Take Me Out to the Ballgame

"Oh, no!" Andrew says while his brother Aaron holds the Yankees' fan sign ... even though he's wearing a Tigers shirt and hat. It was a win-win for both sides though as the game ended in a tie.

No apologies to Tigers' fans from this Yankees' fan! We had a great time at the last Spring Training game which was in Tampa at Legends Field. It was good to be with family and away from work!

The Present

I woke up this morning to the sound of the garage door going up. It was Bill, home hours ahead of schedule from his conference. I wasn't expecting him until this afternoon. What a lovely surprise to wake up to the present of his presence! It was kind of like having someone unexpectedly tell you to "close your eyes and hold your hands" and then opening your eyes to find a wrapped gift. That unexpected present fills us with excitement and wonder.

What a difference we would see in our relationships with others if we would remember to see them as a gift!

Once Upon a Time...

"Once upon a time, two people met and fell in love...They took every smile and every tear, a few differences of opinion, some major triumphs, and several minor miracles and turned them into something beautiful." (Hallmark)

Yesterday was the 36th anniversary of the day we met. Actually, we couldn't remember if we'd met on March 20th or 21st, so I googled a 1971 calendar of March. But after looking back at the 1971 calendar, it's now official, we met on March 21.

We had met on a Sunday at church. Bill was 22-1/2 years old, in the Air Force and stationed at Fairchild AFB in Spokane. I was 18 years old, attending college in LaMirada, California. I came home on spring break and went to church that Sunday with my family. Bill says that the moment he saw me walk in, he knew I was the girl he was going to marry. He still remembers my long blonde hair and flowered granny dress.... I remember a young man with an engaging smile and green eyes that caught my attention when he came up to me and introduced himself.

There are some unusual ingredients in our courtship:

• an old boyfriend (an emotional rollercoaster of a relationship)
• one pizza date -- Bill told me he was looking for a wife. Now that's boldness and initiative for you!
• a failed attempt to get Bill to kiss me using a Scripture verse - "Greet the brethren with a holy kiss", which just showed me what an honorable young man he was!
• my family's move from Spokane to Cheyenne
• cross-country correspondence by letter -- with Bill waiting for that first letter, wondering if he'd ever hear from me
• two marriage proposals on the same day via telephone -- one of which I turned down and the other I accepted :-)
• a pit stop in Cheyenne the weekend of July 11-13 for Bill on his way home to Iowa to visit his parents before being assigned to a base in Italy
• an "official" marriage proposal and our first kiss on July 11
• engaged on July 12
• "Leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be home again..."
• more correspondence
• one long distance phone call from Bill on December 1st from Spain with instructions to be prepared to get married on December 18th

Pizza: $8

Engagement ring: $300

A five minute long distance call at $7 a minute: $35

Love of a lifetime: Priceless!

We could write a book!

Celebrating special days helps us look back and remember what drew us to one another. How thankful I am for God's hand in bringing us together!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

The bees are buzzing, the flowers are blooming.... and the weeds are growing!!

Have you ever watched someone weeding a garden? They dig up, root out, yank, prune, clip, crop, pare, shear, trim, lop, thin, eliminate... You get the idea. All of those words create a picture of actively, vigorously, getting rid of something unwanted! As I was out working in the flower bed this morning (a good place for thinking, by the way), I was reminded of words I had just read earlier today in Deuteronomy 12 where Moses is giving the Israelites instructions on what to do as they went into the Promised Land. They were to utterly destroy, tear down, smash, burn, cut down, and obliterate the symbols and altars of other gods. That doesn't sound very tolerant you may be thinking. What about live and let live? But not only does God want our undivided loyalty, He knows how easy it is for us to be ensnared by other things that turn our hearts away from Him.

Out in the garden, I was working at ripping out the weeds. I could not be one bit tolerant of those weeds as it doesn't take much at all for them to grow back! I also know that weeding once won't get rid of them. This is a neverending job! After all, it is their natural habitat and they were there first! They don't need any nurturing, just a little neglect on my part. They won't die off and go away if I just ignore them; instead they'll thrive and choke out the flowers that I've planted. And the result of my neglect won't be hidden. Not only will I know it and see it, but so will everyone else as the flower bed is situated right on the front corner of our lot.

God wants me to be actively vigorously rooting out the weeds -- like anger, impatience, unkindness, pride, selfishness, just to name a few -- that grow in my life. He knows....and I know....how fast they can grow and how easily they will entangle, ensnare, take over and choke out the good things.

It's not enough to just weed the garden though. It's necessary to follow up by planting something else in the empty space. Then there are weed barriers to put down, watering, feeding, fertilizing, and the never-ending vigilant weeding.

There is a similar idea in the words of Moses to the Israelites. He used the words seek, come, bring, eat, rejoice. And just like the Israelites, I am to seek the Lord, to come to Him, to bring Him my offerings (my heart), to feed upon His Word, and to rejoice in His blessings! ....And to vigilantly weed!!!

"...let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." Hebrews 12:1

My own Inflatable!

Here's my thought for the day: Why do they call it "middle age"?? Probably because I've reached the age where my middle has become the focus of my life -- it seems to be bulging and expanding with a mind of its own; kind of like one of those inflatable swimming donuts you put on your kids when they go swimming in the big pool. EEEEEEEKKKK! I have my own swimming donut!!

Time to hit the treadmill!

Stars Fell On Alabama

Guess what?! Stars Fell On Alabama is a song! I haven't heard it but it's been recorded by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.

We lived our little drama

We kissed in a field of white

And stars fell on Alabama

Last night

I can't forget the glamour

Your eyes held a tender light

While stars fell on Alabama

Last night

I never planned in my imagination

A situation - so heavenly

A fairy land where no one else could enter

And in the center - just you and me

My heart beat just like a hammer

My arms wound around you tight

And stars fell on Alabama

Last night

Whoever thought a license plate would be so romantic!

Stitch by Stitch

I'm an obsessive cross stitcher. Hardly a day goes by that you won't find me needle in hand stitching. That's been going on for probably seven years now. I've always enjoyed handiwork and over the years have made many things -- crocheting, quilting, sewing, and crafting of some kind or another. One of my dearest friends teases me and says that if I make one of something, I sometimes end up making 52 of the same thing because I enjoyed making the one so much!

Almost seven years ago, I just happened to be working on a cross stitch project when I started having strange blinking problems with my eyes. The funny thing was that the involuntary blinking would stop whenever I picked up the cross stitch to work on. After a year or so of thinking I was going crazy, I was diagnosed with a neurological disorder called blepharospasm (involuntary spasms of the eyelids). And one of the quirks of the disorder is that when you're involved in some kind of handiwork -- like crocheting, knitting, cross stitching -- the brain is distracted and the blinking stops.

So needless to say, my cross stitching projects are always near at hand. I write all this to say that the cross stitching didn't just help me see physically, but I think it's helped me to see into myself. What does that mean?

In the quietness of cross stitching, my thoughts wander here and there. I guess I do think about other things besides what to make for dinner and whether or not to start a load of wash.

The other day it crossed my mind that life can be like an impressionist painting -- sometimes there's no visible pattern in the picture until it's all done. It was that way while I was stitching The Garden of Flowers by Van Gogh pictured above. It just seemed to be globs of color with no discernible pattern....that is, until it was completely done. Wow! As the stitcher, I had to trust the graph which instructed what color stitch to put where. Just so, I have to trust God as He stitches my life stitch by stitch. Sometimes it seems there's no discernible pattern as to why certain things happen, but in the end, my prayer is that picture of my life will glorify Him!