days in the life of a
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April 2010
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April 26, 2010
INSTRUMENTS IN HIS HANDS
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;"
Jeremiah 1:5
God's hands are all-mighty and all-powerful, creating the world and all that is in it.
God's hands are all-tender and all-loving, molding and holding each one of us from the moment we are conceived until we take our last breath on this earth.
And God calls each of us to be instruments in His Hands every day, ministering and serving the vulnerable and the weak and the least of His children.
What a tremendous calling and honor we have!
Every moment, God's hands are knitting together His most precious and vulnerable creations of all.
These tiniest of His children and their families are what these hands serve every day.
Janet is the Director of our local Pregnancy Care Center. I've known Janet for umpteen years and had the privilege of working alongside her as a Bible Study Fellowship leader years ago and now at the Center.
What a beautiful servant of the Lord...and I am so blessed to have her as my friend!
Behind the scenes, supporting the Center with prayer, leadership and vision for the future, and fundraising is an incredible Board of Directors, who serve this ministry without pay but with an amazing passion for God and His children. Tom and Rick are two members of this special group of Christian men and women dedicated to saving lives and serving God.
Each year, the Board hosts an Appreciation Brunch to thank all of the Center's volunteers... although I don't know who appreciates who more...they may appreciate us, but we volunteers SO APPRECIATE all they do to keep the Center up and running!
Every Monday afternoon, Janice and I volunteer together at the Center. Janice is the receptionist, organizer, and general office manager during our shift while I do the pregnancy testing and counseling. We make a good pair and have become close friends working together for so many years.
We're all from different churches with diverse backgrounds and unique stories.
Some have been involved in this ministry for a long time...
...and others are relatively newbies,...
...but we all have one thing in common.
We all share a love for God and a desire to serve Him,...
...helping to save and change lives...
...and shine God's light in our community!
What a humbling privilege to be serving as instruments in His Hands!
Work of His Hands by Gary B. Clark
unborn baby 10weeks after conception from clinicquotes.com
Work of His Hands by Gary B. Clark
April 27, 2010
RANDOM FARM SHOTS
Springtime in the country.
I love this time of year, when the flowers and birds and grass and all the critters come alive after the long, dreary Indiana winter.
Since I don't have anything too exciting to share with you today, I thought I'd post a few random shots I took around the farm the past week.
Remember those adorable, fuzzy baby chicks from 2 weeks ago?
They've eaten their way into ugly chicken-adolescence, half-feathered and gawky. Not cute anymore.
In another month, most of the white ones will be heading into our freezer...
We still have at least one squirrel. Sadly, last week I found one of our squirrels dead in the road in front of our house.
In fact, several squirrels have been hit by cars along our road the past couple of weeks. But, in defense of the drivers, is there any animal more unpredictable and indecisive than a squirrel when a car is barreling down the road toward it? They jump around and dance in the road, darting one direction then the next instead of just high-tailing it out of the way like most animals do.
For years, we had no squirrels because we had dogs or cats or both, but now since we have neither, the squirrels have been making their way back to our place.
I like squirrels...as long as they stay away from the house and out of the road!
Don't know what happened to this guy. Kim found him in the barn and drug him outside.
My brother says he is doing a very convincing job of playing possum!
Somehow I can't feel sad about a dead possum...
Kim's been a maniac the past couple of weeks, getting all of his outside projects up and going. He's started planting his garden...broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, and onions are out...much more to come!
The man drives me nuts this time of year with his projects!
I dare you not to smile when your macho 54-year-old husband comes home after having an immunization, wearing a Snoopy in Space band-aid on his arm!
Got a new gadget as a gift the other night at the Sales Prom.
A digital weather station, exactly what every weather-obsessed Hoosier man needs. Not only does it give all the current temperature info from Indianapolis, it also shows the forecast for the next few days.
And it glows in the dark. Very brightly.
Which is why it ended up in the laundry room instead of the kitchen.
Kim likes to check out the weather every morning before he does the feeding, and now he doesn't even have to turn on the light to see what's happening outside!
There's nothing I love more about living out in the country than the beautiful sunsets we see almost every night...
...unless it would be the gorgeous sunrises that greet me every morning!
I just took this photo a few minutes ago of today's glorious sunrise.
Y'all have a wonderful day!!!
April 28, 2010
IN THE MOMENT
One week from today, Karter and Kaden will be here for a few days.
Kim and I have been looking forward to their visit for weeks now.
Gramaw and Papaw can hardly wait!!!
But here's a beautiful thing about young children...
They don't look ahead to next week or to tomorrow or even to the next hour...
...they live totally, completely, 100% focused on what's happening now.
In the moment.
And after they've worked and squeezed...
...every ounce of fun and joy they can from that moment...
...it's time to move on.
Time to chase down another moment!
What a great way to live!!!
April 29, 2010
BUTT-KICKING
From our side of the net, it was not pretty.
It was not fun.
I knew it wouldn't be, even before I went.
But every once in awhile, I guess it doesn't hurt to get a good butt-kicking.
It makes me tougher, stronger. Builds character.
I hate it!
Yesterday, that's exactly what happened to me. I am on a winter travel tennis team that plays other teams from around Indiana. We have about 20 girls on our team and we only need 6 doubles teams each time we play, so I play about twice a month which is perfectly fine with me.
Tennis players of all abilities have ratings assigned by the USTA, ranging from 1.0 for beginning players to 7.0 for pros like the Williams sisters. My rating is 3.5, so you can see I'm not ready to take on Venus any time soon. I'm sure you don't care a bit what my rating is, but it helps explain the debacle on the court yesterday.
Our league has matches labeled "A", "B", or "C", depending on the level of play. I love playing in the "C" matches...they are right in my ability level and I win as many as I lose. "B" matches are a lot tougher, primarily 4.0 players, a lot less laughing and fun on the court and much more serious, competitive play. I don't enjoy "B" matches, but occasionally play in them if the coach is desperate for a warm body on the court and he calls me at a weak moment when I forget how to say "no."
Yesterday's match was a "B" match against a team from West Lafayette...mostly young, just-out-of-Purdue gals with a lot of energy and very competitive. Oh, yeah...and they were VERY YOUNG!!! And COMPETITIVE!!! And, on top of that, they were DADGUM GOOD!!!
To add insult to injury, our top team players were gone to Arizona playing in the national finals (one of the reasons I got called to play to begin with...he needed a warm body!), so we fielded a very weak team to begin with against a very strong, young team.
Not the recipe for tennis success!
And, to top all THAT off, our coach put me down on the line-up to play on the #1 Court against, you guessed it, their strongest players.
It wasn't pretty!!!
In fact, it was downright ugly!!!
I've never had so many tennis balls smashed at me in 3 hours...they were relentless. You think they might let up a little when they realized their opponents were two 50+-year-old women who happened to be holding tennis rackets, but no. We were target practice for them.
And they argued every line call and called our few good shots out whenever they got the chance.
It was not fun.
The nicest gal we played was 7 months pregnant and she still whipped us big-time.
I guess we should be thrilled we got a few games on them...only because occasionally they would hit the ball into the net or we'd get a lucky shot. We lost 6-2, 6-3 the first set and 6-2, 6-0 (OUCH!) the second.
So, in the end, I drove an hour to Indy, paid $14 (which included lunch, the only redeeming part of the day), and gave up 6 precious hours of my life to get the tennis snot beat out of me.
Here's wishing for a better Thursday!!!
April 30, 2010
NIGHTY-NIGHT
My beautiful daughter-in-law Dana is on the road today, bringing our grandsons to visit their family in Indiana.
They are spending a few days with Dana's family and then, next Wednesday, they'll be here at our house for a few days.
Five more days.
But who's counting?!
Dana and Kristoffer are wonderful about keeping in touch with us and up-to-date on what's going on with Karter and Kaden. They have a great website, we talk on the phone, and we even Skype once a week. All that technology is nice and fun, but it doesn't replace the hugs and smooches of seeing them live and in person.
So we can hardly wait to have them here!!!
And while I really don't like it one bit that they live in far-away Minnesota, there is one redeeming benefit that I probably wouldn't get to enjoy if they were much closer.
I love spending time with the boys when they first wake up in the morning, when they are not quite awake and still snuggly and cuddly in their pajamas.
And...I love being a part of their night-time routines...the everyday stuff that I might miss out on if I wasn't staying with them or having them spend the night here.
Those little everyday moments are treasures! And I couldn't resist video-recording their family prayer right before Karter goes to bed. It's precious, a glimpse into their family life as they teach Karter to pray.
I love it...and hope you do too!
