V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N in the summertime :-)

Oh, my yes, here we are in balmy South Carolina, breathing in the salt sea air. (Well, not really, but I could if I were willing to go out into the nasty humid South Carolina heat--which I'm not). But we're here being lazy (guess who didn't get out of bed til 10:30) and just generally enjoying the whole vacation mindset.

Thursday was my very last day of daycare and even then, I left for 2 hours for a "meet-and-greet" with my principal which, delightfully, turned into an hour meeting with the teacher I'm going to be working with. I'm beginning to get a sense of what I'll be doing when school starts. And I know the names of some of my students, so now I can pray for them, individually, by name. I'm totally amazed at how my experiences all these years--4 years as a Girl Scout leader, 22 years of home daycare and all those years of childrearing--have prepared me for this job. I'm really getting excited!

And just to make this post worth looking at, here are the pictures I took the morning I left. I wanted to have something fresh to show Mom and Dad and, without thinking, I had emptied my camera the night before. So this was the best I could do for them, but it's not half bad, don't you think? :-)

So, KatieBug, email us some good pictures while I'm here so I can add them to Grandma's file.

Thankful Thursday

I found this link the other day and just love the idea. I don't know whether it is supposed to be like a Thursday Thirteen, but tonight I'm pressed for time and I just have one big "thankful" on my mind right now.

I am SO thankful to live in a place and time where women are allowed to be educated. In other parts of the world, RIGHT NOW, that blessing is routinely denied to females. And in other eras, education for women was universally believed to be a waste of time.

I was the kind of kid who got in trouble at least once in every year of elementary school for bouncing up and down in my seat, frantically waving my hand to be called on and then blurting out the answer. I loved the process of learning.

And now, over forty years later, I'm so blessed to have the privilege of taking Hebrew classes. My teacher is a woman. Over half the students in the class are female. I don't yell out the answers anymore, but school is just as much fun as it ever was.

The authors of our textbook think it's fun, too. One of my homework assignments was to read aloud several sentences of Hebrew. I wish my computer had a font for the Hebrew letters so you could see what it looked like. And I wish you could have heard me stumble through this--sounding just exactly like a first grader who has to sound out every word. My lesson said,

"See Betty eat. Eat, Betty, eat. See Betty eat quiche. Eat quiche, Betty, eat quiche. See Bab eat Betty's quiche. See Betty beat Bab."

My husband and daughter were in hysterics as I read to them. And so was I. What fun!

TGIF

Have you heard the story about the mama who always gave her little girl ice cream after lunch for dessert ? One day she checked the kitchen freezer, and the ice cream had all been eaten. So she was going to have to go down to the big freezer in the basement. But little Janie wanted her ice cream right away, like usual, and started banging her spoon on her high chair tray and screaming, "ICE CREAM! ICE CREAM!" Mama said, "Be patient, Janie" and went downstairs. When she got back, Janie was stiff as a board in her high chair, eyes scrunched shut, cheeks puffed out, face all red, not breathing. Mama rushed to her side, dropping the ice cream carton on the floor, and began frantically trying to revive her daughter as she cried, "Janie, Janie, what's wrong!?" At that, the little girl opened her eyes, took a deep breath and explained, "I'm having patience."

Right now, I'm having me some patience. I have 2--count them--2 more days of doing daycare. (It was supposed to be 3, but it was out of my control that we got booked on a Friday morning flight out of here instead of an evening flight, like I asked for. But that is neither here nor there.) The hard part is not in working 2 more days. I have loved my job and the families that I'm working with are sweet people and I'm blessed that I will continue to have contact with them. The hard part is in not saying, "I ONLY HAVE TWO MORE DAYS!!" I have not done the countdown thing. I have not said I only have 8 more, 7 more, 6 more, 5 more...well you get the picture. I have not told a screaming toddler that I only have to listen to this nonsense for X MORE DAYS. I've stayed in the moment as much as is humanly possible. But people, I have 2 MORE DAYS left til I finish a job that I've been doing for 24 years. I'm almost done.

And Friday is looking really good to me.

It's not my agenda anymore

When I made my 101 Goals in 1001 days, the first thing I put on my list (after making the list itself) is to read the Bible straight through, cover to cover. In my own special, hyperfocused, one-track minded way, I was thinking I would need to figure out how many chapters there are and how many days there are and how much I would have to read each day to get it done in the time allotted!

But a funny thing happened. I kept getting "bogged down." I'd be reading along, and a verse would grab my attention. And I'd just have to search out more about it. Read a commentary or look up the other verses with the interesting word or check out the Hebrew. And I'd be so busy doing something extra that I didn't have time to finish enough chapters. The next day, it would happen again. And yet again. I was not getting the job done!

It finally dawned on my rock brain that This was the point. Not to rush through the words, but to let the Spirit set the pace and the agenda. So even though "Read the Bible cover to cover" is still on my 1001 day list, how long it's really going to take is totally out of my hands.

This is what the Lord showed me a few days ago. I'm in Numbers right now, the 40 years in the wilderness book. I can remember reading these stories when I was a kid in Sunday School and VBS. And I can remember thinking what jerks the Israelites were. If I had seen God send the plagues to smite Egypt, if I had seen God part the Red Sea, if I had been promised the land flowing with milk and honey, well now, I would've been the bravest of the brave, the most faithful, the most trusting, the most believing. Honey, my bones would not be bleaching out in the desert, 'cause I would've been marching right alongside Joshua and Caleb to claim my inheritance. Can anybody relate?

I had similar misconceptions about the story of Balaam. Balaam asked God if he could go and get paid for cursing God's people. God had already said over and over and over that these people were His people and that whoever blessed His people would be blessed and whoever cursed His people would be cursed. So when Balaam asked for permission to curse them, God said no. Balaam asked again and this time, God said yes. So Balaam went and God was angry. Made no sense to me. That seemed to be one of those situations that cause people to say that the Bible contradicts itself. Why would God say yes and then get mad? What's up with that?!

And then I began to see exactly what's up with that. How many issues are there in my life and in the culture around me where the Lord has clearly stated over and over again what His standards are and yet I/we want to live as though He hasn't said a word about any of it. Please, Lord, Please Please Please! So He stands back and says, "Go ahead!" That's not permission and blessing. That's giving us enough rope to hang ourselves. When things go south, as they always will when we live in violation of his Word, then we're like Balaam. We say, "IF you displeased..." uh, we'll do something else? Much to my shock, there I am again. One of those clueless people. Wandering out in the wilderness with no idea how I got there.

What joy and comfort and security to know that I belong to the One who calls me back when I get off track. Who knows that my righteousness is as filthy rags--so He gives me His own. And what a pleasure it is to find this reassurance tucked into the stories of the people whose promises we are allowed to share.

Lovin' on my boys

DH and I went over this afternoon to visit with the Bug family. When it got close to going home time, I read the kids a story. When we were done, the boys were playing right near me. I reached over and put my arms around Firecracker and started whispering in his ear, "I love you. I love you. I love you" I said it very quietly and slowly over and over. After about 15 repetitions, he grinned hugely and said, "I love you, too!" And we giggled for a minute while I kissed his neck.

Then I grabbed Bubby and started the same routine. "I love you, I love you, I love you" whispered against his check. He let it go for awhile, then he pulled away and with a pleasant look on his face but with a very serious, no-nonsense tone in his voice (like you would use on a 2 year old who had asked for ice cream one too many times), he said, "OK. That's enough."

KatieBug and I fell out, shrieking with laughter. Bubby was quite pleased to have been so funny, even though he wasn't exactly sure what he had done that was so hilarious. Somehow, though, I have a feeling that it'll be a cold day in a hot place before I get an "I love you, too" out of that boy.

How's it coming?

Well, I know I'm supposed to be modest and let someone else say, "OH, this is nice!" But I spent all day picking a picture and getting it put in and I love that Scripture and I found several other cute things that I plan to add as soon as I can. (Being the queen of slow has its disadvantages.) So I'm pleased with my small beginning. And the Bible says we are not to despise small beginnings, so there you are.

I Want A New Look

I'm tired of being boring. I've been reading a lot more blogs lately because of things the girls have linked to. And I want more focus...and some bling. I'm not sure what to do about it, but I'm open to finding out. It's interesting to read some of the blogs whose writers have a very clear focus in what their purpose is. I started out being vague and random and haven't wandered very far from my humble beginnings. I'm getting ready to move into a new season and lots of things in my life are changing. I think this blog should be one of them.