Life Back Here

We interrupt this travelogue for a post about life back here....

Since I've been back, there has been so much to catch up on, but my consuming concern has been lining up readers and coming up with creative ideas for staging the readings for our Easter Vigil!  I'm in charge of the Passion reading for Palm Sunday, as well.  I started before we left, but now the heat is on.  And with a small church, so many decisions are like a chain of dominos, each one contingent upon the one before it.  (If this person can't do this, then I'll ask this other person...so I can't ask them to do that yet, until I know if this person can help out here because I might need this other person more there.) 

After a flurry of emails last week, all the readers are decided...and now it's time to coordinate rehearsals. In a couple of the readings, we are using quite a few children, and trying to find a time when no one has ballet, soccer, AWANA, drama, Scouts, martial arts, piano, drums, guitar...is proving to be difficult!

I've run into the same thing with adults, trying to get seven readers together for the Passion reading...but we're finally settled on that.  A good thing, with Palm Sunday now looming!

Now that I have the readers decided, I can start arranging the readings.  This is the part I enjoy the most.  I choose a version of the Scripture reading, then divide up the lines and assign parts to the readers.  I think about the pitch and timbre of each voice, as well as the reader's personality and expression, and I work with those in mind as I also try to divide the parts up pretty equally in a Reader's Theater format.

Others are straight readings, but with accompaniment such as music, percussion, dance, ASL or mime.  I've put other adults in charge of some of the readings, but I'll be rehearsing the ones that have many adults and kids in them.

***

With all that on my mind all last week, it was so nice to take a Sabbath rest and spend Sunday with one of my very best friends.

A couple months after I met K, we were both pregnant with our now 18-year-old daughters.  That's how long we've known each other!  She is personally responsible for introducing me to the notion of homeschooling.  She was the first homeschool mom I ever met, and I instantly recognized a kindred spirit.  We both love literature and reading, and her grace-filled way of education, filled with living books, appealed strongly to me.  I have picked her brain so often, and over the years she has recommended so many wonderful books, not just for my kids, but for me.

She lives back in Illinois, and her husband serves at our church once or twice a month, either as a musician or as a priest.  K can't always come when he does, and if it's been a couple months, it can take us awhile just to go through the list of our 11 children total and update each other on all their doings and related decisions and concerns.

I so appreciate K's perspective, because she's always been just a little further down the parenting road.  Her youngest is 15, the same age as my third, and her oldest must be 27.  She's done teenagers and little kids simultaneously, like I'm doing, and she's still got teens, like me, and she has older kids in college, and out, and married, and single, and she's now a grandmother...so I've always seen my future in her life.  She's made mistakes and she's done many, many things right, and I've learned sooooo much from her and been so encouraged by her, always, over the years.

When we lived close, we used to homeschool together, go on family vacations together, and see each other regularly at church and other times during the week.  Their family was always our "go to" family if we wanted to do something spontaneously, especially since Blondechick and B15 are such good friends with their daughters who are the same age.

In fact, here's what K and I were listening to when the photo was taken:

Her birthday is the same as Blondechick's.  And K's is the same as Bantam6's.  Papa Rooster shares a birthday with one of their other daughters, and K's granddaughter was born on my birthday.

...So many ties that bind.  We miss them!

This morning I woke up so grateful for yesterday, and full of thanks for K.

As Promised...Pictures!

I can't believe that I just figured this out.

Papa Rooster takes some pretty amazing pictures--and lots of them--more than I can keep up with--and he's gotten pretty good at posting the best on Facebook for our friends and family.  And I only just realized that I can grab a photo from his Facebook album, stick it on my desktop, and upload it to my blog--all by myself!  Without needing him to convert it from a RAW image in Lightroom to a .JPG which he must upload for me, because Lightroom doesn't like me. (A feeling which is mutual.)  He says the image quality won't be as good.  But I think only the techie photographer types will be able to tell, and the rest of us, we'll have pictures!  Yeah, baby.

Okay, let's commence with the pics!

I believe I mentioned homecoming?  Here is Bantam15 with his lovely date.

The dress was casual--can you tell?

Here's Blondechick with her special friend, the same one she went to the spring formal with. He graduated last year, but he's still around, living at home and taking classes at a local college. We like him a lot.  So does she!


And here she is with 17 other friends, in our back yard--all senior girls.  I posted this partly just to show off the background!  It's the view I am blessed with every day, and I am thankful for it.

I know I mentioned an ordination.

This is part of a wonderful family that we've loved for a long time now; Father R--'s wife there is one of my dearest friends. When I met her, she was pregnant with the daughter on the far left...and I delivered Blondechick17 just three months later.  Those girls have grown up together, just as the other daughter (second from left) is one of Bantam15's closest friends.  Those two girls are their youngest children; their middle child, another daughter, is getting married next summer and Papa Rooster will be performing the ceremony.  That is their oldest son, with his wife and child, on the right, and their second-oldest is also a son. They have always been the kind of friends we can completely let our hair down with.  We have spent countless hours laughing, crying and praying together.

Here are all the clergy who attended.  Most of these men are also friends from waaay back.  We are a little grayer, a little more wrinkled than when we first enthusiastically began doing ministry together in our twenties and thirties!  But these men, representing five Anglican churches, are still enthused and energetically full of the joy of the Lord.

I think I mentioned soccer?

That's my boy, #23, on the JV team of the Christian school he attends.

And here's Bantam11 on the area soccer league team.

He hasn't been playing as long as most of the other kids who have grown up in the league, but he's learning fast, and he can run! Always a plus.

I am totally saving the best action shots of Bantam5 for another post.

But aren't these too unbelievably cute?  Just like the big boys.

But with cool sunglasses.

Ordinations

It's a big day...tonight we are ordaining an old and dear friend, R, to the priesthood!

As it's been on my mind today, I realized that I never posted pictures of our last ordination, just weeks ago, of another old and dear friend, Mr. A., Papa Rooster's college roommate and one of the founders of Light of Christ. I don't know if we'll have pictures of tonight's service, since Bantam15, the photographer of these shots, is serving as crucifer this evening. So maybe it's appropriate to post these today, since R makes an appearance--one of his last as deacon--in them.

Here's the procession, with Bantam11 serving as crucifer, and Mr. A's own twin boys as the other acolytes.

Here is Deacon R reading the gospel.  It's a nice shot of the church, and gives you a sense of how large the congregation was.  Friends came a great distance for the service--a testimony to who Mr. A is!

Our Bishop, Sandy, making a deacon.  We are a blessed church to have them both!

The new deacon setting the table, with another deacon--and priest-to-be--on deck....

Can't wait to celebrate his ordination tonight!

A Birth and a Death

Monday and Tuesday, I attended the wake and the funeral for my friend's husband, who died so suddenly.  Thank you, all who prayed for her and her children--their names are Caroline, Savannah and Noah, if you want to add them to your prayer lists for awhile. 

Roy's death was just so devastating, on many levels.  Besides the grief, there are so many practical, logistical impacts on their lives.  Caroline was enveloped by prayer and by God's own supernatural peace at both events, but she has many difficult decisions and grief-filled days ahead of her.  As the Lord brings her to mind, please pray.

During the funeral, as I was praying for Caroline and the children, I remembered that my friend Mrs. A.--she and her husband are the ones who started Light of Christ and somehow got us to consider becoming part of it!--was in labor, since she was being induced that same morning.  It was strange to pray for these two women simultaneously--both suffering in such different ways.  I thought of the saying, "a birth and a death," which many older folks repeated over and over at my grandfather's wake and funeral years ago, when my sister-in-law was great with child and I had just learned I was expecting Bantam11.  I guess it's a way of saying that God continues to give the gift of life, even when death seems to overshadow everything.  A long-awaited daughter (after 5 boys) did enter this world safely yesterday, and I rejoice with the A's at the same time as I grieve with Caroline.

Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 

Romans 12:15

For none of us liveth to himself,
and no man dieth to himself.
For if we live, we live unto the Lord.
and if we die, we die unto the Lord.
Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.

Romans 14:7-9

'Tis the Season

It's that time of year--time for recitals, concerts and shows!

Our string began last week with the Christmas Concert at Blondechick and Bantam14's school. It was a combined effort with the band, the orchestra, the mixed choir, the show choir, the girls' choir, the boys' choir, and the drama club. B14 sang with the boys' and the mixed (or middle school) choir. There were only three boys in the mixed choir--a very tall one, a very short one, and one average size boy. B14 was the tall one, strategically placed next to the short boy, of course. He has never complained about being in the choir--which I expected, since we required him to take one music class and that was his only option--and it was good to see him up there singing!

Blondechick sang beautifully with the girls' and the high school choir--next session she wants to pick up show choir, too, which she made and had to drop because of too many other involvements. (She had to drop Little Shop of Horrors, too, a musical at the public school she auditioned for last spring, and in which she was cast as one of the Doo-Wop trio that sings throughout. Rehearsals are going on now, without her...but at least she got all her Driver's Ed classes in, as of last night, and she got her permit early!)

Next was a Holiday Dance Show and Social which Bantam10 and Chicklet7 were slated to appear in, tap-dancing and jazz-dancing, respectively. C7 started out the year in Ballet, but was growing tired of it; then one week she missed Ballet and took a Jazz class as a make-up, and loved it! Since it was at the same time as B10's Tap class, I was all for switching her. One less place to go each week!

The only problem was that for the Holiday Show, she was a little behind on learning the routine. Then B10 missed a week or two and also felt behind when he returned. The Academy emailed a video link so that their students could practice at home, and I nagged them both until they did.

That led to a great Mom-moment. On the way out of dance class, B10 said earnestly, "Mom, thank you SO MUCH for making me practice! Now I really know the dance!"

Thank you SO MUCH for making me practice? All these years as a mom, and I think that was the first time I've ever heard that combination of words spoken by one of my children!

(Here's another insight, from the same kid. I asked him if he minded being the only boy in his tap class, and he said, "No, girls are human too.")

Anyway, he nailed his "Happy Holidays" routine at the show and was so pleased with himself, and thanks to all our practicing, Chicklet performed to "Jingle Bell Rock" with confidence and relative accuracy. And a festive time was had by all!

Next up is Christmas Eve. We are having a children's choir this year, which somehow I ended up directing, and they are singing The Friendly Beasts"--"Jesus our brother, kind and good/Was humbly born in a stable rude/And the friendly beasts around Him stood/Jesus our brother, kind and good." B10 and C7 have been practicing "I, said the Donkey" and "I, said the Dove" besides memorizing first and last verses. It should be a sweet addition to our 5:00 family-friendly Christmas Eve service.

Fortunately the piano, guitar and cornet teachers did not choose to hold holiday recitals this year...because we all need to practice for our upcoming all-church Soup Supper and Talent Show on New Year's Eve! Blondechick17 and Bantam10 both are doing duets with friends from church, Papa Rooster is singing, and I am going to recite a poem or two. All light-hearted and entertaining fare, of course. And Bantams 14 and 10 need to work up their auditions for our theater group's next show, Disney's Mulan. Auditions are two weeks after Christmas Day!

One other show we attended was a Holiday Ice Show that two of our friends from church were in--they are 10 and 7, good friends of B10 and C7. They were the only ice dancers in the show and they were terrific, doing the "Stray Cat Strut." Papa Rooster tested his budding photography skills against the lighting and action challenges and got some good shots!




They're going to be big stars someday, and you can all say, "Oh, I remember them from Jeanne's blog!" ;)

What A Weekend!

I couldn't say much about our weekend when I was anticipating it, because we had TWO surprise parties to attend! Both parties were for readers of this blog, so mum was the word.

But now I can say what a fun time we had keeping the secret from our friend Steve. Little did he know, but his wife had invited 6 or 7 couples over for a surprise 40th birthday party for Steve, who works with Papa Rooster. Usually they drive together and Steve's wife picks him up from our house, but on Friday PR was going to say that he'd bring Steve to his house because our son B10 had been playing there and needed to be picked up. Then--Happy Memorial Day!--their boss decided to let everyone off work at 3:00! PR and a co-worker pretended they still had so much work to do that they were going to go to a nearby restaurant to finish reports before they started their weekend, and of course Steve had to come along for the ride. He didn't suspect anything, although he did think it was a little out of character for PR to hang around work instead of heading home for a run or to work on a sermon!

On Saturday, the middle four kids and I drove out to St. Charles, IL, to see a matinee production of Disney's High School Musical that many friends from our old youth theater group were in. It was such fun to see the show and everyone!

Then the kids hung out with friends at their house in West Chicago, while I went out to dinner with the mom, one of my best friends. It was great to catch up with her. There are so many people from "my old life" that I would love an hour or two with! Well, it was a start.

Saturday night, we had another surprise party--a 20th anniversary party for good friends from our Wheaton days. Papa Rooster and Mr. M were SG Prez and VP back in the day, and also were in each other's weddings. The big surprise to this party was the special guest and entertainment for the evening--singer/songwriter David Wilcox! If you don't know his music, you need to check out his simple acoustic melodies and fabulous lyrics, rich in metaphor and spiritual imagery.

Sunday morning brought another surprise--visitors from our "mother church," Church of the Resurrection. A special couple and their infant daughter joined us for church and for lunch afterward. So it was sooner than I expected before I got to spend some more time catching up with old friends!

The only "cold shower" on our weekend was having a new water heater installed on Friday--yay!!--which turned out to be defective, apparently--boooooo. So we've basically had no hot water since Friday morning, and of course, it's Memorial Day weekend--so what is the likelihood we'll get someone out here on M-Day? We are so grateful for Our Hero, Mr. A, who installed it and ran a new exhaust line out of the basement for us; wish it were an easy matter to return the defective one!

Must Share!

I just found out that Church of the Resurrection (our "mother" church) has started a Rez Blog, and so far, it mainly has pictures from their Holy Week services!

I would recommend a look just for the breathtaking photography by our friend Kim Johnson (who took our sidebar photos), but also for the Easter joy in every image.

And that banner is such a visual celebration!! It was made by artist (and blogger) Janice Skivington--that link will take you to more pictures and her comments about creating it. It was made to represent the six days of creation, and then the Alleluia scrim was lowered over it later in the service.

So many well-loved faces jump out at me from those photos. It makes me just a teensy bit homesick for the church we were part of for so many years. It is a wonderful place!

Spring Breakin'--and Braced!

We are officially on Spring Break this week. Our two oldest are home from public high school, and it was perfect timing for me, to recover from Holy Week!

I can't say it's been restful, though. Since Monday, we've had three medical appointments, filled five prescriptions, had one voice lesson, been to the grocery, Kohl's, and the library, had eleven friends over, and washed nine loads of laundry (and counting).

And we have exciting news--we have a church to host theater classes AND rehearsals! I visited it again this week, since I hadn't seen the whole building the first time, and it is a really nice facility--flexible and perfect in so many ways. Blondechick16 came with me, and we imagined together how we'd set up the space. Thank you, Lord!

The big hairy deal planned for spring break was Bantam18 getting all four wisdom teeth removed (hence all those prescriptions!). That's behind us now, and thank God, it went well and he is having pretty minimal pain.

I mentioned a voice lesson? Blondechick16 has taken up voice lessons again, once we got a recommendation for a teacher, and we are so delighted. Her new teacher reminds us of her much-loved teacher back in Illinois! She seems very good. Thanks, Lord!

Tonight we are going to a fundraiser and comedy show by a Christian ventriloquist named David Pendleton. (Show your kids his YouTube video--he's amazing!) We had one of his DVD's till we wore it out, so our kids are excited about tonight, even the teenagers. The cool thing is...I went to high school with David! We sat near each other in band every day for three years, and I remember him performing a ventriloquism show for the whole junior high. He used to perform in nursing homes to practice. Pretty inspiring, huh!

I will leave you with a long-overdue photo. Bantam13 got braced over a month ago....


Happy Spring Break, everybody!

Baby Luke is Home!

After more testing, it sounds like Luke's official diagnosis is "brain abnormality." That's because they still. really. don't. know.

He has a small area in the brain filled with fluid, which they believe is a cyst and will probably be naturally absorbed in the body.

By 18 months, they should be able to give him a more definitive diagnosis, and their best guess right now is that he'll probably have mild cerebral palsy.

That's right--only mild motor issues, with no impairment to his intelligence or personality likely.

And she was advised repeatedly to abort this child!

After the second or third time, she asked, "Okay, if I have an abortion, as far along as I am, I still have to go through labor, right? ...And as my baby is being born, you want to kill him, right in front of me? ...I know you're just doing your job, but could you stop asking to do that?"

She's spunky, Debbie is. Praise God!!!

Please keep her and Baby Luke in your prayers. (And her 18-month-old son, and her deployed husband.)

Past updates on Luke:

The initial findings via ultrasound
His apparent good health at birth
More good news, and a link to another amazing story/comments

Just Got a Call...

..from the mom whose baby appeared to have significant medical concerns, according to ultrasound before his birth.

She had him by C-section today, and he's in the NICU, hooked up to lots of monitors but breathing on his own. His large motor reflexes all seem normal, as he is kicking and pushing away tubes with his hands. They are doing many tests and scans on him, but she hasn't heard the results yet.

Mama is doing quite well, feeling sustained by the prayers of others and by a returning faith of her own. Her husband, though deployed now, was able to talk with her by phone throughout the day and she is grateful for that, too.

I will update when I know more. Keep those prayers coming!

Thank you, Lord, for the delivery of this small son. Sustain his life, heal his body, bless and keep his soul. Uphold his parents and strengthen his mother, body and soul, for the days ahead. Amen.

Bad News & Prayer Requests--and a Bright Spot

Well, it's been a week of bad news. Besides Bantam13 getting cut, I got news that the church we thought was able to host our new theater group's classes and rehearsals has re-evaluated their usage policies and are no longer able to host us. So it's back to Square One on that front, with our informational meeting only two weeks away.

But these bumps in the road seem like a kiddie rollercoaster compared to the life-and-death dilemmas of so many. Because there is no end to the number of folks in need of prayer, I limit prayer requests posted on my blog to those that I know personally. And my heart is heavy for two women and their families tonight.

One is Barbara, whom I posted about before. She found out today that her cancer is significantly more advanced than they thought--is actually a Stage IV, with lymph nodes involved. It is early yet, though, and there is a 30-50% chance that she can still be cured, with aggressive chemotherapy for the next 6-12 months. Will you please lift up your prayers for Barbara's complete healing, and for our little congregation as we support her and her family in practical and spiritual ways for the duration?

Tomorrow, another woman, who has only visited our church a couple of times, will be induced to give birth to her second-born, who appears to have significant parts of his brain missing. She and her husband (who leaves for Iraq in a week) may have many difficult decisions to make about his care, if he lives. This young woman says she feels more at home at Light of Christ than anywhere else they have visited, and she plans to make it her church home for the year that her husband is deployed. Please, join me in prayer for this young woman and her family as well, and for our congregation's role in ministering to them.

***

Scripture thoughts from today's readings:

Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. (John 5:21)

O Lord, have mercy on Barbara, and on this baby boy.

***

And now, because God gave me a little bright spot tonight in this series of sad news, I will share it with you.

Tonight at bedtime, Bantam4 and I were using my fingers to count how many boys and how many girls (children) were in our family. He was getting a little hung up by wanting to count Daddy as one of "Mommy's boys" and Mommy as one of "Mommy's girls."

So I asked him "How many Daddys are there?"

"One!" he exclaimed.

"How many Mommys?"

"One," he said, with pleasure.

"Now," said Mommy, with a warning note that this next question would be harder, "how many kids in our family?"

"A LOT," he stated emphatically.

Ash Wednesday Report, and Some Blogging Odds and Ends

We had such a blessed Ash Wednesday service last night!

It was not our first one--that was last year--but it was my first one at Light of Christ. Last year, Father Rooster just drove north after work to lead the service; the kids and I were still living back in the old country, so we attended the Ash Wednesday service at Rez.

But as I glanced around the quiet room last night, I realized that it was the first LOC Ash Wednesday service for many of us there! Several families weren't with us yet last Lent--hard as it is to remember LOC before they were part of it--and we had a couple visitors.

I think all were truly blessed. It was a great start to our Lenten season.

***

Speaking of the Lenten season, Jessica at Homemaking Through the Church Year is hosting a Lenten Carnival on March 8! So if you've posted recently about anything related to Lent, consider sending her the link. I'll remind my readers about the carnival when it is posted--should be some good reading!

***

And speaking of celebrating the church year, let me introduce you to a new blogger! Amy, at Splendor in the Ordinary, was part of Light of Christ last year during Lent, in spirit if not in regular attendance. They were living in Kenosha at the time, trying to discern their next steps--which led them to Pennsylvania, an orthodox Episcopal church, and a position for her husband as a professor at Eastern College. We were sorry to see them go, and now I am so glad to stay in touch with them through Amy's new blog! She has such creative and inspiring ideas for how to celebrate Sabbath and the church year with small children, and her humble heart and quick mind inspire me, an adult, as well!

***

So I've just added Amy to my Bloglines, and I thought I'd point out that in my sidebar, under the link "Blogs I Visit," there is a folder titled "Anglicans," which has links to all the Anglican mommy-bloggers I am aware of, and a few others as well--in case anyone else is searching out their fellow Anglicans.

For example, Janice Skivington is an Anglican artist that I know. Her works are just beautiful, and it's so interesting to read her commentary on her own work. Sometimes it's on the process, sometimes on the result, sometimes on the emotions or the colors...it's all fascinating!

***

Finally, I've been meaning to mention that if you'd like to receive posts from At A Hen's Pace in your email in-box, there is a link in my sidebar, now, that will allow you to do just that!

Prayer Request...and an Ash Wednesday Scripture Meditation

We just received some disappointing and sobering news.

One of the women at our church went in today for exploratory surgery. She knew she had a cancerous tumor, which was going to be treated with radiation before removal, but then on one of the associated exams, some smaller spots elsewhere in her body were discovered. There was a good chance that these spots were not cancerous, but the only way to tell for sure was to go in and look.

This morning, that's what they did--and the small spots were cancerous.

So they eradicated them with tiny radiation "bombs" and they removed the main tumor today, instead of waiting. She'll still have to have radiation and chemo...and then, wait and pray that it doesn't return.

Will you join me, please, in lifting up Barbara before the Lord? She's about my age, and is the homeschooling mother of three children, 9, 6 and 1. She faithfully teaches the kids' Sunday School class and sets up and takes down our altar each week. She and her husband love the Lord, and they love our church--and we love them.

Lord, have mercy on Barbara and her family, for your Name's sake. Amen.

***

The king of Ninevah, when warned by Jonah that in forty days, judgment would fall upon his city, made a proclamation:

No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish." When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it. (Jonah 3:7-9)

In many evangelical traditions, we are taught that our sins are forgiven, so why dwell on them? Once we're saved, we're always saved, no matter what we may do. Why meditate on Christ, crucified, for my sins--when I can picture him risen and victorious over sin and death?

I'm not eager to debate theology with anyone, but I think that it's simply common sense to remember, even if our sins are forgiven and salvation is assured us, that we are still sinners. We sin continually, and we are constantly in need of forgiveness. Our sinfulness, compared with the absolute holiness of God, OUGHT to elicit reactions in us like that of the King of Ninevah, or the tax collector, in today's Gospel reading:

But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' (Luke 18:13)

It seems to me very prideful to invoke the covering of Christ's blood upon us in such a way that we never have to ponder our many sinful tendencies, forgiven though they may be. But we don't need to grovel in sackcloth and ashes day after day, either! That is why the season of Lent is such a significant time. It's not about self-improvement, but it is a way that we remind ourselves of the holiness of God and for forty days, through fasting and prayer, we assume a humble posture before Him. Kinda like the people of Ninevah, and the tax collector.

If you're unable to attend an Ash Wednesday service, consider setting aside a few minutes today to pray through the liturgy for that service, which includes penitential psalms and readings and the litany of penitence, a confessional prayer.

My 44th Birthday

Well, thanks everyone, for all the birthday good wishes!

It was kinda nice to get a "day off" from posting on my birthday!

It was a nice, low-key day at home. The kids had Schoolhouse Rock rehearsals in the evening, so Papa Rooster came with me to go out to dinner. Because the roads were bad--we got about 9 inches yesterday and another 9 last night!--we decided to just go to Panera and stay there, like I always do, instead of going somewhere else for dinner and then ending up there for decaf coffee by the fireplace until rehearsal ended at 9. He had a sermon to write, and I had a book and my trusty pink laptop, so it was a quiet evening. I loved it.

Not so quiet was my other celebration! But I loved it too:

On Thursday nights, the women of our church try to get together every week at a centrally-located coffee shop. Some weeks we're all there, some weeks just a few meet, but it's been a great way to get to know one another outside of church.

This week, I emailed all the ladies and told them that back in Illinois, it had been a birthday tradition to plan a ladies' night out for dinner in honor of my birthday. I suggested that our Thursday night coffee shop date would be perfect, if they could all make a special effort to come on the same week. And if they could find a few moments to write me an encouraging note, I'd be really blessed.

Well, seven gals were there, with cards, notes, balloons, a cake, and some brought "44's" as well. I got 44 candles on my cake, a 44-chocolate chip muffin, and 88 M&M's! They sang Happy Birthday and then one gal sang it again for me--in Chinese! We talked and laughed till the place closed. A wonderful time indeed.

I got wonderful notes from Papa Rooster and two of my older kids, some perfume, body lotion, a bracelet, a book, AND I have authorization to buy the new blender I've been eying, plus an electric can opener. My 44-year-old knuckles are starting to complain when I use the handheld one, so it's an appropriate gift to myself, I thought!

I'm sure not complaining. Our friend Annie was just about my age. Her memorial service is today, and I wish we could go. Between hating to ask if three kids could leave rehearsal 1.5 hours early, and hating to ask Blondechick's babysitting job if they had any wiggle room in their plans for the evening, and now with all the snow...I guess we're not going to try.

But my thoughts and prayers are with Annie's family and friends...especially her husband, who I know well. We were often on the makeup committee together, since he's an artist and so good at animal faces. He's going to be lost without her. And I can't imagine her kids, losing their mother at 13, 8 and 4.

I think, How would I live my life differently if I knew my time here was coming to an end? I know I would look for extraneous stuff to cut out...I would read more books to my youngest two...I would play more board games with Bantam9...I would have more heart to heart conversations with my teenagers and my husband.

But those are all things I am seriously striving to do, right now. (Okay, maybe not the board games.) But as I think honestly, I'm not sure I really would change very much about the way I do life. Except maybe to hire a cleaning service and a cook, if I could find one!

It's good to know that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing, for now, at least--as God grants me another year.

Onward and upward into it!

Ladies' Night Out

I mentioned way back on Saturday that something bloggable might be happening on Sunday night, and it did. My sis-in-love, Summer (at Crazy Days of Summer) and I got to meet up with Megan (at Fried Okra) for a little face time! Megan figured out that there was a resort at Lake Geneva that was about halfway for both of us, so we met there for dinner...and I'll have to let her tell the rest of that story.

Summer and I were just happy to leave the kids with the dads and the grandparents (thanks Mom, Dad, Papa Rooster and Pilot Brother!) and enjoy dinner with Megan, our second time to connect with her. Last time, none of us remembered a camera, but this time, we made sure we took a picture--by the Christmas carousel, of course.


A lot happened in all our lives since the last time we got together, and it was neat to share how God has worked--even in ways we had thought impossible at our last meeting! Megan never thought she'd have a second child...Summer hadn't even dreamt of starting the Pilot Wives Club...(oh, I haven't told y'all about the Pilot Wives Club!)...and we didn't know if we'd ever be able to sell our house and move to Wisconsin. But God had all these things in store, and we couldn't have guessed the details of any of them! But now, how wonderful to be able to share them with one another. It was a great time.

Now, let me tell you quick about Pilot Wives' Club! I was excited to hear about it because I used to have a good friend whose husband was a pilot, and she'd try to explain to me the frustrations of his schedule. She was in single parent survival mode while he was gone for days on end, with routines that worked for her and the kids, and then suddenly he'd be home for a week and have ideas and plans that she had to accomodate--and then he'd be gone again. It's a unique set of difficulties that puts a lot of strain on a marriage.

So Summer started the Pilot Wives' Club to be a support to these women. This site is a source of encouragement only--no bashing of husbands (or airlines) allowed. After two weeks of being a member, one woman wrote to thank Summer for starting the club, telling her that just finding out she was not alone, that other pilot wives had the same struggles, had helped normalize things so much for her. In fact, she said her marriage was the happiest it had ever been, just since she had joined!

So if you know of anyone married to a pilot, point them toward this site!

Now, a little advertising for Megan too...;) She has just started a series of posts with writing tips for bloggers, but I can tell they're going to be good for anyone wanting to improve their writing! Megan is SUCH a fun writer to read--I am looking forward to honing my style by thinking through her well-chosen words.

You go, girls!

Me, these days I am all about the new chapter of our children's theater group. Next Monday, the Chicago area executive director is coming to Kenosha and we are going to go to two middle schools, a high school, and maybe a private school to look at theater space for our first two productions next year! I am praying that one of these auditoriums will not only work with us, but welcome us. We'll see what God will do!

Sad News on a Day of Light

Does anyone remember a guest post I put up over a year ago, from a mom in our theater group who had cancer? She said when she got the news that she had cancer, she felt like Charlie Brown, looking in his paper sack on Halloween and hoping for a treat like all the other kids, only to find "I got a rock." She continued:

I am, however, somewhat of a hybrid mix of Peppermint Patty, Snoopy and Linus. So the term "I got a rock" for me became a shout of gladness...I GOT A ROCK!!!!!!! I do have a rock-- the best kind of rock, one that will never waver, not a rock of the disappointing sort but one of great joy!

There is no Rock like our God, no other name, worthy of all our praise, The Rock of salvation that cannot be moved, He's proven Himself to be faithful and true!!! (One of my favorite praise song lyrics.)

Today, Annie left this transient world and planted her feet on the solid Rock of heaven.

As her friends, we rejoice for her--but we grieve for ourselves, and for her husband, teenage son, younger son, and 4-year-old daughter. Our tight-knit theater group will be such a support to them, but so many of the kids in it are going to be reeling in the pain of her death. They are in the midst of rehearsals for a show in which her son has a lead part (he is Pharaoh in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat), so if you can join me in prayer for her family, please include the kids in the cast and the families in our theater group. Annie was so well-loved by us all.

She once described her crazy, cheerful personality and her mission in life in this way (I'm paraphrasing): "I was born with a can of yellow paint in my hand, and I just knew that my job was to paint everyone around me with cheerful yellow paint!" And that's exactly what she did.

The twelve days of Christmas ended yesterday, and today is the Feast of Epiphany, on which we celebrate the Light of Christ manifested for the first time to the Gentiles (the Wise Men). It seems appropriate that Annie, who was such a light to us all, was swept up into the light of Heaven on this day, to be with the Light of the world.

Just a year ago, when Annie learned that her cancer had spread, she wrote that she would be a light for God in her remaining days:

I have nothing but a clear goal of honoring my Saviour through my suffering--whether I go this year or next, whatever time He chooses--it is HIS will--not mine. ...I am not giving up--I have much Hope and I know that if God wants to heal me and perform miracles, then He shall, but I do not claim to have the power to tell God what to do--HE IS GOD!!!!! and HE IS GOOD!!!!! And as hard as it is--it MUST be that way--HIS WILL. ...So please do not weep for me out of sadness or woe, but be glad that He gave me this time to be a light for Him and have a much more heavenly reward than ever imaginable! I get to go see JESUS! ........How cool is THAT???????

Let us rejoice with Annie...but mourn with her family and friends. Thank you for your prayers, if you are so led.

(And thank you for those who prayed for my friend Taryn--she is home, on anti-seizure medicine, and recovering well! What a joyful answer to our prayers!)

One More Gleaning

As 2008 wanes...

You must read How to Set Out Into a New Year at Holy Experience.

And may I suggest a New Year's resolution? For mind-clearing, eye-opening perspective on your spiritual journey in Christ, start reading this blog, if you aren't already! Ann's wisdom and way with words, with metaphor, is haunting and transforming in a way that can only be attributed to the Holy Spirit. You will be blessed!

Rubbin' Shoulders with the Famous

Last night, a group of ladies from my church joined a large group of women at a church in Racine (the next city north of Kenosha) to worship the Lord together and hear a powerful message from author and speaker Jill Briscoe.

The worship was led by a frequent commenter here, Stephanie Seefeldt (or "stephseef" as she sometimes signs) and it was such a blessing to the soul. Stephanie, the wife of the assistant rector at an Episcopal church in Racine and a gifted worship leader, was one of the first people outside of Light of Christ to welcome me to Wisconsin! She'd found my blog somehow through one of our, as it turns out, many mutual friends from her Intervarsity and Nashotah days.

And it was a real treat to meet a fellow blog sistah from Madison--Donna Boucher, whose blog Quiet Life I've been reading since before I began mine! She is just as warm and friendly in person as she seems in her blog. And it was great to meet her friend Nancy, whom I know through the comments on Donna's blog--also such a warm and funny lady. (The blogosphere comes alive!)

I introduced myself to Jill and told her I remembered her speaking at Wheaton College in the 80's and that I was now a pastor's wife. She is an incredible lady, traveling the globe with her husband to teach the Bible to young ministers the world over--with wisdom and a warm British wit!

AND--there are pictures to prove it!

Donna is a photographer (a wonderful natural light children's photographer), so of course she never goes anywhere without her camera (unlike moi, who is still sorting out my psychological issues with the mechanics of uploading and downloading).

She told Jill, "These are my blogging friends," and Jill, in her eighties, shook her head at us and said, "Such modern women!"

Project: Completed--and Sleepovers for All!

Remember those pictures I promised, of our completed basement project--a guest bedroom, bathroom, and a storage room carved out of what began as a huge unfinished storage area? ("Before" pictures here.)

Finally, after working through all my camera issues--(my camera is fine, but my psyche has issues with learning new cameras, new uploading procedures AND new photo software)--here they are.

First off, my pumpkin-colored bathroom!


Bold, no? Yes! For me, that is. I got the idea from a page in a Restoration Hardware magazine. I am thrilled that the color came out pretty nearly as expected!


The harvest gold towels are a nice contrast, and the oil rubbed bronze fixtures
look pretty classy, I think--an idea from the same picture.


But no one will be fooled for long...


...if they but open the door to the utility closet!

Next we have the guest room, from the doorway...

...looking on around to the right...


...and then back toward the door. There's a small closet there on the left, then the doorway through which you can see the doorway to the bathroom. On the right is a little cabinet that will have a door (it's being custom-made) with a locking latch on it. The shelves extend another 18 inches to the left behind the wall, and the bottom shelf lifts up for storage down to the floor. My plan is to keep Christmas and birthday gifts stashed away in there, under lock and key!

And finally, we left ourselves an L-shaped storage hallway wrapping around the side and back of the bedroom. Here's the view into the storage room (from the family room)--and nearly all those boxes along the left wall are not going to be there much longer, I hope. (I am still unpacking! Several of them contain framed pictures, since we haven't hung any yet...always our last thing to do.)


Notice the leftover carpet that I was able to use in the storage area, which is so much more inviting to walk on than concrete.

And if you walked all the way in and looked to the left, here is the view:

Again, the boxes to the left are mostly not permanently in position--more stuff to be unpacked eventually. (What does one do with all the cassette tapes one has accumulated since the 80's?? Before I can toss them all, I must go through and pull out any really meaningful teaching tapes, and rescue the handful that are of me or Papa Rooster speaking.)

I hope you have enjoyed this tour, and that perhaps some of you--you lucky ones, you--will eventually get to try out our guest suite for yourselves!

***

In other news, this weekend all the kids and I are driving back to the former area of residence for a performance of Seussical by a newly-launched county associated with our theater group. (And of course I'm hoping: that will be us in a year!) A number of friends from our old theater group have leads in it and we love the show, so it's going to be so fun.

Then, we all have sleepovers planned--even me. On Saturday I'm having breakfast with my hosting girlfriend, then going to a baby shower for one of my readers and frequent commentors, Taryn! I am looking forward to laughing with her and other ladies from our former church, as I know we will. Then I'll pick up all my kids and we'll hang with some other old friends and see what else we can fit in before heading home by bedtime.

Papa Rooster is having an old friend over for a sleepover, too--in the new guest room, of course!--so he's not feeling too left out.

Classes and Friendships

I haven't said much lately about homeschooling, but I'd better mention all the classes we are taking outside of home...because they are all ending!

Last Thursday was our final week of enrichment classes through a homeschool co-op, which means that many of the classes were taught by homeschool moms. But several were taught by science personnel in the area. For example, Bantam9 and Chicklet6 took a class taught by a science guy from Discovery World Science (which we have not visited yet but I guess it's in the area). Each week, they performed a lab on a subject like magnetism, electricity (they made working circuits that lit up a light bulb), elasticity (they made their own bouncy balls), chemistry (they made glue and "slime"), gravity (they created model space suits), etc. It was Chicklet's favorite class!

Her other classes were a crafts class where she cut and glued and colored and taped many and varied creations, a play time class which was basically just--"play time!", and a Bible stories class which included a craft each week. Bantam 3 was in the last two classes with her, but there was nothing available for his age group during the first two hours, so we usually spent the first one in the gym with another 3-year-old friend and his mom, and the second hour we went to the game and social room, where we played games and Duplos together.

Bantam13 had a Robotics class the first hour, which was taught by a prof from Carthage College who was volunteering his time. Their robot will be part of a competition next spring, in which the goal is to push, pull, hurl or otherwise eject another robot from a circle. The robot also has to be able to perform a task, which has not been announced yet, as part of the competition. So his class will actually meet another time or two, until the robot is finished.

Both Bantams 13 & 9 had a sketching class next, taught by a 15-year-old homeschooled boy who had spent the summer as a caricature artist at Great America (a huge amusement park near here). He taught them the basics of drawing the human face and figure, as well as the tricks of caricatures. They both enjoyed the class immensely, and B9, especially, is spending more of his free time drawing.

Next the same young man taught a Foam Swords class. Now, the Bantams have been creating their own swords out of broomsticks wrapped with shiny duct tape ever since the first musical our family was involved in, Robin Hood, because that's what they used for swords in that show. So the idea of a padded sword was new to them! "Wow," B13 said when I read the class description to him, "I bet you could REALLY hit hard with one of those!"

In the first class, he taught them how to make the swords (B13 wrote about the process here in his own blog, Super Dude.) In later weeks, he taught them the history of swords and weapons, the rules for different types of battles and competitions in which one can use the foam swords, and basic battle strategies. Each class time included team battles as well as individual matches. This class was a huge hit, and it really helped the Bantams get to know some of the other boys.

The Bantams ended the day with a Critical Thinking class, in which they studied riddles, analogies, optical illusions and other puzzles, as well as wrote critically about questions such as, "Is the glass half-full or half-empty?" The teacher of the class was so glad to have them and sought me out to tell me so. She said B13, especially, had played a real leadership role several time in the first few weeks, to call some of the boys (who were still wound up from the Foam Swords class, no doubt!) to settle down and treat the teacher respectfully.

I think we're all going to miss enrichment classes now! Though it will be nice to have our Thursday afternoons for other things.

On Tuesdays, we've been going out to Carthage College for an hour with their PE department's future gym teachers, who divide the kids up by age and teach them team sports, like volleyball, kickball, dodgeball, crab football and badminton, and other age-appropriate gym games involving bean bags, cones, balls or...a parachute! (I remember back to my elementary school days, walking into the gym and seeing the parachute spread out in the middle, and how the excited whispering would start up! Everybody loves a parachute, don't they?)

The kids have REALLY loved gym classes! Here is where the Bantams 13 & 9 have really bonded with a couple of brothers who are 13 & 11, and they have a tomboyish 9-year-old sister that B9 connects with too. It turns out that they live nearby (thank you, Lord!!) and they're into skateboarding, a sport in which the Bantams have been wanna-be's. So they've been spending lots of time outdoors together for the past few weeks, teaching each other tricks and moves. This is a real answer to prayer for Christian friends for them! (Thank you, all you prayer warriors out there!) This solid Christian family is adopting two preschoolers from Ethiopia in January. We barely know them, but we are already excited to meet their new family members!

And tonight, we had the final wrap-up, or "Showcase," for all the kids' theater classes. Chicklet6 made her CYT stage debut in the youngest class, in which they sang "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" and "Happiness [Is]." On the way there, she said she was nervous, but I couldn't tell it during her performance--she kept a big toothless grin on her face the whole time and certainly looked like she was enjoying herself! She sang and she had all her moves down; we were so proud of her. (And from where we were sitting, you couldn't even see her black eye [from Sunday, when wrestling brothers knocked her into a drawer] or the huge bruised bump on her forehead [where, on Monday, she walked into the kitchen bar countertop]. No wonder I haven't posted a picture of her missing front teeth!)

Bantam9 was next, in a jazz and tap performance with his class of all girls. The highlight was in the tap number, Sinatra's "Chicago." Twice when they came to the line, "I saw a man, he danced with his wife/In Chicago, Chicago my home town," everyone else stopped dancing and posed, pointing to Bantam9 and a short little girl, who danced together until the end of the line, when he twirled her around and picked her up, as she leaned back and pointed one leg up. The move drew lots of applause both times, but B9 looked nonchalant throughout, to our great amusement. Though he started out not liking the class because he was the only boy, our kinesthetic son is now begging for tap lessons and his very own tap shoes (we borrowed a pair for this class). His teacher is urging him to continue too!

After some voice and drama classes, it was time for the "Tricks and Illusions" class. B13 and his classmates took turns, in groups, performing tricks with cards, rope, paper and props from the audience. B13 is eager to continue learning tricks from his book and hopes to eventually make a little money performing at birthday parties. (He was encouraged in this by a neighbor's brother, a police officer--who started doing magic as a small business after college and still performs frequently--who said he wished he had started earlier.)

Finally, Blondechick15's Hip-Hop class mooooved onstage and hopped and grooved for us like the uber-cool dancers they had become. Blondechick had a small featured part, but the whole class was impressive!

Theater classes aren't really ending for us, though, because the next session starts up again in two weeks, and it turns out that next week Blondechick and B13 have to go and audition for the Advanced Drama class that they'd both like to get into. And in just three weeks...BC15, B13 and B9 will audition for the next production, Schoolhouse Rock! (Wow, we better figure out what they're singing and start rehearsing...!)

So enrichment classes and gym class will be done just in time for the winter show rehearsals to begin--perfect timing! We are so glad we didn't do the fall show, Narnia. We saw it last Friday night and it was great, and fun to see a totally different interpretation--but still just too, too familiar to us all. (Newer readers, our whole family was in this show last summer, and our kids were in it the previous fall with the children's theater group--see the Archives!) We're not exactly sick of it or anything...but it was just too soon to do AGAIN. And it was good to spend the fall concentrating on new school experiences. But now we're all ready to get back into theater!

I am so grateful for the Christian friends our kids have made this fall at theater classes, enrichment classes and gym classes. And Blondechick15 has connected with a couple of "truly Christian" (her words) girls at her school and has been going to their youth group once a week. So thank you, those of you who have been faithfully praying for our requests listed there in my sidebar! I am going to leave this one up, because friendships take time...but some good ones are off to some good starts, I think.