Are You Missing Something?

I just thought I might be of help to those of you who have lost precious articles within the past few months. I believe I have found where they disappeared to.

We have been after our kids to clean their rooms for some time now and though they go and spend HOURS in them supposedly cleaning somehow the rooms look no better when they come out. Amazingly, they often times look WORSE after the kids have "cleaned"!

My niece and her family are coming to stay with us this weekend so I decided it was time I took matters into my own hands. My daughter's room is the worse so I chose to risk life and limb and start there. As I entered with my mountain climbing equipment, picks and shovels I began digging through the pile. (It's just one huge mountain. To have separate piles would imply there is some sort of organization.) As I dug, I began pitching clothes to the hallway to be rewashed (fully aware that 90% have probably not been worn since the last washing,but since they had been trampled on numerous times, I figured it warranted a rewashing). To my surprise I found not only mounds of Ashley's clothes and shoes that she outgrew right after we moved here, but I also found her brother's clothes, her brother's underwear and socks, a variety of shoes belonging to numerous people, her DAD'S jeans, her dad's underwear, school papers from second grade, half eaten food from who knows when, a ziploc bag of some unknown substance which looked and smelled like vomit (which I almost did when I found it)....you get the idea.

I came to realize as I shoveled and climbed that MANY lost treasures (among other scarier things) might be in this room! So...if you have lost something valuable just let me know. I'll mark it and set it aside for you. All I ask in return is a small finder's fee...you know for taking my life in my own hands for your service.

Oh, by the way. You might want to add my children to your prayer lists. Otherwise, when asked about them my response may be, "Ashley and Daniel WHO?"

I'm BAAACK!!!

Well, almost. The therapist says I am responding well so I should be able to be back at work in 7-10 days. I smiled when he said this because the 24th is the last day of school. The last day of finals is the 22nd! The Dr. did say I had really improved with therapy and may be able to return to work by next Friday so he wants to see me again next Thursday. The school year may be a wash but at least I'm getting my life back! I do have a really good sub so I am thankful for that. At least the end of the year hasn't been a total loss. I'm looking forward to summer and next year to get a fresh start.

I love fresh starts. The wonderful thing about them is you get to have them pretty much whenever you choose! Just look to a good starting point in the future and brace yourself to get there!

Thanks for all your prayers. I KNOW that is the real reason I have recovered so quickly.

It's the End of the World As We Know It!!!

At least that's what our children think. As you know if you have been reading the Garrett blogs, Darrell and I both have been pretty much out of commission. As a result, our portion of the "chores" have not been done.

I have made the kids cook some simple meals a couple of times. I figure it's good for them to learn this responsibility anyway. They each have been cooking certain things for years, but to just put the two of them alone in the kitchen without supervision.... Well, I do believe this was the first time I have been brave enough to try it. Bravery really had nothing to do with it. It was actually one of those "between a rock and a hard place" situations. I was absolutely amazed to find that a child with an IQ of somewhere around 160 can't follow the directions on the seasoning packet for tacos! However, everything turned out okay in the end. As you can see, I lived to tell about it! No one died or got food poisoning.

The second reality shock that has hit our children is that Mom and Dad do all the laundry. With my injury, the bending and lifting that goes with laundry have prevented me from doing much. As a result our son has actually had to dig through that pig sty of a room of his and find clean clothes that have been buried for ...well... probably for months now. I think he had been rotating the same three pair of underwear through the laundry until this happened and mom hasn't been able to do laundry daily!

He is also starting to learn the value of finding his clothes the night before because several times he has tried to get ready for school and been unable to find any jeans! (He refuses to wear shorts to school.) I have intended to teach him to do laundry but have been trying to get him through this school year first. He has been so overwhelmed with homework, there has been little time for anything else. Thank God the AP Calculus class just took the AP exam yesterday so homework from that class will be minimal for the rest of the year now. I have a feeling his system is going to be in for a shock.

In addition to doing some of our chores, the kids still have their own. To be perfectly honest, I haven't had the where withal to be after them as much as usual so my living room looks like a bunch of pigs have set up camp. It is at the point of driving me crazy. I would be truly embarrassed if anyone were to show up at my house right now. (To the honery ones of the congregation, this is not an invitation to come over and embarrass me.) If the kids don't get their rooms clean, at least they are upstairs hidden from sight, but EVERYONE sees the living room!

My kitchen floor is also embarrassing. I mentioned to the therapist yesterday that it really needs to be mopped. He just smiled and said, "Just look at it and think about how you don't have to do it!" Yeah right! All I can see is the filth. Somehow God has given my children special vision because they never seem to notice the juice they spilled on the floor or the food they left on the counter. All spills of any kind completely miss them. I wish God had given them my vision! I don't really want theirs. The health department would be shutting our HOUSE down!

All in all, I am having a much better day so far. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to sit here long enough to write this. It is just 8:15 though, and I took a break in the middle.

I go back to the Dr. next Thursday to find out how much longer. I just want to get "my world" back to normal. This whole experience has taught me something, though. I realized I "have a life" as they say. I am normally a very active person not just busy. And I have been blessed with the ability to do many things. I have been taking the ability to do house work, painting, cleaning my yard, teaching, cooking, being able to be in the sun all for granted. I can assure you, I will appreciate those "everyday chores" much more after this is all over.

Update on Lucy

The Dr. has some concerns regarding my reaction to the meds. I'm not healing the way I should and the spots are not what he initially thought they were. He sent me to get blood work to check liver enzymes, white blood cell count, etc. I haven't gotten the results as yet.

He has also ordered physical therapy and I am off work indefinitely pending weekly re-evaluations and and evaluations from the physical therapist.

I was in such pain after sitting on the Dr. furniture that I had to come home and take some pain meds. It has made me nautious. My system must still be sensitive from my last reaction so I am not tolerating meds as well.

Thanks for your prayers. Please don't let up.

MAY DAY! MAY DAY!!!

It is May 1st which is May Day. Most people don't celebrate May Day anymore. From my understanding, on May 1st people would dance around a "May pole" interweaving ribbons in celebration of this date. It seems I read somewhere that this was actually a pagan celebration, but I don't have the energy to research that right now and my mind is too fuzzy to remember all the obscure facts I once knew.

However, the title of this post is actually a pun. It is May Day, but I AM calling for help. I go back to the Dr. today for a re-evaluation. I know that I am still having pain, but I don't want to stay home if I am able to go back to work.

How can you help? Pray for my healing and my Dr. that God will give him wisdom. My Dr. is a Christian and also believes in healing so I know the faith is there as well.

Why Not Vote?

Why do so many Christians think that being involved in politics is wrong? If Christians don't run for office or justice positions, we are leaving the running of this country to the unsaved and we wonder what has happened to this God fearing nation?!

The same reasoning holds for schools. I have been criticized for teaching in public schools instead of a private Christian school. First of all and most importantly, this is what God has called me to do. But aside from that, if we take all the Christian teachers out of the schools, what influence have we left for the young people of the U.S. to follow and look up to as role models? If we take all the Christian students out of the schools, what peers have we left for other students to be influenced by. I truly believe my children are missionaries on a mission field.

I am not putting down anyone who chooses home schooling or private Christian schools. You must do what God has directed you to do, but I do think sometimes we try to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world! Not just politically, not just in education, but we do it in our churches as well! We fail to become friends with the unsaved and spend all of our time with other Christians. How are we going to reach the lost if we are never around the lost?

The Bible says we are to be in the world but not of the world. I understand that to mean we live and function in daily lives as normal people. We just don't partake of sinful things. Jesus made his closest friends people that most people at that time wouldn't give the time of day to. They weren't the holy saints from the synagogue. He befriended them, taught them, discipled (trained) them. They weren't "good Christians" when Christ met them!

We are to be the salt of the earth. Salt doesn't just "sit" on the meat or other food and look nice. It chemically changes and reacts with the food, preserving it and changing its flavor. We can't change lives of the unsaved if we don't get involved with them! I don't mean go drinking at the bar with your coworkers. I do mean going to dinner with them. Sitting and chatting with them at work. Spending time building friendships, then they'll notice something in you that they lack.

I do believe this includes the political realm. I had a friend at the school where I worked in Lincoln, whom I loved dearly and still keep in touch with by email. She openly confessed she was not a Christian. She knew exactly where I stood. She would tease me sometimes calling me a closet liberal because I didn't look down on her for her beliefs, but she was keenly aware of my stand on abortion, gay rights or other "conservative" issues. She knew I disagreed with her, but still gave me the opportunity to express why I believe what I believe. She allowed me this right because I had become her friend.

Schools, politics, work, little league, the GROCERY store, these are all areas where we can let the love of God shine through! We should not limit where God wants to use us. We need to be involved in ALL everyday aspects of life! Especially those that affect the moral direction of this country.

Growing Up Pentecostal

I recently read a book titled "Growing Up Pente- costal". It was written by J. Stephen Conn. Some of you may have noticed that he occassion- ally posts comments on mine and Darrell's blogs. You may read seven of the chapters on his blog. Click on the highlighted title or the image to link to that site.

The book tells of experiences both bad and good that Pastor Conn experienced as the 3rd child (of 12) of a Church of God minister. I laughed at many of the antics Pastor Conn pulled as a child. I became angry over the way he was treated at times. I felt saddened at times. I read of experiences like some of my own childhood. And I learned some things about the history of our denomination which helped me to understand why some people do the things they do. WE taught them to be that way!

I wish I could have read this book early in our ministerial lives. Perhaps it would have helped me to cope better with folks I considered to be "holier than thou". Some of the older folks in our denomination can't seem to break loose from the holiness-on-the-outside perspective they grew up with, but I thank God that changes are taking place. I just pray we don't follow the swing of the proverbial pendulum and go too far the other way.

Those who have not been raised in our denomination will find insight into some of the "why we do the things we do" and hopefully learn from the mistakes of our past so that we don't repeat history.

It is an interesting book. A great read-at-the-beach or on the porch swing kind of book. What I liked most is that I didn't have to read it cover to cover. I can choose a particular chapter of interest then go back to another later without losing any understanding. In this give-me-a-tidbit-and-let-me-run-world it is the perfect book.

You can get the book at Amazon.com or your local book store.