Revival

We are having revival meetings at church this week. The speaker Mark is from Texas and opened up on the morning of Palm Sunday, and starting Sunday evening, we have been going to church every evening at 7 pm. I thought this would be very daunting in the beginning. Mark is a dynamic speaker though, and it is actually fine to be so richly fed on a daily basis. Sitting in a pew with my two children, parenting by myself, is giving ample opportunities to practice being Spirit controlled and not flesh controlled.

Sunday morning was a difficult parenting morning. We returned in the evening with nothing but pen and paper for the boys. The biggest event that night was that Dellen wet his pants in the middle of the service. The speaker was just getting to the heart of his message when Dellen announced he needed to have a bath. ...So, home we went. We quickly washed and changed close and were back in time for the concluding thoughts.

Then Monday night, they were both thirsty. I made the mistake and let them each out one time to get a drink. It wasn't long afterwards that I remembered why we don't let them out for drinks. That is all I heard about the rest of the service. It was an epidemic in the family pews. Kids everywhere asking for drinks. I finally told Sam he couldn't ask me again, put some paper in front of him and told him to journal to God or take notes. Below was that result. Third session down, and I go home wondering if there will be any "revival" for me this week.

Last night went well. The kids behaved beautifully. Attention-Parents of children! maybe that is the answer to our pew parenting. We have to go nightly for the children to know how to behave. The problem this night was that I forgot my Bible. So, I had perfectly behaving children and still couldn't take notes because I forgot all my stuff. Ay ay ay! I'm making Sam stand up and sing. For crying out loud, he can read at the fourth grade level, surely he can read the monitors up front. And I was blessed. He bellowed out There is Power in the Blood standing on the pew with his arm around me. I was almost embarrassed it was so loud, but realized I can't be upset since he was doing what I asked him to do. It was a wonderful moment that I will never forget.

Last night's talk was on brokenness. I got the message. I have been going through a time of really getting - or understanding- brokenness in the LORD. But then yesterday morning happened and I was filled with selfish and fleshly anger, impatience, selfishness, bitterness, jealousy, pride, criticalness, and unhappiness. I sat there in the pew and thought how hard it was to stay broken. I beelined it up to the speaker afterwards. He was very reassuring. I think he is going to do a special message this week just for me. He shared some thoughts, said he wasn't going to be speaking towards them this week, but would share the notes with me. I wish I could remember exactly the words he spoke about, but I was trying to hold back my tears, and I just watched the feelings overtake in him. He said he would speak on that this week after all. It is strange now how I can't put into words what moved me last evening. I will look forward to the message though. ...I tried again just now. I absolutely cannot communicate what it is without blotching it all up.

God is working on me that is all I can say. I am in a good season of knowing I am His, and yet trying to have the patience for Him to reveal more of Himself and His plan for me.

And so it seems other than daily church, correspondence and the phone, I'm not doing a whole lot these days. It is beautiful and warm - in the 80s today. But that wind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I detest wind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dellen and I did go to the nearby lake this morning because it was only blowing about 20 mile an hour at that time. I am not joking! We enjoyed our time. He is especially snugly these days as he has a little cold. I hold him a lot. Not accomplishing much other than funnelling love into one of this world's most precious four year olds. I'm more than happy to do that though.

Red River Day One

We arrived to a beautiful afternoon in Red River. The sun was out. The air was crisp. We were excited!

First stop - to the ski house to get our rentals! The boys' had such sweet little skis.

We walked around downtown looking in the shops.

Checking into our lodge.

There was this welcome sign in the lobby, welcoming us from Corn! So many Oklahomans and Texans go to New Mexico for skiing over Spring Break.

Dellen couldn't wait to get out in the snow. Meanwhile, Sam discovered The Singing Bee show on TV!

We did get him outside though.

That night, there was so much excitement for the following day. Dellen especially loved his helmet and was found in the bathroom seeing how he looked.

Home

I have so much to blog about, but no time to do it. I hope that will shortly change.

We had a fabulous time being in the mountains last week and skiing! We arrived safely home on Saturday night, and left again on Monday for a pastors' retreat that our district sponsored. We stayed two nights in OKC, while Papa and Mema watched the boys. It was a wonderful time to connect with other pastors. I really enjoyed the speaker and learned much from him on prayer. Things that I am really needing. I often find it extremely difficult to hear God and was thrilled to learn some prayer practices to go through. We focused a lot on contemplative prayer.

I hope to share about these different methods of prayer at some point. And I can't wait to try some of them in my own walk...when I make the time. I also really hope to blog and show some pictures of our time in Red River. I had hoped to do a daily journal of sorts while we were there, but didn't have the Internet capability. As we are just getting home really, I thought I would start on some of this now. BUT...our memory card in the new camera isn't compatible (or something) with our computer. I CAN'T UPLOAD ONE SINGLE PIC! How frustrating.

As a result, I am on here now to tell you we are alive and well; having been deeply blessed and enriched in such a multitude of ways. I am also very drained. I don't think I've had a moment of solitude in over two weeks. It is those moments that very much energize my introvert personality. I am in need of a routine again that will create some of that time. Again, we are all well and have had great times.

Storms - Signs of Spring

We had rain, lots of rain yesterday. And then the sun came out. It was so beautiful and bright shining in our west facing front window in the evening that I had to close the blinds. I was watching the evening news while making dinner and learned that there was a tornado in Western Oklahoma about six miles north of Elk City. I reopened my blinds to find a beautiful deep blue skyline and wanted to drop everything I was doing and jump in my car and go. ....I had responsibilities at present and couldn't. A few minutes later a friend called to see if we were out storm chasing. He had a view of the tornado from the farmland he was working on. That was it, I raced out of the house - family in tow, as the boys were so excited to see a tornado (FYI - it would have been about 45 miles away from our house).

Below are several pictures from the time sitting on a hill about five miles west of Corn. The sun was going down and it was a gorgeous evening!

The picture below is about as good as it gets in seeing the cloud lowering. The dip in the cloud just left of center is the one that the circulation kept dropping from. We did see it lower than what is seen in this picture, but never completely a touch down again. I'm happy we got even this much, as nothing was showing up on our view screen of the camera.

Ironically, I go today to pick up a new camera we decided to buy. It should be a nice one, that in time we can add lenses to. We've been waiting a few weeks for the site to store delivery, and I just read an e-mail announcing it was in. Why couldn't it have arrived one day earlier? Reminds me of the last time we went west of town to watch a tornado on the western skyline, only to run out of film before the actual touch down! That was at least eight years ago! We still have the reputation of being out, but sadly haven't for so long. It was a completely different experience with our children in the car! I definitely wasn't able to sit and hear the sounds of the storm. But their excitement in taking pictures on our cell phones was fun.

The picture below makes me want to paint. I love these blue hues, and I'm not even a blue kind of person.

Love the contrasting colors here too! While I definitely fear strong storms around harvest time when the golden wheat is ready to be cut, I do love seeing the purplish-blue sky against the amber waves of grain. This scene reminded me of those moments.

Driving back east to Corn.

And immediately looking back west again.

I was reminded tonight how much I love Tornado Alley. Lately, I have been pining away for areas with trees. I can't wait for our ski trip next week in the Southern Rockies. I loved watching the Olympics and fell in love with Vancouver and the surrounding areas. I would love to live on some acreage with tall trees that turn vibrant colors in Fall. But, I do love the plains too.

I'm looking forward to Spring. My sister-in-law knows Spring is around the corner when the first black bear sighting occurs. In Western Oklahoma, we know Spring is around the corner when the first tornado is on the ground. Now that the boys are getting older, I hope we can be a little more spontaneous and experience more of the weather.

I love my life, but if things were vastly different for me and I didn't have my precious family, I think you could find me studying radar charts and measuring storms! I could be doing research on a plane flying into the eye of a hurricane. Watch out grand kids, you may have an adventurous grandma once her children are adults. You'll be welcome to go with me. As I am sure that this love and passion for weather will be passed down from generation to generation; it is just a gene that runs in our family. I remember sitting on a picnic table with my grandma, eating popcorn, and watching the western skyline of Kansas during strong summer thunderstorms. What a great memory!

I close in sadness though, for those that experience the damage and loss that a tornado provides. This link http://www.weather.com/outlook/videos/early-season-tornado-slams-small-town-16702 is a reminder of how dangerous this weather phenomenon can be. We were in Hammon just a few weeks ago for basketball games. I am thankful there were no fatalities.

Awana Games '10

On Saturday, we attended the Awana Games, where different Awana Clubs come together to compete in games. Two other churches were there. Sam is in Sparks and his team won second. It is such a fun day for the children. Dellen enjoyed time playing with his friends in the bleachers. Mostly group photos below, as the action shots are blurry.

A little about this do-rag. Sam wore a red one to school on Friday because he was being the Olympian Apollo Ono. Dellen wanted in on some of that too. By Saturday, Sam was done being Apollo and didn't want to stand out anymore. Dellen liked the look a little longer. Adorable!

Visitor

We enjoyed overnight company this week in welcoming a long time family friend of ours. He is driving from Colorado to Florida. It was a fun visit and we are glad he thought of us to come see where we live and catch up a bit.

Cubbies on a Sunday Morning

Four of the nine Awana Cubbie Bears sang in front of church Sunday morning. Dellen loves Cubbies, and has been saying the Pledge of Allegiance a lot lately at home. He enjoys singing and doing the actions to many songs. His participation this morning was better than he has ever done, yet still pretty subdued. He would start, and then it seems, he would remember that he vowed he wasn't going to have fun and would stop doing the actions and get a little frown on his face. It was cute in a way too. They are adorable little Cubbies though! We are so thankful for his teachers and the love they give.

Basketball Seniors' Night

On Friday, the 26th, we attended the school seniors' night for the basketball players. It was a fun time. Everyone enjoyed free pop and popcorn, a scrimmage game and a little contest to see who had the oldest school t-shirt. The oldest was from 1979-80. Dellen won a prize for being the smallest/youngest person with a school shirt. He was way too embarrassed and never made it down to have his picture taken with the other winners. He did receive balloons, candy, a mini basketball and school cup. Even though embarrassed, he was very happy and wore his balloons for the rest of the evening.

Micah is a good friend. His birthday lies right in between Sam and Dellen's. He is one grade below Sam.

Kyle is another good friend and is one of Sam's classmates. He will be attending school with Sam next year. His family was so gracious and looked after Sam when Dellen had his stitches a few weeks ago.

Afterwards, several students went down on the court to play around. Russ taught Dellen how to dribble and then played some hoops with Sam and others. I think my guys have played basketball three other times at the church parking lot since this night.