Category Archives: Day to Day

I just finished one run from the soccer pitch at Prime Minister’s park to the Warehouse where Grace dances.  Poor Grace – she had to sit on the bench since she missed too many soccer practices.  She needed to be at dance by 5:00 and since Sara was still playing, I had to return to the field after dropping Grace off.  Then I ended up missing Sara who forgot that I was driving a borrowed vehicle and didn’t see me waiting. Then when I went to look for her, she and I missed each other. 

One of my first priorities tonight is to package up the grad photos and the recording of Patricks performance in June.  There is other stuff too that we are sending out with Greg as he heads off to the Congo tomorrow.

Greg was over at my office for a few minutes this afternoon with his mother who works for me.  We were giving him last minute advice about what to expect for meals when he gets there and reminding him to pack enough immodium.  I think he is a bit nervous and I know his mom is. 

Greg is going to get the full immersion version of intercultural experience.  He is going to live with the father of the boys who live with us.  Going into a culture that is going to be completely strange, and he is not going to have a bunch of back-up missionary staff support.  Just us at home praying for him and a good reliable and trustworthy contact person in Dr. Kongawi.  But the language is going to be a major barrier and I warned him that he is going to feel like a complete idiot reverting to not being able to communicate except through another person (Dr. Kongawi).  It is a humbling experience to be without language.

And then we have the little problem of the border with the Central African Republic and the Congo being closed to crossings at Zongo/Bangui.  Could use some prayer as he goes since he can fly in to the city of Gemena but it will cost and he has no surplus of funds to pay for a charter flight even from MAF(Missionary Aviation Fellowship).

I told Greg that if he experiences nothing else, he will experience God’s provision and he will learn to rely on God for that.

There was a terrible accident yesterday on Hwy 55 just east of town.  A school bus stopped to let some kids off and a pulp haul truck failed to stop for the line up of four vehicles stopped behind the bus.  The semi pretty much went over the last car in the line-up and so died a woman, a friend of ours since we began working at the Co-operative Health Centre. 

She was just beginning her retirement after being active in launching many good community projects.  She worked with me as we set up the School Based Dental Pilot Project then went on to help start Child/Mothers Futures Project and other such programs as the Community Against Family Violence, etc.  She leaves behind a legacy of working to improve the social programs in our community.  She lived life well.

Today was one of those just pretty ordinary get up go to work kind of days.  Except that it was very busy and it was just the kind of day when it would be nice to get a break to step outside for a bit to enjoy the sun and beautiful weather.

Last week I made the mistake of requesting something from God.  You see our finances have been pretty well stretched what with having three kids we are helping to put through university, and our other kids with their own particular needs that seem to suck our wallets dry.  And our kids needs are not the only ones we have staking a claim on the funds at our disposal.  There are all the usual bills and obligations. 

So we had pretty much drained the well.  Now it would be nice to win the lottery and all but not very realistic.  God seems to like to work in more mundane ways – like having us work for our daily wage.  So I brought the fact that we were kind of getting to the bottom of our resources to Gods attention.  Actually I think he already knew but wanted me to tell him.  So I did.  More specifically, I asked him not for a lottery win but just for our production at the office to meet our needs.

So I really can’t complain when now I am too busy to get out of the office at noon.  I asked for it! 

Maybe next time I should try asking for the lottery thing and take a holiday!  🙂

This morning was just too beautiful.  What a gift at this time of the year.  26 degrees yesterday and today just as nice.  Before heading off to practice for worship, I went for a long walk on the riverbank.  It seemed a better place to talk to God than from the shelter of my home. 
 
Maybe with a look out from my front yard, you can see why.  The colours were gorgeous, the air was warm enough not to need mittens, and the sun was just coming up.  I love mornings like this and I guess when one knows what kind of weather is coming – all too soon – one savours days like this.

The world around me is doing an excellent job of “declaring God’s glory”.

Thank you God  for this gift.

O Lord God Almighty!
Where is there anyone as mighty as you, Lord?
Faithfulness is your very character.

You are the one who rules the oceans.
When your waves rise in fearful storms, you subdue them.
You are the one who crushed the great sea monster.
You scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours;
Everything in the world is yours – you created it all.
You created north and south.
Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon praise your name.

Powerful is your arm!
Strong is your hand!

May God’s strong arm be around and protecting all of you today.  I’m glad I can rely on this powerful God to be beside me today ’cause I’m off to the operating room.  There is always a certain tension working in the OR.  Rush, rush, rush.  So much to do and only so much time.

If you walked by the backdoor of our office, you might wonder what is the cause for the bursts of hysterical laughter coming from the room.  Don’t worry!  It’s just Judy trying to master the fine but ancient skill of knitting.   Lesley is one step ahead, just having finished her first dish cloth.  Kathy is getting good!  She whips off those dish cloths like nothing.  In fact she brought me two this morning in exchange for a book on stitches that I picked up at a gargae sale. 

I learned to knit when I was in about grade 3 or 4 in 4-H when we lived down in Hillsview, Oregon.  My mother was the leader for the group so I learned to knit with her own particular idiosyncracies – it makes it a bit harder for me to teach someone from a book.  Since I have actually knit several sweaters in the past, I seem to have become the expert.  I think all that really means is that I have made all the mistakes you can make so I know how to correct them and (hopefully) not make them again.  (And I know where to find the secret code that makes up most of the instructions) 

Helping two left handed people learn to knit is a bigger challenge than I thought.  It is hard to sit there and watch without falling off my chair as I double over with laughter.  –  Judy, you don’t have to pull the wool so tightly! The needles were turning blue!  Loosen up!

I don’t knit much any more since it provoked my symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome.  When I had to get some disability insurance, I found out that my right wrist was no longer insurable.  I had received some physio for my wrist when I first started to have some of the carpal tunnel problems.  It’s been well over 5 years since then so I’m insurable again.  But I have learned to be careful.  My wrists are attached to my hands with which I work. 

Psalm 7: 6

      Arise, O Lord, in anger!
      Stand up against the fury of my enemies!
      Wake up, my God, and bring justice!

David seemed to have no problems talking to God this way.  So I guess God understands when we get angry when we are desperate and when we have had enough.

I was there at that point again yesterday.  A call from a desperate child – and I can understand why but I am at the moment unable to come to her assistance with more than an encouraging word and a promise of what help I can give from a distance.  So I call out to God. 

Then I get home and want to talk but the opportunity doesn’t arrive and the TV is on.  So when I want to talk I become an annoyance and my needs don’t get heard or understood.  So I call out to God.

I am really glad God isn’t too busy or watching TV or talking to someone else so I can’t butt in.  He listens.

And He acts.  He is not sleeping or too tired himself to listen.

God, 
Thank you for listening to me yesterday, so that before I even asked you were working on it.  Even when I couldn’t see that you were.  Thanks for how you change desperation into hope.  Sorry I get so impatient and so angry for thinking somehow that you aren’t doing anything.  My trust in you grows God but it is still such a little thing.

So here we go again, Lord.  A new day.  Thanks for the reminder yesterday that you are with me and acting, not sleeping.

Amen

Autumn Morning

The sun edges its way over the pines, green still,

Over the river,

Where mists hover like ghosts.

And the grass

Strewn with day old leaves,

Glistens with new frost.

In the space of a week the colors have gone

From green to the

Gold and red of shortened days.

Leaves cling

Defying the northern wind

That will strip them to earth.

Branches like old hags fingers reach skyward, 

Stark and grey.

Stripped of their colored robes

Like Joseph.

Praying for a soft snow

To blanket their naked limbs.

I very much enjoy playing for the worship at church but since I am not that great a recorder player, I need the practice.  We didn’t have time to practice earlier in the week due to the congregational meeting on our practice night.  So going early to church was not an option for me.  I felt like I needed all the practice I could get.  It is different practicing by myself and practicing with the band.

Thanks Randall for the teaching about hope.  I was reminded while you spoke of the passage from the Psalms – actually it is repeated several times I think – essentialy asking “where else is there to turn?”.  I especially like the words from Psalm 39 verse 7:
    “And so, Lord, where do I put my hope?
     My only hope is in you.”
For me this hope helps me keep things in perspective – trying to place a higher value on the things that will essentially last forever and other stuff that is only good for the here and now.

The afternoon was jam packed full of things to do, starting with a baby shower for Annette and Kieran at Annette’s auntie’s house.  

I was only there for a short while when off I went to join the group of women with whom I am beginning to look at the book by Phillip Yancy, The Jesus I Never Knew.  This was great.  I think we will have a good time studying the book and sharing other parts of our lives too.  And we met today at the best coffee house in Prince Albert – Shananagins – so we had good coffee and tea too.

Then out to Par Place.  This is a unique gathering place.  Nestled in a bit of the Nesbit Forest, there is a meeting place with a fireplace (and for today a hot tub) besides volleyball and trampoline equipment.  This was Sara’s soccer team wind-up.  Lots of good food, good beer if you like that stuff(Diet Coke is my drink of choice next to good strong coffee)  and lots of pop, ice cream and cake.  There was so much food left at the end that you might think it had been blessed and multiplied!

The usual year end gifts were handed out to the coaches and manager.  The nicest thing was when each of the girls on the team came in carrying a single red rose and presented them one by one to the manager.  She really merited them.  It was great to have another mother take so much of her time to work with our girls.  When I am so busy myself it makes me very thankful for other women who give of their time so willingly to help my daughter achieve her best.

Then each of the girls was given a silver medal by the representative from the SSA who had come up for the evening.  To top it off, the girls received copies of all the pictures taken of them during the year besides a great team photo.

By the end of the evening the girls were having a wild time.  The music was loud and one of the girls, normally pretty shy, began to dance and then the girls started doing some karaoke.  They got less and less shy till we parents had to drag them away from their great time and take them home.  A great wind-up to a memorable season!   

It sure is easy to get a teenaged child angry.  Just say “no” to something they want to do and there she blows.  The thing is that sometimes there is nothing else to do.  No other options – that are reasonable.  But it leaves me worn out and just about as grumpy as she is. 

The week has consisted of  a school dance on Thursday, the first late night; an overnight soccer trip for the high school team, second late night; then she hardly gets home from the trip and she wants to go out.  And I know that going out does not mean going to her friends house so they can get to sleep early! 

She is partly mad because her birthday is this week and so she figures that this should have been her weekend to celebrate.  I thought that she had arranged a party for the coming weekend but it turns out she has another soccer tournament trip then too. 

She says most of her friends don’t want to come over because they would rather go to their other parties where they can do stuff.  What kind of stuff?  Well lets just say that not the stuff I think these kids should be doing!  So I guess we just live in dullsville – and we aren’t planning on moving. 

I think she could choose friends that would at least be loyal enough to her to want to come to her birthday party.  But my opinion is definately not wanted right now.

This is the part of being a parent that really sucks!