Shopping

I hate shopping. I know, I'm not the typical woman. But my daughter loves to go shopping. She got money for Christmas gifts so she could buy "professional" clothes in anticipation of her semester of student teaching. Apparently part of her grade is how she is dressed. Anyway, we went shopping today and she got shoes and a suit.


Does she look like a kindergarten teacher?


I think all the little boys will fall in love with her :-)

Christmas Photos

I'm still experimenting with my camera and the new upload photos feature with Blogger. Here are photos of Christmas gifts.

David got a stethoscope from Rachel:



Rachel got a cell phone from Mom:



Linda got a funny book about editing from Grandpa:



Gary got a hammered dulcimer from everybody:

My New Camera

I got a new digital camera for Christmas from my little boy. He has a real job for the first time in his life, and is using his megabucks to be generous to me. Good boy. :-)

I also just discovered a new way to post photos on Blogger, without having to first post them on my own website, so this job just got a lot easier. Anyway, I'm still trying to figure my new camera out. Here are some of my current efforts: (click on the photos to enlarge them.)



"I don't need my little brother to find me a Prince Charming!"



"My, what big feet you have."




"Mom, this CD is too big."



Kenny and friends

Trading Spaces

Rachel has cable TV at college and when she isn't studying diligently for a test, she has been known to sneak a look at those home remodeling shows. She came home with lots of ideas of how to redo one of our bedrooms in view to her moving back home after graduation in May. (That idea itself may be a topic for another blog, but not today.) Anyway, we pared her pile of ideas down to something a little more doable for a couple of amateurs without a professional designer and carpenter standing by: move the furniture out, clean, repaint (in two colors, neither of which was white!), move different furniture back in.

We started the project Thursday--a trip to buy paint and masking tape during lunch hour, then in the evening we cleared out the room (thanks go to a friend who helped move stuff--I hope your back is OK).

Friday and Saturday we worked long hours to repair, tape, retexture, paint, and repaint the walls, then tape and paint the trim. It all went reasonably well until we locked ourselves in the room and couldn't get out. I had taken the door knob off both sides of the door, but failed to take out the part that actually goes into the door frame (there must be a name for that piece, but I don't know what it is). When the door got pushed shut, we discovered we couldn't get it open again. "Not to worry," thought I, "I'll just use the screwdriver to open it." But when I started poking at it with the screw driver, I couldn't get it to turn. So I kept poking and whoops! a stray piece of the mechanism fell down into the inside of the hollow door. At that point Rachel said, "I'll crawl through the window and go get dad." So we pushed the screen out of the window (Lucky for us it is a low window) and she went and got dad (who was still asleep and leaving his girls to do all this man-work). Well, he came and grumbled at us, then we tried more screw drivers, and when that didn't work he crawled back in the window and took the hinges out--that didn't help either. Then he tore apart another door knob and latch from another door to see if that would help us figure it out, but they weren't identical. This all went on for an hour and finally I managed to jimmy the latch from the inside with a flexible putty knife--and since the hinges had been removed, the door came crashing down on my head when I finally got it open.

Anyway, our project is almost complete, and now we need to put the blinds back up and move furniture back in.

After

Room remodel nearing completion

Before

It has been a lot of work, but the end is in sight. We hope to have everything back in place sometime tomorrow.

Back to Work

We got home from south Texas in less than 10 hours Sunday night. The neighbors were kind to host a party, more or less in David's honor, a couple hours after we arrived. Gary and I attended for a few minutes, but I was too fried from driving, so we didn't stay long. Besides, all those young kids make me feel old. :-)

On Monday, Rachel and Gary and I went back to work. Rachel is resuming the scanning work that she did last summer. There is probably enough work to keep her busy for her holiday break. The office is very quiet because most people aren't working this week.

David had two days to just do nothing and hang out with his friends. He played some frisbee and last night went to a Mavericks' game with a friend. We got up at 5:30 this morning to take him to DFW and he phoned to say he got back to DC safely.

Tomorrow Laura flies to Ethiopia. We will be in prayer for her and Andrew.

Unfortunately, I've caught a cold, the first one I've had in a long time. I hope it doesn't make me feel too miserable for the project we have planned for the weekend: repainting the bedroom that Rachel wants to move into after she comes home from college. This will be an experience: I keep saying it will be a lot of work and she keeps telling me about a real cool episode of Trading Spaces or While You Were Out. We've been doing some research on homedepot.com and if we make it through the buying-the-paint process, we should be able to do the rest.

Merry Christmas and Happy Anniversary

...to me! Gary gave me just what I wanted for my anniversary/Christmas: a coupon for "twenty hours of true love." Rachel read that and immediately started raising her eyebrows with innuendo, as only an embarrassed daughter can do. I quickly kicked her and said, "No, not that. He's promising to clean up his office! Yay!"

We looked out the window at midnight and what to our wondering eyes should appear? Snow and ice! It was so pretty when we woke up this morning. We had to go take photos before it melted. This is the first time in 100 years they've had a white Christmas, so they say.

Married with Children

I'm on vacation now, so my mind is not thinking about work. I'm at my mom's house, in a setting that is reminding me that sometimes I'm not the mom--sometimes I'm the child. At the same time, I have 2 out of 3 of my almost-grown children here with me. Further, my heart is sad because this is the first Christmas without my grandmother. And on top of all of that, tomorrow I will have been married for 29 years. So I'm thinking about family today.

I am so lucky (though I know believers really shouldn't use that word) to have a happy marriage. So many people of my age have married and divorced, some more than once. And if we are to believe the statistics, the chances of my three children all having happy marriages are not good.

I was 22 years old when I got married. Two of my children are already older than that.

One of my kids does have a significant other and I think is heading toward marriage in the not-too-distant future. Odd thing about that is that, although this child is the most social and socially well-adjusted of all my kids, this is his first ever real girlfriend. He did like a certain girl as a teenager, but she never really reciprocated, though they were always close friends and remain so today. She broke his heart, but he hid it well until years later he finally told me how much he had liked her and how badly he hurt when she rejected him. Sigh. There are some obstacles to overcome with his current relationship, but he is madly in love, and has a can-do attitude about life, so he will actively pursue her without doubt and without hesitation until she says either "yes" or "no."

Another one of my kids has "always" had a significant other, though at this present moment he doesn't. He has the kind of personality that girls find attractive--extremely self-confident, quiet, and capable of doing just about anything. He has had at least three different girlfriends in his short life and I liked all three of them. I know he wants to get married some day, but he is choosing a life of lots of education, so maybe it is good that he isn't dating anyone now so he can pursue his education singlemindedly for a little while.

The last of my children really wants to get married and is now at the point in her life where she could be free to marry. She has had two boyfriends and a number of other "crushes" during her life, but no current prospects. She is at that stage in life where she is nearly finished with her education and her nesting instincts are kicking in. I feel kind of sorry for her, because in our society it seems like it really isn't OK for a young woman to feel that way. Society is telling her to be strong, get a job, make money, be independent, etc. But she wants a husband and a home and kids to take care of. I myself am at a loss as to how to advise her. I certainly acknowledge her feelings as legitimate, and indeed I felt exactly the same needs at an even younger age. I try to tell her to trust God to bring the right man to her at the right time, someone who will love her without doubt and without hesitation. It isn't easy to wait, but I don't see how she has any choice. [She did ask me what I thought about going to one of those Christian match-maker sites on the internet. I told her I'm not against the idea entirely, but I think it is too early for that.]

OK, these are the thoughts that are running in my idle mind today. I think I am going to click the "No comments allowed" button on this post, because I don't want anyone telling me how stupid this post is. I guess if anyone wants to say anything to me on this topic, they will need to find my email address.

Lord, I love you. I thank you for a good husband and a long, happy marriage. I thank you for three wonderful kids. I am a blessed woman. Lord, you've heard me ask this before, but I will ask it again: please bring each of my children into happy marriages. Bring them the right person at the right time, someone they will love and someone who will love them without doubt and without hesitation.

Christamas Vacation has Begun

We arrived safely at mom's house at 5pm yesterday. We had terrible weather for the first two hours of driving down from Dallas--heavy, cold rain and, since it was still dark, it was quite miserable to drive. We stopped in Austin for a 30 minute break when David phoned one of his HS friends who goes to school in Austin and she joined us for hot chocolate at at place that called itself "Not Starbucks."

We went out to Mexican food for dinner (they know how to do Mexican here :-) and mom had a cherry pie at home for dessert. We aren't going to starve while here. .

We started the annual 1000 piece puzzle. It is of a painting, not a photograph, so it is on the easier side. Rachel seems taken with it this year.

Today we are basically doing nothing. We are reading old magazines, studying the user manuals for my camera and Rachel's phone, watching TV, listening to Elvis Christmas followed by Handel's Messiah*, eating, being lazy. Oh, and Gary is doing rocket science on his laptop when he isn't trying to put puzzle pieces in with his magnifying glass.

We are happy to be here, but sad for those who are missing this year: greatgrandma and Andrew.

*Overheard during the overture of the Messiah: "This is better than Elvis."

A Good Day

I've had a good day today. At staff meeting this morning we prayed for God's help in solving a problem. I won't bother with all the details here, but God ended up solving the problem in a way completely different than I had planned, using people I hadn't even imagined.

I was able to schedule a doctor's appointment--"How about in an hour?" instead of, "Sorry, no openings until..."

Three boxes of Christmas gifts arrived for us.

The tickets I ordered for David's Christmas arrived.

A check for nearly $4000 arrived for Andrew--his loan repayment application was approved (this covers 6 months of payments).

I put a printer in the trash. I spent too much time trying to make an old printer work with a new computer, and the software just wasn't cooperating. Somehow it was freeing to just chuck it.

The only bad thing that happened today was at dinner. My normally concilitory husband, who generally isn't a picky eater, rebelled against the idea of eating baked potatoes with broccoli and cheese sauce. He doesn't like baked potatoes to start with, and he hates "liquid cheese," as he calls it. So he decided to eat fruitcake for dinner instead. I say "Yuck!" to that. What does one do with a single lonely baked potato?

Yay for Rachel!

Yesterday was a good day for Rachel. She found out that she passed the third of three teacher certification tests for Oklahoma and is now eligible to apply for a teaching license, though she won't actually do that until she has done some student teaching next semester. We are so proud of her. Thanks to everyone who prayed for her, it has made a big difference.

She decided that she needed to have a new hairdo that would suit a teacher. No more hair falling down in her face and getting in her way. So last yesterday she got it cut. Here are the before and after photos.



And I think she finished her Christmas shopping, thanks to a friend who was willing to take her shopping.

Another thing we did today affects Rachel too--we gave away her bed. A friend of mine wanted a loft for her son, so we decided he needed it more than Rachel did. With our boys out of the house (except for the stuff they have packed up in boxes), we've got empty bedrooms galore, so Rachel will probably move to a different room with a different bed. In fact, she wants us to paint one of the empty bedrooms sometime during her Christmas break. We'll see if that happens.

I Hate Driving

But I love Rachel, and she couldn't find a ride home so I ended up driving up here today to get her. Well, she did find a freshman who lived near Longview and offered her a possible ride, but the girl couldn't even say for sure whether she drove through Dallas on her way home, nor did she know the names of any of the roads. That made me nervous enough to drive up here myself :-(

Rachel's last exam got over at 6pm and I've been helping her do laundry and clean and pack since then. I'm so proud of her finishing another semester--Way to go, girl!

My Boy, the Chef

Our older son, Andrew, worked in a genetics lab at Texas A&M, sequencing DNA the summer after his junior year of college. He called me one day that summer to ask what "simmer" meant.

Yesterday I got a call from the younger son, David, who works at the National Cancer Institute programming electron microscopes. He called last night to ask what "broil" meant.

Somehow, I have failed these boys! (But they both know how to scrub a toilet :-)

Wicked Sense of Humor

There were two funny things at church yesterday. I hope I can tell the story so it is funny, but it might turn out to be one of those cases where "you had to be there."

First, my husband went to get some coffee before Sunday School. The guy in line ahead of him was a cheerful black man who was stirring creamer into his coffee. He made the remark to Gary, "How do you take your coffee?" and Gary replied, "Don't you know Black is Beautiful?" At which point I was about to clobber him, but our friend just laughed and said, "Yes, but not for coffee."

Then in SS class we had another laugh. Bob, our leader, has a daughter who is soon to marry the son of Alan, a class member. Bob got up and said, "We thank the Lord that we are soon to become grandparents. Our son, David and his wife..." at which point Alan blurts out, "Whew!" After a few seconds we all got the joke and had a good laugh.

And on a different topic, if anyone wants to see a few photos of the visit last weekend of our older son's girlfriend, you can see them on my personal website. The son in the photos is our younger son who was home for the day (the older one being in Africa).

Christmas Gifts

It is that time of year to think about Christmas gifts. There are two primary schools of thought when it comes to gift giving. There is the "hand me your list" way of thinking and there is the "don't ask, don't tell" school of thought.

I grew up in a family that was very open about Christmas gifts. When asked the famous question: "What do you want for Christmas?" these are some typical answers you would hear:

• "I don't know. I don't really need anything."


• "About time you asked. Here's my list, written in my best handwriting."


• "Why don't you just give me money, then I can buy what I want."


• "Go in with your sister and brother and just buy me a vacuum."


• "I really need plastic shoe rack."


• "The same thing you got me last year--new underwear."

My husband's family, on the other hand, does not discuss gift giving. One should be able to think of a good gift. This doesn't always happen, but over the years there have been some nice surprises.

As for me, whenever I'm asked what I want for Christmas, these are the kinds of answers I give:

• "I don't know. I don't really need anything."


• "You can't afford what I want."


• "A gift of your time--clean your office. You can do it all at once, but I'm also willing to accept two hours per month on the installment plan."


• "The same thing you got me last year--new underwear."


• "All I want is good kids."

Trust

If someone lies to you, then admits they lied and apologizes, you should forgive them. No hard feelings. I understand that. But should you trust them to not lie to you again? Is that what it means to really forgive someone--to assume they won't lie again?

When we sin against God, then admit it and apologize, God forgives us. No hard feelings. But does he then assume we will not sin again?

Lying

I've only been up for 30 minutes and I'm already having a bad day.

First, I nearly stepped on a hairball that the cat coughed up and deposited right outside my bedroom door.

Then I got an email from a friend, someone who had asked me for help with a personal problem, telling me he* has been lying to me. I'm sad because he felt the need to lie to me and I'm sad because he apparently has not been helped by my prayers and efforts on his behalf. (Am I just plain stupid to assume people are telling the truth? I'm so trusting and naive that I just assume people speak the truth when they talk to me. It doesn't even occur to me to question them.)

I know I cannot assume responsibility for the sins of others, but it still makes me sad.

*please remember that in English, the male pronoun can at times refer to persons of either gender.

Nice to See Rachel

Well, we survived our busy weekend, but just barely. All went well during the drive home from Oklahoma last night until we were 4-5 miles from home. Some guy decided he wanted the part of the freeway that we were occupying more than we did. I had to swerve over into another lane (at 65 mph) to avoid hitting him. Gary said, "Nice save," as my adreneline surged.

It ws nice to see Rachel. We arrived late Saturday night and dropped Laura at Rachel's room and then spent the night at a minus five star motel. Next morning we bought cinnamon rolls and ate them in the dorm lounge before going to her BIG church for the morning service. After that it was Taco Bueno (Laura's choice) then we hung out a little before taking Laura to the airport. Gary decided to pass the time by getting sick. So we snuck him into Rachel's room ("Man on the floor!") and he slept for a couple hours. I spent the time reading and commenting on Rachel's big paper that is due on Tuesday. It will be over 20 pages. At 6pm was Rachel's last college concert. There were 4-5 anthems followed by Mozarts's Coronation Mass which we enjoyed very much. Then the long drive home in the dark.

All went well with Laura here. She and David picked out and put up the Christmas tree on Saturday afternoon with help from the two little African boys from next door. It looks great and it was nice to have some help with it. Laura and Rachel stayed up late Saturday night with girl talk, which they seemed to enjoy. I got some good photos which I will have to organize one of these days, but I'm too busy at the moment.

Andrew is expecting a full written report about Laura's visit, but I told him I need a day or two for reflection first. But we did have a good time with her :-)

Nice to See David

Our younger son is here visiting for less than 24 hours. He got off the plane at 10pm last night in a suit that he had bought all by himself! He had five separate interviews at Baylor Medical Center, three for the PhD program and two for the medical school program. He says he thought the PhD ones went better than the medical ones; I guess now we just wait and see if they liked him.

We also have another visitor here, but I'll talk about that later. Right now she and David have gone to buy a Christmas tree.

Pray for David's Interviews Tomorrow

David called me at work this morning from the DC airport, just to say he was on his way to Houston for his medical school interviews tomorrow. It turns out that someone from his lab knows someone who is on the admissions committee for the PhD program, so David was given phone numbers, etc. and told to go meet him. That sounds like a helpful coincidence :-) He is being hosted at Rice U. tonight by a girl he knew in HS who has a friend with a couch he can sleep on.

Then Andrew called about 30 seconds later to ask me what the difference was between earrings that had a post and ones that were shaped like a hook. (He was buying Christmas presents.) Only Andrew would call from the other side of the world to ask a question like that.* He also told me to enjoy my visit with his g/f tomorrow. He's is flying to Kenya tomorrow for a few days of meetings.

*That reminds me of when he was working at a genetics lab at A&M University one summer, sequencing DNA. He called me to ask what "simmer" meant.