The Flour Girls

Yesterday my mom, my sisters and I thought it would be fun to make Christmas cookies with my 2 year old niece, Trinity. What a blast we had and I think Trinity enjoyed herself the most. By the end of our time my mom was calling us the "Flour Girls". We all laughed so much. We started out by putting flour down on the cutting board and Trin sure thought this was fun. She was putting her hands in it, rubbing it around on the cutting board, sliding it around (on her and on the floor). We then helped her roll out some dough. She liked this. We then gave her a cookie cutter and showed her what she should do with it. She could not press down hard enough so we ended up pushing down on top of her hand. Most of the cookies had several cookie cutter presses down on them. Some cookies had an arm of a star cut off and 5 Christmas trees imprinted on one cut out tree. As we were putting the cut out cookies on the cookie sheet, Trin was taking a cookie cutter and putting it in the flour and pushing flour all over the place. When we got enough cookies on the tray we allowed Trin to put on the sprinkles and decorations. Jen handed her the green sprinkles and little did any of us know, but the shaker had big holes. In just a second, Trin had put an 1" of green sugar on the tree cookie and on the tray. We showed her how to sprinkle it and boy did she sprinkle it. Then we gave her little M&M's and she randomly put these around. Nana gave us some big M&M's. I carefully put them on the top of each Christmas, on each star, each wreath, and the 'gonger' of each bell. Trin did not like my placement and took all the big M&M's off leaving little finger imprints where she tried to take them off. We all had our amusement for the day and after 3 trays called it quits for the time being. TrinTrin was striped down to her underwear when she left the table. Before going out to lunch, I went in to use the restroom and I saw that the top of my head had a huge white spot of flour on it. Wonder how that got there. We finished up the dough when Trinity was taking her nap that afternoon. What a hoot!

I LOVE BEING AN AUNTIE!!!

Only 363 More

Only 363 more days left in my 30's (2008 is a leap year thus 363 more days). Can't believe how life has flown on by. I praise God for another birthday, each and every day is a gift from my God! It is another year closer to my eternity with my Savior.

Sure had a great birthday this year. The birthday stretched out for a few days. The actual day of my birth started with phone calls from all my immediate family. Love them so much. Arrived at work and my co-workers had an Americano and a pastry. Yummy. Around 4Th period, 40 6Th grade girls walked into my office each with a beautiful flower wishing me a "Happy Birthday". All the flowers made a beautiful huge bouquet from my dear sister Amy (she teaches 6Th grade at the same school that I teach at) which I proudly displayed on my desk. At lunch my wonderful co-workers had a little birthday celebration for me. Anne even cooked a home made angle food cake, my very favorite. After work, I went over to my parents house. Here I celebrated with them my 39Th anniversary of meeting the two most wonderful people ever in my life. My grandma cooked my favorite childhood meal, porcupine balls. Delicious. After dinner my sister Amy, my mom and I went to go and visit my dear cousin Julie who is on her last few days of life (another post, at another time when I have the strength to post about her terminal cancer). We all shared many tears together. She is my true life hero (if you have a chance, pray for her that God would give her the grace and strength to endure to the end, and for great comfort for her husband, 6 year old son, parents, sister and niece).

Friday, I celebrated with a few great friends. We had Baja Fresh and then came to my house and played Skip Bo. Many other out of town friends called to wish me a happy birthday. I praise God for dear friends that are in my life. Saturday my sister, brother 'n law and my sweet niece came into town. After going out to a nice lunch with my family we came back and opened presents. Trin Trin helped Auntie open gifts. Oh she was so cute and sweet. She must have said 30 times (I could take her saying this all year long), "Happy Bird-day Shel Shel (pronounced Shaw Shaw)" and when she said this she would come running up to me with big open arms and she would give me a hug. I was sitting in a chair so mostly she hugged my legs and leaned over onto my lap area. My heart melted every time. The sweetness of a child. I received some wonderful presents which I am very grateful for. I got a digital camera, so now I can post pictures that I have taken.

Another year of life, 363 days left in my 30's. I need to live each to the glory of my Savior. May God allow me to grow in Him, to know more of Christ, to be known by Him and to be thankful for each and every day.

I Love Cuties

I love cuties! Cuties from California are the best. I'm talking about Cuties California Clementines. They are easy to peel, have no seeds, full of juice and Vitamin C, can eat them in 2-4 bites. In the past week, have bought and gone through 3 boxes. Eating them at home, sharing them with my co-workers and students at work and we even devoured a box at a service project some of my friends from my church helped out with today. These cuties are a big hit where ever they go.

Black Friday

Happy Thanksgiving, one day late! Hope you all had a wonderful day with family and friends. There is so much to be thankful for. God is always good.

I tell you, I would not be caught out at the malls or shopping stores today. I live near a mall and several shopping stores and the traffic around those stores was horrific. The streets were packed with cars just to get into the the mall parking lots. People absolutely lose themselves on Black Friday. I viewed a couple of YouTube videos and people were getting trampled to get into the stores at 5am. No one stopped to offer a hand to one woman who had fallen, she ended up being carted away by ambulance.

I did go to a few stores that were not impacted by the crowds, thankfully. My dad and I went to go and buy our Christmas trees from a local nursery (traditionally, we have always gone to cut our trees down from a tree farm. But we discovered that a local nursery carries Christmas trees that are from Washington, Oregon and extreme Northern California. These trees are from areas that get more rain, which means these trees stay green and healthy for the entire Christmas season). Not a single person buying a tree and no one at the nursery. I bought little seedlings of yellow and red onions to go in the garden. Later, I went to the paint store to get a gallon of paint to paint my spare bedroom. Again, no one in the store. Went to the grocery store for my shopping and the isles and checkouts were empty. I wisely choose not to shop on Tuesday or Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Then went to Home Depot and got some chalking and walked right to the self check out and walked out the door.

Black Friday is not worth it for my liking.

Turning on the Heater

I have only had to turn on the heater a few times thus far this fall. This is good on the one hand because it means my electic bill will be lower but on the other hand, I like the cooler weather and we so badly need some rain.

Every year since I have owned my home the first time I turn on my heater for the season brings excitement and chaos in the house. This year, like all the past years, when the furnace heats up it burns off the dust in the ducts and sends a little burning smoke through the vents. My vents are in my ceiling and most of the vents are near the door to the bedrooms. And what do I have near each door inside each bedroom? That's right, my law mandated smoke/fire dectectors.

Somehow, each year I forget what happens the first time I turn the heater on and this year was no exception. A couple weeks ago, I woke at my normal 5am to feed my hungry cats and it was really chilly in the house. I decided to turn on the heat to warm the place up and to make it easer when I go to take my shower. I turned the heater on and proceeded to feed my cats. The old furnance rumbled and groaned but soon was heating up the house. I smelled that slight little burning smell and then the alarms went off. The cats went scrambling, spilt their water bowl, dry cat food went flying all over the floor. Now I am trying to fan the vents to disapate the smoke but I've got 3 bedrooms to do. A nice calm wake up turned into a frantic scene. I chuckled to myself when I finally laid back down for a few minutes before I needed to head to the shower.

This reminded me of the first year I owned the house when we turned the heater on for the first time. All summer long, the inside of the house was going through major transformations. The popcorn stuff on the ceiling was taken off, new drywall, new texture, new paint, removed all the layers of flooring, new windows, new doors, new baseboards and trim around the doors, . . . let's just say I am sure there was extra dust in the ducts. My faithful friend and contractor, Michael, had installed a new tempurture control box and somehow it did not get placed in the off mode. The next morning the new control box and pre-programed cycle started at 4:30 am. My sister Amy laid fast asleep in one room, my other roommate, my good friend Sandi, lay asleep in another room and I fast asleep in my bedroom. All of a sudden all of the fire alarms are screaming out that there is a fire and it sure smelled like fire. I jumped out of bed, only half dressed in my sleeping clothes, with fear of my "new first" home burning down and my roommates being in danger. I raced to Amy's room opened the door and no fire, she was starting to awaken at this point, I then raced to Sandi's room, opened the door, no fire, Sandi was fast asleep. Amy was out of bed at this point. I ran down to the kitchen trying to smell and sniff where the fire was, I opened the garage door but nothing. I could smell fire but there was none that I could find. I think I discovered that it was the heater at this point but I was still concerned for the smell. Amy was trying to wake Sandi but Sandi was still sleeping (Sandi has a hearing impairment and at night does not wear her hearing aids). Amy was shaking her at this point to get up and to get out of the house. We all gathered in the hallway, not really knowing what had awoken us from a dead sleep. Finally, we all got our bearings and realized that the heater turned on and that the dust was burning in the ducts. We all went back to bed with racing hearts.

We sure laughed about the chaos later that day when we all came back home from our separate days.

1st Annual Turkey Trot

Gobble Gobble!!! The wonderful PE department at my school planned the 1st Annual Turkey Trot at our school this past week for the students. We all worked hard to plan and organize the event. The trot was a 1 mile run around the school and the athletic fields. The principal was the official starter (the Chief Goobler). Over 200 students ran the before school race, some were running to win the prizes and others ran for the fun of running a race. 1st place boy and girl of each grade received a 22 pound frozen turkey, 2nd place big yummy pumpkin pies and 3rd an equally big and yummy apple pie. It was my delight to call home to the parents/guardians of the winners who were from my classes to congratulate their child and to arrange for pick up of the prizes. You would have cracked up seeing our two tiny 6th grade winners carry their frozen bird out to their proud awaiting parent. This bird was almost bigger than they were but did they want help carrying it- NO WAY!

Home for the Day

There is something nice about taking a day off of work. Not sure why that is because work has been going great (this will be another post on another day) but I have been looking forward to having this day off for the last 2 weeks. I am at home because I am getting a new garage door and opener. This in itself is exciting. There had been plans to one day replace my old heavy garage door but the project was no where on the radar screen for projects that need to be done. Somehow the opener broke about 2 months ago and the only way to fix the opener was to get a new garage door and opener. It should be real nice and add a nice clean look to the front of the house. I might need to paint the new door to match the color of the house but I will see how the white door looks first. So, the garage door is another step closer to having the front of my house closer to being finished, still need to landscape the front yard (still saving the $ for that one, I know it all takes time).

After I am done on the computer, I am going to spend some good needed time with my LORD and Savior, with His word and time in prayer.

Sweet Peas

Today I planted 6 packets of sweet pea seeds along two of my fences. Kathy D. has given me the inspiration to grow sweet peas. Her yard always is so beautiful in the spring and summer, full with incredible aromatic sweet peas. Was told you plant the seeds in the fall, just like you do the bulbs. I can only pray to have half the sweet peas flowers that Kathy has in her yard.

Trin Trin is 2!!!

Can't believe it has been two years since I held my sweet niece in my arms for the first time. She still is precious as ever, I love her to pieces. They had a party for her at the little gym with some of her friends. This was fun to see her in the birthday dress that Nana gave her, running around , jumping, hanging from the bars, kicking and throwing balls, doing somersaults and being the center of attention. She knew full well it was her day.
















Papa's favorite name for her is "My Little Miss America". Here is papa's Little Miss America in the beautiful dress Nana got for her. She loved her little dress for her birthday party.

The theme for her party was Elmo. Here she is attempting to blow out the candles but she does not quite have the concept down of blowing to the candles. I had to lean in behind her to help blow out the candles. It took me 3 tries to get them out too, I did not do much better than she did. Check out this cool cake, it is a cupcake cake. There were 36 cupcakes (some chocolate, some vanilla) under the frosting. There was no cutting involved, just pull away. Unique idea.

Auntie Amy gave Trin a rain coat and umbrella. Sunday it just happened to rain a little and Trin asked for the rain coat. She got her rain boots on (how come all children love rain boots? I think every child has a pair and they wear them for everything) and her jacket and we went outside with the umbrella. She walked up and down the sidewalk, splashing in the puddles. I even heard her softly singing while she tromped around. She is so very cute.

Soon there will be 2 children in the family. I am excited for June and Baby #2 to arrive.

What's Happening in the Garden

Today I am going to go out and work in my yard and garden. I already went out and watered, mainly to give my plants a drink and to prep the soil for pulling weeds and planting a few new crops. Ate a few things while I was out there too. I had a delicious, juicy orange, a few leaves of sweet basil, a tomato and a leaf of lettuce.

My garden produces many things throughout the year. I am thankful that my orange tree is a year long producer. My apricot tree produced hundreds of yummies (pretty good for a toddler, only 2 years old- he's potty trained too!) but they were all ready to be picked and harvested the week I got out for summer vacation.

I have 12 heads of green and red leaf lettuce that are ready for picking, good thing I am bringing a salad for a hospitality home meal tomorrow. My lime bush has produced limes for the first time (another 2 year old) and I think they are ready to be picked. I am going to try to make tacos this week so I can slice one of those babies open and use in the guacamole and tacos.

It is time for me to cut off all of my oregano and allow the new baby oregano to sprout up. I think I am going to make small little bundles of my oregano tied with raffia and give to people at church tomorrow.

Charity and Alex, you will be happy to know that your little "Lemonade" lemon bush has exploded with blossoms. There is no way this smaller plant can handle the weight if all of those blossoms turn to fruit. There is one small lemon on there that is the size of my first digit of my thumb.

Today I am planting chives, sugar snap peas and more lettuce. I have to tear out some of the tomato plants to do that. I hate taking plants out but I know that tomatoes will have a very hard time of getting ripe now, even though there are still lots of flowers and green tomatoes on the plants. Soon the nursery will have onions for me to put in too. I think I am going to try carrots again this year.

My bulbs have started to sprout. This is odd because bulbs are to be planted in the fall to be ready for spring. We have been on a roller coaster for weather here. We had a "cooler" summer and mild September. October had some rain and cool weather but the last 2 weeks have been warm and dry. Think the poor little bulbs are a little confused.

Wasting my time, I want to get out to the yard. Everyone enjoy your day!

"Now is the time for all good gardeners to arise, take up your hoe and strike a blow for fall vegetable gardening!" Quoted by Dr. Jerry Parsons

Volle'onics

Last night my friend Dawn and I went to watch a Cal Berkeley volleyball game. The Bears crushed the Ducks in 3 games. My vocabulary and linguistic phonology reverted back 20 years to what my volleyball buddies called "Volle'onics". Back in my college volleyball days, the discussion and debate of "Ebonics" had just surfaced and was part of headline news. Unlike Ebonics, our "Volle'onics" was slang and not dialect and was mostly used in reference to the play and game of volleyball. We had our own vocabulary for life in general too but I think this was in relation to those I hung with.

Here is a sampling of my "Volle'onics" from last night's game:

she spanked it, PACK, what a rip, ROOF, get out of my house!, monster smash,
pancake, cake, sky rocket, dealing the Ace's, dink, dig, slime, stomping, romp,
crawling the floor, face print. . . and it goes on.

My "Volle'bonics" only presents itself when I am in the competitive world of volleyball.

We Are Family

This past weekend my sister Jen and sweet niece Trinity were up for a short visit. Trinity goes into my parents bedroom every morning at 6:30 to snuggle in bed with them for a few minutes. On this particular morning Trinity was laying next to my mom and says as she affectionately touches my mom's arm, "Nana, you are my family". My mom responded, "that's right Trinity, I am your family". Then Trinity said with pauses between each, "and Papa.... and GiGi..... and Shel Shel (she pronounces it 'Shaw Shaw').... and Auntie Amy,.... are my family". Think my mom started to cry and she told her, "yes baby, we are all your family and Uncle Eric too and we love you very much".

When mom told me this story I just had to share a post with everyone. Wanted to post the song that my family danced wildly to at both of my sisters' weddings, "We are Family! All of my sisters and me"....

Lately the Best Thing About Driving to Work

The best thing about driving to work in the last few weeks have been the incredible sunrises. I drive about 25 miles straight East on my way to work every morning. A combination of Northern California having some cloud coverage in the Fall and it almost time for the "Fall Back Time Change" has created some awesome sunrises on my way to work. My heart has leaped from my chest with the site a few mornings, it literally has taken my breath away with it's intense colors. I can do nothing but drive and look right into the incredible hues of orange, red, pink, purple, blue and the white of the clouds. God is so awesome with His incredible artistic ability.

When I get to school I ask around if anyone has seen the sunrise and most say that they have not seen it. I tell them they don't know what they have missed and that it was incredible. One of my students did see it and he said it was incredible and he even said it took his breath away. My sister Amy drives some of the same rout as I do but has to go North before she goes East. When I call her on my way to work (I call both of my sisters on my way to work and also my dear Mom) she has not yet seen the sun rise. Finally, yesterday she called after I had called and told me that she was seeing the most incredible sunrise that she has ever seen. Wow, it has been beautiful and I thank God for the incredible sights in the morning, it truly focuses my heart on the King of Heaven and His wonderful faithfulness to mankind.

My Pre-Dawn Alarm Clock

Anyone who has a cat or cats can relate to this post. The rule at my house is that my 2 cats don't get fed until my alarm goes off at 5:00am. Usually, when the alarm sounds with my news station, the kitties come running to make sure I have heard the alarm go off and to get me out of bed to drop some food in their bowls. Some mornings one of my kitties is a hungry monster and starts his rampage to get me up early. He does everything possible to get me up. He stands right in the middle of my shin bone, he purrrrs loudly in my ear, gets up on my dresser and starts to play (or lick or eat) with something, will start fighting my other cat in my room, will use the litter box and not cover up his poop, . . . the list goes on. I have tried many things to discipline him when he starts in because I am not getting up to feed him before the alarm clock goes off. By this time I am wide awake.

This little video clip is some of the tactics that my hungry cat tries to do to wake me up. Thankfully, he has not learned how use the baseball bat that stands next to my bed.

Beautiful Fall

I love the season of fall. God paints a wonderful beautiful picture with His creation. Northern California is experiencing an extraordinary fall. We have had some rain (the hillsides slightly have green fuzz sprouting up) and the colors are beautiful. The mornings are crisp and the days are real pleasant (still in shorts and t-shirt for work).

A couple of weeks ago my Mom, Dad and Grandma went to Apple Hill to celebrate my Grandmother's birthday. It rained the night prior to our day trip. There were big huge clouds and a beautiful blue sky. The colors were incredible. Reds, golds, yellows, oranges and browns lite up the landscape. The groves of grape vines were majestic. They glowed with color and their symmetry.

Some things take my breath away and cause me to give praise to my God and Father for His incredible ability to make things beautiful. Fall and the colors of the season are one of those things that take my breath away.

Mom is Glad

My heart and prayers go out to the people in Southern California during this terrible time of fires and Santa Ana winds. Praise the LORD that thus far only one person has lost their life. I have talked with a few of my dear friends who live in the area. Two of the friends I talked to said the flames came close to their homes and they had their bags packed ready to evacuate if needed but the flames turned away to another direction.

For 10 years I lived in the L.A. area and each of those years had something significant that made national news. Some of my experiences: floods, fires, earthquake, Rodney King, riots/curfew, trial for the police, more riots, O.J. Simpson, trial and acquittal, and El Nino. As any mom would do, my mom worried with each of these and pleaded with me to get out of L.A. The other morning she told me that she was very glad that I was no longer in L.A.

Three Chores I Don't Enjoy

There are 3 chores that I really don't enjoy. Two of them go hand in hand, when I do one I usually do the other. I feel so much better when I have done any of the three. My dreadful list of least enjoyed chores: folding clean laundry, shredding, and filing. Tonight I have successfully done all three of these chores and I feel like a load has been taken off my shoulders.

Need to Talk to You

Yesterday on my way home from work I received a voice mail from my mom that said, "Honey, I really need you to stop by our house on the way home from work so I can share something with you. It should take only a few minutes but I really need to talk to you." Quickly, I called my mom and she was wondering if I could come by and I said I was on my way. I had no idea of what my mom wanted to share with me. My heart just prayed for the details and for me to be calm.

So, I pull up to my M&D's and go in through the door. My cutie-pie niece greets me at the door. That was slightly a shock and was not sure if Trinity was what mom needed to share with me or if Jen and Trin were here to hear what mom had to share with us. I screamed, "Hi my Trinity love!" She went running off to the other room to play hide and seek from me. As I came in Jen told me to go and read her shirt. Now I needed to find her. She was in M&D's room hiding behind their bed. I found her and I said loudly, "Booooooooo! I found you!" She came running up and jumped into my arms to squeeze me and kissed me. She is so precious and sweet. I finally was able to read her shirt, it said,

I am the Big Sister!

So, the big news was that Jen was sharing with the family and the "sisterhood" that she and Joe are having another baby. I am going to be a Auntie again. What a joy and praise to God.

I'm Still Here

Every day thoughts go through my head of what I would like to blog about but by the time I get home from work, errands and other commitments there is no energy to sit down and write. Sometime soon, I will do one big crash blog where I update on everything significant that has happened in the last month. Life appears to be a little more calm for the upcoming weeks. Thanks for being patient with me.

Favorite Type of Saturday

Today I purposefully planned nothing with structure and time. Over the years I have learned to put days like today on my calendar to help vitalize every aspect of my life.

The alarm went off as usual at 5:00 am so I could feed the cats (if I don't get up and feed them, they will not let me sleep). This morning was a little different though. After feeding the ravenous "lions", I turned on the Women's World Cup quarter final match between England and United States. The World Cup is in China this year and they are several hours ahead of California time. World Cup Soccer is one of my most favorite sports to watch on TV (my favorites are World Cup Soccer, Olympics and Giants baseball). It was probably a good thing that the game was on early in the morning because it caused me to keep my enthusiasm quiet so I would not wake up my roommate. It started to rain outside while I was watching the game. I opened the slider door and listened to the pitter patter outside and let the cool fresh air come in. So delightful. USA won 3-0 and will now play in the semi-finals.

When the game was over at 6:45, I crawled back into bed to snooze some more. Ahhhhhhh, slept in to 9 something, don't remember exactly. Love it. After laying awake for some time I finally got up and went into the kitchen to make some good coffee to enjoy. In the freezer I had some Peet's coffee and thought I would make a special pot of coffee. Special? Oh yea, special. Special in that I can sit and savor my coffee,in my favorite coffee cup, and not gulp it down because I have to rush off somewhere. Coffee always tastes better on Saturday mornings that are not rushed. I actually made breakfast. After breakfast I was able to sit and open my Bible and spend some wonderful time with my Savior and my God. Nice time to ponder what I read and to use that time to lead my heart to prayer, very spontaneous and Spirit lead.

My co-worker called and offered me her Cal Bear football tickets for the game today. I so badly want to go to my first Cal football game but for today I was enjoying the way my day was going. I turned the tickets down and I don't regret it at all. Think I showered around 11:45. My sister Amy came over and we hung out for a bit and then we went shopping at Walmart and Navlet's Garden Store. We both were enjoying a relaxing day and were in no hurry with our shopping. We got some Chinese food for lunch and brought it back to my house to eat it.

Amy had read my post a few weeks ago about "Friendship Garden". She said that since she read the post she wanted to give me something that I could have in my friendship garden from her. She is such a sweetie. She bought me two hibiscus plants that have beautiful flowers in a bright and cheery coral/watermelon color and the other is a creamy yellow with a red center. I bought two cool cobalt blue ceramic pots to put them in. When we got home we planted the plants in the pots and placed them on my front door stoop. One on either side of my jet black door. It looks really nice. Now Amy is part of my friendship garden.

After Amy took off I spent the rest of the day working in the yard. Oh, I love working in the yard. I would rather do yard work any day than housework, although I enjoy doing housework (the only exception is folding my laundry- don't know why that is). I worked outside for a good 5 hours. I weeded, cleaned out the vegetable garden and planted lettuce, planted some beautiful pansies, cleaned around the yard, worked on the pool and now the back yard looks great. As I worked I listened to the Cal football game and part of the Giant's baseball game but I was satisfied in working in the yard. Both the bears and the Giants won. Good day in sports, all of my teams that I enjoy following won.

Just love a Saturday like the one I had today. I will be longing for the next one that I will be able to have. Next Saturday is my next favorite type of Saturday (it is equal with the first but sometimes it wears me out a little). I will be able to spend the day with my family. My sister Jen and her husband Joe will be in town with my dear niece Trinity. I can't wait wait to see them and play with my niece. I love her to pieces.

Getting Carded

This morning I spoke to my mom as they were driving down to visit my sister Jen, Joe and my sweet niece Trinity. Mom told me a funny little story about something that happened at dinner last night. My mom, dad and grandma went out for a bite to eat at Fuddrucker's. A younger waiter took the order from my family. When my 92 year old grandma- who looks great- (sorry grandma- for the sake of the story I needed to include your age-) ordered, the waiter asked, "Are you a senior?" He almost made her show her identification card to prove it.

I don't purchase alcohol often but more times than not, I still get carded, carded on the other end of the spectrum from my grandma. Gives me a belly laugh every time. The person checking my drivers license always looks at it very closely to make sure it is real. Lord willing, I have the same young looking gene as my grandmother. If I could look half as young as she does when I am older, I will be doing good.

The Rivalry

Giants and the Dodgers have one of the fieriest rivalries in baseball. Steve Scott beat me to posting about this big rivalry. Click here if you would like to view his thoughts. The Giants either have a great year where they are in contention to winning the division or they are at the bottom of the barrel and they kick the Dodgers out of winning the division. Even though the Giants have absolutely no chance of anything in October except for watching on the sofa, they are having fun being the spoilers of the National League West. Some of my earliest memories are going to bed as a kid with my transistor radio next to me listening to the Giants play the Dodgers. Back then my beloved Giants were terrible. It was absolutely delightful to listen to that little radio and hear the Giants beat the Dodgers and eliminate them from playoff hopes.

This past weekend, my Giants played the Dodgers and started the Spoilin' September compain. Love it. Friday night I went to the game with my friend Neil. Neil is a good friend but sadly, he is a Dodger fan. The Giants won in dramatic fashion in the bottom of the 9th inning. Dan Ortmeier hit a walk off home run. So, exciting. I think I jumped up and down for 10 minutes. Neil hung his head down but he was a good sport about his team losing. They played the radio call on the stadium's PA system. Here was the call, "IT IS OUTTTA HERE. WE'RE GOING HOME!!!". That was my favorite quote for the weekend.

Saturday, my dad and I went to the ball game. Before the game there was a tribute for the 40th anniversary of Mike McCormick winning the Cy Young Award. In his speech he said a few words that are true to my heart. He said, "I hate Dodger blue!". The Giants lost this outing with the Dodgers.

Sunday, in the bottom of the 8th inning, Ray Durham, known fondly by his fans as RayRay, pinch hit a 3 run homer that allowed the Giants to win. So, the Giants won the series. I always love when the Giants beat the Dodgers.

I read a great quick read this summer called 101 Reasons to Love the Giants. This is what reason number 56 titled The Rivalry says,

"Giants- Dodgers. It's a rivalry that has been around nearly as long as
baseball has. The Giants and Dodgers first met as major-league teams way back in
1884 in an exhibition game won by the Giants, 8-0. Through the years, the two
teams have faced off countless times- and crushed each other's dreams with
an amazing regularity. The "Shot Heard 'Round the World" is the most famous
example, and Juan Marichal's bat to John Roseboro's head in 1965 is the
ugliest, but the list goes on and on. The Yankees and Red Sox may have a
fiercer rivalry, but the Giants' and Dodgers' has been much more
consistently competitive over the years."

So, Giant fans wait to see how this year will play out in September. Maybe, from dead last place, the Giants will spoil a few of the other teams from going into October.

Back to Work

The joy and happiness of summer vacation are now distant memories and future longings. Things are settling in quite nicely though. I am trying to apply a principle that my college professor ingrained in his young ambiguous students. That principle is KISS- keep it simple silly (think he used stupid for silly). My life over the last few years has gotten quite busy or I have tried to keep up my busyness from my younger days. I was completely spent by the time last school year finished and I don't want that to happen again. God is teaching me to say no to things that come up, to keep 3 week nights a week to myself, to take more time to "smell the roses" and to enjoy relaxing with things I enjoy.
There have been many changes at work but I think the changes are for the better. I like my new principal and vice principal and love the returning VP. There seems to be a seriousness about students misbehavior. Yesterday, I walked a defiant student to a vice principal and that student received in house suspension for the day today. Very nice. It is important that teachers have the administration support for expected behavior and appropriate consequences for behavior that does not match up to that.
Enrollment is down this year by 130 students and that cut one full PE position. Even though the enrollment is down our PE classes are huge. My largest class is 49 and had 3 new added students in the last 2 days. One of my co-workers has 54 in one class. We are still trying to figure how to manage such big classes. All the more with big classes we need administration support. To say it from a women's athletic perspective- we need good support, just like a good sports bra- good and supportive (but not like Brandi Chastain from the US Women's World Cup Championship, showing it off to the whole wide world).
With classes starting to inch up in the 50's, I am reminded of my LA teaching days. It was very typical for my PE classes to all have 50, 60 and even 70 students in one class. Talk about crazy. But honestly those were some of my best days of teaching. Most of the population of the school were non-Americans, many immigrants who were attending their first school in America. These students wanted to learn, yet their test scores stunk. I have a few students this year who speak little or no English. Yesterday, I translated almost our who PE pamphlet to these students using the 3rd grade level Spanish that I have. These students are eager and they were sucking up the opportunity to learn. God refreshed the weary teacher in my just by working with these "chicos".
God is faithful and I know He will give me the grace to survive this year. I am looking forward to a good year.

Friendship Garden

This summer I started my Friendship Garden. A friendship garden is a garden that includes plants, pots and memories that have been given to me by good friends. My dear friends Alex and Charity moved away to North Carolina and they gave me their "lemon aid" lemon bush. I know it was hard for them to part with this great, little lemon bush but they told me that I would give it a good home. It has not been put in the ground yet because I am want it to be part of my front yard make over. When I got this citrus, it was in bloom. The plant now has little lemons growing on it. Alex and Charity, he is doing real good, he misses you though. My garden also has "sweet vinca". My dear friends Matt and Eileen moved to central California this summer. They gave me a great pot to add to my friendship garden. I planted several vincas in the pot. It is a beautiful display of color. So bright and cheery, just like my dear friends. Each time I water these two plants I think of my dear friends who are now in a different location. I pray for them as I water my garden.

Creating a blog hymnal

My church is in the middle of a series called "Beware of Idols", click here if you want to listen in. The series has been really good and has convicted my heart in a few areas. Praise God for His Spirit that works in and on my heart. The songs that are song at my church are carefully and prayerfully planned out to assist the proclamation of the Word of God. I love singing songs that are deeply rooted in who God is and what Christ has done on my behalf. My intent in sharing these songs with the blogging world is to cause you and I to gaze upon Him. I can go back and look at past posts (in my blog hymnal, hahaha) and remember my God and my Savior. Here are a few of the incredible songs that I want to share with you this week: In Christ Alone (I want this song at my funeral), Psalm 62 and Surrender All.

In Christ Alone by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend@ 2002Thankyou Music.

In Christ alone my hope is found. He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all, here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh, fullness of God in helpless Babe!
This gift of love and righteousness, scorned by the ones He came to save.
'Til on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.
For every sin on Him was laid; here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay, light of the world by darkness slain;
Then, bursting forth in glorious day, up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory, sin's curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine, bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand;
'Til He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I'll stand!

Psalm 62 John Michael Talbot, EMI Christian Music Publishing

Only in God is my soul at rest, in Him comes my salvation.
He only is my rock, my strength and my salvation.

My stronghold, my Savior, I shall not be afraid at all.
My stronghold, my Savior, I shall not be alone.

Only in God is found safety when the enemy pursues me.
Only in God is found glory when I am found meek and found lowly.

Surrender All 2005 Sovereign Grace Praise

Take all I am, Lord, and all that I cling to.
You are my Savior I owe everything to.
Take all the treasures that lie in my storehouse.
They cannot follow when I enter Your house.

So I surrender all to You.
And I surrender all.
I surrender all to You.
I surrender all.

Take all my craving for vain recognition,
Fleshly indulgence, and worldly ambition.
I want so much Lord to make You the focus,
To serve You in secret and never be noticed.

Take all my hunger for all that's forbidden,
Every desire and sin I keep hidden.
Search me and know me, I want to bring to You
A life that is holy and sanctified through You.

Enjoy the songs. I love them. They are dear to my heart. Imagine the songs that will be song in heaven.

Barbi Backpack

I am watching the Giants play ball and saw something funny. A new rookie pitcher was going to the bull pin. He was wearing a pink Barbi backpack on both shoulders. The "newbies" have to carry all the supplies that might be needed in the bull pin in a Barbi backpack. This poor fellow had to walk from the dugout all the way to the Coors Field bull pin. Made me chuckle. I don't think this player minded carrying the pink supply bag because he was now in the big leagues, a dream he has had since he was an 8 years old boy.

My 8th grade boy students carry pink Barbi backpacks too. These "young men" carry little flimsy Barbi, Ninga Turtles, Superman, Spiderman, Hello Kitty, Strawberry Shortcake, and Care Bear backpacks. What a laugh.

Summer Fruit and A Green Lawn

Love, love, love summer fruit. This morning I ate a huge bowl of fresh raspberries, blueberries and peaches for breakfast. "Yumahuh!" What is "yumahuh!"? You will probably here me talk about "yumahuh!" from time to time. "Yumahuh!" is a delightfully delicious meal or food to me. When you say "yumahuh!", you say it like the old Yamaha motorcycle commerical. So it would be "Yummmmmmmahuuuuuuuuuhhh!" It is also said kinda in a rhetorical question, "it's yummy, huh?" I wished I had a digital camera to take a photo of the delicious bowl to show you. Beautiful array of the colors of the luscious fruit, the white background of the inside of the bowl (outside of the bowl was blue and yellow plaid) and the silver spoon dipped deep into the bowl of color.

My back yard lawn was not as green as I would I like to be. My lawn had "highlights" of brown and yellow. A few weeks ago I used a 16-16-16 fertilizer to make the lawn more deep green. What a difference, my lawn is now beautiful, lush and healthy looking. But with extra fertilizer that means extra growth. Gave the neighbors a little time to sleep in (since it is Labor Day) and at the strike of 9:00 on my grandfather clock, I started up the mover. It's been hot around here for the last week and by the time I was done I had droplets of perspiration on my brow. The whole backyard looks much better with a nice, freshly mowed green lawn. Looks real sharp. I then mowed the dead (very dead intentionally) front yard. What a contrast. Lord willing, sometime soon I will be giving my front yard a make over, just waiting for all the fundage to be lined up. But the back yard looks wonderful.

I enjoy yard work, it is very therapeutic to my soul. Right now I have a little anxiety in my heart with the first day of school tomorrow and all the changes that have taken place at my school. Just worked for half an hour but had a nice time of prayer lifting my concerns up to God. When I finished, I ate the fresh bowl of fruit sitting outside enjoying the fresh air and the chirping of the birds.

40 Years of Marriage

Today is my Mom and Dad's 40th wedding anniversary! I am so grateful to God for my parents and the marriage that they have. May God continue to bless you richly in many more years together. Love you!

Roll on Bears

You go Bears!!! Good job with Tennessee. Fun game to watch tonight. Maybe this will be the year for a "real" bowl game.

I am a big Cal fan but not a Cal alumna and have never been to a college football game (can't count DVC or CSUN games). Back in high school I played on a club volleyball team. We practiced and played in tournaments on the Cal campus. Our team name was California Bears Junior Volleyball. I mainly only follow Cal football and volleyball. Hopefully, someday soon I will make it to my first Cal football game.

Holy, Holy, Holy

I have wanted to blog this post for several days now but am still awe struck by God's Holiness. Words have not seemed adequate to try to express my thoughts. Last Sunday's sermon was from Isaiah 6. Here is verses 1-7:

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and
lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the
seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he
covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and
said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of
his glory!"And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who
called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: "Woe is me! For I am
lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of
unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of
hosts!" Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for."

Still I am a little short of words. I have felt and still feel a little like Isaiah. God revealed His holiness to Isaiah's heart and that awesome reality made him look at his own sinful and lost heart. Isaiah knew he was lost, undone, worthless before a Holy God. Yet God in His holiness saved Isaiah from his bottomless pit of dispare. Only a holy God can save a man. The holy God sent a seraphim to bring the soothing balm to Isaiah's burning soul, "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for".

One of the obvious songs we sang was Holy, Holy, Holy. I love singing these rich songs so here are the lyrics.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! Early in morning our song shall rise to
Thee; Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty! God in three Persons, blessed
Trinity.

Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee. Casting down their golden crowns
around the glassy sea; Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee, Which
wert and art and ever more shalt be.

Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide Thee, Through the eye of sinful
man Thy glory may not see; Only Thou art holy, there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in pow'r, in love and purity.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! All Thy works shall praise Thy name in
earth and sky and sea; Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty! God in three
Persons, blessed Trinity!

I was inspired to go and read more on God's holiness from a few classics: Attributes of God by A.W. Pink and Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer. Decided that I need to reflect on God's holiness much more than I do.

It is interesting to me that when God puts something to ponder on your mind and heart, it seems to pour in from many different sources. Recently, I have decided to re-read Pilgram's Progress, by John Bunyan when I go to bed at night. From my nightly reading (the same day I read the above classics) Christian is answering Prudence's questions.

"What makes you so eager to reach Mount Zion?"

"Why, there I hope to see the One who hung dead on the Cross alive again; and
there I hope to be freed of all the things within me that are such a struggle to
me. They say that there is no death there, and that I will live there with
wonderful companions. To tell you the truth, I love Him because He delivered me
from my Burden. And I am so tired of my inward sickness that I long to be where
there is no more sin and death and where I will be in the fellowship of those
who continually cry, 'Holy, holy, holy.'"

Wilbur House Reunion

With my 20th high school reunion coming up soon, my mind has been thinking about having a Wilbur House Reunion. Some of you may know that while in college I lived in a house with 5 other Christian women. The Wilbur House for several years hosted renters from the college Bible study that I was involved in. I'm not so excited about my high school reunion but I am excited about the possibility of a reunion with my college friends. There has not been a reunion since the last one of us got married, it is time to have one.

So Wilbur girls, if you are reading this post, here are some of my thoughts. Let's all meet together here in Northern California next year for some fun with your families. I will figure out the exacts sometime soon. When we get together next summer (summer of '08), I want all of us to sit down and plan a girl's weekend (or week, depending on all of our schedules) for the following summer (summer of '09) for just us girls. All of us have our 40th birthdays coming up within the next few years and we could all celebrate with a time away from our dear families. What do you think??? Where could we go??? I know Stacy would say, "Let's go and lay on an island!"

Kindred Spirits

God has blessed me richly over the years to have several friends who are deeply dear to my heart. They are sisters in the Lord but they are also family to me. So many people have not even had one (besides their spouse) good friend in their lifetime but I have had several. Saturday I was able to catch up with two of my college roommates via cell phone. The beauty of these kindred friendships is that we may not talk for months (this is sad to me but miles and busy lives make it this way) but we can connect instantly. These dear friends know me well, they know my joys, my hard times, my struggles, little insights that others may not know. I am always encouraged, uplifted, brought to extreme of emotions, and stimulated to walk closer with my God by our talks. I am so thankful to God for my kindred friendships, God has used them greatly to help me become who I am today and who I will become in the future.

Oxymorons at the Ballpark

Yesterday, my sister Amy and I went to the Giants vs. Cubs baseball game. Thankfully, my beloved Giants won the game. It would not have surprised me if they lost because the Giants are having a not so great year (to say the least) and I have been to 6 games this year and the Giants have not won any of those games. It is a big Bummer, Bummer with a capital B, to go watch a game, spend the money for the tickets, food, parking, transportation only to have the Giants lose.

I saw several things that were Oxymoron's to me. The first: Amy and I walked from the BART station to the ball park, about a 1 1/2- 2 miles. Several times we passed men either holding a sign or the sign was around their necks that read, "I NEED TICKETS". They held several tickets in their hands and said as we walked by, "Anyone need tickets". How could they NEED tickets yet have tickets for others that might need tickets? These men almost got right in our faces as we walked by. Finally, I took our tickets out of my bag and clutched them between my fingers so they could see them. We were not bothered again. Is there still a law about scalping tickets at a game?

Next oxymoron: after the game as Amy and I walked back to BART (by the way, the Bay Area has a wonderful mass transit system and it sure is a wonderful way to get to the city) we saw a Giants fan- he was all decked out with his Giants ball cap and jersey, carrying a broom. This would have been appropriate if the Giants were going to sweep the Cubs for this last game of the series, but in fact, if the Giants would have lost, they would have been swept by the Cubs. Maybe this fellow did not watch the last inning of the past two games and thought the Giants really had won those games (we should have won, we were ahead, but. . . it is a bad year for the Giants).

Another: I saw several fans wearing Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bears jerseys. These fans were at the wrong ball game and possibly the wrong sport.

And another: My dear sister Amy told me that she wanted to wear all Giants gear and wear her Chicago Cubs socks (in memory of my Grandfather). This too is an oxymoron but my sister is so darn cute in her ways that we won't count this one.

The last was a couple walking back to BART near us. The male was wearing LA Dodger gear and she was wearing SF Giants gear. This made no sense to me at all and I wondered how they were able to stay together with such differences (I will have another post later about the Giants/Dodgers rivalry).

Sunrise or Sunset, Which Do You Prefer?

This past weekend, I was was up at Lake Tahoe with some friends. K & D have a cabin right on the lake on the south side. Incredible views of the lake, surrounding mountains, marina, beach and the evergreens. A couple of the mornings my dear friend Dawn and I raced outside before 6am to catch the rising of the sun. O the beauty of God bursting forth another day. Each passing moment had a wonderful and unique display of beauty, from the various shades of grey along the mountain ridges to the first reflections of the suns rays on the glassy lake to the sky lite up with brilliant colors of blue, purple, red, orange and yellow. Reminds me of Psalm 65:8 "And they who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Thy signs; Thou dost make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy".

One day it was pretty incredible, we sat and watched the sun rise and later watched the sun set. Pretty cool to have the time to sit and watch both in one day. There is something therapeutic to the soul in watching the sun rise and/or the sun set. When I take the time to enjoy the dawn or dusk, I am reminded of God's amazing faithfulness, His goodness, His grace and His Holiness. Personally, I am more of a sunrise girl. What do you enjoy more, a sunrise or a sunset?

Is it June Yet?

People have been asking me if I am excited and ready to go back to work. "NO!", is quickly uttered and I place my arms out in front of me as if my hands are a balancing scale. I say, "this hand is work/school and this hand is vacation". "Work" (I lower one hand slightly), "vacation" (lower the other hand much lower). "Work" (very slight lower), "vacation" (dramatic tilting of the scale on the heavy side). The more and more that I work, the more I long for vacation and retirement. I know, I am forever away from retirement. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy my job and am grateful to God for my job, but I long for vacations. Think it is a result from the fall in the Garden of Eden. This summer has been a nice balance of relaxation, ministry, travel, exercise and projects around the house.

Someone said the other day, "I can't believe that it is August already. Wow, time has flown on by". And I said, "Is it June yet?" Often times my co-workers and I talk about how fast a school year has flown on by. That is a good thing. The minute the last day of school is finished, I want that time clock to slow waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay doooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwn!

Trip to Lassen

A couple weekends ago, Dawn, Marilyn and I were able to take a trip to Mt. Lassen. What a great time we had. Nice to get away from the city and up to God's incredible creation. Lassen is by far one of my most favorite places to soak up clean fresh air, to gaze at the evergreen canopy with the deep blue sky for a backdrop, to experience wild life, to try a new adventure, and to simply relax.








Here we took a short walk after dinner one night. We went to a little natural spring up the road from the cabin and we saw what we think was a marmot. We each took turns cooking dinner and had wonderful dinners. Good job ladies. One the first night I taught the game Skip Bo, and they were hooked for the rest of the trip. I did not win too many games, the newbies did.










The first full day of our trip we took a drive up to Lassen National Park. Beautiful day and incredible weather. My plan was to hike to Mill Creek falls but God had other plans. Upon entering the park we found out that the trail head was closed to the falls but we could go through the park and hike to the falls from Kings Canyon. New adventure, have never done a trail through Kings Canyon. Kings Canyon is on the North side of the park and to get there we were going to drive through some of the most beautiful country that I have ever see. I was so excited for Dawn and Marilyn to see the beauty of God's awesome creation. They were not disappointed. There is so much to see. Here are a few pictures of the beauty that we encountered.








When we got to Kings Canyon we saw a sign that talked about the mileage to Mill Creek Falls. It was 3.8 miles one way, which was what we were told was the round trip mileage. I knew that distance on our first hike would be too much, especially at 7,500 and possibly hiking up another 1,000. So, we decided to go to a lake that was about half that distance. I knew that was manageable. It was funny, my friends were trying to equate the mileage to a trial near home or to a 5k. They were thinking that they "normally" can do a 3 mile hike in an hour. I had to tell them that it just does not work that way with the altitude.











Off we went to find this lake (not pictured). About 3/4 of a mile into the nice hike we saw a beautiful meadow with flowers. Each of us eagerly moved on to get to this meadow. Marilyn asked, "Are there bears in this country?" I replied, "Oh yeah, they are up here on these trails. I have seen a few on other hikes I have been on." About a minute after this question, there not 10 feet away from us was a California Black Bear. I think we startled her and she definitely startled us. She shuffled over a down tree and looked at us. Marilyn had already taken off back down the trial we had come on. I was still






gazing at the bear, thinking in my head, "Let's take a picture. No let's not take a picture. She does not look too disturbed, let's keep walking to the lake." Turning to see what my friends wanted to do, they were back down the trail 30 feet. I turned back to look at the bear and she was standing up looking at us. I say she because she was not huge but not small, she had long blond shaggy hair around her face and head and she was calm. Since my buddies were back down the trial I needed to catch up with them. I remembered at that point that you need to look larger than life to scare off a bear. I told this to my friends as I caught up with them. I heard Dawn say out loud to herself (or to God), "Oh dear God, help us. Oh dear God, keep us safe." The told me they had quiet the adrenalin rush, I was doing fine. I think the first time I saw a bear on a trial I got the rush but not this time. Now our plans completely were changed. There was no way that I was going to get them to go back on the trail







where the bear was hanging out. There was another trail back about 1/4 of a mile to Bumpas Hell. I really did not want to go to Bumpas Hell. I'd been there before and it was nothing special and it stinks seriously like rotten eggs. I had hiked to Bumpas Hell from another trail at the top of the mountain. There were a bunch of kids from a summer camp coming down the trail. I asked a grown up what the trail was like. He said it will be all up hill until we got there. The trail marker said 1.9 miles from this point. I rationalized the details in my mind and decided that we could do the hike. The hike was all uphill and I think we climbed close to a 1,000 feet but we saw some of the most incredible scenery. By the time we made it to Bumpas Hell we were ready to eat our lunch that we had in our packs. We all thanked God that the bear did not tear us to shreds to get to our lunches that I am sure she could smell. Up the trail took 1 hour 40 minutes and back down 40 minutes.

After the hike we drove down to Summit Lake. Dawn and I swam across the lake. It was the first time Dawn had ever been in a mountain lake. The next day we planned to hike the peak of Lassen but we were all a little worn out from the previous day. We went into town where there was a arts festival and we went to another big lake and hung out and swam.

At the cabin we had quite the show from the wildlife. There were deer, chipmunks, squirrels, birds and the mystery critter.







Great trip, with good friends, in God's beautiful creation. Nice memories.

Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us use the cabin.

Blond Moment

In my family when we do something "air head"-ish we call it a Blond Moment. My apologies in advance to any blonds who might be reading my post and don't like my terminology.

Last night I had a Blond Moment. Every week the blue trash can and the large brown recycling can are picked up and every other week the large green yard clippings can is picked up with the others. Well I got home late last night and I dragged (kinda rolled down the driveway behind the heavy can) the trash and recycle cans down my driveway and placed on the street. This morning I left when it was light enough to tell my colors (going to my swim workout) and I did not notice anything out of the ordinary. I returned from my swim class and drove right past the cans and into the garage. I left before lunch to go to a "Senior's Luncheon" and had to pull out of the garage at a wavy angle to avoid the blue can that had been picked up and relocated in the middle of my driveway. I still did not notice anything out of the ordinary. I came home from my luncheon and discovered the green can was out and not the brown can. The real funny thing about all of this, not only was it not green can week, but I had completely filled the brown can with recyclables and I had done some yard work and the green can was completely full. So the brown can is full for next week and I had to drag the heavy green can back up the driveway. This is an example of a Blond Moment.

Ministries of Mercy- Chapter 8 Review

The elders and deacons at my church asked the deacons and the deaconesses to read Ministries of Mercy, The Call of the Jericho Road, by Timothy J. Keller. As deaconesses we decided to read a chapter each month and to discuss that chapter at our monthly meeting. The book is broken into two main parts, the principles and practice of mercy. To save space and time I have included a review of the entire book here. As Christians we are called to be people whose lives are marked by mercy. We are commanded to show mercy to our family, our church, our neighborhood and our communities. We are most like Christ when we show mercy in little, in big and practical ways to those around us. This is much more than giving a homeless man along the side of the road some food to fill his belly.

We just started part two of the book, the practice of mercy. Chapter 8 is titled Getting Started. The previous chapters provided conviction and the spark to do more, but we all asked, "where do we start and how do we begin". I think all of us had our hearts pricked in some way in how we can get started. As deaconesses, there already is a heart of mercy within us. Mercy is the heart beat of our ministry.

The overview states, "Every Christian family must develop its own ministry of mercy by looking at the needs closest to it and meeting them through loving deeds and a spirit of encouragement".

The channels of mercy begin with your family, then the church, then Christian organizations and ending with the state. Our family is our ministry base, we must be taking care of our families first and then when things within our family is taken care of we can as a family reach deeper to our churches, neighbors and community. Within the church if we see a need, are are to try to meet that need ourselves, if we are unable to do that then we need to let the deacons know of the need (in some larger churches there are actual ministries with mercy as their focus). Keller says, "The number of needs near us, in our own personal 'circles of concern' are actually quite numerous, if we by open our eyes to see them".

Keller continues and asks the question,

Do you really stop, look, and listen in the middle of your church and
neighborhood? If you do, you will notice a multitude of needs. There is a
college student who has had to drop out of school for lack of funds. Over here
there are numbers of elderly folk without sufficient support from children, who
need transportation, friendship, and other aid. Turn in another direction and
listen hard. You will hear single parents, divorced and widowed people,
struggling financially and emotionally to be "both mother and father" to
children. They often don't seem all that poor and threadbare to the eye, but a
sensitive ear will hear the anguish.

Keller speaks of the fear that might build within us when we are faced with needs around us.

One of the reasons we do not "stop, look, and listen" is because we do know
how many needs there are out there, and we are afraid. Afraid of
what? There appear to be two major fears. First, we do not know how to make
contact; we are afraid of "breaking the ice." Second, we do not think we
have the resources to help; we are afraid of failure. Let's look at the
first fear. Many of us do not know how to approach another person who is
suffering. We know how difficult it is to ask for help or to admit weakness,
and we do not wish to embarrass or hurt the person further.

Can you actually create these contact? Absolutely. Here are some simple
suggestions. On the most basic level, you must have a general demeanor of
"neighborliness." Smiles, waves, facial expressions must be open and warm,
even (especially!) in chance meetings. Or, if you hardly know a person, develop your relationship through social gestures. By "social gestures" we mean efforts simply to demonstrate a desire to know the person better. . . The most basic social gesture is
hospitality.

One last quote that I enjoyed.

Christian ministers of mercy are unique in that they intentionally and systematically seek to build bridges with all the people around them at home, at work, and at church. They do this to discover needs and to create a climate in which others can share their weaknesses.

Has it been 20 years?

This fall I have my 20th high school reunion. 20 years is a long time and it is more than 1/2 of my age, equally as scary. I am pondering if I should attend or not.

So much has changed in my life since graduating from high school and yet at the same time some things have not changed. Anyone in their later 30's and early 40's would recall some of the hideous clothes and accessory styles: leg warmers, bike shorts, Izod Polo shirts (several at one time with collar straight up), Jordache Jeans (never fit well on me, had my 501's with a button fly), the Madonna look, neon colored clothes (usually worn for volleyball practice), overalls, parachute pants, socks with the pom pom balls on the back, stirrup pants, the Flash Dance look, banana clips, colored mascara (I wore blue from time to time), crimped or the Farah Fawcett hair style (really did not work with my curly hair), rubber bracelets (as many as you could fit on one wrist and a Swatch Watch on the other wrist), Vuarnet Sunglasses and friendship bracelets of woven thread. Now that would be fun to have an 80's dress up party.

Gratefully, the biggest change in my life since graduating from high school has been my salvation. God intervened in my life during my senior year of college. My life has been forever changed because of what Christ did on my behalf. By His grace I am no longer enslaved to the sin of my heart that once held me captive. See Ephesians 1 for verses that talk about the work that God did in my life. If you are investigating Christianity, click here.

I attended my 5 and 10 year reunions. For the 5 year reunion, nothing much had changed with all of us except: a few were married, even fewer had a child (or children), most of us were finishing up with college, the guys had facial hair and everyone could drink legally. At the 10 year there were bigger changes: many were married, many had at least a few children, there were several classmates who had already been divorced (I remember hearing about 3 separate classmates that were on their 3rd marriage), a couple of classmates had passed away, almost everyone had their spouse or a date with them. There was apprehension in attending but my Mom talked me into going. It was nice to see everyone and to catch up with a few. I was thankful for the opportunity to share with some what incredible things God had done in my life.

High school seems like a long time ago. At one time in my life, when I was young, I never dreamed that the fun and memories of high school would fade away. My friends from high school were everything to me, well at the time. I have not keep in touch with any of my classmates. What was important to me then is not important to me now. Praise God that my life has changed.

So the real issue is on attending my reunion or not. I am sure that I will end up going for the main reasons of: these people are part of my life, part of the work that God has done in my life, would be good to see some of these past friends and God might give me opportunities to share Christ with someone. My heart has it's selfish concerns that I have to work and pray through before I go. Two of these are: I carry around a few more pounds now and will be attending solo because God has not brought a husband into my life YET. It is wearisome on my spirit to explain to people about my singleness, my desire to be married, my trust in God for His good and sovereign plan to bring a husband in His perfect timing. Sometimes, it is like rubbing salt into a fresh wound, it burns. I constantly remind myself of God's promises that His grace is sufficient for me in all things and He will not give me any situation that I can not endure. He knows what is the very best for me. I strive to be content in every situation that I find my life in. I will admit that it is a struggle at times but God continues to surround me with His great love.

What I can confidently say, is that regardless of how my high school reunion turns out, I am 20 years closer to my eternity with my Savior. Here is my senior portrait from 20 years ago.

My Cats Have Amazing "Smellers"

Today I took out of the refrigerator a plate of left over dinner from last night's dinner to eat for lunch. Within 30 seconds of the plate being on the counter, my two orange kitties (who were fast asleep on the sofa) were now at my feet whining for some of the salmon. Amazing sense of smell.

The picture was taken 3 years ago when I first got them.

Love to Sing

I love singing songs that speak of my Savior and my God. Here are the lyrics to a few we sang on Sunday.


You Are My King Billy Foote, 1996 worshiptogether.com songs

I'm forgiven because You were forsaken
I'm accepted; You were condemned.
I'm alive and well, Your Spirit is 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;
It's my joy to honor You. In all I do I honor You.

You are my King, You are my King.
Jesus, You are my King. Jesus, You are my King.


How Deep the Father's Love for Us, Stuart Townend, 1995 Kingsway's Thankyou Music

How deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure!
That He should give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure!
How great the pain of searing loss, the Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One bring many sons to glory.

Behold the man upon a cross, my sin upon His shoulders;
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin that held Him there until it was accomplished;
His dying breath has brought me life- I know that it is finished.

I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no power, no wisdom;
But I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from His reward: I cannot give an answer,
But this I know with all my heart, His wounds have paid my ransom.


Oh, my heart especially loves the second song. Verse two causes my heart to well up every time I sing it. My tear filled eyes are of gratitude, joy and hope. I can only imagine what heaven will be like. My heart longs for that eternity of true and pure worship.

Swimming At 6 A.M.

I have been swimming on Tuesday and Thursday mornings (6-7 am) consistently for one year and off and on for the last 3 years. This morning at my swim class, God painted a beautiful sunrise for me to enjoy. The beauty intensified as I continued to swim. The sunrise was to the right side of the pool. Each time I took a breath, my lungs longed for oxygen and my eyes/mind/heart longed for the breath taking views of the incredible colors under the foggy cloud layer. My workout went by much quicker with the incredible backdrop. I was reminded of God's goodness, faithfulness, care and grace that He gives even in the rising of the sun. Incredible.

As I watched the sunrise, I plotted out this blog post. Included in my thoughts was my list of why I enjoy and don't enjoy swimming at 6 am.

Enjoy

1. Awesome sunrises on some mornings
   
2. Start my day off on the right foot (or the left, does not really matter but the days starts right)


3. Good cardiovascular workout


4. Feel good for the whole day
   
5. Burn calories and help to lose weight


6. Muscle tone


7. Helps me improve my swim strokes


8. Less crowded swimming lanes, usually 2 people per lane, spit in half, each take a half


9. Makes the morning cup of coffee after swimming taste really good


10. Morning shower is nice and warm


11. It is conversation with my students about my exercise preferences


12. I tend to eat more healthy all day long when I have swam


13. Allows me to justify a "treat", this counteracts the burning calories and weight loss though


14. Swimming in water that is warmer than the cold outside air


15. Sleeping really good the night after a workout


16. Usually I have a good prayer time during my swim


17. Seeing my friend Dawn, if we both make it on the same day
    

Don't Really Enjoy

1. Getting out of the warm bed


2. Getting up early


3. During the school year, packing my entire necessities for the day the night before. This includes; all my swim things, my shower things, my clothes, my work bag, my lunch, and anything I might need for after work if I am not going straight home.
   
4. Leaving the house when it is cold


5. Sometimes getting in a cold pool


6. Getting out of the pool and into the cold outside air


7. Showering outside on the pool deck


8. Changing in the locker room. Sometimes the locker room door can not be opened and I have had to change in the pool house or snack shack and put my make-up on in the car.


9. Forgetting something important like deodorant or underwear. I have learned to keep extra of these at work and in my car.


10. Rushing to get dressed to be on the road by 7:20 to go to work.


11. Having a wet head


12. Smelling like Cl2- chlorine all day long


13. Having shaky leg muscles, muscle fatigue


14. Going to bed on time the night before to get up on time


15. Giving in to staying in the warm bed and not going to workout. Really bothers me the rest of the day for being a sluggard.