This past week has been a full one. I decided to take my two youngest children to Vacation Bible School at Madison Baptist Church. Our church does not do a VBS, and the churches in my immediate area use purchased programs which are nice, but a little too contemporary for my liking (OK - alot too contemporary, but I hold my nose and let them go anyways). The VBS put on by Madison is similar to the ones we did in our Maryland church. Although the church is a 45 min. drive from my home, I wanted to take them one last time (they age out this year). Because of the distance, I stay in town when we do this. This year was a little different, because we have more employed drivers than cars at the moment, so we had to do some juggling to make sure everyone was where they needed to be at the right time, and no one got stuck in town for a long time after they were off work. This was also a week when both I and my youngest son had our new patient doctor's appointments, conventially scheduled for 3pm. So, after bible school, we would go home for lunch, and to drop off whoever did not need to go back into town. Then I (and whoever needed to go) would leave the house to drive back to Madison to pick up whoever was getting off at two, then we would drive into Huntsville, where we were dropped off at the doctor's and the employee of the day would get to take my car and go home. Eric would meet us at the doctor's and take us home. One day during the week, Sara lost a filling in one of her teeth. This gave us the "opportunity" go to the dentist after VBS. That day we left my car with Rachel at Chick-fil-a, and I took the van and had to come back to pick Eric up. It was just a crazy, crazy week.

While we were at the dentist, he asked about our water - was it city or well water? Why well water, of course. Apparently, this is not a good thing in our dentist's mind, because he gave me a perscription for a strong flouride toothpaste. I like knowing that we were not getting flouride or other additives in our water, but I probably will get the toothpaste. I am not a militant anti-flouride type person. I think, used in moderation, it probably does improve tooth strength. To tell the truth, I just don't have a strong opinion on the matter.

It is a good thing that I do not have to earn my keep by my computer skills. I have spent almost an hour trying to upload photos to this blog. As you can see, I am unsuccessful. It just means that I will have to get someone to show me what to do (again). But I will master this.

Eric and I recently went to the Discover Awana conference just outside of Chicago. This was really a nice trip, and one I was glad to be able to take. The conference covered so many different topics. Eric was able to focus on what's new for the T & T program while my thoughts were more personal. Awana is very focused on their goal of reaching children with the gospel, therefore, everything they do is intentional. My take away, at least in part, is to develop an intentional attitude. What is it that I "intend" to accomplish, and how do I do it?

Eric and I spent the last week at the AWANA headquarters attending the Discover Awana conference. We arrived last Saturday, and left there yesterday (Wednesday afternoon). I have to say that the whole trip was wonderful. The folks at Awana were first rate, and we were treated very well. The days were full, and we learned so much that it will be hard to retain it.


These are a couple of photos that I took while at the headquarters.

On Sunday afternoon our hosts took us to downtown Chicago. This is me standing on Navy Pier with the Chicago skyline in the background. I caught Eric off guard with this picture as we were going into one of the shops

There are events that mark our lives such as 911. Who doesn't remember where they were and what they were doing when they received the news? Yesterday morning was one of those mornings for me. A dear friend of our family died suddenly. I have much to say about this, but no time at present. I just wanted to say that our perspective on life can change suddenly, and the most important thing is to make sure that we show those we love that we love them while we have the moment.

Christmas Reflections

My family says this has been one of the best Christmas days they can remember. I'm not sure why....it has been one of the simplier ones. The days leading up to today felt like a race against time. We had the usual obligations - school, work, and church. Then there was the extra's - extra play practices, the plays themselves, Christmas parties, shopping and the best part - sickness. As far as gifts are concerned, we didn't have the resources to make it as extravagant as we would have liked. There wasn't time to bake all the traditional goodies - most went unmade. There is a gingerbread house baked, but not put together. In years past, I would have gone into a frenzy to make it all happen, but not this year. There comes a time when all you can do is all you can do, and it becomes enough. I think the simplicity is what made it good.

We woke up to a surprise - a white Christmas. I think that is another part of what makes today special. We moved to Alabama over five years ago, and have been sadly disappointed by promises of snow only to have slight dustings which melted away within minutes of falling. But today we had almost three inches of snow - and it's still around - and it's still snowing. Almost unbelievable.

Fall!! This is my favorite season of the year. I think it is because I love the colors of the autumn - the browns, oranges, yellows, reds and even the deep purples of the leaves and the bright blueness of a crisp fall day. I love the smell of bonfires and burning fall leaves. The crispness of the air is so refreshing. At this time of the year I love to wrap myself up in a blanket and lay on the trampoline to watch the stars as they come out. Even the stars are more beautiful in fall.

Since I last wrote my little granddaughter Savanna was born. She came into the world on October 7t h. She is beautiful and we love her beyond words. I am excited, because tonight will be the first night she comes to visit her grandma and papa's home. I'll have her little cradle ready, and I'm sure all the aunts, and uncle and grandparents will have cameras trained on her. I promise I will post pictures someday. I have tried in recent posts, but I am doing something wrong.

Today found me in another philosophical mood. Our family has suffered hurt. Not that this is unique. It would be unique to find someone untouched by pain. Most of the time I just move on and don't dwell on how things are and how things might have been. But sometimes I indulge in a little "self-righteous indignation" when I think of the responses of only a handful of people. It is not anyone where I currently live, for everyone here has been wonderful and supportive. It is people from the past who are quick to judge a situation and find the "obvious" causes and the "easy" solutions. The quick response to this is to say that such folks are not worth worrying about. But really, how do you handle the rejection of friends whose company you've enjoyed and whose friendship you cherished and would have counted as unbreakable. David expressed something of what I feel when he said "If it was an enemy who reproached me, I could've borne it. But it was you, my equal, my friend. We walked into the house of God together." This isn't an exact quote, just a quick paraphrasing. I could have borne this if it had been an enemy.

I was thinking about all this while getting my day started. I thought of how I'd like to ask these folks how they would respond if given the same set of circumstances. I wanted to fill in the gaps of their knowledge and show them how much they don't know and how foolish their judgments have been. But then I thought of others whose stories I have come to know. I see the courage and bravery they show. I see the compassion that comes from the ones whose lives have also been touched by sorrow. Then I realized that no one comes through life unscathed. The hard times in life are necessary. The secret is in how we handle them. Hard things will do one of two things. They will make us bitter, or they will make us better. I pray that I, and my family, will come out of this better.

I