occupy

This was a post I intended to publish in the days preceding Christmas. 
Those days were a blur, as I prepared for our trek up north.

It seems that the 'Word of the Year' for 2011 was 'Occupy'.  As in occupy Wall Street, occupy Chicago, occupy Oakland, occupy, occupy, occupy.

When I hear the word 'occupy', I always think of the parable Jesus told in Luke 19:13 - the parable of the ten minas (coins, pounds).  Ten servants . Ten minas. and these instructions:

And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.

Other translations use these words in place of occupy: "invest this money"  or 'Invest this money until I come back.' or  'Put this money to work,' he said, 'until I come back.'.

In this context, occupy didn't mean stage a sit-in in various parks around the country.  And it isn't really about money.

Occupy meant get busy.  Until the Master returns.

I would love to reclaim the word 'occupy'.  I would love for the word to mean - get busy - Jesus is coming back!

I've been pondering this word a lot lately.  It has so much rich meaning for me; so many possibilities.  So many things I would like to do for the Kingdom.  More time in the Word, more time reaching out to others, less time on the computer, less time managing the stuff in my life, more time ridding myself of excess baggage - whether it be stuff or unnecessary activities, so there is more time available for what God has called and gifted me to do.



Reading list

Random picture of a cute chihuahua we took care of last fall. 
This is her 'whatchu talkin' 'bout Willis' look.

In a nod to New Year's resolutions, I've been going through a few paper piles that have developed here and there lately.  I try to keep clutter free surfaces, when possible but sometimes my desk is the recipient of those 'oops, my piano student will be here in five minutes, gotta put this mail somewhere' decisions.

The really nice thing about this is that at times I find some wonderful surprises.  Late last fall, I was searching for a particular piece of paper, one I knew I would not have thrown away.  Imagine my delight when I found it at the bottom of the pile on my desk.

It is a Suggested Reading List by Elisabeth Elliot.  Elisabeth Elliot, sadly, is no longer in the public eye, but her no nonsense teaching of Scripture, her life example and her writings continue to inspire me.

The list is long.  I've read some and would like to read all the recommendations, but that is too daunting a task for one year.

Blackmore:  Lorna Doone

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich: The Cost of Discipleship

Brother Lawrence: Practicing the Presence of GOD

Bunyan: Pilgrim's Progress

Carmichael, Amy: Gold Cord: If; His Thoughts Said;  His Father Said; anything else you can get your hands on of hers!

Chesteron, G.K. Orthodoxy; Everlasting Man

Dinesen, Isak: Out of Africa; Babbet's Feast; and many more short stories

Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment; Brother's Karamazov

Fenelon: Spiritual Letters to Women

Guardini, Romano: The LordHerman, E. Creative Prayer

Hopkins, Gerard Manly: poetry - "God's Grandeur;" "The Leaden Echo;" The Golden Echo"

Kuhn, Isobel: In the Arena; By Searching

Lewis, C.S.: multiple titles

MacDonald, George: Sir Gibbie or any of his novels

O'Connor, Flannery: Mystery and Manners; short stories

Rutherford, Samuel: Letters

Sayers, Dorothy: Unpopular Opinions; The Mind of the Creator

Smith, Hannah Whitall: The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life

Thompson, Francis: "The Hound of Heaven: (poem)

Tolstoy: Anna Karenina; War and Peace

Trotter, Lilias: Parables of the Cross; Parables of the Christlife

Underhill, Evelyn:  multiple titles

Undset, Sigrid: Kristin Lavransdatter

Vann, Gerald: The Son's Course: The Divine Pity

How about you?  What are you reading?  Have you read any of the above?  What is your favorite book?

mountain majesty

Don't hate me, but this view is a quick 15 minute walk from our home.
Particularly spectacular when the day is clear and the mountains are snowcapped.

I'm a little late to the party here, but I have noticed that various bloggers around the web are either recapping the past year or reporting on their reading list for the current year.  I'll do both; one today, one tomorrow.

2011:

January.  I flew back to the Northwoods, privileged to be singing with my 'old' (teehee) trio.  Lots of friends were are the retreat and it was a wonderful time.

February.  We learned late January that our daughter-in-love's mother Eileen was not going to survive her fight with cancer.  She wanted Pat to officiate over her memorial service.  We flew up to the Chicago area the last few days of January and came home  to meet with Eileen and plan her service.

Two weeks later we flew back up to  Chicago to celebrate her life.

May.  We drove up to Chicagoland for Harvest University.  We had every intention of being part of a church plant in our county.  We stayed at Nate and Michelle's; Daniel attended Harvest U with us.  It was a marvelous time.  After Harvest U, we drove to Iowa to see Jon, Kristi and the grands.

June.  Jon went on a mission trip to New Orleans, y'all.  I flew to Iowa to hang out with Kristi and the grands (then only two) while he was gone.  We learned that our church plant was going to be moving two counties north of us and we determined that we would not be able to continue to be involved with such a great distance.  We were sad.  My sisters came to visit.  I was glad.

July and August were beastly hot.  Beastly hot.  Too hot to do anything outdoors.  We sat by the window and watched our garden wilt.  A trip to the end of the driveway for the mail resulted in major sweatiness.
I think we had something like 75+ days last summer over 90.  Not as hot as Texas, but plenty hot for these Northwoods transplants. Too hot to fish,  Pat learned to navigate the new waters of Medicare.
We learned that our church plant was going to be moving two counties north of us and we determined that we would not be able to continue to be involved with such a great distance. We were sad. My sisters came to visit during the summer. I was glad.



September.  A new granddaughter.  I hopped in an airplane again (5th time in 2011) to welcome our precious third grandchild, Lainey.  We also got a new roof (no where near as exciting as a new grand!).

October and November were filled with sewing.  And piano lessons.  Oh, and gall bladder surgery.

December.  One more trip up to Chicagoland.  My 7th trip to see  kids and grands. We drove without incident and had an absolutely fantastic time.

As I look over the year  I am simply amazed.  There is no way, on our income, that we should have been able to afford all those trips up north, let alone the deductible on our new roof and my gall bladder surgery.

And yet we did.  Because of God's abundant, yet, mysterious provision. 

He can make breathtaking mountains (and views), He can provide abundantly more than we ask or imagine.

We are so grateful.

men who multitask

This is not a great picture of our three sons, but I love it for several reasons. 

• We seldom get to see the three of them gathered in one place anymore.
• They are playing Carcasonne together - with a lot of playful banter being exchanged.
• While they are playing a board game, Nate and Jon are also playing Words with Friends on their smart phones.  Either Daniel doesn't have a smart phone or they haven't invited him to play.  20 years ago, he would have tattled on them, but he seems to be able to fend for himself now.

As I've mentioned, we had such a great time at Christmas.  We gave the boys each a DVD that we had converted from some VHS tapes we had of their childhood.

I don't think I have ever seen the three of them or my daughters-in-love laugh so hard.  Jon even fell on the floor overcome with laughter.  Somone snorted they were laughing so hard (that was quite possibly  me).

Ah, good times.  Good times.

I loved those days when they were all at home underfoot.  But we can't go back, can we?  Only in our memories.

I stopped several times during our gathering and reminded myself, that, these, these, are the days that will in the future be - the good old days.  We make special memories every time we are together.  Not because we do anything fancy, but because we make an effort to spend time together and love on each other. And tease.  And play.

Three little grands underfoot and in arms, laughing, yelling, crying, sleeping, falling and yes, snorting.  We will remember these good old days.

Grandma and Grandpa were the first ones to head for home, having the most distance to cover.  But before we left, we sat in the car for a moment, with tears in our eyes, and yes, running down our cheeks, rejoicing in what we had experienced.  So sad to be leaving, but so grateful for our precious, wonderful family.

Nathan said he thought the driveway looked a little wet after we left.

couched in frugal terms

In October 2011, I discussed with my sweet d-i-l Kristi, what I might get the grandkids for Christmas.  She had somel ideas for me.

Three year old Josh has one of these (only in blue):

He loves it.  So does 18 month old Sadie.  

Sharing is hard work when you are 3 and 1.  A good thing to learn, but hard.

 



So, I went to Malwart and got one of these.  Upon getting it home, I realized it was a piece of junk and I needed to return it.  Before returning it though, I measured it.  Grandma had an idea.

I went to our local upholstery shop.  The door was wide open and when I entered, the proprietor apologized for the smell.  The smell of stale cigarette smoke hit me like a ton of bricks, but that was not what he was talking about.  'Yeah," he said, "we've been having problems with sewer gas here."

Well, the smoke was so bad that it overpowered whatever sewer gas there was.  I could not buy upholstery foam for my grands in such a place.

So, on a hunch, I stopped at our local bedding store and asked if they had any foam.  The salesman said, "Why yes, I do."

He gave me two bags of core samples.   I offered to pay.  He declined.

Perfect.



I deconstructed the samples (which in their former life looked like this:





And reshaped them to resemble the couch I had measured.







Not quite right.







There, finally, I had the shape and measurements I wanted.  I hot glued the pieces to death.
Note to self, buy more glue sticks.







And then duct-taped all the seams.







Then, I remeasured all the flat surfaces and raided my small but mighty fabric stash.  Perfect - fabric that makes it look like a granny couch (I almost stitched some doilies on the back and armrests, but figured with 3 grands 3 and under they wouldn't last long).





Here is Sadie sitting on her little couch. She is not picking her nose, but chewing on her doll's bottle.
See doll in a headlock between her knees.







And here are all three grands sitting comfortably on the couch (I'm not sure 3 month old Lainey is comfortable, but she wasn't complaining), mesmerized by Veggie Tales.  When they get back home, Josh will reclaim the Elmo chair as his very own. Before we know it Lainey will be crawling up the Grandma made couch to sit next to her big sis.

I love it when a plan comes together!

Foam $0
Fabric purchased on sale a few years ago for $2/yd.
Seeing my grandkids snuggled together?  Priceless!





family Christmas

Happy New Year!

I did not intend for such a long time to pass before I posted here.  The month of December was busy with sewing, wrapping, baking and fudge making.  It was great fun preparing for Christmas - we were heading to northern Illinois to meet all the kids and grands.  The only missing person was Daniel's fiance, Laura.

We went to a wonderful Christmas Eve service at Harvest Bible Chapel in Elgin, IL.  I cried.  They had a beautiful song - complete with singers from all over the world on the video screen.  The message was moving; but what really did me in was having Pat singing next to me, Jon singing behind me and Nathan singing on the other side.  Surround sound from my guys (Daniel had responsibilities at his church and couldn't join us until Christmas night).

Here are a few snapshots of our time together:



Nate cuddling with 3 month old Lainey -click on the picture to see the look in her eyes. "Who is that man?"





Lainey sleeping in Grandpa's arms.







                                                    

Josh and Sadie sitting on a couch I made for the girls (I made Josh's pj pants too - they are very wide - wish he lived close enough for frequent fittings!)









A thoughtful Sadie (sorry Sades - didn't mean to cut off the top of your head!) modeling the blouse I made for her.



Kudo, Nate and Michelle's long suffering dog. She is not a fan of little kids, but quietly and peacefully moped in various corners of the house until we left.









The uncles with the nieces. From left to right: Sadie, Nathan, Lainey, and Daniel.



Sitting on the little couch I made watching Larry Boy. This reminded me of Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Anybody ever see that?

Three on a couch watching Veggie Tales. Mesmerized.



Jon, Kristi and the kids.



I failed to get any pictures of Nate and Michelle together.  Also none of the whole family (somebody was always napping, crying, or running to the store it seemed).  The ten of us were only together for 36 hours once Daniel arrived, but it was a very blessed 36  hours.

So very thankful for our family!

Hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas and that 2012 will be a year filled with blessings!

glow

Thunder rumbling in the distance brought sleep to an end early this morning.  The  predicted 100 % 'chance' of rain  is here.

A wonderful, delicious, gloomy day.

The Christmas lights glowing here and there about the house are dispelling the gloom and  propelling me to 'Grandma's Workshop' (aka the dining room) where a few unfinished projects await.

I'm humming "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" and meditating on the words.  Particularly: 'disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death's dark shadows put to flight.'.

The Christmas tree- evergreen- reminds me of everlasting life in Christ.
The tree lights remind me that He is the Light of the world.

My hands will be busy, while I'm praying that all will come to know Christ, the Light of the world, as their Savior.