Ladies' Advance

Well, I survived the ladies’ retreat. Or as Mrs. Appleby told us, ladies’ advance. It was a lot of fun, but also very tiring. I probably got about 3 hours sleep Friday night.

Mrs. Patti Appleby from FL and Mrs. Judy Andrews from MD were our speakers. They did a great job talking about the amazing race that we are in as Christians. They talked about amazing faith, amazing forgiveness, amazing freedom, amazing focus, and amazing finish. The lessons were based on Hebrews 12:1-4.

Amazing faith is needed because it took amazing faith for us to enter the race. We had to have faith in Jesus Christ and faith to believe that he died on the cross for our sins, was buried and rose again. Faith that his word is true and faith to take the step to ask Him to forgive us for sins and to come into our hearts. There have been and there will be hurdles (events), hindrances (people), and hurts (life) that will interfere with our race.

Amazing forgiveness is needed because Jesus first forgave us for our sins and second because we need to forgive other people for the problems and hurts that come into our lives. Forgiveness can be very difficult because we are human and it takes us awhile to get to that point especially when people have hurt us badly. We may never forget which is good because we may be able to use that time in our lives to help someone else in the future. But we need to forgive.

Amazing freedom is needed because when we are weighted down by burdens and sin, we can go to Jesus and He can take those burdens and sins and free us up from the weights that keep us from running more freely. Sometimes God calls upon us to get rid of things that may not be sin but cause us to stumble such as TV, shopping, reading material, computers or friends. These may take up too much time and energy that we need to run the race well.

Amazing focus is needed because we need to keep our eyes on Him. Looking back, down, left, or right can distract us and we may stumble. We need to always be looking forward and upward toward Him.

Amazing finish is needed because we need to finish well. We need to become like servants and serve those around us. Not for our own glory but for His. To do those jobs nobody ever sees and do them well.

Each area was important for us as Christian women to understand. The most important thing is to keep running the race and don’t stop. We have had veteran runners before us and we need to learn from them and then pass this information down to the younger women to encourage them and keep them in the race.

The workshop I did on marriage went pretty well. I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be. There were about 20 women at the workshop. I think that was a good number and not overwhelming. Mrs. Appleby and Mrs. Andrews were not too far away and they heard some of what I said and they were encouraging when we talked later on. I told them that they were the “A” speakers and I felt like a “B” speaker. I tried to watch them and learn as much as I could from them as they spoke. Overall, it was a very good weekend.

Workshop Ramblings

I have been working on a workshop I am going to do on marriage next weekend at a Ladies Retreat. I am calling the workshop Marriage: Staying on Course. The theme of the Ladies Retreat is Amazing Race and I thought the title of my workshop should be along that same line.

It isn’t like I don’t have nearly thirty years of marriage experience to work with, but when you stop and think about it, it is quite overwhelming to think about standing in front of a bunch of women and telling them how to stay on course when you know your marriage isn’t perfect. Not that anyone’s is.

I have been working on this for sometime and have several pages of notes. I have been reading articles online, going through the Bible and skimming marriage books. I have several ideas about the way in which I would like to go, but have yet to settle on a definite direction.

I am praying that whichever direction I choose, that there is someone there who needs to hear what I have to say. That is what is important and that is why I want to do a good job. That thought keeps me motivated to keep at it and not to be weary when it starts to feel like a daunting task.

I think back over the past thirty years and there are so many memories of fun times together with Keith and the kids, the highs and lows of traveling and moving with the Air Force, all of the people we have met that have touched our lives (hopefully we have touched them as well), and just the day to day aspects of married life and I realize I should be able to talk for days let alone a 45 minute workshop.

In other news....

Bek, Han and I all went to see baby Matthew on Tuesday. We have to have time for that you know. He is changing so much already. He seems longer too. I am not there all the time, but he seems to be a really content baby.

Anyway, I just wanted you all to know that I was busy and gearing up for next weekend and that is why I haven’t written for awhile.

Fifteen Years Ago and Today

No April Fools

Fifteen years ago today in Albuquerque, NM at 3:54 pm MST Hannah Joy was born. Keith & I always tried to play at least one joke on each other all the years before this. We were so busy that day that we didn’t even realize until the next day that we hadn’t played a joke on each other. I guess having a baby on April Fools Day was enough fun for one day.

People say that having a birthday on April Fools Day must be tough, but no one ever really made fun of Hannah over it. One woman we know that was born on April Fools Day had it rough growing up especially from her cousins who would give her things like a phone book for a gift. Relatives of one guy we know who was born on that day after several sisters thought his Mom & Dad were playing a joke on them when they told them that they had a boy.

Anyway, I can’t believe that my baby is fifteen years old already. She is already talking about getting her permit which you can’t do until 15 ½ in Ohio. She takes after her Mom in height, so I told her she had to get taller before she can drive. Do you think that will work?

Speaking of babies, while we are still basking in the glow of our new little grandson, we found out yesterday that our oldest daughter, Sarah and her husband are having our first granddaughter. We get one of each our first year in the grandparent business. Pretty good, huh? It was the day before April Fools and I asked her if it was a joke and she said no, of course. She was thrilled to find out that everything looked good and the baby appears to be healthy. Only 20 weeks to go!

Congratulations Donald & Sarah!

Happy 15th Birthday, Hannah!

We love you! Contrary to what you think, even though we have grandbabies, you will always be our baby.