Prayer Request

The redbuds are letting us know that spring is just around the corner if not already here. I do feel sorry for my friends up north. (Of ocurse, come July, I feel sorry for myself.)

This is the time of year that teachers look for jobs for the coming fall. Rachel has begun registering for teacher job fairs at a number of public school districts. We just happen to be located such that there are four different independent school districts with elementary schools within a 5-mile radius of our house. There will also be some Christian schools to apply at.

Rachel has had an interesting year as a substitute teacher, many good experiences and a couple bad ones too. But she is ready to try a full-time teaching position for next year. Pray that God will help her through the application process and especially the interviews (she feels like she doesn't interview very well) and lead her to just the right position.

Pebbles?

I just ate a bowl of cereal that claimed to be 96% organic. I wonder what that other 4% was.

Pastor Gary Simons

I was looking at the online TV guide tonight and noticed that we we turned on channel 2 at 9:30 we could watch Pastor Gary Simons. So we did. He wears cowboy boots. His church is just a few miles away in Arlinton. And he has a website: www.garysimons.org

One time we got a phone call: "Hello. Is this Gary Simons, the preacher?" I replied, "No, this is Gary Simons, the missionary."

Skinny

Can you believe that was me? Thanks to the good old internet, the other woman in the photo found me and we've reconnected after 30 years. She sent me this photo of us. I have no remembrance of it being taken, but I assume it is somewhere in Michigan in the early 70s. I also have no remembrance of ever being that skinny.

We're All Getting Old

Happy 50th Birthday to the Cat in the Hat. I guess I'm not the only one getting old.

Speaking of getting old, we had physicals this week. Actually the news was slightly better than last time in almost all categories. Except, I do have something stuck in my ear, which the doctor will try to fish out on Monday. You'd think I'd notice if something was there, but it could explain why I haven't been able to hear so well! :-\

Dustbowl

The weather is very weird at the moment. There is not a cloud, I think, in the sky, but visibility is limited due to all the dust in the air. This is a photo I stole from a Dallas weather cam at about 3:30pm today. Currently winds are at 25 mph with gusts up to 45/mph.

My guess is that a lot of this dust is from a humongous construction project (yeah, we need another mall) south of us. There are several acres of open earth there. Or at least there was, before this wind came along!

There is Justice in this World

We are lowering the price of your current 1 at-a-time (2 per month) plan to $4.99 a month plus applicable taxes.

Your membership will automatically move to the lower price for your next billing period and be reflected in your Membership Terms and Details. The lower price will appear on your next bill on or after February 23, 2007. You will still get the same great service and convenience. So please sit back, relax and enjoy your movies!

-The Netflix Team

Gary bought me the cheapest Netflix subscription for our anniversary, for $4.99/month. Except that when I actually signed up, it was $5.99/month. That was a little aggravating. Then we noticed all the TV ads for Netflix for $4.99/month, and that was more than a little aggravating. So when this little message arrived in my inbox yesterday, that was not aggravating at all.

Somehow, picking out movies over the internet is way better than going to the store, especially for Gary. But the types of movies he has been picking out are not exactly entertainment! His latest choice was Supersize Me. (I just had to use the big font for that.)

Three Generations

This photo reminds me that I miss my grandma.

Under A Rock

We've figured out why I've never heard of the the Police. I was living under a rock from 1979-1983--no electricity, little English, and lots of kids. No time for Police.

I have heard of the Beatles.

The Police

From an email from Andrew:

P.S. Just in case you missed it, The Police reunited (Sting is their lead singer) and they are about to go on their first tour since 1984 together. I was lucky enough to get some of their tickets this morning and they have already sold for double. :)

I'm not sure I've ever heard of The Police. But last time Andrew sold Sting tickets, I got a new dishwasher out of the deal. Maybe this time he'll buy me a new car. :-)

Servants In Luggage

Meetings have been going on in my office for the last week plus. Several of those attending meetings come from overseas. One particular attendee I've come to think of as Mr. Beast Of Burden--Bob, for short. All week long boxes have trickled in containing stuff for him to hand carry back to country X (I suppose I shouldn't actually mention the name of the country--in order to protect the guilty--but this country has a LOT of ocean in it.) I can understand the hard drives, the laptop, the prescription medicines. But what about 6 pounds of pinto beans?? And used tee shirts from the boutique?? Really, are there no tee-shirts to be had in this country??

He's more gracious than I would be if asked to carry all this stuff in my luggage. But I did hear him mutter something about someone starting their own personal cargo cult!

Happy Valentine's Day

May your day be filled with love (and chocolate).

Credits to Ma Hoyt's Christmas letter for this graphic. ;-)

Supplements

I've never really taken nutritional supplements, subscribing to the theory that if you eat your vegetables, you don't need them. (And I love vegetables, almost all kinds.) Besides that, they're expensive.

But I'm beginning to wonder if my daughter would benefit from them. She is sick way too often, and she doesn't like vegetables very much (except broccoli and carrots and corn).

Anybody know anything about supplements and could make a recommendation? (Although if you sell them as a side job, I might look at your advice with a jaded view :-)

Just the Facts, Ma'am

I was never a very good history student, so maybe that's why I like the "executive summary" passages in the Bible, places where the author condenses all the relevant facts into a short densely-packed passage. Some examples:

• Acts 2:14-36 Peter gives a speech.
• Acts 7:2-53 Steven gives a speech.
• Hebrews 11 Heroes of the faith.

Do you know of other passages like that?

Where the Cobs Live

If spiderwebs are made by spiders, then certainly cobwebs must be made by cobs, right? Haven't you always wondered how those cobwebs formed at the top of the window frames when you've never seen a spider any where in the vicinity?

Naturally, we must check to see what the the internet says about cobwebs.

Anyway, I found where they live at our house when I unloosened two painted screws over the air intake vents under the furnace.

Scary, huh?

I actually had a reason for doing this. I mean, who wants or needs to go looking for yet more dust in one's house? My reason had to do with the on-going process of getting a new water heater. The old one is still dripping, but not spewing, so I just had to see if I could tell where the drips were going.

Need More Detail

Ugh. For all that work I did yesterday trying to organize information to take to Rachel's new doctor, it turns out I still missed a bunch of stuff. It makes me want to go on a tirade about the medical industry and the bad job it does with patient records and about how I would fix it if I were in charge of the zoo.

In any case, I should have brought along the yellow International Certification of Vaccination card.

Summary of Life

Tomorrow morning Rachel has to go see a new doctor. Sad, but she's too old to keep going to the family doctor she's had since she was two and a half, someone who has known her well and really cared about her.

Anyway, in preparation for visiting this new doctor, I'm helping her summarize her medical history. You know they are going to hand her a massive set of papers to fill out when she gets there, so we're trying to get prepared for that.

Perhaps it was overkill, but I decided to do this right. I made a spreadsheet with the months of the year across the top, and the years of her life down the side, then further subdiving each year into these categories: Location, Education, Jobs, Medical, and Misc. Perhaps I'm being obsessive, but haven't you sometimes wished you had a concise reference guide to what you did when? (Or maybe your memory is so good you don't need that??) So the idea is to fill in the Medical row specifically for tomorrow, but filling in the Job and Education rows will help when filling out job applications, etc.

And, if anyone wants to write a book about her, think how valuable this will be. :-)

Poor Hibiscus

This is what happens when Gary leaves me home alone in the freezing weather.

Bill Collectors

I pay my bills, I really do.

But in September of 2003 I got a statement from a phone company saying I owed them $156.10. I called them to say that the phone number from which these calls were supposedly made had closed down by me in June 2002. (At one point we had two land lines, before we got high-speed cable internet.) They said they would research it. Then later I got a letter from a new company telling me I needed to pay. Then later I got another letter from a bill collection agency telling me I needed to pay. Each time I phoned them and explained, and each time I kept notes and was glad I had kept notes from the time before.

And now today, another call from another bill collector, for the same amount. By some miracle I was able to locate the paperwork and notes from 2003 and explain it all again. When I complained about being through all this before, she told me how the bill collectors buy and sell debts to each other--so if bill collection company A doesn't succeed, they sell it to B who tries again, etc. Apparently, since no one seems to believe me, this may go on forever.

*sad face*

Waste Management

I guess it is getting pretty bad when you can't think of any better way to waste people's time than to post about trash cans. I could have recycled some old topics, but instead, I'm making bad puns.

I do like the new blue bins we got to place our recyclable materials in. Dallas as been slower than it should have been in getting around to this, IMHO. But, really, do we need bins this big, even if they are emptied only once every two weeks?? For that matter, do we need regular trash bins this big? I know in Texas everything is bigger, but it seems that oversized trash bins, picked up twice a week, only encourage over consumption of over packaged consumer goods. I can go 2-3 weeks before setting the trash bin out for pickup. (I guess that is partly because I put the "stinky" food scraps into the compost pile instead of into the trash.)

OK, let me know if you can think of anything more interesting for me to blog about. I'm hitting a dry spell, it seems.

Climbing Higher

In spite of my reluctance to attend, I did actually enjoy my time at the retreat. Everybody was nice to me even though I didn't know many of the folks. I had many opportunities to answer the "Do you have children?" question, and my brain is still functioning well enough to get that one right.

We had ample unscheduled time, so we got to do a little hiking. I saw two new birds, but was only able to identify the ruby-crowned kinglet. I also saw a large water bird, probably some kind of dark heron.

If you're interested in a few more photos, click on the photo below.

pinecove

Retreating

We're off to Pine Cove Christian Camp near Tyler, TX in a couple hours. Gary will be giving a little talk, and I will be doing a little talking. And walking. And eating and sleeping and reading. No blogging, however, and no emailing, since the center has no connectivity. They claim to have cell phone coverage. We'll see.

Lest you decide to sneak in and clean my house for me while I'm away, let me assure you there is no need; our sweet daughter will be here as the caretaker. We return in a few days.

Oh, and as a follow up to my last post, I should report that the fishing net worked great. The HS boy who used it turned a kid-sized table over to turn it into a fishing boat from whence they could cast their net on the other side.

Repurposing

You remember Rachel's prom dress don't you? Oh, wait, that was before we all had blogs to show off photos of our kids. Well, anyway, I got an old strapless Victor Costa formal dress out of the boutique, and remodeled it into this two-piece dress. Not bad for free, huh?

So why am I thinking about Rachel's prom dress these many years later?? Today I remembered I had removed the net underskirt from the prom dress and discovered it would make the perfect fishing net for use as a prop in children's church tomorrow. Note the corner where I was mending the net, just like James and John. :-)

Mark 1:16-20 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

The Value of Sparrows (and Juncos)

Matthew 10:29-31 For only a penny you can buy two sparrows, yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father's consent. As for you, even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows!

Another Holiday!

As soon as we got the official word that there was no work today, I started thinking I'd better cook up a batch of Ma Hoyt's Power Oatmeal. But when I couldn't find the recipe on her site, I discovered I already repeated the recipe a year ago on my site. Wow, blogging is a good supplement to my failing memory, huh?

The snow makes for good bird watching too. Yesterday I saw a pair of goldfinches in their winter clothes, and today a small flock of Inca Doves. I need to go add those two to my official bird list.

Official End of Extended Holiday Season

Today is a holiday, MLK day to be exact. No work at the office, but that won't stop us from doing a few things around the house. One thing I did today was take down all of the Christmas greeting cards that I had taped to the wall for display. I left them up long past the other Christmas decorations--partly because I love to be reminded of all the friends we have (and partly because I'm so lazy).

As I took them down, I sorted them into categories as to who sent them:

• 11 - relatives
• 4 - coworkers
• 8 - supporters
• 2 - commercial companies
• 6 - friends from our old church
• 1 - friend from new church (Hmm, looks like we need to work on our apparently fading social skills.)
• 1 - friend from an online forum
• 7 - generic friends

Now that totals 40 cards, but let's not also forget the two that were unsigned and the four that were actually anniversary cards, making a grand total of 46.

(What is it that drives me categorize and count things?)

Wedding

I didn't get any good photos of the bride and groom, but from my seat on the edge of the sanctuary, you can sorta get the idea. John had 9 attendants; Jessie had 7.

Before the ceremony I got my photo taken with one of the beautiful bridesmaids. Notice the Solomon Islands necklaces I'm wearing? They are made of the shell and porpoise teeth used for brideprice. I always wear them to weddings.

Wedding Flowers

The flowers were to have arrived at 9am, but they didn't make it until 11:30, so I got off to a slow start making boutonnieres and corsages for the wedding party. I gave lessons to some of the bridesmaids and they helped me cut ribbon, skewer flowers with wire, and hand over pieces of florist tape.

4 hours later we had all 24 boutonnieres and 11 corsages finished.

I'm home now for an hour before we go for the wedding.

Boxes

After work today I drove Rachel over to the church where the wedding she is in will be held tomorrow evening. I ended up being the only one with enough spatial skills to figure out how to turn these:

Into these:

Yay, me. Fortunately, I was able to give lessons to the bridesmaids and groomsmen so I didn't have to fold all 300 of them myself.

We had a nice rehearsal dinner with yummy Chinese food. As we left, the attendants were filling the boxes with candy. They will make nice wedding favors.

Somehow I got talked into making 34 boutonnieres and small corsages tomorrow morning, so I'd better get to bed now.

Sew

I haven't posted in a few days. Nothing too exciting has been going on with me. I've spent a lot of time remodeling these clothes in preparation for Jessie's wedding on Friday. In one case, the top was remodeled from a size 2 to a size 0! In the other case, the back darts, collar width, collar height, and length were all altered. So much for buying ready-made outfits!

Gary has been practicing his hammered dulcimer in preparation for Friday too. He will be making his performance premier on this instrument at the wedding. He's worried about it going all out of tune when we have to transport it to the church in cold weather.

The bride and her friends are having girls' night out tonight. Tomorrow it will be a bridal luncheon and decorating the church prior to the rehearsal. Friday will be a long day with manicures, hair appointments, photos, ceremony, dinner.

Quiet

Gary is gone. Rachel is gone. I've resorted to turning the Mavericks' game on TV for background noise.

Later--Good ending to that game! Go Mavs!

Bubble

It doesn't take much

to amuse

me.

Getting Married and Living Happily Ever After

Today several thoughts about getting married have crossed my path.

1. I guess it started last night when I saw that Cinderella boy from Boise State proposing on national TV.
2. Next it was an email I received early this morning from the girl whose wedding Gary will be playing the processional for Friday after next.
   
3. Then there was the blog by a 23-year old friend who feels like she's the "only" one who isn't getting married.
   
4. And lastly, the email I got from a woman nearly my age who remarried in December, thanking me for the photos of said event that I emailed to her.

These are my thoughts in response:

1. Cinderella boy and cheerleader girl, may you live happily ever after. (But the odds are against you.)
2. You said the Lord is good for helping you to find "the one." I agree and I pray that you two will live happily ever after too. (But the odds for Christian marriages don't look much better than for the population in general. May God bless you with a strong union.)
3. I'm sorry you are alone. I really am. But you're not alone in being the only one without someone. In the words of a 32-year old single friend, "There's an epidemic of singleness out there." Maybe it is time to consider that perhaps the Lord's plan for you is to never marry. (But the odds are against that. May God bring you the right person at the right time.)
4. Your first marriage was a happy one, and may your second one also be. How blessed to "find someone" not once, but twice in life. (The odds are definitely in favor of you living happily ever after.)
   

Happy New Year!

The new year is almost a day old. I spent the day cleaning and reorganizing and putting away and vacuuming. I often have these "clean up the nest" drives when I'm transitioning between one thing and the next. I tried to get Gary to do some cleaning in his office, but he didn't do enough, IMHO. I'll just keep nagging :-) Back to work tomorrow.

I've got the usual list of New Year's resolutions: eat less, exercise more, be nicer, read more, blog less, don't bug people. We'll see how all that goes.

Errata

I dug out my old yearbooks and discovered I was off by a year. I don't actually know the month this photo was taken, but it was sometime during the 1972-73 school year that Gerry Ford was having dinner with us.

I wonder what other mistakes I should try to correct during these waning moments of 2006?

Gerald R. Ford, 1913-2006

I think it was the fall of 1973 when Congressman Gerald Ford came to my college (Grand Rapids School of the Bible and Music, which has since merged with Cornerstone University) for dinner. I didn't get to sit at his table, only the student council did, but he was right there at the next table, eating the same greasy food as us. It wasn't long after that that his life got a bit more interesting.

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

Isn't it nice when science confirms common knowledge?

On the other hand, sometimes science surprises us. Who knew house work would be so good for us?

Nice Rice

Tonight Rachel tried out her rice cooker on our behalf. She insisted on rinsing the rice first ("Kenny taught me how to make rice and he says you have to rinse it") and it turned out great. Except for the rice she poured down the drain while rinsing it. There must be a simpler way.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Thirty-one years ago tonight we were married by this man. He and his wife invited us over for tea a day or two ago.

The Reason for the Season

Rachel won't especially like me using this photo, as she doesn't like it, but I think it does capture the reason for Christ's birth.

Shopping, Not Shoplifting

Gary took mom and me dress shopping today for our Christmas gifts--imagine! Actually, he went to Barnes and Noble while we went to the dress stores. In the end, we both got something, but when I got mine home and looked at my skirt, we discovered they clerk had failed to remove the store's security tag on it. So I found instructions on the internet on how to remove it using a hacksaw. (Turns out it wasn't the type that has ink in it.)

Psst! Ya Wanna See What's In My Van?

Donuts!

Yesterday the van had vegetables. I got a couple nice avocados. Today it was donuts. I got a couple of those too.

You never know what's going to be given away in my neighborhood.

God Bless This House

Tonight our home group from church enjoyed a lasagna dinner at the lovely home of one of our members. Right after that we piled into a couple vans and drove over to an apartment complex where a couple single women live we've been trying to get to come to church. We caroled for them, and boy were they surprised.

Right after that we went over to a house in town that another one of our members just closed on today. But between the time she made an offer and today some people had broken the back door in and had a party (and I don't mean the kind of party us church folks have!). We stood around our friend and laid hands on her and blessed her house. I only had enough faith to ask God to help her get the door jamb repaired and new locks installed quickly; some others of us asked God to chase out any demons left behind from previous occupants.

Two Funerals and a Wedding

Nathan and Marsha both lost their spouses about a year and a half ago. Today they were married with their children as the beautiful attendants. A lovely day for an outdoor wedding, even if it is December 17.


My favorite part of the ceremony was the congregational singing of this song. It brought tears to my eyes. When we got home Gary asked me if I remembered that we sang that same song at Nathan's first wife's funeral.

WE WILL DANCE
David Ruis

SING A SONG OF CELEBRATION
LIFT UP A SHOUT OF PRAISE
FOR THE BRIDEGROOM WILL COME, THE GLORIOUS ONE
AND, OH, WE WILL LOOK ON HIS FACE
WE WILL GO TO A MUCH BETTER PLACE

DANCE WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT
LIFT UP YOUR HANDS AND CLAP FOR JOY
FOR THE TIME'S DRAWING NEAR, WHEN HE WILL APPEAR
AND, OH, WE WILL STAND BY HIS SIDE
A STRONG, PURE, SPOTLESS BRIDE

CHORUS:
WE WILL DANCE ON THE STREETS THAT ARE GOLDEN
THE GLORIOUS BRIDE AND THE GREAT SON OF MAN
FROM EVERY TONGUE AND TRIBE AND NATION
WILL JOIN IN THE SONG OF THE LAMB

SING ALOUD FOR THE TIME OF REJOICING IS NEAR ......
THE RISEN KING, OUR GROOM, IS SOON APPEAR ......
THE WEDDING FEAST TO COME IS NOW NEAR AT LAST ......
LIFT UP YOUR VOICE, PROCLAIM THE COMING LAMB ......

Bridal Shower

A lot of nice gifts.

Including a toaster.

Jessie will be married in less than a month.

Packages Mailed

I hope it's not too tacky to send the Christmas gifts in a toilet paper box. And I hope they get there since I'm kind of late getting them out.

More Cookies

I get infected with this bug every Christmas--I just have to spend way too much time making way too many goodies for people who weigh way too much already! Alas!

I finished the sugar cookies this afternoon, and as soon as they are dry, I will pack up a bunch to go into the Christmas packages that are headed for Michigan, Oregon, and Arizona.

I also have made three other kinds of goodies, and I've started the dark chocolate truffles. I promise, after I finish the truffles, NO MORE! Some years I've done caramel corn but I'll skip that this year.

Oh, and I had to try a a batch of peppermint bark that was selling for $24/lb at Sonoma-Williams just so I could say that I made it every bit as good and it only cost about $2/lb!

Starlight

I don't really know why I keep making Christmas cookies, but each year I make a few standbys and then try a couple new ones too. This year we have butterscotch candies turning into stained glass cookies.

Christmas Eating

After two Christmas parties in less than 24 hours, I'm starting to feel like Mrs. Claus--fat and happy!

These two ornaments were a gift from a young couple who were working with the Peace Corps in the Solomon Islands when we lived there about 100 years ago. Most of the ornaments on our tree are of the homemade variety which makes for bringing back lots of good memories, if not producing a tree that would work for Better Homes and Gardens. The majority of my ornaments are ones crocheted by my grandma. She died a few years ago, and I still miss her.

Thanks

A couple days ago we received this thank you card from friends who had stayed with us. They seem to have picked a card that is right up our alley.

Open it up, and here's the inside:



Inside the card was a nice little check that paid 3/4ths of the bill to get Rachel's car fixed today. I guess we should be thanking them, and we will.

I've Hit a New Low

I went to Taco Bueno twice today.

The lady there asked why we hadn't been there for so long, to which I replied that we were still working on the turkey leftovers.