Road to Bethlehem

Another person unsolicited told me they love reading my blog...

Humbled...I have no idea how much exposure it has...but God is using it...and I've been neglecting it.

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a big fan of Ann Voskamp's writings and blog.  I purchased an advent "wreath" handmade by her son, Caleb.  It was so fresh, I could smell the shellac when I took it out of the box last year.

Adding a candle for each day in December, it leads the donkey, Mary, and Joseph to the manger.

Another new advent tradition has been reading these 3.5 x 3.5 sticky notes from Ann you can download here.  Reading one a day has made a huge difference this Christmas...

I know many our experience desperate circumstances when this season emphasizes cheer and "troubles will be out of sight."  I sent a set of these to an incredible friend of mine who is hurting because I knew how they were helping me.  I've had my share of heavy, loss-laden Christmases. Mind if I share one?

I will believe in God's grace for

impossible things today.

Because no situation is more hopeless than

my Savior is graceful.

And no personal choice that

muddied my life can ever trump

the divine choice to wash my life clean.

That is always the secret to unwrapping

the biggest, greatest, grandest gift:

believe that the love of Jesus is in

the place where I don't expect it.

And THAT my dear friends is TRUTH!  Let's remember Bethlehem...where it all began...

...and let it lead us to the Greatest Gift.

PS:  My 31 days will finish before the end of the year...I'm waiting on God's timing for the next post as it is a difficult one.  Stay tuned!

The Distraction of Hype

Yesterday was a wonderful day with my daughter and her family at our house...and I took time from the internet and my blog to focus on being present with them and my husband.  So, in the hopes to inspire you, my thought today was to post only three photos...

...that focus on gratitude...

...and remind us (especially me) how we should gratefully live our lives...

but I must also add a statement my daughter, Lydia, said to me during our time yesterday that should make all of us stop and think,

Isn't it ironic that on the day we are to focus on being thankful for all we have, the hype is about getting the meal over to go out and buy more?
 

At what point does it become enough?

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you...as we celebrate it with our lives throughout the next year!

Your Faithfulness

I took this still as part of my 365 project...and this sits on a table next to my piano.

I had no idea how this would turn into something so meaningful in the next 24 hours...

This morning at church there was a lot of focus on gratitude, thankfulness and God's faithfulness...

There was a special song that was sung...I was captivated...moved to tears...especially this line:

I don't know if these clouds mean rain

If they do, will they pour down blessing or pain?
I don't know what the future holds
But I know I can trust Your faithfulness.

- Brian Doerksen
 

You see...this is my father's Bible.  He was asking if I could help him find a personal size with the index tabs (his was wearing out).  I said I would look on the internet...and bought this for him as a gift (he wanted to pay me!).  I bought it for him in 2008.

My dad, in April 2009, was unexpectedly diagnosed with terminal brain cancer...had palliative resection and went through rehab.  We were in shock.

By June he was back at church and publicly praised the Lord for His faithfulness and goodness to Him.  When I heard these lines in the song this morning, it made me think of his trust in his Savior, no matter what the future held, He would be faithful!

On October 9, 2009, he met his faithful Savior face to face...

Here is the song, if you'd like to experience it, too...




This blog, while it touches on many things, its main focus comes from a verse about faithfulness:

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
  his mercies never come to an end;
 they are new every morning;
  great is your faithfulness.
(Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV)
 

Yes, He is faithful...and ALL is grace!

 

A Lesson From an Avalanche

Is it just me...?  Or are mailboxes spewing out more mail-order catalogs than ever before?  It's like an avalanche!

The seduction begins...glossy ads for perfume advertisements, controversy over Black Friday starting on Thanksgiving Thursday for some stores...the ringing Christmas Hershey kisses are back on tv!




And yet...how to stop this insanity?

The avalance caused me to stop and think about gifts I had been given in the past, what had been meaningful, and what had seemed forgotten...

My mother faithfully gave me gifts at Christmas...giving it much thought.  And yet every year in the decade before she was stolen away by Alzheimer's...I told her what I wanted...something I'd be disappointed if I did not receive one.

Every Christmas there would be a pair of hand embroidered pillowcases that she had done.  The time and effort she had put into these, plus knowing that the work was done by her own hands...hands that someday would no longer be able to do so...made them priceless.

She would ask me..."So, what do you want this year?" and my answer was always "a pair of embroidered pillowcases."  She would laugh (deflecting the compliment) and say, "oh that's nothing."

But it was everything...and I have them and lay my head on them, holding her close as I sleep.

Maybe the best way to stop the Christmas insanity is not to give what we're seduced by multimedia to believe will fulfill our loved ones' every desire...

but instead, give gifts that will have enduring meaning...like those cherished pillowcases.

Homebound Today But Had Visitors!!!!

No church or any activities today outside the house that would keep me too far from the bathroom...prep work for a procedure tomorrow afternoon.  (Sorry for the TMI! )

But God is so good...look at all the visitors He brought my way today at our feeders!!!!

There were more, but photo ops weren't as great.

Those who know me well, know how important birds are to me and how God has used them over and over again in my life.  So I know these were directly from His hand.

What amazing gifts...with feathers EVEN!  By the way, the greatest prize was the Carolina Wren. (tea-kettle, tea-kettle, tea-kettle)  Do you know which one that is????

Anorexics and Fences

Have I ever showed you my favorite fence photo I ever took for all time?  Joy Dare October is past...a good discipline for me.  Oh...I will continue to focus on God's everyday gifts...but I'm back to mixing it up.

Now Happy Fence Friday is something that is common among those who post on Flickr regularly, but Donna Catterick clued me into a Fence Friday at Life According to Jan and Jer...so this is my pick!



One of those magical times when you see something unusual (I rarely see Turkey Vultures not flying that don't fly away when you try to capture them)...and then you find the PERFECT quote.

I've always loved Erma Bombeck...and miss her wit, wisdom, and self-deprecating humor.  Definitely found another quote I'm going to use soon!

May God give you the gift of laughter for a moment today!

Day 29 ~ Three Gifts On Time

Two days left...

Three gifts on time...does that mean "on time" or "about time?"  I think I will consider both...

Gift #1 ~

Over the past two weeks I have been struggling internally...with something that I knew was clearly not from God and meant only to discourage and defeat me.  God brought a dear friend, LB, my way who opened her heart and her ears to not only listen but also to share...even though she is in Chicago!  We've walked similar paths...and God brought her along my pathway...a gift!

Gift #2 ~

I'm not a big group person...never have been.  I'm not a "the more, the merrier" kind of person.  I like intimacy with people I trust...one-on-one...or a group of four...or me and Edster with another couple.  I work with a lot of extroverted folks...and while I can appear to be somewhat outgoing...I know that I am a deep, thoughtful introvert that requires quiet and solitude...to explore my passions (most of which are solitary), such as:  photography, writing, Bible study, genealogy, birding, solitude, creative expression.  Often quite different pursuits than my counterparts.

But God brought some wonderful women in my life "on time" who share similar passions and similar styles and pursuits, from my some e-courses I took...who expected this???  Bonus...and we fellowship daily and they are all such special gifts to me:  Viv, Sarah, Cathy, Madelin, Sherry, Terri, Stacie, GeetLee, Cheryl1, Cheryl2, Cheryl3, Julie, Elaine, Donna M, Donna C, Laurie, Sherri, Mary (I almost thre up), Helen, Leon, Catherine, Nancy Jean (I love that combo - we appalachians grew up with relatives that all had two names), Karla, Lissa, Martha, Carol, Debbie, Debbie2, Debbie3, Joy, Roxi, Barbara, Lorraine, Diane, Kristina (mustache), Peg, Barbara H., Dotti, Naomi, Kate, Robyn, Justine, Sharon, Jessica (Lensbaby), Lori, Diana, Cindy, Sally (Radish), Lorna, Angela, Connie, RedWillow, Maria, Toni, BD, Kate T, Maggie, Michelle, Susan, Becky, Anne, Olivia (and probably more I missed)...and of course, Kim (I'm not a public speaker) Klassen!

Gift #3 ~

I have been in bed all day...leaving work after getting sick...sleeping off and on...the storm news droning on in the background.  But my Edster brought a gift my way...he filled the bird feeders yesterday, "on time", not knowing I would be home today.  I'm not certain if its the storm coming or what...but it's been birds, birds, birds, birds, birds...flying in and out and finding gems of seed for consumption.  Titmice, northern cardinals, house finches, carolina wren, black-capped chickadees, sparrows, american goldfinches, blue jays...all outside my bedroom window.

Praying for those all in the path of the storm...we will get some of it (mostly wind)...but there are many who are in harm's way.

Day 28 ~ Three Gifts in Christ

More gifts today...and how appropriate on a Sunday to select three gifts in Christ.

Just three? (Wow...hard to narrow down)...and only three more days to go...

As I sit here on this dreary Sunday afternoon in my favorite chair...speeches by the candidates for President of the United States seem to be the order of the day on the news channels...

Everyone has talked about what a pivotal election day this is on November 6...

Future uncertain...on the brink of insolvency...losing our moral compass as a nation...the economy...

While I am a good citizen, love this country, am a faithful voter...my perspective is a little bit different.

1.  One gift in Christ ~ Confidence.  The theme of this blog comes from Lamentations 3:22-24.

Because of the Lord's faithful love, we do not perish, for His mercies never end.  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!

I say: The Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in Him!
 

Whatever the outcome, I am CONFIDENT in God's decision in this election according to His purposes.  I find this quote from Alexander Carson so relevant:

As God can protect his people under the greatest despotism, so the utmost civil liberty is no safety to them without the immediate protection of his Almighty arm. I fear that Christians in this country have too great a confidence in political institutions . . . [rather] than of the government of God.
 

2. Another gift in Christ ~  Direction and guidance.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
Do not lean on your own understanding;
think about Him in all your ways
and He will guide you on the right path.
~ Proverbs 3:5-6 (HCSB)
 

 3.  A third gift in Christ ~  Joy.

You have shown me the paths of life and in your presence is fullness of
joy; and at your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
~ Psalms 16:11 (ESV)
 

And how do I enter into His presence for that fullness of joy?  Through His gates with gratitude and thankfulness!

Day 26 ~ Three Gifts Extravagant

When I pondered this category...I looked up the word extravagant and came up with quite a few synonyms from the Thesarus:  crazy, flamboyant, exaggerated, expensive, unreasonable, unrestrained, over-the-top, extreme, fantastic, fancy, excessive, outrageous.

But I would like to approach this word from the perspective of one of my favorite verses:

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think...

Ephesians 3:20 (ESV)

 

God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or

request in your wildest dreams!

Ephesians 3:20 (The Message)

 

Doesn't that sound extravagant?

 

 

Day 26 ~ Three Gifts Extravagant

 

 

 

I did not dare dream, hope for, imagine that I would ever marry after a decade of singleness.  And I was okay with that ~~ content.  But extravagantly, over-the-top, the Lord brought Edster into my life, at just the right time.  I had no idea...no idea that when our paths providentially crossed on that Friday, June 6, 2008, that it would result into the love of a lifetime, allowing Edster and my dad to form a good relationship, giving my dad peace knowing God had bestowed a wonderful Christian man to his daughter for life.  Just over a year later from our meeting each other ~~ my father would be in heaven, entering the day before we married.

 

 

 

I know that same feeling my father must have felt.  Last December, my Lydia ~~ a single mother of two boys who are the heart of my heart ~~ she married a wonderful Christian man who adores her and the boys.  He could have only come along as an extravagant gift from her Savior.  And what a gift to me...peace knowing my daughter had a helpmate, a partner, a role model for those boys, and a godly man to lead their family.

 

 

Oh...before I go on to my third gift extravagant...with the gift of Edster came a bonus!  My stepdog Bruno!

 

 

 

I never dreamed that I would ever obtain a college degree and work in the field I so desired.  Caleb had taught me so much, and I was able to help other families facing some comparable challenges.  But I was an executive assistant full-time, doing good advocacy for others in addition to my job, wanting to make a difference...but I needed the credentials.  I had two years' college completed from thirty years' prior.  Single, sole-supporting...how could I, at age 46, work full-time, go to school full-time, and not only need to get my BSW, but I would also need to get my Master's degree? 

 

How do I explain that by age 49, I had graduated from Case Western Reserve University with distinction and am now in a position that is a dream come true?  A privilege?  A ministry? Making a difference...?  I cannot answer any other way except that God did it...an extravagant gift of love...He who makes the impossible, possible.

 

Yes, God's love, God's grace, God's goodness is extravagant...i.e., crazy, flamboyant, exaggerated, expensive, unreasonable, unrestrained, over-the-top, extreme, fantastic, fancy, excessive, outrageous...actually...

 

it defies words...

 

Watch for His extravagance this weekend!

 

 

 





Days 22 ~ A Gift Silent, Still and Strong

Can you believe it is the last full week of October?  It is...

And the mild weather we're enjoying this week will turn into highs into the 40s this weekend...

But that won't make me back down from wearing my flip flops...that takes snow!

So Day 22 ~ A Gift Silent, A Gift Still, and A Gift Strong

I am so grateful for the gift of silent solitude. 

I used to think myself "strange" because I do have a need for solitude...quiet time...time to remove myself from the clammer and yammer of our society.  It's not just something I like...I need it.

Jesus also found the need to be alone...alone in nature, alone with His Father, alone with His disciples.  And yet it was always a retreat from His ministry, His mission -- to be able to continue to do the work His Father game Him to do.

Such is the way with what I do...day in and day out...without the gift of silent solitude (especially spending it with Him) to which I can retreat ~ I would be faced with chronic burnout and be ineffective in all my efforts.

There were several nights when we were when on, vacation a strange thing would occur...the clouds would lower as we were high in the mountains...the stillness of the mist rolling in transformed the appearance and aviance of the landscape into a different kind of beautiful wonder...a site not seen where I live in Ohio.  What a gift!

And a gift strong ~ it can best be expressed by quoting Psalm 18:1-2:

I love you, God ~
   you make me strong.
God is bedrock under my feet.
   the castle in which I live,
   my rescuing knight.
My God ~ the high crag
   where I run for dear life,
   hiding behind the boulders,
   safe in the granite hideout.  (The Message)
 

If God is for me...who can ever be against me?

 

 

 

Days 20 and 21 ~ Three Unconventional and Three Undervalued Gifts

It's hard to believe we're talking Days 20 and 21...didn't we just start this?

I sometimes think...when I am looking for gifts...I am looking for some great "aha!" moments...

Like the earth will shake and they will come announced, neatly wrapped...

Something out of the ordinary...

But not so...

Day 20 ~ Three Gifts Unconventional

Like this morning...(and I'm not being silly...)

A Q-tip to clean my ears...

A safety pin to fasten the part of the hem of my pants I noticed was torn as I was quickly getting ready for church...

This smooth-writing teal gel pen to take notes this morning as we pored over Hebrews 4:12-13.

Day 21 ~ Three Gifts Undervalued

Turning on my faucet with clean water readily available to drink...(how can we not value what 89% of the rest of world does not have access to?)

Speaking of access...do we realize the gift, the incredible gift, that we can connect from all over the world through the internet...although we may never meet face to face?

And did we value the moment that just passed...and the one we're in now...or are we looking ahead or too numbed to live in this very moment? 

These are the baby shoes worn by my Caleb...life, at best, is brief...it all goes so fast...

Value the moments...

Look for God's gifts...

Don't miss a single one...

Days 18 and 19 ~ Daring On to Crazy Joy

The weekend is here...

In full disclosure, I'm sitting up in bed in my jams writing this on my laptop...

No alarm, no schedule today...shower and clean up at will...now THAT'S a gift!

But my blog is on the itinerary...and my venture through the October Joy Dare!

Day 18 ~  One gift shared, saved, surrendered...

A gift from our good friends, Josh and Missi, sharing it with them and more than 54,000 folks, the inaugural Big 12 game for WVU against the Baylor Bears (I kept going "da Bears").  Several things happened that I had always wanted to experience:  seeing the Pride of West Virginia (WVU's marching band) form the state of West Virginia and then reverse it...marching down the field; staying til the end of a winning game to sing "Country Roads" along with the 54,000 others, along with John Denver; and hear Trace Adkins (who sang the national anthem).

On Valentine's Day last year...I was recovering from a medical procedure and went through these letters that had been saved for over sixty years.  I made this still from them.  They were love letters between my parents before they were married.  He was attending WVU in Morgantown (where my mother lived) but at the semester break, he went back to his home in Buckhannon, WV, two hours away.  It was a gift to read their playfulness with each other (my dad wrote almost the whole letter about returning back to Morgantown a few days later than planned...and then did a gotchya at the end.)  But the greatest gift was reading of their desire to serve Christ and to be certain their plans to marry was in line with God's will.

Wow...a gift surrendered! God has blessed me with legs I can use...legs that walk...legs that are sturdy.  And nearly every day I surrender that gift to Sidda, my cat, who loves to lay on them.  She's right there now on the other side of my laptop...sweet.

Day 19 ~ Three gifts unexpected...



















Truly...I don't mean to bring Edster into every blog entry...but he was a much unexpected gift.  I was content and satisfied with a decade of singleness.  Marriage was not something I was expecting again...







































Have you ever googled your name?  Well...I googled my son's name, who I introduced here and here, Caleb Smith.  Guess what...there's a Caleb Smith State Park...on Long Island, New York.  I never expected to go there...but here I am.  Ed took me there on way home from our honeymoon in Maine.

Caleb is involved with developmental disabilities county board.  Most often promotions are down with much higher functioning individuals.  And yes, it could feel hurtful. 

But I attended a bike race he and his pals participated in ~~ held in the parking lot of the county board.  It was a hoot!  They were paired up.  I remember one contestant who said to his female competitor, "You're going down!"  She SMOKED him! (But I digress...)  They were videotaping and because I was a parent there, they asked to interview me with Caleb promoting the county board (this is not the greatest photo).  Totally unexpected!!!

But we'll never see God's gifts if we don't take time to see...

What gifts have you seen today?

Day 17 ~ Gifts Ugly to Beautiful

Onward to more Joy Dare...

Day 17 is to look for three gifts that were ugly but are beautiful.  Confused?  Take a look-see.

Gift One ~

This gargantuous, horrendous, painful-looking part of Edster's right leg is his knee...taken in 2008.


This all started in 2002, an ACL tear that my 6'6" not-yet-husband sustained while spiking a volleyball.  This ugly, awful injury that required 14 surgeries in six years...was a gift, despite the multitude of losses and suffering that continues.

A gift?

Because without this gift...there would have never been this.

We were six hours' driving time away...how would we have ever randomly connected?  It was through the gift of an ugly knee.

Gift Two ~

As the summer evolves into winter...when looked at individually, the changes, which are really death and decay, are in fact, ugly...one by one...

But, oh, what a beautiful gift from a different perspective!

Gift Three ~

It was rainy, gloomy, ugly...all day...

The lower barometric pressure brought on the "sleepies" this afternoon...

And although I was not looking outside while working inside a window-less office...it just felt dark. 

And I could have easily sunk into a "woe is me" as we go into the gloomiest seasons in a town that averages 202 cloudy days a year...

But look at what the ugly brought!!!!!!  This brillance on the way home from work with the backdrop of black, stormy clouds emphasizing it's glory.  I took this as soon as I got out of my car after pulling in the driveway.

I guess the take home message is...

God is always up to something...

no matter how it may look...

and it is for our good...

and it is good...

for He is good!

Count it all  joy! (James 1:2)