Not Ready to Give Up Summer :)

Ah, my favorite season of the year....as warm days of summer give way to the crisp cool mornings and evenings of autumn, I submit to my senses of smell, sight and taste.  I was determined this year though to not give in until the day fall actually does arrive, which is a couple of weeks away.  I told myself, "No pumpkin spice latte until September 23rd...I mean it!".  (I have succeeded thus far, by the way).  I want to savor the summer until the last sausage is grilled and the last corn on the cob is chewed away.  My summer sped by with the wedding being all-consuming, so each minute that ticks away on the clock until the first leaf falls I will be enjoying what I can squeeze from the days left.  It helps that here in the Pacific Northwest, we are experiencing amazingly warm (and a few HOT) days yet.  

I went to two farmer's markets in the last week to stock up on fresh garden vegetables.  I try to make a big batch of ratatouille (French vegetable dish) and have it on hand to nibble on when I want something quick, easy and healthy.  What a sensory treat...the vibrant reds, sunny yellows and deep greens drew me in like a magnet. 

 I think I bought too many vegetables :)  The flower vendors displayed the most exquisite bouquets of autumn hues and for the first time in a long time, I bought myself a bouquet.  I yearned for a market I could wander through each week of the coming months.  There is something about home-grown and outdoor vendors that brings meaning to shopping and cooking that we lose at Safeway.

Once I had my ratatouille simmering, I tackled the task of putting away all the stuff that has accumulated around the house during the months of busy-ness.  Returning things borrowed, finding places for items that somehow found their way into my home and figuring out what to do with what had been left behind by a now-married daughter.  So naturally, a day of dusting and cleaning awaits me.  But oh no, that means putting away "summer" and getting out "fall".  I am a visual person and love to display the seasons in my home.  Candles, leaves and orange find their way onto the shelves and mantles of our abode.  The lure of autumn is already beckoning me.  I may have to light a pumpkin spice candle, but I draw the line at the latte!

What I really love about this approaching season beyond the colors, smell and falling leaves, is the new beginnings that surround us.  For the last 27 years, the fall has signaled the beginning of school and new activities in the family.  For the first time in nearly 3 decades, there is no school bus, or child running out the door (for high school or college).  Last year, I still had a college-bound son at home.  This year, silence.  Alas, it is still a time of new beginnings...usually churches begin their new Bible studies for women as children are back at school. I am looking forward with anticipation to beginning a new study, digging into God's Word and being challenged as I step into this next phase of life.  I LOVE that this journey as a parent, a wife and a child of God continues to keep us growing and is not meant to be stagnant.  I found a study I would like to do...http://www.lifeway.com/Product/breathe-making-room-for-sabbath-member-book-p005644896

This seems like a great season to learn to do just that....breathe.  Breathe in God, breathe in rest, breathe in love and His purposes for my life.

As summer winds down and berry cobbler gives way to apple cake with rum sauce http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/apple-nut-cake-with-rum-sauce

I encourage you to breathe in these last days of summer and dream new big dreams for this next season.  I know I will...perhaps with that latte and a bit of cake :)  but first I'm firing up the grill and husking some corn for a last bbq and soaking up a few sun-drenched days left to enjoy.

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The Circus Has Left Town

Yes, it’s been months since I blogged.  Life took over and I’m looking out my window realizing that the leaves are about to change color and we will be putting away the bbq and deck chairs before the month is out.  Time certainly didn’t pass me by, it just kept running beside me until I suddenly stopped to breathe and slow the pace of 2014.  

We gave away our beautiful and youngest daughter in marriage a few weeks ago. I knew this day would come and life would change.  It seems we just announced her engagement to Jordan and before we knew it, they were all smiles and leaving on their honeymoon.  The months in between are a bit of a blur now - a happy content “glad they are over” kind of blur.  Lots of work ending in an incredible awesome celebration and adventure ahead for a couple who are deeply in love.  

Our youngest son moved out in July as he continues his studies and internship in becoming a fireman.  Our hearts swelled with pride (the good kind) as he was sworn in and badged two days after our daughter’s wedding.  Life is good and bittersweet at the same time....why does the heart ache when they try their wings and fly - especially when you realize it is your youngest and life will never be quite the same.

I wrote on this blog a while back about my “circus”.   My Family Circus   Our Russian/Ukrainian name translated into English means “wild family”.  Years ago, when we lived in Russia as missionaries, we lived in a hotel that housed the Moscow circus when they came through town.  How appropriate...our wild family in the circus hotel.  Pondering our empty nest as the dust settles from the last months, this took on a whole new meaning.  The air is no longer filled with the roaring of tigers jumping through hoops or elephants balancing on a ball.   The rhythmic music of dancing bears across the floors is silenced.   Trapeze artists flying through the air or walking a tight wire are no longer a safety issue :)  Silence prevails and as I stand in the dust and look around at empty tents, discarded peanut bags and cotton candy wrappers, I am struck with the realization....the circus has left town. 

My heart is trying to absorb all of this in our new season.  I always thought I liked change.  I’m not so sure now.  Although change with purpose is promising.  Change with vision is exhilarating.  Change means the old is passing away and  the new is born.  Wait, the circus may have left but the Ringmaster and his beautifully clad sidekick are still here :)  Slightly older, less elegant, but still with lots of “circusy-wild-family” life just waiting to get the show on the road once again.   And those cute tutu-ed bears, those roaring tigers, and flying trapeze will definitely still come around with an act all their own :)  Probably a bit hungry, maybe a load or two of laundry to be done, perhaps a need to be met or a word of advice wanting to be dispensed.  Wonderful....I seriously can’t wait! 

As I head into the cool, crisp days of autumn, I look forward to pondering and remembering His goodness.  As days of “thankfulness” come upon us, I anticipate many God-stories welling up in my heart.  Yes, time to write those down....stories not forgotten.  A new season full of promise, life and fresh memories waiting to be made!  I don’t honestly know what the next season looks like, but if I know anything about God, it will be full of surprises and His faithfulness!

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,

Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Great is Thy Faithfulness!

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Survival Vs. Living

Are you surviving today?  Or are you living?  It's not a question of semantics but a deep down heart-felt question.  This weekend we went to see the Academy Award Best Picture "Twelve Years A Slave".  Heavy movie.  Be ready for heartache, deep issues of evil in the heart of man and ending with tears mixed with joy and sadness.  A statement made by the lead actor left an impression on my mind.  Solomon, a free man in the north (of USA) is kidnapped and sold into slavery (human trafficking is not new).  Early into this horrific journey he is about to face, he is challenged by another slave to be tough, keep his head down and "survive".  Solomon, in a state of bewilderment and shock at what has happened to him lifts his head and says, "I don't want to survive, I want to live."  Profound.

Egypt was a place of survival and death.  Egypt was where baby Moses was found floating in the Nile, placed there to escape the death sentence of all the male babies.  God then uses this same land as a place where baby Jesus and his parents found refuge the first years of Jesus' life.  A place of death became a place of survival, which led to life.   Interestingly, life changing ministries came out of this place from the lives of these two men.

Scholars differ but the general thinking is Jesus spent around two or three years of his early childhood in Egypt, before returning home after King Herod died (around 4 B.C.).  He and his family were surviving in Egypt.

During this period of "survival" Jesus most likely....

**learned how to walk

**learned to eat with a spoon by himself

**learned to talk

**began to recognize his earthly father and mother

**became attached to his earthy family and developed relationships with them....his early "community"

Places of survival can be places of learning and preparation.  And, they can be transformed into places of life.  Places meant for death can be transformed into life. 

Today, whatever season you or I are in, let's ask God to birth life out of it.  If you feel you are just surviving, barely able to keep your head above water, wondering how you got here in the first place when all you did was take steps of obedience,  let's trust God to bring life out of our Egypt.  Open our eyes to what God is doing in our Egypt - perhaps teaching us something valuable to use later on down the road.  We don't want to survive, we WANT TO LIVE! 

"Lord, in places that once meant death, or seem like death to us, we trust You to bring forth life.  Today, increase my faith in a place that seems to be dying, YOU will cause life to spring forth." 
(prayer from the devotional below)

(Some of my thoughts came from my devotional reading today; a wonderful Lent devotional that is free to download.  Even though Lent is the time period 40 days before Easter, this devotional has 17 days of devotions, so if you begin now or even miss a day or two, there is plenty of time to catch up before Easter.  Enjoy because this is powerful stuff!  Thanks to Ann Voskamp!

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/02/what-lent-really-means-free-easter-devotional-book-to-make-a-jesus-easter-tree/

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Where Do The Birds Go?

Firstly, where did I go?  I'm still here, just my energies concentrating on other areas as winter winds down.

taxes
insurance
cleaning
catching up on month-long paperwork
paying bills
sending out newsletter
getting over illnesses from travel
catching up with family

and...

shopping for a wedding dress
finding a caterer
reviewing options for decorations
looking at flowers
invitation decisions

Yes, I am a mother of the bride!  Since returning the beginning of February, the realization has set in that the bulk of the months of 2014 will be wedding preparation (for my daughter and I, at least).  So, if I only write once in a while, you will know why and where I am, more or less.

And I hope to be "where the birds go".  This morning I woke up to pounding rain and a windstorm that threatens to be an all day long event. I enjoyed my morning ritual of Bible, coffee and watching the birds at our birdhouse out our window

Okay, not my birdhouse, I just can't find my photo of mine...lost in my files :)

Only today, there were no birds to be seen.  Rain pelting the window and wind whipping the trees, I wondered "where do the birds go when it rains and is so windy?"  

"How priceless (exquisite) is your love, O God. How eager we are to run under your wings."

Psalm 36:7

"Be good to me, O God; I run to you for dear life. I'm hiding out under your wings until the hurricane blows over."  Psalm 57:1  (The Message Bible)

Birds, like us, know when to run for shelter.  To a momma or daddy bird to cover them; to the cleft of a rock for protection or the branch of a tree for shelter 

We, like our fine feathered friends, also run for shelter in the storms or the seasons of ultra-busyness.  Like birds, doesn't mean we are weak, just shows we are smart.  Hopefully, we know the best place to go to be protected and to receive strength.  So when the rain and wind passes, and the sun comes out again (which is always does), we are replenished and rested to continue.  Take heart, we will see the sun again.  This winter and season will soon be over.  The birds know this to be true.  I know where the birds go...and where I plan to go when things get tough.

"And those who wait upon God will get fresh strength.  They spread their wings and soar like eagles."  Isaiah 40:31

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Pausing, Pondering and the Past

I am holding my favorite coffee cup, the steam rising, watching the snow gently fall with a sense of peace enveloping my moment.  I am resting.  Recouping my strength after a four-week, four-country ministry trip.  Internet access was sketchy which is why I dropped off the radar.  In the quiet, I am reminded....

A couple of weeks ago I spent two and a half hours walking through 6,000 years of history - Armenian history.  Looking at ancient maps, walking amongst broken pottery, rudimentary tools & weapons formed 12 millennia before Christ tends to make you feel just a little bit small in this universe.  I kept thinking, “These were lives lived and died; struggling just to survive; souls created by God living thousands of years ago.”  My mind was whirling as I imagined  them discovering how they could dig out rocks, stones and metals and make a weapon...or a shovel...or even a spoon. When did they realize they needed a lid for a pot?  Even to view the progression of tools, jewelry, eating utensils and dishes over the millenniums was astounding. Their first cart with a wooden wheel made transporting so much easier.   A display held the “first shoe” ever discovered in the world....animal skins/leather formed to fit a foot to protect it from the rocky soil.

 Walking through the halls, we edged further into history, rounding the corner of the ages to when Christ was born.  That first century.  Looking at history being lived out while Jesus walked in Palestine.  The same type of crude dish he may have eaten from; the jewelry worn by women of the day, and yes, again, the weapons used to further man’s struggle for power and their kingdoms.  Over and over again, men fighting for their beliefs, their people.  So many wars, battles and conquests of ancient lands.

Our journey took us from viewing “idols” and ritual altars to the first churches.  The buildings housed for new beliefs. Thaddeus and Bartholomew were the apostles who came to Armenia in that first century after Christ. Christianity being declared the official religion of Armenia in 301 AD.   (St.) Gregory having been imprisoned for years, shared his faith with King Tiradates III and officially introduced Christianity to Armenia.  The alphabet for the Armenian language was written around 387 AD, so the Bible could be written in a language uniting the regions, culture and people of Armenia.

Kings and queens evolving into the presidents and prime ministers of current history.  Deciding what to do with “the Armenians” ? The horrific genocide of the Armenian peoples in 1915 - 1918 from the hands of the Ottoman Empire.  Boundaries shifted, peoples displaced and exterminated.  A quote from someone in the Ottoman leadership “No Armenian people, No Armenian question.”  A black tragedy in the history of this incredible nation and still very much remembered today.  A friend told me “it is the identity of the Armenians...this genocide...it is who they are...their history.”

 Rounding the last corner into more recent days....World War II,  Stalin, the “liberation” of Armenia by the Russians, Armenia the Republic, the Iron Curtain and communism.  Culminating in the nineties, the fall of the curtain and the independence of the “republics” and Eastern Europe.

My mind was reeling from 6,000 years of history and a people I have grown to love. I felt like I was in a time warp.  Walking the snow covered streets passing adults and children enjoying the afternoon in an ice skating rink, I was transported back to 2014.  Grabbing some Armenian “fast food” (schwarma - similar to a Greek gyro) we hurried to get to a meeting on time where we were privileged to be teaching God’s Word to young, hungry hearts.

I sat and listened to the testimony of a young Armenian woman whom three years ago discovered how much this God of creation loves her.  Her past struggles of survival and rejection in a world that did not recognize her beautiful life and soul.  I was reminded in the vast expanse of thousands of years preceding my own existence...all those lives and history I just walked through, God has never changed.  He has always loved mankind - through the struggles, wars, genocides and our constant turning away.  I looked at stone idols set up through the centuries.  No wonder God got angry in the Old Testament with idols.  His beautiful creation, His awesome world, the stones He created being made into something to worship when HE and HE alone should be the “worshipped One”.  He isn’t sitting in a museum somewhere, cold, grey and forgotten.

As Alisa shared her story of God’s love and forgiveness, her own heart and life being set free when she discovered His fatherheart towards her, my heart rested in knowing that in thousands and thousands of years of history what still matters most is God loving us. Jesus coming for us. Forgiveness. Redemption.  Reconciliation.  Relationship. Freedom.  HE was there in the beginning and HE will be there at the end.

Proverbs 8: 22-31 puts this into perspective :)

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Grace, Thankfulness, Day by Day

New Year, new week, new word....living day by day.  I started a new devotional which is based off a best seller.  I have wanted to read this book for some time, and came across her devotional.  Day to day suits me right now.

I have a birdhouse right out my bedroom window and as I am having my devotions each morning, I see the tiny sparrows alighting and eating.  Yes, this is for me right now :)  It's all about grace and thankfulness in each day.  In every moment.  Day by day.

Just a few thoughts...and I am quoting Ann Voskamp :

"Eve's thanklessness for all God does give and her resentfulness of the one fruit He doesn't give, this is the catalyst of the fall."  In typing this, I realized I read it wrong the first time; I read her 'restlessness of the one fruit'.  Still rather fits, I think.

"Our fall is always a failure to give thanks."

"All the wickedness in the world begins with an act of forgetting."  (Mark Buchanan)

In the proverbial nutshell - When we FORGET, we don't THANK GOD.  Paul begins his letter to the Romans with "First, I thank my God..."  Romans 1:8

Thankfulness.

Day by Day.

Not forgetting.  God tells the Israelites OFTEN to write it down, write it down, write it down, lest they FORGET.  This is why.

I love journaling.  Going to do it even more this year.  Day by day.  Lest I forget.  Not a difficult thing.  I can do this. Not just in November.  Day by day.

In the mess of the day....in the busyness of getting ready for a month of intense ministry....in the joys and in the struggles.

"First, I thank my God...."

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2014 One Day At A Time

2014...Wow!  Not sure how this year snuck up on me but here it is staring me in the face and I am expected to "welcome" it.  I do welcome the year, with open arms, but I kind of feel like when you open your door to a guest, knowing they were coming, but they showed up an hour early.  "Hi, come on in; I'm not quite ready, but have a seat, I'll only be a minute."  So, as soon as I wipe the shocked look off my face and gather my thoughts, those arms will open wide and 'come on in 2014'

I always look forward to a new year.  New beginnings.  New goals.  New ideas, plans and visions.  A fresh page to write on.  Leaving the past behind and moving on to the new.  But when that clock struck 12:00 a.m. January 1, 2014, my book hadn't opened to that first page....yet.

Closing off 2013 was not as easy as past years for me.  Disappointments, unfulfilled expectations, and the realization that I did not accomplish all I had set out to do in these last 12 months. Some things I could control and others totally out of my hands.  Not a terrible year, but one I would like to let go of and move on.   And yet, in the middle of each and every moment of those 365 days, God was right there, holding, supporting, encouraging and making his presence known when I stopped long enough to acknowledge Him and His truth in my life.

Sometimes the "big picture" and the "visions and plans for the year" can overshadow the moment of each day and we, or I, can get overwhelmed.  I love plans, goals and writing down those resolutions for the new year.  However, when you look back and see what you didn't do, the to-do list for the coming months can become disheartening.  Not necessarily fresh to-do, but the same things which hadn't yet quite reached completion.

But in the early hours of a brand new year, God shows up and reminds me not of what I DIDN'T DO in 2013, but WHAT HE DID.  He reminds me of His goodness and faithfulness.  His constant companionship, even when we don't "feel" it.  His plans according to His timetable.  His day-to-day friendship, which by the way, is the life source of which all my/our plans should flow.

Day-to-day.  One day at a time.  One dream at a time.  One moment at a time of His goodness being revealed to me, so that when I look back, my days are literally overflowing with dreams, plans and desires being fulfilled....one day at a time.  Seriously, friends, if I look at the year in total, it kind of scares me.  But if I take today, and then tomorrow, and the next day, life gets done.

A month-long ministry trip ahead, continued support-raising for the life He has called us into, one still in college, and one returning; one living her life thousands of miles away,  And our newest exciting news of the year, our youngest daughter getting married in August!  Just the wedding plans can intimidate me :)  Heart dreams....writing...teaching....photography....big deep breath.

Jesus is calling me to...

One   Day   At   A   Time

One day at a time....to rest in Him; enjoy Him; walk, talk, dream with Him; feed on His Word...one day at a time.  One day at a time.....to enjoy family.  One day at a time....to give to others....feed others....give time, energy, resources, life to others.  

One day at a time....BEGINNING and ENDING WITH HIM.  I can't go wrong with that.  I won't wear myself out.   I won't become overwhelmed.  One day at a time...to dream. I can still plan, still write down ideas and visions....but the tackling of them is.....one day at a time.

This post is probably not 'practical' with a lot of how-to's in setting up your year; yeah!  I don't need practical right now, I need breathing room, space to dream and think through ideas, time to process and take on only today.

JOY awaits us in 2014.....that I firmly believe is my WORD for the year from the heart of GOD.  

My friends, let's not just "do" 2014, let's plan, dream, hope, rest and live

one  day  at  a  time

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