If I perish....what's worse than dying?

Recently I went to Toronto to celebrate my sis's 60th birthday.  What happens in Toronto stays in Toronto...

 of course

but I do want to tell ya'll about my pilgrimage to Niagara Falls.  

Riding "The Maid of the Mist" within a few feet of the falls made my life flash before me, and my rear end pucker:)

my sister and I were on this boat- Yikes!

 

It's hard to explain- but for about 10 minutes of my life


I was silent.


Most of you who know me know that is an almost miracle:) 


As we drew closer and closer to the thundering, I felt surrounded by the white-hot majesty  of my Creator, in the horseshoe of His creation.

 In my mind I knew thousands had survived this journey, but in my heart were the words:

 "Really God?  This is flippin outrageous!  I'M GONNA DIE!"

Since I am currently leading a study in the book of Esther in the Old Testament,  her immortal words kept coming to my mind

 "if I perish, I perish." 

Esther was smack in the middle of THE defining moment of her life. She knew it as well as I know the natural color of my hair. Her uncle Mordeci reminded her she was created "for such a time as this" destined to either die, or save her people from extinction. (Esther chapters 4 and 5)



While my defining moment over the weekend in the bowels of the Falls was nothing noble or life saving, it did change me.

I marveled at the splendor of my Creator's creation, of course,

but it was more than that.

I was ready to die.

And all at once I knew there were far worse things than dying.

Knowing that in your life you have never lifted a finger to honor your Jesus, or help humankind.

THAT, my friend, is a far worse fate than death.


Esther knew it.

I know it.

So, as I look back on my fab time in Toronto with my sisters and my ten minutes of  silence, marveling on the Niagara River,  I purposed to do whatever I can to seize the day. 


And You?

Carpe Diem. 



  

Hallmark or Hell?

Life changing events can be life-shattering.  Like the sudden death of a loved one or a natural disaster. 

Life changing events can also be the grooviest-like a marriage or the birth of your first babe.

A couple of months ago now, my  sweetie had major back surgery.  It was pretty life shattering at first- with several complications and severe pain. As time went by his back got better, and thankfully today only a few irritating side effects remain.

He lost a few pounds and is cold much of the time.  With his smokin' hot wife  (in the menopausal way) it's a little difficult for us temp-wise... 3 fans on my side of the bed and 3 blankets on his:)

 Also the Hallmark TV station has become his "go to" spot.


 

 

you know- John Boy Walton, Pa Ingalls, and ALL those  movies like "Love's Valentine"!  He watches it endlessly...

Are you thinking WHAT IN THE CAT HAIR??? 

ME TOO.

This is a guy whose favorite Christmas movies used to be Die Hard and Lethal Weapon. 

His surgery changed him.  No more action movies for him, just schmaltz:) And that's OK.

The other day we were watching an episode of Little House where blind Mary and her blind husband have a stage coach wreck and then a fire almost kills them and the pregnant woman traveling with them. (who is in the process of giving birth) Of course Pa sees the fire from afar and saves them.

 


 As I was scratching my head and wondering is this Hallmark or Hell?

It came to me.

Life changing events change you forever...

Hence the name.


As I am careening at breakneck speed toward that day when I will stand before my Savior and Creator, I worry and wonder.

How many more life changing events will I have?
Will I see my grandkids grow up?
Am I doing enough for my family, my friends, the autistic teenager I work with?
Am I living my life the way my Jesus would have me live it?

If the hardest thing I will have to deal with is watching Hallmark Movies the rest of my life- I am in pretty good shape:)

But I fear there are more life changing events to come for me.

I plan to embrace them with a fervor, and thank my God I am here to have them happen. 

Tomorrow my husband is having a life changing event much more important than back surgery or Hallmark.

He is giving the eulogy in Montana at the Memorial Service for his beloved twin brother Terry. Terry passed away last week,  I pray for Tim's  strength tomorrow, and the same for Terry's sweet wife Betty, and her three grown sons, Mason, Adam, and Andy.

This life changing event has changed us all forever.

Rest in Peace, Terry, we love you.





Terry and Tim 2009

 

The ART of hanging out...

NO

 I am NOT going to talk about the evil of electronics and how no one TALKS face-to-face (in person, I mean) anymore.

 not much anyhow...


There are several lost arts, that as a kid growing up on a farm in Iowa, I pretty much perfected. 



some of these include:

canning 100 quarts of every imaginable vegetable known to man,

moving hogs and cattle home from the far field,

"scooping the loop"  in my little hometown of 556 people,

or going to the county fair & holding hands with a hunny on the ferris wheel.

Most of these joys,  (a blog for anther day)

I fear my grandchildren will never have the opportunity to experience. 

But there is ONE lost art, that CAN happen today with a little effort

 and a rope. 

The ART  of hanging out.

 

 

 

Clothes, that is.

 

 

On a clothesline.

 

 

 Ever heard of it?

 

 

 Growing up on the farm, we had 10 people to do laundry for, and probably washed 4-5 loads a day.  AND no clothes dryer until I was in high school.  So as a kid, we all hung out, in more ways that one.  My little sisters stood on a step stool. 

 

We all hung out together... until it was done.

 

 

Then we had a family baseball game.

 

Actually I have done a little research on this topic, and found that 89% of the world does NOT have electric dryers and "hang out".  In Papua New Guinea we hung  out on bushes:)

 

 

Last week, my son hung out a rope for me between 2 trees. 

 

 

YES, I have a new clothes line.

 

And not the Kardashian kind, the hanging out kind.

 

I am in hog heaven.

 

 

 I don't hang out everything, but am averaging about a load every other day. 

 

 

Glade, Airwick, and everyone else has tried to reproduce that smell... but they cannot.

 

 

NOTHING smells better than freshly dry clothes from a clothesline.....

 

except maybe Heaven?

 

 

 

 

Listen up! (especially you young moms!!!!)

 

WHAT IN THE CATHAIR DO YOU HAVE TO LOOSE?

 

 

1.Get a rope

2.hang it between 2 trees

3.Buy a pkg of clothespins for $1.29

4.Hang out! not everything, just 4-5 items, (pajamas are great)

5.Do this with your kids, and talk to them about the good old days.

6.Hang out, while you are hanging out with your kids...

 7.Ok I admit you may have to kind of HIDE behind your house in the trees, away from the homeowners association narcs:)

 

Speaking of hanging out, my entire family will be together for a few days next month. 

 

We will hang out.

 

 We like to hang out with each other.

 

 

 

It's fun.

 

 

 

So try it.

 

 

Hang out with your family or friends.  Put away the electronics for a couple of days.

 

I will rise up and call you blessed, and

 

 

You may just get a quick glimpse of Heaven.

 

 



 

FOR SHAME! Popcorn ceilings and Formica counter-tops!

Recently my hunny had a major back surgery which kind of forced us to buy a king size bed.  We had been sleeping on a queen for years, but I was afraid of kicking him in the back, so we scraped some cash together, my mom helped us a little, we bit the bullet and got the bed.  Since I bought it off the floor I got $1000 off but getting it home in the back of our  1990  F-150 truck, flapping in the breeze, is another blog for another day:)  



To be quite honest with you I LOVE the king size bed. 

 It is heavenly! 

But it got me fired up about the rest of my house and major improvements that we need.  I looked up at my popcorn 

ceilings, and down and my Formica counter-tops, and heaved an enormous SIGH.

Any self respecting home decor specialist would run screaming ANATHEMA!

Or TSK TSK  me until they are blue in the face...

Popcorn ceilings and formica counter-tops are so last year they reek of 1960.  You know, when the Brady Bunch had that hip house with both. 

Oh yaaaa.... Alice used to scrub that formica countertop til it shined!

Thinking about this immediately put me into a WHAT-IN-THE-CAT-HAIR frenzy of gnashing my teeth and wringing my hands. 

It's true 

My house needs a makeover.  

At best I call it shabby chic:)

In my mom's era, it was the friend who had a gas furnace instead of a hand fired wood furnace in the basement like she did.....

I don't think I have a friend who has popcorn ceilings OR formica counter-tops....Ladies?

A few months ago a good buddy of mine who is a 20-something was telling me about her sis who just bought a house.  

"They are getting some of it re-done before they move in, and getting rid of those god-AWFUL popcorn ceilings!"  

She is really nice, so I did NOT tell her to look up. (she was sitting in my kitchen:)

As I walked through Lowes, and gazed at all the sleek granite counter-tops, it dawned on me that I really don't care.  

I am good with my popcorn ceilings AND formica counter-tops. 

 I might just keep them until Jesus returns. 

Including my gamecock red chicken wire cupboards.

Actually I am almost certain in 10 years they will be all the rage.....

Sometimes I wonder what my women friends in Papua New Guinea, who live in grass huts would think about all this hullabaloo...What in the Cat hair?

When I get to Heaven, it seems to me we will ALL  have fabulous granite counter-tops and smooth as silk ceilings.... 

or better yet we just won't care.

Actually, I care much more about who is coming from Texas to visit me tomorrow!!

The evil cheap-butt? Or extravagant fool?

I admit it I am cheap-butt.

I prefer to call myself "thrifty".

I rarely buy anything at the grocery store or clothing stores for that matter-that is not on sale... big time.    If I have a double off coupon, I am filled with glee.  If it is a SUPER DOUBLE coupon, AND on sale, I chortle loudly in a fiendish way....rolling my fake mustache.

Do ya'll remember Snidley Whiplash?

 

 

 

Weirdo, I know, but I somehow fool myself into believing I have beat the system. Ya know, stuck it to "the man".

 

Being a missionary and living on a missionary income for the last 25 years helps my thriftiness.  I remember when we first came home from overseas I did not allow myself to buy things like garbage bags, using paper grocery bags  in my trash cans instead. I stopped short of re-using paper plates...

 

Yes I am a cheap butt.

 

Sometimes I am smug and judgmental of those I don't think are thrifty enough.  Besides being a cheap butt-

 

I guess I am also a dumb butt. 

 

 

 Because...

 

 I need to Thank my Jesus for the un-cheapness,

 

for the generosity

 

for the extravagance

 

of God's people who have supported financially the Sieges Wycliffe ministry sieges.org

 

 For the last 25 years.  Without them, Tim and I would be more than cheap butts, we would be destitute.

 

The last few months, we have been saving for a new vehicle that we know we desperately need. We just got word yesterday that an extravagant person who does not even know us ( a friend of a friend)  gave us a gift that put us over our goal. 

 

 

 

EXTRAVAGANCE

 

 

When is it ok?

 

We all know God wants us to be wise stewards of what He has given us.  I try to do that.  Last week Tim and I bought our FIRST EVER flat screen TV.  It seemed kind of extravagant to us, but decided it was time.  (Of course it was on clearance)  We only had to call Vizio 3 times to get it set up:)

 

 

 

 

 

It is OK to be extravagant when: 

 

1.God says so

2.Doing something nice for a friend or loved one, just because...

3.Buying "stuff"  for your new baby granddaughter:) 

 

 

 

God's precious love toward us is EXTRAVAGANT.

 

Go ahead, all you cheap butts out there-

 

 just for today:

 

 be a little more like HIM.

 

 

 

#God'sloveisextravagant