Christmas Break

Christmas break is still on so I have another week off of work! The boys are gone until Wednesday and I am enjoying the time to myself during the day. I get to buy some new books for the library on Wednesday and that will be fun. I will have to get busy and take down the tree and all of the Christmas decorations sometime this week but don't really want to yet! Christmas has always been my favorite time of year. It brings such joy to me, the lights, the joy of giving to my family, and this year we have snow so that is wonderful as well. The thing I love the most though is celebrating the birth of our Savior. I love the music and the sermons at church. I love being with the saints and celebrating with them. I love the Christmas program at church and all of the joyous music we hear there. So I do love Christmas. I love the break from school as well. We all need it when it comes!
Till next time....

Merry Christmas!

Today is the last day of school before the Christmas break. We all need the break. Everyone is tired but we are all looking forward to our new school next year. I am thankful for the break! I am mostly grateful for all of the many blessings this year has brought. Our little grandson, my precious family and church family, my husband's joy with being back doing the work he loves to do, my wonderful job. So even though I am tired, I have a heart full of joy and I thank the Lord of all creation that He cares for me and that He is making me into the person He wants me to be!

Merry CHRISTmas and a Blessed New Year to you all!

Till next time....

10 perfect little fingers, 10 perfect little toes

My second grandson went home to be with Jesus on Monday. He was this perfect little sweet infant. He was only 4 months in gestational age when he left us. He had ten perfect little toes, ten perfect little fingers and left two precious hand prints and two precious little footprints. We could see his little eyes and his little ears as well.

Question: If he wasn't a baby, why did he have all of these?

Answer: He was a little person from the minute he was conceived, known by God and planned for by Him. Every life is precious and I praise God for them.

To God be the glory, forever and ever, AMEN.

A Good Horse

Saturday was difficult day for my husband. We had to put down our good old horse, KC. We bought this horse as a yearling for $400. He was one of the first horses my husband trained and fine tuned on his own. Our daughter was barely toddling around when he broke the horse. The first picture we have of her on a horse is on KC. Both of my older children learned to ride on this horse. We were calculating his age and since my daughter just turned 20, he would have been between 22 and 23 years old. He was stove up and looked awful for the last couple of winters but would always come back and look better in the summer.

I can remember a couple of funny anecdotes about KC. The first was when we were gathering cows from the irrigation meadow on one of the ranches and my daughter was riding KC. It was a frigid day and down on the creek and on that meadow it was about 10-15 degrees colder than anywhere else. My daughter had on her snow suit and was well padded because of that. The cows started to trot and as they did, KC began to trot also. My daughter had never been out of a walk and she bounced right out of the saddle. She hit the ground and when she did, KC stopped and looked around at her as if to say, "Why are you down there?" Of course she was crying and very upset and wanted to quit for the day and go to the house. After that we practiced a lot and she got better at riding. But she still had a HARD time getting him kicked up out of a walk! I don't know if he ever did trust her riding ability!

Another time our church was having a rodeo just for fun and I did the barrels and the poles on him and we were flying. I did the barrels in about 17 seconds. The same with the poles. I tried to get my friend to use him to participate and she didn't want to because he was too much horse for her. When it was the kids' turn we put my daughter on him and he did both events in that slow and easy rocking horse lope that is good for little kids. After my friend watched our daughter do the events she asked me where we got him and when she found out that it was the same horse I had ridden she was amazed.

Horses like that are few and far between. We wouldn't have taken $10,000 for that horse. My husband and I both got a little tearful about losing him. He was a good old horse. Now we begin the search for another for our youngest son. I hope we can find another just like KC.

Till next time.....

Submission

Once again the word submission is on my mind. I even went online to a dictionary to look it up. It means:

1. The act of submitting; the act of yielding to power or authority; surrender of the person and power to the control or government of another.

2. The state of being submissive; acknowledgement of inferiority or dependence; humble or suppliant behavior.

I found these definitions at define.com. This quote was also included; No duty in religion is more justly required by God...than a perfect submission to his will in all things.--Sir W. Temple.

What does that quote mean? Who is in perfect control of everything that happens in my life? Is it me? Am I the master of my own destiny? Or is God in complete and perfect control of all of the circumstances of my life? Do I have the duty to submit to God?

The answer to that last question is of course. I belong to Him and so my first duty after loving Him with all of my heart is to submit to Him. This doesn't just mean on a Sunday morning when I am at church, it means in all areas of my life. When I am at work if my boss asks me to do something I don't really want to do I need to remember that He is the one who put my boss in the position he or she is in. It was God who gave me the husband I have, the church family, my earthly family, all of it.

There are so many times I am tempted to become angry at work when I feel I have been used unfairly but I must remember that God gave me those circumstances. I have watched so many Christian coworkers become angry and bitter because of decisions made by the boss. Their lives have become so difficult because of that. We all have a tendency to blame people when something doesn't go the way we would like it to go but we must ALWAYS remember that God is always in control. He doesn't make mistakes. The circumstances of my life are always for His glory and for my good.

I have noticed that the times I forget that He is in control of all things are the times that I tend to refuse to submit to those who surround me at work, at home and at church. I am learning more and more to rest in Him as He teaches me to submit more and more fully to His will. Thank you, Lord.

Till next time....

PS I rode my horse last Saturday. I did fine and managed not to fall off, get bucked off, stampeded, or embarrassed in any other way!

Horse work

Well, I have to admit that I'm a little nervous! All of my Saturdays and Mondays through October will be taken up with cattle work. The typical fall work; weaning calves, vaccinating, preg-checking. All of the work I haven't done in over 7 years. I stopped helping when I got pregnant with my youngest. I haven't stepped on a horse since then! Will I be able to get on? Will I be able to STAY on? I am looking forward to it. This will be the first time that the little one will be able to help like this. When my two other children were little they came with us all of the time. While it seemed hard at the time to work while taking care of them, it was so good for them. They loved going along and helping Dad. When they were little they would ride with us and we would spend all day together. It was such a blessing to have that time with them. There were other people who had more money and more things than we did. Now that my kids are grown, that time has become even more precious. We appreciate those things we did together. I didn't realize how much until my son shared with us how disappointed he was when his dad lost his job at the ranch. He had big plans to be out every day helping his dad with the ranch work. Truly, I think I was so wrapped up in my own fear and disappointment that the trial the situation was to my children didn't really register. Of course they were 10 and 12 when my husband lost his job so I was guilty of not realizing how hard it was for them even at that young age.

I hope that I remember not to discount the trials of someone just because of their age. I hope that I remember to pray for them.

I can't wait to help out with those cattle. It will be fun. And challenging! I'll let you know how it goes.

Till next time...

My Colorado

I grew up on a ranch/farm out in Eastern Colorado, in Lincoln County. After my husband and I got married we lived on a ranch in Eastern Colorado, near the town of Karval. I loved living in those places. We lived for about 9 years in Western Elbert county (El Paso County was across the road from our house!). It was pretty there. We were right up the hill from a beautiful creek. We saw all sorts of wildlife and loved the life there. After that we lived in El Paso County for 7 years until last July when we moved back into Lincoln County. I didn't realize how much I missed Lincoln County until we moved back there. Each day, I admire the view as I drive to school. As we leave our house we have to pass through a place that they call Stony Point. Stony Point looks out over a valley that runs northeast to southwest and is breathtaking. My sons and I climbed up to the top and took school pictures from there. I cannot drive through that country without praising God for bringing us back to that part of the state!

I have heard people talk about how boring it is in that part of Colorado. There are no trees, no wildlife, no scenery. When you top the Genoa hill and look down and you can see that huge expanse of land, when you are traveling from Karval to Highway 71 and you can see Pikes Peak jutting up like a huge sleeping dragon, you know that there is beautiful scenery out here! Your heart just has to be big enough to take it all in. When I was a child summers were spent on horseback, checking cattle; we watched for lizards, horned toads, snakes, baby antelope and occasionally a deer. We looked for rocks and if we were lucky we would find an arrowhead or a piece of petrified wood. No scenery in Eastern Colorado?! AS IF!

When I travel east, I can feel the "scenery" closing in on me. The closer we get to Kansas City the more closed in I begin to feel. I think Western Kansas (from about Russell on) is my favorite part of any trip. When we cross the state line into Colorado, I can breathe a little easier, I can feel my heart expand, it's good to be headed home.

The Rockies are beautiful. But I like looking at them from my beautiful prairie. My beautiful "Home on the Range". I am thankful to be living in this place!

Till next time...

Blessings

Today was my birthday. Today I praise God for His goodness and mercy to me. I praise him for a beautiful family. I praise Him for a faithful minister who is diligent to preach from His holy word. I praise Him for my wonderful church family. I praise Him for the gift of jobs we love for myself and my husband. My heart is full, my life is full of the richness, joy and peace that He brings. I praise My Heavenly Father now and always, with my heart, body and soul!
Amen and amen.
Till next time...

A Disclaimer

God uses every circumstance in our lives to either bring us to repentance or to drive us from Him, whether for a while or forever. He has used every experience I have blogged about to show up some hidden sin in my own life. The sin of pride, the sin of unforgiveness, the sin of exacting a price for my forgiveness when God forgave me all of my sins without payment from me (for we know that we can never repay this debt, we live a life of thankfulness and praise for the rest of our lives), the sin of always questioning authority and not submitting. He has shown me that when I refuse to submit to the authority of my boss at work, my minister and elders and my husband I am REFUSING to submit to HIM! This refusal to submit then causes all sorts of other problems in my life and all sorts of sinful behaviors sprout from that one refusal. After all, who put those people in their positions? If we believe, as I do that my loving heavenly Father orders ALL things, then it logically follows that He has ordered the circumstances in my life, whether it be at work, at home or in church. I MUST come to the belief that this is so! So long as I fight it I am stating my own unbelief. So therefore if I disagree with something my pastor says or my boss at work requires of me and I take it to the authority over that person and the higher authority rules that my complaint is without foundation, I must submit to that and trust God for that decision. At bottom, top and all through the issue, GOD is in control. HE is the ONE who has caused the circumstance to be! HE has done it for my good and HIS glory! HIS will is perfect! If I become angry with a boss or elder or my husband because of a decision made, it is not a reflection of how unfair that person is....it is a reflection of my own sin and unwillingness to submit to the will of GOD!
Now about my disclaimer....This post (and truly all of my posts) refers to ME and to MY own experiences and the things that I am learning. It refers to the shift in attitude that God has brought about in my life, the changes that He has caused in my walk with Him, in my relationship with my family and in the way I view the happenings at work and try to deal with them in a way that will bring glory to God. I am excited about the changes God has wrought in me! I am thankful for the way He has shown me that true submission also brings true freedom, true joy and true thanksgiving.
Am I stating that I am without sin? HEAVEN FORBID! I know the state of my heart and I still do get angry, I still do question God at times. But through all of the events of my life He is bringing me a joy and peace that I could have never imagined! And at rock bottom that joy and peace come from learning to submit daily to the things God has ordained in my life. The second piece of the puzzle is that God has shown me through the circumstances of my life to be thankful for ALL of those circumstances. Will I stumble in the future? I can guarantee that the answer will be yes! But by the grace of God, the Holy Spirit will convict my heart and bring me to repentance. God is faithful when we are not! He always keeps His covenant!
God just keeps on winnowing and showing me even those secret sins to which I have become attached. He keeps on bringing them to my eyes and turning me to repentance. To some this will be offensive. It is not intended in that fashion. This blog contains the thoughts and ramblings of a joyous daughter of Christ sharing her journey and that is how it will continue.
I cannot contain my joy for the things God is doing in my life!
Till next time....

A New School Year

Well, we finished our first week of school with kids. The vibe has been so different this year than in years past. The administrators all have such a positive, upbeat attitude and it is filtering down to the students. The first day back each student got a blue Buffalo t-shirt to wear every Friday. The kids were all so excited! It was really neat to see that sea of blue all over the school yesterday. The atmosphere was great. I am so excited. This school is getting back on track after many years. We also got word that our school is receiving a BEST grant (if it's funded) to build a new school. That will be exciting as well. I will be getting a NEW library! No more being stuck in half a modular with no bathroom! Wow!
I am looking at these kids at school and I know that for some of them the only smiling faces they will see are the ones they see at school. For some of them, I may be the only person who is happy to see them. The meals at school may be the only hot meals they get, even the only meals of the day for them. When they get snarly and mean with me I need to remember that for some of them school is their only haven and I need to show them my own joy. I need to remember that even the ones with new clothes and enough to eat may be on their 3rd or 4th step parent and that brings its own pain. I need to be patient with them and longsuffering. AND I need to maintain this attitude all year, even when I am tired. This is all part of showing them what it means to be a Christian. Please pray for me as I try, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to do this.
Till next time...

Whatsoever Things Are Good

Well, school has started for another year for me! I am so excited for it! Last year was a difficult year at school. There was so much negativity, grumbling and dissatisfaction among the staff that it was hard some days to be there. Two teachers were let go during the school year and that caused a lot of upheaval. Both were tenured so several staff members were very unhappy about that. But they were changes that needed to be made. We had HUGE staff turnover this year. We only had one middle school teacher returning. But these are all good things. Last week was the week when all staff came back to school for meetings, room preparation, etc., getting ready for kids to come in on Monday. The atmosphere was totally different. This is not to say that there are not pockets of dissatisfaction but it is not pervading the staff.
There has been a real push on the part of our administrative team to squash the grumbling when it begins. There is a push to encourage those who are satisfied to stand up to the grumblers and rebuke them. It works! They may still be grumbling but they are not grumbling to me! The grumbling in the staff work room has diminished significantly. It is SO encouraging!
I have noticed that when you complain and grumble and are generally not thankful for the blessings God has given you, you attract other grumblers and complainers. Soon that is all you can think about; those grievances, slights and wounds. You can't think about the good things in your own life and the way God has blessed even in times of trials. Once you turn the corner and begin to think on those good things and dwell on the many blessings of our faithful Lord, you have a hard time complaining!
I have seen it in the school where I work and in my own church family and here at home. When we complain and pout and generally act like a pill, we make ourselves miserable. Then of course we want to blame others for our own stinky attitude. "Well he shouldn't have done that, said that, acted that way to me". "It's his fault (or her's) and I shouldn't have to be the one to reconcile". I have been doing a lot of thinking about the "good things" lately. I look back on those difficult years right after my husband was fired from his last ranch job and thankfully God has brought me to a place where I can see His hand in all of it and can see the blessings of losing the job, having a business partner who left us holding a mountain of debt, and all of the other things that happened during that time. I also see how He uses the faithful preaching of His word and the fellowship of the saints to bring us to repentance if we belong to Him.
This is why He did tell us to think on those things that are good. When our heart dwells on the good things, we can experience the joy of our salvation. When we dwell on the "bad" things we rob ourselves of that joy.
It is with a joyful and a thankful heart that I say,
Till next time...

Grandma's House

My memories of visits when I was small make the building look big from the outside. But every time I visit , the building shrinks, along with my grandmother's mind. My grandmother has Alzheimer's disease, and she lives in a nursing home.
My mother and I walk through the two doors that lead to the commons area and look around the room for my grandmother. No matter how many times I visit, it always seems like I'm seeing the rooms for the first time. On my right is a desk and a corridor of rooms. The bathrooms and three of the offices are on this side. There is a row of chairs along the north wall between the bathrooms and the office on that side, right beside a fish tank with two goldfish. Straight ahead is a small corridor that ends at the dining room. On the left side are two rows of chairs and an office, and two clean rooms with a corridor in between the chair rows. There are usually patients sitting in the chairs and the patients in wheelchairs are lined up in front of the desk.
We find my grandmother in front of the desk. We walk over to her and lean over to kiss her. She smiles a smile of recognition to us both; who she thinks we are, I don't know. After our brief greeting, I get behind her chair and push her to the dining room, and we take my grandmother to a table so we can sit and talk. The dining room is a large room with tables placed throughout so that the patients can eat together. Along the walls are semi-circular tables so a nurse can sit in the middle and feed patients who can no longer feed themselves. The kitchen is to the right with the door and the window always open. To the right of the kitchen is a small center with a sink, an ice machine, coffee machines, napkins and glasses. We sit at a table close to the middle of the room. While my mother is talking to my grandmother, I decide to walk around.
I walk down each of the corridors. As I walk by, I glance into each room with an open door. They are all decorated differently, each side a reflection of what the occupants are, or used to be. Some of the people are in their rooms. Usually, the ones in their rooms are moaning. These are the patients who sit and moan all the time. The nurses come check on them very often.
I go back to the dining room and sit beside my grandma. She and mother talk for a little while longer, then Mom says something about how we have a long way to drive and should be getting home. We then ask grandma where she wants to go, and we push her there. We go out to the car and head for home.
I am sad to think that this may be the last visit to the nursing home that we make, but yet I know that we will again drive up and meet my grandma for the very first time.

My sister wrote this in 1993 about my mother's mother. I don't know how long my sister knew Grandma before the effects of the Alzheimers worsened. Grandma was diagnosed just a few years after my sister was born in 1975. This piece was published in "Grasslands Anthology", issue #16 in 1993. It touched my heart. When I think of Grandma's house I think of the house in Flagler, Grandma's beautiful yard, their patio, sleeping upstairs with all of my cousins (Grandma coming up at least 3 times to tell us to be quiet and get to sleep), walking to the Stop n' Shop grocery store to get Grandma's groceries, walking to the pool to swim in the summer, walking to the town park to play (by ourselves!), riding bikes around town, really too many memories to list them all!
When I read this I realized that my sister probably did not have those same memories. I can't remember when Grandma went into the nursing home. I do remember that it was such a hard year. We had a stillborn child, my dad's mother had to go into an assisted care facility and Mom's mother had to go into the nursing home.
The thing I remember the most about Grandma's time in the nursing home was how she ALWAYS remembered who my Grandpa was. I went in with Grandpa several times and when she would see him, her whole countenance would light up and she would say, "Lee D., where have you been?" When anyone visited with her she would ask about Grandpa. I have seen others who forgot their spouses and it always amazed me that she remembered Grandpa.
When Grandpa died, we didn't know whether to tell her or not. We were told to tell her once and then just let it drop and if she asked about him just sort of change the subject. My mother, uncle and aunt went to the nursing home and told her. When they told her, she cried a little bit but she never asked about Grandpa again.
When the wedding vows talk about til death do us part (or however that goes), I think of Grandpa and Grandma and watching their love for each other.
Til next time...

Submission

We had such a good sermon on Sunday and it was especially valuable to me. We've been going through the book of 1st Samuel. It has been so interesting to see the disobedience of the Israelites and of Saul and to equate it with things that have been going on in my own life. Last Sunday pastor talked about how obedience shows faith and disobedience shows a lack of faith. Looking back I can see that in all of the times that I have been disobedient to the will of God it has been through lack of faith. When I don't submit to my husband it is because I don't trust that God will work His will through him. When I refuse to submit to the circumstances in my life it is because I am not believing that God will use them for my good and His glory. Always that unwillingness to submit and obey comes from lack of faith.
There has been one glaring instance of my unwillingness to submit here lately and that is in the case of the people who left our fellowship. I kept thinking that something I could say in my blog would somehow heal the rift. I was trying to be the Holy Spirit and convict hearts when it is God's will that things are as they are right now. Between the sermon on Sunday and several other things that happened over the weekend, I realized that I must submit to these circumstances. I need to obey and move on and allow the Spirit to use these things in my own life and turn away from the sinful areas of my own life.
I know in my own life He has shown me my own unwillingness to forgive others and through these circumstances has begun to cause me to repent. He has shown that the submission to my husband at times was only a surface submission and not real. I am beginning to learn what true submission to my husband looks like. He is showing me that not only in our church family, but in the events at work and in the world, He is in complete control. My boss at work, my husband's work, our coworkers, the lives of our children are all in His hands. He has ordered all of these things for my good and His glory.
The circumstances of our lives always either soften our hearts and bring us to repentance or harden them and drive us further from fellowship with the Lord and other believers. This, too is for my good and His glory. I am thankful for all of the circumstances that we have lived through in our lives. God has used them to bring us to repentance, He has filled our hearts with thankfulness and has brought us all closer to each other.
Our congregation, my family and I are right where we need to be right now. I know that all of the turmoil in our body was for our good and His glory and thank Him for it. I thank Him for all of it!
Till next time...

Waiting On the Lord Part lll

My last post was offensive and I wanted to apologize to those I offended. I was trying to express my sorrow and impatience over a reconciliation and restoration that hasn't happened yet and I did it poorly. I was trying to express my own sinfulness in not being willing to forgive others at times and I did it poorly. I was trying to express my excitement and joy about a wedding and the wish I have for those young people who are getting married and for a joyful day for them and their parents and I did it poorly.
For those offences, I ask forgiveness and pray to do better in expressing myself the next time.
Till next time...

Waiting on the Lord, Part ll

Sometimes (most of the time!) when I am waiting on the Lord, it seems like I am waiting IMPATIENTLY instead of PATIENTLY. It's like I'm telling Him that I'll wait on Him but He'd better be gettin' a move on. I'm waiting for Him to work His will in the lives of the believers but He sure is taking His time about it....I am not quick enough to notice and appreciate His patience with me. I don't seem to expect Him to be patient and longsuffering with others. I forget that the mercy He shows me is also the mercy He shows each and every one of His elect.
All of you who read this blog know of the struggle I have with forgiveness. God has convicted my heart again and again to teach me that I must forgive those who offend me. I finally was able to forgive some longstanding hurts and now that I have reached the other side of that particular struggle, guess what? I have caught myself judging others who are refusing to forgive me and my church family. Praise God for the Holy Spirit! Just when I get to feeling all righteous about FINALLY submitting to God, the Holy Spirit chimes and reminds me how many years I refused to submit to the Lord's calling to forgive. He reminds me that He has done ALL of the work of cleansing my heart of that particular sinful action, that nothing I can do would ever bring me to the point of repentance.
I have been thinking of this a lot because of an upcoming wedding. My dear, dear friend will be there. She has cut off communication with me. I know that my stupid, clumsy actions caused the break. I know that God convicted my heart to say the things I said but now I need to always remember that He uses even our feeble efforts to either bring His elect to Him or drive those away who do not belong to Him. I need to be reminded just how long it took me to come to repentance on the issue of forgiveness and to remember that God is never finished with those who are His elect and called according to His purpose. I need to remember that, as was the case with me, there will be NO rest for those dear ones until they do forgive the offences that happened in the past. My bible says that if I do not forgive my brothers and sisters, I will not be forgiven by my Lord. That scares me. It convicts my heart. It causes me to cry out to my Father, "Please continue the work You have begun in me. Please make me entirely Yours! Please cleanse my heart of all bitterness and hatred and help me to forgive!"
I want to be there with my love and joy shining out of my eyes when God brings those dear ones to repentance. I want to enfold them in my arms and tell them how dearly I love them. I want to see our fellowship restored. However, if this is not God's will for us, I will wait patiently for Him and I will remember that "all things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose". All things, even salvation or destruction are for our good and His glory.
I am excited about this wedding, though the parents of the bride are so angry with our congregation. I pray that it will be a blessed day for them and for their daughter, as our daughter's wedding was for all of us. I hope that God will show me a way through to reconciliation with them. I pray that healing might begin there. But I will wait patiently on the Lord and will be loving and longsuffering through real and imagined slights.
By the way, if you see me railing against someone, remind me of this post!
Till next time....

Waiting on the Lord

On Sunday we had the best sermon on waiting on the Lord and allowing Him to work his will with patience. I am not good at that. I get so impatient with my circumstances, with my family and with myself. I get angry easily and want things to change instantly. Just ask my husband. Since I married him, I have watched several employers take advantage of his patience and perseverance and he just keeps plugging away, doing his job to the best of his ability. It doesn't matter to him whether his boss ever appreciates him, he still does his best. I am trying to be that way but too many times I lose my temper or want to retaliate for wrongs done to me. He doesn't do that. He gets up in the morning, gets dressed, and goes to work every day whether he likes the work or not. He puts in a full day to finish the job, whether he is being treated fairly by his boss or not.
His most recent job was a prime example of this. He worked as a backhoe operator for almost 5 years, putting in septic systems. He hated it. He was always getting yelled at by his boss and sometimes by the customers because of things that were beyond his control. During the time he worked there he saw other employees getting pay raises, when he got none, he saw others being treated with a modicum of respect when he wasn't respected at all by his boss. During all of this time he kept looking and looking for another job in his chosen profession of ranching. There was always a door closed on every opportunity. He applied for the job he has now back in February or March of this year and another person was hired at that time. He went back to work digging holes, and was told that he would have to start working overtime hours but "bank" them and use them as vacation days. In other words, comp time. He was told to use materials that had already been used and the customers were charged full price for these items. He would come home and tell me these things and I didn't know how to help him so I ended up nagging him a lot. Still he was patient and still he worked his hardest for this company.
He got a call back on the job he had applied for way back and was hired on the spot. He went to work the next day and gave his two week notice. There were a lot of people telling him he should just quit and not give the courtesy of the two week notice, but that is not my husband. He gave his notice and went to work faithfully every day and at the end of the two weeks, left with great relief.
I have seen my husband behave this way for nearly 27 years. He has treated every one of his employers in the same fashion. He has dealt honorably with them even when they haven't treated him in the same way. It has taken me almost all of that 27 years and a lot of listening to the faithful preaching of the gospel to come to the point where I am trying to deal with my own rebelliousness (did I spell that correctly?) and learning to wait patiently on the Lord. How easy that sounds and how hard it is for my wayward heart to submit to that. But God has given me an example to follow in my Lord and Savior and an earthly example in my husband. I pray that He will continue the work He has started in my heart and that I can patiently wait on the Lord's will for me. God is good and He always finishes the work He starts in His elect.
Till next time...

The End of an Era

Yesterday, I went to a memorial service for a dear friend's father. When I was growing up this friend, who is two years older than I, was my hero. She was smart, pretty, she could ride her horse better than a lot of the boys I knew and she was always so kind to a younger girl with a case of hero worship. She had a brother who was a year younger than I and he died in a car wreck in 1980, the fall after I graduated from high school. I never knew my friend's dad very well. He always seemed larger than life to me but I watched his daughter and sort of formed an opinion of him because of her actions. She was our county fair queen one year!

My husband and I married in November of 1982 and my friend married her husband in the summer of 1983. She moved to the mountains to ranch with her husband and raise her family and I didn't see her much after that. She brought her children out to our county fair so that they could see what it was like. After that I heard that she was having some pretty harsh struggles of her own. I prayed for her whenever she would come to mind and seeing her yesterday was a true blessing. She told me that she had divorced her husband and she is ranching on her own and taking care of her children on her own. I know that she would absolutely not have divorced her husband without thinking of the cost to her family. Like my sister, she tried long beyond the time when others would have stopped trying. Now she is rebuilding her life. She is still beautiful, still bright and sunny and still doing for others. She told about singing to her father as he was dying to ease his passing. I don't know the state of her spiritual life but I do know how I love her and am glad to see her doing well.

I'm looking at the title of this blog and wondering whether I got off the track of what I really wanted to talk about. I was thinking that the end of an era was the dying of my friend's father. I see this generation of men dying and it is the end of an era. This way of life on the plains of Eastern Colorado is a way of life that we love, ranching, farming, neighbors helping neighbors, all of those thing seem to be passing away. But as one era dies, God brings about new and better things. While as humans we mourn it, we also need to remember that God is in control of all things and does nothing by chance. In the fullness of His time, He brought the Gentiles to Him, He sent His only son to die for us so that we could be saved, He provides all things for His people. Now that I look back at this blog, I don't think I got off track. Things change. But God always has a plan and a purpose and His plan is perfect. His will is perfect. He is perfecting me in all ways at all times.

Till next time.....

A Tired Soul

Have you ever felt that way? That you are so everlastingly tired, your brain doesn't want to function, you wonder if you can even put one foot in front of the other? I have at several trying times in my life. I remember when my husband and I gave birth to our stillborn daughter. It seemed so hard to get up in the morning, to go on with my days when I had so looked forward to the birth of this little one. I cried so many tears that sometimes I wondered whether I would have any left. I think that "a tired soul" is a good way to describe this feeling. You are in such a place that you don't know if God is there anymore. Your faith is at a low ebb and you wonder whether you will ever have that sweet communion with the Lord again. You feel that no one understands what you are going through. The only thing you can do is cling to those promises from the bible and sometimes you just go through the day reciting one that helps over and over because that is the only thing that brings comfort. For me it was this one; "For all things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose". I would say that verse to myself 100 times a day, every time I would cry I would say it again and again until the tears subsided.
When you are going through a time of having a tired soul, remember that God is with you always and He will be there even when you don't "feel" Him there. He will bring you through to the other side. He is faithful. Rest in Him. Praise God!
Till next time......

Leaving and Cleaving

The bible tells us that we are to leave our fathers and mothers and cleave one to another when we marry. Last weekend was a wonderful celebration of that command and the fruit of it. There is a couple in our congregation who have been married for 40 YEARS. What a blessing to celebrate with them and to see the lives that they have touched and to see their children and grandchildren. What a blessing to have them at church with us on Sunday and to have the opportunity to worship our loving God with them. What a great joy for us! All of their children and grandchildren were able to be there.
This year would have been the 50th year of my parents' marriage if they hadn't divorced. It is truly a blessing for me to see a marriage modeled on Biblical principles. It was wonderful to hear their daughter speak of the commitment that this wonderful couple had to each other. In this day when divorce is commonplace, a marriage like theirs is a joy to behold. I pray that God will continue to work in my own marriage and build and strengthen it. I pray the same for my children. God is good!
Till next time...

The Value of Church Discipline

Several months ago a group of "dissenters" were allowed to leave our congregation without being reconciled with our body.  This was not a decision that was made at our local level but at the classical level.  Yesterday I ran into a lovely lady who attends the congregation that these "dissenters" joined with after leaving us.  She asked me where I was attending church now (she had apparently assumed that I would have left that body for another) and when I told her I was still attending there she got a very funny look on her face and said, "Oh".  I didn't know how to respond because I know that she has heard a LOT of hurtful things about that body and so I just let it go.  She didn't say anything negative but the look on her face spoke volumes.  I wanted to tell her not to believe everything she had heard from these people but she didn't say anything, it was the look on her face.  

What does that have to do with church discipline?  The ultimate goal of the discipline of believers is reconciliation and because these "dissenters" never had to reconcile, their attitude has never changed.  Reconciliation causes a change in the heart.  Once I have reconciled with someone I can't look at them in the same way.  I can no longer hold their offences against them.  It may be a long process, as it was with my father, but it is oh, so very restful in the end.  Am I to the point that I will never hold a grudge again?  No, but I know that the Lord is working in my heart to soften it and to bring me to repentance.  (Hey, it only took me two weeks to forgive the person who wronged my sister!)  Sometimes it is a gentle rebuke that brings us to repentance but sometimes it can only come throught the firm hand of God chastening us through church discipline.  We must remember to always pray for our elders and our pastors, our classis and our synod leadership!  We must pray that God will give to them the courage to do those things for which He has ordained them.  We must be diligent to be thankful for their watch care over us! Theirs is not an easy task!  Praise God for them!

Till next time...

The Joys of Fellowship

Fellowship...What a blessed word for one of the happiest blessings from our Heavenly Father. It's that communion with fellow believers. If you have it you know what I'm talking about, if you don't I pray that God will grant it to you.

We had a ladies' luncheon on Saturday with the ladies of our church. What a blessing. It was in the home of a lady who I watched grow up on the ranch. She married a young man from our congregation (we watched him grow up as well!) and now they have a little one and another on the way. I had a tear or two looking at the beautiful home she has made for her family and seeing her husband out working while she entertained us. I remember holding her when she was a baby and now she is having children of her own! That is one of the blessings of fellowship. God has allowed that with each of us who attend our church. My friends are now holding my grandchild and I get to hold theirs. I have watched our dear friends take custody of their granddaughter after a long court battle and the day the little one was baptized was one of the happiest days our congregation has had. I know that she felt the same way when my precious son-in-law and grandson were baptized and when my son was confirmed. I know that everyone in that body feels those feelings that I feel. They truly share my joy and my sorrow. Just as I share their joys and their sorrows. It's as my friend said, even our earthly families don't share the joy we feel on those occasions the way our brothers and sisters in Christ do. They have a hard time understanding it but my church family knows!

I share fellowship with my coworkers but it is never the same. It is a much shallower fellowship. Sometimes I feel that the only real day of the week is Sunday! I know that that is selfish and that the Lord uses my interactions with others at work to further His kingdom. A couple of weeks ago I had a verbal altercation with another coworker. It was one of those foolish things that should have never escalated to the point it did. That was partly my responsibility. I talked to my principal about it and realized that she is so right, the person I argued with has another issue that she is deeply unhappy about and the issue we argued about had nothing to do with it. Last year during the school year the board decided to do away with an annuity that this person recieved and since that time she is unhappy with nearly every aspect of her job. There are several who are reacting in that manner to that decision and they make themselves miserable at work and I'm sure at home. I was falling into that behavior as well. Another coworker has made some pretty serious allegations about my sister and her custodial coworkers. It really doesn't matter that the allegations are false to him or the group he runs with, he feels like he is justified because the others in his little clique are egging him on. That is the trouble with those types of fellowship. I know that if I shared these situations with my church family they would encourage me to forgive and trust the Lord that He is doing these things for my good and His glory. And I know that He is. For about 2 weeks in there I was angry and bitter and I could feel it coloring the way I interacted with my coworkers. Then my sister reminded me that God is in this situation and therefore it will turn out according to His will and that is never bad for us!

That is true fellowship; one believer reminding another that God is always in control and not a hair can fall from my head without His providential will. If that dear lady at work had someone in her life to remind her of that maybe she wouldn't be so angry. Maybe God will give me the opportunity to be that person for her, and for others at work.

A dear friend told me recently that our submission is never to be blind (this is the reasoning for not submitting to those God has put in positions of authority over us). I guess that is true in a sense but when I have discussed a situation with my husband and he says no, I must submit. When I lose a benefit at work and the school board says it will not come back, I need to submit. When a governing body of a church says no, I must submit. If I don't I am ultimately refusing to submit to God and that is not a light thing. What does that have to do with fellowship? You can't have fellowship without submitting to one another. My heart grieves for those of our body who left the body because of their anger and unwillingness to submit but I must submit to that as well. I know that God has a plan and a purpose for all of that and that He will accomplish His will. He uses all circumstances to soften our hearts and bring us to repentance or to harden our hearts to destruction and His will is good in every case. Amen.

Till next time...

The Post Turtle

A friend got a funny email the other day.  

"While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old rancher, who's hand was caught in the gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man.  Eventually the topic got around to Obama and his bid to be our president. 

The old rancher said, "Well, ya know, Obama is a "Post Turtle".

Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a "post turtle" was.

The old rancher said, "When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a "post turtle".

The old rancher saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued to explain.  "You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, and he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, and you just wonder what kind of idiot put him up there in the first place".

I like that story.  I had heard it before, particularly about Jimmy Carter.  I just wonder how this presidency will be viewed by future generations.  I think that whatever you may think about President Bush, he at least had the courage of his convictions.  Remember that there were a lot of people who referred to Abraham Lincoln as Satan and hated him.  Now he is regarded as one of the greatest presidents in the history of the U.S.  The liberal media hated Ronald Reagan and his policies and when he died even they had to admit that his presidency was one of the most effective in recent history.  Food for thought.

We are on the countdown to the end of the school year.  I am particularly looking forward to the end of this year.  There has been so much turmoil and even though the kids are somewhat immune to it, some of it has to trickle down to them.  I think that when we come back in the fall some of the most dissatisfied employees will be gone because of their work ethic.  I is popular around here to gripe and gripe and never realize that some of the trials you are facing are of your own making.  That is the nature of the sinful world though and with all of the trials that my church has gone through, it happens in the body as well.  I see in that situation that God surely did work it out and now there is a vitality and love there that wasn't there before.  I believe that our school, even though a secular entity is undergoing the same thing.  God is doing some weeding so that the flowers can get the water instead of the weeds.  

Till next time...

Stuff

I don't really have a specific topic to talk about this time. I just wanted to blog tonight! I am at a library conference for a couple of days. I learned about repairing books today and LOVED it. When I got here and went to get my breakfast this morning, I ran into my MOM! She is here for the workshops too. She works in a little public library so they paid for her to come too. That was a fun surprise. We did the same workshops today and then went out for supper. I invited her to spend the night with me here in the motel but she didn't pack so drove home for the night and will be back tomorrow. You know how it is, no clothes for tomorrow, no makeup (HORRORS), etc. I am a little concerned about getting home tomorrow evening. There is supposed to be a BIG storm moving in with lots of snow. I hope that I can make it home! I was looking forward to this night away from home and being by myself for the one night but I really miss my men! I won't get to snuggle with my 7 year old before bedtime. I will be glad to get home to them again. I am so glad to have been able to come to this conference though. This particular conference has a lot of very valuable workshops. Last year I made the connection with the staff of the Colorado Rural Partnership for the Library of Congress. Do you know how many FREE historical resources you can get from their website???! I was absolutely fascinated. We did a staff development at our school on it. It was so much fun. This year the book repair workshop is the one that was worth the price of admission. And there is always a workshop on "What Teens Read" (learning the secrets of the teenage mind...WOW). It does help to have a little guidance with that. And with the advent of the Twilight series, it is all about the vampires. I read an article in Newsweek, though that vampires are on the way out and zombies will be the new monster wave. HELLO! I don't think so! Do you think that teenage girls will develop a crush on a ZOMBIE?! Have you SEEN zombies? Let's compare them to What's His Name from Twilight. (And by the way I am going to try to read the series again)

I love this wireless internet connection at this motel! Can you tell I'm a hick? This is a first for me! What a year it's been for me! I learned to blog, to make my own webpage for the school, to connect and use a wireless connection for the laptop, to use an MP3 player to download and listen to BOOKS, planned and executed a staff development day, WOW! I am amazed! I never knew I could do all of that stuff!

And after that upbeat note, this has been sort of a difficult couple of weeks for me. Some slanderous accusations have been made against my sister at work and I have been angry with the person who made the false accusations and with the person who goaded him into it. I know that it is not a personal offense against me but is against her. She has the right attitude, i.e. that everything that happens is for her good and God's glory so no matter what happens it can never be bad for us. She is so right! What a blessing she is to me, the angry girl. Every one is so stirred up at work about different things that are happening right now but I know that it is ALL for my good and God's glory, and for the good of the children who attend school there. God is good to us!

Till next time...

Happy Birthday (the Joy of Reconciliation)

Today would have been my dad's 72nd birthday. Or as he would have said, "the 43rd anniversary of my 29th birthday". My dad was raised by a crusty old German who had a lot of trouble getting along with people. My grandpa and siblings spent most of their adult lives feuding with each other. He knew one way to deal with misbehavior and that was with a strong cuff to the face or head. My dad loathed his dad. He spent most of his life trying to be the opposite of Grandpa. Usually though, the older we become the more like that person we become and that was true of my dad, at least on the surface. He always talked about how foolish my grandpa was when it came to the management of his cowherd. Grandpa would sell all of his best cows because he made more money from them and keep the culls. It took my dad years to build his herd back into one to be proud of. But as he neared the end of his life, in his desperation to make ranching work for him, he did the same thing. My dad could also hold a grudge along with the most stubborn of Germans!

There were a lot of things my dad did while I was growing up and on into adulthood that offended me. I was angry with him for so many years. We had many confrontations and for several years our meetings were filled with tension and anger just below the surface. I always felt that he never loved me enough. I resented that and when he divorced my mother I was so angry with him. I always felt that my behavior and actions were judged very harshly and here he had broken up our family! I even had nightmares about the situation and in my dreams I unleashed all of my anger in violence and retribution.

I am so very thankful that God convicted me to persevere in that relationship. I used to wish for a different dad, one who was a Christian. I came to realize that just being raised in a Christian family doesn't mean that you had a happy childhood. I had a dear friend whose children blamed him for so much that had gone wrong in their family. He was in the second half of his life when I met him and I saw first hand the regret he felt for those relationships. I watched him and saw how he tried to make up for past sins and saw his children's refusal to forgive him and God used that to convict my heart not to give up on my dad.

The day my daddy died was a beautiful fall day. He was riding on the fender of his beloved John Deere tractor while a friend drove it. The tractor was about 35 years old (Daddy bought it new) and kept slipping out of gear. It slipped out of gear that day and my dad slipped off the fender. His friend grabbed him but my dad slipped from his grasp and fell in front of the tire of the tractor. The tractor slipped back into gear and then ran over him. We all made it to the hospital and watched Dad pass from this life. God blessed that day and that time for me because all of the anger and bitterness were gone and the prayer in my heart was one of thanksgiving to God for having given me this dad and for the fact that we were truly reconciled at his death.

The bible says that if you refuse to forgive your brother here on earth our Father will not forgive you. This is a serious thing. You may say that you have forgiven someone but if you refuse to be in the same room as that person or refuse to speak to that person, you haven't forgiven them. I deal with this in my own life all of the time. I'm as good at denial as anyone. "But he did this, I have a right to be angry", "He didn't ask me to forgive him, therefore I don't have to", "He isn't a Christian, I don't have to forgive him". Guess what....none of those excuses will cut any ice. They may massage your lying heart but you'll still have to answer for your hard heart! May He always convict my hard heart and bring me to "the joy of reconciliation".

Till next time...

My New Niece!

My father in law and his wife dropped for a SHORT visit last night. The are over the road truckers and manage to slide in for supper or lunch every once in a while. While they were here my mother in law mentioned my sister in law's new daughter from China and that they have a blog about all of their adventures adopting their new daughter. Her name is Madison and she is BEAUTIFUL. It makes my heart yearn to go and see them so that I can meet her. What a blessing! At first they had planned on adopting an infant but the longer they waited the more the Lord convicted their hearts that they should adopt an older child since they may not be adopted after the age of 14 in China and they must leave the orphanage at that age. They knew that they wanted a girl since girls are held as valueless in China. After they made that decision it is amazing how quickly the adoption went through. Now they are adjusting to life with each other. It was truly a blessing to me to read about this wonderful story. The blog which touched my heart the very most is the one in which my sister in law describes visiting the place where Madison was abandoned as a baby. Lori describes her feelings as a mother as she imagined a young mother leaving a baby she knew she couldn't care for in a place where she hoped someone would find her. What a touching and wonderful testament to the power and will of God. Just think, when this tiny baby was born, God had already provided the perfect parents, sister and brother for her! You can read all about it at http://hollandadoption2009.blogspot.com . I think it will bless you as it did me!

Till next time...

More on The Providence of God

The Heidelberg Catechism, Question #1: What is thy only comfort in life and in death?

That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who with His precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me, that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must work together for my salvation. Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready henceforth to live unto Him.

Question#27: What dost thou understand by the providence of God?:

The almighty, everywhere present power of God, whereby, as it were by His hand, he upholds heaven and earth with all creatures, and so governs them that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, all things come not by chance, but by His Fatherly hand.

Question #28: What does it profit us to know that God created, and by His providence upholds all things?

That we may be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and for what is future have good confidence in our faithful God and Father, that no creature shall separate us from His love, since all creatures are so in His hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move.

'NUFF SAID!

Till next time...

Chain Letters

Have you seen them? I'm sure if you have an email account you have. Those ubiquitous chain letters. You know what I'm talking about...the ones that say, "If you love Jesus, send this to everyone you know in 5 minutes and great things will happen for you! If you don't send it you are ashamed of Him! Where do you stand? Where do I stand? Well, I sent this on, didn't I? And by the way, send it back to me too!"

Some of those emails do make me think, until I get to the part about sending them to whatever the number of friends happens to be and then I just push the delete button! But then of course there is always that little niggle of doubt at the back of my mind, asking me, "Don't you love the Lord?" Then that part of my brain that is not ruled by guilt and self-doubt kicks in and I delete the dumb thing anyway.

So if I delete the email, does it mean that I am not a Christian? I have thought a lot about this question. When I see someone who has that little bracelet (WWJD), when I see someone with the little fish symbol on the back of their car, when I see that tattoo with the bible verse on it, I think about these things. Are those things inherently wrong? No, I don't think so but it is a lot easier to do those things than it is to live out the things that Jesus has asked us to do in the Gospel. "If you do not forgive your brothers on earth, my Father in heaven will not forgive you." Well, I don't know about you but in my sinful nature, I would a whole lot rather wear a WWJD bracelet than admit that I refuse to forgive someone. What, me wrong?! You mean that I am a sinner and need to repent?! My holier than thou attitude is WRONG?! But wait, I have a little tattoo that says, "(insert your bible verse here)".

I have seen this played out in my life at work A LOT during the course of the past couple of years. People who attend church on a regular basis, proclaim this Christianity and regularly send me these emails have made a practice of complaining about the administration we have there. I have been guilty of complaining about some of the decisions made as well. I have to admit that I was not a happy camper when I had to move 2 libraries into one room in half of a modular. I was not happy about purging a collection it had taken years to build so that it would fit. But now through the grace of God, I see that these decisions were for the good of the whole school community (we needed the classroom space for core curriculum, they moved me into the modular that was the newest and in the best shape, and because of the budget problems we are encountering now!) Where was my faith when I was first told about the move? All along God used those decisions for the good of my family especially (I got paid to move the libraries and reshelve the books and I got a big salary increase). It is easy to go to church every Sunday compared to submitting to God when I think I know better. But that is how God brings us to maturity (perfection), by sending those trials. I have peace at work now because I trust in Him more than I did before.

It would have been easier for my pastor to forward a bunch of meaningless emails than to forgive those who so despitefully used him in the past several years. But through my loving and faithful savior, my pastor kept preaching loving kindness, patience, long suffering and forgiveness. God used all of that in my life to root out a sin I had been holding onto for far too long. I FINALLY wrote my sister a letter and asked her to forgive me for my proud and haughty spirit. I didn't want to do it very badly. But God, through that faithful example and the faithful preaching of the Word, just kept convicting my heart about my own stubbornness in the area of forgiveness. I got a letter from my sister yesterday. She FORGAVE me and expressed her thankfulness and love for me. My heart is full of thankfulness to God that He, in His infinite love and mercy, softened my heart instead of hardening it. That He caused my sister to forgive me instead of (as I deserved) deciding to punish me.

So, if you send me one of those emails, just know that I will probably delete it. I read them first but you won't be getting it back. Yes, it is hard to live life on the basis of doing what Jesus has asked me to do but the reward is infinitely more than that small feeling of satisfaction of pushing the forward button.

Till next time...

The Providence of God

I have been thinking a lot about the Providence of God this week. It seems that whenever we feel that things are going "our" way we are so thankful for God's providence. Then when things start to "go against" us it either a boss who's done it, or bad circumstances or whatever other thing we can come up with to keep from admitting that we are rebelling against God. I do that all of the time. It is so easy for me to see the providence of a loving and faithful god in other's lives but not in my own circumstances. It is easy for me to see the working of God when it is after the fact but so very, very hard when I am in the middle of the tests the Lord sends me. It seems so simple to see when I am outside looking in at someone else's trials. I always know just what they should do! But of course MY situation is different and is SO much harder than everyone's! I appreciate those sermons and bible studies that show me once again that God's will is perfect and that I can rest in Him.

Several other things have struck me in the past couple of weeks. Providentially, we now have a grandson and a new son-in-law. They are WONDERFUL. My daughter ROCKS as a wife and mother. Her house is immaculate! (Mine NEVER was after the children started coming) My grandson is always clean, full and is growing by leaps and bounds. But....whenever I tell people that my sweet daughter got married in August and had a baby in January, they behave as if this is the WORST decision that she could have made. Several of my coworkers have shared with me that they have taken their college age daughters to get them on the pill, or told them to be sure and buy a box of condoms if they can't resist. I am not saying that it was not a shock when we were informed that we were going to be grandparents but here's the deal... My daughter wouldn't have had to tell us anything, her husband could have just walked away from the whole situation and no one would have been the wiser. They both handled the situation with maturity and grace and showed patience and longsuffering with her parents. God has use the whole situation to bring about a great deal of reconciliation among family members. This has all shown me that God's perfect plan is PERFECT, ALWAYS! God's ways are not man's ways. Praise be to God. (Plus we got a BABY out of the deal!!!!!)

Another note on the faith of children: Our youngest son and I were on the way to school the day before yesterday (March 12) and we were talking about how fierce the wind has been here for the past week or so. He said that the wind was good for the neighbors' windmills and I told him that we really did need to pray for rain, snow or some sort of moisture because the grass is so dry and we need it to grow and we need to pray that the fire danger would go down. Last night at supper, when he finished his supper prayer and said amen, he told us to wait a minute and began a new prayer. This is how it went, "Dear God, Please send us some rain tomorrow". This morning he got up, saw the snow covering the ground and came to me and said, "Look Mom, it snowed last night! Isn't it good I prayed that prayer last night?!"

My prayer: Dear God, please increase my faith so that it is the faith of a little child. Grant that I would trust in you for all things. Thy will be done. Thank you for your many blessings!

Till next time...

Look How Far We've Come

In the early days of this country the first settlers knew all about the Calvinist or Reformed faith. They were usually coming to the new country to escape from persecution. They had read their bibles and come to know that Luther and Calvin and many other learned men were correct about the way they had interpreted the bible. It seems in the U.S. today this biblical knowledge is of secondary importance to the traditions which have sprung up through a false understanding of the bible. One of the things I am speaking about is the "law" of men in which we are not allowed to drink alcohol, even though the bible speaks to this many times, the "law" which says that any sort of dancing is sinful. It is surprising to me how very prevalent these beliefs have become, even among unbelievers (I should say among the unchurched). When I was attending the Baptist church I went to for awhile, I nearly ate myself alive for taking alcohol when my husband and I went out on the town. Today we were talking about the fun we had on Sunday playing a joke on one of our members with a certain machine. One of my coworkers felt the need to comment about how awful this was (she had used the same machine at the school on several of our staff members just 2 days before!). Then she began to talk about how the whole church was as drunk as could be (she did not use this term but a very offensive term!)at New Years' Eve. We had invited her to go to our church party with us but she refused saying she was not going to have a "dry" New Years'. We told her that everyone would be bringing the drinks of their choice to the party and that she would be welcome. So now we are a bunch of drunken sots just doing everything wrong.

When did it become an unofficial law that because I am a Christian I am no longer allowed to enjoy the good things that God has given to us? My bible tells me that God has given me all things to enjoy but not to abuse! Is it because of the Anabaptists? Is it a perversion of the faith that the first settlers had? Is it simply from a mis-understanding of what the bible says about these things? Is it wrong to drink wine at Communion, just because it is wine? Was Jesus wrong to turn the water into wine? Should He have turned it into grape juice? Do men know more about what sin is than the Lord? Heaven forbid. May I always enjoy the good gifts of God and praise Him for them. May I never allow the opinions of men cause me to criticize what God gives! May these wrongheaded men and women never cause guilt in my heart for enjoying the gifts of a loving Creator! I hope that she will one day understand. Until then I need to talk to her about just how offensive she was toward me personally with her comments. Pray for me, if you would!

Till next time...

What A Day!

Yesterday was as wonderful as we thought it would be. The fellowship was great and it is such a blessing to welcome a new family into membership and to welcome my son into full membership! One of the ladies told me that she was surprised to see that I didn't cry. Well, I did. From the time my son-in-law and daughter walked up to the front for the baptisms and for my son-in-law to join the church to the time we took communion after my son was confirmed, tears of joy were streaming down my face. It was such a blessed day!

The past couple of weeks I have really been thinking about the damage that gossip and slander does in this old world. It is so true, what God says about that little bitty tongue. So much evil comes from it. There is a new girl at school whose reputation is being ruined by the other girls. Whether it is because of jealousy or what, I don't know, but whatever it is, it is hurtful. Reputations are ruined and lives are wrecked because of that evil little member of the physical body. What is in our brain comes out there so it truly shows the wickedness and sin that reside in every person on earth. I have watched the students at our school show that to each other. The girls especially are vicious to each other. And perhaps the worst of it for me is that adults here join in the gossip and help to ruin the reputations of young people when they really don't know what they're talking about. For the past couple of years I have been trying to walk away from all of that but the temptation to join in is so strong. Sometimes I succomb to it. I shared at church that I had purchased a microwave and a mini fridge so that I could keep them in the library and not have to go to the teachers' "workroom" to eat my lunch. But God has a way of making us deal with out sin. The fire marshall and the superintendent decreed that we all had to get rid of the microwaves and the fridges, not only because of fire danger but because of the cost of the energy it took to power all of those microwaves and fridges. So I started taking my lunch in the workroom again. It is fun for me to socialize in there but soon I find that we are straying to the topics of the latest gossip or who did what evil thing to whom. I guess that I will have to get my lunch warmed up and then come back to the library. The bible does tell us to flee from temptation. Our sin is that sometimes we don't want to! We want to hear all about the latest scoop. My daughter is so right when she tells me to just stop talking about it and move on to something uplifting. That is my project for the week this week and I am going to work on this diligently for the rest of the year (and my life!) But for now, one step at a time.

Time for me to go once more.

Till next time...

"Showers" of Blessings

I hosted a baby shower for my grandson on Saturday. It was so much fun. The ladies from church, my mother and sisters and one of my best friends were all there. It was great. I was a good grandma and let everyone else have a turn holding the baby until everyone else left and then I took my turn! We had lunch together, watched my daughter open her gifts and enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship together. Then I, my husband and youngest son had supper with our daughter and son-in-law. It ended up being such a relaxing, enjoyable day.

The start of the day, however, was a little stressful for me! I woke up at about 3:30 am and as I was dozing off and on I had a nightmare. It was not your usual nightmare. There were no ghosts or monsters. In my dream, my sister, who was supposed be at my house between 7:30 and 8:00 am to help me, didn't show up until 12:00 pm. I had to put some of the guests to work helping me get ready! Well, my sister did show up and we got everything done, with her help and that of my husband and oldest son and I finally did relax. I sort of find that I have my grandmother's mindset at times. I told her that she shouldn't worry so much about things and her response was to tell me that her worry did a lot of good because nothing she ever worried about ever happened! I think about that whenever I start to worry about things. I still do worry but I am learning to trust the Lord for those things I worry about. I once saw a newspaper clipping that said "worry is prayer to a false idol". What an apt way to put that. When I worry, I am actually saying that I have some sort of control over things. I am putting myself or some other person or thing above God and denying, if only to myself, that He is sovereign and that He knows what is best for me, my husband and my children. That increases the magnitude of the sin of worry. We don't think about it being a denial of God but it is. I pray that God would deliver me from that sin.

I am going to town so I need to go for now.

Till next time...

PS To those faithful brothers who pray for me and my family, God bless you! I pray for you as well. We know that when we pray that God's will be done, that prayer is always answered! What an antidote to worry!

Baptism, Communion and Church Membership

March 1st will be a wonderful day for my family. As I said in my last blog, it is the day my son and son-in-law join with us as members and it is also the day that my son-in-law and grandson get baptized. I was raised as a Lutheran and had no real understanding of the purpose of baptism. Now whether that was because I wasn't listening (this is a good possibility!), I don't know but my beliefs were VERY fuzzy. I grew up, was confirmed at the end of the 8th grade (as is customary in that particular Lutheran church), and was married in the Lutheran church. I was always thankful to come from a conservative Lutheran church and that the word "obey" was a part of our wedding vows but other than that my "faith" was pretty much based on tradition. As a young married woman I joined a Baptist based church. Well, it was really an independent Bible church but their views are pretty much Baptist. They don't believe in infant baptism, they do believe in an open communion table without wine (grape juice is used). There are several key points of doctrine that disagree with the Reformed view of things. I fell into those doctrines because I had no real basis for believing the doctrines of the Lutheran church. By God's providence a pastor from the RCUS offered to preach at this little independent church while we were without a pastor. Two of my best friends left the independent church and became members of the RCUS. God used this to create in me a thirst to find out what the doctrines of the Reformed church were. I went through the "TULIP" book and looked up every single bible verse that was listed in that little book. What I saw opened my eyes! Wow, the Bible speaks of God's election everywhere. Wow, man cannot be saved by any action of his own. Wow, wow, wow! Well, needless to say I transferred my membership to an RCUS church and have never looked back, except with great thanksgiving for that pastor's willingness to come and preach to us.

After I joined the Reformed church I began to learn so much! We went through this little book on infant baptism and there I learned about baptism being a sign and seal of the covenant. I had never heard that before and suddenly infant baptism made sense to me! We talked about communion and what that means and how God uses it to remind us of the sacrifice of His son, our Lord. Now when we have a baptism or take communion my heart is full to overflowing. I am so thankful for the blessings of the covenant, for the communion of the saints, for all that God does for us in His mercy and grace.

Do I believe that baptism or communion saves? No I do not. I believe that God has a covenant with me as a believer and these things help me to know that He ALWAYS keeps His covenant, even when I am unfaithful. I have reflected a lot on this lately because we will be seeing 2 kinds of baptism on our special day. One will be a sign and seal for a covenant child and one will be a sign and seal of an adult's confession of faith. I am so thankful to God for His covenant promises. He doesn't ever promise that any of my children are elect but He does promise that He will deal with them because of His covenant with me. They will be blessed because of that covenant.

Once upon a time, someone asked me if my father was saved. I responded that I didn't know (as how can we ever know the state of a person's heart) but that he had been baptized and was a communicant member of the Lutheran church. The man replied that that didn't mean a thing. Well, after much thought I believe that it did mean something. This man was looking for an experience, i.e. did my father walk the aisle?, did he have some great conversion experience? Well as far as I know he never did. But on the other hand, we are not commanded to base our salvation on an experience. This conversation helped solidify my beliefs because I had to look them up and see whether I was correct. I never found any scripture that led me to believe that everyone must have a conversion "experience". I did find a lot of scripture about how God deals with His elect. Was my father one of His elect? I don't know but God gives me peace about all of my loved ones. When you get right down to it baptism and communion do mean a lot more in a believer's life than an experience. They tell us something about that person. He did as he was commanded by God. Some people are converted because of an experience. This doesn't mean that some pastor's words "saved" that person. It means that the person was one of God's elect and He used that experience to bring one of His elect to Him! For me this has been a real blessing. Once I realized that God Himself is in control of who His elect are, I could rest in His will. I do not have to "save" anyone. God uses everything I do in the life of His elect, even my sin! Does this mean I should sin against people with impunity? God forbid! It means that I do not have to take a burden upon myself that God never meant me to carry! I can rest in Him when it comes to my family and know that EVERYTHING works together for good to them that are called according to His purpose. I can rest in Him and know that if one of my family members isn't elect this is good as well! What a blessing to know that God isn't just sitting up there letting "fate" run its course. He controls everything and not a hair can fall from my head without His knowledge and will! WOW!

Now, about church membership...I have been thinking about this an awful lot lately as well. One of my dearest friends renounced her church membership and says that she now believes that the visible church is not necessary. This brings up several questions in my mind. The first being how do you get baptized if you are not a member of a church? Do you have to renounce baptism in all of its forms? The second is how do you take communion? Do you always make sure that you attend a church that has an open communion table? How do you know ahead of time? If you are "grazing" at many different churches how do you get truly fed? What are your doctrines? Is it a case of anything goes? I know myself too well to think that I could mature in a situation like that. How do you deal with personal trials without the fellowship of the saints? Can you truly have fellowship without that bond of church membership? If I go to this church this Sunday and that church next Sunday can I ever truly get to know those saints? Can I ever truly partake of their trials in order to pray for them as I ought? How do they get to know me? If I am indulging in unrepented sin, who confronts me as the Bible commands? How is discipline administered? If I am accountable to no one on earth, how do I resolve these issues? These questions have solidified for me in my own heart that church membership is vital in the life of the Christian. Over the years I have noticed that usually there is some unrepented sin that causes these breaks within the body. Whether it is unresolved anger with another person (unadmitted anger with God) or an admitted anger with God because He didn't answer our prayers in a way we thought He should. These things have caused me to examine my own life and truly question the unrepented sins I find there. As our pastor said in a recent sermon, it is easy to see that sin but we must see it as sin and then confess it. It is a lot harder to put it into words even to myself and ask forgiveness. It is easy for me to ask God to forgive me in a blanket prayer. It is much harder for my sinful heart to say to God that I refused to submit to my circumstances, please forgive me for this sin. I am so thankful for a faithful pastor who preaches the gospel to me every week, for faithful saints to help hold me accountable and share my joys and my sorrows, for my family (who God uses to show me my sin on a daily basis) and even for all of the turmoil in our church family because God has used it to bring me to repentance in so many areas of my own sinful walk! God is good!

I could probably sit here and blog all day but I had better get busy!

Till next time...

P.S. For those of you who are wondering, I am not doing this at school! I am not going to do that anymore! I will be a faithful servant! I am home today with a sick boy. He threw up 3 times yesterday! EEEWWW!

The "Expedition" Game

Last Friday at the highschool basketball game the elementary students played an exhibition game during the halftimes. They were VERY excited. The students were coming into the library all day on Friday asking me if I would be going. The 4th grade girls were especially enthusiastic. They kept asking if I would be at their "Expedition" game. It was funny. It is hard to remember what it was like to be in elementary school. Was I that happy and excited about something that simple? I think that I probably was. That is the blessing of children. That is why God calls them a blessing. They show us the way to express a simple joy and thanksgiving for the good things God has given us. Their happiness is contagious. We can use that example in our daily walk. Jesus says that we must trust in Him with the faith of a child.

God is showing me the way to that thankfulness. When I think things are hard and I wish things were different He is showing me that He is in control! He has sent me these things for my good and for His glory. Our lives have changed so much since we got married. My husband spent about 20 years working on ranches. He was fired from 2 of them. I felt devasted in both cases. The first time we moved to Laramie, WY for about 5 months. We had to leave our church home, my family and all of our friends. My husband's new boss was a person who communicated by yelling a lot. But by God moving us from Colorado to Wyoming He removed me from the idolatry I had for the church family I had in Colorado. He made me grow and rely on Him for friendship instead of on the people of the church. He opened my eyes to see some of the problems that had been building in the church I had been attending. When we moved back to Colorado we began attending our home church again. But things weren't the same. We didn't live in the same community. I saw that the bond I thought I had with some of my church friends wasn't as strong as I had thought it was. I desperately wanted to belong to the clique that was there at that time but God had a better plan. He took us from that body and moved us to another body of believers, one that didn't rely on cliques for fellowship. We still travel about 50 miles one way to attend worship services but God has provided a way for us to do that.

When my husband was fired from the second ranch, I was once more devastated. Leaving the ranching lifestyle was HARD! I didn't trust God as I should have. I worried for 7 years about EVERYTHING. My husband and I struggled with our circumstances. We prayed for God to remove us from those circumstances. We applied for several ranch jobs but the door was always closed. I questioned all of the decisions that my husband made. I nagged him. I was not the wife of Proverbs 31. God has shown me time and time again that when my husband makes a decision it is always with the good of his family foremost in his mind. But I didn't trust in that. Finally God brought me to the point where I had to either submit or turn away. I thank Him for His faithfulness. When I spoke of the damage caused by the sin of unsubmissiveness (is that a word?) I do know what I am talking about. My hard heart caused worry for my husband. It caused turmoil in our household. It caused me to be impatient with my children and the children I deal with at school. It began to seep into the way I dealt with the body of believers. Now that I see the peace and joy of submitting to my circumstances and to my husband I wonder why I fought it for so long. But that too is God's providential will. Some of us have to fight God for a long time to reach the peace that He offers us when we submit. That is part of the maturing process for me. I have a stubborn heart and I do think I'm right too much of the time. God is showing me that I don't know better than Him. He gave me my wonderful husband to show me how I need to learn to behave. When God speaks of a servant's heart, that is my husband. It doesn't matter how despitefully he is used by his bosses, he still does the very best job he possibly can. I am trying to do the same.

God has brought me to the point of thankfulness. Do we still have trials? Yes we do but we are learning to be thankful in whatever circumstances He sends. The MANY blessings in my life? A husband who loves me no matter how sinful I am, three beautiful children, a wonderful son-in-law who is taking care of my daughter and grandson and growing in his faith, my beautiful little grandson, who is bringing so much joy to all of us. My work is a blessing and I am GOOD at it. I find myself thanking God for my husband's job. Last year all I could do was complain about his boss and wish that he could find a job where his talents are appreciated. I am an emotional person. Just ask my children. When I think of the goodness of God and of His mercy and unending forgiveness to me I do get emotional and the tears are not far from the surface.

My church family is a big part of that joy. Many of the people from our first RCUS church are now fellowshipping with us and are awaiting the word from classis to join with us in membership. What a BLESSING it is to have those beautiful Christians with us every Sunday. What a blessing it is to pray for my brothers and sisters in Christ in their trials and to rejoice with them in everything God sends. I know that He uses them to help me grow as well. He is showing all of us that we can trust Him for ALL things. On March 1st my son and son-in-law will be joining Providence Reformed Church and my son-in-law and grandson will be baptized. It will be communion and we will be having a pot luck dinner. God is good, even to this ungrateful, sinful woman. PRAISE GOD, PRAISE HIM, PRAISE HIM, PRAISE HIM! HIS GOODNESS AND MERCY ARE FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING!

Till next time...

You Can't Stop a Woman When She's Out of Control

The title of this blog is also the title of a Rodney Crowell song. It was intended as a tongue in cheek assessment of a relationship gone sour from the man's point of view. It offended a lot of people but I always thought it was funny. It doesn't seem quite so funny anymore. Like most of satire it has A LOT of truth in it. A woman who is out of control can wreak havoc wherever she is. First of all she is out of the will of God. Out of that disobedience comes all sorts of trouble. She has flouted her husband's authority and she likes the taste of that so she begins to flout all male authority. She questions all of the decisions made by the pastor and elders of her church. She questions whether the pastor has enough knowledge to preach to HER. Maybe her knowledge is above his. She begins to whisper to her close friends. If they have no strong head of household to rein them in they are joining in with the first woman, causing strife among the widows and the unequally yoked to begin with. Then they will try to rope in others and the whispering campaign begins. There is really nothing for the pastor to do because he didn't really cause an offense to begin with. He offended just by being who he is; an authority figure. He really can't apologize because the reasons for the offense do not exist. He can do a blanket apology but then the requirements are raised, he didn't apologize for the specific offenses. We really don't care that he has no earthly idea what he did to offend these women so deeply. They are right and he is wrong and there is NOTHING he can ever do to make it right. (No, a woman out of control is not required to forgive as the Bible commands, in case you are wondering.)

What an example for the young women of this society! I am seeing it played out in the public school at which I work. These young girls have no modesty. They are ready for anything and will chase a boy with sexual innuendo and flirtation, etc. until he throws up his hands and says that he might as well give in to temptation. What happens next? The girl reports him for sexual harrassment and he is facing charges before he can count to three. Parents, if your children are in a public school situation, you MUST warn them. I have told my son that he is never to be alone with a girl in this school. He must ALWAYS be above reproach. There is no accountability on the part of the girls to be modest, to behave in a respectful and respectable manner. Anything goes. They can wear whatever they want and no boy is supposed to think the less of them. They are allowed to touch a boy in a disrespectful manner and it is okay.

I guess that the reason I equate these is that we are certainly seeing the effects of rampant feminism playing out everywhere. In church, in public life and in the home. Jesus tells us to lay down our yoke and rest in Him. Part of our yoke as women is the desire to usurp our husband's authority. True freedom comes in submitting to his headship over you. Thank you, my dear husband for your care of me!

Till next time...

Playing Catch Up

Well, today was a "staff development" day. This a day for educational opportunities for certified staff. Sometimes they go over procedures, etc. I am contracted to work these days as well, though the other paraeducators don't work these days. I do so that I can keep up with the extra library work that accumulates through the "Book It" program, hosting the book fairs and in the last 3 weeks, spending time with the baby and staying home with my sick boy. I did get quite a bit done but it was all extremely time consuming so it doesn't feel like it! But with this good start to the week I should be able to whip through the rest of it easily.

Yesterday was another good day at church. Our oldest son passed his confirmation exam so we will be having confirmation soon. I know that there are MANY, MANY people who are baptized and confirmed who later turn away but I trust God to keep him. There are also many others who "walk the aisle" and are supposedly converted who never darken the door of a church again. I wonder about the truth of those conversions. We are not saved by works but we will do those works out of a thankful heart. I don't think that you can have one without the other.

I have to go get groceries this evening. These work days on Mondays are hard because I usually go get groceries (I know, I know, cry me a river!) so it is late when I get home. And I have to go for now.

Till next time...

Vandalism and Adventures in Facebook

One thing I have noticed working at a K-12 school is the amount of vandalism that goes on in the highschool end of the facility. It seems that there is a real disconnect between the 5th grade, when the students are still in elementary and the 6th grade when they become middle schoolers. Then when they become high schoolers it becomes even more pronounced. There is no accountability on their part. Their actions are always someones else's fault. But working in a public school environment and seeing the lack of responsibility taken by adults it is not really a surprise. It does, however bother me. I applied for and received a grant from Picturing America. We got 40 extremely high quality posters through this grant and a teachers resource book with step by step lesson plans. These posters are beautiful! I hung several in the new wing of our highschool, only to find that they had been vandalised. Someone had stapled through one numerous times, several had tack holes in them. I keep telling myself that people are more important than things but at one time there was a moral code that kept even the worst offenders from doing the things that are done on a daily basis today. I know that the sinfulness of men hasn't changed, just some of the barriers that have kept people from doing the evil in their hearts. Do I need to lower my expectations? Is it enough to raise my children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? I sometimes am guilty of thinking that it is up to me to change these things instead of trusting God with them. I can still show these students the love of God even if they never see it anywhere else. I can be patient, longsuffering and loving of them even when they don't "deserve" it. I don't deserve it when God does these things for me. It's called mercy. I can remember that with some of these students the only kind words they will hear will be the words they hear from the employees at our school.
Those of us who love our children and are doing our best to raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord have a hard time seeing the opposite of that. It is foreign to us. I need to remind myself always that it is only through the Grace of my Lord that I am able to do those things. ALL good things come from Him.

I may have to take a little jaunt to my daughter's house to see my grandson. I haven't seen him since MONDAY! Oh my goodness! I have nearly finished his bedding ensemble (that's a fancy word for set! Fancy Nancy! Try this book by Jane O'Connor, it's hilarious-that's a fancy word for funny!)

I signed up for Facebook this week! First of all I had to have my daughter talk me through the process. Then after I finally got signed up I did one of the things I have told my kids never to do. I took this "IQ" quiz and gave them my cell phone # to get the results! I got about 10-15 text messages thanking me for signing up for something called "Cellflirt" Whooaa! I stopped that pdq and have learned my lesson, be careful on the internet!

And now duty calls, I need to make time sheets for our reading program.

Till next time...

Sick Days

I have taken the last two days off staying home with my little one, who is sick. Yesterday I woke up, to have to clean a HUGE mess in his room. He has a loft bed with a desk under...He threw up in the night...Can you guess how long it took me to clean up? But trials are never unmixed with blessings. I have been sewing like a mad fiend. I am hosting a baby shower for my new grandson on February 21st and am making him a "John Deere" bedding ensemble. It will be cute when I finish. I still have to finish the quilt, make the curtains and the bumper pads. I have already finished 2 sheets, a dust ruffle and the diaper stacker (you know, the thing with the hanger in the top and you stack diapers in it and hang it above the changing table). My daughter has been "reminding" me that I need to finish it since the idea came to me in November. God provides.

I have had to have a substitute at school for the past 2 days. I had no lesson plans made up (I just go step by step through my library skills books) and the last time I had a sub she gave my login and password to a student. People are so shocked by that but I can see how it happened. We live in a rural "bedroom" community and a lot of people work in Colorado Springs or Denver. She is of my mother's generation and doesn't realize the dangers of letting a student have your password. I wouldn't have even known if the student in question hadn't been bragging in the library that he knew my password. I changed it right away but when she couldn't get on the library program she called yesterday and acted a little offended when I didn't give her my new password. I have since learned that there is a special login and PW for library substitutes so I will give her that so that she can check out when she is there. That way my password is safe and she can still check out to students.

I hate leaving the library with "strangers". I have found that I have become very possessive of "my" library and "my" books. There is a book called "The Library Dragon" that really convicted my heart about that possessiveness. In the book the new librarian won't let any of the children touch any of the books or read them because of their sticky fingers. (Believe me, I can relate! Do you know where children's fingers are while you are doing a read aloud?! Up noses, in mouths and who knows where else! We found a HUGE booger in one book one day!) Sorry if I've grossed anyone out but...So I have become a little bit obssessive about these things. Hand sanitizer and bleach wipes have become my friends. After reading this book I realized that it is my job to teach library manners but I also need to foster that joy that comes to children when they read a good book. The joy that they feel coming to the library to check out. I don't want to kill that joy. Most of them lose it quickly enough on their own when they reach middle school and high school. I am learning to walk that fine line between being the "Library Dragon" and being the "Library Goddess".

I have received approval to go to a library workshop in Pueblo. I went for the first time last year and LOVED it. There were 2 workshops that were especially valuable. One was a Library of Congress workshop on using Primary Sources and one was done by a librarian who gave reviews on books that teens are REALLY into. I came back and nagged my administrative team to let me set up a LOC workshop for our school. It was really neat. Everyone was required to attend the first session but they weren't required to do all of them. There were college credits available and several teachers took advantage of that. I hope that they are using what they learned in their classrooms. There is a lot of FREE material available on the LOC website. If you are a librarian it is very valuable. I used the information from the other workshop to do my book orders last fall. It was a great help as well. I think that this year I will stay in Pueblo overnight and not have to drive back and forth. The only thing is that I think that I can find a less expensive hotel than the one chosen for attendees.

I have to admit that I have become slightly addicted to this blogging! I think I will stop here for this time and get busy sewing.

Till next time...