Pea soup?

I have always been a bit befuddled when people describe a foggy morning/evening as "pea soup." It's not at all like pea soup. For starters it's not GREEN! I have never seen a foggy morning that was green looking. I've only seen pea soup a time or 2 and never saw any resemblance. Any thoughts from you, the public? Where on earth did we get the idea that foggy mornings and pea soup could be compared?

How many?

I know I just posted something, but technically that was yesterday's post (google was having issues so I couldn't post until today). For whatever reason, I often get a song going through my head in the mornings and it stays there. I have often wondered if it's God's way of helping me to remember his promises, his faithfulness, etc? I have been hearing a song on the radio--I don't know who sings it or what the song is called. The song is about Christ, coming to earth as a baby but is King and Lord and Savior. The chorus is what really strikes me. It goes like this...

How many kings step down from their throne?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?

There's more, but I can't quite remember it. Anyway, isn't it true and something to think about? What a wonderful thing to remember about our Lord! He stepped down from this throne in heaven to come be with us on earth. He abandoned his home of heaven, a perfect home, to come make a home here on this imperfect earth. He's the greatest, yet he became the least just so I (and you!) can have eternal life with him in heaven. If that doesn't stop you in your tracks, I don't know what will! What a wonderful God we have. I hope that you are able to find reason to praise His name today!

Funny times and tender moments

Who knew a 3 year old could be so much fun? :) I tell ya what! My niece Sophia is hilarious!! She comes up with the funniest things! Friday evening my sister, Sophia and I (and then Jamie later) went over to the church to do photocopying. David stayed at the house talking on the phone with his dad. Well, unbeknownst to us, it started to POUR rain while we were at the church. We discovered this when it was time to go back. So, Jamie picks up Sophia and runs and Ruthie and I followed...only to discover that David had locked us out!!!!!!! Sophia became very distraught and when Uncle David let us in she gave him a severe tongue-lashing. In a very dispondent voice, as though all the world would end, and with a measure of stern she said, "Uncle David! You left us out in the rain! I was getting rain all over my skin!" We couldn't help but laugh. It was hilarious! She just sounded so sad and horrified that she got rain on her skin! :) :) :) David was sure to give her a hug and apology, but we adults got a good laugh! :) This is only one of many little funnies this child said. When David invited us to partake in the Lord's supper (communion) at church on Sunday, Sophia said, "Before lunch???" She was confused why we'd be having supper before lunch. My sister did a great job of explaining what communion is. Sophia was watching "The Aristocats" movie and David noted that the voice who does Thomas, the alley cat, was the same voice who did Balou on "The Jungle Book." Ruthie or Jamie didn't hear what he'd said, so David said "He's Balou!" Sophia then promptly corrected her uncle and said, "No, Uncle David, he's not blue, he's orange and white!" Like, duh!!!! :) :) :) :) :) Oh this little girl, this precious child. She is a hoot!

We also had a very tender moment. Apparently, Sophia is discovering death, what it is, what it means, etc. She's so smart and really thinks through things. All of a sudden (or so it seemed to me) she said, "I don't want Grandma Hannah (who is my Gpa's new wife and is dying of cancer) to die." She was in tears, we were all getting teary-eyed. It was horrible. We tried to appease her by telling her that Gma would be in heaven with Jesus, but as it happens even with adults this wasn't too great a comfort and didn't take away the pain of losing someone. What a precious child she is. She is probably a lot further along in her preparation for Gma to die then the rest of us are. I pray her heart stays tender.

Needless to say, it was a wonderful time, ending with a picnic lunch at the park!

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!