A possible loss

This past week on Tuesday, I was expecting Dave to come home between 6-7pm , his usual time. I was busy with kids, cooking dinner, had other kids over, etc. I kept thinking that any minute he was going to come in the door. Well, 8pm rolled around and the kids even asked where he was, then I got scared. Perhaps he left me because I have been such a shrew lately. I wouldn't blame him. That was out of character for him though. Then I thought that perhaps he was in an accident and he couldn't call me. But surely someone would call me? I didn't know who to call. I called his cell phone and work phone and only got answering machines. I was almost in tears. For that hour or so I really thought I had lost him. Finally at 9pm he called and said he was on his way home, that he had had a dinner meeting with work which he had told me about the night before and he said I had okayed it. This is probably true, but I had totally blacked out the conversation. Now some of you are thinking, "boy, Alzheimer's is starting early for her", but I realized the next day that perhaps God purposefully erased the conversation with Dave to help me realize what I have in Dave and to be more grateful and appreciative for not only what he does, but for who he is and what a hole he would leave in my life and many, many others if he were gone. So I am humbled and thrilled to pieces that I have such a man still. I hope God will let me grow old with him.

Finishing Well

I was able to go to Ohio on Memorial Day weekend to visit with Dave's family. It was very nice and a good break. While I was there , I asked my sister-in-law how her parents were doing. She said not very well and that they were both going down hill. I've known people that I feel have ended their life uphill. Now I don't mean physically because we all go downhill that way and die. I mean mentally, emotionall, and especially spiritually. My other friend says that is too vague a goal and that those people were always uphill. That is true to a extent but I want to grow and strengthen my good qualities that I already have then, and decrease the negative ones. (Control my reaction to stress, for example, most or all of the time). I want to finish the race God gave me to run well. I know He can keep changing me for the better and can perfect His work in me and I want that to be obvious until the end. So I continue on the road uphill. May you tackle the hill in your life.

Good memories and feelings

The other day I was at the gym listening to my Ipod, and the song by Mark Schulz came on:When you come home. He really does know how to get you crying. Anyway, the chorus is:
When you come home, no matter how far, open the door and into my arms, that's where you are loved, that's where you belong,I will be here, when you come home. So I got to thinking about my mom first and how I would be sad from something that happened at school, and I would come home and cry and sit in her lap and tell her all about it. As I got older, I didn't sit in her lap but she always came in my room and sat on my bed and would listen and then try to talk to me.Then I got to thinking of my dad, and how he always called me "mush" and told me how pretty I was and that I was going to make some man pretty happy someday. And I could just sit next to him and snuggle and not say anything and be totally comfortable. Then more people that have died came flooding into my mind, and all the good memories I have of them. Several of them have died this past year, and while it makes me sad, then I got a vision of heaven and what it must be like to die and have all those people waiting for you after you worship and love on Jesus first. I thanked God for the good memories and the peace and happiness they brought and for the anticipation to go to heaven. Of course, I'm on the elliptical and blubbering-good thing I had a towel so I could pretend to wipe off the "sweat".

That brings me to my good feelings for Dave-I have been struggling with my life and then trying now to do school (almost done with 2 weeks by the way), and he is being so helpful. Right now he is cooking us up something. I couldn't charge my Ipod the other night, so he comes right into the gym and brings it to me charged before leaving for work-a small thing you say, but so meaningful to me. He really is something and yet I can get so irritated at him! I always tell him I can't believe how much he puts up with me. But I am grateful, and I hope I do make him happy as my father predicted. He certainly gives me great joy while I have to be here on earth. So the Karen Carpenter song came on: Why do birds suddenly appear every time, you are near, just like me, they want to be, close to you...Corny song you say, but listen to it some time and the words. They work for me. Still blubbering....

More thoughts on Iceland

I have more pictures of Iceland and Honduras if you ever want to see them I was going to try to scrapbook them but that isn't happening anytime soon.

We were able to attend Bible study the first night we were there on Good Friday. Several people were there. Justin led it but the people talked. I was able to mention a few words of encouragement. I also met several Icelanders that night. Diana said she would take us to the Golden Circle, which is a circular route, tour of the church, geyser, water fall and something else we missed. She did take us there God bless her, on Tuesday pretty much all day. Needless to say, we made dinner for her. She is a young graduate from their secondary school and goes to an active christian youth group and is going to a christian leadership school soon in Australia. She was very kind to take us on that tour.
We also attended Bible study the following Friday with a few other people we hadn't met yet. One was from China, one from the Philippines but the rest were Icelanders. We met an interesting young man who was really an entrepeneur. He was an actor in commercial and small films, director, producer, singer,etc. I found him fascinating. He rented a bar one night so he could gather a bunch of people together and encourage them in the Lord. There was no alcohol there that night. He had music and dancing and lots of talking and believe me he knows lots of people! We did not go to this party but would have liked to. He tries to do interesting things to attract people to Christ. He also is tall and very thin and eats like a machine. He cleaned out all my leftovers! He took us around Friday night after eating at 1030pm out on the town so we could see what Icelanders do every Friday and Saturday night until about 4am-they cruise the town, walk all over, visit all the open bars, drink, dance, yell and who knows what else. Partying is all important. Yet they are empty.
I went to a small Bible study on Wednesday night-we met in this woman's home which was so tiny yet she had about 8 cats! Justin ended up in an allergic reaction after that. She had one son. She apparently had experienced a lot of sufferring whether of her own accord or just because. She was encouraged by us.
When we were there so was a group of 5 from Point of Grace church in FA. They went out to cafes and pools and tried to strike up conversations too.

Monday we went shopping in town at the stores-very expensive. They are known for their wool products and scarfs. Arianna and I got scarves. Also, pretty hair accessories, purses, boys got hoodies. We handed out tracks in town on Sunday afternoon. We went to a small indoor pool on Saturday. Went to a larger one on Monday and another day-both times walking there over 45minutes-once in the whipping rain and wind. We went to the Pearl 2x, to another pool called the Blue lagoon right before our return on April 15th. This pool was also hot but had a lot of minerals and silica in it. It was blue-hence the name and had a bunch of white mud that we pasted all over ourselves. Supposed to be good for the skin, but we had a terrible time getting it out of our hair for days afterwards. Before all the pools, one had to shower or get fined. Women just walk around naked in these showers and locker rooms and I hear the men do too. This was difficult for us and my girls eyes almost popped out of their heads.

Cindy and I did a lot of cooking for everyone, cleaning the apartment, watching kids,etc. So in that way we ministered.

We went to church in the evening on Easter Sunday also-it was a new church started in a school called SALT. An appropriate name since it is one of the only truly salty churches spiritually. It was in Icelandic but we had an interpreter. What a hard language that is. We met very nice people there who were encouraged by our presence. The pastor and wife invited us for dinner which we went to on thurday night. What a delicious meal and what fascinating people. They had been missionaries in Africa for 12 years and had to return for the wife's health. But now they are trying to awaken Iceland to the Lord. So they have been much encouraged by our presence there this year. I was very encouraged by them in learning to discern how I will know if the Lord wants us to do more with missions. I am excited we were able to do Honduras and Iceland this year to start. She fed 11 of us, her 4 grown children and 3 of their spouses. Lots of people but what a welcoming home.
Thanks to all of you who are interested in us to pray and support our missions this year. We would be glad to share more in the future with you about these trips and others God may lead us to.

More Iceland Pictures

This is our son David and Justin Grack, the 19 yr old from our church that was there helping Colby,Pastor Bill and whoever else came to Iceland. In this picture they are on top of the thermodynamic storage building called "the Pearl" b/c of its dome shaped top. There is always wind in Iceland (and I thought South Dakota was bad). On this day the wind was actually holding us up as in this picture or knocking us down as it did Arianna. It made it always cold there-new meaning to the term "wind chill factor". It is murder for contact lens wearers like me.
We were very surprised at all the grafitti in Iceland-especially in the main city where we stayed. This is just one sample of it. The Icelanders pride themselves on their conservation of energy due to their heating all their homes and buildings with hydrothermic heat, but they did not recycle, there was garbage everywhere and then the grafitti!
This is by the Atlantic Ocean on the sculpture called "The Sun Voyager". Here are the kids. There were six kids together for a week. They did pretty well with the food, long walks in the rain and wind, and being cooped up in the apartment sometimes for hours.
Here is one of the few pictures of Dave and I. I have never worn a hat so much in all my life! I was glad I had my warm coat, hat, and gloves.

Iceland Project

The main city in Iceland with over 100,000 people is Reyjkavik. This is where we stayed and where the University is.This is a picture of the state Lutheran church. We actually went to the English service there on Easter. Even on Easter there was hardly anyone there. The state church does not have really any effect on the people there-it is just a tradition-get baptized as a baby, get confirmed there, and then go maybe on Christmas and Easter. That is why we went to Iceland-to help the few real, passionate christians in Iceland to start a revival and plant real, active churches. This church is in the center of the city so it helped us get our bearings often. Its bells rang every quarter of an hour. We were able to go to the top of it and see for miles around us and the bells rang while we were up there much to the enjoyment of the kids. The service we went to was more of a cutural concert to be enjoyed-the organ and the woman who sang were just beautiful, but as far as encouraging my relationship to God, it fell flat.
This is another church out in the country outside the city. It is built near ruins of a church and political center from the 1200's.









This is a geyser-Iceland is on top of very hot water hence where they get all their hydrothermic energy and hot water from. We stood very close to it and watched it
bubble until finally it shot up in the air as seen in this picture. I found them fasinating. If you touched the water even after it was on the ground it would burn you. We watched it go up several times and it surprised us every time. We are so impressed with how amazing God is in His creations of these natural phenomena.

This is the waterfall we had the privilege of going to. It was also spectacular but we did have to
watch the children like hawks as there was no fence or barrier between them and the falls. We saw a beautiful rainbow in them. There was a story about a woman who was protesting the damming of this river and she jumped off these falls in protest. Bill was filming us and asked us if any of us would like to volunteer and be like her. We of course could not hear him over the roar of the falls so we all waved at him. But we are back safe and sound in America.

Here we with the whole family and with Colby, Haley, and Darcy (in stroller) Annie was taking the picture. We were able to see the Garmans
our youth pastor, for only a few

hours. Here was our itinerary:
We were picked up in the church van at 3pm from our home by Pastor Bill and drove up to Baltimore airport. Waited there a while and finally flew out on Icelandaire at 7pm. We did not get to Iceland until April 6th, Friday morning-flight took 5.5hrs and then the time difference was 4 hours. I was so tired that I slept from 12-4 so didn't see the Garmans very long. It took me a couple of days to not feel so tired. This didn't happen as bad on the way home.The plane was also very cramped on the way there.

The value of mothers

Last week, Reuters reported that a stay at home mom would earn $138,095 as an annual wage. Paul Spears, a professor at the Torrey Honors Institue at Biola University, wrote about this last week. I encourage you to read this post in its entirety to gain a deeper understanding of everything moms do.

Quoting Paul,

I look at all that women do, and I am overwhelmed. I am not foolish enough to think that I can properly undertake all that they do, and do it with the same skill and grace. I look at the number of 138,095, and as I think of it that seems like a gross underestimation of what they truly deserve, but as this Mothers Day comes along (May 13) we need to remember the types of sacrifices our wives and mothers made for us. We need to realize how easy it is to undervalue all that they do. We need to take the time to express to them just how much we appreciate all that they take on daily. No, $138,095 cannot properly express all of the love, time, concerns and prayers our wives and mothers give to us daily.

Nancy, I don't understand everything you do but I know you do so much with passion, love and excellence. You are a great mother to our family and we appreciate and love you for all you do.

Excellent Reading

This past fall, I had the chance to attend a 3 day seminar at Biola University with Colby Garman. The course was taught by J.P. Moreland regarding the culture we live in, world views and a discussion on what he called the Kingdom Triangle. J.P. Moreland is publishing a new book called Kingdom Triangle and it should be excellent reading.

J.P. Moreland and other professors at Biola write a great blog called Scriptorium Daily. I highly recommend it for excellent thought provoking discussions on world views, politics and how to think biblically in the upcoming election and a host of other things that cause one to think.

School

I have started school-I almost quit before I started -this is very difficult for me. But now I have started, so here goes. If I quit now, I would lose money and feel like a failure, so that is motivating me. I hope to get in the swing and some kind of groove soon. I had a 250 word "paper" to do this week and post on the discussion board with references and over 100 pages to read (one being an article where I had to read almost every sentence twice to get it-definetely not fluff reading). Then I suppose I should try to get ahead and start next week's assignments and the research paper that is due at the end of the 8 weeks-now almost down to seven. This is hard for me-not to get freaked out by all this and not having the book. I am trying to take a deep breath and pray. I am so weak still in this area though.

My son David just ran the 400meter in his first track meet today-fun to watch him and my other friends' kids.

Elizabeth did her focus project today-after they lost her original display board (or someone took it), and she redid the display. God bless her and her calm attitude. They said she did well.

It's been a month!

I started school so I am going to have to write quick and more frequently.

My son, David, is now taller than me! This seemed to happen in a matter of a couple of weeks! I think he has finally started his growth spurt. His voice is also changing. So he is already over 5ft 3 inches at age 13. We will see. He runs track now in addition to school, saxophone, and soccer. The other day he told me they ran 4.5miles, did 205 crunches, and some sprints at track and then he went to soccer practice for 1 1/2 hrs! Needless to say, he is eating like a machine!

Baptism

I can't believe I forgot this! My daughter, Arianna, was baptized in front of the whole congregation at Stafford Baptist Church on Sunday, April 1st. We are so excited. We all feel she knew exactly what she was doing and told me that she told lots of kids at recess in school yesterday. So our whole household has been baptized now giving new meaning to the scripture, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord". I pray that the kids always stay close to and serve the Lord their whole lives.

New things in April

This is going to be quite a month!
First of all, We are going to Iceland on our first mission trip as a family from April 5-15th. We are leaving in 3 days! Just now got the suitcases out. We will go from 70-80 degrees back down to 40-50's. Oh well-extended winter.

Then my son David is starting track-every day until 5pm then soccer, homework, practicing of saxaphone, etc.

I finally managed to get registered, am accepted, and have paid for my first 2 classes toward my master's degree which I start on April 30th. They did cheapen my price per credit significantly b/c of Dave's past hx in the military. What a praise that is.

Only 10 weeks of school left and then 3 kids graduate-Arianna from kindergarten, Elizabeth from 5th grade to middle school, David from 8th grade to High school. Should be fun.

I am back to eating good food, with limits. The 2 weeks of just meat,nuts, cheese and vegies was too difficult for me. Felt tired and weak. Backslid over the weekend but am back on track today.

We did go to an awesome restaurant in Richmond on Saturday (explaining some of the backsliding) and to a very modern ballet which was to say the least interesting. It was nice to be out so long without kids with Dave.

My husband

My husband is wonderful-today is just a tribute to him:

With thee conversing, I forget all time,
All seasons, and their change, all please alike.
Neither breath of morn, when she ascends
With charm of earliest birds; nor rising sun
On this delightful land; nor herb, fruit, flower,
Glistering with dew; nor fragrance after showers;
Nor grateful evening mild; nor silent night,
With this her solemn bird; nor walk by moon,
Or glittering starlight, without thee is sweet.

Kids

Today I went to Arianna's school to talk about nursing. She is in kindergarten. It was fun and of course instead of asking questions, they wanted to tell me stories of when they went to the doctor. One girl said she got a big needle stuck right in her forehead-not sure what that meant. Not sure I wanted to know. One little boy was a diabetic and had an insulin pump. At first I felt sorry for him but he does well everyone says and doesn't let it affect him. What a great way to be.

I stayed for the 4-5th grade chorus concert. 2 of my friends' kids were in it and they couldn't be there so I was glad I went. Besides, I love music anyway. They sang songs I haven't heard in a while like Michael Jackson's ABC, Lean on Me, Swing Low, Ain't No Mountain High Enough. I knew every one of them. I am getting old,but it was nice to reminesce.

I am on Day 4 of the little to no carb South Beach diet. I do not have a headache-yay! I have lost 2 lbs already and feel good so far today. Stomach is definetely flatter. I hope I am on my way to kicking the carb addiction but I know I will have to watch it my whole life.

Friendship and the church

Our pastor yesterday asked us what was the purpose of the church. There were various answers, mine being one of them, which I thought were correct. But then he said,"The purpose of the church is to exemplify Christ-afterall, we are called christians and are using His Name"
This really struck me. I can't believe I never heard of that or thought of it before. It is so simple, and all the other purposes we gave flow from that-evangelizing, fellowshipping, learning the word, worshipping,etc. Now I know my purpose much better.

I have just finished the book The Lost Virtue of Happiness by JP Moreland and Klaus Issler.
It was very good. I paricularly like the session on prayer: Pray what they call the Jesus' prayer "Lord have mercy on me" many times a day to keep your focus on Jesus, pray other memorized scripture throughout the day, and take 7-10x/day where you go off for 2-3minutes on your knees and pray. This would really get me going. Now to remember to do it and have the discipline to do it.

Also, his desccription of what closest friendships can look like:
(For extra challenge, find where all these are in the Bible)

Accept one another
Admonish one another
Do what leads to peace and building up of one another
Carry each other's burdens
Have equal concern for each other
Confess your sins to each other
Be devoted to one another
Encourage one another
Bear with one another
Forgive one another
Greet one another with affection
Don't grumble against each other
Honor one another
Offer hospitality to one another
Clothe yourself with humility toward one another
Be kind and compassionate with one another
Do not lie to each other
Be patient and forbearing with one another
Live in peace with one another
Pray for each other
Live in harmony and be of the same mind toward one another
Serve one another in love
Do not slander one another
Speak to one another in psalms, humns, spiritual songs
Speak truth to one another
Spur one another on toward love and good deeds
Submit to one another
Teach one another
Wait for one another

This is quite a list and quite a challenge but I want to be this kind of friend. It takes time with each other though and I am finding that most people do not make the time. They are too busy. It is too bad b/c then they will say they have no friends and are not even close to their husbands. Are we taking the time and effort?

I am in the midst of carb withdrawal! It is not too bad so far but it hasn't even been 24hrs.

Truly a welcome site

Boy were we glad to see this sign. We were exhausted but in a good way-we had served and loved and glorified God. What a privilege to live in this country of ours. I feel so unworthy after living with the people in Honduras for only a week.

I learned to pray more, have more compassion for others and not to judge-just love and point others to Jesus.

I have 1,000 pictures of this trip if you ever want to see more.

Now in just a little over 2 weeks we go to a very different culture and people-to Iceland. Please pray for us as we seek to exemplify Jesus and glorify God there. Our whole family is going on this one and thanks to many of my friends and family who made both trips possible-the Lord will bless you for your generosity.

The Boat

Remind you of planes, trains and automobiles? Replace trains with boats. Here is the boat we took (or rather crammed into with all our luggage) from the puddle jumper to the town on the island where we stayed.

This is the van we took from our hotel on the mainland to the puddle jumper. Boy could they pile on a lot of luggage! Riding in cars with them is quite an experience-worse than the taxi drivers in NYC. All the people were very helpful and kind to us.

The puddle jumper

This was the "small" plane we took from mainland Honduras to the island. It seated a little over 30 people and boy was it a bumpy and turbulent ride (think broken elevated or Tower of Terror at Disney). But we made it there and back.