Monday, January 07, 2008

Catching Up


Hello Everyone. Thank you to everyone who asked about the storm and especially for those who prayed. Hubby and I have both lived through hurricanes or hurricane force storms and we don't think it is an exagerration that the gusts reached 75 mph and there were over 100mph in the high Sierra. Pretty amazing when you think about it. We only lost power for an hour and we are very thankful. Some people have been without power for 4 days. Our neighbor's carport roof, 8 feet from the edge of our awning, came down, which caused great excitement for the kids to watch, but not the neighbor. We came through safely. Now that the storm has passed, the birds have slowed down on their feeding. They were little piglets before and during the storm. They must have thought it was their last supper!
After being cooped up, I got out Saturday for the women's missionary tea at our church. I almost didn't go because of a migraine hanging on, but I am glad that I did. The pic above is from my photo blog, so I apologize for the © symbol. My head was such that I didn't take my camera, but I wish I had. There were several tables, maybe 10 (?) and each one had a theme. The theme at my table was "Beijing 2008". The hostesses at our table were a missionary to China and her sister and the table was set lovely with a china set and cloth and other mementoes from China as well as chop sticks. One table was themed for the Mad Hatter, one was "bridal registry", a couple were friendship or garden themed and one gal made everyone old fashioned nurses caps because she had just finished 5 years of getting her nursing degree! I told J at our church that she looked like Florence Nightingale. :o)
The most memorable part for me was hearing the speaker. She is a missionary to the middle east. I am not sure that I should really be putting her name on the Internet so I won't. She and her family have been there 20+ years and she and her husband are preparing to go to the northern portion of a war-torn country, which is somewhat unstable. She is one gutsy woman, who has given her all in serving women with pregnancy needs and is a co-laborer in Christ of our missionary who was gunned down in 2002. In her talk she explained that God layed the foundation for her to trust Him when she was in a bomb shelter with her four day old infant son for 5 days. She held him and prayed and at one point she felt she would not make it through the night or see her son grow up. The family next door to them did not. They did. Her life reminds me of Christ's instructions in the Gospels for people to leave their parents, their wealth, their everything behind, to follow Him. Some followed immediately. Some longed but could not let go of their earthly desires. Honestly, I would not want to go where she is going. I would like to think that I would say yes, but perhaps I would be like Peter.
Still we are all a part of a team. This lady and her husband may be the feet and hands, but many who do not go are the financial supporters, the prayer support, the encouragers. And missionary service is not always overseas or in war torn countries or primitive cultures. We are all part of a team and that was the theme, that we do it *together*. And missionary service is not always overseas or in war torn countries or primitive cultures. There are opportunities to love our neighbor all around us.
My great organizing hopes for Christmas break only half materialized. I never know when one of these long migraines will hit, so it was disappointing to have Hubby home and not being able to do much. Thankfully he was here to take care of the kids and me! I did get through all my sewing boxes and I almost have my tight little sewing space back together. While sorting (I did get rid of three boxes of stuff!), I found an interesting assortment of sewing items and other paraphenalia that I will photograph and share on the blog as well as some of my upcoming sewing projects. I still haven't done any knitting other than dishcloths because I just haven't been able to concentrate yet, but I am beginning to miss it, so that is a good sign.
Today was also back to school, for Daddy and the kids. We are starting to learn some science, which is one of my favorite areas, so I am having fun too. In Bible we are learning about the Creation, so in conjunction with that we are learning about the planet, weather and seasons, animals, plants and ecology/recycling. This will be ongoing the next six months and I think we will all enjoy it. The girls really love school and J is quite proud of herself having finally made an "S" on her own. This is in her name and she has really struggled with it, not helped by the fact that she is a lefty and I am not.
Well, hopefully I will soon have more interesting photos and some crafting to write about and share with you.

2 comments:

Carissa said...

So glad to hear that your migraine is improving! And that the girls love school! J must be so excited about the "S". B loves to write letters too. We may be starting some informal schooling sooner rather than later with her, I think it will help keep her out of trouble! :)

Molly said...

When I was schooling my son (a leftie), I would sit across the table from him. The mirror image effect. Worked great for him. I would have loved to be at your tea party at the China table. China has upwards of 30,000 people saved per day (of course, we are talking 1.5 billion people :).