Miracles

I posted earlier in the month about needing this to be a month of miracles...and listed a couple that I felt I needed. I have prayed and waited...and am still waiting.

J, as I told you, got her answer and even though it is breaking her heart to close her own place, she looks like 20 pounds of stress have been lifted from her shoulders.

V is getting dialysis 3 times a week. She looks better, feels better, and the appointment to begin looking for a new kidney has been (miraculously) moved ahead and that process can begin MUCH faster. Keep praying though so that she can get a new, improved kidney ASAP.

The two I needed haven't happened yet. Zack's school bill needed to be paid this last week so that he can register this coming week. I know that I will have the money next week (because we get a double pay check at the end of this month)...but that means he won't get to register for classes until after classes begin. Ji arrives this Thursday and we are still in the same house. It will be ok for a couple of months, but the goal is to be moved out by Nov. 1st and that will still take the grace of God.

A realization hit me as I was praying about these needs the other day. When I think of a miracle, I think of things like the parting of the Red Sea, Jesus walking on water or turning water into wine. I really have to stop thinking like that. Miracles take place EVERY DAY! This week alone I have risen healthy and alive each and every day. I have driven safely to work (believe me, that is a miracle around here). I have made new friends. I have felt at home and happy in my new work place. I've been loved and appreciated by family and friends. The sun has been shining the last couple of days. I could go on and on.

I don't need the parting of the Red Sea. That's nice once in a while...but if it happened every day then it wouldn't seem like a miracle. I am learning to appreciate the every day things as miracles in themselves.

Hope you experience a bunch of miracles today.

Back to school

My summer is officially over. I started work again yesterday (Monday). These first couple of days are training days. It's been great to hear about the history of the church and school that I now work for. I have also been meeting some new people (since I have the opportunity to teach at a different school this year...different school...same school system). First thing Monday morning I met another new teacher at the school and within five minutes we discovered that we both moved to Washington from South Carolina. As a matter of fact, we lived within just a few minutes of each other several years ago. Small world, huh?

We still have a couple of training days and then finally into our class rooms to prepare. I'm excited and anxious to get in there and start getting ready for the kids. I am teaching 4 classes of Seniors (Current World Issues) and 2 classes of Sophomores (World History). I really love the CWI class because there are SO MANY world issues to discuss and I learn almost as much as I teach. I love the opportunity to get into discussions with the Seniors. They are on the verge of a whole new life and it is challenging, as well as rewarding, to have the privilege of seeing them start to realize that a whole new world is getting ready to open up for them.

It brings back a lot of memories too. (Yes, I still do remember back that far.) I remember my Government class. Our teacher kept a bottle of vodka in her desk drawer. I guess she didn't think we knew this. She kept a coffee cup on her desk and just enough coffee in the cup to make sure the liquid was brown, but she wasn't too careful about sticking the cup in her drawer and refilling it. By the end of class, she was well on her way to being sloshed...sad thing is, I had her first period. There was a presidential election my senior year and so we learned a lot about the election process. My best friend and I had to be "campaign managers" for the candidate that Mrs. S was NOT endorsing. Our whole group got nothing higher than D's...no matter what we did... because she hated our candidate so much. The principal had to step in and make her change our grades. She was also in charge of measuring us for caps and gowns. I don't think one of us had the right sized cap...so there was a lot of exchanging on graduation day to find one that actually fit our heads.

Thank goodness we are more careful about teachers these days.

The Last Two Weeks

On the first weekend of August, Zack and I went camping with our church home group. We had a wonderful time. Our friends have found a piece of heaven on earth and it was a great weekend of relaxation, good food, good friends and good fun.

Last week was a busy one, and I had a purpose in mind. I wanted to make sure that all my painting and housework was completely done so that I could truly enjoy this week. So, I FINALLY finished the last two rooms that needed painted, also caught up on laundry and housework. This is obviously an area where I am not like my Mom. When my Mom starts a project, she works until it is done. She will work 20 hours a day on that project until it is actually done. It still might take her a few days because she often starts new projects in the midst of the current project. I, on the other hand, "pace myself". I work a couple of hours, then rest a couple of hours, then rest a couple more hours before I work another hour. This makes a major project last an entire 2 months (as this painting project has done.) Anyway, the painting is done! Yeah.

This week has been relaxing and enjoyable. I wanted to have one week where I do only what I actually want to do. I'm finding out that that isn't as easy as it sounds. It's Wednesday and I feel like I've got to pack about 6 weeks into the next 5 days. I feel like I haven't accomplished anything. Does anyone else feel this endless need to "accomplish" something?

This week also began with a reminder that I have a critical spirit. I know that this is an issue that I need to constantly work on. It comes so naturally to me. I was raised in a critical atmosphere, but that's no excuse because I haven't lived in that atmosphere for many years. I try to use sarcasm and wit to disguise it, but even though I think I'm being funny, I'm still being critical and negative. This is an area that I need to fix.

Next Monday I'm back to work. Even though I'm wishing that "summer" wasn't coming to such a quick end, I am excited about what this school year is going to bring.

Have a great day!

Birthdays

Yesterday I "celebrated" the 14th anniversary of my 39th birthday. Maybe it's me...but I don't enjoy growing older. I have to be honest, instead of looking at it as another wonderful year full of accomplishments...I just start thinking about what I haven't done, where I should be, what I could have done and didn't...etc.etc. No wonder I don't like birthdays.

I had a good day yesterday. Zack and I had just returned from a WONDERFUL camping weekend with our church home group. Yesterday I slept in a little, got up to several phone calls from family and friends, then Zack and I headed off for a couple of hours at a nearby lake where we spent some time with our former room-mate and her two sons. It was sunny and bright...a beautiful day. We came home, showered and got ready for a dinner at Red Lobster. (My treat to me.) Zack got me a portable grill and we are going to use it tonight for grilled shrimp and steaks. We were going to go to a movie last night too...but after eating a full, rich meal...I was ready for bed. So, we saved the movie for tonight.

However, even as we had that wonderful day...in the back of my mind were negative thoughts running over and over....you should own your own home, you should be out of debt, you should be thinner,you should be healthier, you should be more prepared for retirement...I just let it keep running and running through my mind, until it had me weighed down to the point that I had stopped enjoying the day. Last night as I tried to get to sleep, I was having this conversation in my head one more time and FINALLY (I know, I know) I started praying and asked God to keep these thoughts from overpowering my thoughts. Well, He didn't wave His magic wand and make only happy thoughts run through my head. But, He did pop a couple of thoughts into my head and the realization that if I would think of them instead of the negative thoughts, it might make a difference.

As I lay there getting ready to fall asleep, I started to thinking of what I do have and what I have accomplished...I have a beautiful, wonderful (even though he is a teenager) son who loves me. Of course, he is playing his part as a teenager and not showing that love on most days, but when it's needed or necessary...there he is. I have wonderful friends, some of them I've known for just a few years, some I've known for over half of my life. These people are there when I need them. They laugh with me, cry with me, pray with me and for me, share with me, and allow me to be a part of their lives. I have a wonderful church...I could write another blog on what my church does for me. I have family that loves me (though they are so far away) and I have a career that I love. It challenges me and brings me so much joy. The list goes on and on.

As I began listing these things, I thanked God for another year to live this wonderful life. I thanked Him for the many opportunities and blessings that He has given me, as well as the many opportunities and blessings that are yet to come.

Have a great day!

"Great is Thy Faithfulness"

I feel a sermon coming on....those were dreaded thoughts when I was a kid. My Mom would start on a subject and my eyes would meet with my brother's eyes and he would sometimes mouth what we were both thinking..."I feel a sermon coming on". She would commence to "preaching"...on and on and on and on about whatever topic she felt we needed to hear. I promise this entry isn't going to be like that.

Last year, just about this time, I needed some miracles. Something I read or heard suddenly took hold and I felt such a change in my faith and trust in God, that it was hard to even comprehend. But I declared August my "month of miracles" and somehow knew that it would be.

I am once again claiming August my "month of miracles". The miracles that I need are different this year, yet I know that God is faithful and will somehow see that our needs are met. It's not even August and they have started already.

My friend "J" owns her own business...sadly it is a mortgage business. I don't know if any of you keep up on the housing market, but around here it has gone DOWNHILL fast. Her business has been doing very bad this year. When I saw her Sunday I could see the frustration, stress, and even fear on her face. Her tears were flowing freely. I told her that I was going to pray for her and we both needed to BELIEVE that God was going to help. She called me last night to tell me that she got an offer yesterday to join another company. She will close her office, put her stuff in storage and go to work for someone else. This will provide her with a steady base income, plus profits on all loans she gets and closes herself. She doesn't have to worry about salaries and office rent, etc. I could hear the relief in her voice as I spoke to her. So, in the "miracles needed" column of my journal, I can already scratch one off.

"V" is a best friend/sister. She and I were college room-mates. She is the closest thing to a sister I have ever had. She (and her husband--who by the way was my first college date--hmmmm) has been there for me in tough times and I have been there for her. The month she got married she was diagnosed with Lupus. Through the years it caused great damage to her organs and 18 years ago she had to have a kidney transplant. That kidney (which they named Sidney) has given up the ghost. She had a shunt put in yesterday and starts dialysis today. She has to quit work for the time being and go on disability leave. Her name is going to be placed on a donor list and she will have to continue dialysis until she receives another kidney.

Last year Zack's tuition was free. However, the fee's that go along with private school...sports, books, building maintenance, etc. are not free. I still owe over $700. He can't register until that amount is paid in full and then his registration fee is around $200. Registration for sophomores is August 25th. I have worked part-time in the office this summer to help out...but that won't even cover 1/4 of what's needed. We're needing a miracle.

This year things have changed and we now have to pay tuition for our kids (and yes, they are still REQUIRED to go there if we teach there). We do get a 35% discount, so that helps...and my pay has increased (almost as much as the tuition will be). To help out, we will be having a Korean student live with us. I was hoping to have moved to a better house before she gets here on August 25th. To do that, I need first and last month's rent and a landlord who is willing to take a renter with not-perfect credit. This doesn't HAVE to happen this month, it would just be nice if it could happen this month so that we wouldn't have to move during the school year and also so that I wouldn't have to take the kids to school 90 minutes before school actually starts.

So, I am in need of some miracles. Today my Bible reading was Lamentations 3:1-24. The verses that were especially significant...21-23: "Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is YOUR faithfulness."

AMEN!

Memories of Dad

Dad was a hard-working man. He worked at a small trucking company, started there when he was a teenager, took a few years off to serve in the Korean conflict, and retired from the same company in his mid-60's. When we would see a Cook truck, we would always get excited and scream out "There's one of Dad's trucks"...even after we were adults and knew better. He was very dedicated to his job. Once he took a one week vacation and on that Friday, he fell off a ladder, breaking his leg and back...but was back at work the next Monday.

I was born during the last few months of Dad's US Navy service. I believe his Navy years were some of the best in his life. He remained friends with a few of his buddies (even named my 2 brothers after them) and told great stories of his time aboard ship.

Dad was quiet and calm. However, every once in a while, he would blow. I remember when we were camping once and he'd had enough of the "fussing". He yelled "ENOUGH!" and threw down his plate. He used enough force that the plastic fork bounced up and stuck one of my brothers in the neck. (Actually it was my Mom's home-made, very sticky syrup that caused the fork to stick.)

Dad was blunt...but in a funny way. I had a college friend who was very un-endowed...if you know what I mean. She was also VERY sensitive about it. She came home with me for a spring break and the 2nd day she was there, my Dad came home with a very large rubber band. He threw it at her and said, "Peg, put this around your waist when you eat...as much as you eat, I'm thinking this would make a difference in your figure." I almost crawled under the table. I didn't know how she would react to that...it could have put her into a "mood" for the next 6 months. But, she laughed until she cried and when we got back to school, she hung that rubber band on her bulletin board. It was there until we graduated.

Dad hated Avon. Mom sold it, Dad always had to go with her to "deliver". He would sit in the car while she delivered...which could take anywhere from 10 minutes to over an hour. He always had to stay up on the nights the order had to go in so that it would make the midnight postmark. (That meant he would leave the house at 11:45 pm, rushing to the post office to make the deadline.) He had more Avon cologne than a man would ever want. He would have been happier with a bottle of "Old Spice". He would have laughed (along with my brother and I) at the fact that his ashes were sealed in an Avon jar and when I went to the funeral home to pick them up, I carried the jar out in an Avon bag.

He was not one who cared about fashion. I cringe at some of the outfits he actually wore during the 70's...as well as the sideburns he felt he had to grow. And I was thrilled when he discovered jeans during his retirement years.

Dad had a nickname for me. He very rarely called me by my name. He nicknamed me "Gertrude" (ouch) when I was very little. I was 2 years old and started crooning loudly and dancing along with someone on the radio named Gertrude Arbusinger (or at least that's the story he told me). So, for as long as I can remember, he called me "Gert". No one else ever called me that...but even when I moved away from home, he would answer the phone with "Hey Gert, how's it going?"

Dad wasn't openly emotional. There weren't a lot of "I love you's" spoken...but it never had to be spoken. It was there and NEVER doubted. He worked a lot when we were kids, so there was a lot of time that Dad wasn't really around to play ball, etc. But when Zack came along, that totally changed. He played ball with Zack, took Zack to work with him, came to my house in the mornings to get Zack up and off to school (because of my school and job commitments)...they were best friends. I am so happy that Zack had that time with Dad.

Dad lied to me twice (that I know of). The first was about my beloved dog "Smitty". I was 4 and Dad told me that Smitty ran away. He even walked me around the block looking for Smitty when I said I wanted to go find him. I didn't find out until I was 16 that Smitty had to be put down because he was very sick.

The second lie was that he was going to live to be 84. I don't know why he chose that age...but he didn't make it. Today would have been his 78th birthday.

We miss you Dad...ever single day.

Rest and Relaxation

I got back late Saturday night from 4 days in the woods. Laura and I left on Wednesday, without kids, and went to her place at Goldbar Nature Trails. It's only about 40 miles away...but truly seemed like a world away. There was no traffic, no responsibilities, no schedule...it was great. We read, ate, slept, played cards, talked, giggled, and really had a great time. I'm so glad that we had the chance to get away. While we were there, I even read 4 books!

I need to start taking some time away once in a while. So far my summer vacation hasn't really been much of a vacation. Even though I still have a little painting to do, the house is clean and ready to show to prospective buyers. I don't have any major projects left to take care of. So, I'm going to take my time and start working on lesson plans, keep the house and laundry in shape, and spend more time relaxing. Once the school year starts that is hard to do.

Again, I am reminded to "be still and know that I am God". It's hard to listen to God in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. I know I can't go "into the woods" every time I need to hear something from God, but I need to be able to stop, relax, take some time and listen.

Have a great week!