Happy Things

 Here's a chance for the rest of you to laugh at me, too, like Amy is. About my precious, little radish green. I don't mind the schputting. When I saw those green, curly leaves I couldn't resist. They're growing quickly... an inch in 12 hours easily. 
 "Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the LORD that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel?" Zechariah 4:10 NIV

Small beginnings of spring and  the upcoming summer projects are not to be despised.  Every little bit helps. 

The plan is to paint the bathroom the same white stain as is the frame.  I have permission to change the bathroom to white as along as the wood grain and character still show through. When spring comes. 

                                  Isaiah 61:11
    For as the earth brings forth its bud,
    As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to  spring forth,
    So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. 

Winter Blues and Thankyous

 We are not feeling bluesy really. I am just thinking about the inconveniences of sub-zero weather. There are small annoyances that happen only in mid-winter when the temperatures drop.
   One of those things is static electricity. I walk across the carpet in our bedroom and listen to the snapping. I can feel it grab my skirt and swirl at my feet. I don't like it. We use Bounce dryer sheets with vigilance when we dry our clothes. We mix a solution of softener and water and fill a spray bottle and annoint our skirts a double dose on the ironing board so that we can walk and not get tangled up in yards of clinging fabric.
    Dog hair, lint, hair hair, and fuzz clings to everything fabric. Our veils look terrible on close inspection. 
   I have never seen such a thing but they say that there is danger of igniting a fire at the gas pumps and we're advised about the location of the shut off switch and urged to be aware. 
    The other week, they had a blizzard in Nebraska where Francis and Jenny live. The lightening that they saw during the storm was static electricity, I guess. That about makes my hair stand on end to think of it.
    So it is dry and cold and snappy here in Wisconsin. 
      

    I am thankful for cedar firewood right now. It crackles and pops beautifully, sending off sprays of sparks behind the glass. Warm, meaningful fires happen quickly when we need them. Elv's hands smell like cedar smoke. I like that.
   I am thankful for a heritage of faith today, too. We had a baptism this morning. Is there any other ceremony that incorporates salvation and eternity and joy all at once? Elv said this morning as his opening remarks that the baptism today is a forever thing.
   I suppose every day has "forever" decisions. It makes you take a second thought, doesn't it?

    When the dirtied snow is tired but still deep and cold; the house plants seem greener and lovelier. We are really enjoying this plant again. It never flowers, it just keep growing these perfect green leaves in ivy and geranium. I don't know why the geranium won't bloom but it makes itself quite useful as greenery.

I am thankful for the light during out short days that the white of the snow gives us. Even inside the deep wells of our stone house windows we have plenty of natural light during the day.
And thankful for quiet hours by the fire in the evening, especially after busy days of work.
   I am thankful for the songs we sing on Sunday morning. I love the old favorite hymns that we've sung for a hundred years yet they're vital and new to my heart each time.  I believe that it is the old and familiar that allows us to get the meat of the message in those songs. There is power in the blood, And whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow, Now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. There's soul food on a winter morning for you. And Transformed by grace divine, the glory shall be thine. I am always getting "me" all tangled up in my own supposed victories. I do need this reminder.

I am thankful for Valentine's Day, because Elv and I think about our relationship again. We didn't do flowers and chocolate this year. I told him that his kindness is all the flowers and chocolate that I need. Besides he brings me flowers and chocolates a lot of other times of the year for no reason. Except, of course, that he loves me.
Maybe this is as good a time as any to say thank you to him. I am thankful for my husband's faithfulness and integrity in our marriage. I never worry about him. I don't take it for granted, either. It's a dark and dirty world we live in and I know he makes the right effort for our marriage. I am thankful for the respect and privacy we share and protect for each other when we cause offense to each other. I am no end grateful that Elv doesn't tell the world how awful I am when we hit a bump in our road. To share the blame and the solution in private between us is a wonderful gift of commitment. 
  

In a few weeks when the sun feels warmer through these windows, the geranium will respond by growing quickly and blooming in reds and whites. It's just above freezing here, but because they're acclimated, they survive. Given a little warmth they'll be lush and blooming in no time.
Must be a lesson in marriage enrichment here, too, since we're on the subject today. Commitment acclimates us to about anything even to a seemingly cold and lusterless relationship. Why not add a little warmth and watch it bloom? I can initiate that all alone. But it helps immensely when two decide to tango.

A Skiff Of Snow And Other Stuff of December

     All we have is a skiff of snow. Not enough for anything but making the back roads slick and to be able to say that there IS snow. Not enough to play in, or make a snow man of, or plow even. I doubt you can measure it although I saw that someone thought 1/8th of an inch would be considered a skiff.  So maybe we have an 1/8th inch of snow.  In which case if the sun shines tomorrow we will soon have even less snow...no longer the skiff of which we speak tonight.

    The frustration I encountered today was getting well into a crocheting project only to discover that the directions were defective. I simply couldn't come up with what the picture showed for a shell border if I followed the directions. Now I LIKE to follow the directions when I am crocheting because the result is much more satisfactory and besides I get a kick out of producing something beautiful from what my children declare is nonsense writing.  So I made the difficult choice of abandoning the directions. Now what I have looks like the picture but I can't say that I am satisfied. Sigh! Oh well. 

   Happy things in our day were as follows: Amy crafted a stable of cardboard and set up the dear old nativity set that I found at Salvation Army two years ago.  She used straw, pine boughs, lights, and quilt batting to create a lovely scene in a deep window sill.  

    Also Amy and I went along with others from church to sing to the old folks at the rest home this evening. We had instruments and good, willing singers so it was nice to belt out the carols and other favorites for those dear old listeners.  The Old Rugged Cross was mellow and slow and lovely. 

   A very unfortunate happening was that when I went to put my contacts in to go out this evening I discovered to my horror and intense pain that the saline solution was not saline solution but cleaner disinfectant for contacts.  Nearly killed my eye! Wow! So out went a perfectly good set of lenses and the new lense felt lovely shielding the burned lid from the burned eye. Always read your labels!  

   More happiness is that Elv's new job is within minutes of TheStoneHouse!  This is a major Praise! 

   And Christmas is showing up everywhere, again. I love this season. 

Summer is Giving Way to Fall... and Other Ramblings

The green of the leaves and grasses is old and faded. I tend to mourn the passing away of summer even while relishing the arrival of cooler weather.  Swimming and sweating are done. There’s school instead.  It is time for canning and cleaning away the crop of cobwebs in all the ceiling corners.
Speaking of spiders and cobwebs.  It is better to vacuum them up.  Imagine sweeping down spiders and webs with a broom. The spiders go where?  I feel crawly just thinking about that.  When you merely disturb  their career for a day or two by catching the web on a broom, they’re bound to be back to rebuild.  It’s much less creepy to extend the sweeper hose and watch those spiders and their creations disappear into the end of the nozzle forever. 
I babysat Benny while his parents went fishing on Labor Day.  Benny likes me a lot, so them leaving him with me was easy.  He thought I should sit and play with him and I did some.  When I went back to my work; He followed me around hopefully but only until he saw I was useless and then he began his own explorations.  At a year old, he walks and climbs and investigates.  So you can’t really have him out of sight.  It has not been that long since I had a baby of my own, yet I realized with the grandbabies home this summer that we have forgotten how much care and time babies take.  Being Marmee is the best!  You get to have all the fun of babies and sleep at night, too.   :)
Then there are the methodical thieves in our neighborhood.  They have successfully broken into and cleaned out the local church building more than once…of computers and school equipment.  Our house is two or three blocks away, so we’re locking everything up again, too.  We are frustrated.  We have lived in this little village for most of 25 years and have never needed to lock anything.  We’ve gone for trips for over a week and left the house open before.  Those innocent days seem to be over for us.
Our house is for-sale-by-owner, as it has been for several years already.  The reasons are obvious.  Unfortunately those same reasons are why it will take a miracle to sell it.   If we didn’t like our house, we’d really be in a jam.  Or if we HAD to sell it, which we don’t. 
 
Here’s one of my latest wonderings. Our providers spend hours, days, weeks, months, and years working to bring home the bacon.  Have you ever thought of how mundane and endless that must feel for them?  Even though Elv enjoys his job; the fact is that it gets really boring sometimes.  And getting out there every single work day takes what my mom calls “stick-to-it-iveness”.   I think we women ought to consider our rich and varied days of home creating, baby care, teaming up with our teens, and chumming with our friends over the phone or tea times as wonderful privileges. I would hate to have to trade roles with my man…I think I’d fail it.
 
Get rid of the fruit flies by luring them to their deaths.  Pour a little apple cider vinegar into a quart jar. Roll up a piece of typing paper to the shape of a funnel.  Put the small end into the jar with most of the paper standing out of the top of the jar.  Very soon the vinegar in the jar will be full of floating fruit fly bodies! Eww!  But that is SO much better than all over the kitchen.  Or you can keep house like my mom and never have them in the first place, but I don’t know how to do that.

Blessings

I am counting today because of Japan's suffering. 

~ We have warm, spacious houses far, far removed from the threat of tsunamis. It's not like they in Japan deserve what they're getting right now anymore than we deserve what we enjoy. 
~I am thankful for salvation and the freedom to live and share it.  
~  I heard the chickadees calling to each other this morning that spring is coming. One chickadee would sing Sol-Mi, and the other would answer Mi-Do over and over. 
~ A clothesline to dry laundry. 
~ We're glad for work to do.  A lot of people are either looking for work or worried about losing what they do have.  

Wake Up Call For Us Moms

We tell our children that tomorrow's world is going to be much different than today's.  We tell them that they will have worse or more intense evil to face and to teach their children against.  It's a scary future if you get to focusing on the news or listening to too much VCY America radio. 

Being aware of the things that are happening in our world is one thing.  Being prepared and preparing our children to stand up for Jesus is THE thing. How are we going to do this? By making sure there is a Bible class at school? By making sure the children behave in Sunday School? Those are good things, but it is you, Mommy, who has all this time with your little ones. Whereas I don't think a panicked cram session each day is the answer ( it might be, though); I believe there would be a lot more attention given to making sure the children know their Bibles if we had just a five minute glimpse into the world they are going to face. I am not terribly impressed if your precocious infant can quote a movie... I have heard enough of that even in our own home. I wonder how many Bible verses they can quote! And when my/your child is asked about his or his parents beliefs, can he answer that as readily as he can the "wonders" of technology?

What about our day to day living? Do you realize that our daughters are going to be passionate about the same things in life as we are?  I know of young ladies who have disappointed their respective mothers with their current church choice but are following their same mothers  carefully  in the arts and practice of homemaking.  I conclude that we pass on what we really care about.  It's what we LIVE everyday that cuts the mustard, not what we only talk about or do once a week.

Concern…or Complaint

             How To Tell The Difference

 

Concern

1. something that affects or is of importance to a person; affair; business
2. regard for or interest in a person or a thing  he felt a strong concern for her
3. anxiety, worry, or solicitude
4. important bearing or relation  his news has great concern for us

Complaint

noun
1. An expression of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment.
2. A cause or reason for complaining; a grievance. 

Let’s  just be honest. Am I truly concerned? or am I complaining!  How easy it is to be annoyed for bitter or selfish reasons and then try to convince myself that I am “concerned”. Being “concerned” instead of being honest with myself gives me license to tell you about it, too. 

Like the ripples in a pond attitudes and news have a way of reaching shore very quickly.  True concern is positive and redemptive.  Complaining is  poison and condemning.

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Colossians 3:15

Cave Time

 

( Thanks, Lance, for this picture of the Split Rock Lighthouse on the North Shore of Lake Superior.)

 

I have been trying to get this post on “paper” now for several days.  With reunion pictures to sort and photo stories to create I have been distracted.

Elv preached Sunday about David…the poet, the shepherd boy, the giant killer,the man who recognized a smart woman when he met one (Abigail), the ‘man after God’s own heart’.  He pointed out lessons from these and other scenes in David’s life. The one that struck a chord with me was when David sought cave time. 

David had been called in to the presence of his father-in-law to play music.  Saul was “troubled” the Bible says.  David played skillfully as usual though, no doubt, somewhat distracted with his eyes on those trembling, bejeweled hands toying with a javelin just across the room there. David certainly had reason for snatching his escape when he heard the twang of the spear leaving the sheath.  The relationship with his wife’s father had not been overly cozy lately… rather touch and go actually.

A quivering javelin in the wall just behind where David had been was all that Saul had for his efforts at unleashing his frustration.  Michal, David’s wife, understood the signs perfectly and ushered her dear poet out of harm’s way.

With this and other stressful adventures; David needed some cave time.  He moved into the depths of Adullam Cave only to be joined by a bunch of losers. I don’t know how he felt about it; but I would have been profoundly annoyed to have my cave time so rudely interrupted.  These guys were not your ordinary adventurers.  To meet their needs, David ended up being a counselor and a financial advisor.  Not my idea of good cave time!  But he seemed to have the wisdom and know-how to turn discontented, distressed and in-debt guys into a productive little band of helpers to him.   As it turned out some of those rascals ended up giving him their lifetime of good work in David’s kingdom.

This is a  whole new angle on cave time for me.  I expect to GET during cave time.  I expect to REST during cave time.  How about you? 

I Am Learning Lately...

 * That I must somehow learn to paint pictures with words.

* That grandchildren call up all the latent mothering skills and that bonding is inevitable and intensely sweet...also a dagger when they leave.

*That unless 2 people who have been married for 28 years make an effort to remain close friends; life with all it's burdens, joys, and business will pull them along parallel paths much like the two wheel tracks on a woods trail...along side each other but always apart.

Reading and Concentration

Elv was listening to a someone on the radio explaining how that we have lost the ability to concentrate due to our busy and varied lives.  We sit down to the computer and plan to Bible study, but we check the weather, our blogspot, the news, and our emails on our way to E Sword for study time.  My comment to all that is that I think we have become surface people.  We say we don't have time to read or create or take a break.  We flit from one thing to another unable to settle and make good on any one thing.  

Prayer time has even taken a hit these days.  We've been made to feel guilty for just sitting and listening to anything...and we've forgotten how to listen to His voice, perhaps?

We have clocks in our bedrooms, our bathrooms, and in our minds.  The tick of time has become the march of the boots of work, opportunity, and accomplishment calling us to join.  To be able to add up our many accomplishments at the end of the day is better than to be able to say, "I prayed for you today." or, "I heard God's voice today."

How long has it been since you read a book?  It's been years since I let the whole day go by just reading a book...I used to do that now and then.  Come to think of it, I don't know how to do that anymore.  I have allowed guilt to ruin that for me. Someone has labeled such adventures as "escapism".  

Didn't Jesus escape?  He took whole nights of escape to pray!  How long has it been since I took a break from the routine of needful sleep for successful accomplishment to just sit up and read and pray and think late into the night.  How is it we are all driven to mind the clock for what?  We get to bed so that we can get up and get to work so that we can get home in good time to have supper and get to bed in decent time so that we can get up to ...for what?   

I think I'll read a book today. 

Saturday Evening

It's late Saturday night.  The house is clean, the lawn mowed, the garden freshly tilled, and Elv put a lot of tools, canoes, and stuff away.  He took the trash away and washed the pickup too. In short we had a perfect Saturday finished off with rain.

Next week, Frances starts Drivers Ed. I admit that I am dreading the learning to drive part where I sit in the passenger seat.  She has driven a snowmobile and a four wheeler a plenty though so maybe she won't over steer or under steer and scare the wits out of me as did her older sisters.  

The garden is mostly up now. The potatoes have been coming up in stages over a four week period.  Even today when I was weeding I found some brand new baby taters peeking up.  The tiller Elv bought from his brother Steve is a marvelous litte Troy-Bilt.  Do you remember those ads where the man is walking behind his tiller guiding it one-handed?  This is the one they made the advertisement about.  Love that tiller!

This month the girls have a benefit concert to go to and a recital coming up. The concert is to raise money for the local Pregnancy Crisis Center. They always enjoy it. The recital is to be held at the Valley Nursing Home so that the old people can enjoy it, too.  What a good idea! Personally recitals put me on pins and needles.  I know exactly where my daughters usually miss the note. I guess a recital is not a competition and I've seen parents hold up grandly even though their child was messing up horridly. I wish I could be less emotionally involved somehow and yet be the good mom I want to be.