Category Archives: Personal

Just Another Day

This has been a very. long. day.  I stopped and got a Caramel Macchiatto (with skim milk of course) and listened to “Lost” and “Fix You” by Coldplay on the way to work.

I started out standing on the side of the road leading to the back of the school.  People who know me would stop and ask if I needed a ride.  “nope, just waiting for a truck driver from the prison” I said.  If I had been holding a can of beer, wearing a tube top, and sporting a tattoo, I would say that I had turned into a bad country song, but no – I was waiting on delivery of 50 computers and monitors from the prison computer recovery program.

(I can hear David Allen Coe singing “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” playing in the background)

Next I had to run to Central Office for a tech meeting where we learned all about upcoming changes.  The meeting only lasted an hour and ten minutes which was better than the last one.  (Cue Elton John singing “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” – well not really, it wasn’t that bad.  That’s the only song I could think of for meetings)

Then I wolfed down a part of my lunch and picked up Dale to go to the Texas Scholars Awards ceremony.  This was my second year in a row to have a child there – and my last.

Background music “Another Brick In The Wall”

Went back to work and made sure we had everything ready for online testing tomorrow.  Answered some email, got some phone messages, installed Adobe Flash Player on some computers that needed it for the class in the lab, and the storm started move in (Eric Clapton singing Let It Rain)

By then it was time to go home, eat a few leftovers, and head to church which was great as usual but also interesting because the lesson was in Ephesians at the point that Paul decides to go to Jerusalem and despite warnings from everywhere he stops, he goes anyway.  Paul has always had a heart for the Jews.  He was born and raised and educated a Jew and even though he wants so badly to go to the Jews, God has always sent him to the gentiles.  He ends up taken out of Jerusalem in chains and with 400 soldiers guarding him and then spends years in trial after trial.  The question was raised, was Paul right to go despite the warnings – did he know that it was God’s will?  Or was he just being hard-headed.  It isn’t clear but an argument could be made that he was not in God’s will.  Of all the churches talked about in the epistles, Jerusalem was not mentioned as a key church where hundreds, even thousands were brought to Christ.  I don’t know the answer but a possible point was made that when we are not in the will of God, there is no fruit.

We sang Hillsong’s Mighty To Save.

Does your day ever have a soundtrack?

Hush-a-bye, don’t you cry,
Go to sleepy little baby,
When you awake, you will have cake,
And all the pretty little horses.

A Birthday, A Rebirth, and a Goal Reached

I used to write.  Before blogs, before the internet, before I knew what a computer was. In high school and just after, I wrote poetry.  I had a notebook that I kept it in.  I once wrote a long…long…long poem about peace (it was 1972 remember) and translated the whole thing into Latin.  Yes, I am that old.  It was the last class ever to be taught Latin in my high school and hey – it got me an A!

I had a friend in a band that read some of my poems and asked if they could try to make some into songs.  One of the guys in their band, Jim, wrote music.  they worked with it for awhile and invited me to a rehearsal session to work on some of them.  Just poetry is a little different than having a chorus or a bridge and we worked on that.

A week later Jim was dead.  He told his wife he was going hunting and went out to the woods with his gun, sat down on a log, and shot himself.

In all of my eighteen year old arrogance, I was more angry than anything else.  At that age your friends are EVERYTHING. You know all about them – every minute detail of every day.  Who they love, what music they like, what kind of trouble they are having with their parental units (because at that age we all did – let’s face it), their moods, and what ticks them off.  Jim was older and at the time I didn’t understand that as you get older, friendships change.  They are still important of course, but not as all consuming.  Other things in your life become important.  A confused girl grieved for you Jim and barely knew you.  I know now, the faces we show others often have nothing to do with our insides.

At that time I just could not see how someone could get to the point where they would kill themselves without someone who KNEW them for heaven’s sake, stepping in and doing something to help them.  Back then we believed you could fix anything by just talking about it.  Depression was not a medical problem – it was a counseling problem, we thought.

A week after Jim died, Paul brought my notebook back to me.  I never looked at it again.  I have no idea what happened to it.  I never wrote poetry again.  The band fell apart and I hope that somewhere, somehow, Paul forgives me for not being more compassionate about what he must have been going through instead of being so full of my adolescent, self-involved drama. I remember and forgive me.

When I was a girl
An old woman lived inside
She looked out through my eyes
She saw when I lied

But now I am older
The girl lives on still
Her heart is within me
My faith and her will

We’ve lived far apart
Through years and through living
Often at odds
My holding, her giving

I reach out before me
To meet her halfway
Will we now become friends
Keeping demons at bay

The past and the present
Now finally to wed
Hanging on to the best
Turning loose of what’s dead

We still are becoming
That young girl and I
The door has been opened
Her secrets are mine

The child and the woman
Hand stretching to hand
Our history stays with us
While futures are planned

The circle turns slowly
And life marches on
Fears are laid down
And the night becomes dawn

When we stop being so grown-up
When we love the young soul
When we heal them together
We again become whole

My blog is three years old today.  I reached my goal of losing thirty pounds.  I wrote a poem.

I think I will set some new goals.  Hello world.

Did You Buy The DVD?

Last night my daughter and friends attended the “Forks Prom” Twilight DVD release party at Hastings.  She told me that there were not near as many people there as she expected and while there was some dressing up  (prom dresses and twilight moms in there Twilight t- shirts), there were no drinks named after the movie characters as had been rumored.  They had free something that looked like fruit punch which daughter declined – going for a purchased frappe instead.  They also served CiCi’s pizza and pimento cheese roll-up somethings with veggie chips. “Alice Cullen” would have been appalled (it’s a Twilight thing).  I don’t know if all parties across the country were as lame as this one or if it os just here.

I still love the series and the movie but what I love more is the whole story of a Mormon mom having a dream and then writing a story from that dream.  The story becomes a book, the book becomes a series and a series of movies and a cult following grows.  There are at the very least, forty blogs that follow anything and everything Twilight series.  There are forums, fanfiction sites devoted to nothing but variations on Twilight, merchandise related to Twilight, and a huge and strongly opinionated fan base.  Stephenie Meyer is even in the 100 finalists for Time magazine’s most influential people of 2009 – she beat out Oprah!

If Kristen Stewart says something in an interview that can be taken out of context – the twilighters will start duking it out, completely polarized into a love/hate group.  If Robert Pattinson buys a microwave and nukes hot pockets, it’s hot and everyone wants pictures and if there is video?  It’s feeding frenzy time.  There is secrecy and security at filming locations or they will be mobbed by teens who will travel across the country to get a peep and swoon over Rob Pattz.

When there were rumors that Taylor Lautner would not be cast as Jacob in New Moon, the fans went crazy writing letters, blogging, and basically pitching media fits and the next thing you know the kid is working out and bulking up to better fit the part of a larger than life, more mature Jacob.

How did Stephenie Meyer get here?  It fascinates me that a story became such a THING!  How does a person begin a story that ends up spanning four books and leave people wanting more.  The movie came out in theaters in November and tonight there are parties all over the country to celebrate the release of a dvd of a movie that everyone has already seen  The dvd is supposed to have extra scenes, most of which have already been leaked on the internet.  There is the soundtrack which is already available on cd.  Not much new here but still – there is all this excitement.

Did her husband ever yell at her  “quit sticking your head in that darn computer and just come to bed already?”  She says music was a big inspiration when she was writing – did she listen using head phones or ear buds?  I don’t see the family sleeping through Muse playing “Massive Black Hole” and if I didn’t have a teenager I’m not sure I would even know who Paramore is.  Just for the record the best music in the movie is the soundtrack composed by Carter Burwell.  I would go see the next movie just for the soundtrack if he is the composer for it as well.  We were watching another movie recently and I said “doesn’t that music sound like…” and daughter and I said Carter Burwell? at the same time.  As always, at our house, someone was  on the computer and googled it, and sure enough, he had done the soundtrack for that movie as well.  Beautiful!  He is also the composer for the score for two of my favorite movies – Serenity and The Band Played On. Did the book inspire the music?

Where did all the words come from?  I often have trouble getting a decent blog post written!  Would I have the commitment and imagination to write an entire book or even one chapter?  Would I have a story in me that would be compelling enough that someone would actually want to hang around long enough to read the whole thing, never mind care enough to have an opinion about it?  Did Stephenie ever dream that her life would change so much?  I’d love to just sit down with her and talk over a cup of coffee.

Email Hoaxes Now Come To Texting

My daughter was one who had a message forwarded to her on her cell phone today, about the rumor of a gang initiation at Walmart involving killing three women.  I had an email bulletin from the local newpaper warning about the rumor and then on kten news tonight they talked about it saying that it was probably a rumor but they even had a poll asking people if a text message could make them change their plans.

It took one search to come up with past occurrences of this rumor on email, going back as far as 2005 – you can check it on Snopes.com

Evidently the Paris News, Walmart, and Kten, don’t know about google…

Spring Break Midpoint

Yikes – can’t believe it is half over!  We drove number one son back to Tyler today and got back in time to have supper (spaghetti and garlic bread cooked by number one daughter – yum) and go to church (awesomeness) and tomorrow we go to Minden so tomorrow night I will probably curl up with a book and crash.

The weather was gorgeous today and I didn’t have to drive at all on the way there so while dad and son took turns driving and talking I listened to music and read.  Wonderful, relaxing, mini-vacation.  What a luxury!

Blink by Ted Dekker

What if your I.Q. was greater than Einstein’s was?  What is you believe in God because your intellect proves God’s existence to you?.  What if your logic tells you that God knows the future and so the future is already set?

What if all of a sudden you are given a gift that allows you to see multiple possible futures dependent on multiple factors that allow you to choose actions that keep you and another person alive?  Is God still God? How do you reconcile what is happening to you with what you have always believed? This is what happens to Seth as he tried to keep Miriam from being killed or taken back to Saudi Arabia to be forced into a marriage that she considers a living death.

Those are the questions (and more) that are asked in Ted Dekker’s “Blink”.  The story is fast-paced with plenty of suspense.  I found myself stopping several times for a “whoa” moment as I reread something to make sure I had caught it.  I don’t want to give anything away because this one kept me up late a few nights – I didn’t want to put it down.  I will definitely be reading more of Mr. Dekker’s books

Role Reversal?

It’s spring break and the sun is out – number one daughter and I plugged in our mp3 players and went for a walk.

Now she is in her room playing Guitar Hero and I’m getting irritated because I’m trying to listen to Trembling Blue Stars, a British Indie band and her game is a bit loud – rocking it out to  Gimme Shelter.

Hmmm

Warning – Very Random Departure

Thinking, questions

To see as an artist – beauty not defined by culture?

Beauty defined by more than perspective?

Is beauty changeable?

Is truth defined by perspective?

Is truth the same thing as beauty?

Is perspective beautiful?

Sometimes…

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, is the beholder transformed by beauty?

Is truth changed by perspective?

Perspective can be changed by truth

If the beholder is willing…

Perspective can be changed by culture

If perspective can be changed by culture,

And if perspective changes the beholder,

And if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then beauty CAN be changed by culture.

What is beauty’s relationship to truth?

Perspective is one person’s perception of the truth

Beauty is perceived

Truth does not change regardless of perspective – only the perception of it.

Truth is not changed by culture

Truth is beautiful – not always

I warned you it was random…

March Is Kidney Disease Awareness Month

The Paris News has an article about someone we know.  Wesley is a dialysis patient who has been on the kidney transplant list for a long time.  He has made several trips to Dallas expecting to come home with a new kidney but hasn’t been blessed with one yet.

We were so lucky that Dale had a sister who was willing to donate and was compatible.  Living donor kidneys last longer than cadaver kidneys but if your choice is dialysis or kidney transplant, it won’t take too long on dialysis to vote for the transplant whether it is living donor or cadaver.

You can live a fairly normal life on dialysis but it keeps you alive – it does not cure you and it can’t take the place of your kidneys.  There are things that your kidneys filter that dialysis can’t.  People who have lost kidney function due to diabetes have to remain on a diabetic diet and now they have to add new restrictions.  Phosphorus and potassium have to be watched.  If you do a little research you will find that pretty much anything with flavor contains those two things.

Our bodies are a miracle of chemical balance that is regulated to a great extent, by our kidneys.  Too much of one thing and a gland can kick in and leach something necessary out of your system.  Too much fluid and your blood pressure rises and your heart can become damaged. Kidney function can be lost due to heart disease (or it’s treatment – the dye used in heart cath is toxic to kidneys), diabetes, high blood pressure, and many other reasons.  Many medications are toxic.  Aleve is an over the counter drug that is hard on kidneys.  Most medicines (including over the counter drugs) are hard on either your kidneys or your liver.  In Dale’s case there was a problem from birth that eventually caused failure of his one functioning kidney. He took Aleve for years with his doctors blessing because it helped his knees.  Now we wonder if it didn’t hasten kidney failure.  If you are at risk or know that you have diminished function – do a little research about the medicines you take so that you can make an informed choice or at discuss alternatives with your doctor.

Dialysis isn’t painful but it isn’t comfortable either.  When Dale was going to the center there were about 25 chairs and some patients came in under their own steam while others were brought in from nursing homes on a stretcher.  Some people were able to socialize, some would moan and cry and seemed altered the whole time.  Several people would be missing legs from diabetes and several were blind.  Each chair has a television so once a patient is “hooked” up they can watch tv.  The process takes three to four hours between the time it takes to get the patient hooked up to the machine which cycles their blood through a filter gradually, and may add things like iron, and then the time it takes for them to be taken off the machine and their access to stop bleeding.

If a patient has consumed too much fluid between treatments they come in “wet” and more fluid needs to be pulled off.  Each patient weighs when they come in and before they leave.  Too much fluid (or potassium or phosphorus) and a patient may experience painful leg cramps.  Too little fluid and too much treatment and they can be pulled too “dry” and when that happened to Dale, his blood pressure would drop.  We learned that at 50/40 he goes unconscious.

If a patient is planning to travel they need to make arrangements with a dialysis center near their destination to receive treatment while they are there.

A dialysis patient has to have surgery that creates an access – usually in their arm. Some, like Dale have an access created by their own blood vessels being tied together in a way that allows blood to be removed and returned.  Others have a special kind of tubing implanted.  A dialysis patient becomes very protective of their access and if the techs at a center are contract help rather than regulars, you can’t always be certain that you will get someone who is good at “sticking” an access and an access even when well taken care of only lasts for so long.  The surgery and healing, and maturing of the access takes some time and isn’t exactly fun so it’s important to take care of it.

Dialysis has a two-fold purpose – removing fluid and removing toxins from your system.  Without it you go into congestive heart failure from the fluid and the toxins can cause multiple problems.  You will eventually die – that is a given.

When you drive by the Fresenius Dialysis center on Collegiate and Lamar this month, give a thought for the people who are inside tethered to a chair and to their lives by tubes and machines that keep them alive, three to four hours a treatment, three treatments a week, for the rest of their lives or until a kidney becomes available if they are a candidate for transplant.  Give a thought for the caregivers who bring them for treatment, often a spouse who may have driven for an hour to get here and is sitting in the waiting room for several hours each treatment day.

The numbers of people with diabetes is growing in this country and so too, are the number of people who rely on dialysis to live.  This month educate yourself and say a prayer for Wes – that he gets a kidney.

Despite ongoing health problems since 1993, if asked how he’s doing, Williams answers, “I can’t complain.”

While undergoing a dialysis treatment at Fresenius Medical Care, 110 S. Collegiate St. on Wednesday, Williams talked about his will to live and his mission to help others.
“I have got too much yet to do in my short life,” Williams said. “I believe the Lord has things yet for me to do.”

The Fresenius Medical Care Center in Paris serves more than 100 patients daily. The center also offers free seminars to inform at-risk patients and their families about chronic kidney disease and treatment. Anyone interested in attending should contact Misty Curtis at 903-784-1989.

Call.  Go visit.  Take some magazines or paperbacks for patients and caregivers.  Say a prayer.  Anyone can do that.

A Saint Goes Marching

I am not from this community and when you are a “transplant” you don’t know all the history and the long-time relationships between families and the community.  I have lived here long enough, however that some of the recent history of the community has become mine as well.

My kids were both band nerds and for several summers I had kids playing in the summer concerts in the park put on by the municipal band.  Musicians from high school age on up would gather to practice once a week and on Friday nights we could drag our quilts and lawn chairs to the park and families would gather around the pavilion to hear them play.  The concerts always begin with the National Anthem and end with “I Love Paris”.

These concerts are one of the things I have grown to love about my adopted community.  What a picture of small town America and like any small town, the picture has it’s own flavor because of the characters involved.

We lost one of those characters this week.  I knew him and his family through work but my favorite memories will be of him introducing the songs at the summer concerts.  Ever a teacher and music enthusiast, he saw that we had a little piece of information about the different composers and the music.  A regular composer each year was Henry Fillmore.  Because of Pat I know that Mr. Fillmore was known as the “Father of the Trombone Smear” and that he married an exotic dancer named Mabel May Jones. When his introduction began, as soon as he mentioned Henry Fillmore, those of us who were “regulars” for several years would chuckle because we knew that he would mention Mabel next.

I know that Pat was loved by his family, friends, and community and this is my favorite memory of him.  I will always think of my kids and their years in band when I hear a march being played but  now I will also be listening in my mind for Pat to tell a story about it.  I know you are a saint who is marching in right now.  Thanks Pat,  and God speed.

Photography Tips From a Friend

A blogging friend of mine has posted some great tips and explanations on photography.  I thought I would share with you – go visit her blog “Fruit on the Vines”.

Photo Tip – Shutter Speed

Photo Tip – Depth of Field

Photo Tip – Aperture + Shutter Speed

Photo Tips – But What If My Camera Doesn’t Have the Ability to Shoot in Manual?

She did such a good job even I understand some of this 🙂

The Secret Life of Bees

What a glorious story.  How beautiful women’s spirits can be and how blessed that we can change the world in big ways in small areas through that spirit and through love.

Stories of life seem to me to be of two kinds.  Either the serendipitous kind that leave us shaking our heads and wondering at the inexplicable twists of the world that cause life to follow paths that seem to make absolutely no sense.

Then there are the stories like this one that seem to complete a circuit that has a beginning and an end that shine with the authorship of god Himself.

Maybe these are actually one and the same, the only difference being that our perspective is too narrow to see the full circle.  Whatever the truth, this is a story that will leave you feeling good about the world.  With all the evil and pain, God is at work healing and lifting us up through the very frailties of His kids.

Favorite Secret Life of Bees Quotes

“Don’t writers just imagine things you can’t see?
Why don’t you just imagine yourself another future?”

“Finding out the truth is only half of it
It’s what you do with it that matters, right?”

Great movie.  Great story.

A Friend’s Passing

It has been a long day and I have things I could post but I’m too tired to think LOL.  I stayed to keep the lab open and left there just in time to swing by and pick up Dale and go to church. I didn’t get to walk but I skipped supper so I guess that evens it out.

A friend from our first church here in Paris died this morning.  He has been sick for awhile and his passing is sad.

The first time we went to that church Dale wasn’t with me.  He was working and I took the kids and went in our old van.  John was the first person to talk to us and after church I couldn’t get the big sliding door on the side of the van to latch and John helped me hook a bungee cord onto it so I could drive home.

The last year he sat near the back of the church and threw peppermints at another friend over a private joke. Whenever you asked him how he was, he always said “Better than I deserve”.  I sat next to his wife in the choir and he often cooked beans and fish for annual dinners.

Those are my memories of him and I wanted to mark his passing by sharing them.

But God…

The lesson this morning was from Ephesians again.  The scripture that was the focus was Ephesians 2:1-7

1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

I looked up the phrase “But God” on Bible Gateway and there were 10 examples before you even get out of Genesis.

In Ephesians we were dead in our sins and transgressions….But God loved and saved through grace.

I never really understood the difference between sins and transgressions before. It was explained that sins are simply missing the mark.  In order to get to heaven on our own works all we have to do is be perfect like out Father,  Well that’s a snap huh? Miss the mark?  Just by a little LOL

A transgression is a willful act of disobedience.  We know the direction we are to walk and we turn around and walk our own way instead.  If you have ever raised a child you may have had a time when you told your toddler not to touch something only to have them reach for it anyway – sometimes while they are looking right at you!  That’s us.

The bible has so many “But God” examples.  We sinned, God sent a flood, But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. Gen.8:1

Joseph’s brothers threw him into a well and then sold him into slavery and he ended up being in a position to save their lives. You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Gen. 50:20

David his from Solomon fearing for his life: David stayed in the desert strongholds and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands. 1 Sam. 23:14

Those who trust in themselves are destined for the grave…But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. Psalm 49

The so-called religious leaders looked down on Jesus. The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight. Luke 16:14-15

Peter preached to the people – not easy Christianity, but strong words.  You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. Acts 3:15

Money or marital troubles that you can’t see how to fix?  You may not know how you are going to get through it – “But God“!

Trials with your health, job or family that seem to big for you alone?  They may be to big for you “But God”!

Afraid that you can’t walk in the way God wants you to walk?  You can’t in your own power, “But God“!

But God….

A Walking Valentine

What do you give someone for Valentines Day when they are on a diet?  Especially someone like me who thinks chocolate is a major food group!  NOT chocolate.  Dale asked me what I wanted and I told him I wanted two new remotes for our tvs.  One old one doesn’t turn on or shut off.  It was the one for our bedroom tv and you would have to get up and walk across the room to shut the stupid thing off. I know that’s whiny but it sort of defeats the whole getting sleepy thing if I have to get out from under the covers and walk.  I am then wide awake and have to read even longer to fall asleep.

The extra one for the living room (the one I use of course) is the original one that came with the tv and it would do everything except turn the volume down.  Because I am a silly creature of habit I would pick it up, try to turn down the sound, growl and hunt for the other remote…EVERY time.

We now have two new ones but getting them programmed was interesting.  I followed the directions and pressed the device (tv) button and then held down the power button until it came on and stayed on.  Then for the old tv in our room there were about 12 sets of 4 codes that you had to enter.  The power button was supposed to blink each time you entered a set.  It did not.  I tried twice.  I read the instructions again.  I tried again.  I growled.  No luck.  My son picked it up and looked at the codes.  He pointed it at the tv, held down the tv button and entered the first code.  It worked.  I read the instructions again and NO WHERE did it say to do this.

I also asked for a pedometer so I could keep up with how far I walk.  I’m not obsessed about it – I just wanted a ball park figure.  I took it out of the package and like the remotes, this required a chainsaw, jackhammer, and much growling.  The instructions said to slowly pull the battery protector tab that was sticking out of the battery door on the back off the pedometer.  There was no tab and nothing came on.  We got out a tiny screwdriver and took the cover off and sure enough, there was the tab, folded double inside.

The last thing I asked for was another set of hand weights to have at the house, since I carried the other set up to school.  The only thing I had to do to them was cut the string that held the tag on.

Dale was not sure about these gifts.  He didn’t think they were very romantic but I appreciate all three gifts and have already used them all.  The frustration of getting the first two working gave me a headache, but walking with the last one helped get rid of the stress that caused so it all evened out.  Maybe next year I’ll stick with chocolate.

Sunday Morning Blessings

This morning we were singing a song I have sung many times before, but all of a sudden in the middle of the verse I got a lump in my throat and my eyes were tearing up.

“I’m forgiven, because You were forsaken
I’m accepted, You were condemned
I’m alive and well, Your Spirit lives within me
Because You died and rose again

Amazing love, how can it be
That You my King, would die for me
Amazing love, I know it’s true
And it’s my joy to honor You
In all I do, I honor you”

I was overcome with gratitude for all that has come my way.  Dale is doing well. The kids are both doing ok.  I had a wonderful trip to Austin, time with old friends, got to know new friends a little better, the weather has been wonderful.  My health has been good, work has been good.  Most of my friends have been blessed lately.  Little things, big things, all things!

All I could think was thank you.  Thank you God for all you have done for me lately.  I have concerns I lift to Him of course, like everyone.  A friend in particular that needs a job, he and his family.  I pray that God will bring something for him and that he will have this same blessed feeling.  That’s the thing about this feeling.  I want to share it with everyone I know.  I’m a much nicer, kinder person when I have this attitude of gratitude.  Instead of spending all my time looking in, I am looking up and out.

The lesson was on Ephesians.  The Wealth, The Walk, and the Warfare.  We are still in the wealth and it was such a fitting lesson for how I am feeling.  The blessings of God the Father, God The Son, and God the Holy Spirit and the wealth they give us as believers.  The power they give us to walk, not on our own strength, but in our weakness, letting God be strong and do battle for us.  The power of prayer that lets us join with others anywhere in the world.  The surrender that comes, not from saying I will sit back and let God do it all, but from saying I will let Him direct what I do so that I DO honor Him.

I know that there will be trials and that I will do more than stumble – I will fall flat on my face repeatedly.  It never ends well when I rely on my own strength or wisdom.

Calvary Chapel Paris is planting two new churches.  One in McKinney and one in Idabel.  I pray that the blessings I have received at this church will go out from the two new ones and bless others.  It’s amazing to me that this church that had maybe 25 people coming on a regular basis when we started and was housed in a metal building out on 271, now has about 400 people attending and multiple active ministries.  The praise team, Children’s ministry, home fellowships, women’s ministry, ministry classes, hebrew class,  youth, and others are all strong and ministering to so many.

I have a box full of notebooks full of notes from Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights., and those notebooks are precious to me.  They are my “real world” journal as this is my online one.

I try not to mix the journals too often but this morning this feeling was just so overwhelming.  Just wanted to share it with you. Amazing.  Love.

Heading Home

I meant to get this posted this morning but ran out of time (and battery juice) so I am sending it on now 🙂

I am sitting in the lobby of the Sheraton, listening to Coldplay and reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (which I will be blogging about later – awesome book).  There was a fire on the legendary Sixth Street and several businesses were affected.

TCEA was enjoyable and I learned some new things.  I have blogged my notes and will try to round up the links that I found,  I have enjoyed my first stuffed avocado at Trudy’s (yum) and visited with friends, shopped, had a Hula Hut and Mozarts night (thanks Tony and Paige!) and just had a very nice trip. The company on the ride down and back was great (thanks Paula and Missi!) and it was good to get to know some folks better.

On the ride home we stopped for lunch at Freebirds and had a discussion about Stuckeys which had Missi googling on her phone for more information. We all had fond memories of their divinity.  There was the traditional stop at West (I did eat a cream cheese kolache – NOT diet food) and a stop for cold medicine for Paula.

I’m now looking forward to a peaceful weekend, laundry, sleeping in my own bed, and getting back to my walking routine.  Monday will be here before I know it but I think I will be a bit nicer, a bit more enthusiastic, and have a few ideas for some things to share with teachers.  I’d say it was worth the trip 🙂