Family Beach Trip

The kids had a 3 day weekend so we planned our first "family" trip together to Nags Head. Danny got us the same house he and I stayed in over the summer for our anniversary. The weather varied, but on the last day we got some warmth and sun. The rainy hours were great for all of us to hang out, give Lauren the opportunity to work on scholarship/college apps, and of course watch the Redskins kindly let the Lions win their first game in 2 years.

We had expected Michael to be in the water and Lauren to make sand castles. Lauren ended up spending the most time in the water and really got "our money's worth" from her boogie boarding. BamBam as usual could not resist the water especially when there was a ball thrown in.
At one point, while he was paw deep in the ocean another dog walked by and BamBam cocked his leg and pee-ed in the ocean to mark it. Brilliant dog.

Here are some other highlights:

• we saw a bear cub on our way there
• we saw 2 deer in the back and a fox
• BamBam caught a couple of crabs on the beach
• we made smores in the microwave
• Michael won at Monopoly
  
• a seagull pooped on my back

Here are pics from our trip:

Supervisor Dude!

Congratulations to Danny
and praises to God!
My man was promoted last week to some sort of supervisor dude as part of a re-org and now oversees two teams: Network Development Team and Network Security Team. And how fortunate is he that his wife still has some techie-ness in her that she actually understands what that means!

In an economy where many have lost jobs, we are humbled that Danny's employer (Administrative Office of the Courts for the state of North Carolina) has promoted him in his first year there. Hate to be all corny and stuff, but Danny is a natural born leader and has an enthusiasm to motivate people around him. I am so proud of him! Now you can be too! Go Danny! Go Danny! Go, go, go!

Painting #5

I haven't talked about painting much, but I am STILL painting and this is one I finally finished on Monday. It was inspired by a photo of my mom (LEFT) in her brightly flower patterned outfit so completely 70's hip. I love this photo of her --- she looks gorgeous, stylish, and so happy.

The painting is not necessarily a portrait of her, but eludes to it. It includes images of Lauren and myself and the idea that all three "women" are connected and separate. Who looks like who, who acts like who, who is the image of the other both in physical feature or mannerisms, who is in the past and who is in the present and will be in the future.

I am still playing with the grid and layering and transparency and which layer is "concrete" and where the pattern begins and ends.

As usual the image online doesn't seem to translate the paint and their colors well. I am have mixed feelings about this piece. At certain points I loved it and was disappointed with it. I think overall, I am moving in a more sophisticated direction with my work.

My Girls and God

1. Lauren -- more proud poetry moments this weekend (but I have had my fill of poetry I confess.) She has had such a humble, grateful heart. When her spirit is like this, there is nothing I would not do for her, no way in which I would not help her. She has been such an encouragement and blessing to our family this weekend. Imagine now how our heavenly Father feels when we are humble.

2. My 7th grade girls are turning out to be more "complex" than I had expected. There is one with Autism and she struggles with sleep but knows Jesus cares. She has compulsive disorder and is obsessed with her fingers getting dirty. "Do you think Jesus loves you less if your fingers are dirty?" I ask. "Yes, I think he might,"she responds. "No, he loves your clean and dirty fingers. It doesn't matter to him. Plus, he loves your toes too." She stops and then replies, "I am not worried about my toes, just my fingers."

3. "Can I please say something about my mother?" my dominant 7th girl asks.
"Only if you can say it in a way that will still honor her and God," I reply.
She huffs and rolls her eyes, "Nevermind...."
"Would you like me to teach you how? I can give you an example."
"Okay," she agrees.
"I know my mother loves me, but I get frustrated when...... fill in the blank. Does that work for you?"
She nods with hope and says reluctantly, "I know my mother loves me, but I get frustrated that she doesn't buy us any breakfast food."
OH, dear. Where is the scripture verse for this one again?

3. Quiet, struggling to stay awake 7th grade girl who last week was bubbly and very participatory. "Anything wrong sweetheart?" I ask trying not to be too focused on her lack of interest. "No, I'm just really tired." I later found out differently. I have bought the girls small notebooks that they can write anything in to share with God and me (or anyone else). I later read in her notebook that she she was stressed about a particular friendship and that she struggles with friends in general. Today I was online and she sent me a google chat. I was thrilled. But then the conversation was about the sudden death of her grandfather.
Where is the Bible verse for that again?

I could go on. 4 of my 8 girls are from divorced situations with not so good home lives. I've feeling way over my head.

This has been a good week of prayer. God has been gentle and faithful in prompting me to pray through out the day. So many things out of my control. So many things to praise him for. So many things to see him reveal himself through.

I am hearing Him ask me, "Are you intentionally being a blessing? Or are you a curse to the paths you cross daily?" Do you know how hard it is to be an intentional blessing? Its more than a smile and a friendly "Hi." Sometimes all it is is a smile and friendly "Hi" but the process of asking God to reveal someone's need so you can bless them in the 30 seconds or 30 minutes you interact with them is HARD. I have no choice but to pray then.

The truth is, being a blessing intentionally means dying to self. Enough said.

Dreds, Estrogen, and the Symphony

DREDS
Friday Zoe came into town to attempt to finesse my silver dining room wall. Its better, but not as we had hoped. Thanks Zoe. She was also really here to pick up some furniture of my parents I had saved for her. That evening Zoe, Danny, and I went to "Stammer!" to support Lauren performing 2 poems. Stammer is a Raleigh arts/poetry/performance event. Danny and Lauren went together once last spring -- this was the first experience for Zoe and I. Let's just say it was basically the 4 of us who DIDN'T have dredlocks. There was a variety of "acts" -- many very talented spoken word artists and all definitely out of college or older crowd. So when Lauren reached the mic and introduced herself and that she was a senior in high school, the crowd was surprised. Let me be the first one to say that she brought the house down. It was a scary place to do that --- I am proud that she was courageous to perform. And it was so cool to be the non-dred section cheering her on!








ESTROGEN
To give Zoe the complete other opposite end of the spectrum experience in Raleigh, Saturday morning we met up with Sue at her church for their 1/2 day Women's conference: "Being a Woman of Joy." There were plenty of "joyful women" there --- I'm working on being one (ahem). It was a typical women's conference. The praise and worship, the pink flowery programs, and a lot of blonde hair. I'll just say I don't think I saw one person with dreds there. Go figure. The best part was the workshop that Zoe and I attended by a chemistry professor at NC State (we'll forgive her for not being a Tarheel). She talked about memorizing scripture and she blew us away. Not only has she memorized 6 books of the new testament, she shared such practical and encouraging methods by which to memorize. We were so inspired, challenged but not overwhelmed by the idea of memorizing so much scripture.

One of the funniest things she said was that she starts every morning during the 3 minutes she is "regular." Now I have really NO excuse...... I am trying to email her and get her notes and will post them on the blog.

SYMPHONY
Zoe left around 4 on Saturday and after a short nap, my husband took me on a date! Its been forever. We went to a pan-Asian place well known in Raleigh called the Duck and Dumpling. Food was yummy! We then walked across the street to Moore's Square to set up our lawn chairs to listen to a free concert by the NC Symphony. Best of call I finally got to wear my maxi dress that has been waiting for its debut. The rest of the night Danny I were stupid and kept pointing out every woman with a maxi dress on. The concert ended with the Symphony playing the theme to "Star Wars." NICE!

Past, Present and Future

The Past
This past weekend Danny, Michael and I headed to VA to wrap things up (again) at my parents' house. It was particularly difficult emotionally for me this time as I saw less and less of things that were a part of my parents' lives. Once the house is sold, I will have no physical location to go to or visit that is theirs. My theology teaches me that a house or a grave or a urn is not what a person's life represents nor is it where I can somehow be closer to them once they are gone. The fear is just this -- that the memories I have in my head and heart will not be faithful to me. I will forget. Things will fade. I am afraid that all record of the two people that God chose to bring me into this world will be gone. I find the thought of me being the last "thing" that remains of them (I am the only blood child they share). Is there more Jack or Yen in me?

After a long day of weeding through things, etc. we were blessed enough to go over to my friend Lisa's home/farm for dinner. What a wonderful treat! Her daughter McKenzie took me for a ride on their 4 wheeler and we talked about the steer/cow called "dinner" they were raising. We also got a full lesson on breeding, raising and showing lambs. Lisa and I go wayyyy back. In fact, her mother was the realtor who sold my parents' their property in Harrisonburg. She was also instrumental in my last trip there where she took time off, organized Habitat for Humanity pick-ups and just plain cleaned. We lost our fathers within a couple of months of each other and I remember that first year we had a real need to connect on the "firsts" -- first Thanksgiving, first Christmas.... Thanks Lisa, your friendship is a blessing.

The Present
This week has seemed non-stop. Wednesday was Lauren's first time at the Raleigh Rescue Mission. She is an instructional aid/tutor for a GED class. It was a humbling experience for her (yay! Victory for Mom!!). She ended up being assigned to a specific middle-aged woman who's reading was "remedial" --- Lauren said she was grateful to help her and not have to be a math tutor. She also said she wouldn't just let her read the prompts but would ask her questions afterwords to make sure "her student" was comprehending. I could tell this made a huge impact on her because she was getting what it means to serve -- not because WE are wonderful, but because of WHO Christ is in our lives.

While Lauren was in the classroom, I was in a hairnet/bonnet prepping for dinner. This was a different experience then when Danny and I serve lunch. I was actually prepping. I cut up 8 pinneapples, 20 apples, made 40 pieces of garlic toast, gallons upon gallons of ice tea ...... It was hard work!!! (Do you hear the slight whine...?)

The Future
Wednesday night was the fall kick off of church activities. Danny, Michael and Lauren all headed to the senior high groups and I (with much insecurity and trembling) headed over to the middle school area. I was grateful to know one of the 7th grade girls --- her mother is in my Sunday School class and was in my small group last year. I won't go through all the gory details although by the time the night was over I was truly pumped and energized and exhausted all at once. As of now I have eight 7th grade girls in my group. They were all so different and the same. So much talking. SO much talking. I LOVE THEM! My main goal was to establish who was in charge of our group -- ME. There are 2 in particular who are dominant personalities and if I don't let them know who is boss, they will run all over me and the other girls.

Before our time was started, I said I wanted to open us up in prayer and asked who would like to close. No one was interested. "After I pray, can someone just say 'in Jesus name, Amen'?" No takers. So finally, I volunteered one of the girls because I knew her father is the children's pastor. By the time our evening ended I wanted to pray again for their week and send them off, I again asked for someone to close us out after I prayed. Six or seven hands shot up and there were several "Me! Me! I want to do it!" I was floored.

During our time, I made sure I got everyone's "digits" and they got mine. We spent a good portion of time also taking pictures of each other so we had a name to a face and number. They were all terribly troubled that I did not have texting but said they could deal with actually calling or emailing. So my task for them this week was for each of them to contact me. They need to either call me or email me to just say hi. On they way home, one of my "dominant" girls called and said, "Hi! Am I the first one to call?!"

You will be reading many a posts about them. I am really feeling this is God's calling for me. I feel like I just had birth to 8 girls and the mother/mentor instinct is in full throttle. Those of you in ministry or actively serve using your God given gifts know that when you are serving in an area God's designed you to, you flourish. That's exactly how I feel. I am completely aware of the opportunity God has given me to love these girls in this time in their lives one step closer to Jesus. I also am ready to be with these girls beyond 7th and 8th grade. The ideal scenario is to follow them through all the way to graduating high school. They are the next generation of women. I am so excited and scared at the same time!

Or maybe I'm so pathetic that the truth is I never matured beyond a 7th grade girl and that's why this is so exciting ...... ? Zoe says I'm always complaining about having no friends in Raleigh and I've finally found myself a clique.

Define & Explain again...?

I am embarassed to say this, but I'm not sure I totally understand "socialism." Can someone tell me again why "socialism" is so evil? Please explain to me again why as a conservative Christian the idea of socialism should strike fear in my heart?

I am not being sarcastic (for once). I welcome thoughtful comments.

Sand in my ears

Perhaps I am in denial, but my life is ramping up to be quite full starting next week. I'm not sure how it got this way, but I hope I don't become one of those people who spreads themselves too thin.




Sunday:

• Church + Sunday School class, home by 1.
• Day of nap and now football

Monday:

• Painting class 9:30- 12:30
• Bible study with 2 neighbors 7 - 9 pm (trial run for 4 weeks)

Tuesday:

• Every 1st and 3rd, serving lunch at Raleigh Rescue Mission 11 - 1
• 2nd and 4th - Danny comes home for lunch

Wednesday:

• Raleigh Rescue Mission 2:30 - 4 (Lauren tutoring, me doing dinner prep work)
• Church 6:30 - 8 -- small group leader for 7th grade girls (YIKES!!!!)

Thursday:

• Community Bible Study 9:15 - 11:15 (all year)

Friday:

• Danny home for lunch

This doesn't include the time I will try to carve out for walking the dog, the gym, quiet time, grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, and other household duties as assigned. Oh, and being taxi for the kids. I should also mention I am starting to do freelance design work again. Gee, maybe I should consider home schooling to really push me over the edge . . .

And no, Ginger, I am not trying to highlight how "serving-ish" I am. I am very excited about all this stuff. Other than the whole God using it to mold and shape my character (me, need molding and shaping??!!), I think there is great upcoming material for blog entries.....