April 27, 2007 - Posted by - 0 Comments
I just want to thank all of my sweet friends who have emailed me and told me they were praying for me! What a blessing all of you are!……and I really mean that……you are a blessing. In fact, I am full and overflowing with the blessing of you….so thanks!
Today I will be meeting Karlee at the band room around 2:00 this afternoon and we will load up on a bus with all of the other VHS band members and travel to Orlando, Florida and Universal Studios for a band festival! I have a list a mile long of things to get done this morning before I pack zip up the final suitcase! Not only do I have to make sure all the right products are packed….the right shampoo, the nice lotion, the favorite cologne (and most of that is for me!)…..but there are snacks to get for the trip down there! O.k…..it is a three hour ride, how much snacking can you do? I thought about bringing a good book to read, but are chaperone’s aloud to do that, or am I supposed to keep my eyes on the students at all times??!!!
The bands perform Friday morning around 8:30 AM and then we get to spend the day having fun at Universal. We do that pretty much all day Saturday too, and then attend an awards show on Saturday evening. We head back to Valdosta after the presentations.
Yes, that means we will be getting home at midnight! So I better take a pillow on the bus so I can get my sleep and be ready for church on Sunday!
No matter how busy the week is, I always look forward to worshipping on Sunday. There is no place I would rather be than in God’s house, lifting up His praise and letting His love rain down and fill me up.
April 25, 2007 - Posted by - 0 Comments
I was talking to my dad last night and he was telling me about the new season he is in.
He and mom felt called to begin holding services in an empty church around the corner from their house. He was telling me how amazing it was to see how God was answering prayer. He said that there is a real annointing on their services and on their church and maybe even on their property…..because a lady had come to the church and told dad that as she was just driving by, she sensed the power of the Holy Spirit around that church building! Dad said he was praying the other night and felt the Lord tell him that only a lack of belief would limit him from accomplishing all that the Lord wanted to accomplish. Dad has always been a man of faith, so I guess there will be no limit to what God is going to do!
I told Dad about the new season I am about to be in…….a new job.
I resigned from the bank yesterday and will be training for my new/old job today. It is a new/old job, because it is the job I left thirteen years ago to be a stay at home mom! I was the administrative assistant at a CPA firm and I really enjoyed what I did. I had gotten the job straight out of college back in 1985 and worked there until 1994. Karlee was three years old at the time and I just felt that I was missing out on so much of her life and Ben and I prayed about me quitting my job to stay at home.
I remember how scared I was about quitting my job, but how excited I was at the chance to be at home with Karlee. Five months later I was pregnant with Paige and enjoyed being a stay at home mom for the next nine years. How quickly they passed by! I would not trade those nine years for anything!
In fact, I can’t believe it has been three years since I went back to work! God has been so good, and so faithful to always supply our needs and to carry us through whatever season we are in. I am excited about this new season. Of course, a little nervous too, about learning what has changed in the office since I left thirteen years ago! They had just moved into a brand new office building when I left and I noticed that the pictures I choose to hang in the office are still there…the same desk….the same rugs…..and now the same administrative assistant!
Oh yeah, today is Administrative Assistant’s Day…..so happy day to all of us!!!!
April 24, 2007 - Posted by - 0 Comments
…….I was drying Paige’s hair last night and she tells me they are going to be making a quilt in Ms. Luke’s class. She asks me if I have a tomato with a strawberry on it. A what? Oh, she means one of those tomato pin cushions that I remember my mom having. Unfortunately, my sewing kit is pretty sparse. I have a few spools of thread that I use to hem jeans or sew buttons with (the extent of my sewing expertise), a variety of buttons (those extra buttons that come with your suits and things), and a little plastic case that holds my straight pins. Nope….no tomato pin cushion.
Did they make other vegetable pin cushions or was it just tomatoes? And why was it a strawberry that was hanging on it?
About the time I was wondering about that, Paige pipes up, “Mom, you know what that strawberry is for? When your needle gets dull, you put it in there and there are little beads that will sharpen it up.” Really? I didn’t know that. Honestly. In all the times I saw my mom working with her sewing kit, I never found out what the strawberry was there for.
………Karlee was playing the piano the other night. I loved the melody so I went over to the piano and asked her what song she was playing. “Oh, it’s one I wrote. There aren’t any words to it, just this music.” You’re kidding! It is a really pretty melody, too. It made me want to sit down and write some lyrics, but I figure if I give her some time, she might come up with some pretty good ones on her own.
That girl loves music and she is just a huge fan of Phantom of the Opera. She recently downloaded the score from the movie and has it on her IPOD. She has a radio in her room that plays from her IPOD and pretty much every morning, we’ve got the Phantom on. I need to find some way to take her to see a real production of that in person. I think the Fox theatre in Atlanta may have it in the Fall…I’ll have to hunt around for a website.
In fact, both girls would love it. Karlee would be loving the music and Paige would be loving the clothes!!
April 24, 2007 - Posted by - 0 Comments
Karlee got to play her flute in the orchestra pit this weekend. There was a play/musical called “In the Woods” at the high school. Karlee was hand selected by her band teacher to play in a 13 peice orchestra. They received the music in time to have three rehearsals with the actors. We went to the Saturday evening performance this weekend and I was just blown away. The score was an incredibly difficult one with all sorts of disonant chords and strange melodies. I was amazed that the actors could sing their parts and that the orchestra could follow them because really, the music didn’t even sound like it matched what the actors were singing. I really wanted to sneak down to the pit just to watch how the director was keeping it all together, because not only did they accompany the actors as they sang, but their instruments also provided “sound effects” during the show. Of course, my favorite sounds were anything that came from the flutes!
Paige got to be my big helper from the choir loft yesterday morning. She was in the first pew of the choir and while I was leading the worship choruses, I developed this incredible dryness in my mouth. I kept trying to swallow while I was singing (that’s not easy!) and it just wasn’t helping. I knew Paige was toward the end of the row so I discreetly walked over to her and asked her to go and get me a cup of water. I’ve discovered that Paige has the gift of “helps.” She loves to do anything that she feels is of service. She had already put the song sheets out for the choir members before the service and when I couldn’t find my choir folder, she remembered seeing it out on the front pew and said, “Mom, I’ll go and get it for you.” She never hesitates, she just does it. In fact, I think she’s decided she might be a good choir assistant because she is always digging up music as a suggestion for what the choir can sing! And without fail, it is one of the “old” songs. She loves the hymns and is always requesting we do something like “How Great Thou Art”, “Because He Lives” or “Victory in Jesus.” I reminded her that we sing hymns every Sunday night and she’s like “yeah, but that’s not enough”!!
On the music news front…….there is soon to be a new Southern Gospel Record Label. Now I’m all new to this record business stuff, and the only reason I mention it is because many of you know Dave Clark, who produced a couple of CDs for me and he is the one who is going to be heading up the label called Caanan Records. It’s a really big deal and a really good thing for Southern Gospel music. It should be really cool to see what groups sign up with the new label. I have never been a fan of Southern Gospel music……about the only group I listened to was the Cathedrals and that was an acapella album they did…..but I do like some of the ”new” Southern Gospel stuff happening out there. So I will be listening for some cool stuff to be happening at the new record label!!
Also on the writing news front…..I’ve been invited to attend a writing retreat. This is really big for me. I was thinking about it yesterday in church (while I was concentrating on the sermon, too, of course)….and the thing that I most desire is that over these next few weeks as I prepare, that I allow the Lord to revive my heart and soul so that I can be able to “hear” what He wants to say. I feel like I need to clear a path through some of the “drudge” I’ve allowed to get in! I know the Lord has so much He needs to show me and teach me and I haven’t been the best student as of late. So this retreat is like a “light at the end of the tunnel” (that’s a new Third Day song they are playing now that is great!)—it’s something I can head for and when I get there, it is going to be awesome! So I was up at 4:30 this morning, already excited about what God is going to do.
Isn’t He awesome like that? Bringing times of refreshment, just when we need them!
April 21, 2007 - Posted by - 1 Comment
I don’t think we were made to be ordinary. There is something unique and imaginative about each one of us. Looking back, I realized that I never liked to settle for the ordinary.
For some reason, I thought about my first grade class picture last night. The picture is packed away in my memory box, but I can still see the picture so vividly in my mind…..all of the children dressed so neatly for picture day….Miss Robinson wearing her crisp white shirt, plaid skirt and cat eye glasses….and then there is me. For some reason, I guess I decided I didn’t want to just have an ordinary smile for the picture. When the photographer started with his countdown, I put my hands on either side of my face (as if to yell) and put on a big, cheesy grin….a grin that reveals me in all my glory with one front tooth missing! I thought it was the perfect expression of a great year so far in First Grade at Red Bug Elementary……I’m sure the other parents who saw the picture when their child brought it home wondered who the weird girl in the second row was!
When I was in college I was in the Valentine Pagent (dont’ ask). Anyway, we had to do a talent. I decided to sing a funny song and chose to re-write the words to Home on the Range and make it about a housewife who is at home on the “range” (the stove!). Here is the first verse: Oh give me a home, where the soap opera’s on (pronounced “own” to rhyme with “home”, get it?) and the kids are at school all day. Where the dust is never seen and the clothes are all clean and the maid comes in each day.
So I gathered an outfit like the old mop lady from the Carol Burnett show (not that stay at home mom’s look like that….but it just seemed like a good idea) and practiced my song. Two days before the pagent, I decided I wanted to find a real stove to sit on during the performance. Why I waited till the last minute to think up something extra-ordinary, I don’t know. But I scrambled around and finally one of the maintenance men agreed to get a stove out of one of the vacant campus apartments and let me use it for the night. He even set it on rollers so that I could just roll it out and then when I was done, could roll it back behind the curtain!
Believe it or not, I won that Valentine Pagent…yes, I was the Trevecca Nazarene Valentine Queen for 1985! What a hee-haw! I know why I won….cause the judges loved the Range!!
Ordinary is boring, ordinary is plain, ordinary doesn’t take any effort.
God didn’t create any ordinary people, He created amazing, one-of-a-kind people to live a one-of-a-kind life for Him.
In fact, He pretty much created an extra-ordinary day, every day, for His people to walk in. It makes me mad when I taked that for granted. It makes me made when I settle for less. I don’t want to miss the beauty and imagination that God put into this day. I don’t want to settle for ordinary.
And if this sounds like “pie in the sky” thinking, that’s o.k……..I’ll take a slice!
April 18, 2007 - Posted by - 1 Comment
I find myself in a “funk”.
It’s totally my fault. I took some time off from my morning pages, reading The Artist’s Way and walking during my two weeks of eye surgeries and follow up appointments. Of course, it was necessary to take a few days off…..who wants to get up and write pages the day after eye surgery? So I gave myself an “excused absence”! But now I’m feeling like taking a sabbatical and I know that I shouldn’t. I should just jump back in to what I was doing….but there is this funk thing going on!
I did pick up TAW last night just to see if I could get some inspiration and the book fell open (interestingly enough) to the chapter on Recovering a Sense of Strength. The author talks about the small steps it takes to start going in the right direction. “Most of the time, the next right thing is something small: washing out your paintbrushes, stopping by the art supply store and getting your clay, checking the local paper for a list of acting classes…..As a rule of thumb, it is best to just admit that there is always one action you can take for your creativity daily.”
So, if I take her advice I will try and think of one creative thing I can do today and just do it! And maybe that will get the ball rolling. After all, I have so much I need to be doing. I’m providing music for a civic club’s district meeting in a couple of weeks and I haven’t even started on that…..I’m supposed to finish putting the music to a song I wrote for a friend to play at her daughter’s wedding next month…….I need to be finding some new music for our praise team at church……I need to write down some ideas for new songs for a class I’ll be attending next month……all of these are things that I’m looking forward to doing, but it seems like this funk is just telling me to wait another day and then get started.
What I need today is a funk remedy! Maybe I could think of some reward to give myself if I take that small creative step. Yeah, that would be fun. Maybe a trip to the Purse Boutique to find a new little handbag! Maybe a trip to the Potter’s House to get that Cindy Morgan CD I’ve been wanting to buy. Or maybe a trip to Simply Silver to check out the latest earrings! I’m getting exciting already! I know I’m going to start the day with some coffee and I’m going to add that new Vanilla/Caramel/Toffee flavoring I bought last night. I hope it is as good as it sounds!
Funks can be a bad thing to get into. The poet Roethke said “we learn by going/where we have to go.” So the main thing is the going. And there isn’t any “going” without moving and taking a step! Those steps are the thing that gets us out of the funk. And the first steps out of the muck and mire of the funk may be sticky and hard to take. It seems like as soon as I lift one foot up, the other foot is stuck and won’t come up. But I also know that once I get past those first few steps, the next ones are so much easier to take. The first steps require a lot of effort on my part, but each step gets easier and easier.
In fact, just waking up early today helped to work out some of the funk……and of course the thought of going to buy a new CD! After all……a new CD can help three miles to pass pretty quickly!
April 16, 2007 - Posted by - 1 Comment
The start of another week is here….ready or not!
Actually, I think I’m ready to get back into the routine of work. I’m hoping I can smell the coffee when I get there. My “smeller” has not been working for about ten days. That was about the time that I got a sinus infection….according to my self-diagnosis. That was the day that I came home from work just feeling awful. Actually, I had not been feeling good a couple of days prior and I knew something was coming. Sure enough the stuffy head and stuffy nose confirmed it….sinus yuk. I’ve had this before….nothing new…..except when the stuff nose passed, so did my sense of smell. It really hit me when I got my weekly Chick-fil-A sandwich; I was enjoying my first bite when I realized I was noticing the texture of the chicken. The texture? What was up with that? Then I realized what it was……I couldn’t actually “taste” the chicken, so my tongue was just enjoying the different textures….the moisture of the chicken and the crispy outside. That was fine for a few minutes, but I sure missed smelling it! I won’t bore you with all the things I miss smelling……it sure takes the joy out of eating. Of course, I considered trying to diet through this time of not tasting food….but unfortunately, I still get hungry and crave chocolate, even though I can’t really taste it!
I think I got a slight smell of the ham and collards we ate yesterday in Barnesville. I was singing at the Nazarene church there and after the Sunday morning service they took us out to eat at the Garden Cafe next door to the church. It was one of those home cooking buffet places and although not strong, I could smell some of the aromas. And of course, since the food looked so good, I loaded up my plate. After all, presentation is everything!
We had a great time at the Barnesville Church. They are a lovely group of people and I love the chance to share my songs with new friends. As we were driving to the church yesterday morning (we left at 7 AM cause it’s a three hour drive), I was picking out the songs I was going to sing and I began to worry that I’d pick the right songs. Then the Lord reminded me that He was in charge and that I just needed to let His spirit do the work. I could rest in that; it’s really not about me or my songs, it is about what the Spirit of the Lord wants to do in our lives. And He is so faithful. When I took my “half-way” break through the service, a lady on the front row leaned over and said, “Did you write ALL those songs you are singing?” And it hit me again how amazing God really is. How he takes my confusion, my worries and my joys and helps me translate those on paper so I can share this journey with someone else and maybe help them on their way. And if the songs touch lives at all, it is because the Lord has a way of using the ordinary for His glory!
So it’s Monday and I’m on my way to work, but I’m also in a few cars in Barnesville today playing through their speakers and I pray that God will continue to take the songs He has given me and bless where blessings are needed and encourage where encouragement is needed!
April 14, 2007 - Posted by - 0 Comments
I promise, from here on out I am done with medical reports! Hopefully it willo be a long time before I ever get wheeled down a long cold corridor, into an even colder room to stare up into a glaring lamp and the face of a nice lady telling me she’s about to drug me!
I found out that my reputation proceded me. It was 7:20 and I was being taken back to outpatient room 18, the same room as last week. I wondered if I would face the same blonde headed nurse from last week and we could just laugh about my “almost passing out” experience. Instead, Hazel, a tech and some other nurse all appeared in the door and Hazel stated more than asked, “So, you’re the lady who almost passed out during her IV procedure?” (was that the hint of a smile on her face as she said it?) I felt as if I’d already been pegged as a “wimp”, and I needed to explain what happened.
I stated the facts to Hazel: I am brave…..I can take an IV like the best of them…..but the nurse started chasing veins and……I was laying there with an empty stomach while the nurse talked about how best to get the needle in…….well, who wouldn’t get a little nauscious?
Hazel tells me she is going to take care of me. While she is opening sterile IV bags and needles she is telling me that the “other” nurse sent her down. The other nurse told Hazel she just couldn’t come down and try to do my IV because I was the one who almost fainted on her last week. Hazel said, “I just told that nurse, so what? If the patient passes out, you revive them and stick them again!” I am thinking to myself that Hazel is here to prove a point; she is going to get my IV started whether I pass out or not. I’m not sure that Hazel is going to like it when I ask her to please put the needle in the middle of my arm to assure it goes in the first time. I don’t think Hazel takes suggestions too well.
Then to my surprise, Hazel almost seems human and starts asking questions about my family. How many children do I have? What does my husband do? She tells me it is always helpful to be talking when the IV goes in. Since I love to talk….I take off! I keep thinking if I can make Hazel my friend, then maybe she’ll be extra careful when she starts looking for the vein to puncture!
I think somewhere along the line (about the time I started talking about the Lord), Hazel and I became friends. She loved my story about how the Lord was leading me to write songs and she said, “God is good.” About that time, she said she was just going to go for the vein in the bend of my arm to make sure it goes in. I breathed a sigh of relief. She put the turnequit on, I made a fist and hoped for the best.
I knew something was wrong when I didn’t hear her say, “o.k., I’m in.” Nope….it wasn’t working. At least it wasn’t hurting too bad…..but it was’t working. Hazel said, “Honey, I know what the problem is, you’ve got lots of gates in your veins.” I guess those are the valves that ensure your blood flows one way, and it must be hard to get a needle through those things. Oh well, what’s a girl to do? So, she tried one more time, and this time worked! I’m not sure if Hazel went back to the nurse’s station and admitted it took her two times, too….but at least I didn’t have to have wet towels all over my neck and head!
After that, surgery was a breeze, again! I was wheeled into the O/R and someone said “we have a young one here.” The doctor said that’s what I get for being 43 and looking 25 (I could have kissed him!). I loved it when the little lady told me that she was going to give me something that would put me out, but I might wake up again and not to be afraid of all the drapes around my face. She doesn’t know I just have to look at medicine and I’m pretty much down for the count! The next thing I knew, Dr. Greenhaw was putting drops in my eye and telling me I did great.
I spent the day on the couch, listening for the timer and for Ben to say, “o.k. time for drop number….” I’m going to spend the day on the couch again today…..enjoying chilling out and being DONE with IVs!!!! Life is good!!
April 12, 2007 - Posted by - 0 Comments
In just a few hours I should be good as new! I have to be at the hospital at 7:15. That wouldn’t be too bad except I’m not allowed to grab a cup of coffee on the way…..no eating after midnight and all that stuff. So it will be hard to face an early morning without my nice warm cup of coffee. Oh well….gotta follow doctor’s orders. I remember last week that my surgery was changed because someone showed up who had forgotten the rule and had eaten a biscuit on the way to the hospital!
I also remember that after I put on that cute little gown they provide, the nurse asked if I had my socks with me. No, I didn’t have any socks (that wasn’t in my surgical orders). The nurse said she’d get me a pair, but she never did. I guess she forgot how cold the operating room was. They did give me a warm blanket when they noticed I was shivering, but I never did get the socks.
So….I’m packing one, fluffy, warm, pair of footies! And of course, praying for an IV tech who will get it right the first time this time!
April 12, 2007 - Posted by - 0 Comments
I used to read the story to Paige when she was little. It was from a series of books about these little animal friends that attended a camp every summer together. It was my favorite story and it was about the time the friends were trying to learn to be brave enough to jump off the dock and swim to Splash Island not far away. On the island was a very special tree, with a big rope swing that the campers could swing off of and make a big splash! It was the highlight of Splash Island. All of the friends excitedly lined up on the dock except Bartholomew. He was not one bit excited about swimming all the way to Splash Island.
One by one the friends jumped in the water and made their way to the island. Bartholomew just watched and dreaded that his turn would soon come up. Bartholomew could swim pretty well, but it just seemed like such a long way to the island. He was afraid that it was too far and he wouldn’t make it.
The last camper made it safely to the island and it was Bartholomew’s turn. The instructor tells him what he to do and Bartholomew tries to swallow the big lump in his throat. The instructor assures Bartholomew that he will be right there with him and that he does not have to be afraid. Bartholomew sees his friends on the island and they are calling to him to hurry up. They seem to be having such a good time. Bartholomew holds his nose and jumps in.
The water feels good and Bartholomew enjoys it at first, but stroke after stroke seems to still leave him so far away from the island. Bartholomew swims a few more strokes and still doesn’t seem any closer. He becomes worried and thinks about turning back and giving up….he can try for Splash Island next year…..yes, that is what he will do, he will turn around and go back to the dock, Splash Island will have to be enjoyed by his friends, without him,……but wait……he hears something…….”Bartholomew, you can DO it, come on, you can DO it, Bartholomew, keep going, you are almost there, come on, Bartholomew, you CAN DO IT!” Bartholomew decides to try one more time and with those voices still cheering he looks up and realizes that he has made it to Splash Island!
I just loved reading that story! What an amazing thing it is to have someone cheer you on, right when you were about to give up. I think about the dock I might be sitting on right now if it weren’t for the cheers of some special friends. It is amazing to me that just a few encouraing words can be the difference between jumping in that cool water or sitting on the rough, hard dock for weeks.
I love how the story ended. Bartholomew makes it to the island and gets to do what all the campers look forward to doing……he swings off the big tire from the big tree on Splash Island and makes the biggest, most Stupdendous Splash ever!
I want to look around and encourage someone today and then watch the splash!
