Doing The Christian Thing

I admit, I have trouble doing the Christian thing.  Sometimes when going through the motions at church or listening to klove,  I have doubts.  What if this is all something we've made up?  

But then every day when I spend time with God, He becomes very real to me.  He reminds me of all the things He's done for me and ways He's answered my prayers that can't be explained any other way.  I know deep inside myself that He's real.  

I have a hard time exploding this to others.  I have a hard time just telling others about why they should accept Him and it sounds so trite.  He means so much to me in such a personal way that I can't really put into words for others.  So I just pray for people who don't know Him like I do.  I pray that He shows Himself to them like He has to me.  His promises are real.  

My verse today is Exodus 19:4 You yourselves have seen what I did in Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles wings and brought you to myself. 

 He has carried me so many times.  He brought me to Himself.  He works in me and through me every day.  He works miracles in my life and in the lives of others around me.  He accepts me and loves me even though He knows things about me that no one else knows.  He keeps His promises, promises to give me strength and hope and courage and joy.  

It isn't anything to do with going through the Christian things like going to church or listening to Christian music.  It's a personal relationship with a very real God.  

Christmas 2014

Christmas Eve day, yesterday, we drove to Topeka to pick up Julie, then on to Aberdeen to visit Dad.  We had brunch in the dining room then geek a nap and watched Family Feud with Dad then drove home.  Leah and David arrived shortly after.  We ate pizza and cheesecake and played Pandemic.

This morning unlike many Christmas mornings, we took our time getting up and around.  Leah and Julie and I had coffee and orange Danish, a family tradition and took our showers.  We got the boys up and opened presents, practical gifts this year.  Leah and David got a crock pot and socks.  Joel got a watch, a tile to help him find his wallet, copies of his car keys and a magnetic box for his keys.  Scott got an electric toothbrush.  The dogs got new collars.

The rest of the day was spent playing games, resting, preparing a feast, and relaxing, oh, and eating, a Christmas must.  

I made some new recipes for Christmas dinner and they turned out ok.  Smoked brisket, twice baked mashed potatoes, spinach, apple and cranberry salad with creamy poppyseed dressing, crescent rolls, and cherry crunch dessert.  

Christmas This Year

Our Bible study group is studying counter cultural Christmas, in other words, the true meaning of Christmas.   Then we've had sermons about it. And I even got an email with this picture which I posted on Facebook.

 Our culture has made Christmas about hurrying to buy a bunch of presents and decorate and wrap gifts and bake and eat and stress out.  I used to do it all.  I've always felt something was missing.  

When you look back over the special Christmasses you've had, it really isn't about any of those things.  For me, it's been about worship.  And fun, relaxing times with the family.  

So this year, I'm trying to do only those things I feel led to do.  I want to let people know how special they are to me.  I want to slow down and see what God wants me to see.  I want to spend time with people.  I want to spend time thinking about Christmas, the birth of our savior.  God came here to be with us, to let us know we are special and that He loves us so much.  He came to make a way for us to be with Him forever.  I want to rediscover the true meaning of Christmas.

I Love Saturdays

Saturdays are so great!  I get extra sleep, quality and quantity coffee time with God, then I make my to do list and grocery lists.   By Saturday night the fridge and cupboards are full, the house is clean, laundry is done, I've had a nap, time with Adelle, reading time, and then I get to crawl into clean sheets ready for church tomorrow!  

Sorry It's Been So Long!

Whew!  Been awhile since I wrote!  Catching you up:

Thanksgiving was at our house and it was a lovely and relaxing time.  I kept the dinner simple on purpose just to keep the stress low.  Mom and Dave came the night before as did Leah and David!  On Thanksgiving we were joined by Alexis, Jeff and Jake, and Jon and his friend.  We feasted and played games, of course.  

Joel has come home for awhile to recoup til he gets a job in his field or money starts coming in from games.  He drove straight through to get home and it was awesome to be awakened at 6am on a Sunday morning with a tap then a hug.  

Work is good. Crazy stuff happens on a regular basis.  I like having Scott there so we can support one another.  He doesn't love his job but knows he's doing good here and there where he can.  

TRU is going well.  New families and good attendance on a regular basis.  

Some good news and sad news with Homestead.  A few weeks ago, we received word that one of our previous gals died of a heroin overdose.  Her name was Shannon.  She loved Jesus but just couldn't break out of the prostitution and drug addiction.  I loved her.  I had kept up with her on Facebook.  She had recently been reaching out, wanting  to come back to Homestead.  There aren't a lot of options out there for these gals.  There needs to be more Christian drug treatment centers and rescue facilities.  Even then the statistics aren't good. Similar to domestic violence as best we can tell.  Ours is the next step, transition into society.  

But the good news for Homestead is that we have two more graduates!  One of the gals from Detroit who had been working the streets, addicted to drugs, was rescued by an FBI agent and sent to us.  She loves Jesus with all her heart and He has healed her.  She is moving back home and gets her precious children back.  The other gal is a young gal who was pretty much taken hostage by a much older man in Kansas City and was addicted to meth and being groomed for trafficking.  A friend recognized the danger and sent her to us.  She, too, has been healed by Christ.  Both these girls completed apprenticeships and are ready to be out on their own.  Both are such precious people and I feel honored to have gotten to know them and walk alongside them on their journeys.

Adelle turned 19 last weekend.  We had a little birthday lunch for her at Pizza Hut.  She now has a case manager at Big Lakes.  Not sure what that means exactly other than we now have additional help in getting Adelle ready to move out of her parents home and either pursue an education or work.  She is still at high school and through school, she sacks groceries in a grocery store in town.  It's been a big adjustment for her but she doing ok.  

Adelle also likes going with us to TRU.  Here she is getting her worship on:

Diego is holding at 35 pounds.  He is calming down and responding to training so the craziness has lessened.  I still have hope he can be a therapy dog at out school but he has some quirks that are going to have to go away.  He doesn't like detain sounds and when he encounters them, he goes berserk!  

I'm still working out at the gym about 4 nights per week.  I put on a couple pounds over Thanksgiving that I can knock off.  Oh well.

That's pretty much it!  

Out Of The Ordinary

What have I done lately that was out of the ordinary day to day things I do?

Couple of weeks ago, we had a ministry fair at church.  I'm on the Welcome Committee.  Well, as of last Sunday, I'm in charge of the welcome committee.

Scott and I went to a k-State football game.

We got Diego neutered.  It was supposed to calm him down.  Didn't.

This week we are having Angela Dicostanza and her friend Rhoda stay here.  I enjoyed the weekend with just the girls very much.  We've been to Chipoltle, a walk, the movie, and played dominoes.

We went to a family get together at Ronnie's last weekend and saw the fam.  Did t take pics, sorry.

A few weeks ago I took Diego over to Alexis' for a play date.

The weekend before that I went to the Wstmoreland jail to visit our friend, Bryce.  Didn't take pictures of that, either.  

Other than that, life at Eisenhower middle school and the Clark abode goes on as usual.  

What's new with you?

Hanging out with Adelle

As many of you know, I hang out with my friend, Adelle, every week.  Adelle is 18 years old and has autism.  Because of the autism, Adelle has difficulty sorting out and following social "norms". But the longer I hang out with Adelle, the more I wonder, what is normal social behavior?  When I'm with Adelle, we sing at the top of our lungs, clap our hands, throw our rock fists in the air and we don't really care who hears.  Adelle talks to herself in public and speaks in a friendly way to anyone nearby.   Adelle loves to eat sugar and carbs and other food that is bad for you.  She wants to be friends with everyone.  She's sent Facebook friend requests to everyone at Manhattan High.  I tell her she needs to only send those requests to close friends and she says, yeah, they are!  If she wants to bounce in a bouncy house or be sprayed down by the fireman's hose at the zoo, or play at the splash park squealing with delight when the buckets dump on her head, who is to say she's the one in the wrong because it isn't "normal"? Maybe we are the ones who have it wrong.  

By the way, I had Adelle read this and she smiled and gave me permission to post it.  

Joel and Mike

I am really enjoying having the boys here.  They appreciate the meals and the Mom and Dad time.  It's so nice not to have to worry about them!

Some highlights:

One of the first nights here, it thunder stormed.  Mike had never experienced one and Joel misses them.  When the storm was winding up, Mike and I sat out on the patio.  We moved inside for the biggest part then after the lights went out, we went back out and sat on the patio.  Several of Joel's other friends joined us and the guitar was brought out, also.

One night we played Settler's of Katan on the back deck.  

We drove through the scenic bypass listening to great music, Springsteen... On the way to the lake.  And Shari was there!

Yesterday Joel and Mike came to Eisenhower and had kids play test their game then talked to the computer classes.  It was so fun having them there!  Some of my favorite kids really got into it.

Last weekend Leah came home and we had fun.  Found Joel some shoes at R and R thrift store.  

Of course we went to Chipotle and nephew Jon joined us.

I enjoyed watching the boys work together on their game.  They collaborate well and the process is interesting.  

It's great that Diego hasn't had to be in his kennel much and the boys help in training him.  Mike encourages him to give kisses.  Oh well.  

Today I caught a cicada to show Mike.  He'd never seen one.  

We've been to orange leaf several times.  Love that stuff!  It's easy to please these guys.

Sorry I haven't taken more pictures.

Pringo Dingo at Home

Joel, who has been without a place to live in LA for over five weeks, ran out of money.  It's been so hard as a Mom to have him be homeless.  He is putting in tons of resumes and working with his buddy, Mike on finishing Paparrazzi, the video game that will be released on Playstation 4 when it is done.  There are several more exciting things happening right around the corner for Pringo Dingo games.  So after praying for him and asking others to do the same, it came to us to have both he and Mike come to Manhattan for awhile to work on the game.  

Last night, I went to Wichita to pick them up at the airport!  I stopped by and had dinner with Leah (German food at the Breadbasket) and did a little geocaching and went for a walk then picked them up at 9:20.  We went back by Newton so Joel and Leah could say hi.  Leah and David and his family have purchased a super cool store in downtown Newton, Prairie Harvest, and were doing inventory.  Prairie Harvest is a natural foods store and gift shop.  It sells local and homemade and health food items, novelties, and even has a small natural foods cafe.  It is so fun!  I want everything in there!  I really like their natural peanut butter.  They make the peppernuts that they had on the tables at the wedding.

We got back to town at midnight.  I like having Mike here, too, and it will be fun to share Kansas with him as he's never been here before.  We are looking forward to thunderstorms tonight and then Lake Wabaunsee tomorrow.

Right now, there is game designing going on in the room along with a fantasy football draft. I'm surrounded by males, Joel, Mike, Scott, Andy, and two male dogs.  Time to make everyone a snack I suppose.

Adelle'sBaptism

This summer we took Adelle with us to a TRU gathering at a friend's house.  Pastor Dave was talking about a Baptism ceremony coming up.  Adelle said she wanted to get baptized.  I just sort of let it go. 

A couple of weeks later, I took Adelle to watch a friend be baptized.  Adelle wanted to do it that day!  

Then a few weeks ago, she went to church with us.  She sang and worshipped and listened to every word.  Then she said again she wanted to be baptized.  So last weekend she went through the class with Pastor Dave after church.  I went over the children's baptism pamphlet with her and asked her some questions and she seemed to really understand.  We created a Facebook event and she invited some friends and family.  Then on Sunday, she did it!  I picked her up and we spent some time at the house, then we went out to the ceremony at Lake Elbo.  I'd never been out there and it was really fun!  Everyone brought food and we sat on picnic tables and worshipped.  Pastor Dave and Sarah and the worship team sang some songs, Pastor Pat talked, then each person who was to be baptized said a sentence or two about why they wanted to be baptized.  Adelle said she wanted to show her commitment to God.  Some of the kids were really articulate and it was really sweet.  Icing on the cake:  Alexis did it too!  Her brother, Jake, was getting baptized and I didn't know Alexis was!  So cool!  

I was worried about the actual logistics as Adelle doesn't like water on her face.  She seemed really nervous before it but determined.  Her friend Liz came and that helped a lot.  Adelle's family didn't come due to the heat which was disappointing.  When it was her turn, Adelle went out into the water quickly.  Pastor Dave had said that I could help baptize her, such an honor!  We got out there, got in place, and she did it!  Everyone cheered!  

School Has Started

So this school year has started with the usual stuff...meetings(which were more interesting this year), Camp Dewy(what, we have some nice kids?), helping new staff get on their feet, and the first day of helping the 7th graders find their way and get their lockers open...  This is my 13th year at middle school, I believe, and I think my 26th year in education.  But this year, a new twist!

Scott is working at my school!  It's strange but fun!  I keep forgetting he is there and then he'll walk by or I'll hear his voice.  He is going to be the in school suspension supervisor with other general,supervision duties.  It doesn't pay well and no benefits until next year, but it's a paycheck!  I obviously love my job so it's fun to share it with him.  We rode to work together this morning and will most mornings.  I told him today that Hannah rode to school,at Eisenhower, then Leah and Anna, then Joel, and now him!  He helped me with some things today, too.

Admin staff this year:

Fun!

Wedding Itself

We got out to the land and everything came together.  I was stressed a bit but it was fun to welcome the guests in the tent as they arrived.  Then the time came.  We all met in the wedding party tent and Leah and David pinned corsages on Terri and I.  The wedding party went off toward the chairs and Leah and Scott and I were alone,for,a minute.  It was interesting dodging tall grass, cow hoof prints and cow patties to make our way over to the wedding.  My emotions were swirling.  I was mostly focused on not falling but I was also incredibly proud and honored to walk with Leah down the aisle.  Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined walking her down the aisle.  

I remember hugging David and then Leah and sitting down for the welcome then standing up for the blessing.  When Terri and Greg spoke, I started crying.  I don't remember details but I remember that their words were personal and meaningful.  Scott prayed and I squeezed his hand as he was nervous but did well and it was touching and he said all the right things.

The wedding words were amazing.  The reflection was perfect and captured Leah and David's personalities and the specialness of the wedding being on the prairie and on David's families' land.  The songs were also beautiful and made me cry.  I sobbed most of the way through the wedding although Joel kept laughing at me and that made me laugh.  Hannah's face was covered with tears the whole time.  I really sobbed when Ruth read the verse from Ephesians as it is the verse I pray for the kids often.  

Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. (Ephesians 3:17-19 NLT)

The reception was really fun.  It was difficult to get quality time with the family and with all the special people who came.  Leah's grandparents all sat together, our bible study friends came, and Tracy, Marvin and Alexis and Jeff came.  Shari brought her family and Reggie and Micheala came.  Courtney and her kids were there.  And of course, Kathy was there.  Leah had a picture taken with her four moms, me, Terri, Kathy, and her Mojos boss and friend, Patty.

We ate and mingled and took pictures and spent a long time out of the beautiful patio overlooking the pond.  I had a great conversation with Ruth.  

After cleaning and packing up, we went back to the Flying W and stayed late.  I had a great time.  Leah's friends are so fun.  Hannah and Joel were in rare form.  I don't know when I have laughed so hard.  

I think some of the reason I felt so emotional all weekend is of course, being with Hannah and Joel because I miss them so much.  But also having the kids together and having Anna and Kathy there and thinking about all the amazing times we all had when the kids were growing up.  And thinking about how special David's family is and how Leah is joining that family and we are now a part of their family too.  They are truly amazing people.  It means so much to know Leah has a whole other family to support and love her.  And what great people Leah and David are.  I got to really know their friends better and see what a terrific life they have and will have.  And to really get to know David better and to truly see how very much he loves Leah.  He worked so hard and I know without a doubt he will take a amazing care of her.  

I still don't feel like I'm able to put into words all the emotions I experienced through this wedding weekend.  It was a precious time and I will savor these memories forever.  

more Wedding Reflections

The rehearsal dinner was at the Flying W.  When we arrived, the food had been out out buffet style and people were eating at picnic tables outside.  It was pretty informal and enjoyable.  Eventually everyone did introduce themselves and Hannah and the best man gave speeches.  Hannah told funny stories about how she mistreated Leah all her life and then said she looks up to,Leah because of the awesome choices she makes including choosing David.

The rest of the evening was spent talking with David's family and getting to know them better and reminiscing with the kids and Anna.  I am failing at putting into words how enjoyable it was to socialize with all of Leah and David's friends and family.  Most of the kids got into he hot tub.  Maggie and her new husband played some music.  

I loved spending precious time with the kids.  They are so witty and fun and just good people.  

Sunday morning we got up and had a leisurely breakfast and got showered and went to Camp Wood to set up for the reception.  Camp Wood is a YMCA camp and was an amazing facility for the reception.  There was so much to do but everyone pitched in.

Leah handmade such careful plans and everything was so beautiful! 

We then went back to Flying W to get changed for the wedding and the girls took special care helping Leah get ready.

One special memory is when everyone was ready, we went over to the other cabin where David had gotten ready and he was on the side porch having his picture taken.  Scott and I were with Leah and no one else was there.  I loved the look on David's face when he saw his bride.  One thing the wedding weekend solidified for me, is how special of a relationship Leah and David have.  They have a special friendship and love.  Some of the photos capture that well.