Learn to like what does not cost much.

Learn to like reading, conversation, music.

Learn to like plain food, plain service, plain cooking.

Learn to like people, even those who may be very different from you.

Learn to shelter your family with love, comfort, and peace.

Learn to keep your wants simple. Refuse to be owned and anchored by things and opinions of others.

Learn to like the sunrise and the sunset, the beating of rain on the roof and windows, the gentle fall of snow in the winter.

Learn to hold heaven near and dear.

Learn to love God, for He surely loves you.

~~Anonymous

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I know a couple who have given their whole lives to ministering to God’s people. When one of their sons fell into meth addiction many years ago, they continued to selflessly minister to their flock, encouraging and believing for other peoples’ children, when their own was lost to them for over ten years. When this couple’s prayers were finally answered and their son returned to the Lord and finished his prison sentence, their joy knew no bounds. After five years of being clean, their son returned to the world of meth, and this couple are again praying for his deliverance while they continue to minister to many other hurting people.

I know a Christian woman whose Christian daughter won’t speak to her, even though this woman has humbled herself and begged for forgiveness many times. Her daughter will not allow her to see her grandchildren even though they live in the same town.

I know a Christian couple who are probably two of the most patient, skilled, loving, steadfast parents I’ve ever known, and their adult son has dominated their lives with his anger since he was a baby. And continues to do so.

I have a Christian friend who has prayed every day for over twenty years for her two children to pay a bit of attention to the Lord and the solid spiritual upbringing they received, and my friend has not seen the answer yet.

I know a man with a terrible disease that is slowly taking over his body, and his friends and family and pastor have prayed for his healing, anointed him with oil and prayed prayers of faith and praise for years, and healing has not come.

I have a relative who is the kindest, most generous, loving woman, but her former daughter-in-law hates her faith in Christ and has not allowed her two daughters to see or speak to their grandmother for years. Now they’re grown up and have taken on their mother’s contempt of their grandmother’s love of Jesus, and will not see her, but she prays every day that God will change their hearts.

I know someone who is a woman of prayer. She and her husband raised their three children to love the Lord, and gave them a stable home with a happy marriage for a model. One of the children is openly disdainful toward a God who makes what he sees as unfair rules and judgments, and he does not believe. This woman continues to pray, but has not seen the answers she’s asking for.

I know a young woman whose heart is soft and tender and who loves Jesus with everything she’s got. She has a father who claims to follow Christ but who is full of destructive pride and rage, and has been cruel and hateful to her and her mother for much of her life. She has believed the Bible’s promises about how prayer changes things, but has not yet seen the answer to her cries for her daddy.

I know a believing couple who want God to bless them with a child. Their brothers and sisters have had babies, but they have not conceived, and as she prays each month that a new life will form, she tries not to lose hope and to believe that God hears the cry of her heart.

I know a woman who has a strong, child-like faith in the Lord, and married a man who ended up being an alcoholic. She prayed for years that God would get a hold of her husband, and at times it seemed like He did, but most of the time it seemed like He didn’t. They finally divorced.

I’ll bet you know some people like this too.

Or maybe you have also been praying for something or someone for years and years, and are still waiting for God to move.

The older I get the more I realize how little I know about God. I know that He is good and He is faithful and He is great, but I don’t think I understand His timing and His ways sometimes.

Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever said, “How much longer before you answer this cry of my heart, O Lord?”

It gives me comfort to know that others have prayed that way too.

Like King David….

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

This is what is speaking to me today. Isaiah 58 from The Message Bible:

It’s snowing again here in Northern Minnesota, big feathery flakes that float down and make everything so soft and bright and lovely. This morning our grandson Elijah and I were looking out over Lake Superior, and even though our house is quite close, we couldn’t see where the white of the Lake and the white of the sky met. It looked like one big expanse of white.

The southern part of gigantic Lake Superior is covered in good-sized shards of ice, and my friend Bob King took a beautiful picture of it for our local newspaper recently. You should check out Bob’s blog — almost anything you could ever want to know about astronomy is there, written in Bob’s friendly, factual and fascinating voice.

I may be taking the alliteration a bit too far today, I don’t know.

If I went outside right now and walked the two blocks to the shore of our Great Lake, this is what I would see:

Except right now there’s no blue sky due to the snow falling. The black dot in the distance is a portable ice house. Yes, some person walked way out onto the Lake, which is hundreds of feet deep and cold enough to cause death by hypothermia within a minute or three, drilled a hole in the ice and dropped a line in.

Elijah and I played a game of Farkle this morning and I won for a change. Next, Michael and I picked up prescriptions, took Elijah home after buying him a small strawberry milkshake, and then on a whim decided our snowy weather called for some sushi. We had a quiet lunch at our local Japanese restaurant, and the California rolls and the tempura were delicious. Michael loves the spicy green wasabi on his sushi but I prefer only the pickled ginger. He says the wasabi is powerful enough to send hot vapors throughout every sinus cavity in his head and make his nose drip, but I have yet to figure out why this is something he wants to happen in a public setting.

Tonight we have to set our clocks ahead one hour, and I think this means that for the time being I’ll be getting up in the dark again. I might have to go to bed at 7:00 p.m. tonight in order to feel peppy in the morning. Actually I might have to do a lot more than that to feel peppy in the morning. Like finish my foster paperwork. And get a new knee.

We have a couple of Netflix DVDs we might watch tonight. One is of this movie, and I don’t know much about it. The other one is this, and I’m not sure if I’m ready for it. Have any of you seen either of these films? I have often received very good recommendations from you all, and if you can think of any other movies you’ve enjoyed, be sure to leave a comment and share, okay?

For a couple of years now, I’ve occasionally watched the den cams placed in the dens of some local bears. Here’s a link where you can see fantastic video of Lily the black bear and her two adorable cubs who were born in January of this year. Seeing what a good mother she is to her two little ones never fails to make me smile, and sometimes even sniffle a little bit.

Now I’m off to put the white clothes into the dryer, work a while on my CBS lesson, write a devotional I’m presenting on Monday morning at Leaders Council (thank God I don’t have to speak about peppiness or food preparation), and then I might meander into our hoity-toity master bathroom where I always assume the role of The Bathroom Fraud, and soak in our deep tub while reading a library book I’m enjoying. Clearly I’m in Work Avoidance Mode, as I haven’t touched a page of paperwork today.

May your weekend be a peaceful one,

Last fall my oldest friend Denel and I held our First Annual Lupi-Soo Convention. Or perhaps it was our First Annual Lupi-Soo Reunion. We convened and we reunited.  If you didn’t see the photos of our trip to the Rocky Mountains, you can click here.  

I chose the destination for our first trip — I had a hankering to be secluded away in a cabin in the mountains. We had a wonderful time in Evergreen, Colorado, even if the “Secluded Chalet” wasn’t quite what was conveyed on the owner’s website. This time we’re going to a place where we’ll be allowed to use more than ten squares of toilet paper per visit, and where (hopefully) there won’t be any leftover feminine products under the bed or discarded lip gloss under the couch. Bleh.

Denel chose the spot for our Second Annual Lupi-Soo (that was going to be the name of our girls’ detective agency when we were ten years old, combining the first letters of our then-last names) and I wonder if you can guess where we’ll be flying?

This peak below will probably always be in our view:

And I’m sure we will stroll through this famous place and grab some wonderful, fresh produce. I’m not sure we’ll buy a lobster, though. Does that give anything away?

Many of you will have guessed by now. I know my friend Shari will have figured it out with the first photo of Mount Rainier.

This view below is what we’ll see….

…after we’ve boarded this elevator to zip us to the top of one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world:

It’s called The Seattle Space Needle. I don’t care for flying, but oddly enough I don’t have a fear of heights, so I should be fine at the top of this structure. As long as there are no earthquakes during the time we’re there. This part of the world is prone to earthquakes, and I really thought I had said goodbye to those when I left SoCal and moved to NoMin.

After a couple days in Seattle, Denel and I will board a ferry to cross Puget Sound, so we can spend two quiet, idyllic days and nights on Bainbridge Island.

Have any of you ever visited Bainbridge? I never have. In fact, I’ve never been to Washington state before.

And Denel found the most amazing “cottage,” which is actually a lovely home, where we’ll relax, catch up, read, sleep in, and refresh. Here’s one of the bedrooms and its stunning view — you can just see Seattle on the left horizon and Mount Rainier to the left of the right tree. (I learned today that Mount Rainier is considered an active volcano….)

Denel and I are planning to meet each other in the Seattle airport this fall, and I’m already working on putting things in place here so I can make the Thursday-Monday trip.

There are meals to plan, appointments to record, plane tickets to purchase and respite care to schedule. But I think the most pressing thing I need to do before I fly off to the Pacific Northwest for The Second Annual Lupi-Soo Reunion/Convention is have one of these ghastly things put in my right knee:

I’ll be seeing a surgeon next month and am praying I’ll be a candidate for a minimally invasive knee replacement, instead of the conventional total knee. In the former, the quadriceps muscle isn’t cut, the surgical incision is half the size, and the recovery time is much less and not as difficult. I will know more soon.

I’m still on Paperwork Status here. I didn’t accomplish as much as I’d hoped to yesterday, and will only be able to do an hour or two of it today, because today is a special day. Aside from being our Schnauzer Edith’s 11th birthday, it’s our granddaughter Lil’ Gleegirl’s 6th birthday! Everyone will be coming over tonight for dinner to enjoy the menu she personally chose: cheese pizza, roasted Brussels sprouts, and dirt cake. Here’s a photo for those who don’t know what dirt cake is. And Lil’ Gleegirl has also asked that we play Pin the Tail on the Donkey, so I’m going to attempt to draw a big donkey and craft some tails. 🙂

What are you up to today?

This morning at Community Bible Study Leaders Council, one of our children’s program teachers, who’s one of the sweetest people I know, shared about encouragement. Carol shared most specifically how it’s okay to ask God to encourage us when we’re really down or discouraged, and the examples she gave about how God has answered that prayer for her were truly marvelous.

Then she closed with a prayer she had found, and I was so moved by it I came home to see if I could find it online. And I did, so I’d like to share it here.

This is a beautiful prayer in praise of the God who encourages us, and it’s by Scotty Smith, the founding pastor of Christ Community Church in Franklin, TN.

A Prayer In Praise of the God Who Encourages Us

     May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.  2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

     Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.  Romans 15:4

For it is the cradle of the Christ, not a manual for self-reform. It shows us that wisdom is a Person—Jesus, not a formula for success. It reveals the depth of our need, so we might boast only in the riches of your provision—the gospel of your grace. It frees us from giving you little bit parts in our stories that we might find our place of servanthood in your story.

Father, may the “eternal encouragement and good hope” of the gospel free us for a day of good deeds and helpful words. May this be a day of loving and serving the people you’ve placed in our lives—a day in which we accept others as you have accepted us in Jesus; a day in which we forgive others as you have forgiven us in Jesus; a day in which we are as forbearing and patient with one another, as you are towards us in Jesus.

As this day begins (and continues), fill our hearts with your beauty, so that our words will offer life-giving encouragement—no matter what we experience from others. May the overflow of our hearts reveal the wonders of your love, not the pressure of our agendas. Give us thick skin and big hearts for whatever providence determines for this day. It we must conflict, may we do so redemptively. Let us repay good for whatever comes as us.

Should we “leak grace” (and surely we will), refuel the joy of our salvation that we might love and serve you well until we climb, once again, into our beds. How we praise you for your steadfast commitment to our encouragement and hope. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ merciful and mighty name.

~~~~~Scotty Smith

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I hope someone encourages you today. I hope you can encourage someone else today. And I pray that God Himself would encourage each one of us, especially through His Word.

So many of you encourage me—thank you for that!

Yesterday was an errand running day, and there’s nothing like an errand-running day to make a closet agoraphobic feel giddy about a free day at home. With the exception of picking Michael up from the bowling alley in about an hour, I can have a quiet time inside today, tending my house, doing my CBS lesson and sipping a cup of tea, and that always makes me rejoice. On Thursdays Michael bowls in a pastor’s league with a friend of ours who is a pastor. Michael isn’t a pastor, but they let him into the league and he looks forward to it every week.

One of yesterday’s errands was to buy myself a new cell phone. I’ve had my current cell (do you UK folks say mobile?) for years, and it started misbehaving on me. I haven’t been anxious to jump on the iPhone bandwagon, but over the last few weeks I’ve sort of moseyed that direction in the compartment of my mind labeled What Kind of Cellular Phone Should I Get Next?, and yesterday I came home with an iPhone 5. That compartment of my mind is now closed.

I don’t know too many people who don’t love their iPhones, but the jury is still out for me. I know I’ll sound like an Apple heretic with that comment, but I’m still adjusting to what feels like the hugeness of it compared to my other smaller phone with the nice QWERTY keyboard. Now it sort of feels like I’m talking into a plank. And apparently I have bratwursts for fingers and never noticed this before — typing out texts is an exercise in patience as I carefully, gently tap letters like S and R and E and letters like W and K and Z appear on the screen instead. I’m also adjusting to the heft of it, even though it’s supposed to weigh less than previous iPhones.

I am very happy with our Apple computer and with my iPad, but I’m still wondering if the iPhone is a true fit for me. I guess it will have to be for the next two years, because that’s the length of the contract our carrier requires.

What I do like about it are the really important features, which are apps like Words With Friends, Hanging With Friends and Sudoku. Oh, and Google Earth, Cribbage and Angry Birds. 🙂 And I’m going to try this app, which has been highly recommended to me. Do any of you use it?

Once I decided to get an iPhone, I knew I would need some sort of case to protect it. I didn’t want one of those squishy rubbery gel cases like these. And I didn’t think at my age I should carry around a phone that looks like this. What to get, what to get, I thought to myself…and then it just came to me, like a lightning bolt from the sky. (By the way, have you noticed that a lot of people are spelling the word lightning — as in thunder and lightning — “lightening” lately? What’s up with that?)

And here’s my new iPhone case.

This cardinal case that snaps snugly around my iPhone mitigates much of the bother of adjusting to my new phone-that-feels-like-a-barbell, and makes me feel like I’ll eventually like it all right. (You can click on the photos to enlarge if you like…)

I also enjoyed a delightful time with my dear friend Carey yesterday. We celebrated her November birthday three months late by having lunch together at a local Japanese restaurant. Shrimp and vegetable tempura, California rolls with pickled ginger slices, miso soup…very delish. Our time went by so quickly I was only able to talk one of her ears off. She emailed me today to see if we could have tea together soon, so apparently she’s not in the least bit worried about her other ear.

Last night, we took our Fosters out to dinner and a movie, and per a friend’s recommendation, we saw The Impossible. What an intense, eye-squinching, jaw-clenching movie! One of our gals asked on the way there, “Is this going to be a happy movie?” and I wasn’t sure how to answer since I didn’t know much about it. In the middle of the film while I was gripping the seat’s armrests with all my might I thought to myself, “Well I guess this isn’t a happy movie.” It was a hard film to watch, but it did have an amazing ending and I’m glad I saw it. If you’d like to see the trailer, you can click here.

And lastly, I have a friend named Lloyd. I’ve only met him once, but I feel like I know him because I’ve read his books and I also read the superbly written Hole News he sends out to a few hundred people several times a week. Be sure to look for the posts that say “grandpalloyd” on them if you visit. At ninety years old, Lloyd’s body is slowly wearing out but his mind is as sharp and curious as ever. His ponderings on his Christian faith, on science, and the mysteries that sometimes seem to make the two incongruous, always make me think. Lloyd gave me a compliment recently that took me by surprise, and called the writing on my blog “gentle and sprightly.”

Hello?

Uh…gentle? Sprightly? I had to look sprightly up: “Full of spirit and vitality; lively; brisk.” I think anyone who knows me might stifle a wry smile at those words because while Lloyd might think my words are gentle and sprightly, I am not. But it tickles me that he thinks my words are.

I would like to be more gentle and sprightly, though. Perhaps the Lord will finish His good work in me before I die (see Philippians 1:6) and my three daughters will someday have these inspirational words chiseled onto my grave stone:

Here Lies Mom
A Harsh and Ponderous Gentle and Sprightly Woman

Now wouldn’t that be something to phone home about? Except by then my unwieldy and plank-like iPhone will no longer be needed.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Ever so gently and with just a small degree of sprightliness,

“The devil doesn’t have a hook in happy Christians. Usually just miserable ones.”

~~John Piper

I heard pastor and author John Piper preach last Saturday night at his church in Minneapolis, and the quote above was one of the many things he said that gave me food for thought.

And here’s something else from Piper about Scripture memorization that chills me each time I watch it. Click here, and if you aren’t able to watch the full five minutes, advance to the 1:40 minute point and watch for the minute following that.

Whew!

Today will be a day of report writing. So I’m going to share one of my favorite youtube videos, and you’ll have to let me know if you’ve seen it. I guess it’s pretty popular, but I’m often the oblivious caboose on the Trendy Train, so perhaps there will be a few of you who haven’t seen it.

I love colorful scarves, and how they dress up the most casual outfit. A pair of jeans and a tee-shirt look so much more stylish and interesting when a beautiful scarf is added, don’t you think?

I’m not very much into lots of clothes and the latest fashions — comfort and utility are my unfortunate bywords in this arena. So you probably won’t see many posts like this one, but I’m guessing those of you who stop by aren’t here for fashion tips.  🙂

But I think this video is unique and well-done. I do wear scarves now and then, and my favorite way to tie a long scarf — I learned right here.  It’s called Magic Trick.

After you watch the 4.5 minute video, will you share what your favorite scarf-tying technique was?

Have a blessed Tuesday!

We have snow in the forecast again, but only for 1-3 inches. The lower Midwest is getting walloped by Winter Storm Q. I’m not sure what I think about all these storm names now. I know hurricanes have had names for decades (right?) but now Winter Storm Q? Hmmm.

When my mother moved from the Central Coast of California to live near us in Northeastern Minnesota in 1985, it took her a while to grow accustomed to the extreme winters we have here. One day she told us she’d been listening to the weather report and heard that we were going to get some “snurr flowies” in the afternoon. We all laughed hard at that one, and Mom did too. So from that time on, whenever the weather person said snow flurries were in the forecast, we said we were getting snurr flowies.

So right now as I look out the sliding glass window in my office at the fading daylight, a few snurr flowies are drifting down from the low clouds. And I think of my mama.

Only one of you who has never left a comment before was brave enough to say hello, and it was Connie! So Connie is the winner of the book The Snow Child and as soon as I get her mailing address I’ll pop it in the mail to her.

Michael and I are going to take a little weekend trip soon, and we’re staying at the hotel chain that gives each guest a warm chocolate chip cookie at check-in. That’s not the reason we’re staying there, but it’s still a nice little something to look forward to, don’t you think? Now if I could only find a hotel with a pool where all the guests are blind, that would make my day.

Sharon took some pictures of seven month-old Louisa recently, and they’re so adorable I have to steal them and share them with you. Speaking of snurr flowies, we don’t always say Louisa properly either. We like to say Louiser.

It’s such a shame Louiser isn’t very photogenic.

She is, however, one of the happiest, most contented babies I’ve ever known. My Bible study friends who meet in my home each week during the summer joined me in prayer when Sharon was still expecting Louiser, and agreed with my pleadings that God would give their family a happy baby. That prayer was answered spectacularly. Thank you Lord, I still say all the time. Thank you for Louisa Timothy-Bridget, who fills a spot in our hearts that no one else can.

Earlier today I went over to my dear friend Su’s house so three of us could work on a pile of paperwork together; something the state has recently required that seemed like it was enough to put more than a few Foster care providers over the paperwork edge. What a difference it made to work on things together! I had the courage to actually look through the pile! I put my head down and wrote down all the information they’re asking for, and I never stopped once! When Su, Maria and I went through it together, it seemed like no big deal at all. By myself, it would have been something I dreaded and procrastinated over. Now all I have to do is fax the pile to the state office who requested it, and I can scratch that off my to-do list.

They say everyone has something that is their weak area regarding housekeeping and/or work. I know a few folks who really can’t seem to climb the laundry mountain. It just looms too large in their minds. I do not judge. Laundry isn’t my issue — I don’t mind doing it at all. But in the past few years, paperwork has become my large-looming issue. Oh. And cooking. I forgot about that. At least with meal preparation I have to do it, so that helps. I can’t tell all the peeps I take care of that we’re just not going to eat tonight or tomorrow, as much as I would like to. What about you? Do you have a housekeeping/work issue that you just don’t like to do, so it seems to get bigger and bigger in your mind, until you actually start to feel a heavy sense of dread? I wish I could come over and give you a hand with it. Doing things like this with a friend often helps. 🙂 Sara Groves sings a great song called “Twice As Good” that paints a beautiful picture of this concept.

Well, my husband just came in and asked me to watch something on TV with him. We just got this DVD from Netflix in the mail today, so after I post this little update I’m going to get into my plaid flannel nightgown and join him, with a steaming cup of tea.

God bless your weekend, and thank you again for making time to stop by here!