day 3 & 4... Peterson Sojourn West 2011

day 3 ... family is like fish, after a few days, it starts to stink....

I have to back track a smidge to the end of day 2 in Keystone, SD.  Brock called the White House Inn & had secured a reservation for $49.95 ... new rooms, their ad had boasted.... there must have only been a few 'rooms', and our was given away... the front desk clerk (hair slicked back) offered us the 'chalet' for a 'steal'... tire and homeless, we took it. Teddy's Chalet (a tribute to Theodore Roozavelt) ended up being a 1970's house next to the hotel, that they must have purchased.... Peterson Ozark's crew, it was dumpy-er than Al Hona's guest houses.... it had a bunk bed in the dinning room, soda sleeper in the living room & a full sized bed in the master.  Now, we are not petite folks... it was a night of snuggling, vying for a sliver of mattress... & the world's smallest shower.

We had attended the 10:15 p.m. laser light show at the Crazy Horse Memorial.  It wasn't all it was cracked up to be, blaming the white men for keeping only one promise, "taking thier land." ... but the boys & I enjoyed it. On the drive home, the boys drifted into slumber, and Brock and I got to enjoy the illuminated Mt. Rushmore... magnificent.  So we hit the hay late, got a crapy nights rest, no breakfast buffet at the chalet, and no McD's in Keystone, SD.  We were tired, hungry & grumpy...

Day 3 kicked off with a rain and hail shower... accompanied by dense fog.  Not ideal conditions for viewing a nountain sculpted with the busts of our countries great leaders.  We headed to Mt. Rushmore regardless.  We gripped at each other, as I exclaimed that satan was really trying to get a grip on our hearts.  We prayed for joy, peace, love, kindness, & patience.  We bought ponchos in the gift shop & dug 3 umbrellas out of the trunk. We decided to hike the 'presidential trial,' trex decked walkways.... when we got close, the fog lifted for a few seconds & we caught a glimpse of George.another 20 feet Abe, John & Teddy made an appearance, peeking out of the curtain of fog.

The granite scape was ribboned with bubbling brooks and cascading mini waterfalls and streams, carrying the rainfall downward.  The boys exclaimed how magnificent it was, "If it wasn't raining, we would have missed these waterfalls & streams."

Child-like gratitude for the storm the Lord had graced us with.

We entered the studio of Borglum, the sculpture responsible for these mamouth busts... our Youngest got to participate in the Ranger's presentation... and we all dried out a bit.  The boys spent the morning filling our a Jr. Park Ranger scavenger hunt & were awarded Jr. Park Ranger badges.

By lunch time we were wipped ... we loaded the Yukon, made PB&J sandwiches and pointed the land yacht towards Black Hills Natl. Park.  We saw a bison, grazing a foot from the road... a herd of elk keeping a watchful eye on our vehicle.  We drove over U shaped bridges & through tunnels carved into the gigantic granite boulders.  We passed through Custer State Park and on into Wyoming.  We saw cattle ranches on the plains of Wyoming... wouldn't that be the life?  The boys and I took a much needed nap, we were all getting edgy & on one another's nerves.

We dinned in Buffalo, WY... chowing some of the golden arches finest.... no matter where you are in the world, McD's is always comfort food for Brock and I.  We have enjoyed Royals in Paris, nuggets is London, McDoubles in Costa Rica, even fries in the Virgin Islands..... McD's never screws up fast food.

When we left Buffalo, a snow plow was ahead of us.... we joked that we may run into snow... as we entered Big Horn Natl. forest, the snow began to fall.  We had entered a blizzard.  Some roadside drifts were many feet high, the fence posts staked with 18 inches of snow.  The snow plow turned around before the mountain divide.  Luckily we had 4-wheel drive. As we decended the mountain, the snow thinned.  What an amazing drive and a reminder that you are really in the Lord's hands... along for the ride.  He safely brought us down the snowy mountain.  We were blessed by His traveling mercies.

We ended us spending the night of day 3 in Cody, WY. As we drove into town we saw herds of mule deer grazing on residential lawns.  We pulled into the Cowboy Village and were able to get a king suite.... in the most adorable log cabin.... an authentic log cabin.

day 4 ... my bum hurt from three days of car sitting.... I ran 2 miles, lapping the Cowboy Village parking lot, as retired folks smoked cigarettes, drank coffee and watched me sprint.  We loaded up and went in search of boots for my youngest & I... we both had running shoes, Keen hiking sandals, and flip flops... not great footwear for the snow we are sure to encounter.

We picked up a few groceries and boots at Wal-Mart and pointed the land yacht north.  We had to drive around Yellow Stone. All of the east entrances were closed due to avalanches and mud slides.  They have experinece massive rains, abnormal for spring time.

We are currently driving on I-90... headed for our cabin in Gardiner, MT.... located just near Yellow Stone's north gate.... nicknamed the Roosevelt Arch.

I'm enjoying my Dad's favorite prairie treat, the seed of the sunflower.... listening to Taylor Swift sing me a tune from my iPod....

Brock's driving, chuckling at Adam Carolla, via headphones & iPod....

The boys are in back listening to Holes by Louis Scharr, thanks to a dual headphone splitter from Radio Shack & their iPod...

Hope we have some down time in the cabin tonight.... boil some brats in beer & onions .... teach the boys to play pitch.... if we can retrieve our patience.....

Continue to pray for our traveling mercies, and that the Lord blesses our time together as a family!

Blessings... Becca & the fellers

day 1 & 2.... Peterson Sojourn West 2011

Dear friends & fam.... sorry this is lengthy.... we've had a busy 48 hours!!!

Brock and I picked the boys up just after lunchtime Friday, the last school day of kindergarten & 3rd grade.

The boys had each written on a flower pot full of lilies, "Thanks 4 a gr-8 year!"

What amazing teachers the Lord blessed them with this past year. The have helped their minds to grow strong in head knowledge...& their hearts to grow in love of the Lord, His word & "heart knowledge."

Our youngest waved to his classmates snd said,"See ya in 1st grade!"

First grade, how did my baby grow up so fast?

We loaded up, hit the road.... & remembered we had forgot the guide book.

Once on the road we made ham sandwiches, ingredients packed in a cooler.  Did you do that on vacation as a kid.  Our cooler was a blue Coleman wit a white lid.  My dad tells stories of my Grandma Lenore's styrofoam cooler, covered in contact paper. Brock's families was a big red Colelman with a white lid. He and his brothers used to fight over who got to ride backseat 'shot gun' on the cooler.

Our cooler is a light blue Coleman, with rear wheels, a 'suitcase' type retractable handle, spit lid with cup holders.  It doubles as the macbook holder for movie viewing.

We are doing this trip the old American way... Dave Ramsey style. Our only expenses on day 1 were gas and $11 dolars worth of slurpies and tacquitos at a QT in Iowa.... $3.59 gas too, that's almost $1 cheaper than in DeMotte!

The boys watched a few movies, played DS, & grab a$$ (as Brock calls it, I call it 'nit-pic-in') .... we snacked on Twizzlers, trail mix & turkey jerky....  the fellers (as Grandpa Mike calls them) took their shirts off to ready themselves for slumber.... I caught a flash of flesh out of my peripheral vision.... our youngest was buck naked... exclaiming, "I forgot to put my briefs back on!"

The boys eventually got slap happy, giggling at the weirdest things... Our youngest wanted to have a 'cowboy campout' on the floor of the Yukon, giving his brother dibs on the bench seat.... after while, they surcombed to slumber... just in time for us to have to wake them up to go into the hotel for the night.  Our youngest was sleep walking... I hear the sound of liquid... he was taking a leak in the kitchenette garbage can.

We drove for 11 hours, covered 560-ish miles.... crossed through Indiana, Illinois, Iowa & South Dakota..... rolling into Sioux Falls at 11-ish.  We hadn't made reservations, deciding to 'fly by the seat of our pants.'  This is something we started about 3 years ago.  When we are a few hours from the destination, we look up lodging on the Garmin & start dialing the iPhone..... we have gotten some great deals on rooms doing this over the years.... $45 in Chillacothe, MO..... $80 in Ceadar Rapids, IA.... we hadn't taken into account the South Dakota State Track meet in Sioux Falls.

We ended up finding a room at the Homewood Suites, $140, not bad, very nice, excellent breakfast & pool.

This moring the boys slept in 'til 7:49 a.m.  ... gullped down some OJ, eggs & bacon.... went for a swim to burn off the pent up energy from yesterday ride.

We pointed the Yukon towards the Falls Park, a 100 foot falls, covering 123 acres... an average of 7,400 gallons of water.

www.siouxfallscvb.com

While walking the trails of the falls, the boys declared, "Isn't this majestic, God thought, I want a slab of quartz here, a boulder here to make these falls!"  Brock, told them, "Wait 'til we get to Yellowstone, it's even more majestic."

We headed west, on on I-90..... made a pit stop in Michel, Nebraska at Cabela's for a compass, bear bell & a new pair of Keens for all our peds.

The boys listened to Gary Paulson's The River, on CD.... Brock listened to podcasts: Freakenomics, Adam Corolla, Dave Ramsey.... I enjoyed the view, prairie, pastures full of bovine sunning themselves, beaver dams build in little roadside ponds, horizon as far as the eye can see, blue skies dotted with fluffs of cummulus....

I read a little Francis Chan, Crazy Love, sharing the true love of our Savior, and Jennifer Weiner told me a tale on my kindle, Fly Away Home, when my brain started to hurt. I navigated from the old State Farm map.... and was an excellent 'backseat driver.' .... & thanks to our uncle loaning us his Verizon, wireless modem, I was able to write & blog to you, upload pics, work on AGAPE 2 LEARN stuff & Marvelous Math camp I am facilitating, email-ed, facebook-ed, etc.

We arrived at the Badlands National Park by mid-day.  What an amazing piece of this earth. The boys oohh-ed & aahhed over the first little hills we approached, once again proclaiming God's majesty.  We hiked the Cliff Shelf, our youngest recognizing a choir of crickets, singing us a Badland ballad.  We spotted deer tracks in the mud along the hiking trail.

On the drive out of the park we came across a prairie dog 'town'. We stopped, the boys insisting on getting out for a closer look.  We told them that the dogs would probably retreat to their dens.  Those little rascals are used to people, they stayed on their mounds, 'chattering away' (as our youngest also observed).  On the drive we saw prong horned deer grazing, a tom turkey strutting, and antelope at play.

I wanted to stop at Wall Drug, in Wall, South Dakota. To have a soda and sundae at an old fashioned fountain.  A friend had recommended the stop, their family had done so on a South Dakota vaca a few years back.  We ended up making it there for dinner.... buffalo burgers, fries & onion rings.  After dinner, my husband exclaimed, "I'm stuffed, I don't think there's room for dessert."  Our youngest piped up with his favorite line, stolen from Todd, Grandad's ranch right-hand-man...."I'm never too full for ice cream. It just melts and fills in the extra space."  They had scoops of cookie dough.

I took a peak at their history.... cute story of the American dream.... they needed customers, put up billboards advertising 'free water,' and now serve 20,000 customers free water on a given summer day..FREE WATER. Now days we pay a couple bucks for water.  What an ingenious marketing plan, cooked up by the wife of a pharmacists, as she tried to nap with her children on a scorching summer day.

Finally we drove to Crazy Horse Memorial for a 10:15 p.m. laser light show....

Then hit the hay at the White House lodge... $79 travel steal....

Sunday, we will take in Mt. Rushmore... and head to Cody, WY....

Pray for our traveling mercies ... as we take in this great land.

Many tales & pics to follow (the wi-fi card couldn't take the upload)....

..."a spoonful of chuckles..."

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.  ~E.E. Cummings

Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything.  ~Kurt Vonnegut

Now that I am 3 dozen years-old, I realized that I shouldn't take myself too seriously.  Our bodies need to laugh, chuckle, giggle and grin...

Without laughter, our bodies crave the the endorphins they are deficient in ...

This past school year, I felt myself nagging, and yelling and being the bad guy.  I didn't like it, I hated how it made me feel, I was developing a crevice in between my eyebrows from scowling.  I decided then, that life is too short to be spent is the land and persona of Oscar the Grouch.

I decided to make a few alterations in life. I began recording episodes of "The Office" on TBS. I began chuckling at and with Michael Scott and his co-workers.

I started googling and reading a knock knock joke each day.... and reading them with my boys.

I used to give my former students 'brain food" in the form of Laffy-Taffy... with a great joke on every wrapper.... their Aunt Amy has even taken to emailing them her Laffy-Taffy finds.

My boys have gotten into the joke thing.  They love telling me new ones they have heard, recently this joke came home... "What did the bacon say to the egg? You crack me up!"

On my birthday I donned a pink tutu and a pink gerbera daisy in my hair. A college friend sells them at
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephanies-Wonderland/267167410373

My friends took me to lunch at the golf course... and I showed up in the tutu.

It was so fun to be wacky.  My boys told me how pretty I looked.  I think they enjoyed giggling AT me.

The following day was Celebrate Reading Day at my boys school. My oldest son got to dress as his favorite book character.  He chose karate Flat Stanley, sporting his karate gi.  I was invited to be one of the many guest readers for the day.  At drop off in the morning, I was inspired by my son's teacher, dressed as Ms. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus books.  I decided I too, HAD to dress up.  To have fun, to giggle, to be like a third grader.

I wanted to go as Fern from "Charlotte's Web."  My youngest son loves miniature things.... I went to his  baskets of mini's looking for a spider ring I was sure had been in a Halloween goodie bag from our auntie.  I found many things: an armadillo, knights, pirates, a jaguar, army guys.... but no spider.

I had to change courses.... in college I had to compile a learning portfolio, and included "Ramona, age 8" by Beverly Clearly, as a book that changed my feelings about reading.

So I took out an old t-shirt and Sharpie'd "Ramona, age 8".... dressed in the pink tutu, a pink argyle and a teal polka-dotted sock.... turquoise Mary Jane's... a purple gingham scarf as a belt, bright necklaces... a bracelet my youngest had created in preK out of a pipe cleaner & pony beads.... and two pig tails, one with the pink gerbera daisy, and one with a green dotted ribbon.

When I arrived at the school office to sign in, the secretary laughed, asking if my oldest would be embarrassed to see me?

This is what I love about my eldest.... when it was my turn to enter the classroom to read, he ran up to me, threw his arms around me, and said, "Mom, you look cute! Thanks for coming to read to us!"

I first read The Dreamer by Cynthia Rylant, and second I read one of her Henry & Mudge books, Henry & Mudge & the Tall Treehouse.

In the story The Dreamer, Rylant talks about a young artist who was bored, so He created a star.  The illustration showing hands cutting a star out of paper. Next the artist molds a blob of clay into an earth, full of ridges and boulders.... next He created blue water to cover the earth....

The story continues, the young artist creating green grass, whales to navigate the turquoise waters, and humans.  The second to the last page says that the artist has always called the humans his children... and they in turn have always called him.... God.

This story was a graduation gift from a friend I student taught with in 1997.  Such a great tale, re-penned by an award winning-outstanding-author... to look at the creation of our earth, and us... from a child-like perspective.

So.... when was the last time you enjoyed a child like tale?  When was the last time you told a knock-knock joke?  When was the last time you laughed... a deep belly laugh, from the depths of your soul?

I am glad I have stopped taking myself too seriously.... glad I am sharing laughter with my sons.... glad I will not waste my days away... for my sons and I have joy in our hearts.

.."kindergarten, all you need to know..."

Remember the book in the late 1980's  Everything I need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten. Author Robert Fulghum hit the nail on the head with a lot of the life lessons he gleaned from the kindergarten classroom.

I was a middle school teacher in my past life. My degree and license are kindergarten -9th grade.... but I never taught in the lower elementary.

A few weeks ago, I was asked to substitute in my youngest son's kindergarten class. I was a little skeptical, not sure how he would react with me as his 'teacher' for the day... He did exceptionally well, other children who know me on a social level struggled more than my own son. (insert big smile, he has come a long way these past 9 months)

I'll admit it.... I was scared to death... the 'real' kindergarten teacher is amazing... she sings a tune & they line-up in a perfect line like ants marching along.....

So I called the expert... my mother-in-law... she had taught for nearly 40 years... she is at her best when surrounded by a handful of ankle-bitters... she launched their districts full day kindergarten and now teaches the districts pre-k program......every month she sends a large manilla envelope to my youngest with all the activities she will do with her students, she copies 6 extra sets for her young grandkids.....

She emailed me 5 'new' songs.... I had them eating out of the palm of my hand..... singing about the parts of the plant to the tune of "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes" ..... and to the tune of "Hush Little Baby Don’t You Cry"-'Quiet little children don’t say a word,We’re leaving our room and we shouldn’t be heard, With hands at our side we do not talk, Stay in our line as we start to walk' .....

The class had recently visited a local greenhouse.... we had to make observations in their science journals of several different pots of violets... one without soil... one without water.... one without sunlight... one with all the essential elements of survival.

We played site word BINGO, combined magnetic letters on a cookie sheet to form words, and built towers of unifix cubes when practicing addition.

We read stories by the author David Shannon, who the class was doing an author study over.  We had carpet time, and stations: including paining, which they generously used enough tempra paint to drip on the linoleum.  The morning only students left & I dinned with the full day gang on melamine trays... enjoying tater tot casserole (ask my mom, it's still a fave) a half pint of milk and an oatmeal raisin cookie.

Lots of comical things happened that day.  Kids say the darned-est things, don't they.... one pair, a boy & girl, were partners for stations... they argued the whole time like an 80 year-old married couple... her trying to boss him around... he just smiling and nodding, until he'd had enough....

We had 'resting time' for them to lay on their mats while I read them a story.

I helped little boys make it all the way across the monkey bars while on recess duty... I helped another boy hunt for a bug for the bug house he had brought for recess that day.

I have the alarm on my iPhone set to remind me to leave to pick my own boys up from school... I have it set to quack like a duck, my brain seems to ignore a buzz or ring.... at 2:35p.m. the phone went off and one little girl exclaimed, "Mrs. Peterson, you pocket is quacking!"

I decided that all people should have recess every day.  Young and old alike... if you get some fresh air in your lungs.... play and laugh some, you will be a happier, healthier being.

I was reminded of the lessons we as grown-ups sometimes forget.....

*  Say please & thank you....
*  Be respectful of others & their property...
*  Use your ears to listen, your eyes to observe and your hand in the air to politely call attention to yourself....
*  Be thankful for your blessings, as they prayed to start and end their day, and to bless their lunch to their bodies use...

In the book of Matthew, Jesus told his apostles, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them."

What I learned from the 5 & 6 year old students that day is that they are uninhibited.... they freely wear their hearts on their sleeves. They cry when they are hurt, they laugh when they are jolly. They give hugs when they think you need one. Children give freely.

At some point in our development, probably between the ages of 10 and 20, we allow our culture and it's expectations... to "culture-ize" us ...  to rule us... to govern our thoughts and feelings.... to confine, to inhibit, to allow us to feel judged...
to make our actions guarded.... a way of sealing off our souls, to prevent judgement and embarrassment....

Over the past decade I have been on a long slow journey... I learned that I too, need to freely come to the Lord... that I need to live a life that is not hindered with societies expectations of how I should act.

I ended the day with a tootsie-pop for 'brain food' (we had worked hard) & asked each of them to give me: a handshake, hug or high five.... that's what let me know they survived!

…”fill-er-up…”

 A friend just called me a few days ago and exclaimed…”I get it, I finally understand what you were telling me about being filled with the Holy Spirit.  We had a conversation where you told me about how much fuller life is with the Holy spirit… and to be honest, I thought you were nuts…. But I get it now.”

I am now a spirit filled person…. It has been a long journey to get here again….

I say ‘again’ because I really believe that as children, we are very spirit filled…. Sometime between puberty and adulthood…. Life and society warp us, if we allow them to.

I was a child who loved the Lord.  In public kindergarten I drew a picture of Jesus as my best friend in a book about me…. The next year my folks enrolled me in Catholic School, realizing and meeting my spiritual need to be surrounded with believers. 

As a teen I loved the Lord, but selfishness and the need for attention thought achievement won me over…. And I wasn’t thanking the Lord for those talents…. I was a Kansas State medalist in track, I was a cheerleader in the Macy’s Day Parade and performed on NBC tv…. I cheered for Kansas University in the 1992 Aloha Bowl in Honolulu, Hawaii….. I was accepted to camps for exceptional future teachers…. I traveled as an ambassador of Kansas to a American Rural Electric Coop gathering in Steamboat Springs, Colorado…. I was elected to return the next summer, & then asked back the summer after that…. I taught  a camp at Kansas State University, Summer Adventure, mostly for professors children … and was asked back to lead the camp the following summer…. I was on the Dean of the college of Education list…. I was awarded Outstanding Student of Elementary Education at my 1997 college graduation…..

A life of achievements piled up….. then I was just an elementary teacher…. I had such a hard time when life was no longer a list of achievements to be racked up…… 6^th and 7^th graders did not care what I had done in life.  They really only cared about what I was doing for them.  I had to learn to live each day for the Lord…. Allowing the Holy Spirit to fill me, use me, be the salt and light to all around me….

Life being filled by the spirit is rich and full… everything is brighter, colors are more colorful… I see the beauty of nature around me…. I see the Lord’s hand in all things….

So how does one become filled with the Spirit?

You have to be faithful in your prayer life.

You have to have spiritual friends, who support you & keep you accountable on your spiritual journal.

You have to be in the word. I have to find ways to make it fit into my busy life…. Many days I am in scripture on my iPhone or on wwww.biblegateway.com I love to sit with my 12 year old bible, a gift from my husband when I joined my first women’s Bible study… it was on the book of Ezra, I was back in Ezra this past winter with my Living Fire small group….. so fun to read 12 year old notes….

Five years ago I read a book by the late Henri Nouwen,  In the Name of Jesus.1

Nouwen was a Catholic priest who taught at Notre Dame, Harvard and Yale. He left Yale and went to live in a community of mentally handicapped individuals.  There he was just Henri, not Herni Nouwen the Yale educator…. According to Nouwen it was life altering, humbling at it’s finest.  When Nouwen would travel and give lectures, he would always travel with one of the men form the handicapped community…. To keep him real, to keep him humble, to keep him spirit filled….

Remember the saying, "you are what you eat?"  If you eat mostly junk food, your body is junk.... if you eat healthy food, fruit & veggies, your body is health.  The same is true with your spirit. You have to feed it.... food for the soul.  

In Galatians the apostle Paul explains the fruits of the spirit....

Galatians 5:22-23 (Today's New International Version)

 "²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

To have a healthy soul... a spirit filled soul, you must fill it with these things... LOVE
JOY
PEACE
PATIENCE
KINDNESS
GOODNESS
FAITHFULNESS
GENTLENESS
SELF-CONTROL

If you fill your soul with the opposite, anger, hate, grumpiness, badness, roughness, out-of-control-ness.... you will be "what you eat"...

I had the biggest smile on my face as my friend told her story…. How she thought I was wacked out back when I first told her about my spiritual life…. How she now gets it….

What joy it brings to be used by the Lord… to be a blessing to others… to share a spirit filled life…

So dear reader....  what do you fill your soul with? Definately food for thought... pun intended....

1 Henri Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus (New York, NY.: The Crossroads Publishing Company., 1989)

..."3 dozen..."

Today is the date of my birth... I am 3 dozen years "young"...

I love birthdays! I always have.... as a kid my birthday usually marked the nearing of the end of school. Many years it was the last day of school.  As a college student, I graduated on my 22nd birthday. What a fun celebration that was.... my mom & dad gave me a card with 100 $1 dollar bills in it... I still remember chuckling at that... my dad took us all out to a nice lunch after the graduation ceremony, he bought champagne and we toasted the end of my days as a student, the beginning of adulthood, and me becoming another year wiser (or maybe smart-y-er) ....

My Kansas teaching license is then renewed every 5 years on the date of my birth....

As a teacher I loved making a big deal of my birthday... some years baking cupcakes in ice cream cones, something my Mom did for my birthday treats back when I was a pre-schooler at the Lollipop House... some years bringing in my favorite candy for 'brain food'.

One year my track team ran at the Regional meet on my birthday... qualifying for the State meet.... what an awesome birthday gift...

3 dozen years is monumental for me.... I have gone through the refiners fire this past 14 months or so.... I have come out stronger than I have been over the past decade...

When I turned 30, six years ago, we had been in Indiana for almost a year... I was really struggling with all of it, the move, being a stay at home mom, having a second new baby... it was my first birthday 'at home' without students or colleagues to pamper me.... I remember telling my husband that I wanted a white cake with white frosting & lots of flowers.... that day when he came home for lunch, he had my cake in hand.... my then 3 year-old son posed for pictures with the cake... blowing out the candles for me...

Living far away from our immediate family means we celebrate birthdays with just the four of us.... the birthday boy (or me on May17) gets to choose the dinner menu... our kids generally get to pick a favorite restaurant to each at... Red Robin is usually the top pick... with mac & cheese, chicken fingers and bottomless Shirley Temples....

My favorite is fried chicken... my Grandma Lenore used to make the best fried chicken... it was a town favorite at the annual Memorial Day pot luck.... I have visions from my young childhood of her dressing a chicken from the farm yard....
Next to my fried chicken I would request a pile of my mother's mashed potatoes with her white chicken gravy.... my husband even says it is the best gravy he has laid eyes on....

This year I am running in my second EVER 5K race.  I ran my first 5K when my oldest son was a baby... our church hosted a race for an African orphanage...

This race is for Autism, a disorder that was diagnosed in prevalence by the time I exited the classroom seven years ago...


Malachi 3:2 (The Message)   2-4"But who will be able to stand up to that coming? Who can survive his appearance?
   He'll be like white-hot fire from the refiners furnace. He'll be like the strongest lye soap at the laundry. He'll take his place as a refiner of silver, as a cleanser of dirty clothes. He'll scrub the Levite priests clean, refine them like gold and silver, until they're fit for God, fit to present offerings of righteousness. Then, and only then, will Judah and Jerusalem be fit and pleasing to God, as they used to be in the years long ago."


The Lord has used the past decade, or so, to refine me.... He has placed www.vantagepoint3.org in my path.... showing me the 'tale' of my life.... what he was trying to do in and through it .... He has made me face some difficult demons... and when I reached out to Him... when I completely submitted and gave my whole self to him, He reached down to me and pulled me out of the pit I had fallen into....

For all things are possible with Jesus... He strengthens the weak... He equips the called.... He loves completely...

I want to celebrate my birthday, 3 dozen years on this earth, by doing something for someone else.... by not being as 'selfish' as I have been on past birthdays....
By running in honor of all the kiddos I taught who are individuals with autism... by doing something that shows I am stronger.... that I have been through the refiners fire, and have come out on the other side... all the better....for the Lord created me, exactly the way I am ... a grateful believer with her own bag full of hang ups..... but if I get my strength from the Lord, the next 3 dozen will be a piece of cake! .... right?

..."cock-a-doodle-do..."

My youngest has always been an early riser....


Our baby woke at 5:09 a.m. early one morning this week… only this time he isn’t an infant… he is now 6 years-old...


His kindergarten class had gotten chicken eggs and they were incubating them for a science experiemnt.  He wanted to be the first one in class so a chick might 'imprint' him....


You know how ducks & geese imprint? .... following around the first being they see, usually their mama... I suppose baby chicks can to.... he made me promise that if one imprints on him, he can bring it home at the end of the school year.... I worry that he may become hor dorves for the neighborhood felines....


What 6 year-old knows this much about imprinting?  My son has an amazing mind.... wise beyond his years....


A few weeks ago, I TeVo'd an old movie from 1996..."Fly Away Home" were a girl incubates Canadian geese eggs & teaches them to fly... eventually flying them in an ultra-light plane from Ontario, Canada to Florida.

What a precious little boy my youngest is...  to wish for a baby chick to imprint him & follow him everywhere….

The science experiement came from Purdue University, part of extension education…. Inside the incubator were a dozen or so chicken eggs.  What an amazing science lesson… what an amazing lesson in life…. A few eggs didn’t hatch… a few didn’t make it, dying within the first 24 hours of their short life…. This is the cycle of life… survival of the fittest…

Friday morning when my youngest woke with the sunrise…. He asked my husband if his mill-store-front sold chicken wire… we could see the wheels turning in his head… he wants a pet baby chick… I asked the kindergarten teacher what they were going to do with the chicks when school lets out…. “Adoption papers” are being sent home with every kindergartner.  We are going to be away from home a total of 5 cumulative weeks this summer…. We have coyotes in our neighborhood woods… a chick wouldn’t get the tender love and care they deserve and would need to survive on our ranch….

I stopped in the classroom Friday morning to give reading tests, the final reading tests of the year…. 

The class was huddled around the Rubbermaid tote, heat lamp shining on all of them… they are enamored with their classroom pets…  one child was telling me he had figured out where a certain chick was ticklish. They have been the caregivers... they have fed .... and watered... and loved those chicks.


Thinking of birds imprinting has me thinking about how maybe we should imprint the Lord...


He meets our every need.... He gives drink, earthly H2O and the living water... He gives us food, both to sustain our bodies and the bread of life for our souls... He placed a gigantic heat lamp in the sky to warm us, start and end our days and He have us the SON to light our hearts and lives...


So why don't we 'imprint' the Lord, as a baby bird does it's mother?  The Lord created us with a God shaped hole... it can only be filled by him, by pursuing a personal relationship with him... it can't be filled with food, clothing, houses, furniture, cars, boats, vacations, .... the list could go on and on....


As humans, it is in our nature to try to fill that void with things... with stuff... with too-much-too-much-ness... but what we really need is Him... what He really wants is for us to take the steps to be in a deeper relationship with Him...

So ... have you 'imprinted' the Lord? ... following Him ... being in His word? ... talking to Him in prayer... "listening"  (you don't dial the phone, rattle of a list of request & hang up on the person you called) ...


...letting Him guide you, all the days of your life? ....

..."hands & feet..."

Yesterday as I ran the pups along our wooded road, I had an erie sense I was being watched... I looked up in a tree & saw a pair of hands & feet... hanging on to the upper trunk.

As we took a few more strides down the road I saw a raccoon, 'tree hugging' ... perched up high for a morning nap... had probably just 'stumbled' home after a night out on the town.

It startled me at fist, his head moving ever so slightly .... probably keeping an eye on the pups.  I am not really a fan of raccoons... they have been known to sneak through the dog door & dine on our feline and canine kibble...

Raccoons are interesting beasts... Ornery.... Intelligent really, maybe too smart for their own good. Our Aunt & Uncle have had their share of raccoon problems, they sneak into their screened in porch to eat pet food there too.  Our uncle was so fed up he tried many 'boobi-traps' .... boarding the pet door, they broke through....
My favorite is the use of hot sauce... our uncle sprinkled a whole bottle of hot sauce, brought from Jamaica as a gift, on a bowl of cat food...  In the morning the cat food was gone, & the water dish was full of the evidence of 'hand washing'.... the coons had devoured the seasoned food.... then, I picture them dancing around mouth & paws burning... you know that feeling when you are eating salsa that is hot, but so good you can't stop yourself.....

Yesterday's coon encounter has me thinking about us as humans.... do we just 'hang on' and observe life from afar? Are we ornery, instigating mischief rather than work towards a 'greater good?'  How do we use our hands & feet?  To hold on, for dear life....

We are truly called to be the hands & feet of Jesus.... not watching from afar, or selfishly working for our own self-preservation.  We are called to help others... showing them the love of Jesus.

Last night I attended a banquet with my church small group. There are six of us... two couples, a man whose wife completed our curriculum last year (& she mentors me) and myself as their facilitator (my husband completed the course four years ago).  The banquet was in honor of the Good Samaritan Mission in Gary, Indiana.... Gary, the murder capital of American. They bring men & women off the street into their apartment complex (1 building for men, 1 building for women) .  Pastor Jin & Tammy Watson enroll them in a two year 'Life Change' ministry, teaching them how to live as 'clean' individuals... leaving behind the drugs & booze that they once lived for..... living as a community of believers... in the word .... cohabitation as grateful believers who struggle with individual hang-ups, habits, and hurts.

Two men were awarded for completing the program, living clean Christ-centered lives for two years.  Our small group spent a Saturday afternoon at their offices, building walls.  In five hours we had studded, wired electrical, drywalled, mudded & taped three walls.  It was a physically exhausting day.  The guys even let us ladies run the saw & taught me how to run the saw-z-all, with a huge smile on my face. That day brought me such a feeling of peace... allowing my hands to be the hands of Jesus.

I have to plan & execute a personal project for my small group.  After spending time at the Good Samaritan, hearing stories of their soup kitchen... filled with single mom's and children, my project idea was born. My whole focus for this year's small group has been to allow the Lord to use me as a spiritual leader for my sons.  My project is going to allow us, the boys & I, to be the hands of Jesus.  We are making 'kid kits' for the Good Samaritan to distribute to women participating in their food pantry program.  Each kit will contain a Ziploc of homemade play dough, crayons, and Bible themed activity sheets all packaged in a large Ziploc... to be sent home with the monthly box of food.

These are the simple things my kids take for granted... crayons, left strewn about the car... tossed in the garbage,because there's plenty more where that came from.  Play dough, homemade with love, scented with kool-aid, or vanilla, or almond extract to stimulate the senses and provide NEEDED tactile stimulation....  and Bible activities... my kids have been coloring pictures of David conquering Goliath, or Daniel's victorious exit from the lion's den since they were in diapers.... these children may have never heard of such heroes.....

So friends & family..... my challenge to you is this.... will you be like that ornery raccoon & use your hands to selfishly hang on for dear life? .... will you use your hands to just simply write a check & place it in a collection plate? .....  OR will you use your hands to do God's work & show the love of Jesus? .....

...not-so-desperate update...May 2011"

So I have been 'blogging' for one month.... I started April 7, 2011 and you dear friends, family & strangers, have kept me accountable & inspired...

This is my 28th 'tale' ... who would have thought I'ld have this much to say.... but, my folks aways said, even as a child.... I never knew a stranger....

I thought you might enjoy a not-so-desperate update...

My audience is amazing... of course.  I have readers / 'hits' in:

United States = 1,460
Germany = 15
Columbia = 11
Denmark = 3
Norway = 2
United Kingdom = 2
Belgium = 1
Japan = 1

I do know several of the international readers ... they spent time in Jennings, Kansas as exchange students... however I welcome the new friends I am making in Columbia, Denmark, Belgium & the United Kingdom.

The pups are growing like weeds... this morning they got into a pot of tulip & daffodil bulbs and tried them out as 5 a.m. snack... scattering them all over the yard.... going to have to remove some sod from around the lilac tree we received as a gift to mark Brock's Granny's passing... I'll plant the bulbs there, to enjoy next spring... probably split some of Aunt Flo's hostas that are getting a little mamouth too....

The boys got their go-kart running again, but they don't complain about the helmets since the accident.

School is letting out in less than three weeks, then the casa will be full of action, hustle & bustle... leaving me to be desperate for a little alone time...

The hubs is well, ... the hubs... he willingly goes to work every day so I can do what I do from the homestead .... he feeds American, one dairy cow & pig at a time....
He is shopping for my birthday gift... the once promised 'shopping cart', a BMW convertible... years ago, a friend I taught with had a BMW convertible, a gift from her husband, dubbed 'the shopping cart' ...  I made him promise to one day give me one ...IF... I moved to Indiana.... pics to follow when it is in the driveway....

AND I remain ever so, not-desperate.... I have been busy blogging to you all.... I have recently founded an educational consulting company www.agape2learn.com .... our first project is a summer math club... Marvelous Math Mondays at DeMotte Christian School..... I look forward to using my teacher brain again, to "help educators bring fun & efficiency back to their schools, while achieving excellence in educating!"

The hubs & I are kenneling the pups, loading up the boys & heading to Yellow Stone & Grand Tetons National Parks at the start of summer... about 56 hours of estimated driving time.... we will listen to endless amounts of books on tape (or is it mp3 these days0 .... guzzle gallons of Starbucks.... chew bags of our favorite prairie treat (sunflower seeds) ... have karaoke singing contests (that's the boys & I, the hubs will surly wear his BOSE noise cancelling headphones, early father's day gift) .... many more 'tales' to follow I am sure....

So thank you dear readers, for taking part of your busy lives to share in reading about mine ..... and to close a favorite from the book of Numbers...

"May the Lord bless you & keep you. May he make his face to shine upon you... and give you PEACE."

..."I brought you into this world..."

A Mother's Day tribute to my mom.... she brought me into this world... and as Bill Cosby said on the Cosby Show ... "I can take you out." ☺

My mom has given me life... she has sacrificed her dreams, to raise my sister & brother & I ....

And I am mighty proud to say she did an excellent job... we are all successful, usually-law abiding, God fearing beings ...  we all work (I'm the only one earning a salary of hugs & kisses), pay taxes... have graduated from Kansas State University (yes we attended & graduated WHERE we root) ... & we all married purple (Doug, red & blue do make purple ☺) ... my mom even reared one doctor, my sister has a doctorate of physical therapy... wow, what amazing kids she raised...

My mom put college on hold to start a family... she & I even commuted between Western Kansas and nursing school, until the combo became too daunting.... she chose mothering... such a great model that life & plans change... what you thought you'd be doing when you were 20 isn't what you'd do for a lifetime... but she will always be a mother. She has gone on to become a successful residential real estate appraiser, now that we have all 'flown the coop'... something she might have never envisioned when she was a young teenager...

I was an only child for half a decade... savoring the spotlight of my sibling-less life...a rather selfish tot truly... my dad told me once that he could tell what kind of day mom & I had had when he would return from work... it we had butted heads, we'd be on seperate sides of the house... if we had spent the day in harmony, we'd be making dinner side by side... I was very stubborn & wanted things my way... wow, I had a lot 'growing' to do, even as a toddler...

My dad told my husband this story on the eve of our wedding... when I was 3-4 years old & my blankets would work their way off during the night... I would call out to my mother..."Cover me up..." until my mom would crawl out of bed, climb the stairs to my room and cover me up...

My dad told my husband... "Now it's your turn to cover her up."

Even as an adult my mom has a sixth sense when it comes to her kids... during a rough day nearly 10 years ago, my mom called me out of the blue... the Lord knew I needed to hear the voice from the womb I had originated...

My mom is at my boys beckon call... flying to Indiana to 'kid-sit' & chauffeur, attend roller skating parties & be the mash potato chef  ... so my husband & I can get away and remember why we fell in love... or attend a business meeting in a far away land...

My mom & dad have driven 30 hours round trip to visit.... driven 10 hours to watch me run a 10 second race as a teenager... chaperoned me on a trip to perform in the Macy's Day Parade in 1990, opening my eyes to a big big world out there...

My mom used to leave my siblings & I 'to-do-lists'.... her motto being 'do something productive & constructive each day'..... I am thankful for the life lesson that 'working hard, is better than hardly working'...

I asked the boys what their favorite memories of Grandma are:
going on 'rabbit hunts' (walking Ginger the head of ranch security) in the cedar windbreak...

Being read to & now reading  Mercer Meyer's Little Critter books to Grandma... she has an extensive library...

Going on adventures in Grandma's attic to find a tote of toys saved from my siblings childhoods... all mementos stowed away to share with the next generation...

Eating Rice Krispie Treats for snack time in their fort in Kansas, cooked by Grandma...

Eating Grandma's fried chicken & mashed potatoes with her white country gravy.... AND chicken & noodles plopped on a pile of mashed pots.....

The modern day pampering of a mother  and grandma...

This had me thinking of a Biblical mother in the Old Testament... she did her best to 'pamper' her son, Moses....

Moses' birth mother knew to save her son, she had to sacrifice her own feelings & had his sister Miriam place Moses in a basket in the river... cleverly places where the Pharaoh's daughter would be bathing... then Moses' mother strategically got a job being Moses' wet nurse in Pharaoh's palace.... (paraphrased from the book of Exodus 1 - 2)

The Lord chose mothers to bring us into this world.  Mothers make sacrifice after sacrifice for the greater good of their children.  My mom has sacrificed for me....her first born who was an unpleasant teenager... a college student who would disrespectfully break curfew, sending my mother out to scour the ditches of the country roads near our home... me who moved over 1/4 of the way across the country .... me who sometimes just needs to hear the voice of my mother when homesickness sets in... reminding me of the girl she raised me to be...

... and for that I thank the Lord... I am blessed.

... "oohh, la, la..."

Today my youngest son's class celebrated Mother's Day with a Spa for Mom.... what a fun morning... his teacher is really something else... she is one of the most amazing educators I have encountered...

We received an official pink invitation saying "Ooooh La La" ... with an RSVP card... when we arrived we rotated stations with our child. First we played multiple hands of 'Go Fish' ....

Next we moved on to a listening station & listened and read along to "Are You My Mother" by Dr. Seuss & dined on a buffet of Godiva chocolate and cookies... we washed it down with a refreshing glass of lemonade...

The next stop was was the most devine.... the pedicure station... my son soaked and washed my feet in a foot bath... I felt a little like a disciple being cared for by Jesus... my son used gentle hands to apply apricot scrub & wash it away...

Next he painted my toe nails... a light silver.... ever so meticulously...

The next station was a manicure & neck massage station... he teacher has shown them how to 'wipe' the extra polish off the brush, so you don't drip... she had suggested they karate chop & sprinkle rain drops on our shoulders (massage them)...  my son loved filing my nails... with his tongue out, deep in concentration...

This reminded me of the last time a man painted my toes.... huge and pregnant.... 216 pounds of pregnant..... it was winter & I was pregnant with the very boy who painted today's pedi-master piece.... I was fat & wanted my toenails painted to feel pretty.... I asked my husband to paint them... to be beautiful in labor & delivery.... my farm raised, brothers-only, Midwestern man sat at my feet and painted my toes... a true act of love!

... Our last station was reading in the class Reading Hut... my son chose a book by Robert Munch. Such a fun author I wasn't familiar with. He was proud to be exposing me to one of his favorites.

Next the students each gifted their mother with a melomane plate decorated by their 6 year old artistic selves... a special note scribed by my youngest... who could only write his name nine short months ago...

The kindergarten teacher ended our Spa treatment with a touching prayer & a story by Marianne Richmond... "If I Could Keep You Little."  My son climbed upon my lap... growing up so fast he fills it up to the brim.

Tears filled my eyes as I listened to his teacher read.  Each page talked about something we wish we could do for our kids forever.... pick matching clothes, but then we would miss seeing them choose a polka-dot shirt & striped pants.... rock them and sing nursery rhymes, but then we would get to hear them sing a solo in the school program growing up...

Such a great story... we have to let them grow up... learn thing for themselves.... find their own way in the world....

This takes brain on a rabbit trail... to a favorite verse from my Bible mandate...
"Every good & perfect gift comes from above... from the creator of the heavenly lights..." James 1:17 (paraphrased by me)

Our children are a good gift... a perfect gift... given to us from our heavenly Father...

The plate I was gifted today reminded me that yes, my son will grow up... but I have photos & mementos to document his journey ... to remind me of when he was still small enough to fill my lap...

For I really think the joy of mothering is in the journey... watching them grow and evolve into the men the Lord has planned for them to be...

I pray multiple times a day for both my boys... I pray for their future spouses, the little girl the Lord will some day have grow up to become their wife... I pray for my boys safety... their choices... their spiritual development... that the Lord will bless them with good & perfect people in their lives.

It's tough watching your kids grow up before your eyes... but if we trust in the Lord, he will unfold the amazing plans he has for them.

On this Thursday afternoon I am thankful the Lord has entrusted these two souls to me... I am thankful he has placed my son in his kindergarten teacher's class... the Lord's plan for my son is slowly unfolding... I can't wait to see what else He has in store!

..."modern day fairy-tale..."

My life is a modern day fairy-tale.... I have my prince... I get to dress up sometimes... wear crazy hats when I feel like it... but I don't have to live my life under the watchful eye of the world... and for this I am grateful... what an eye sore I would be to an official royal family...

All this British royal wedding media has me thinking of modern day fairytales, do they really exist? ....

I was a young girl, six years old, when Diana married Prince Charles....

My husband told me he loved me for the first time the night Princess Diana died...

We spent our 1st anniversary in London back in 2000 during the celebration of Prince William's adulthood... his 18th birthday...

In hind sight, my sons are named after the crown princes... completely not intentional.... our oldest son is named after both his grandfathers... our youngest shares the same name as Prince Harry, whose official name rhymes with ornery .... notice dear friends & fam... I have been very discreet about keeping the subjects of my 'tales' name-less....
As a former teacher I wanted to name our youngest a name 'that I hadn't taught'.... the year after I left, my team had a boy by the same name ....

During the spring of 2004 my husband was interviewing with Sprint for a position that would have relocated us to London for five years.... the image of me prancing about London with my own princes was rather alluring.... but my husbands uncle called three quarters of the way through the London process & invited us to Indianan... London... DeMotte... We trusted in the Lord, sold our house to the second couple to view it, & 5 weeks later we were Hoosiers instead of Redcoats, Limeys or Tommie's...

So I was a little nostalgic during all the royal wedding stuff... I had to TeVo it all.... my husband and I had to leave the house at 5:30 a.m. that morning to make an 8:00 a.m. appointment in Chicago.... and I have only watched bits and pieces ...

When we were eating brunch later in the city last Friday, the TV was showing Will & Kate riding in the blue convertible....

A favorite part of the nuptials for me was the Gospel reading from Romans 12... this passage has been placed in my path 4 times over the past month.... once during a small group study of James McDonald's book Gripped by the Greatness of God, during a sermon series of Romans in April, in my small group study for Living Fire with www.vantagepoint3.org .... and during the wedding of Will & Kate...

I like the paraphrased version in the Message....
Place Your Life Before God
Romans 12
 ^1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you....



^9-10Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
 ^11-13Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.
 ^14-16Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy; share tears when they're down. Get along with each other; don't be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody.
 ^17-19Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you've got it in you, get along with everybody. Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. "I'll do the judging," says God. "I'll take care of it."

There are so many nuggets of wisdom... life lessons... to be gleaned from Romans 12. 

verse 2: "Fix your attention on God" ... reminds me of the hymn "Fix Your Eyes Upon Jesus."... don't just fit into the culture, or society... in all that you do, be the hands & feet of Jesus....

verse 9: "Love authentically"... from your core. Love deeply. 

verse 14: "Bless your enemies."  Don't begrudge them, shower them with love rather than hate.

verse 15 "Laugh with your friends." ... I think this means your family too, we all need more giggles & grins in our lives... if we laughed more, the world would be a much more pleasant place.

verse 16: "Share tears" ... tears are cleansing for the soul.

verse 17: "Don't hit" .... words & actions maybe forgiven, but once their 'out of the bag', they can't be put back in.

verse 18: "Discover beauty in everyone." ... & everything. So many people are just waiting for someone to notice them, to recognize them & strike up a conversation. Try to compliment everyone you come into contact with, just for one day... the beauty you tap into will amaze you.

In my reminiscing, I pulled an old photo album off the shelf. I was looking at the pictures from the trip to Britain, Brock & I as newlyweds... 12 months after we became husband & wife. Our smiles are so genuine... the love for one another is practically seeping off the photo paper. The look of genuine amusement adorns our faces, seeing Europe as 'young bucks.'  We were really so young & naive... in a good way. 

One photo shows me outside Kensington Palace, former home of Diana, Will & Harry,
trying to make the guard smile, I 'air kissed' him for the pose... not even a smirk.

A photo of Brock posing with a Beef Eater, guards of the crown jewels.  He arranged a private tour of Parliament for us, something generally only experienced by British citizens.  His son had immigrated to Chicago, IL, USA.... a way of 'paying it forward' with his generosity.

Another picture of Brock standing in Westminster Abby, next to the crypt of a famous author... the very place William took Kate to be his bride last Friday...

What I wouldn't give to go back in time and take that trip again... but with the hind-sight that I have now... I would have savored every second, every scone, every cup of French pressed coffee... knowing that life, & marriage, & work, & kids can all do their best to 'muddy thing up'... but if we live a Romans 12 focused life... a life 'placed before the Lord' just as the scripture read last week at the royal wedding says...

...it will all be brighter & fuller... rich in blessings... a God ordained 'fairy-tale."

..."‎don't gloat..."

I had a fairy-tale written to post today... in honor of the royal nuptials... it'll have to wait... the Ace from the infamous 'deck of cards' has been slain...

Yesterday stirred up a lot of memories of 9/11 for me.... I was in touch on facebook with a lot of old friends from our church plant in Kansas City... they were my support system back then...

One of them posted this scripture from Proverbs....

‎"Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice" -Proverbs 24:17

On September 10, 2001 our church was dedicating our new building... Brock & I were leaders for a little pre-youth group called "Route 56"... it was for 5th & 6th graders.... and old highway 56 ran through Shawnee & DeSoto.... one of our 6th graders had inherited the 5th grade class pet rat.... each 5th grade class ran a science experiment with 2 rats... a healthy food rat & a junk food rat... at the end of the year there was a raffle to see who inherited them... one of you youth kiddos did... & he thought it should be at church for the celebration... it stowed away in his coat pocket... the coat was then hung on the racks lining the hallway.... the rat decided to go on an adventure, climbed out of the pocket & ended up staring at our pastor in the copy room.... crazy day dedicating our new church building... memorable non-the-less.... that 6th grade boy will always be part of my 9/11 memory.... he has grown into a man, an adult in the 9+ years since that day....

So the next day at school during our team meeting, I was telling the other 6th grade teachers this story... we were rolling with laughter... about to wet myself, being 5 months pregnant with our oldest....

Our principal came into the team room... to start the meeting we thought.... he told us to quiet & settle down.... I said, "No what you have to hear this story!" .... He said there has been an accident... a plane just flew into the world trade center.... 

Our laughter seized...... the whole day played out in slow motion.... I was pregnant & remember going home to lay on the couch all night... watching the news, thinking "what kind of a world am I bringing this new life into?"....

Brock & I spent time on top of the World Trade Center... he spent several months on Long Island in 1998 with the first company worked for out of grad school... It was so hard to wrap my brain around what had happened.  A place that my husband & I had occupied... a place filled with people... mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, husbands, wives.... was attacked. 

Our scanner is not behaving... I wanted to show you all a picture of us on top of the WTC... young & on top of the world. I wanted to share a picture with you that we have on our bar in the basement, us at Ellis Island... with the WTC & NYC skyline as our back drop....

So how do I feel about the death of the United States most wanted outlaw.... I was at first relieved... almost a decade in the making, a terrorist was brought down.... tumbled down like the buildings collapse he orchestrated....

But then I read my KC friend Sara's facebook status....

‎"Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice" -Proverbs 24:17

the ancient wisdom of the book of Proverbs... I should not rejoice & brag & celebrate when and enemy falls....

Oh Lord, keep us and our country safe... shield us from evil until your son, Jesus our Messiah, returns to this earth.... help us to keep from gloating, rejoicing, celebrating in this death... help us to be your light unto this world.... amen

..."boys & their toys..."

When our oldest son was three my husband bought his first 'toy.' .... Friends of ours have two sons as well... the husband of the couple is a fraternity brother of Brock's... as a boy he and his father raced dirt bikes... so he has carried that family tradition on.... racing with his two sons through out the Midwest... they travel to the race... camp .... great family memories... when their oldest had out grown his first Honda 50, they offered to sell it to us ... so at the ripe old age of three our son had his first dirt bike.... complete with a 'tot-wheel' ... jumbo dirt bike training wheels, actually made & patented in our little Indiana town....

This wasn't actually his first toy... my Dad bought a go cart at a local Kansas auction when he was .... about 6 months old.... our oldest was the first grandchild for both the maternal & paternal grands .... needless to say, they were all excited about their first grand...

This summer the boys spent 11 days out in Northwest Kansas with my folks while we were on a Mexican vaca.  ... I flew to KS & drove out to fetch them... our youngest had a half dollar sized scab on his side during his bath... I inquired about it... he said, "We're not supposed to talk about that Mom..." ... apparently they were riding double on the single seater.... & he got munched by the tires... the perils of farm life... after that he rode with Grandpa instead of his 'brudder' (brother with the 'th' pronounced funny) ...

A few years ago the boys spent a week out with my in-laws... they talked Grandad into restoring their dad & uncles old 1979 go-cart... Santa left it under the tree for all of them to share ... my boys and their Grandad installed a new motor... reupholstered the seat.... the only problem is... it does not have a roll bar.

So we bought our second son his first toy when he was four ... another Honda 50... second hand also, off of Craig's List... he was a little more apprehensive, cautious rider than his brother...

So we always told the boys, that we bought the first toy & they would have to sell their first & use the cash... along with the 'commission' they earn mowing the lawn... scooping dog poop... shoveling driveways full of snow...

Our oldest sold his dirt bike last spring... 1 year ago, to his cousins... he has been borrowing his brothers when the weather permits... he looks a bit like a 'Shriner'.... knees up past the handle bars...

He has spent the winter dreaming on eBay... Craig's List... waiting for the perfect deal... trying to catch the best 'off season' price.... but of course the sellers waited 'til spring to list their hand-me-down toys...

This week he finally found one... in Valpo... only 30 minutes away...

He talked his younger brother into going in on half of it with his Dave Ramsey 'save money' (1/2 earned after giving 10% to needy)....

After school we stopped off at the bank... they filled out their withdrawal slips... requesting 'hundreds'...

We borrowed a trailer & made the trip to look at it... explaining that if it wasn't a good deal, we might return home with an empty trailer...

All three boys took 'er for a spin... handed over their 'hund-ies' ... shook hands... & loaded 'er up....  giggling in the truck 'bout how the tires were barely worn... hardly used by a city kid...

It was a down pour on the drive home... so we pulled the trailer into our Auntie & Uncle's spare garage...

After school Friday the sun was shining... not a cloud in sight... it was 59 degrees, but felt like 80 ... we headed to the garage to start 'er up.... they road for an hour & a half... (yes, wearing their helmets & goggles Grandma & Granny) ... the oldest actually fought me about the head gear... I told him that was the rule his dad & I agreed upon... wear the head gear or don't ride it.... it was his choice...

When my husband got off work he joined us, enjoying watching the boys make laps... reminiscent of his childhood spent circlin' the farm yard on his 'ride' ...

Our youngest needed off... a pit stop to 'water the grass'... my husband went to help unbuckle the helmet... our oldest took off, just a few laps 'til he picked up his passenger again... he took the corner too fast... the wet grass from the down pour lubricated the tires... the centrifugal force won... the go-cart was air born... flipping two & a half times.... landing upside down... with my precious cargo hanging by the seat belt... he lifted himself with the steering wheel to unbuckle... dropped to the ground... got up shaking...

the Lord had kept him safe....

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart... and lean not on your own understanding."  Proverbs 3:5

In Genesis 22: 1-19 the Lord tests Abraham, asking him to sacrifice his first born son Isaac.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2022:1-19&version=NLT

Abraham trusted the Lord... even raised the knife to be obedient and kill Isaac... then the Lord called out to him...

Genesis 22:  11 "At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”   “Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”  12 “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.” ........


15 "Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from heaven. 16 “This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that 17 I will certainly bless you."

... the Lord will certainly bless you... if you completely submit... trusting your children to Him & His will...

Now ... should I prohibit the boy toys... no, that wouldn't teach any life lessons... only making them live in a bubble....
...the chain slipped off the motor during the collision... after taking it apart, it needs some welding... lucky for my boys their dad is very handy with a welder... the Lord grounded the go-cart for a few days....

When they 'get back in the saddle' they will wear helmets and goggles... I will pray for them each day, just as I have done since I carried them in my womb.... for they are really the Lord's children... He is only loaning them to me....