November 23, 2010 · 10:18 pm

Of KFC and Sunday School Curriculum

Today has been full of busy work.  Good stuff to do but the day seems too short by the end – Bread ministry, staff meeting, School volunteering, picking up grandkids, another meeting tonight. 

The longest part of the day may have been the half hour wait to pick up some KFC.  I had the kids with me and it seemed like a good idea at the time. Till we had waited over half an hour by the time we got to the window to pay and pick up food only to be informed that if we wanted to we could wait another 15 minutes and then our order might be ready.  Seemed a bit much so I declined and headed over to another chicken joint where we got our chicken and were home within 15 minutes.  May be the last time I line up at KFC.  Meanwhile the kids were super about the long wait in the car and were happily playing with each other.  They were very hungry though when we did sit down to eat.  Cleaned up their plates in no time.

At the meeting tonight we took on cleaning out a cupboard at the church.  Sent a lot of really outdated Sunday School material to the recycle bin.  Chucked a few vinyl records of someone telling stories and singing the choruses to go with the lessons.  Really dated stuff.  But there is some good stuff there too.  We just do not have the number of kids of all ages to use the material but if anyone could use it – I would love to pack it up and ship it off to someone who would use it.  We have some stuff by Groups, Hands on Bible Curriculum. 1997 that is still very usable.  Curriculum plus learning labs full of active things to do.  From toddler to Grades 5/6.  Say the word, give me an address to ship it to and it is yours!  It is not getting any younger!

We also have a couple of sets of curriculum for use with mentally challenged adults – very good stuff.  We don’t have a need for this right now and would love to share it with anyone who needs this.

And that has been my day.  Tomorrow I will be trying to put together a power point presentation to use at our church’s mortgage burning banquet on Dec. 5.  Why didn’t people take more pictures back then?   I may have to get creative and take random pictures of construction sites!

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November 17, 2010 · 12:28 am

It’s been a bit of a long day

and now it seems as if  sleep eludes me.  So here I sit at the computer fiddling with my header and such.

First news this morning was that oldest son had rolled his vehicle on his way to a town about 4 hours from PA.  Made me very concerned for him as well as for my own travels home from Alberta. 

But he is OK, spending the night in hospital though.  I guess it is prudent for a hospital to make sure the young lawyer is adequately observed so as to avoid any pesky questions later.  He does have a broken collarbone and I guess is pretty sore. 

My trip home was uneventful.  There were some slippery sections along the way but nothing my trusty tires couldn’t handle.  And I really did not want to put them to the test so I was careful.

Made it back in good time for tonight’s council meeting.  Maybe that is what left me sleepless – not that it wasn’t good but sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed at the things there are that must be done.  Oh, volunteers, where are you?

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November 15, 2010 · 5:03 pm

Morning colour

There really is nothing better than visiting friends in the field.  I am always refreshed – body and soul.

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The first morning I woke up to a beautiful display of colour.  I think God must live in the area.

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November 7, 2010 · 3:05 pm

We Remember

The other day in the pet store I had my arms full of special goodies for my Koi that are now residing in a small (10L) aquarium for the winter.  The alternative to this kind of crowded existence was death by freezing so I figure they have it pretty good.  However, the aquarium was getting sort of polluted and I decided that I’d also better invest in some kind of creature to destroy the algae.  I was sort of thinking snails but it seems that there are fish that do this job.  Not cheap fish either.  So I was shelling our $15 for one little black sucker and also grabbed some more filters and a piece of driftwood from some exotic country.  The walking encyclopaedia of fish knowledge  salesperson assured me that if there was insufficient algae, the algae eater would also derive some nutrition from the wood.  Now my aquarium is home to 6 Koi and one black algae eater, three rocks and one hunk of driftwood.  The water is now clear enough to see all these fish through the glass thanks to one little black fish.  Amazing.

While I was at the till making my purchases, a girl of about 8 years was fiddling with the display of poppies on sale for Remembrance Day.  She must have been in the store with an adult who had disappeared or who may have dropped her off for a fun time there while they shopped nearby for more adult toys.  (It is right next door to Future Shop)  She was just hanging around the till and looked a bit bored.  She looked up at me (I was wearing a poppy) and asked, “What are these for?”  I was at first a bit stunned.  Didn’t she go to school?  Don’t they teach kids anything in school anymore? Maybe she is one of those kids who doesn’t listen?  How could she not know what the poppies were for?  So I explained to her that they were to help us remember the people who had fought and died in the great wars so that we could live in a safe country in freedom.  She heard the “war” word and immediately asked if they were evil?  I assured her that no, they actually believed that they were fighting against evil in those wars. 

But, Oh dear.  I am not sure she got it at all.  She was muttering “evil” under her breath as she wandered off.

And perhaps she is partly correct.  All war is evil, even for the good causes.  Peace between all is how God intended humankind to live.  But I guess we have managed to mess that plan up fairly well.  So we have wars.  People fight for the rightness of some cause or government.  And much pain is experienced by both sides in the process.  Sometimes, I suppose, it is necessary to fight for what is right, to keep evil at bay.  Someday we may learn to settle things without resorting to war but meanwhile… 

Until then we must not forget the gift of freedom others long ago fought for, for the many soldiers who have died to maintain peace in far off places, and all the innocents that died in the crossfire.  We must remember and pray to God for better ways for nations to work things out, for God’s love for others to control our leaders decisions and for an end to cruelty and hatred for people different from ourselves.

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Filed under Day to Day, Reflections

October 30, 2010 · 5:33 pm

Country Store

The women at our church go all out for a bake and craft sale once a year in the fall winter.  It was a frosty day but the sale went on and here are a few pictures.IMG_2794

Getting ready and then the crowds came.  The soup was good and we had a fun day.

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It is always about this time of the year that I swear that  for next year I will have gotten my act in gear and made some crafty little stuff.  However… I usually end up buying lots and not getting much made.  Next year…

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October 30, 2010 · 8:45 am

Wisdom

From Proverbs 8 (ESV)

22 "The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work,
   the first of his acts of old.
23Ages ago I was set up,
   at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
24When there were no depths I was brought forth,
   when there were no springs abounding with water.
25Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth,
26before he had made the earth with its fields,
   or the first of the dust of the world.
27When he established the heavens, I was there;
   when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
28when he made firm the skies above,
   when he established the fountains of the deep,
29when he assigned to the sea its limit,
   so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
30then I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his delight,
   rejoicing before him always,
31 rejoicing in his inhabited world
   and delighting in the children of man.

And from John 1:1-5

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

It is hard to entertain new names for God.  And yet Wisdom is not exactly a new name.  My theology prof recommended reading these two passages together as a devotional reading.  So I did and as I read, I also read with the hope behind the words of Proverbs 8: 17  “I love those who love me,  and those who seek me diligently find me.”

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Filed under Quotes, Reading, Reflections, Studying, Theology

October 26, 2010 · 7:03 am

Two Old Men

I sit beside two
Old men
Who talk.
The value of words
And music
Can’t be overestimated
Among the young,
Their students.
And my listening
In?
Does it count as
Eavesdropping?
Or is it only my
Wishing for company
And finding it
In the overhearing?

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Filed under Poetry and Stuff, Reflections

October 25, 2010 · 9:51 pm

Pictures of PEI trip

I didn’t take nearly so many pictures as in Europe and the weather was not nearly as warm.  I did manage to head out into the country on the last day we spent in PEI, rented a car and spent the morning driving north to the St Laurence coast, up to Naufrage (Shipwreck Point)

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and then across the island to the south coast which is on the Atlantic. 

A set has been made and you are welcome to enjoy the view and the fall colours simply by clicking here.

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October 21, 2010 · 3:01 pm

Charlottetown

We arrived on this quaint island last night.  It took four flights to get here.  All day.  About half the time flying and half the time waiting in airports.  The last leg of the trip was in a Dash 8.  My first time and it was kind of fun to fly close enough to the ground to see the terrain as we flew over, although it was getting almost too dark to see much.

Today Leo has been in his conference all day.  And I have been doing what any good wife does while her husband is busy in meetings.  I shopped.  I found myself some wide and comfy shoes, some used books, a new purse to replace the one that ripped on the way here (how convenient eh?  :)) and a cute little red sweater to wear over my black dress to the banquet tomorrow night.  I also found a place that serves the most wonderful breakfasts – Cora’s.  I had seven different kinds of fruit besides the eggs Benedict and homemade hash browns. 

Now my feet are sore and we are supposed to be meeting the CSAM crew at some pub or other for “supper”. 

I have only one picture to eventually display but tomorrow is another day and I do not dare shop for anything else!  Except a flash drive for Leo’s friend.  Trouble is that I may see something else that calls to me as I am out. 

I think I must resist or I will have to go back to work full time again. 

And I do have that essay to finish. 

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October 18, 2010 · 9:39 pm

Waiting

Today was a long day of waiting. 

First of all, I woke up way too early and was lying in bed waiting for the numbers on the clock to tell me I could get up.  Finally, I gave up on them and just got up.  4:30 am.

Then, though I knew that I did not need to arrive at the hospital before my aunt at 10 am, that time between waking and going seemed such an in between unproductive sort of time.  Oh, I guess I did get things done.  Suitcase is still open on the bed for the trip to Charlottetown tomorrow partly packed at least. In my rush to not be late, I arrived at the hospital a good 20 minutes before my aunt so had to wait till the ambulance brought her.  Then the real wait began.  It was very quiet.  Aunty was medicated and pretty much out of it.  Her bedside tray able became my computer desk and I began my essay. 

What a time to delve into the Chalcedonian definition.  Sitting beside a frail, failing human body that holds such a sweet person and not being able to avoid wondering at God’s choice to become fully human like us.  This is probably bordering on blasphemy but I wondered what would have happened if Jesus had become old.  Then I remembered the older woman all stooped and crippled that he healed and the woman with the haemorrhage – and then I realized that Jesus did not have the time to grow old but still he knew all the pain we suffer with age.

They took Auntie in before my thoughts got way too too far off topic and I took a  break and went home for a few hours. Unless a person wants to watch 3 hours of TV, there is not much to do in a day surgery waiting room.

Surgery seems to have gone well.  My prayers for my aunt are that the pain she was  having is reduced by the procedure.  It is hard to see her in such pain on one hand or too medicated to communicate on the other. 

The final waiting process – for healing – real healing, is likely still a ways into the future.  She is as tough and stubborn as any Dice.

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Filed under Dealing with stuff, Family, Studying, Theology