Vacay Dining at the Gorge

As promised, here are the recipes from our family vacation last week at Red River Gorge in Frenchburg, KY....

Monday supper - Chili cheese dogs, BBQ potato chips, and hot cocoa 

Tuesday breakfast - Breakfast bagels with ham and cheese 

Tuesday lunch - Chicken satay skewers and southwest salad (from a Walmart salad mix)

Tuesday supper - Hamburgers, sweet potato fries, and double chocolate s’mores 

Wednesday breakfast - Breakfast burritos with ham, cheese, tomatoes, and red & green bell peppers 

Wednesday lunch - Baked potatoes, southwest salad, and sweet potato fries 

Wednesday supper - Campfire pizza log, southwest salad, sweet potato fries, and cinnamon-rolls-in-oranges

Thursday breakfast - Breakfast burrito leftovers and cinnamon roll leftovers 

CAMPFIRE PIZZA LOG

BAKED POTATOES

BREAKFAST BAGELS

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CHIP S'MORES

BREAKFAST BURRITOS

CHICKEN SATAY SKEWERS

I'll post the hamburger recipe later, by itself. 

Cause the burgers my husband grills are hands-down the best-tasting hamburgers ever! 😋

Vacation at Red River Gorge

Some recipes from our family vacation at Red River Gorge in Frenchburg, KY....

Monday supper - Chili cheese dogs, BBQ chips, and hot cocoa 

Tuesday breakfast - Breakfast bagels with ham and cheese 

Tuesday lunch - Chicken satay skewers and southwest salad 

Tuesday supper - Hamburgers, sweet potato fries, and double chocolate s’mores 

Wednesday breakfast - Breakfast burritos with ham, cheese, tomatoes, and red & green bell peppers 

Wednesday lunch - Baked potatoes, southwest salad, and sweet potato fries 

Wednesday supper - Campfire pizza log, southwest salad, sweet potato fries, and cinnamon-rolls-in-oranges

Thursday breakfast - Breakfast burrito leftovers and cinnamon roll leftovers (recipes to follow in future post, along with more pictures)

Followed by coffee at Sherri’s Cafe in Winchester, KY....

We needed a vacation to get a break from life’s stresses. I realize now that before vacation my primary stressors were 1) watching my husband struggle under his heavy load of responsibilities and being mostly unable to really help with anything, and 2) staying discouraged from the many battles & conflicts that are regularly being thrust upon us.

Day 1: Getting ready - 

This day was marked by stress over not being able to do for my family what I want, or to do it as well/successfully as I’d like. I was thankful to be  able to breathe some when I stopped to nurse Levi, and while we were traveling on the road. Then we arrived at the cabin, and problems that had begun on the road continued, I was discouraged that our needed vacation was (and would continue to be) marked by the above stressors also - helplessly watching my husband struggle with stuff, and relentlessly striving for a peaceful existence amid the frequent/daily/inescapable battles. 

Day 2: Hiking, campfire, s’mores 🥾 🔥 🍫 🍪  

Realized that maybe God’s calling for me had always been to live a chaotic, stress-filled helping life - since, after all, He’d laid helping on my heart from my earliest days. I don’t feel like I’ve ever been that kind of person, but ... perhaps if I’d stayed able-bodied throughout my entire adulthood, maybe I could’ve struggled with pride  - so maybe that’s why He gave me the disabilities that make this helping lifestyle soooo much more difficult? Perhaps my disabilities are my necessary humility factor, similar to Paul’s thorn in the flesh and Jacob’s wrestling-prayer limp?

Or perhaps I’m partly paying the consequences for my own poor choices leading up to my accident ... staying up late the night before to do homework, sleeping late that morning, struggling to try to make it to school on time, and turning left before there was quite enough space to do so.

Whatever the reason, I know that I’m not perfect, I’ve never been perfect, God is perfectly good, He has always been both perfect and good, and there IS some reason greater than me as to why I have to endure the extra hardship of all these stresses and disabilities at the same time. Not that knowing this makes it any easier to helplessly watch my husband struggle, or to helplessly struggle for peace with people who don’t want peace.... Maybe someday I’ll learn the secret to enjoying these struggles. 

Anyway, yay for the struggle at least being a lot less for a little bit! It was really, really nice to have a brief reprieve from most of our normal world with all of its busy, hectic, drama-filled craziness.

Day 3: We have a 7-month-old!!! 

And he started pulling up tonight, motivated by his close proximity to the dinner table while sitting in the pack-and-play. 

Day 4: Going home with recharged batteries -

Back into the craziness. Back into the drama with my attention-challenged, extra-easily-overwhelmed TBI brain. I’m ready though. Ready to be overwhelmed, ready to lean into Jesus Who has promised to be there with His everlasting arms whenever I falter, ready to lean into my husband, ready to hold my children close, ready to cry more than other people think I should, ready to have no defense. Ready to keep struggling for more faith & hope while living, loving, serving. Ready to keep journeying with the best of Guides Who suffered Himself before dying for me. Ready to keep learning from the best and most patient of Teachers. Ready, not prepared, but here I am....

A Hamburger-Helper AHA! Moment

On busy nights  . . .

Hamburger Helper is nice and easy to throw together. The recipe just requires beef, water, and milk - that is, if all you want is a pasta that tastes almost the same as any other flavor!

 

But have you ever paid much attention to the “Add Your Own Twist” section on the back of the box?? 

I never thought much about that section before, sometimes because we didn’t happen to have those ingredients and sometimes because I didn’t feel like the extra bother. But the other day, we DID have the  ingredients and I DID have the time. So I “added that twist” and then....

And the finished bowl of pasta tasted just like we were eating bacon cheeseburgers for dinner! Which got me to thinking ... what if those suggestions on the back are actually the way the pasta’s SUPPOSED to be made?!

Sweeter: Thoughts on the Thanksgiving Takeover

Long ago, when this girl was young, Thanksgiving might well have been the ultimate holiday! I remember decorating windows with autumn-leaf window clings, listening to pilgrim-stories, dressing up as a pilgrim, sharing a literal feast with my family, and giving thanks to God and to my family for blessings from the past year.

Later I heard wind of some kind of shopping-thing the day after Thanksgiving. Momentum seemed to build over the years until this shopping started to majorly overshadow the holiday. People went out earlier and earlier, until this year many people actually hit the stores Thursday evening!

Don't worry; I'm not going to say that it's always a terrible thing to do Black Friday, or even to have a family tradition of doing it together. I'm not even saying it would always be bad to go buy something on Thursday.

But let's step back for a minute and look at the big picture, the 2 kingdoms at war in our world. Where might they stand on this whole thing?

Well, I don't really feel like God ever got in a fight with anybody over any deal. "For God so loved the world that He gave" (John 3:16). And - thanksgiving is something He wants us to have a LOT of. "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

On the other hand, black is dark. The powers of darkness are selfish, ungrateful, and consumer-oriented. Somehow I don't think evil forces were ever too happy with a whole day being set aside to thank God. Since 2 Timothy 3 tells us that "men shall wax worse and worse . . . in the last days," I'm expecting Black Friday to keep gaining ground until it eventually overtakes Thanksgiving entirely - with most people, anyway.

Sweeter: Good & Bad People-Pleasing

It's taken me a while.
But I think I've finally figured it out - maybe.

Here's the *big* question:
What's wrong with trying to please people?

1. When I try to "make people happy" - i.e., to get them to be pleased WITH ME and to want to be my friends - in other words, when the actions I take are really self-serving (aka selfish) . . . that's bad. 

The bad people-pleasing usually takes a lot of effort, is usually somewhat exhausting, and ALWAYS requires doing something "nice" that is also either fake or contrived.

Example: I wear skirts. Partly because I like them and partly because it's what I think God wants me to do. But what if I wore them because I know people who believe that way, and because I wanted those people to think well of me? What if the only reason I wore skirts was to earn other people's good opinions of myself?

An example of something bad I actually do to "please people": When I feel like someone's mad at me, I tend to rack my brain for some reason why they might be mad and then to apologize for whatever I did/said that I think they're mad about. Which tends to backfire and to only result in their being scared to death of spending time with such an awkward person!

Something else I tend to do: If someone seems scared to talk to me, I tend to try to think of a pleasant conversation to have with them in order to change their minds into thinking they can afford to be my friend again. Which, tends to backfire, too! :)

But please don't be afraid to talk to me! I'm really tryin' to do better about this! Yes, those sentences was probably yet another example of the negative kind of people-pleasing. In fact, a big part of why I included any (both) these examples of stuff I actually do was because I thought it necessary in order to please people, because I felt like I had to include these examples in order to keep people from being mad at me for writing this post, to keep them from thinking that this post is about me passing some kind of judgment on them - which it's not. 

I'm trying to say that this is a struggle for me - which should be absolutely obvious after that paragraph of people-pleasing (which may well have been the bad kind - I don't know; and for the sake of this post, I'm not even gonna worry about it).

2. However, when my efforts to please other people are truly God-motivated and others-focused - in other words, when I'm forgetting myself in real Christian love - i.e., when it's actually about pleasing THEM instead of getting them happy with ME . . . isn't that 1 Corinthians 13? Which is good, right? 

Example: What if I notice some older homeless man looking lonely and depressed. What if I think I sense God leading me to talk to him, to try to get him laughing about something? What if I notice - but ignore - all the weird looks my friends give me? (All the looks that say, "Why are you talking to him?") What if all I'm thinking about is, honestly, what I can do to be a blessing to this guy? And what if I succeed in getting the guy to laugh? 

Yes, that actually happened a few weeks ago. . . .

The "Take Care of Yourself" Delusion

We've all heard these words. Most of us have probably even said them. I picture a group visiting Grandma in a weatherbeaten farmhouse; and when they leave, she kisses each one on the cheek and says, "You'uns take good care of yourselves, y'hear?" She means well, and I have no fault to find with her. What I will say is this: This is one piece of advice you should never, ever follow. It's self-defeating. Why?

The song goes like this:

 "Love is like a lucky penny.

Hold it tight, you won't have any;

Give it away, and you'll have plenty -

You'll end up having MOOORE.

Love is something if you give it away,

Give it away, give it away.

Love is something if you give it away; 

You'll end up having more."

God is the best Father and takes perfect care of His children, so we don't have to worry about that part. Now, I didn't say that we will understand or like everything He does. We often won't understand, and will even frequently dislike it. But that's just cause we're the finite humans that don't know much. "We'll understand it better by and by."

Jesus said the two most important rules are to love God, and to love each other.

So leave yourself in Father's capable hands. Then get out there and forget yourself in loving people!

The Love Test

How do you think you would do?
Here's how it goes: First, read 1 Corinthians 13 to discover God's definition of love.

Love suffers long and is kind;
love does not envy;
love does not parade itself,
is not puffed up;
does not behave rudely,
does not seek its own,
is not provoked,
thinks no evil;
does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.
Love never fails.
(1 Corinthians 13:4-8a).

Then read it again inserting Jesus' name wherever it says "love." The one Person Who always expresses love perfectly!

Jesus suffers long and is kind;
Jesus does not envy;
Jesus does not parade Himself,
is not puffed up;
does not behave rudely,
does not seek His own,
is not provoked,
thinks no evil;
does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.
Jesus never fails.

The final step in this test is to read the passage a third time, this time inserting your name wherever it says "love."

_____ suffers long and is kind;
_____ does not envy;
_____ does not parade himself,
is not puffed up;
does not behave rudely,
does not seek his own,
is not provoked,
thinks no evil;
does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.
_____ never fails.

Be honest now. . . . How did you do?

Becoming Your Parents

This is something we all do - even if we try not to do it. You will become something of your parents, too - even if you try not to, even if you really focus on trying not to.

I first realized this fact of human nature when I was at Bible college at age 17. The assistant dean of women discussed it in a talk to a bunch of us girls.

"For as he thinks in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7). You are what you think. So if you spend a lot of time thinking about those qualities you dislike the most about your parents, then those are the very qualities you will in some way imitate in your own life.

On the other hand . . .

If you can bring yourself to truly forgive your parents (and I'm not talking about merely saying some words here, but the tough matter of heart) and spend your time thinking on what you like best about them, then you will grow into your parents' better qualities.I say you will grow into them because they are obviously much older than you and will always remain so, and therefore you can never hope to catch up until you are old - and maybe not even then!

So, the question I know you may be asking is this: have I applied this lesson that I presume, oh so rambunctiously, to teach you? I believe I have applied this lesson, but I'm not hardly saying that I am a perfect paragon of all my parents' good qualities! I am saying that I used to be a little bitter about some stuff (I honestly can't remember what), but now I'm only grateful and seeking to grow into those good qualities.

Allow me to add here that your parents are human, and so of course they both have bad qualities as well as good qualities. In fairness, you cannot argue this point unless you are okay with people saying YOU lack one or the other. So let go of the anger, and think about the positive. You'll be happier! :)

As a Little Child

A good parent leads his children towards independence, so that the child can one day become a good parent himself and produce more good parents, and the cycle never ends. And God is the best Parent, right? So of course He guides His children toward the ability to be independent, too? 

That's where it gets interesting. Yes, we are to become spiritual parents in a sense: "For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord," (1 Corinthians 4:17a). But God has no grandchildren. We all remain His children forever - His little children, if you will.

"Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to Him and said, 'Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it'" (Luke 18:15-17). You have to be childlike. But what does that look like? Well, let's look at the very next verses; Jesus is going to teach us via opposites. 

Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ” And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” And those who heard it said, “Who then can be saved?” But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” 

Little children came to Jesus to receive, to be blessed by Him. They knew they were the needy ones. But the rich young ruler came to Jesus for an assignment, apparently thinking that God needed him to do some good work. The rich young ruler felt good about himself; he felt important. I'm sure that when he said what a good law-keeper he had been, he expected Jesus to be kind of amazed and to congratulate him - he wasn't expecting to be told to become poor and follow in faith.

Little children are typically unafraid to ask grown-ups for what they need, and they expect us to be happy to give them what they ask for. Do you see God as a giving Father that you desperately need or as some religious icon that demands a certain kind of life from you?

October . . .

Happy October, everyone! :) It's a special month for me. Not only is it part of my favorite movie, October Baby.

It's also part of a book I really like, October Song, of whom I recently got to meet the author.

What's more, it's the month of my accident. 

Why does that make it special? Well, let me explain. A lot of people don't like storms, even in nature. And while I'm not saying I like unnatural storms - I definitely don't - I do absolutely love the natural kind! They really show how big God is, and they seem SO happy to me! Good smells, sounds, everything! I know there can be disastrous storms, but I've not been around for very many at all.

For the Christian, no storm is disastrous, but every storm is just one more thing God is busy working for our good! So one day, we will thank Him for it, as hard as that may be to imagine right now. Some are calling my accident a "storm." It was certainly difficult for my family, and there are things about my life now that I could wish were different. But I already know a little (not all!) of why He allowed it.

1. This summer one of the times I gave my testimony at camp, I found out later that a girl trusted Christ that night.

2. He showed my family the body of Christ in action like they had never quite seen it before.

3. He showered me with expressions of His love so that I could never, ever doubt it. 

a. the ambulance right behind me when I wrecked

b. a whole plethora of cards, letters, and visitors - bringing flowers, CDs, and my favorite ice cream

c. thousands praying for me from at least 4 continents, including people I didn't know

d. et cetera, et cetera!

I get to see life through different eyes, and I know more about how to interact with disabled people (#1 - they're still people!). Strange as it may sound, I'm very thankful for my accident and feel like I have a rare privilege. I should add that it is one that I hope nobody who reads this gets to share with me! :) Anyway . . . that's why October is such a special month for me. :)

My (Recent) Testimony

Thanks to any of you who have prayed for my family and I since my car accident last Halloween! Many people have asked me whether I've had any depression, which would be typical for someone who's just recently had a brain injury. And while I have gotten upset for a few minutes a couple of times (like everyone else), really I'm full of joy, and much happier than I was before my accident!

 

Before my accident, I met weekly with an older woman to get her counsel in dealing with the bitterness I was struggling with. As much as I've tried to, I can't remember what I was bitter about, but needless to say, I'm certainly not bitter about anything now!

 

Before my accident, I had also just started attending Celebrate Recovery to get help with a lustful addiction I had struggled with for more than a decade. God took that away through my accident, too; and since I woke up from my coma a few months ago, I haven't even wanted to go back!

 

I feel grateful for how God has used my accident to cleanse me of sin, show His power, bring His people together in prayer, show those people His ability and eagerness to answer prayer, surround my family with His care, and every other way He has used it! I never really expected God to find that much use for me; but I wanted Him to, and I'm glad He did.

 

As to what He's taught me through all of this, I would say it's joy. God is a good God, and everything He does is good. That includes what happened to me. I used to think that car accidents were always bad things, but now I know that at least mine was a good thing.

God's been showing me that since He controls everything and He only does good things, I can have joy in all days of the year, all circumstances of the day, and all people of the world. There is nothing for me to be anything other than happy about!

Great Is Thy Faithfulness!

 

African, Asian, European, Native American . . .

So I've always known that I had European blood (from England, Germany, and Hungary on Dad's side). Poppy seed kuchen, anyone?



And I've pretty much always known that I had Cherokee blood from Mom's side.

 

But lately I've made some new and very happy discoveries.

Pappaw and Mammaw (Mom's parents) have always told us that we are descended from the tribe of Manasseh, so I always knew I had a little Jewish blood, which is nice enough. But then I started thinking - who was Manasseh's mother? If you don't know, you probably at least know the name of his father or brother. Does "Ephraim & Manasseh" ring a bell? And their dad's name was Joseph, right? Well, who did Joseph marry? An Egyptian woman! So that makes me a little African!

But there's more. What continent is Israel in? Think about it now. It's not Europe. It's not Africa. That leaves Asia; so I'm part Asian!

As far as I know, I'm not related to any Antarctic explorers, Australian Aborigines, or South Americans, but I'm a sister to Jesus' siblings in all those groups! And with having biological relations to people in four of the world's seven continents, I feel like Dad's word for it - Cosmopolitan - is a very good one. And I'm glad it applies to me. :)

So Much in Common

There is something I don't understand. It is why any Christian would not get along with any other Christian. I didn't understand that before my accident, and I understand it less now. God loved each of us when we were His enemies; and now that we are His friends, He loves us even more! I don't understand how you can love somebody more than your love in dying for people, but I guess it's possible! :)

The Bible calls on us to "love one another," so every true Christian, I'm sure, at least wants to and cares when he does not. Also, if we don't get along because of our sin, we are clearly in the wrong and are the ones that need to change. Or if it's because of someone else's sin, we should forgive like God forgave us. Have you read the parable of the man who was forgiven his great debt and would not forgive another man's little debt? We had a huge debt which God forgave, and other people's debts to us can never begin to compare!

We have so much in common! We are all in the same family (human) and some of us are more closely related. We all have the same needs. We need God to take care of us, other people to pray, angels to protect, and food and water and air to keep us alive. We all call the same planet home, and some of us the same city, state, country, or space shuttle. :) And for Christians, there is more. In fact, we are all brothers and sisters with the same Father and the same Guidebook and Home.So every Sunday, church is like a family reunion; and Christian family squabbles are just as offensive to our Father as regular family squabbles are to our earthly parents.

I used to fight a lot with one of my brothers (he is one of my best friends now), and my parents tried everything they could think of to try to help us. They gave us paper, and said to keep a tally of all the nice things we said to each other, and said that they would take whoever said more to Golden Corral as a reward. Then they took us both. Regularly, they had us sit next to each other silently for a long time and hold hands. One time they washed our mouths out with soap. Just so you know, none of their methods were successful at completely curing us from arguing.  God did that when He was ready! But it gives an example of the lengths humans will go to in order to help their children get along. That is how much God cares when we don't get along with our Christian brothers and sisters! If you don't, and you are my friend, I am afraid for what He might try in order to change you.

If the reason you don't get along is not because of either of your sin, I hope you can see how petty that is. And I hope you can find it easy to say sorry, put away grudges, forgive, or whatever you need to do to change your relationship for the better. If it is because of someone's sin, I've already ponted out to you what the Bible says. If you don't care that you don't get along and don't want to change, I seriously doubt whether you have ever tuly encountered the love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace of Jesus. If you think otherwise, maybe you think wrong or maybe you can explain to me why I am wrong. An explanation would help me greatly, because I really don't understand.

One last thing: I hope as you read this you were thinking more of yourself than of anyone else. If not, maybe it would be wisest to put these things into practice by forgiving that person and reread it for your own benefit. I will just keep praying for those of you who don't; and want to remind those people of the great love that God has for them and that if I were to meet them, I would try to love them no matter what they said or did to me. And I know for a fact that I am not perfect (I am not in Heaven) and I am not the strongest person alive. I cannot even walk right now without something stable to hold onto with both hands!

Old Bertha's Death (among others)

It's sad, but true - Bertha died yesterday. The good news is that she may come back to life shortly. Bertha is my car, lovingly named by a middle school volunteer at camp this summer. If you had the privilege of watching my car try to climb a little hill, you'd understand. =)

So anyhow, yesterday I was on my way to a 9:00 appointment when all of a sudden a "bird" started "chirping." Then lights came on; smoke began ascending; and just as I pulled into an available driveway, the steering wheel locked up. Isn't it great that the driveway was right there?

I got out and lifted the hood, but of course had very little idea what I was looking at. It turns out my cell phone was dead, too; and the owners of the driveway were away from home. Well! So, after leaving a note, I walked the remaining thirty minutes to my appointment through the invigorating morning air, arriving in time to have a five-minute discussion - that's all the time it needed to take, and it was a very satisfactory chat.

A friend's cell phone connected me to my parents, and soon my dad picked me up and we took a look at my car. He noticed the serpentine belt was missing, so we spent the next few hours fixing it. (I would have taken pictures, but my camera batteries were dead.) Finally we got it fixed, only to find out that there was a bigger problem. Lol.

So there Old Bertha sits . . . idle . . . dead. Come back soon!

 

Update: she's back! I'm so thankful. 

Waiting to Be Adopted

This video tells the story of several children who want a home and family of their own. Could you be that family?



Chocolate Chewy Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches

I tried this recipe over the weekend and our family has been enjoying it. =)

Cookies:

3 cups brown sugar

2 cups margarine

2 eggs

1/2 cup water

2 tsp. vanilla

6 cups oats

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2/3 cup cocoa

2 1/2 cups flour

Mix; drop by generous teaspoonfuls on cookie sheets and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

Cream Filling:

2 cups powdered sugar

2 egg whites, beaten

1 1/2 cups shortening

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix; spread between cookies to make cookie sandwiches.

Yields two 9x13x4 tubberware containers almost full of cookies.

4 Days!!!

I'm getting excited about camp at Laurel Lake and thought I'd share some old xanga posts from the last time I got ready for summer camp (2007 at the Word of Life Ranch).

So... summer break was awesome; I didn't realize how long it had really been since being home with my family. We went on a lot of errands - shopping, visiting old friends, fixing up our old house in preparation for its sale, etc. I read the book for this summer, as well as some fiction :) and spent a lot of time with my dear brothers ... bike-riding, playing CatchPhrase and Dutch Blitz, listening to music, etc.

I kind of wish I was still there, I can't lie. But that time will come before I know it, and I know that God has great things in store for this summer in the meantime! I am so excited for those little girls to start coming! I want to be the enthusiastic counselor that they need, not letting any fear of man or discomfort or failure get in the way.... Please pray that I will depend completely on the Lord and His grace, rather than on my own feebleness which definitely isn't strength by a long shot.

This weekend will be fun, as all the camps are coming back and the STC'ers will be coming. I hope to get a chance to talk to my friend Courtney whom I haven't seen for a year, but we'll see.

Honors Day at University of the Cumberlands

On a recent Monday, Pappaw, Mammaw,

Mom, Jedidiah, and I

took a trip to Williamsburg, KY to visit Caleb,

meet some of his friends,

show our grandparents the campus,

and eat a tasty lunch in the intramural gym.

The president speaking

Here we are in front of "the prettiest spot on campus" -

the fountain!

It had begun to rain,

so Jedidiah ran to the car to put away some papers.

Thus he unfortunately is not in this picture.

Our New House

This is the truck we used in February to move from our little apartment in our little yard to move to our beautiful home in what seems almost like the country but is really just the suburbs.

Redbuds are the most beautiful trees!

Hopefully we can prune it next year so it's even prettier!

Our house :-)

We are going to have apples!

Well, maybe. This tree needs pruning, too.

A dogwood tree

Violets!!! They're everywhere.

Azalea bushes

And petunias for Dad

We've also planted pansies, strawberries, tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, celery, and peppers. There is a rosebush. And Mom bought some blueberry and raspberry bushes to plant soon. A few years and we'll have quite the fruit selection here! It looks gorgeous and smells better. I'm lovin' it.

Spring!!!!

This is the second time I've welcomed spring this year. And I'm just as excited this time as I was last time. Flipflops, blooming yellow lilies, an old beautiful clover-filled garden to weed so it can be replanted, lots of basketball, a big yard to walk (or run) around, gentle and not-so-gentle breezes, earthworms and other funny little animals, a crazy cat, a brother home from school, sitting outside to crochet. . . . These are just a few of the things I've been enjoying this spring.

I want to share some of an interesting sermon I heard this past winter. This is the text: "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22).

God has promised to keep the world going in this beautiful way until the end of the world. And everyone believes this so much that even atheists plan and plant gardens, and even they would scorn anyone who did not believe this promise of God. Even an atheist acts in faith on this promise.

But if this promise is true, why are not all the other promises also true? Why not trust and act in faith on everything else God has ever said? This is the thrust of a parallel passage in Jeremiah.

"And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying, 'Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.' . . . .

"Thus saith the LORD; 'If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them." (Jeremiah 33:19-23, 25-26).