This Reminds Me

Archive for the ‘Faith’ Category

Several friends gathered tonight to pack shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. Julia last counted 77 boxes about 30 minutes before we quit.  So I’m not really sure how many are piled on the dining room table.

Dorothy (pink jacket) bagged candy last year, and immediately volunteered to bag again this year.   You gotta love someone who steps up to the un-glamorous  job that needs to be done.  Linda (stripes) is the world’s best organizer and greatly improved the flow of materials in the game room. I need her to come over and organize my whole house.

Sherry donated lots of Beanie Babies, so she could quickly find a particular one tor a boy or girl aged 2 – 4, 5 – 9 or 10 -14.  Each Beanie was bagged, too, to keep it clean. Takes awhile to do that bagging, but we think it’s worth it to know the cloth won’t be dirty.  Plus the bag becomes part of the gift.

Dana rooted around in the toys to find the right ones for her boxes. I used to envy Dana her electronic bible – until I got an iPhone and downloaded that app. Love it! Now if I just had her bible knowledge to better use the app…..

Barb (green) was here organizing last week, and Lynn (red) is a packing pro from years past.   They’re the Proverbs 31 kind of women that can “do anything.”

Dorothy – our Wednesday night WOW leader – is as good a packer as she is a teacher. And that’s pretty darned good.

Jenae – who compressed/bagged shirts last week – was busy packing around them this week.  The big items – like compressed shirts – go in the boxes first, then the littler stuff (pens, pencils, sharpeners, erasers, candy, toys, combs, etc.) go around them.  That’s sort of like life – take care of the big stuff and fit in the little stuff as you can.  Jenae has two teenagers and works as a school vice-princpal, so she’s intimate with the “big stuff.”

The girls and I will be packing Thursday and Friday evenings, and part of Saturday – when my good friend Renee is coming over with her kids and their stuff to do a few more.  We’re planning to all the boxes to church on Sunday.  I’m thinking it’s going to be a “two-vehicle Sunday.”

It’s easy to lose sight of the “why” of the shoe boxes amidst all the activity.  So here’s a reminder of the “why”, straight from Samaritan’s Purse website:

It’s a toss-up about who’s more excited for Halloween – 10-year-old Julia, or her three teenage sisters.

Today Rachel bought mini-pumpkins for all to decorate.

Rachel’s inclusive rainbow pattern…

……and on another, a simple reminder of the holiday

Lois’ pumpkin isn’t finished yet.  After this first coat is dry, she’ll continue to decorate it as an apple.  Why?  “To fill the cracks of my heart, since you won’t get me an Apple i-Touch.”   As Keith sing-songs to them at least once a week, “Life is so hard, my parents are so mean.”

Hannah shows her Twilight fixation….

…including painting Bella, Edward and Jacob on the back.  She claims membership in “Team Edward.”  Hourly.

Yep, that’s Julia’s “Trick or Death.”

When all dry – the pumpkins may join other decorations on the fireplace.  Aunt Judy gave Rachel that stuffed white ghost when she was two or three years old.

My favorite fireplace decoration is the candy can toddler Hannah made in pre-school.

Halloween breakfast plates – of course!   I have a terrible, terrible dish weakness.  Breakfast/dessert plates for Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas – I’ve got ‘em.   It’s a sickness.  There was a super-cute set at the Disney outlet store a few months ago that I didn’t dare buy.  I was afraid Keith would set the dishes outside – and me with them.

Halloween flag out front….Thanksgiving flag is on top of the stack, ready to go next….  Did you know Halloween is the second only to Christmas in decorating dollars spent?

Lois and Hannah are soon to host the Halloween party for the Latin Club at school, and we’ll be going to the church “Fall Festival” soon, too.

I know a lot of folks – especially Christian friends – object to Halloween.  “It’s Satanic, its origins are evil, etc.”  Maybe so, maybe not, I don’t care. Whatever primitive people did or do now – just don’t care.  For me, it’s always been about dressing up, feeling down to the bottom of the bag for the caramels and having fun….except in 5th grade, when the only costume in my size was Fred Flintstone.  Having to wear a boy’s costume was more horrifying that any “ghost” in his mom’s old sheet, I tell you.

I don’t argue with anyone about their choice to have fun, or, instead, turn off their porch light.

But for me – we’ll be handing out candy* October 31.  Big boo-tiful handfuls of it.

Enjoy!

*San Antonio friends – We are gathering “stuff” for Samaritan’s Purse boxes.  I will go to Wal-Mart and buy about $100 worth of candy on 11/1.  If you have any left-over, non-chocolate (non-melty) candy or gum you’d like to contribute – just bring it to work, church or our house on or before Wednesday, 11/3 – when we’ll be packing.

Rachel, Lois and Hannah hosted an end-of-summer swimming/slumber party for the youth girls at our church last night.

Our new youth minister - Jeff Martin – dropped by to say “hi.”  He’s the one with the beard, though he immediately felt testosterone-challenged.   Note Julia, front’n'center.  She very much enjoyed the snacks (everybody brought something), drinks, jokes, swimming, etc. – but was decidedly miffed when I put her to bed at 11 p.m., so the girls could share about themselves. “It’s not fairrrrr.” Is there a child anywhere that doesn’t whine that defense?  Well, come to think of it – I’ve been known to use it myself.

Rachel talked me into loaning her my little waterproof Olympus for the night swim at the neighborhood pool.  I was impressed with many of her pictures.  She’s really has talent, I think.  And it’s not “just the camera.”   I used to take a lot of pictures for work, church, home, etc. and was always irritated by viewers who would say, “Oh, you must have a good camera!”  Well….not so much terribly much until very recently when Keith surprised me with a Nikon D-90.   What I’d had before was certainly “good enough,”  but not great.  I’ve always believed you could have an amazing camera and without “the eye” (as I call it) – forget it.  Anyway, I think Rachel has “the eye.”

Lois flanked by friends Kelley and Chantelle.  Love the cool water reflection with the warm night background.

Underwater hand stand by Jessica – you have to be “down there” and ready to catch this kind of action, especially at night.

Love Julia’s big eyes and swirling hair.  She has four loose teeth right now.

Hannah’s friend Bailey – without the bubbles and the swirling strap, you might think she was above water.

Self-portrait of the photographer, complete with facial bubbles.

Some of the girls crashed around 2:30 a.m., which is the last time I was aware of the herd of elephants stampeding in the game room above us.  Some stayed awake all night and were the first to snag the doughnuts Keith went to get.

There wasn’t much “slumbering” at this “slumber party.”  But there will be tonight – at least by me.   And the washing machine.  And the dishwasher.  And the broom.  And the mop.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I’ve never been patient.

I’m not proud of being impatient.  I’m not looking for a dozen friends to reassure me, “Oh, now, I saw you be patient when…..”   It’s just the way I am.  Though I usually hide it better than I’ve hidden it the last few hot, cloying weeks of summer.

Is it the really heat that’s sucking the life out of me?  Or the humidity?  Or being 54 years old?  Other than financially, summer is my least-stressed time of year.  I don’t cook much.  I don’t rush to fix breakfasts in the morning, or race to fix dinner in the evening.  There’s no child in after-school care anxiously awaiting my arrival.  I’m not in a frenzy to grab Chick-Fil-A and  to make it to church Wednesday night.  I still do laundry daily, but there’s less of it.  Nobody needs an emergency trip to Wal-mart to finish a project.  Yet I find myself less and less patient when I get home and find a mess in the den, or unwashed dishes, or a dozen pairs of cast-off shoes in the entryway.

I always think – and now too often say – “Why have you left a mess?  Didn’t I tell you what to do?  Didn’t I write it down for you?  You’re my child.  Don’t you have any better sense than this?”

I listen to K-Love on the drive to and from the bus stop (and sometimes on the bus, thanks to the iPhone app) not because I am a “good person.”  I’m not a “good person.”  Believe me, I know.  I listen to contemporary Christian music because it helps center me.   Worshiping the one true God of the universe puts my day in perspective.

The other morning, the DJ was reading from the book of James, which is my favorite.  I don’t need a theology degree to understand James.    “Take note of this.  Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” Hmmm.

And then I thought – God is probably looking at me every evening thinking, “Why have you left a mess?  Didn’t I tell you what to do?  Didn’t I write it down for you?  You’re my child.  Don’t you have any better sense than this?”

James also tells me “…to be patient then.. until the Lord’s coming.”

That could be tonight, or tomorrow – when I’m tripping over the pile of flip-flops by the front door.

Sigh.

Okay.  Tomorrow, I’ll give this patience thing one more try.

Let’s hope I learn it quickly.