Tuesday, November 24, 2009

We have started but....


it isn't the trees that excite me...we have many of the trees up, some decorated, we have lots to finish. but when we sit in our family room, it is this little (and still not complete) corner that excites me...why? It's a little cupboard that Steve made for our daughters and their rocking chair. Am I wishing they were little again? Have I popped my cork? Do I have bats in the belfry? Nope...this little corner reminds me that our house will be filled with people at Christmas. And who will use this little corner? Why, Simon and Mazie of course!!! I'll update you when it's done...complete with Simon and Mazie. The Tengesdals (all of them...Jon, Betsy, Simon, and Mazie AND Carl, Betty, and Jerod, AND Joy and Issac AND Issac's mom, Pixie) are coming for Christmas. Is there possibly a down side to this excitement????? Yep! Andy and Jane can't join us!
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Saturday, November 21, 2009

Merry Christmas...not yet?


Oh Yesssssss...................today we begin to prepare for our family coming....Steve is so excited...okay, I am supposed to be truthful...he's really not. He has this thing about waiting...not me...it is time to deck the halls....and it gives me a break from studying....

Thursday, November 12, 2009

We brought a soldier home today...

We brought a soldier home today
The streets were lined with people
The flags were everywhere
Overhead, helicopters flew, 3 for news teams and one black hawk helicopter
Steve went to the airport with the hearse
The family greeted their 22 year old son and brother and uncle
killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan last Friday.
There were tears, no cheers.
When the hearse began to go down main street,
a holy hush filled the crowd...
He came home to almost everyone in the county...there to support his family.
His brother told me...
Aaron would have been overwhelmed
He was so shy!
Praise God we have men and women who are serving in the military,
protecting our rights...
we can have our small group Bible study here tonight because the freedom they have long protected.
Our service men need our prayers and our support.
Father, thank you for protecting our men and women...Jesus bring them home safely and alive. Father, we do not need to bring these young men and women home the way that Aaron came home today. Support the families right now. And Jesus, help Aaron's family feel your loving arms them this week. Strengthen them and hold them. In your name. Amen
It brought the war closer today...because
we brought a soldier home today.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Hmmm...5 years...already?

Five years ago...I wanted to take a look back...
Steve and I were living in the same house that we had lived in for 29 years...
We lived in Bismarck, ND where I was born and spent 50 of 54 years...
Betsy was a couple of weeks away from having Simon..
Jane was doing her practicum in Salt Lake City..
Andy and Jane were dating...from a distance...
We had gotten a call from Bellingham, Washington to come out for an interview...
Jane met us in Seattle and traveled to Bellingham with us...
we came out...over Veteran's Day.
Five years ago....
Steve left for his interview and Jane and I spent the day driving around with Allan
Carol, Steve's sister, had to teach that Monday...
Jane flew back to Salt Lake and Steve and I talked
We talked...cried...giggled...and talked.
Steve was offered the job...we prayed about it...had been praying for quite a while...
We talked to our girls...we prayed...we talked to each other...
we prayed...and we accepted the job...
On the way home...I told Steve:
I have been thinking about how we are going to tell my mom and our small group...
He asked me how it went...
I looked at him...and said:
It didn't go well for any of them....
5 years ago, we accepted a job...but it was more than that...
we moved away from family...
we moved away from my mom,
we moved away from Betsy and Jon...
We moved away from Simon who was 6 weeks old...
we moved away from Jane and didn't realize that she felt abandoned
we moved away from friends...
What did happen when we said yes to God 5 years ago?
He moved us and stretched us.
He affirmed that we were following Him.
Did we miss the people that we were leaving? Yes.
Are there times when we fell soooo far away from family? Oh a hundred times yes.
Do we know, still, that we are where God wants us? YES
5 years ago...we said yes to a job.
but it was more
5 years ago we said Yes to God
and He has continued to be faithful.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Road Signs ... for LIFE?

When Steve and I were traveling this weekend, we saw all kinds of road signs. My favorite was Slide Zone...Caution. Washington just had another slide which covered a road with 30 feet of mud and rock, changed the course of a river, and cut of the residents living in the area. Some of the houses are still in jeopardy because the slide is still moving...weeks after the initial slide. Hmmmm...do we want to drive this road? We were on the coast and also Tsunami warning signs posted. So if there were a tsunami...we had cliffs on the other side of the ocean...hmmmm.

Anyway, my mind went right to road signs in our daily walk...like:



CURVES AHEAD

Watch out...you are going to hit a curve in your life that will be difficult

Turn back...you are going the wrong way...turn around...this will only cause you pain and suffering

Slippery road ahead...once you start this behavior, you are on a slippery slope and it will be hard to get back up to where you want to be.

How about...Dead End...you are going nowhere and you need to turn around and follow My lead.

There are many signs that we could apply to situations in our lives...
Stop what you are doing...it is not good and will not produce happiness. It will only cause you grief and pain...


Many times, I sometimes feel that my sign looks like this one:
People-- friends, family, the church, coworkers, and a flurry of ads in the media tell us...do this... go here... no, go here...stay away from there....go this way....buy this...don't buy that...vote this way...vote yes...vote no....

And the voices don't help us to make clear decisions. And I went back to my original question. Why isn't there a clear path for us? Why can't I silence the "voices" and just hear a clear voice? Then I remembered a verse in Isaiah...You see, our signs don't have to be confusing or blurred...we need to silence ourselves to hear His voice.

"O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more.
How gracious He will be when you cry for help!
As soon as He hears, He will answer you.
Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction,
your teachers will be hidden no more;
with your own eyes you will see them."
When we cry for help, the God of the Universe, the Great I AM, Creator, Redeemer, and Savior and Friend will hear you...and He will answer you...
And about those directions...this is my favorite part....because we do not need to be confused
by the signs that are around us....


"Whether you turn to the right or to the left,
your ears will hear a voice behind you saying,
'This is the way; walk in it.'"
We do have a guide. We have someone who will make the road signs clear.
We just need to quiet ourselves before Him and listen to what He is saying.
"This is the way; walk in it!"

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Fall bonding...a new experience

Each fall, we would pick a Saturday and get the girls up out of bed and announce that it was fall bonding day. We would go to the pumpkin patch, enjoy the trip up river road looking at all of the colors, walk in the crunchy leaves, and end up in the Mandan soda fountain for sodas and lunch. We heard groans...a lot! But as they got older and left home, they began to plan when they could come home for fall bonding. Now, with them being so far away, they have begun their own fall bonding experiences...So...the only thing we could do...is continue the tradition with a twist...just the two of us...


It was Steve's duty day and so we got up...okay, not real early but it felt good to sleep in. We packed our suitcase and headed out. We had planned on taking one ferry off of Whidbey Island but it was not available so we headed for the Edmond's ferry. Crossed over to an island, crossed a bridge and ended up in Port Townsend. There, we stayed in a mansion...ate in a castle...watched a sea lion watch us...ate in a 50's cafe. We went to a light store with amazing lights and antiques.

The "boutique hotel" that we stayed in, the Starrett Mansion, thought to be haunted...but no one showed up in our bedroom that night... was beautiful. It had a floating stairway that engineers still do not know how it was made. (Fun fact...the builder was the town's funeral director!)

We drove around Port Townsend and saw the Castle. We went in and found out that it was a private home until the early 1900's and then an order of the Jesuit Priests moved in and created a seminary...now, a motel. Original woodwork and beautiful stained glass windows...and the food was very good...

Our boutique hotel did not have television so Steve and I sat in the drawing room by the fire place, reading. During the night we opened the door and listened to the waves crashing on the shores all night. The next morning it was beautiful. We traveled up the coast to Neha Bay which is at the very tip of the Washington peninsula. We stopped along the way, walked on several beaches, and went through old stand forests.

It wasn't the pumpkin patch and we missed our kids...but it was an amazing time...and we were only about 4 or 5 hours from our home. In each new phase of our lives, we find that God continues to bless us with things that we love...in a new and fresh way.

If you have never had a "fall bonding" day in your family...plan one, it is a fabulous day. Find a fun spot, check out the leaves, and then just take the day to relax and see what God has planned for you....