitchen, it's hard for me to keep myself occupied when he's working in there.  I did manage to get a batch of rolls made, but the rest of the day, I tried to stay out of there till he finished. 

This afternoon I came home from work and spent 2 delightful hours preparing a colorful dinner:  orange sweet potatoes with red dried cranberries, green zucchini souffle and rice pilaf.  It was as tasty as it looks.

Last Friday, Tommy, Dawn and Kira came over for dinner.  As usual, we had a lot of fun together.  With Daylight Savings Time, we were able to spend some time outside after dinner.  Kira was her usual cheerful, fun-loving self. 

The other day someone expressed a little concern that this weather is so strange, so warm so early.  I couldn't help thinking of God's promise, though, that as long as the earth stands, there will be seed time and harvest.  Great is His faithfulness.  Our media sources tend toward sensationalism and people without God worry and are alarmed that the earth is heading toward extinction.  I think that we do have a responsibility to take care of God's earth, but ultimately, it is His earth and we can trust Him to continue to hold things together by the word of His power.  (Colossians 1:17)

I'm thankful we had a mild winter and early spring.  It was nice for Andy that he didn't have to do any shoveling or snow blowing this winter, and he didn't have the responsibility of getting the church parking lots plowed and sidewalks cleared.  In everything give thanks!

And So it Begins

After years of talking and planning, it's finally happening.  Our kitchen is 20 years old and in need of some remodeling and updating.  The countertop is chipped in places and has been repaired several times.  One thing led to another and we are pretty much re-doing everything:  new floor tile, new countertop, painting the cupboards, painting the walls, new window treatments, etc. 

 

On Tuesday morning, I was feeling overwhelmed by all the decisions that needed to be made in the middle of a lot of mess.  College kids are home on spring break, so we hired a young man to start sanding our cabinets.  He worked all day Monday and Tuesday.  Wow, do I have a lot of cabinets!  He was able to do most of the sanding in Andy's workshop/old garage, but there was still some work that had to be done in the kitchen.  He emptied out all my cabinets and drawers and covered the stuff to keep the dust off but it was still a mess.  But -- now the cabinets are prepped and ready - one big job done.  

 

Because of all the work going on, I felt I needed to get out of the house on Tuesday.  So I called my friend who is doing interior decor work and we went shopping!  She was such a big help and we made our decisions on floor tile, countertop, back splash tile and paint colors for the cabinets and walls - a very productive day!  

 

On top of that, I was able to clean up most of the dust in the kitchen (still need to get the rest of the house), and re-organize the cabinets and drawers.  One good thing out of this:  I have so many cookbooks I'm going to try to sell on ebay.  I may even make some money from this project - ha! - probably peanuts compared to how much we're spending!

Meanwhile, we also have been working on our dining room.  We painted it and moved the table down more to the end of the room instead of right in the center.  That makes a little more room closer to the book cases to add a little sitting area.  Andy had expressed a desire to have a place to go to read that wasn't in the living room with the tv as a temptation.  So this works well.  These chairs are VERY comfortable.

 

We are still looking for a lamp between the chairs, not sure if it will be a floor lamp or a small table with a lamp. But progress is being made.

Let the Little Children Come

How children bless the heart of God. He does not see them as interruptions or disruptions, but as a welcome break to his busy day. Even in the middle of Jesus' important kingdom teaching and discipling, He encourages the children to come to him. In fact he uses that incident as a teaching moment for the adults gathered around him. "The kingdom of heaven belongs to children like these," he said. And he took the children in his arms and blessed them. What a tender and beautiful picture. 

In a small way, we were able to identify with Jesus this weekend. We had a welcome break from the busyness of our lives by having 4 children come over. Christy and Christian brought them to our house on Saturday around 12:30 and didn't pick them up until Sunday evening. They took a much needed break and time away. But Andy and I had a wonderful 30 hours with Grace, Aiden, Naomi and Asher.

In the afternoon, we took them to the park and to the church gym.   

 We had a huge box that made a fun plaything.

After supper, we watched a movie, then had ice cream. At bedtime, I read Uncle Remus stories under the "tent" Andy had put up.

On Sunday, we all went to church together, then had our favorite Sunday lunch of waffles and omelets, then went back to the church gym to play. 

When Christy and Christian came back for the kids, we all had dinner together before they left to go home. All in all, it was a fun weekend.

A week or so ago when talking to Amy, she expressed a wish for me to come up and help her sort through her kids' clothes. So her wish was my command and we headed up to see her on Tuesday morning. That gave us the privilege of being with 3 more children for several hours. It's quite gratifying to come to the door and hear children's excitement as they see us. Amy and I worked on organizing kids' clothes and Andy played with the kids. They played outside for a while on the trampoline - it was such a nice day - until they got tired. Then they came in the house and watched some cartoons. Little Katy climbed up beside Andy and fell asleep. 

We ate lunch with Amy and the kids, then left and drove to Christy's. It was Grace's birthday the day before and we didn't feel like we could miss out on celebrating that blessed event. I was able to help Christy by accompanying her to the hair dresser to hold Baby Claire while she got her hair cut. Then I picked up pizzas for our supper. After cake and singing to Grace, Christy put on the Celebrate Good Times cd for dancing.

With all the kid time, I've been thinking how this relates to our relationship with the Lord. They were so excited to see us and spend time with us. Do we value our time with the Lord? And we love our grandchildren and are happy to do things with them and for them. Think how much God loves us and how much he gives us. Of course, he grieves when we disobey, but we are still his children and nothing we can do will turn away his love from us. I feel the same toward our grandchildren. Sometimes one may be out of sorts or grumpy, but that doesn't make me stop loving that child. Even a sad face is cute to a grandparent!

Jesus loves the little children - they are all precious to him.

It's the Little Things

I got my nails done on Monday afternoon.  With the exception of  Dawn’s wedding 8 years ago, it had been 15 years since I had nail polish on my fingernails.  I got tired of always replacing broken and chipped nail polish so I just didn’t bother.  Because of working in dishwater and food preparation, fingernail polish doesn’t last more than an hour or two on my hands.

So last week my neighbor Nancy told me she got this gel nail polish that would last on your fingernails for 2 weeks.  It would not chip or break – guaranteed.  And she even offered to give me the manicure herself. 

So what did I have to lose?  I spent the afternoon with her after work on Monday and now have beautiful hands!  My fingernails look as good today, 3 days later, as they did when first done.  And I like the way they look as I type!

We had a visitor today at the office.  Kira loves to visit her Poppop and me when Dawn drops by.  I keep a little box of toys in my desk drawer and she asks for it nearly every time she comes in.  She also likes to sit at the desk and pretend she’s working on the computer.   

Another favorite thing for her to do is chase Poppop down the hallway and then get him to draw on the white board in the conference room.  She’s so friendly and talks to everyone who happens to be in the office at the time.

She brightens our day.