Thanksgiving Break

Saturday, Nov 21
4:30 am - Get up
5:46 am - Drive to the airport in the snow with a car full of college students.
6:30 am - Leave Jackson after filling up with gas.
15 hours later - arrive in Leavenworth. It's time for bed!!

Sunday, Nov 22
9:15 am - Meet the Hopkins to ride to church together.
10:00 am - Get distracted during the church service wanting to see everyone that is there.
1:30 pm - Back home for 5 mins, head out to see a friend in Cashmere.
3:00 ish - Go on to Wenatchee to see another friend.
4:30 pm - Meet my friend for a nice chat at Starbucks.
6:00 pm - Another church service. So good to see my people!
7:15 pm - Eating at Dairy Queen with friends from church.
9:30 pm - Visiting Lavon & Nicci.
11:21 pm - Home again. Happy day. :) Time for bed!!

Monday, Nov 23
10:00 am - Walk into town to attempt some Christmas shopping, but to no avail.
11:20 am - Back at home. But running to the store in my car to grab some ingredients for making herb rolls.
11:45 am - Herb rolls starting while I'm eating lunch.
5:30 pm - Rolls are out of the oven just in time to take them hot out the door to Bible study. :)
9:45 pm - Back home, getting to bed. The rolls were a hit and only one couple was missing from Bible study. It was so nice to see everyone. I don't want to have to leave them here! I think my school should move to this valley!

Tuesday, Nov 24
8:30 am - Begin another batch of herb rolls. This one is for the family I'm staying with.
11:20 am - Herb rolls are formed and on their rise, only needing to be baked, but I've got to go meet the Hopkins for lunch. They are hoping to see pictures from Wyoming.
3:25 pm - Leaving the Hopkins after a fun visit. Listening to messages on my phone; I could possibly meet with Christie?!! :) Yep! Off to Sleeping Lady.
4:25 ish - Back home. Have to pack up my stuff to spend the night at Lavon & Nicci's tonight.
5:20 pm - Heading to Wenatchee to get a little running done before seeing more friends.
7:00 ish - At Joy's house for a quick visit. Mandy is sick, but it's good to see everyone anyway.
8:30 ish - Off to see Becky. :)
10:50 pm - Leaving for Lavon & Nicci's. It's definitely time for bed!

Wednesday, Nov 25
8:30 am - Eating granola while talking to Nicci about life.
9:00 am - "Ok, what can I do?"
11:15 am - We take a break from the Thanksgiving prep to go see how the house building is going. It's looking like one! :)
4:30 pm - Most things are done for prep. Tables set, main dishes are made. Just hors d'œuvres and a few odds & ends left.
7:00 pm - Church in Leavenworth. Again, it's so good to see my people again! God is so good to have given them to me.
8:15 pm - Back home again. I need a shower.
9:00 pm - Shower done. Probably should go to sleep, but FB & blogging are calling my name.

Time will have to tell us exactly what the next few days hold. Some plans are; getting my tires rotated on Friday, trying again for some Christmas shopping, changing the oil in my car, going to a Thanksgiving service tomorrow, and enjoying being with my people as much as I can.

Thanks to God for giving us the fellowship of other believers!

How's school going?

That's my new least favorite question! "How's school going?" I usually reply with a generic "good", soon followed by an "I think." Then the person who has asked me the question gets a really funny look on their face....

What's so bad about asking how school is going? Maybe it's that I'm the teacher instead of the student.

When you're the teacher at a Christian school how do you evaluate success? Is it that each of your students is getting a lot of academic work done? Is it when there have been no tears in the classroom? Is it when the day, or week, goes smoothly in the classroom? Is it when you see that the class is bonding and showing better relational skills? Is it when all the girls have memorized the verses for the week?

Putting life into the grand perspective, it's seeing the girls grow in the relationship with and love for God the most important thing that can be accomplished. But is that measured by their ability to memorize Scripture? How much can you tell they have grown in one month?

Looking at it from a pragmatic perspective, my job is to see that the girls learn and achieve academically. Do you measure that by how much work they've gotten done? Or the grades they have received so far? Or do you look for "equal" success across subjects?

What about character? What if someone is getting work done but must be pushed? Or they have done their work with a bad attitude? Can you still give a positive report and say it is going well?

As you can see, the simple question of "How's school?" has now become complicated for me. If you care to ask let me know if you want the long answer or short... Some weeks you may want to be prepared to have a long time.... :)

Because you are

Yesterday's church was great. The climax of the message was that though consequences for sin may have lasting effects in this world, God's forgiveness is forever. The example was Manessah, the king who lead Israel to commit abominations worse than the nations before them (witchcraft, idolatry, child sacrifice, and more). If you read 2 Chronicles 11 you'll notice that God took away the kingdom and sent the Assyrians to capture Manessah. That is when Manessah humbled his heart before God, and God gave him back the kingdom?! Can you imagine? Amazing! God is mind-blowing!

The other wonderful thing was the songs. Specifically, there was one that I had never heard before, but it captured my heart. Just read these lyrics!!

Because You Are
by: Everybodyduck

Verse 1
I can’t feel You like others around me
I don’t feel like kneeling or closing my eyes
Is there something wrong with my heart that I can’t see?
Or do You feel love still when nobody cries?

Verse 2
So I’ll praise You if I never feel You
And I’ll love You ‘cause I know You’re there
And if You should choose I’m sure one day I’ll feel it
But feeling good’s never the reason I cared

Chorus
Father, I praise You because You are
Jesus, I love You because You are
Spirit, I worship You because You are
And if no one can see that Your love’s moving me
I worship You still and forever will
Because You are

Verse 3
‘Cause I know in my heart how bad I want to touch You
You must sense this love my soul barely contains
No lack of desire in this desert to worship
I keep singing skyward, it just never rains.

Listen to the music here. Let me know if you want the guitar chords! :)

Walk before Me

This morning I read from the devotional Days of Praise produced by Institute for Creation Research. The theme verse was Genesis 17:1.

"I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect."

The entire devotional is only about 4 paragraphs long. Below is the thought that stood out to me most.

"In Genesis 17:1, the phrase could well be translated "walk, looking at my face." The first commandment, could also be translated "don't let any other god get between your face and my face." '

The rest of the devotional is here: http://www.icr.org/articles/type/6/

May we all set our face on Him and let nothing come between!

Please have patience with me as I attempt to form a blog that will be suitable for documenting my life in the next few years. As is obvious, you never know where I will be, and I would like to get this blog into an order that will be ready for whatever changes lie ahead in the coming years.