A time to retreat

My sister is coming this weekend (with husband and daughter in tow!) to speak at a ladies retreat I'm doing for the women in my Wednesday night Bible study. I am so excited to see them, as a family and I am so excited to hear what the Lord has placed on her heart. I'm really praying that the women will come (I already know 2 who aren't...) and that they too will be excited to see what God will teach them tomorrow.

When was the last time you took time to retreat from this crazy world? It's been a while for me. I'm looking forward to a day dedicated to learning more about God through my sister (both familial and spiritual).

I hope you have a great weekend! I'm sure I'll have Sophia stories to share later! :)

Gardening for all the world to see....

...or so it seems! Most of you get to garden for the simple pleasure of doing so. You pick out what you want to color your yard, plant it, watch it grow. If some weeds add to the mix, eh, that's OK. You'll get to them. If your bushes don't get trimmed "in time," eh, that's OK, they'll live. Oh to be able to simply garden! :) One of the "joys" of being a pastor's wife (and living in the parsonage) is everything I do is watched and, sadly, judged. Some think I do everything right and have the attitude, "if the pastor's wife did it, I can too." Some judge because they don't like ANYTHING I do and I can't do anything right. Sigh...neither view is a good one. But, all that aside, it does produce some funny stories! :) When we first came to Bankers there was much discussion on the fact that I hadn't yet trimmed the bushes in the front of the house and it was already spring! Ghastly mistake! :) :) (side note: I like to have flowers and such, but my passion is not gardening, so some maintenance things don't always get done when they "should.") That same summer (can you believe this is our 3rd summer here???) on the church's cleaning day a lady promptly told me that she had pulled the sweet pea out of the front--very proud she was. I promptly asked why? I was looking forward to seeing that grow--I think sweet pea is pretty! She then curtly responded that it's more a weed and will take over everything--I felt if she had been a teenager and not a 70+ old woman she would've added a "duh" to the end of that statement! :) I was offended at first and then realized it wasn't worth the energy...we have since learned that this woman complains about everything and feels she's right about everything...hindsight is always 20/20, right? :) Glad I didn't waste too much time on that trivial matter.

The next summer, David and I were sure to trim the bushes in the fall (apparently, that's the appropriate time...), got all the dead flowers pulled before it snowed, raked the yard, basically did what we could to eliminate complaints/comments on the yard. This year we've decided we're here to praise the Lord, do what's pleasing in his eyes and if the yard gets done, then it gets done. With all that said we did get our garden planted and the flowers planted as well. To work out anger David hand-trimmed/whacked away at the bushes a few weeks ago! :) Amazing how anger can full great energy!! :) :) Last night I heard some discussion about the front bushes (who knew bushes could be so controversial?) but couldn't hear what exactly was being said. Oh, if life were only so good that all we had to complain about was the pastor's wife's lack of a green ANYTHING! :)

I heard a cool quote today. It's from Albert Einstein: "If you can't explain it simply you don't know enough about it." Hm...just thought that was interesting!

I encourage you in your gardening endeavours and may you have fruitful crops and gorgeous flowers! :) :) :)

Losing Control

I have been stressed about our upcoming vacation Bible school at the church. Why? Simply because I'm not the one in control/leading it this year. It's not being done the way I would do it, things are getting done when I would get them done...but does it matter? No. The kids will come and hear the Word of God and have a good time anyway. I have to lose control.

Isn't it funny how the less we feel in control the more frantic, stressed, etc we become? It doesn't even have to be anything tragic, it can be as simple as being stuck in traffic or having to wait a bit longer in the check-out line. I am a person who likes control. Ask my friends, family, sister. I'm bossy, I like to be the boss, and I like to be in control. I don't know why. I suppose some would say it's because I'm the oldest child in the family, or because I have a type-A personality, or because of different events that have happened in my life. But, you know what? I think it's simply my sin nature. I think the other reasons are simply excuses that those in the physchology world have come up with so we don't have to be responsible. A feeling of no control leads to worry, stress, fretting, being grumpy, getting angry for no reason. There doesn't seem to be a good side-effect to not having control. I don't care who you are, we all struggle, on some level, with wanting control. Whether you're like me and you just want to control every little detail, or you're one who wants to just let life take you where it will, we all struggle when things don't go the way we think it should.

As a pastor's wife, I have had my eyes opened to what wanting control can do to a person. We have women in our church who feel they have no control of their personal life and the things that go on in their home so the church becomes their domain. You don't even THINK about coming in on "their" territory without consequence. Some women have rotten marriages, or kids gone astray so they want to control everyone else they encounter. It so sad. We, as Christian women, struggle with control in our homes. Didn't God tell us that man would rule over us and that our husband is to be the head of the home? I don't know about you, but sometimes that's hard to swallow--especially when I'm not getting what I want.

In my weekly Bible study we're going through the Old Testament and I see time and again people in Scripture who try to control their own life outcome and refuse to do it God's way. Look at the mess with Abraham and Sarah! She wanted kids, they weren't content to wait on the Lord, she takes matters into her own hands, has her husband sleep with her maidservant and then gets MAD when the servant conceives!!! Brother. Women wanting control is a running theme through Scripture--Sarah, Rachel, Leah, etc. They all wanted it done THEIR way and weren't willing to do it God's way. Look how it turned out for them. Their lives were basically miserable because they didn't just WAIT on the Lord and his timing.

What a lesson this is to me! I always want to know what will happen, when it will happen, why it'll happen, etc. I can drive myself crazy (and my husband) sometimes worrying about the details. Don't we have a God of details, though? Doesn't take too long to figure that out! Just look at all the different flowers, trees, birds, animals, people! He is a God of detail. He knows what needs to be done better than I do. He knows the outcome of the things I plan versus the things He plans. It's my job to be obedient and do HIS will!!! You know what verse is always running through my head? "Be still and know that I am God." Hmmm...coincidence? I think not! There are obvious reason this verse is so familiar to me. Daily I have to BE STILL and remember and KNOW he is God! I can't do it on my own, I can't solve my problems, let alone someone else's on my own (or at all, really, if we're honest). Only God can do this and I have to KNOW he is God!

Go ahead...lose control today! I dare ya! :)

Oh the things we see...

David and I have realized that just because we live in the parsonage by the church doesn't mean people still don't do strange things in front of the church or the house, or our fellowship hall--as though there's no one there to see. We always have folks turning around or stopping to talk on their phone, or to ask us for directions--this happens daily. We had a lady strung out on drugs and alcohol once, called the cops, had 3 cop cars, 1 ambulance, a narcotics car and K9 unit all in our little parking lot late at night. We've called the police on kids who are in the field across from the church (belongs to the church) who had pounding music going at 2am! But, nothing was so funny as what we saw last night at 11:00!!! Yes, at 11:00. It seems the strange always come out late at night! :)

We're getting ready for bed, Molly's outside doing her thing, I'm in the batheroom doing mine and David is upstairs. He yells down not to go outside as there was a van and people parked in front of the church and he didn't want me out there getting the dog, just in case they were up to no good. So, I waited, and waited and finally asked if he would just go get Molly or go out with me. He promptly says, "No! I don't want to miss the show!" To which I'm instantly curious as to what's going on outside! I ran to the office window just in time to see a huge van drive off with a queen-sized mattress on the top. Ok, odd, yes, but what did I really miss? David comes down, we get Molly and he proceeds to tell me what he saw. When he looked out the window he saw a VERY LARGE woman walking along the van with the box springs to a queen-sized bed on top of her head and was proceeding to try to jam it into the van. This wasn't working very well, so she calls out her friend, who is also a VERY LARGE woman. The second woman helps, they get the box springs in and then somehow the 2nd woman is ON TOP of a mattress, which is ON TOP of the van--David has NO idea how she got up there. The 2 women proceed to throw what look like sheets back and forth to each other, we think to tie down the mattress. The whole time they're VERY loud and talking very fast at each other. David then mentions that the woman on top of the van becomes "quite agile" and slids down the windshield and rolls the rest of the way off the van. They get back in the van and drive off. Oh, what a Redneck place we live!!!!! Today is trash day, they probably saw the mattress set sitting out and decided they wanted it. Where/how else do you get a mattress at 11:00 at night? When David was telling me this story I was laughing so hard I was crying and doing the silent laugh. Maybe it's not so funny to you all, but to us it was hilarious--maybe we were just tired, I don't know, but it sure was funny at the time! :) :) Sigh...what a place we live!

Hope you have a great day!

Frustration in a small town

For all the complaining that the locally owned businesses do about Walmart and other big guys, they sure aren't helping themselves.  We went out to get our flowers and veggies for planting only to find that Gleis is closed for Memorial Day!  Who ever heard of such a thing?  This would be a great day to make $$--everyone is home, have the time to plant and garden.  Brother.  How ridiculous!!!  So much for the little guy being there for everyone.  Yeah, we hear this argument a lot.  However, our experience has been that the little guy, or locally owned business doesn't do too much to keep their customers.  You have all the little greasy (heavy on the grease) diners in Hillsdale.  The service is slow, the food is fair (or below fair) and the employees give you great attitude.  But, they can get away with it because we have no where else to go.  They are it!  Why are they it?  Well, because they have worked out some kind of deal with the county/city commission to sell limited liquor licenses so the bigger restaurants don't come in.  It's ludicrous if you ask us.  Why should I spend $3.00 for a toothbrush at the local mom/pop store when I can get it for $1.50 at Kroger or Walmart?  Can you blame the community here for wanting to go where they have to spend the least?  Remember, this is a community that is struggling to make it from day to day.  You can't very well expect these people to buy stuff at your little store just to support the local business because it's local.  How ridiculous!  And, don't the big stores hire locals?  Aren't the big guys more capable to offer jobs and benefits to the community then the little guys?  Why are we so against them coming?  Quite frankly, I would love for a Target or something else to come to Hillsdale.  It would sure make life a little easier.  Sigh...I suppose this will be a never-ending battle.  The little guys not wanting the big guys to come in, but the big guys coming anyway.  I think it's a thing we just won't ever solve. 

Well, that's enough ranting for today!  :)

There's something in the chimney!

Last night David and I were watching TV and kept hearing this strange noise.  We often hear weird things due to the property behind our house being a place where a lot of machinery is kept.  After muting the TV I knew I heard the sound coming from the chimney!  David wasn't too sure.  I convinced him to take a look. :)  I cleared the cobwebs out, we got the "sun" (our giant flashlight) and saw nothing, but the sound got louder.  David finally believed me that the sounds was coming from the chimney.  This morning our friend and church trustee, Fred (Mr. Fred to Molly), came over and helped us get a little black bird out of the chimney. I was relieved that it wasn't a bat! :)  Thankfully, the little bird wasn't dead and was released back to the outside, where David said it took off like a dart! 

Why didn't I see any of this?  Well, I was in the shower discovering that I had a tick crawling on me!!!!!!!!!!!  GROSS!!!!!!!!!!  We get a lot of ticks in this area, what with all the woods and such.  We keep stuff on Molly but they still manage to come into the house.  Usually, David is the one who finds them and flushes them down the toilet, but today, I had the "privilege" of finding one. 

We're off to Gleis (said "gliz") today to get our veggies for planting and flowers for planting.  We're looking forward to being farm-like! :) :) 

Hope you all have a great day!  I"m just happy not to be at work today! 

Happier thoughts

I decided that my last blog was pretty down on Hillsdale.  Though I still think those things are all very true, I thought it might be nice to come up with things that are GOOD about Hillsdale. Yesterday David and I drove out to a meat place that sells wonderful quality of meat for way less then the stuff you buy in the grocery store.  We got about 75 + servings of meat (pork, chicken, beef, steaks, roast) for under $200!!!!  WOW!!  Though the initial bill feels like a lot when you look at how long this meat will last it really is a savings.  There's no traffic in Hillsdale. This is nice, especially when going to work.  You don't have to time your drive to miss traffic.  The restaurant owners know you and you have a chance to get to know them too.  This has opened up a few relational opportunities for us, and a way to be a light and witness to the community. Where we live is very quiet--save for the scooter man! :)  He rides his scooter at all hours of the day/night.  We're never sure where he's going...he's probably not sure either! :)  Our church is on the smaller end, and this is nice.  Everyone knows you, there is a great sense of family involved. 

I hope this has helped to give you a more well-rounded look at Hillsdale.  It's not all bad! :) 

Happy Sunday to you! May you be blessed with the message you hear at church today!

Back to cornfields...

We're back now, in Hillsdale. I have to be honest and say I'm a bit depressed. I guess this is normal, especially after having such a wonderful trip. You can ask most people I know and they'll tell you I love to travel--this is probably much to the chagrin of my husband, who is much more a home-body than I! :) It can be interesting sometimes. But! On this trip to NYC we are both in agreement--we loved that city and would love to live there. Shall we start praying for God to open doors in NYC? :) I know our God is not too small for such things. You may wonder what could be loved in such a large place? For starters, it's so opposite of Hillsdale. Hillsdale is a place of great depression--highest in unemployment in MI--it seems folks have lost their will to do anything productive. Depression has hit this area hard and it doesn't take time for it to start effecting you too. There is no pride in business here, no pride in homes, no pride in even the local newspaper. If there was, people would strive to make your shopping/dining experience great (rather than almost constant rudeness), homes/yards would look a little better and the newspaper wouldn't have so many errors in it. These are only a few things. Hillsdale is a place that people have seemed to have lost all hope. It's quite sad, really. There are many times that my heart is broken for the people of Hillsdale, for their "bad luck," for all the rotten things life has given them. But, then we're reminded that a lot of it has been brought upon themselves. We live in a county that has become so dependent on welfare that I'm not sure they would know HOW to live w/out it. The "good ol' boys" of the county are doing everything in their power to keep things they way they were 50 yrs ago. It's so strange to me. All that to say, NYC was the complete opposite! You saw pride in businesses, restaurants were happy for your business and let you know that through their service, people were going places, doing things, not just waiting for someone else to give them a hand-out. David and I were amazed at how FEW homeless and "bums" we saw. We expected to see WAY more. It seemed that most were able to find SOMETHING to do to earn a living--be it a corner street vendor or dressing up as a giant yellow M & M in Time Square. What makes one area lose all hope and another continue on no matter what? (we can all agree, I think, that 9/11 was something we wouldn't have blamed NYC for NOT getting over, not working through, not being able to get back up from.)

Do I think God is calling us to NYC? No, at least not right now. Our place is here, in boring ol' Hillsdale. God has much for us to do here and well, that's overwhelming to think about. I know our place in this world is here in little Hillsdale (which, incidently is about the size of Central Park in NYC). Hopefully, we can spread some Hope to those that God brings along our path. We want to show people that though life may seem to only be serving up lemons and cherry pits right now, we have a Hope that can sustain us through all these things. A Hope who loves us and wants the best for us (though that often means a little effort on our end...).

Our final days in NYC were a blast! We went to a Yankees game (they lost miserably, 12-2, to the Orioles), saw "Phantom of the Opera" (what an AMAAAAAAZING SHOW!!!!!!), had fun getting pastries from a little bakery by our hotel, eating some WONDERFUL Thai food (I got David to try curry for the first time!), and just loved watching all the activity that is NYC. Our flight home was uneventful (praise the Lord!!) and we are back now, in Hillsdale, to continue in the work the Lord has us here to do.

I HAVE to do laundry as we're out of clean clothes. I can only home my husband has found something to wear. And the house needs a little cleaning. We're going to get our garden and flower beds planted too! Should be a good weekend, hopefully involving some rest! :) If you're not on facebook and haven't seen my NYC photos there, let me know and I can send you a link so you can see them!

Bye for now!

Times Square, Pop for $3.25, Japanese tourists and 200 Year Old Restaurants

It has been another fun-filled day here in NYC!  We are finding that we will never have enough time to do everything we want.  It's hard to know what to do, what not to do, what will we regret NOT doing?  Gracious!!!!  Before we came David had done some research on-line and has found us some great restaurants for us to go to.  We've been too a Brazilian steakhouse, a Turkish restaurant last night and tonight we went to the oldest running restaurant in NY.  It has been serving drinks/meals since the 1700s.  It's located under the Brooklyn bridge and is currently called the Bridge Cafe.  It was a small little place, elegant but not fussy, and you could see al the character.  Not much has probably changed in there over the years except the introduction of plumbing and electricity.  It was so neat!  The reason we went was because they sell buffalo burgers.  As you may know, my husband is a meat-aholic, and buffalo steak being on of his favorites.  We got there and were told they were out of buffalo! :)  Sigh...we had a good time anyway and were glad we went.  We braved the subway ourselves and just had a great time!

This morning I had to be in staff mtg so David ventured out on his own and went to a church a couple subway stops away. After our separate mornings we decided to walk to Time Square (about a mile away) .  We were blown away with the enormity of it all and couldn't grasp how awesome it truly is.  We stopped at Maxies for lunch, where I ordered a Coke, only to fine we had paid $3.25 for a CAN of COKE!!!!!!  Crazy!!!!  We also realized that the Asian (Chinese and Japanese) tourists are extremely rude and seem to think they're the only ones on the sidewalk. We tried hard not to get too annoyed...I shall attempt to add some photos...

Tomorrow begins my day of work--the reason we're here! :) We have about 350 very wealthy people coming here, some already give tons of money to Hillsdale College and the others we hope will give us millions! :)  We'll have a busy day with registration, speakers and the evening will end with a fancy dinner.  It'll be a long day, but I'm looking forward to it. 

I wish I was better at describing this wonderful city to you.  I think, if given the chance, we would move here in a heartbeat!  We have fallen in love with this city.  If you ever get the chance to come, make sure you do!!!!

Until next time...

Live from New York!

Howdy!  I'm sitting here in a lovely hotel room in the bustling city of New York!  We have already taken pictures of a pigeon hanging out on the sill or our hotel room window, taken pix outside our bedroom window.  Our hotel room is more like a small apt.  We're actually wondering if this building used to be an apt building because our "room" has a living room, kitchen (complete with stove, dishwasher and fridge), bedroom and bathroom.  It's pretty cool!  We almost wish we were staying here all week! :)  Tomorrow we're headed to the Grand Hyatt (ta ta!) for the conference, which is why we're here! :)  I'm sure the Grand Hyatt will be fabulous too! :)  

Our first evening was spent at a Brazilian steakhouse (David has a thing for meat) and rather than pay for another taxi we walked back to the hotel--about 1 1/2 miles.  Oh, did I mention it was raining? :)  We were having so much fun I don't think we even noticed!  We crossed Broadway, Park Ave, 5th Ave.  Wow!! It's hard to describe the enormity of this city.  I'll try to post a couple pictures.  Certainly, of the pigeon! :)  We deemed him the god-pigeon--he was HUGE! :)  

I must go for now.  More from NYC later!

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

We will be at the airport tomorrow at this time, I think! :) We're getting picked up at 8:30, our flight leaves around 12. We are so excited to get to the Big Apple!!!!!!!! It'll be so wonderful to get away, get out of Hillsdale for a bit, see a place we've never been. Yeah, it'll be great! We get to spend some time with a friend of mine from long ago, Caitia. Though she came to our wedding, we really haven't spent time together since 8th grade!!! That was about 17 yrs ago!!! Gracious me! Because she's more familiar with NYC than we are she is taking us to Little Italy and Chinatown for lunch on Sat. We're very excited for that! M and T I have to work (I guess that IS why I'm going! :) ) but T night we'll be seeing "The Phantom of the Opera" and W evening we're going to a Yankees game! I'd say we're going to get to do a lot. It'll just be nice to get away and collect our thoughts, rest a bit, etc. I will hopefully have pix to share, if I can figure out how to get them on here! :) Bye for now! The next time I write will either be in NYC or back here in Hillsdale next week.

Press On

This morning on my way to work, the song, "Press On" by Selah was playing. Have you ever really listened to those words? They're amazing! I've put them here for you to read. I hope they are as much encouragement to you as they are to me.

When the mountain is steep
when the valley is deep
when the body is weary
when we stumble and fall

When the choices are hard
when we're battered and scarred
when we've spent our resource
when we've given our all

In Jesus name we press on
In jesus name we press on
dear lord, with the prize
clear before our eyes
we find the strength to press on

God Bless and have a wonderful day!

A Day for Mom

Happy Mother's Day to all you fabulous mommy's out there!  

Today was a tough day for me. Tougher than usual. It's mother's day today and well, I'm not a mom.  I have many ask me if I intend to get pregnant and if I intend to ever have children--as though it's completely up to me and David. Of course the answers are always, "yes, if God wills." I am left with the question today, does God will for me and David to have children?  I don't know.  I know that we both desire to have children, we both desire to grow up little ones to be lovers of our Lord, but does GOD will it?  Don't you wish, sometimes, that God would send a memo, an email, a blog comment to let you know His plans?  I sure do!  Today as everyone was telling me "Happy Mother's Day" as though they were saying, "Merry Christmas" I prayed and prayed that seeds of bitterness would NOT be able to set foot in my heart. 

Our church is particularly interesting about Mother's Day and David and I always struggle.  Not just with out own things, but also for the women out in the congregation that may not have children due to abortion, adoption, miscarriage, etc.  Don't get me wrong, I am SO thankful for my mom, mom-in-law and David's step-mom.  They all have special places in our lives and play such a significant role in our lives today. We love them so much!!!!!  I love my sister who has been through so much, has experienced such horrible loss as a mom and yet she loves Jesus and desires to do His will and live for him.  I love my friends who have been able to have babies with no problem and are such great mom's and love their children more than themselves. David and I pray daily for the chance to be parents, to celebrate mom and dad's day.  As a pastor's wife there are such interesting expectations and one of them is that we should certainly already have 1 child, and more would be better.  We've had to deal with the ridiculous comments of senior citizens such as, "It doesn't take a year to have a baby you know!" and a lady asking almost every week when it'll be our turn.  I finally asked her to pray for us and she proceeded to give us pointers on how to get pregnant, based on her own experience.  Sigh...

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mommies out there!  You DO deserve a day to be recognized!!!!!  Love to you and GOOD JOB! :) 

Mom Said to Share!

So, I know Mom always said to share. Well, do you suppose she was also talking about germs, illness, sinus infections? Because I'm a rule-follower (as is most of my family) I obeyed my mom and shared my sinus infection with my dear husband...and today is his birthday even. Bummer!!!! I suppose I could've bent the rules a little and NOT shared just this one time. In any case, we shared a car ride to the dr. to our shared appointment and even get to share our anitbiotics! :) Yeah for drugs!! When you're sick, think twice before following Mom's advice about sharing! :)

Happy 28th Birthday dear husband! I love you!

Plundering the Gates of Hell

We have been moved, at a recent conference, to plunder the gates of hell. David and I have since been thinking about what this means exactly. There are lots of ways to do this: invite people to church, witness, share the gospel message. But, is that enough? Don't we also need to LIVE the way Christ wants us to live? Don't we need to build relationships and in turn, be a witness? We have started asking ourselves the question, am I being "me" focused or "them" focused? It's very thought-provoking. It makes you think about everything you do in life and in church life. Is your life reflecting that you are "them" focused? Is your church run in such a way to bring "them" in and not to just keep "me" comfortable? Hard questions to answer sometimes. As a pastor's wife, what is my role in this? To answer simply, I don't have a role as a pastor's wife, I have a role as a Christian. This needs to be my outlook. I don't do these things because I'm the wife of a pastor, but rather because I need to be obedient to things the Lord has called me to.

I leave you with one question: are you doing all you can to plunder the gates of hell today?

First Ponderings

Here is my first post.  Not too sure what to write today, but I wanted to start a blog.  It seems a good way to share my thoughts on life, or just silly ramblings.  I hope to be regular about this, we'll see how that goes! :)  

Right now, my husband and I are ministering in a small, American Baptist church in Hillsdale, MI.  Hillsdale is a small town that prides itself on being a safe place to raise kids.  We have come to see that this could very easily mean they don't want to move forward with the rest of society. We live out in the country, in the church's parsonage. It's a big, beautiful, white house.  It's much larger than just 2 people and a dog need, but we're thankful for it. God has blessed us with this house. 

This week it seems I'll be dealing with some kind of cold/sinus thing. I was hoping I'd make it through the spring w/out incident, but alas, no such luck! I hope it passes quickly...

More later when my brain's not so foggy...