Praise Ye the Lord!

I decided to include a hymn/poem I wrote years ago in today's post. Here it is:

Without the Camp
Before in time, the bulls were brought
For sin,
Their blood was sprinkled where the debt
Had been.
Their bodies, burned without the camp,
Became consuming fire
To reconcile a holy God
And bring His heart's desire.

Then Jesus came, and on the cross
His blood
Was sprinkled freely, offered for
Our good,
His body, pierced without the camp,
Became our sacrifice
To reconcile a holy God
Who broke His heart for us.

Now let us go without the camp
To Him
Whose blood became a holy flame
Within.
It cleansed away all sin from us
And burned away the dross
To make us like a holy God
Who met us at the cross.
(Lev.4:21;Heb.1:13)

Just Left My Church

Just left my church. It was a hard thing to do, had to say goodbye last night to old friends and some new friends. But I had been praying for several months what to do. The Lord confirmed yesterday that "greater things than this" would be done so I'm waiting to see how He will use me in a different place. Right before Sherri died, I received that scripture, so I know greater things will happen. The Lord was so sweet to let me know that my letter to someone held a scripture that confirmed to her the plan the Lord had for her. The Holy Spirit is awesome! I got chill bumps when she told me about it.
We're all still the Body of Christ, no matter where we are physically and we'll see one another in heaven in the end. Halleluiah!

Friends

The value of friendship is often lost in the day-to-day shuffle. We run, run, run trying to get ahead, just juggle job and family, submersed in the mundane. Then we say, "I wonder what happened to so-and-so, a friend I used to have."
The thing is--you have to cultivate friendships to keep them alive. You think that your favorite person will be waiting for you after you are done with everything else, but it isn't so. When you finally get to a conversation, there is none of the dailyness you used to have. You're not up to speed on their current loves, problems, illnesses or political passions. You try to talk about what used to matter to the two of you, but the conversation falls flat.
Now there are some people so dear to you and close in spirit that you can pick up where you left off after years as if it were days, but those people are very rare.
So I remind myself, as I remind you, water your friendships with attention and they will keep blooming.
Now, excuse me, I have to go call an old friend.

Gratitude

It seems that a little cat has made me recognize the need for God and gratitude. Last night fatcat Zena was missing for 2 hours. She never stays out that late and I walked the neighborhood, calling for her, asking neighbors and nothing! Then when I had locked up for the night, there she was on the front step! I had pictured her flattened in the street(she isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer) but there she was. I thanked God many times for sparing her because she and her sister are my family. They live with me and keep my blood pressure down (usually).
We take things and family for granted until one day--they are missing. Lord, help me to live in the present and be grateful for all You have given me to make my life more enjoyable and meaningful.

Wrestling With God

Jacob did it. He ended up with a hobble. I'm done with part of my wrestling, made a decision. Now I just have to work out what I need to do to maintain my integrity--a hard job!
In working on my Bible lesson for prison this week, I came across a lot of mentions of idols. I know mine. You have your own, I'm sure. One of mine is being lonely for other people and not setting a limit in order to be with them. That is a hard one for me, the social butterfly. But I'm learning to do it, to make righteous choices. I just love the book of Isaiah! In between all the judgments that come down on Judah are the loving promises of God. I like to know that I am special, His beloved and that He knows my name! Cool!

Cold in The Mountains

We had a wonderful Apple Festival weekend at Graves Mountain Lodge. The best thing after the friendly people was the food. We enjoyed the vendors and what they were vending. Times tough for vendors now.
Didn't get to see but 2 family members, though. Winter arrived Sunday when we had to leave, so we got some sun and a very little folige color. But the sweep of mountains was awesome! So like heaven when we get there!
Here's a shout out to the blond lady from Maine who has 6 horses and her family. Enjoyed meeting you.
Saw the stuffed Halloween man Danny got his pic next to on one of his trips there. It was in his funeral collage. Felt Dan was there with me. Miss you, man!

The Rats in Ruckersville

That's what I'll be driving by on my way to vacation weekend. The rats in the dump in Ruckersville. I hear they're pretty big. Anyway, it's Apple Festival and a friend of mine and I will be enjoying life in the Blue Ridge this weekend. I hope the rain stops!

We hope to ride on a haywagon and eat a lot. See the foliage. Maybe ride horses, I don't know. We went walking on the Great Dismal Swamp bike trail and had to dodge the horse droppings of her friend Paul's horse. He had (I forget the horse's name now) attached to a buggy and was enjoying his newfound retirement. Seeing as how Paul's horse had broken his ankle a while back, maybe I won't ride. I've already had a horse roll over on me to itch its back in Guilderland, NY. I don't know.

Maybe I'll just do old lady things and watch the birds.

It's Good to Be the King (or Queen)

Starlog date, October 13. Just kidding. Anyway, it's great to be retired. Went to the River today to take back some books. Saw old friends, glad I'm not them in October during Spirit Week. It's good to be retired.

Tonight I go to see a Forum discussion at ODU. Even if it runs late, I can sleep in.Ha!Ha! I love it.

Seriously, it's good for the young'uns to start to run the show and me to start a new season in my life, doing the things I enjoy, like reading, sleeping,Prison Ministry and eating. It's good to be of use to people still, like doing this blog if anyone ever logs on. LOL

Is Columbus Day Obsolete?

So my old high school where I taught for 11 years doesn't have today off, so it's  not a holiday there. They're changing the name to Fall Day anyway so who cares that America was discovered in the name of God? I do, and I see our country slipping away. My mother, who was an Air Force nurse in WWII (the big one) would really freak out now to see what's going on, not to mention my ultraRepublican grandfather. Harvey Milk has an occurring holiday signed into law today. The world's upside down.But here I sit,ready to get together with some amazing Christians to do our thing in group  tonight, support each other, love each other and generally overeat. It feels good to be surrounded by God's love.

It's Sunday-- Let's Celebrate!

Lazy Saturday

Today is a lazy Saturday even though I've filled 5 bags with ivy and wisteria cuttings. Watching movies, writing letters to inmates, making new/old friends on Facebook.

Tonight we're having a ladies' night in--pizza and movies. It'll be fun. Old friends, and I mean longtime friends,not that any of us is old--ono! Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver the other gold, as the Scottish saying goes. Called my 99-year-old aunt today to thank her for the clipping of her being honored as the oldest member of her church. Love her memories of going to school in a sleigh when the snow got too high. And we complain about an inch of snow!

Fun in the Jail

Love Prison Ministry! Had a good word in Ephesians with the ladies. Denise, of course,being the teacher, me riding shotgun. So much growth in the ladies since Denise started with them. Laura is excited about the getting-out-of-jail component to help them ease back into society. I just want them saved.

I'm loving this retirement gig. So busy now I don't know what to do. Prison Ministry, Food Pantry, going out to eat with friends, sleeping in. It doesn't get any better than this.

My old friends, how are the 9th graders doing? LOL.

I haven't really hit my stride with writing the great American novel. Busy having too much fun! But soon, I'll begin again with book about teaching special ed. We'll see how that comes out.

I Am a Techie as well as a Trekkie now

Just started my facebook account. What a trip! Do I need to be rejected in 4 mediums? to quote Drew Barrymore in "He's Just Not That Into You."

Anyway, so here I am, sending links, about to add a pic to the profile. Amazing for an old grandma from the 20th century!

No sad songs today except that I made a pro/con list on whether to stay at Faith Alive. I still don't know. Like that play "Waiting for Godot," I'm waiting for God. Only in this case, He'd better show up sometime about a decision.

My son used to predict the outcome of football games on his blog. None of that here. I might predict whether the dollar will be turned into a Euro though. What do you think? No comments from anybody yet. It's like sending messages out into the ether, hoping somebody will respond. That's actually why I got online in the first place, to communicate with my daughter while she had cancer. She never got up online, not enough money.

Then when everybody died, I actually thought somewhere in the back of my mind that Dan or Jerry or Sherri would email me. I'm still waiting.

East Meets West

I promised a friend of mine that I would send her a copy of the eulogy that Danny's professor gave in September 2005. We were having a discussion about religion after she so sweetly found my name in her address book and thought to call me up. I, of course, think there is just one Jesus way to heaven and she doesn't, so I said Dan had written a paper comparing Lao Tze to Christianity. Did she want to read it? She said "yes." We knew each other's sons when they were darling little precocious boys in New York.

I went to the memory book Stephanie made me and copied the eulogy. In looking through the book a little bit, of course I started to cry. I found the poem I wrote for him and cried some more.

Here it is:

Combien aimes-tu maman? Comme ca? Comme ca? Comme ca!

Do you know how much I love you?
Love you still,
Though you lay in rocky ground
At the top of Knox hill.

I always had the feeling you just
Put up with me,
Your "quirky" mother,
After you had lost your first baby love
When you would hug my neck
And bring me stones and flowers.

You were the wise one,
Bringing me counsel
In place of posies.
In your wisdom,
Now that you know all things,
Do you know how much I love you?
Love you still.

The Trouble with Tribbles

This was cool and goes under the talking about grieving thing. I went to send some flowers to a friend who had just lost her father. I told Shawn the florist that I couldn't go to funerals anymore because my whole family was dead. So he started to laugh (I wasn't offended. We were having a great time kidding around) and said to his coworker, "She's banned from funerals now. She's had her quota of dead people." I thought that was pretty funny. Then I told him about Danny. Then I told him about Sherri and he got a sad look on his face and gave me a minimum free. I hugged him.

The Trouble with Tribbles

Tribbles are very creative. I hope I shall be the same. I will be posting poems, thoughts and complaints here. Also, some notes about my pathway of grieving the loss of my family.
Here's a poem I wrote after my husband died at 54. My whole family had a graveyard sense of humor. I still do:
Mr. Lally brought a dolly,
And came and rolled my heart away,
It seems funny now to see
A hole in the place where my heart
Used to be.

You'd think a person couldn't function
Without a heart to pump their blood,
It's amazing to discover
A thing that shouldn't happen could.

The Trouble with Tribbles

Well, you know what the trouble is with them. My trouble right now is trying to start this blog. As my third attempt, I'll make it short and come back later. (Going to watch Glenn Beck now.)