A new beginning

Amazing that the last post was the graduation from 8th grade and here we are 7 months later and we look at a new beginning.  So much has happened in the past six weeks and I really need to take the time to write it out.  It is such a God story and Mikal needs to know it.  I need to remember it.  What I don't know is how it will end for all the players involved.  But Lord I don't need to know and for that I am so grateful.  Even with our free will, you know.  Somehow, you know.

Today was a day of beginnings for M H, my 15-year-old great-nephew who now lives with us.  Not temporarily but permanently...until graduation in 3 1/2 years.  Wow! New shoes for all of us to fill.  New steps to take on a road not travelled.  The parallel road travelled 17 years ago with E as he was 15 and in the ninth grade.  Today was the first youth class, first youth group function after evening worship.  Not surprisingly he fit in like he had been there always.  It has helped to have him participate in some of the Christmas break activities.  But there is always that "back to normal" that can happen with people that you are suddenly out in the cold.  And it didn't.  Thank you, Lord.  And as we left the fellowship tonight, M called out to one of the youth boys (guess I will need to start remember names) if he would be at Bible study tomorrow.  He said yes and asked if M would be there.  A happy yes was the answer.  Thank you, Lord.

Tomorrow.  Tomorrow begins our new normal.  Enrollment in school.  Daily taking and picking up from classes.  Homework.  Monday night Bible study.  All new again for me and new place, new people, new schedule from M.  Lord, please lead him to the teens who will be good influences on him.  Lord, let there be the one who asks him to join him for lunch.  Always the hard part of a new school.  Who will I sit with at lunch.  I think Mikal will just plop down anywhere.  Lord, let it be the right place.  With the right person.

Thankful listing for today:

-Worship with my church family and the song service.
-Talking with Greg who never sits where we sit.
-Hearing Greg praise the counseling center and the advice of talking with parents instead       
      of the child. (We needed to hear that)
-Conversation with M at lunch...easy going
-M reveal part of his life before.  Always remember to ask about experience as to why 
    something is not liked.  There is a story.
-Thankful for wounded not broken life we are privileged to nurture and love.
-M's desire to pray for Ken.
-M's action to ask for prayer for Ken.
-Lord, hear the heart of this child.
-M's joy at running with Molly.  His delight in a dog.
-The smell of sweet oranges that lingers at the table long after eaten and peels 
     discarded.
-A snaggledtoothed seven-year-old's birthday.  Happy birthday Ish...he who laughs and 
      brings joy each day.
-Bible class members who pray, who care.
-George asking for intercessory prayer for an employee.  
-blessing of an unexpected raise.  Lord you are too good to us.  May we be wise in our 
    use of these funds.
-hearing of scripture and words of challenge.  Lord let them sink into me.  Let me feed 
     on them and gain insight and nourishment.

Not in a Million Years

Thank you Lord for the miracle of tonight.  For the blessing of time spent celebrating a milestone in PAC's life--last day of middle school.  Thank you for obedient hearts that listened to the Spirit's urging to bring together families involved in his life.  To begin the fence mending that witnesses to the children and adults what God's love can do when we get out of the way.


Thank you for the life to celebrate today who is not here - GEO - who is celebrating with his other grandparents and family his 9th birthday. What a blessing he is to us, Lord.  What a unique personality is his.  What a joy. 


Lord, was it really nine years ago the craziness of our family was beginning to heal?  Baby steps Lord as we built an altar of remembrance tonight to say in this place God's healing hand touched us.  As always, your timing is perfect and when we are obedient, healing begins in wounds thought to be too deep for redemption.

Catching Up

Thursday - A busy day.  Thankful I was able to meet with friends to hear about ways to help give away Bibles to the world and a way to have a digital library of sermons.   Thankful I was able to go see grandchildren before they left for a family vacation.  What a blessing to just be...just be with children on their first day out of school.  Just be...with my daughter running errands.  Just be...

Friday - Spent the day trimming spent blooms from plants.  Listening to the birds, there are so many varieties you hear when you stop and just listen.  The trimming was mundane and tedious.  Tempted to hate the plants after the third one, but breathing slow and listening to God and the birds.  Thank you God, for showing me the blessing of just slowing down.  Even for just a moment.

Saturday - Morning yard work resulted in a garden area that is beginning to take shape.  Thank you God for the ability to work in the dirt.   Afternoon was spent with daughter-in-law's family and extended family.  Thank you God for putting our son in a family that loves him and loves us.  It was a great time of sharing our grandson and fellowshipping...which is better than just visiting.

Sunday - church with family and friends.  What an immense blessing.  Hardin kids in with their kids.  Boys everywhere.  Laughter, tears, pictures, hugs.  Life is blessed.  In the middle of it all a friend comes up with a smile on her face and thoughts of how wonderful life is as we are surrounded by family.  Asking her how her life is, she admitted it was in need of prayer, but her face shared in the blessing of what I had before me.  Thank you God for showing me through other's eyes the blessings I have.  Thank you for showing me what shared joy looks like even if the one sharing is in pain.

This evening was spent with son and his family.  Quiet, at ease and so fun.  Thank you for the ease in d-i-l making dinner.  Thank you for the time to chat, laugh and share life in the smile of a child.

Slo-o-o-owing down

I like the thought of blogging.  A great way to get the moments of the day down to be able to remember in the future.  A way to built good altars of remembrance.  But it takes time to blog and I am always doing.  Thank you God for this way You are using to slow me down.  You know me so well and You use the tools that are most effective.  Thank you for opening my eyes to what I need to do to have conversation with You...not on the run, but in the quiet slowness of writing.

Contagious Joy and Growing Pains

Thank you, God, for the shuffling you do in my life.  I like consistency .  I like growth. Seldom are the two compatible. Growth mean change in some form.  Our church is a growing church and that means movement in all directions at once.  Disconcerting at times.  OK most times.  And usually I do OK.  But sometimes I do not and I am not proud of myself at those times.  Lots of self talk.  Thank you, God, that in those times of bad response You speak through people and ground me.  Not that I like it, but I need it.


Thank you for Mitch.  His humility and his passion for you speak truth each week.  But this week he nailed me.  What are my kingdoms that I want to go my way?  Ouch.  Especially given an upheaval that I was not happy about facing.  And then You spoke through him to remind us to pray for each other.  Everyone.  Hard to have a bad attitude when I know it's not right AND I am praying for people.  Thank you, God, for using willing servants like Mitch.


Thank you for Francisco.  Joy has a face and a name:  Francisco.  He will become full time in July as Hispanic minister.  He is a true fisher of men because he understands in a very real way Your love for the lost.  Lord please let his joy be contagious.  Let him be Your reminder of what the Christian life is all about.  Let him raise the bar for the ministers and staff.  Use him to ignite a fire. Thank you Lord for allowing me to see Your Joy face to face in him.


Thank you for my conversation with Carrie yesterday.  Just a conversation. She shared a part of her life with me.  That is a privilege I have not had in a long time.  


Thank you for our healthy unborn grandchild. Thank you for the wonderful doctor Kate has found and the go ahead (at least for now) for her to travel to Brazil.  The excitement over a new birth...thank you Lord.

A weekend of thankfulness

A busy week with a tired body at the end of a day. Outside activities makes allergies rage and equals tired body as well.


I am thankful for the days spent outside (even with allergies) enjoying God's creation. 
I am thankful for the plan for the garden that came together within an hour of having a design crisis with the stream.  And what a perfect solution.  Again the value of patiently waiting for answers instead of plowing ahead with no idea of direction.


I am thankful for Kate being able to come to be with me for the Mother/Daughter Tea.  What a great blessing to share that time with her.


I am thankful with ways God answers my small SOS times as well as the big SOS times.  How Don's meeting ended in time for him to get Kate.  Thankful for the timing of the Sextons heading to Edmond on Saturday and able to give Kate a ride home.


I am thankful for the graduation celebration time with Calleigh Sexton.  Having no contact for the past ten years, we were still an important enough part of her life to be invited to participate.  A reminder of the value of being alive to the moment in people's lives.  You never know what an impact the smallest thing can make.


It was Senior Sunday today.  I am reminded of how quickly time passes.  These small children grow so quickly.  I am thankful for the opportunity to make the Senior Video again this year.  What a blessing.  I am thankful putting the music on went so smoothly.  Again, another SOS since it had slipped off my radar.  God, why are you so good to me when I fail again and again.


I am thankful for Don who continues to put up with my goofiness of loving plants and things green and not getting them planted in a timely manner because I bite off more than I can handle.  God, you continue to bless me with his love.  Thank you.

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

Guess seeing Fiddler on the Roof at the PAC has stayed with me.


I am thankful today for the forever family I have within the body of Christ.  Thankful we can celebrate through worship the gift of eternal life.  Thankful we can celebrate in different ways but always together focused on the one God.


I am thankful for the forever family at Park Plaza and its leadership who today blessed the body with the announcement of Francisco becoming a full-time evangelist in July.  Thankful that I will have Francisco in the office full-time to spur me (and everyone within earshot) to touch lives.  To quote Francisco about the world outside our walls (figurative and literal) "They haven't got a chance.


I am thankful for Francisco's unabashed love for the Lord that he will walk the streets in Los Angeles and exchange pamphlets about Jesus with the women handing out pamphlets about sex.  (their pamphlets go in the trash!)  Francisco is fearless because he knows he is saved and he has good news.  Lord inspire me!


I am thankful today to have been in the presence of a beautiful Christian woman who has faced so much trial and held her dignity.  She faced the biggest challenge when the wedding of her child took place at the family ranch of the man who abandoned her and their children.  What a challenge.  She looked Satan in the eye and as she said, "I danced in the enemy's camp."  She knew she was not alone.  God was beside her, giving her peace.  Lord may I have that kind of courage.


I am thankful today for my children.  They are unique and precious.  As much fun as it was to watch them grow up, it is more fun to watch them live out their paths in life.  What a blessing they are to me.  Lord help me show and tell them how much they mean to my life.


I am thankful today for the significant others in the lives of my grandchildren.  Ours is a crazy patchwork of relationships with varying strengths of bonds.  But we make it work and for that Lord, I am thankful.  My desires alone would not make this happen.  You are in the middle of this.


I am thankful today for my mother who has blessed me by showing me the way through life not only in the ups but graciously living the downs.  She is beautiful.  The only drawback is she does not know how beautiful she is.  How I wish I could convey her beauty and her impact on all of us.


I am thankful today for my best friend, my husband.  For he has made my role of mother one of ease.  I never stressed about juggling work outside the home with work inside.  His diligent work ethic made my life a blessed one.  Now as we walk hand-in-hand toward those days (waaaaay off in the distance) of aging, we find ourselves more and more in love and in step with each other.  What a blessing.  What a joy.


I am thankful for my Lord.  That I know I don't show often enough nor deep enough.  Lord may this writing effort focus more and more on You.  I once was lost, but now I'm found.  Thank you.