It's been a great weekend.
Yesterday, I got the chance to go with Deanna to her ABF class' jewelry exchange. We had yummy treats and everyone put out their unwanted jewelry on tables. Then people got to take turns choosing pieces to take home. I got to take the leftovers home to take to Nica to give out to the ladies there. They will be so excited!
In the afternoon, Wade and Susan Tomlinson and kids came over to visit Aunt Deanna. They are back in the states after serving 3 years in China as missionaries. It was fun to visit with them.
I got a very nice nap and then fixed some dinner and watched tv for a while. I really enjoyed the day.
Today I got a ride from Isidro to church at Cuerpo Vivo. I love worshiping in Spanish. I love my church family at Cuerpo Vivo. I went to lunch with Isidro's family. We went to a Salvadoran restaurant and had papusas. Yum!
I got home and then my friend Donna picked me up and I spent time with her and her daughter Celina and Celina's friend. We talked a little bit about Nica, since Celina is going on the Spring Break trip.
We got to FBC Rogers in time for the reception for the Tomlinsons and then we had a Nica team meeting at 5pm. It was a good meeting. I can't wait for the team to come down.
Wade and Susan shared in church tonight about serving in China. And Wade gave the message. It was a really good evening.
I've got 2 days to get things done around the house before I leave for Indiana for 2 weeks. I've got quite a mess in the den from all the tubs and stuff that needs to be packed for Nica. I'm trying not to stress over everything. I'll have a lot to do in the 2 weeks after I get back from Indiana. But it will get done one way or another...
I'm getting a really scratchy sore throat tonight. It came on suddenly while at church. How strange. I don't feel too bad yet and I'm praying that I will get over it really quickly. I need to take mega doses of vitamin C and zinc to get over it fast.
Time for bed now. Looking forward to a calm and cozy sleep. God is good!!!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
It’s been a while since I’ve written. Some of the time I spent feeling very sick from abusing my liver over the last couple of months. I knew better, but just kept on ‘cheating’ on what I knew I should have been eating. It finally caught up with me. I spent a horrendous 48 hours very sick. Then it took a couple more days of living off of sprite to start feeling better. After a long talk with myself, and a lot of prayer asking God to help me be strong and responsible I think I’m back on track.
Wednesday I had lunch with the Hulsey’s and enjoyed spending time with them. Manuel is such a sweetie. After lunch, I had them drop me off at the Olive St campus of FBCR. I met with my friend JP, who is helping me by creating my website. He and Noemi (and their daughter, Genesis) are so dear to me. I really enjoyed working with JP. Then I was blessed to have a conversation with Oliver. After than, Jaime and I had a wonderful, in depth talk about missionaries and church support and responsibilities. It was an awesome time of sharing our hearts about serving God. I was very renewed after spending time with these gentlemen. God is sooo good!
I caught a ride home with Avis and settled in for the evening. It was the first day I had been out for a week from being sick and I was feeling pleasantly tired.
Thursday morning I was picked up by my wonderful friend, Donna, who allows me to sometimes borrow her car while she is working a 12 hour day. We left my house at 7:30am and I ran errands for the next 8 hours non-stop. I made 17 stops including McDonalds for a hot chocolate, Post Office to get my PO Box mail, Arvest bank to change address and account, Hair cut from sweet Carolyn, Rogers Natural Foods, GNC, Hobby Lobby, Office Depot, Best Buy, Lifeway Christian Bookstore, Schlotzky’s for lunch, Deals, Sally Beauty Supply, Singer Sewing Center, Post Office (again) to pick up a box (my new business cards), FBCR Olive St to print off some documents, Walmart and then home!!! Most of what I bought was stuff for Nicaragua. I’m now about 80% done with what I need to buy before I leave at the end of Feb. I was bushed! I fixed a quick dinner and then waited for Donna to let me know that she was off work so I could take her car back.
It felt sooo good to get so much done. Usually a person dreads having to run errands. But I was so happy to have the resources (vehicle and money in the bank) to be able to do these things, that the experience was a treasure to me. It made me think that everything I do in my life should be that exciting. We get so jaded and spoiled to the point of numbness or boredom with the ‘chores’ that we need to handle. When we have creature comforts taken away, it makes us treasure the opportunity to do these ‘chores’. We really are blessed to have money to buy the things we need, have the time to run the errands, have the resources (friends in my case) to get around town to handle our personal business. I pray that God will keep me aware of my blessings, even the chores, every day so that I will live in a thankful attitude.
Today, I was blessed to get to speak to a Homeschool group who meet once a month for Geography Club. They spend the month studying about the assigned country and then they meet together and have a speaker from that area and enjoy a pot-luck meal of that country’s recipes. I had a great time. Everyone was interested in learning what it’s like to live day to day in Nica. They cared about our ministry there. Even the kids asked great questions. It was a lot of fun for me. I have a bunch of new people praying for me and the ministry. What a blessing!
I got home about 2pm and felt very relaxed and ready for some stay-at-home time tonight. I rested on the sofa a little and then fixed some grilled chicken breast and veggies. I made some orange-date bars from a new recipe. I don’t know how they will taste, but they sure smell good!
I’ll be getting up early in the morning to go with Deanna to her Sunday School class’s jewelry exchange brunch. I got to crash one of these events before and I sure enjoy the ladies! I’ll get some jewelry to take to the women back in Nica. And I can’t wait to see what goodies there will be to eat! I’ll have to pray hard to be a good girl. But it will be so fun.
For tonight, I’m doing laundry and hanging out with Deanna watching mind-numbing tv. I’m blessed!
I’m so thankful for God’s faithfulness to keep me close during hard times (sickness) and good times (errands and speaking engagement) these last 2 weeks. Time is flying by so fast. I remember when we made this agreement for me to speak to the Homeschoolers, it was about 4 months ago.
I pray that I will stay focused on God and stop and actually contemplate each day and be thankful for it and make the most of it. I pray that I won’t become bored with life’s duties and common things. I pray that I glory God in ALL things. He is worthy.
Wednesday I had lunch with the Hulsey’s and enjoyed spending time with them. Manuel is such a sweetie. After lunch, I had them drop me off at the Olive St campus of FBCR. I met with my friend JP, who is helping me by creating my website. He and Noemi (and their daughter, Genesis) are so dear to me. I really enjoyed working with JP. Then I was blessed to have a conversation with Oliver. After than, Jaime and I had a wonderful, in depth talk about missionaries and church support and responsibilities. It was an awesome time of sharing our hearts about serving God. I was very renewed after spending time with these gentlemen. God is sooo good!
I caught a ride home with Avis and settled in for the evening. It was the first day I had been out for a week from being sick and I was feeling pleasantly tired.
Thursday morning I was picked up by my wonderful friend, Donna, who allows me to sometimes borrow her car while she is working a 12 hour day. We left my house at 7:30am and I ran errands for the next 8 hours non-stop. I made 17 stops including McDonalds for a hot chocolate, Post Office to get my PO Box mail, Arvest bank to change address and account, Hair cut from sweet Carolyn, Rogers Natural Foods, GNC, Hobby Lobby, Office Depot, Best Buy, Lifeway Christian Bookstore, Schlotzky’s for lunch, Deals, Sally Beauty Supply, Singer Sewing Center, Post Office (again) to pick up a box (my new business cards), FBCR Olive St to print off some documents, Walmart and then home!!! Most of what I bought was stuff for Nicaragua. I’m now about 80% done with what I need to buy before I leave at the end of Feb. I was bushed! I fixed a quick dinner and then waited for Donna to let me know that she was off work so I could take her car back.
It felt sooo good to get so much done. Usually a person dreads having to run errands. But I was so happy to have the resources (vehicle and money in the bank) to be able to do these things, that the experience was a treasure to me. It made me think that everything I do in my life should be that exciting. We get so jaded and spoiled to the point of numbness or boredom with the ‘chores’ that we need to handle. When we have creature comforts taken away, it makes us treasure the opportunity to do these ‘chores’. We really are blessed to have money to buy the things we need, have the time to run the errands, have the resources (friends in my case) to get around town to handle our personal business. I pray that God will keep me aware of my blessings, even the chores, every day so that I will live in a thankful attitude.
Today, I was blessed to get to speak to a Homeschool group who meet once a month for Geography Club. They spend the month studying about the assigned country and then they meet together and have a speaker from that area and enjoy a pot-luck meal of that country’s recipes. I had a great time. Everyone was interested in learning what it’s like to live day to day in Nica. They cared about our ministry there. Even the kids asked great questions. It was a lot of fun for me. I have a bunch of new people praying for me and the ministry. What a blessing!
I got home about 2pm and felt very relaxed and ready for some stay-at-home time tonight. I rested on the sofa a little and then fixed some grilled chicken breast and veggies. I made some orange-date bars from a new recipe. I don’t know how they will taste, but they sure smell good!
I’ll be getting up early in the morning to go with Deanna to her Sunday School class’s jewelry exchange brunch. I got to crash one of these events before and I sure enjoy the ladies! I’ll get some jewelry to take to the women back in Nica. And I can’t wait to see what goodies there will be to eat! I’ll have to pray hard to be a good girl. But it will be so fun.
For tonight, I’m doing laundry and hanging out with Deanna watching mind-numbing tv. I’m blessed!
I’m so thankful for God’s faithfulness to keep me close during hard times (sickness) and good times (errands and speaking engagement) these last 2 weeks. Time is flying by so fast. I remember when we made this agreement for me to speak to the Homeschoolers, it was about 4 months ago.
I pray that I will stay focused on God and stop and actually contemplate each day and be thankful for it and make the most of it. I pray that I won’t become bored with life’s duties and common things. I pray that I glory God in ALL things. He is worthy.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
It's Thursday night and bedtime, but I'm not sleepy, so it's a good time to post here.
I've had a strange week mentally and emotionally. It's very interesting to see how your mind can rule over your body. Another reason to stay grounded in the Word so that your mind doesn't get too off kilter when it's wandering around. I haven't felt anxious or nervous about anything. I've just felt like my mind hasn't been totally engaged. I'm sure there are lots of people with some funny remarks to make about that last statement. :)
The last couple of days I have felt more in control of my mental capabilities and have gotten some productive work done. There is so much I want to do in these next few weeks and so many things depend on something else to happen first. It's like a cobweb all intertwined and fragile. But God will walk me through each step if I will only seek Him and allow Him to lead.
I've worked from home all week and actually left the house today for a meeting at the Olive Street building. I'm out of ink for my home printer, and don't want to spend tons of money on new ones for just a few weeks, so I made a list of things to print off while at the church. I got part of the list printed before my meeting. I met with Brian Sander, Youth Pastor of FBCR about details of the Spring Break trip that a team of 20 are planning to make to Nica in March. I'm excited for them all to come down. A few on the team have been there before and some of the newbies are relatives of previous team members, so I think they will be pretty well acclimated to serving with us. I'm looking forward to it!!
I had dinner with a friend tonight and went to see a precious (almost) 3 month old baby. What a treat! I just love little babies!
My sister Sandy has been keeping me up to date on the saga called 'settling Dad's estate' in Indiana. It's been interesting to say the least! It's been keeping her busy for sure. Hopefully, everything will be completely settled by year's end.
I stopped by the Post Office to check my box today and I had some very nice sympathy cards. It is so nice to be thought of and prayed over. I truly appreciate everyone's kindness and love. I'm so glad that God has brought so many loving people into my life.
I've had a strange week mentally and emotionally. It's very interesting to see how your mind can rule over your body. Another reason to stay grounded in the Word so that your mind doesn't get too off kilter when it's wandering around. I haven't felt anxious or nervous about anything. I've just felt like my mind hasn't been totally engaged. I'm sure there are lots of people with some funny remarks to make about that last statement. :)
The last couple of days I have felt more in control of my mental capabilities and have gotten some productive work done. There is so much I want to do in these next few weeks and so many things depend on something else to happen first. It's like a cobweb all intertwined and fragile. But God will walk me through each step if I will only seek Him and allow Him to lead.
I've worked from home all week and actually left the house today for a meeting at the Olive Street building. I'm out of ink for my home printer, and don't want to spend tons of money on new ones for just a few weeks, so I made a list of things to print off while at the church. I got part of the list printed before my meeting. I met with Brian Sander, Youth Pastor of FBCR about details of the Spring Break trip that a team of 20 are planning to make to Nica in March. I'm excited for them all to come down. A few on the team have been there before and some of the newbies are relatives of previous team members, so I think they will be pretty well acclimated to serving with us. I'm looking forward to it!!
I had dinner with a friend tonight and went to see a precious (almost) 3 month old baby. What a treat! I just love little babies!
My sister Sandy has been keeping me up to date on the saga called 'settling Dad's estate' in Indiana. It's been interesting to say the least! It's been keeping her busy for sure. Hopefully, everything will be completely settled by year's end.
I stopped by the Post Office to check my box today and I had some very nice sympathy cards. It is so nice to be thought of and prayed over. I truly appreciate everyone's kindness and love. I'm so glad that God has brought so many loving people into my life.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
It’s Friday the 13th. It’s been a pretty good day.
I slept well last night. Even though I woke up about 4:30am and read myself back to sleep, I had a good sleep until 8am. I woke up feeling very rested and peaceful.
After some Bible Study and some cereal for breakfast, I worked on sorting through some stuff to take back to Nica.
There’s a lot that I need to be doing and working on, both physically and on the computer, but my mind is just kind of in neutral right now. I guess I just need to recalibrate after trip to IN for Dad’s funeral. I’m giving myself the weekend off of anything too complicated and trying to get plenty of rest and relaxation. I’m also trying not to feel guilty about it.
Nana Ruth and I had lunch together today. We went to Golden Corral and I treated myself to roast, potatoes, green beans, corn, greens, creamed spinach, dressing and broiled fish. Yum! I kind of pigged out, but it was mostly healthy food. I then I had a dessert plate with a spoonful of cherry cobbler, a spoonful of peach cobbler and a spoonful of bread pudding. I wasn’t stuffed, but pleasantly full. I came back home and took a nice nap. I really needed this day of treating myself to quietness.
I had lost some of my meds over the last few months. I didn’t know it until yesterday, since I have been gone and travelling back and forth everywhere. The meds that I was missing happened to be my hormone replacement patches. Not a good thing to run out of!! Ha Anyway, I called the pharmacy and they had to contact the Dr to renew the prescription. The doctor’s office didn’t answer yet. It’s the weekend. I need the meds today. With everything that has happened in the past couple of weeks, it’s not a good time to go without this med. I’m so thankful that my regular doctor is a friend and just a cell phone call away. He called in a month’s script for the meds to hold me over until the other doctor renews the script. Insurance won’t cover this refill, since it’s too soon (due to my losing the other), so I paid full price without insurance for the meds. But it was very much worth it for me. I’m thankful that God allowed me to get a hold of Dr Bob, that he was willing to call in the refill, that I had the money in the bank to cover the full cost, that the pharmacy filled it right away and that Deanna let me borrow her van to go and pick it up. The world will be a much safer place this weekend now that I have my meds. HA
While out with Deanna’s van, I went to Walmart to pick up a few things and some groceries. I also walked around and just looked at stuff as sort of a mind numbing therapy. I enjoyed it very much. I was in there over an hour. I even found some great clearance deals in the Christmas Clearance aisle, including some reindeer antler headbands that light up for just $1.11 each. Guess what I’ll be wearing in Nica next Christmas Eve. ☺
I came home and fixed a sandwich and sunchips for dinner. I also indulged in some hummus, which I can’t get in Nica and I didn’t have in IN either. It was tasty. Deanna and I shared some Dove chocolate pieces and watched a little tv.
Even though I’ve had naps the last few days, I still have went to sleep fairly easy and slept most of the night. When I wake up to read in the middle of the night, it’s not for long. My mind is pretty clear and peaceful. But I do feel kind of slowed down and in a healing mode. I’m not going to force concentrating on things for the rest of the weekend. I’ve asked God to show me His agenda for me and I am okay with some quiet time.
My sister Pam and her husband Rob drove straight from IN to FL today so that they can be there for Rob’s step-dad’s surgery on Monday. I worry about them driving so long with their health issues, but flying is not an option, so I just covered them in lots of prayer for their safe travels.
I need to spend some time studying Spanish this weekend. I think it will be a good thing for my mind to concentrate on as well as Bible study. Yeah, that’s a good weekend
I slept well last night. Even though I woke up about 4:30am and read myself back to sleep, I had a good sleep until 8am. I woke up feeling very rested and peaceful.
After some Bible Study and some cereal for breakfast, I worked on sorting through some stuff to take back to Nica.
There’s a lot that I need to be doing and working on, both physically and on the computer, but my mind is just kind of in neutral right now. I guess I just need to recalibrate after trip to IN for Dad’s funeral. I’m giving myself the weekend off of anything too complicated and trying to get plenty of rest and relaxation. I’m also trying not to feel guilty about it.
Nana Ruth and I had lunch together today. We went to Golden Corral and I treated myself to roast, potatoes, green beans, corn, greens, creamed spinach, dressing and broiled fish. Yum! I kind of pigged out, but it was mostly healthy food. I then I had a dessert plate with a spoonful of cherry cobbler, a spoonful of peach cobbler and a spoonful of bread pudding. I wasn’t stuffed, but pleasantly full. I came back home and took a nice nap. I really needed this day of treating myself to quietness.
I had lost some of my meds over the last few months. I didn’t know it until yesterday, since I have been gone and travelling back and forth everywhere. The meds that I was missing happened to be my hormone replacement patches. Not a good thing to run out of!! Ha Anyway, I called the pharmacy and they had to contact the Dr to renew the prescription. The doctor’s office didn’t answer yet. It’s the weekend. I need the meds today. With everything that has happened in the past couple of weeks, it’s not a good time to go without this med. I’m so thankful that my regular doctor is a friend and just a cell phone call away. He called in a month’s script for the meds to hold me over until the other doctor renews the script. Insurance won’t cover this refill, since it’s too soon (due to my losing the other), so I paid full price without insurance for the meds. But it was very much worth it for me. I’m thankful that God allowed me to get a hold of Dr Bob, that he was willing to call in the refill, that I had the money in the bank to cover the full cost, that the pharmacy filled it right away and that Deanna let me borrow her van to go and pick it up. The world will be a much safer place this weekend now that I have my meds. HA
While out with Deanna’s van, I went to Walmart to pick up a few things and some groceries. I also walked around and just looked at stuff as sort of a mind numbing therapy. I enjoyed it very much. I was in there over an hour. I even found some great clearance deals in the Christmas Clearance aisle, including some reindeer antler headbands that light up for just $1.11 each. Guess what I’ll be wearing in Nica next Christmas Eve. ☺
I came home and fixed a sandwich and sunchips for dinner. I also indulged in some hummus, which I can’t get in Nica and I didn’t have in IN either. It was tasty. Deanna and I shared some Dove chocolate pieces and watched a little tv.
Even though I’ve had naps the last few days, I still have went to sleep fairly easy and slept most of the night. When I wake up to read in the middle of the night, it’s not for long. My mind is pretty clear and peaceful. But I do feel kind of slowed down and in a healing mode. I’m not going to force concentrating on things for the rest of the weekend. I’ve asked God to show me His agenda for me and I am okay with some quiet time.
My sister Pam and her husband Rob drove straight from IN to FL today so that they can be there for Rob’s step-dad’s surgery on Monday. I worry about them driving so long with their health issues, but flying is not an option, so I just covered them in lots of prayer for their safe travels.
I need to spend some time studying Spanish this weekend. I think it will be a good thing for my mind to concentrate on as well as Bible study. Yeah, that’s a good weekend
Wednesday, January, 11, 2012
I’m starting this post while sitting at the airport in Indianapolis IN, returning to AR after the week long visit for my Dad’s funeral. There are so many thoughts and feelings swirling around in my head and heart. I will try to capture them here, but I can’t guarantee that they will make sense. I think it will feel good to get them on paper, though.
Emotionally, I feel that I have been through a month long marathon of feelings, both on the surface and buried deep inside me. Over this last week I have felt heartbreaking pain and blissful peace as I have reconciled my feelings for my Dad. I have to admit that the first thought that crossed my mind when my sister Sandy called to say that Dad has passed was to just ‘show up’ for the funeral. But I knew that she needed support to handle everything and that my duty was to come as soon as possible. I knew it would be a hard time for me, but I also knew that I needed to do it. I know that God is with us through every thought and feeling in our lives, but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be pain. But I trust Him more than anything and I knew He would be with me through it all.
It’s been stressful for me to be the only person that everyone was actually communicating with lately. Don’t get me wrong, they weren’t necessarily great relationships, and there has been time periods throughout the years when Mom didn’t speak to me, Dad didn’t speak to me and each of my sisters have been estranged from me. It’s just the dynamics of my family from as early as I can remember. I can’t even begin to imagine what a family that likes each other (even a little bit) would be like. I’m not feeling sorry for myself, just stating that the ‘normal’ for my family wasn’t good. And therefore, any life-altering event was complicated by the relationships. I’ve gotten to the point that I tell whoever can’t stand the other at the time to ‘just stay the heck away from each other’. That’s the best advice that I can offer them. I wasn’t looking forward to being in my hometown amidst the people and relationships that cause so much pain, sadness, doubt and regret. But God was right by my side through it all.
I felt kind of numb as I traveled on Wed, the day after they found Dad. He had actually died on Sunday evening, but wasn’t found until Tuesday evening. The cause of death was a ruptured aortic aneurysm, and it’s believed that he passed in his sleep. He didn’t look like there was any distress and he looked peaceful. People keep saying that it’s the way to go. I’m glad that he didn’t suffer pain.
I stay with my sister Sandy when I visit Indiana, and this is where I needed to be to help her, too. There was so much to do and to take care of that it kept us distracted from too much of the emotions. What a physical mess Dad left with his house and his personal papers and such. It is way beyond what most people go through at a time like this. But it was keeping us busy.
I think the hardest part for me through the whole experience was to hear how nice and giving Dad was to other people. That’s a good thing, but it was hard to hear when most of my life I have experienced his expressed disappointment in me. So much of my issues with self-worth have come from my relationship with him. He was cold, critical and judgmental with me for as long as I can remember. I think that my relationship with him affected my image of what God is like. I was always afraid of God and thought he was like my Dad with high expectations and no forgiveness at all. But those feelings are what drew me to a relationship with God when I finally found out who God really is. How precious to me is my relationship with God, who loves me unconditionally and patiently and forever. So I guess I can be thankful for my hurtful relationship with my earthly Dad to make me treasure my relationship with my Heavenly Father.
Throughout the plans and meetings and conversations and duties that come with settling an estate, planning a funeral and just dealing with people at times like these, I worked through wave after wave of emotions, some of which I didn’t even know that I had buried inside. It was so painful at the time, but so healing in the long run.
I can say that I truly forgive my Dad for his part in the relationship that we had (or didn’t have) and I’m no longer jealous of how he treated people, some total strangers, better than his own daughters (especially me). How healing for me now.
Over the years, I’ve tried to let Dad know that I loved him. I think he knew. He has always had a lot of difficulty expressing emotions and once I realized that a lot of the aloofness was caused by that and not totally on his feelings for me, I started to be more open to showing him love and not being afraid of being pushed away. That all came from God and I’m grateful for that.
It was interesting talking with Sandy as we tried to remember childhood memories, especially happy ones, and we can’t remember much. I thought maybe it was just me, but I think we subconsciously block out things from our early years when we don’t know how to deal with them. But that’s okay, because that’s how it was and it’s in the past now. I think Sandy is like me, also, in the fact that due to our childhood, we don’t want to see children suffer emotionally when parents go through divorce and all the ugliness that followed. I know she showers her grandkids with much love and devotion. And I loved my stepsons dearly and tried to protect them from the ugliness of their parents divorce. I have also championed kids everywhere so that they will feel loved and worthy of that love. Another good thing to come from a not so happy childhood.
One part of the duties to make funeral arrangements was to talk with the minister who would handle the service. Dad was a member of First Christian Church since he was a child. To my knowledge, he never went to church after he was married to my mom and I never remember him ever going to church at all. He would send a donation every year, and even had a couple of pictures in the church directory made after his divorce (I guess he was starting a new life), but he said that the checks were as close as he wanted to get to church. He once told me that he didn’t like being ‘preached to’. He was baptized in the Christian church when a teenager. I don’t know what all that entails in that denomination, but I pray that it means that he accepted Jesus Christ as Savior. During the funeral message, the minister (who didn’t know Dad at all or the history of our family) said that Dad was a loving and loyal father who took us girls to church and shared his faith. That untruth, even though well intended, was hard to listen to. But the minister did the best he could with what facts he had. I was afraid that Jesus wouldn’t even be mentioned in the service and that broke my heart and ate at my soul. But I was thankful that there was a faith message shared. I missed having lots of Christian friends around to lean on, and I pray that those in my family who don’t know a saving relationship with Jesus will come to know him soon.
I have always dreaded the trips that I made back to Indiana after I moved to Arkansas in 1990. Sometimes I wouldn’t go back for a year or two. I always felt the stress of trying to run interference between the people who don’t get along. Even though there is still a long way to go with the family relationships, there was a lot of healing that happened over the past week as we gathered for Dad’s funeral. I feel at peace and I’m not anxious over any event. Things will happen as they happen and it’s not up to me to be a protector or mediator. We all need to take responsibility for our parts in the interactions and to make the decision to accept, love and forgive each other. I pray that the healing continues.
I feel at peace. As I have been spending more and more time serving in Nicaragua over the last 18 months, I have found it easier and easier to disconnect from my family in IN. But after this past week, I feel more connected and in a good way. I’ll be going back to IN for my niece’s wedding on Feb 11 (just a few weeks from now) and a 2 week visit. Then I’ll be off to Nicaragua (after a few days in AR) for 6 months. Even though I will only be back in the states for a month or so in the late summer, I intend to visit my family in IN during that time, too. It feels good to look forward to it.
God has worked so much healing and growing in my heart and mind this week. I would never choose this experience, but God knows what is best and I’m thankful that He guided me through it.
God is in the business of forgiveness and redemption. He knows us all and all our ‘issues’ with this life and those that we have relationships with. He knows the best plan for redeeming us to a relationship with Him and for restoring and preserving loving and forgiving relationships with each other. I’m so thankful for that.
Emotionally, I feel that I have been through a month long marathon of feelings, both on the surface and buried deep inside me. Over this last week I have felt heartbreaking pain and blissful peace as I have reconciled my feelings for my Dad. I have to admit that the first thought that crossed my mind when my sister Sandy called to say that Dad has passed was to just ‘show up’ for the funeral. But I knew that she needed support to handle everything and that my duty was to come as soon as possible. I knew it would be a hard time for me, but I also knew that I needed to do it. I know that God is with us through every thought and feeling in our lives, but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be pain. But I trust Him more than anything and I knew He would be with me through it all.
It’s been stressful for me to be the only person that everyone was actually communicating with lately. Don’t get me wrong, they weren’t necessarily great relationships, and there has been time periods throughout the years when Mom didn’t speak to me, Dad didn’t speak to me and each of my sisters have been estranged from me. It’s just the dynamics of my family from as early as I can remember. I can’t even begin to imagine what a family that likes each other (even a little bit) would be like. I’m not feeling sorry for myself, just stating that the ‘normal’ for my family wasn’t good. And therefore, any life-altering event was complicated by the relationships. I’ve gotten to the point that I tell whoever can’t stand the other at the time to ‘just stay the heck away from each other’. That’s the best advice that I can offer them. I wasn’t looking forward to being in my hometown amidst the people and relationships that cause so much pain, sadness, doubt and regret. But God was right by my side through it all.
I felt kind of numb as I traveled on Wed, the day after they found Dad. He had actually died on Sunday evening, but wasn’t found until Tuesday evening. The cause of death was a ruptured aortic aneurysm, and it’s believed that he passed in his sleep. He didn’t look like there was any distress and he looked peaceful. People keep saying that it’s the way to go. I’m glad that he didn’t suffer pain.
I stay with my sister Sandy when I visit Indiana, and this is where I needed to be to help her, too. There was so much to do and to take care of that it kept us distracted from too much of the emotions. What a physical mess Dad left with his house and his personal papers and such. It is way beyond what most people go through at a time like this. But it was keeping us busy.
I think the hardest part for me through the whole experience was to hear how nice and giving Dad was to other people. That’s a good thing, but it was hard to hear when most of my life I have experienced his expressed disappointment in me. So much of my issues with self-worth have come from my relationship with him. He was cold, critical and judgmental with me for as long as I can remember. I think that my relationship with him affected my image of what God is like. I was always afraid of God and thought he was like my Dad with high expectations and no forgiveness at all. But those feelings are what drew me to a relationship with God when I finally found out who God really is. How precious to me is my relationship with God, who loves me unconditionally and patiently and forever. So I guess I can be thankful for my hurtful relationship with my earthly Dad to make me treasure my relationship with my Heavenly Father.
Throughout the plans and meetings and conversations and duties that come with settling an estate, planning a funeral and just dealing with people at times like these, I worked through wave after wave of emotions, some of which I didn’t even know that I had buried inside. It was so painful at the time, but so healing in the long run.
I can say that I truly forgive my Dad for his part in the relationship that we had (or didn’t have) and I’m no longer jealous of how he treated people, some total strangers, better than his own daughters (especially me). How healing for me now.
Over the years, I’ve tried to let Dad know that I loved him. I think he knew. He has always had a lot of difficulty expressing emotions and once I realized that a lot of the aloofness was caused by that and not totally on his feelings for me, I started to be more open to showing him love and not being afraid of being pushed away. That all came from God and I’m grateful for that.
It was interesting talking with Sandy as we tried to remember childhood memories, especially happy ones, and we can’t remember much. I thought maybe it was just me, but I think we subconsciously block out things from our early years when we don’t know how to deal with them. But that’s okay, because that’s how it was and it’s in the past now. I think Sandy is like me, also, in the fact that due to our childhood, we don’t want to see children suffer emotionally when parents go through divorce and all the ugliness that followed. I know she showers her grandkids with much love and devotion. And I loved my stepsons dearly and tried to protect them from the ugliness of their parents divorce. I have also championed kids everywhere so that they will feel loved and worthy of that love. Another good thing to come from a not so happy childhood.
One part of the duties to make funeral arrangements was to talk with the minister who would handle the service. Dad was a member of First Christian Church since he was a child. To my knowledge, he never went to church after he was married to my mom and I never remember him ever going to church at all. He would send a donation every year, and even had a couple of pictures in the church directory made after his divorce (I guess he was starting a new life), but he said that the checks were as close as he wanted to get to church. He once told me that he didn’t like being ‘preached to’. He was baptized in the Christian church when a teenager. I don’t know what all that entails in that denomination, but I pray that it means that he accepted Jesus Christ as Savior. During the funeral message, the minister (who didn’t know Dad at all or the history of our family) said that Dad was a loving and loyal father who took us girls to church and shared his faith. That untruth, even though well intended, was hard to listen to. But the minister did the best he could with what facts he had. I was afraid that Jesus wouldn’t even be mentioned in the service and that broke my heart and ate at my soul. But I was thankful that there was a faith message shared. I missed having lots of Christian friends around to lean on, and I pray that those in my family who don’t know a saving relationship with Jesus will come to know him soon.
I have always dreaded the trips that I made back to Indiana after I moved to Arkansas in 1990. Sometimes I wouldn’t go back for a year or two. I always felt the stress of trying to run interference between the people who don’t get along. Even though there is still a long way to go with the family relationships, there was a lot of healing that happened over the past week as we gathered for Dad’s funeral. I feel at peace and I’m not anxious over any event. Things will happen as they happen and it’s not up to me to be a protector or mediator. We all need to take responsibility for our parts in the interactions and to make the decision to accept, love and forgive each other. I pray that the healing continues.
I feel at peace. As I have been spending more and more time serving in Nicaragua over the last 18 months, I have found it easier and easier to disconnect from my family in IN. But after this past week, I feel more connected and in a good way. I’ll be going back to IN for my niece’s wedding on Feb 11 (just a few weeks from now) and a 2 week visit. Then I’ll be off to Nicaragua (after a few days in AR) for 6 months. Even though I will only be back in the states for a month or so in the late summer, I intend to visit my family in IN during that time, too. It feels good to look forward to it.
God has worked so much healing and growing in my heart and mind this week. I would never choose this experience, but God knows what is best and I’m thankful that He guided me through it.
God is in the business of forgiveness and redemption. He knows us all and all our ‘issues’ with this life and those that we have relationships with. He knows the best plan for redeeming us to a relationship with Him and for restoring and preserving loving and forgiving relationships with each other. I’m so thankful for that.
Monday, January 9, 2012
These last days have been a whirlwind. It seems that I have been here in Indiana with my family for a month instead of just under a week. So many things have happened, both good and bad, happy and sad, heartbreaking and healing…
Once I arrived in IN I was ready for the usual difficult time with family only intensified by the death of my Dad. I knew it would be a rollercoaster of emotions for me. I knew it would be extremely hard for my sister Sandy, who has been a part of Dad’s life every week for the last 30 years. I knew it would be awkward for my sister Pam, whom Dad hasn’t spoken to in almost 30 years. I knew it would be hard for me to reconcile my feelings hurt and emotional abandonment from my Dad for as long as I can remember. I knew it would be an issue to be around my Mom and Stepdad because of problems between them and my sister. I was dreading seeing people from my past at the visitation, because of the life I used to lead. So many things going through my little pea brain as the plane landed last Wed night.
My nephew and 2 great nephews picked me up at the airport and we stopped for dinner. It was nice to spend some time with them. We got to my sister Sandy’s house and I got settled in for my week’s stay.
We began our duties on Thursday with a trip to Dad’s house to work on cleaning out the junk and trash that this bachelor of 40 years had accumulated. Add to that his penchant for hoarding things, especially unnecessary things. Then add to that his hobby of 40+ years of collecting toy tractors, making replicas of tractors, trucks, engines and making various other items out of wood. His house was literally filled with display cases holding thousands of items. There were only a couple of chairs and an end table in the living room. The eat-in kitchen area was filled with shelving and displays. His bedroom held a fullsize bed and dresser and the rest was filled floor to ceiling with shelves of collectables. The 2nd bedroom was filled with display cases of collectables. The house had a small path from one room to the next and the carpet was worn through along that path. The funeral home people and paramedics had a terrible time trying to get the stretcher out of the house with him on it. There was so much dirt and dust that we worked with masks and gloves. Because there was so much stuff, there was no way to clean the place, so it was quite a mess. It’s an older house and the ceiling was falling in at places. Bless his heart for living in that house. But what was important to him wasn’t the house, but spending time with his grandkids and great-grandkids. He didn’t care about comfort for himself.
We spent a lot of time over the next couple of days working on the house and hauling stuff to the dump as well as Goodwill. Papers were stuffed everywhere and we had to go through everything to find documents that were needed to start tieing up his estate.
My sister Sandy was named as the person in charge of all of his affairs. I went along on some appointments with her for moral support and to help ask questions and remember details. There have been quite a few meetings over the last few days.
We met with the funeral home on Thursday and got the arrangements made for his funeral service. We started looking at family pictures at 5am that morning to take for the picture collage during visitation and funeral time. We went to the insurance office with 2 of the 3 grandkids for them to sign papers. Sandy made tons of phone calls and sorted mountains of papers. Her husband Terry went through this with his Mother’s estate, so he set up a long table in the living room of their house and it became office central of everything having to do with Jim Rogers.
In between the meetings and appointments and phone calls, we kept working on the house, trying to get out what we could so that we could find what was in there. Every wall was covered with floor to ceiling shelving and displays. He had made wooden display cabinets and they were in rows across each room, leaving just a little path to walk, if at all. Closets were dug out and emptied of items of clothing and other things dating back to the 70s. It was crazy.
Saturday, we met with the minister from the church that Dad was a member of since childhood. He didn’t attend church since his teenage years and didn’t have much use for church, except to send a check once a year. The minister didn’t know Dad and asked some questions to try to get an idea of what to say to honor his life. It was hard for me to try to find the right things to share. I wanted to be nice and paint a pretty picture, but I cannot hide my feelings and cannot shade the truth. I struggled very much with the rosy narrative being shared. It was a very hard few days.
Sunday was the visitation time from 2-5pm at the funeral home. We all met there at 1:30 for our personal time with Dad. Sandy was taking it the hardest, since she had the strongest relationship with him. I cried more for her loss than my own. I did struggle with feelings stemming from childhood and our relationship through adulthood. It was very difficult to sort out all of those feelings. I was also trying to be the link between my 2 sisters, who have not had a good relationship with each other most of their lives. But that kept me distracted from my own grief for part of the time. I saw family members that I hadn’t seen for 40+ years. It sure felt strange. Everyone is grown up and has families. All Dad’s siblings are gone except for his brother Bob. We had some laughs as we shared what few memories that we had in common.
We had made the appointment with the attorney as soon as I got here, but the only opening was Monday morning. As the date and time of the funeral service was set, our option was for Monday afternoon. I thought my sister remembered the attorney appointment for the same day. She had forgot, but it all worked out fine. It actually gave us something to concentrate on for the morning and didn’t have to sit around and think too much about the service coming up. The attorney appointment went well and was a relief for us, especially Sandy. That made the rest of the day a little easier to handle.
Dad had dated a few women over the years since his divorce in the 70s. One longtime special friend is Mary Lou. I was so happy to get to talk with her and hear stories about Dad. She is closer to him than me or Pam. She and Dad had a standing date once a week for the last 30+ years. She was good for him. She understood his difficulty with expressing his emotions. She was there to listen to him when he did actually want to talk about things. She was patient and kind to him. I’m so thankful for her being in his life. We brought Mary Lou with us to the visitation and funeral to be with the rest of the family. I’m glad that we got to be there for her, too.
The funeral was nice. We had picked out a nice casket in wood, in honor of Dad’s love of woodworking. The inset had an embroidered tractor. Dad wore his favorite “Grandpas are just antique little boys” sweatshirt that he wore all the time. It also had a tractor on it. He wore jeans and tennis shoes. He looked just like himself and I know that was comforting for the great-grandkids. He also had his constant companion of an old vinyl camera case in the casket with him. He always had his camera with him. He took millions of pictures of the kids and he often let them take pictures with the camera. He looked quite natural having the camera case with him.
Many people came to talk about their relationships with Dad. He had an easier time relating to other people than family members. Many people knew him from his woodworking projects, exhibits across the state, donations of replicas of old fire trucks that he would donate to fire stations around the state, his love of history and hundreds of hours documenting local history, being a ‘mall walker’, etc. So many people talked about how nice he was to them. Sometimes that was hard for me to reconcile in my mind with the way our relationship had been. But I’m so glad that he brought happiness into the lives of others.
The funeral was nice. It was a beautiful, sunny day. The graveside service was short and nice with a poem about the ‘woodworker’ read by the minister. I have to say that the minister did a pretty good job with his words considering that he didn’t know Dad at all. He did get a couple of things wrong, but no one but us girls would know the difference. He shared a message of faith, which I appreciated, especially since I didn’t think it would be a gospel message and that really bothered me. We were all through about 2:30pm and everyone went their own way. The funeral home gave Sandy a really nice collection of things in a lovely box to keep. We were very pleased with the way the funeral home handled everything. Sandy says they are getting her business when she goes. Might as well, since the rest of Dad’s family has always used them!
Anyway, it was a nice day and many good things came out of this time of difficult emotions. I’ll write more about that in the next post. Right now I’m going to go to bed and relax and feel thankful for the life that God has blessed me with and the wonderful Christian friends who have lifted me up in prayer these past days. I am blessed.
Once I arrived in IN I was ready for the usual difficult time with family only intensified by the death of my Dad. I knew it would be a rollercoaster of emotions for me. I knew it would be extremely hard for my sister Sandy, who has been a part of Dad’s life every week for the last 30 years. I knew it would be awkward for my sister Pam, whom Dad hasn’t spoken to in almost 30 years. I knew it would be hard for me to reconcile my feelings hurt and emotional abandonment from my Dad for as long as I can remember. I knew it would be an issue to be around my Mom and Stepdad because of problems between them and my sister. I was dreading seeing people from my past at the visitation, because of the life I used to lead. So many things going through my little pea brain as the plane landed last Wed night.
My nephew and 2 great nephews picked me up at the airport and we stopped for dinner. It was nice to spend some time with them. We got to my sister Sandy’s house and I got settled in for my week’s stay.
We began our duties on Thursday with a trip to Dad’s house to work on cleaning out the junk and trash that this bachelor of 40 years had accumulated. Add to that his penchant for hoarding things, especially unnecessary things. Then add to that his hobby of 40+ years of collecting toy tractors, making replicas of tractors, trucks, engines and making various other items out of wood. His house was literally filled with display cases holding thousands of items. There were only a couple of chairs and an end table in the living room. The eat-in kitchen area was filled with shelving and displays. His bedroom held a fullsize bed and dresser and the rest was filled floor to ceiling with shelves of collectables. The 2nd bedroom was filled with display cases of collectables. The house had a small path from one room to the next and the carpet was worn through along that path. The funeral home people and paramedics had a terrible time trying to get the stretcher out of the house with him on it. There was so much dirt and dust that we worked with masks and gloves. Because there was so much stuff, there was no way to clean the place, so it was quite a mess. It’s an older house and the ceiling was falling in at places. Bless his heart for living in that house. But what was important to him wasn’t the house, but spending time with his grandkids and great-grandkids. He didn’t care about comfort for himself.
We spent a lot of time over the next couple of days working on the house and hauling stuff to the dump as well as Goodwill. Papers were stuffed everywhere and we had to go through everything to find documents that were needed to start tieing up his estate.
My sister Sandy was named as the person in charge of all of his affairs. I went along on some appointments with her for moral support and to help ask questions and remember details. There have been quite a few meetings over the last few days.
We met with the funeral home on Thursday and got the arrangements made for his funeral service. We started looking at family pictures at 5am that morning to take for the picture collage during visitation and funeral time. We went to the insurance office with 2 of the 3 grandkids for them to sign papers. Sandy made tons of phone calls and sorted mountains of papers. Her husband Terry went through this with his Mother’s estate, so he set up a long table in the living room of their house and it became office central of everything having to do with Jim Rogers.
In between the meetings and appointments and phone calls, we kept working on the house, trying to get out what we could so that we could find what was in there. Every wall was covered with floor to ceiling shelving and displays. He had made wooden display cabinets and they were in rows across each room, leaving just a little path to walk, if at all. Closets were dug out and emptied of items of clothing and other things dating back to the 70s. It was crazy.
Saturday, we met with the minister from the church that Dad was a member of since childhood. He didn’t attend church since his teenage years and didn’t have much use for church, except to send a check once a year. The minister didn’t know Dad and asked some questions to try to get an idea of what to say to honor his life. It was hard for me to try to find the right things to share. I wanted to be nice and paint a pretty picture, but I cannot hide my feelings and cannot shade the truth. I struggled very much with the rosy narrative being shared. It was a very hard few days.
Sunday was the visitation time from 2-5pm at the funeral home. We all met there at 1:30 for our personal time with Dad. Sandy was taking it the hardest, since she had the strongest relationship with him. I cried more for her loss than my own. I did struggle with feelings stemming from childhood and our relationship through adulthood. It was very difficult to sort out all of those feelings. I was also trying to be the link between my 2 sisters, who have not had a good relationship with each other most of their lives. But that kept me distracted from my own grief for part of the time. I saw family members that I hadn’t seen for 40+ years. It sure felt strange. Everyone is grown up and has families. All Dad’s siblings are gone except for his brother Bob. We had some laughs as we shared what few memories that we had in common.
We had made the appointment with the attorney as soon as I got here, but the only opening was Monday morning. As the date and time of the funeral service was set, our option was for Monday afternoon. I thought my sister remembered the attorney appointment for the same day. She had forgot, but it all worked out fine. It actually gave us something to concentrate on for the morning and didn’t have to sit around and think too much about the service coming up. The attorney appointment went well and was a relief for us, especially Sandy. That made the rest of the day a little easier to handle.
Dad had dated a few women over the years since his divorce in the 70s. One longtime special friend is Mary Lou. I was so happy to get to talk with her and hear stories about Dad. She is closer to him than me or Pam. She and Dad had a standing date once a week for the last 30+ years. She was good for him. She understood his difficulty with expressing his emotions. She was there to listen to him when he did actually want to talk about things. She was patient and kind to him. I’m so thankful for her being in his life. We brought Mary Lou with us to the visitation and funeral to be with the rest of the family. I’m glad that we got to be there for her, too.
The funeral was nice. We had picked out a nice casket in wood, in honor of Dad’s love of woodworking. The inset had an embroidered tractor. Dad wore his favorite “Grandpas are just antique little boys” sweatshirt that he wore all the time. It also had a tractor on it. He wore jeans and tennis shoes. He looked just like himself and I know that was comforting for the great-grandkids. He also had his constant companion of an old vinyl camera case in the casket with him. He always had his camera with him. He took millions of pictures of the kids and he often let them take pictures with the camera. He looked quite natural having the camera case with him.
Many people came to talk about their relationships with Dad. He had an easier time relating to other people than family members. Many people knew him from his woodworking projects, exhibits across the state, donations of replicas of old fire trucks that he would donate to fire stations around the state, his love of history and hundreds of hours documenting local history, being a ‘mall walker’, etc. So many people talked about how nice he was to them. Sometimes that was hard for me to reconcile in my mind with the way our relationship had been. But I’m so glad that he brought happiness into the lives of others.
The funeral was nice. It was a beautiful, sunny day. The graveside service was short and nice with a poem about the ‘woodworker’ read by the minister. I have to say that the minister did a pretty good job with his words considering that he didn’t know Dad at all. He did get a couple of things wrong, but no one but us girls would know the difference. He shared a message of faith, which I appreciated, especially since I didn’t think it would be a gospel message and that really bothered me. We were all through about 2:30pm and everyone went their own way. The funeral home gave Sandy a really nice collection of things in a lovely box to keep. We were very pleased with the way the funeral home handled everything. Sandy says they are getting her business when she goes. Might as well, since the rest of Dad’s family has always used them!
Anyway, it was a nice day and many good things came out of this time of difficult emotions. I’ll write more about that in the next post. Right now I’m going to go to bed and relax and feel thankful for the life that God has blessed me with and the wonderful Christian friends who have lifted me up in prayer these past days. I am blessed.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
I received a call from my sister Sandy last night that she had just found my dad deceased in his home. What a surreal moment. My heart broke for her as she was so upset. I can't imagine what that moment felt like for her.
My dad was kind of aloof and had a hard time expressing his feelings. Our relationship has always been kind of distant. We only spoke a couple times a year, and that was always instigated by a phone call from me. When I visited my family in IN, I would see him when he made his weekly visit to my sister's house to see the grandkids. That was the extent of our interaction.
As the years progressed, I became bolder in letting him know that I loved him. I pray that he actually knew how much.
It appears that he passed away in his sleep sometime over the last few days. I pray that he did not suffer any physical pain.
Most of all, I pray with all my heart that he had come to know the Lord. It may sound strange that I wasn't close enough to him to know this, but that is part of the limitations of the relationship that he had with everyone. I won't know for sure until I reach Heaven, but I do pray that he will be there to greet me.
I'm heading to IN later this morning. I'll spend a week there with my sister and help her with decisions and all that goes into these situations. My family is estranged from each other. I am the link between everyone. I pray that the heightened emotions will not cause the problems to escalate. I pray that perhaps we can all come together as a family.
More than anything, I pray that God is glorified and honored as our Creator and Sustainer. And that He is sought after as our Savior.
I pray that I will be honoring to our precious Father in Heaven and shine with His light as I'm with those who do not know Him.
I miss my Dad even though we have spent so little time together over the years. I never thought this moment would be so emotional for me, since we weren't very close. But God puts love in our hearts that supersedes our human logic.
Our God is Holy. And I pray that my Daddy knows Him.
My dad was kind of aloof and had a hard time expressing his feelings. Our relationship has always been kind of distant. We only spoke a couple times a year, and that was always instigated by a phone call from me. When I visited my family in IN, I would see him when he made his weekly visit to my sister's house to see the grandkids. That was the extent of our interaction.
As the years progressed, I became bolder in letting him know that I loved him. I pray that he actually knew how much.
It appears that he passed away in his sleep sometime over the last few days. I pray that he did not suffer any physical pain.
Most of all, I pray with all my heart that he had come to know the Lord. It may sound strange that I wasn't close enough to him to know this, but that is part of the limitations of the relationship that he had with everyone. I won't know for sure until I reach Heaven, but I do pray that he will be there to greet me.
I'm heading to IN later this morning. I'll spend a week there with my sister and help her with decisions and all that goes into these situations. My family is estranged from each other. I am the link between everyone. I pray that the heightened emotions will not cause the problems to escalate. I pray that perhaps we can all come together as a family.
More than anything, I pray that God is glorified and honored as our Creator and Sustainer. And that He is sought after as our Savior.
I pray that I will be honoring to our precious Father in Heaven and shine with His light as I'm with those who do not know Him.
I miss my Dad even though we have spent so little time together over the years. I never thought this moment would be so emotional for me, since we weren't very close. But God puts love in our hearts that supersedes our human logic.
Our God is Holy. And I pray that my Daddy knows Him.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
It's probably going to take a while to get used to typing 2012. ha
I woke up this morning and read a little bit and snoozed just a little bit more. I got up at 7am and did some Bible study for an hour or so. Since Cuerpo Vivo had a New Year's worship service last night, we had church today at 2pm instead of 10:30am. So I had time for messing around with Spanish stuff, like studying some song lyrics and a little bit of verbs. I got to take my time getting ready for church. It was a nice morning.
Elaine and Jake and the kids came by to pick up some of their stuff so they could pack the car for the drive back to Las Vegas. This week went by fast, but I'm glad that we got to spend a couple of days in the same place so we could at least share a couple of hugs and promise to pray for each other.
It was so nice to be in worship service at Cuerpo Vivo today. Jaime had me stand up to say hi and asked me to speak in Spanish. It put me on the spot so much that I couldn't think of anything to say. It was funny! The music was great and I felt right at home. I could understand more of the song lyrics since I now can recognize the conjugation of the verbs. :)
Linda Bailey was back from Argentina. She was at Cuerpo Vivo when I returned to AR from NYC. We were in Oliver's Spanish class together for awhile and then she went back to Argentina about a year ago. She came back to AR while I was in Nica. Funny how our paths cross.
I enjoyed talking to my friends at church. After service, we had left overs from last night's dinner. One of my favorite dishes, the seafood pasta made by Cesar (a chef at Abuelo's restaurant). Soooo good! I even got to bring some home for tomorrow. It was nice to sit around and chat. Even in Spanish!!
I got home and Deanna was all wrapped up in a blanket sitting in her room reading. Jet was doing his best to stay inside. Although, he knows when it's 6pm and wants to go for a walk. Deanna is trying to explain to him that it's dark at 6pm. He doesn't much care about that. He just wants to have a walk. Maybe I'll get to walk him tomorrow afternoon.
It's gotten colder so I'll get to experience some winter weather for the next 7 weeks. I just don't want any ice. Especially when I travel to Indiana and back in February.
I want to get a lot done tomorrow, so I'm praying for a good night's sleep and an energy filled morning. I'll be excited if I get a lot on my list done. I know the time will fly by over the next few weeks and I have tons to take care of. But I'm not stressing over it, since I don't have to take care of anything else except of VOH stuff and my personal business. It's kind of nice! I hope I can fit in all the get togethers with friends that I'm hoping to have. I need to get my schedule organized!
Time for bed and I'm very content with the new year so far. God's blessings are new every morning and I hope to keep that feeling every day of this year.
God is faithful!
I woke up this morning and read a little bit and snoozed just a little bit more. I got up at 7am and did some Bible study for an hour or so. Since Cuerpo Vivo had a New Year's worship service last night, we had church today at 2pm instead of 10:30am. So I had time for messing around with Spanish stuff, like studying some song lyrics and a little bit of verbs. I got to take my time getting ready for church. It was a nice morning.
Elaine and Jake and the kids came by to pick up some of their stuff so they could pack the car for the drive back to Las Vegas. This week went by fast, but I'm glad that we got to spend a couple of days in the same place so we could at least share a couple of hugs and promise to pray for each other.
It was so nice to be in worship service at Cuerpo Vivo today. Jaime had me stand up to say hi and asked me to speak in Spanish. It put me on the spot so much that I couldn't think of anything to say. It was funny! The music was great and I felt right at home. I could understand more of the song lyrics since I now can recognize the conjugation of the verbs. :)
Linda Bailey was back from Argentina. She was at Cuerpo Vivo when I returned to AR from NYC. We were in Oliver's Spanish class together for awhile and then she went back to Argentina about a year ago. She came back to AR while I was in Nica. Funny how our paths cross.
I enjoyed talking to my friends at church. After service, we had left overs from last night's dinner. One of my favorite dishes, the seafood pasta made by Cesar (a chef at Abuelo's restaurant). Soooo good! I even got to bring some home for tomorrow. It was nice to sit around and chat. Even in Spanish!!
I got home and Deanna was all wrapped up in a blanket sitting in her room reading. Jet was doing his best to stay inside. Although, he knows when it's 6pm and wants to go for a walk. Deanna is trying to explain to him that it's dark at 6pm. He doesn't much care about that. He just wants to have a walk. Maybe I'll get to walk him tomorrow afternoon.
It's gotten colder so I'll get to experience some winter weather for the next 7 weeks. I just don't want any ice. Especially when I travel to Indiana and back in February.
I want to get a lot done tomorrow, so I'm praying for a good night's sleep and an energy filled morning. I'll be excited if I get a lot on my list done. I know the time will fly by over the next few weeks and I have tons to take care of. But I'm not stressing over it, since I don't have to take care of anything else except of VOH stuff and my personal business. It's kind of nice! I hope I can fit in all the get togethers with friends that I'm hoping to have. I need to get my schedule organized!
Time for bed and I'm very content with the new year so far. God's blessings are new every morning and I hope to keep that feeling every day of this year.
God is faithful!
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