Week Five

Hard to believe that my Summer Sabbatical is half over. I don't think I have ever enjoyed a summer more! I am counting my days and trying to use this time wisely. Am I meeting all my goals? Not really, but it has been good to have them to keep from just being lazy. (The only one I am really on target with, is my running program!) I am making progress on home projects long neglected but also making time for connecting with friends, deepening relationships with them and also having fun with the grans and deepening those relationships. I am trying to focus on reading more. Making good progress in Les Miserables but also plan to start reading Prayerwalking by Steve Hawthorne and Graham Kendrick and have just begun Managing your Emotions which so far is very good.

More than anything this time is giving me perspective. I am seeing things that I have neglected and changes I need to make in my life. My priorities have needed reorganizing and this time is allowing God to reveal what needs to be reshuffled.

This week I hope to finish up some trim painting (we have painted several rooms in the past several years but never got around to the trim.) My focus in cleaning and decluttering is our bedroom, bath and closet. But I also will be having fun with the grans and go walking with a friend. On Saturday we plan to leave for North Carolina to meet our newest granddaughter. I will stay and help Kimberly when Carl returns to work on Monday and Bill will take the older boys camping for a few days. It is his turn to have Dad-Dad Camp!

But more than anything I plan to spend time in God's Word and allow him to speak to me in a deeper way.

Week of July 11 Goals

Writing this down will help me stay accountable (hopefully!)This will be a boring post for anyone but me. Sorry!

Monday:
1.Bible reading (Romans & Eccleciastes) and prayer, lesson 5, #3 & 4,refresh first 3 memory verses
2. Interval Jogging 2 miles
3. Put guest and kid's room in order, collect items left behind and add to box to be mailed to Kimberly.
4. Start laundry.
5. Dust, vacuum & sweep all floors, clean bathrooms, steam clean upstairs bathroom floor, mop kitchen and downstairs bathroom. Clean refrigerator, kitchen fan, kitchen windows. Wipe down cabinets and counters.
6. Finish laundry, fold and put away
7. Les Miserables-finish reading Fantine's story
8. Errands-bank, UPS, library

Tuesday:
1. Bible reading, prayer, complete lesson 5 and refresh Bible memory verses
2. Prime trim in kitchen
3. Gym work out
4. Tiff's to do fun water activities with grans in afternoon. (Possibly stay for campfire supper)
5. Les Miserables-begin Cosette's story, through chapter 7 of Book Three.

Wednesday:
1. Bible reading, prayer,, lesson 6, work on Proverbs 3:5-6 memory verse
2. Paint kitchen trim
3. Zumba class (treat myself to lunch at Subway)
4. Tara's house for cookie baking, book reading and fun.
5. Les Miserables-through Chapter 3 of Book Four

Thursday:
1. Bible reading, prayer, memory work
2. Interval jogging
3. Weight Watchers/meet with Donna to plan Mexican Dinner
4. Possible lunch with friend (if not, work on painting living room trim and steps.
5. Les Miserables-through Book Seven

Friday:
1. Bible reading, prayer, memory work, Begin Lesson 7
2. Gym workout
3. Finish trim work (possible lunch with friend if yesterday didn't work out)
4. Girls' night with friend Donna.
5. Les Miserables-through chapter 8 of Book Eight

Saturday:
Something fun with my honey!

Goals

How am I doing with the goals I set for myself? Let's see:
1. Definitely doing more introspection and examining my life from God's perspective.
2. Spending more time connecting with friends.
3. More time praying, reading my Bible, studying God's Word and memorizing (not an easy thing for a 61 year old brain!)
4. Consistently exercising, increasing my jog time (this morning up to 14 minutes total jogging time, interspersed with 11 minutes of walking.)
5. Making my way through Les Miserables. (Although I confess that I have only been seriously reading for the past week, but now it has captivated me.) Book not in front of me but I am now up to Javert's story for anyone familiar with the book. I may start taking notes of all the Biblical analogies I see. It is an amazing story of redemption. (which Javert rejects and Jean Valjean embraces)
6. Slowing down to spend time with children and reacquaint myself with the wonderful stories for children (everyone should read them, even adults!). I have read The Rag Coat (have tissues handy!), Blueberries for Sal, and The Doorbell Rang (this borrowed from the library, but I HAVE to buy this book...thanks for the recommendation, Margy!) The last one hasn't been read to the grandchildren yet but it will be (accompanied by a batch of chocolate chip cookies...because nobody makes chocolate chip cookies like Grandma! [This is from the book...you have to read it. And there is a great lesson about preferring others over yourself in it.])
7.Okay, the house hasn't received the attention I would like, but there is still time for that. People first, things second!

Best of all this time is recharging me, and making me eager to return to the work I love, serving my church family. Almost seven years ago I reluctantly accepted the job as church secretary, sure that God was asking me to make this change in my life. It was a sacrifice of love and obedience because what I wanted to do was be a full-time grandma. But God gave joy in that obedience and I love each day that I go to "work". But joy became possessiveness and I found myself taking the reins from God as if "I can handle it now." And the result was incredible stress causing constant ocular migraines. I realized that nothing God calls us to causes stress so, after much prayer, decided that I needed to remove my hands from the reins and allow God once again to do the leading. I look forward to what He is doing in my life as well as others as I let Him be God. He is so much better at it than I.

Sabbatical Thoughts

I am now in my third week of my Summer Sabbatical adventure. The first week was a time of adjustment. I found myself stressing over not "wasting" time and making sure I accomplished something. I filled that first week with lots of time with friends as well as days with my grandchildren and it was wonderful but I found myself feeling guilty about not getting anything done. By the end of the second week I was relaxing and getting into a rhythmn of being home. Still lots of time with friends but now I found myself really wanting to get into home related projects and Bill came home one day to find the house sparkling and the front and back porches cleaned and rearranged into comfortable living spaces.

This third week we are back from a weekend in North Carolina with Carl and his family. We brought Alex (12 years), Williams (11 years), Nathan (9 1/2 years) an Esther (8 years) home with us. Today is our first full day with them and we are enjoying getting back in touch with them. It is important to us to stay involved in their lives even though they live 300 miles away.

Each summer I look forward to having the grandchildren over for three days of NiNi Camp. This year we are doing it a little differently because we have three brand new grandchildren who have been a part of our family or two months now. It would be a little overwhelming for them to be away from their parents for several days. So tonight Tara and Eric will be bringing their kids for some fun with their southern cousins and a campfire, roasting hot dogs and making s'mores and memories.

Tomorrow we will have fun with just Carl's kids, maybe spending the day at the Hammerman area of Gunpowder Falls State Park on the beach and doing a little kayaking. Then on Friday the southern grans will meet the Columbian grans. We will take NiNi camp to their house for some games, crafts and fun with them.

Saturday is still unplanned as yet, although the kids tell me we have to go to Broom's Blooms that night because it is "tradition" to go there on their last night. Because on Sunday afternoon we will be driving south to meet Kimberly's sister so that they can visit with their cousins in Northern Virginia for a week before returning home to meet their brand new baby sister who is to arrive, Lord willing, on July 13.

More than anything during this time, I am enjoying unhurried time in my Bible each morning. This year we are taking a discipleship class with our small group so I have time to spend memorizing God's Word and discussing with others what God is saying to us through His Word. Time to sit on the front porch just enjoying swinging and gazing out over the farm across the street and having time to just "Be". Time to finally realize my goal of reading the book "Les Miserables" cover to cover.

My goal is to return at the end of the summer refreshed and recharged to be better used of God for whatever He has in store for me. So far, so good! So very, very good!

A New Season

I love my job...actually I don't look at it as a job. Almost seven years ago, God softened my heart, and gave me a desire to serve my church as the secretary. As I neared the end of my homeschool mom career, I had no intention of being in the workforce again but looked forward to being a full-time NiNi. It was the second time in my life that I felt definitely that God was asking me to do something that I really didn't want to do (the first was home-schooling my children!). Both times I found what joy there is in obedience to a Sovereign God who has all wisdom and never asks us to do anything in order to bring us pain but will take us (way) out of our comfort zone for our good and His glory.

Although I really do find so much joy in servng my church family for the past several months I have been feeling unexplained stress with symptoms of ocular migraines that just wouldn't quit. One evening on a stroll across our neighboring farm I mentioned to Bill that I had the crazy idea of taking the summer off to jut have some home time and reconnect with myself. I fully expected him to talk me out of this crazy idea. I should have known better! He immediately responded that he thought it was a good idea. I took another week or so to meditate and pray on this idea before I put the request to Pastor Dave. He graciously granted my request and this week I began my Sabbatical and chose to make this week sort of a "staycation" and took each day at a time and did something fun. Here's what it has looked like so far: (Every morning started with a wonderful, relaxed, extended time with my Heavenly Daddy...EVERY morning, wonderful!)

Monday: Morning: Walked almost 3.5 miles on the Ma & Pa Trail with a friend I don't know well enough, followed by a long chat in her living room. Afternoon: Picked Bill up at church, drove to a nearby park to put our kayaks in the water with dear friends and outlaws (er, I mean, in-laws) for two hours of paddling around a lake.

Tuesday: Morning: Laundry (okay, not a complete staycation!) and a 30 minute 2 mile walk/jog. Afternoon: Six hours of fun with grandchildren, getting to know the new chicos and catching up with the old, mostly having fun making crafts and loving hearing, "Abuelito NiNi!, Abuelito NiNi!" when help was needed. Discovered that even though we don't speak the same language, there are many other ways to communicate...and laughter breaks through the language banner! (Jonathan laughed at me...a lot!)

Wednesday: Morning: Zumba class Afternoon: Five hours reading and crafting with more grandchildren (the ones that all speak English!), then home, dinner and our small group meeting.

Thursday: (today) Spent the day with a friend and her daughter strolling through Longwood Gardens, talking and relaxing and enjoying all the creativity of our Creator God. Late afternoon: Grocery shopping (again...not a total staycation) and home. Hobby took pity and treated me to dinner out! Yea!

Tomorrow: Bill is taking off and we need to spend some time pricing donated items for a flea market on Saturday to raise money for mission trip planned for August. Then what? Ideas include: picking cherries at the orchard one street over from our house, relaxing at the pool, kayaking...or whatever we feel like!

This weekend I plan to spend some time writing down things I want to accomplish this summer. Ideas off the top of my head:

1. Read Les Miserable (the 830 page version) completely...this will be my third attempt. I have estimated that to do this I will have to read 20 pages a day


2. Paint trim in rooms we have painted but never got around to finishing.


3. Finishing kids' room tree that friend Kim helped me paint almost two years ago. I need to stencil on the leaves and birds, etc.


4. Paint kitchen cabinets.


5. Declutter office, bedroom closet, etc.


6. Conduct NiNi Camp (a little differently this year!)


7. Camp


8. Help Kimberly after baby arrives


9. Train for a 5K


10. Other ideas?

I hope to use this blog forum to chart my progress and keep me accountable., which I will need, because after writing the above I am already tired! Above all, I just want to have time to step back and take a look at my life and be willing to hold things lightly rather than making God pry them out of my fingers and listen to God with new ears and see Him with clearer vision. My hope is that I will be better able to serve my church family after this time away and will give others a chance to be blessed by serving in my stead.

My Life

Well, the dreaded birthday came and went without disaster and was actually a wonderful celebration. We had a wonderful trip (but too short!) to Virginia Beach with most of my kids and God blessed us with gorgeous weather and high waves! My office friends were sweet and blessed me with a yummy cake and a song. And on top of that I was treated to dinner out with Eric and Tara who had been unable to join us at Virginia Beach. I am one blessed mama!

But this birthday has caused me to do a lot of reflecting on my life. As a child, 60 years seemed like an eternity...but it has gone so fast and keeps getting faster! What have I done with those 60 years and some of my sadness on reaching this milestone was that I didn't think I had done enough. But God is so merciful and redeems the time.

• I have seen God's hand moving so many times that it gets easier and easier to trust Him and to wait on Him even when it doesn't seem like He is answering or doing anything. I KNOW He is because of our history!
• I have experience that I can share with others, mistakes I made in raising my sons or in my marriage that I can help someone else avoid, but also things that worked well for me and brought blessings that others can also be blessed by
• No more hormone high and lows (or at least not so many). I don't miss those roller coaster rides, really!
• Looking back and seeing so many ways God prepared me to serve Him. I trained and worked as a secretary while single and in the early years of our marriage. God arranged for me to work for a doctor who was gracious and patient. He told me, "The patients are not interruptions to your work, they ARE your work. And they are coming in sometimes upset, angry or anxious. It is your job to be gracious and calm with them." Who would know that many years later, after my job of raising five sons was over, I would use those skills to serve my church family. God did! And in the early years of homeschooling I was very active in a home school support group and was unable to be very active in our church ministry. I sometimes felt guilty about that but knew that was where God had me serving at that time. He knew He was preparing me to start a homeschool umbrella at our church and He did!
• And even things like living in a house where our bedroom was on the first floor. We lived there for 15 years and in that time I managed to break a leg three times! God knew I would need a first floor bedroom during those years. The ten years before and the five years since, we have had a second floor bedroom (and I sincerely hope, Lord, that means there are no more broken bones in my future!)
• Yesterday was my father's 99th birthday. He no longer celebrates birthdays because he is in the presence of the King of kings and is too busy celebrating Him. But he did have 96 birthdays to celebrate and I was so blessed to have him as my daddy that long and to see him model what a true servant of Christ looks like.
• Oh yes, and yesterday I stopped for a quick meal at McDonald's. When I was checking my receipt I noticed that I was only charged 59 cents for my hot tea. I thought that was odd until I saw the word "senior" next to the charge. Yes, there are advantages to being old!

Memories

I had a great childhood. Other people read about "old times" by reading Little House on the Prairie and other such books. But at least once a year, I got to live it. Both of my grandmothers and many aunts lived in the country in Virginia and Southern Ohio without electricity or indoor plumbing.

While visiting my grandparents Whitten I remember being given a candle to take with me when climbing the stairs to my bedroom! Imagine! Each of the four bedrooms in their rustic house contained two beds, each with a fluffy feather mattress. They were prepared for lots of company. My grandparents' bed was on the first floor. Their bedroom was open to the living room like it was intended to be a living room and dining room. There was a pot belly wood burning stove in the bedroom part.

Across the hall from the living room was the dining room with massive dining room furniture and a beautiful pie safe in the corner containing pretty dishes. I remember that there was food on the table at all times. After a meal leftovers were covered with another tablecloth. Later, they had electricity installed so I guess they had a refrigerator so I guess some of the food was refrigerated but my memory is that new dishes were just added at the next meal. (No sandwiches for lunch...every meal was a large one!) In the large kitchen there was a big wood burning cook stove and a large basket containing big chunks of wood that my grandmother would shove in top while removing the circular lids on the top with an iron implement. They did have running water at the sink! My grandfather had run a pipe from an outdoor spring into the kitchen. It ran continuously, which caused me to ask my mother why she didn't fuss at my grandmother to turn off the water like she did to me at home! There was a ladle hanging by the sink that everyone used to get a drink of water. I guess it helped to build up immunities to bacteria because I don't ever remember anyone being sick! I am sure having "running water" helped my grandmother tremendously as my aunt had a pump outside. I loved pumping it to fill a pail with water but I am sure that meant a lot of work for her. My other grandmother in Ohio had a pump at her sink in the kitchen. I have memories of helping my grandmother snap string beans sitting on their large enclosed backporch.

And bathroom facilities...or lack thereof. From my earliest days I was familiar with the little building out back with the half moon carved on the door. I didn't like using it but was admonished by my mother that the chamber pot under each bed was only for nighttime use. Didn't I realize that someone had to empty that. No, I never thought of that, only being concerned about my own comfort. Once I heard an aunt talking about having encountered a copperhead snake in the outhouse and the next time I had to use that facility at night I made the mistake of checking out the opening with my flashlight...not a good idea!

Although at some point in my childhood my grandparents did have electricity and a TV, I don't have any memories of watching it. I played outside under their huge pine tree, sweeping up all the pine needles and playing house. I dug up different kinds of moss which became my play food. I walked down the hill and across a field and opened a big gate to wait for the mailman to take the mail back to the house. At one point they had a horse because I remember my sister, Peggy and her husband, Jim (or he may have been her boyfriend at that point) taking me for a ride. I fell off and ran into the house shouting that I had broken my leg. I couldn't understand why the adults all laughed at me instead of taking my complaint seriously!

I had a great time visiting both my grandparents but I realized at an early age that I didn't have the same relationship with them that my other cousins who lived near them had. My grandmother would chatter away about what Wanda and Donna (cousins) liked to do and I think I felt a little sad that she didn't know more about me. I knew they loved me and in my teenage years I got to know them a little better when they lived with us for a time. Those were my most memorable times. My grandmother sitting at the table in the kitchen while I baked cookies and chatting. She admired things that I had sewn and shared that she had never been much of a seamstress. My grandfather was a sort of gruff old man but I loved him. I knew he loved me even though he didn't fuss over me like my grandmom did (which frankly sometimes annoyed me!). On a visit to our house I remember once him walking to the corner store and when he returned, asking me if I liked Dentyne gum. I didn't really but didn't want to hurt his feeling so I said yes. He then tossed me a pack, saying, "Here you go, girl." He always called me "girl" and it made me feel special for some reason. In actuality with so many grandchildren and seeing me so seldom, he probably forgot my name!

I have been realizing lately that I really didn't have deep relationships with any adults as a child. I had lots of adults that loved me but they were so busy providing for me that I don't remember just talking and building a relationship. That is why, I think, the time that my dad lived with us is so special to me. For the first time in my life I spent a lot of hours just sitting and "being" with him. Listening to his stories of growing up and his philosophies of life.

Maybe that is why I so much want to have relationships with my grandchildren. I want to be available to just listen or to share my life lessons with them. And especially why I don't want to lose that with our "far away grandchildren" in North Carolina. I am so happy that they are willing to travel so often to visit and that they are welcoming to us when we travel to visit them. Do I do it perfectly? Far from it. Sometimes I get impatient or tired and I feel badly when I do. I hope they know that I love them even when I am cranky. Happily, their parents are training them well and, for the most part, they are cooperative and non-complaining while with us.

My grandchildren won't have the same kind of memories I had. We do have electricity, running water that you can turn on and off with a knob and toilets that flush. But it is my desire that they know they are loved and that NiNi and Dad-Dad and those "other" grandparents are always there to listen and share the wisdom the Lord has given.