Salsa

This past week while at work I got a call from someone at one of ONE's other offices. She said there was a delivery there for me. Since I was obviously not at the same place, she'd send it to the surgery center where I work. I was so confused. The person on the phone did not identify herself or her location. I only knew it was the southwest office because the caller ID told me. When asked if it was personal or for the surgery center, she said personal and mumbled the word cousin. Now, my dad's cousin also works at ONE. She has a bit of an ornery streak in her sometimes, so I figured it was from her. The rest of the afternoon, I was looking over my shoulder, but no delivery ever came.

Tuesday morning I got up and swam at the Y before work. I even had time to go to Panera for a souffle' and some time for devotions. It was a good start and I was determined to have a good day at work. (Let it suffice to say that was tough a couple days this last week.) After about a half an hour, someone asked if I had gotten my bag at the front desk. Bag? What bag? Oh! The delivery! I walked up front, still perplexed. Here's what I found.

Several of my co-workers walked up and said, "OH! You got a candle! Who's it from? It's not even your birthday!" Nope, it's not a candle, it's salsa from my lovely cousin Heather. I was the lucky winner on her blog. How lucky am I?! It made my day! Look closer. Not only did a get a jar of homemade salsa, there's chocolate. How can a girl wrong with so much chocolate?

Now really, is salsa really that big of a deal? No. It's the thought. How many people get a homemade jar of salsa (with chocolate) packaged in a cute bag delivered to them at work? Not only was it delivered, but poor Donovan went to the Southwest office first and then brought it to the surgery center. Heather said he had appointments all over town, but still......it's a 20-30 minute drive depending on the traffic. I knew I had won, but expected to get it in the mail. That would have been fun all by itself, but this just made it that much better.

Apparently I'm pretty easy to please. Sure, big expensive gifts are sometimes nice, but really the small, thoughtful ones mean so much more. It really made my day. The rest of the week was a tough one. If that bright spot hadn't been there, the week would have felt like more of a total bust.

Thanks again, Heather and Donovan. Hopefully it works out to actually get to see you next time. I'm looking forward to breaking into the salsa with some chips and a good movie sometime in the future!

Self-Consciousness

Come unto Me." Matthew 11:28

God means us to live a fully-orbed life in Christ Jesus, but there are times when that life is attacked from the outside, and we tumble into a way of introspection which we thought had gone. Self-consciousness is the first thing that will upset the completeness of the life in God, and self-consciousness continually produces wrestling. Self-consciousness is not sin; it may be produced by a nervous temperament or by a sudden dumping down into new circumstances. It is never God's will that we should be anything less than absolutely complete in Him. Anything that disturbs rest in Him must be cured at once, and it is not cured by being ignored, but by coming to Jesus Christ. If we come to Him and ask Him to produce Christ-consciousness, He will always do it until we learn to abide in Him.

Never allow the dividing up of your life in Christ to remain without facing it. Beware of leakage, of the dividing up of your life by the influence of friends or of circumstances; beware of anything that is going to split up your oneness with Him and make you see yourself separately. Nothing is so important as to keep right spiritually. The great solution is the simple one - "Come unto Me." The depth of our reality, intellectually, morally and spiritually, is tested by these words. In every degree in which we are not real, we will dispute rather than come.


This was the August 19th entry from My Utmost for His Highest. It's been on my mind a lot the last week. There have been times in the past that I kept up with Chambers' devotional for a year at a time or at least pretty regularly. I can't say that I've been so diligent in the last while. That in itself isn't bad, but I honestly can't say that I've been consistent with studying the Word the last several months. Whether it's with the guidance of some sort of devotional, studying a theme or book of the Bible on your own, or just opening It and reading every day, I'm convinced that it's imperative to spend time in the Word every day.

The above paragraph sounds good. I believe what I said. I mean what I said. I've not been living what I said. My brother and I have talked several times before about how much we enjoy Utmost. Oswald Chambers is deep. There is a more recently edited version that is slightly easier to read. Being a lover of words, I like the original version. Many times as I've read it, I've been amazed at the fact that a particular day's entry appears to have been written just for me. That was once again the case on the 19th of August. I've not been spending the time in the Word that I should. My relationship with God has been coasting, which always translates to skidding backward.

The above entry was a good smack in the head. I needed it. It's easy to come up with many excuses for the leakage that Chambers mentions. I like that description. It makes sense. It's true, what he says, that there is nothing more important than keeping right spiritually. Coming up with a myriad of reasons for allowing the leakage, or not even noticing the early stages of the trickle that quickly become a hemorrhage would be easy to do. It's a slippery slope to be avoided. I knew I was skidding a bit, but probably not being honest with myself about the current status. Reading this entry brought things back into perspective. Repairing the leak is not always easy. It is, however, quite simple. There's not a complicated formula to be followed. It's time to shore up the leak and move on.

What a good weekend!

I had such a rejuvenatinng weekend. I just realized, though, that before I say anything about that, I need to add the pix from the 4th of July that I forgot to post a couple weeks ago.

That's my "little" brother fishing on the end of the dock. It's been a pretty dry summer. As a result it took him over an hour to find a worm. I think he maybe gave up and just used a lure. heheh.....he took some ribbing over that! The kayaks my aunt and uncle have been storing at Grandma's are providing hours of fun this summer!
This was the first of a couple races. The course goes around the neighbor's buoy and back. The first one past the dock is the winner. I love the bright colors in this pic. From far to near, the kayakers are Luke Eichorn(one of my cousins), Matt (my brother), Joel Eichorn (another cousin), and Mindy(my sister in law).
Matt won! But it wasn't without some real grit and determination! The next pic shows my mom grilling. Note there are a few after. In all of them the women are hard at work. Isn't this a holiday? A day of rest? Just wait until you see the men hard at work as well.

Notice the women had two grills going to feed everyone. Vicki and Fran are doing a good job of setting out the rest of the non-grilled items.

And...........as promised.....the men at work!

Doesn't it look like Matt's asking for another drink?

Hahaha....it was a good day, but it cracked me up to watch lunch being prepared. I always thought grilling was looked at as men's work. Apparently not so much.

This last weekend was a good one. I went to my parent's in Michigan to enjoy more time at the lake. How could you not want more of what's in the pix above? There weren't so many people, but it was nice to relax.

Friday evening we enjoyed watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. I was definitely impressed with the detail and precision that went into such a show! I had to wonder, though, about all of the talk of harmony and unity, thoughts of China taking steps toward opening their doors to the world. At the same time they didn't allow Joey Cheek's visa because of his stance on what's going on in Darfur and China's involvement. I need to educate myself about the whole thing a bit more, but it smacks of hypocrisy a bit. Also, I was chatting online this evening with a friend who's working on the Africa Mercy. She said that she loved the opening ceremony, but was also bothered by the expense of it all. One of the Liberian translators on the ship pointed out that Liberia could be rebuilt for the cost of the opening ceremony. Hmmmm...food for thought.

Saturday we slept in, ate a yummy breakfast, hung out by the lake, reading and resting, and then had some fresh sweet corn and burgers on the grill. What a restful day!

This afternoon after church my sister, Laura, and her husband Jeremy rode their cycle up from Goshen. We spent the afternoon at the lake getting sun and kayaking.

I just love time with family and rejuvenation at the lake. There's nothing like time spent near water to just make things seem right in the world. Not all is right, but it feels a little closer after a rejuvenating day.

While there are issues with some of the things going on in China, I still love the Olympics. I LOVE them! That same friend on the AFM said she'll take the Olympics over sleep any day. I agree! I'm looking forward to the next two weeks!

Time to catch up

So I'm finally getting back at it. The last month or so has been busier than I expected. Needless to say, I haven't taken much time to blog. The first week of the month I spent with family. Matt and Mindy, my brother and sister-in-law were in Michigan where we grew up for a week of vacation. It was fun to spend time with them and catch up. Twice a year is definitely not enough! I miss them a lot. Not all of us went both directions, but two of the days included riding the Kal-Haven Trail. The sunset pictures in this post were taken off the lighthouse pier in South Haven. There will be more pix from the 4th of July another day.

Two of my very favorite people!

I like the cloud in this one. It looks like it's at the beginning of a road wandering off to who know's where. Maybe the road they take when they ride off in the sun set, literally.

This water lilly is in the lake just off the dock at my Grandma's house. Some see weeds, some see beauty. The lilly pads may grow a bit faster than desired, but the flowers sure are beautiful! For me there aren't many things more entrancing than watching light dance on water.

The following weekend I spent some time at my sister's house watching girlie movies and enjoying some DeBrand's (notice this link is brown for the chocolate:) If you like chocolate and have never had DeBrand's, you're missing out, let me tell ya!

This last week, my mom bought herself a new knee (refer to previous post). She told me on Saturday that the pain afterward was worse than birthing me. Granted, I was only 5lb. 13oz. but I was her first, so I'm sure it was no picnic. I'm happy to say it's much better now. She's home and recovering nicely. This last weekend I got to go be nurse, cook, gardener, physical therapist, and dictator. That last description was hers. I think deep down, she appreciated it, but she came as close as my mom will to cussing at me once or twice when I was helping her with the physical therapy. I called her today to check in. When I called today, she said she hadn't done her exercises this morning because she had to go to the hospital for routine post-op blood work, and then to see a friend at the doctor's office. I told her I'd give her a reprieve, but she better do them after lunch. She just laughed and said, "I thought you went back to Fort Wayne". She was quickly reminded that if she doesn't want my "encouragement" she should not answer her phone;) I'm glad to know her pain is better, and she's actually moving very well.

I'm going to end on a pretty sad note. Tomorrow is the first anniversary of the day we, as crew on the Africa Mercy, lost our mate, Colin. He drowned in the rip currents off the Liberian beach just 2 days before his 22nd birthday. I didn't know him well, but I had friends who did, one in particular who was at the beach with him that day. Would you please keep his family and those he left behind in your prayers?

Tell you what. That is a sad note, but I'm not going to end there. If you read this post and respond before I leave for work tomorrow, I'll send you a sample from DeBrand's. Your comment needs to include your favorite kind of chocolate! (This is really just an excuse for me to go to DeBrand's, don't be fooled!!! hahaha)

Don't give up on me!

This is going to be a super short post. Don't give up on me, all 3 of you that read this blog! Somehow between work and trips out of town, life has gotten busier than I expected in July. I have a few things to add, it's just not going to be for a few more days!

Holes-Editing Note

I'm laughing as I type this. To fully appreciate this short post it's necessary to first read Holes, the post just below this. I talked to my Mom this evening. I had emailed her telling her she might want to check my blog. We talked a while and then she said that she had read the blog. She thougth it was nice, but she had a correction. Ardi wasn't the one that crawled up on the roof to take the pictures from above. She did that too! I forgot to mention in the original post that she is buying a new knee July 23. She used her left leg to do the climbing, and then pulled the right one up. What was that I said about stubborness? I think a little bit proud of it too, as well she should be. Makes me look bad that I chickened out and then my Mom who needs a new knee did it. You win some, you lose some.

Holes

I've had a few things I would like to write about, but I've been without the pictures that I needed to give impact to what I wanted to say. Here's one of the posts. Hopefully 1 or 2 more in the next couple days.

About a week ago my mom called to ask if we've ever watched a movie titled "Holes". We sure have. She then asked what it was about, so I told her. If you haven't seen the movie or read the book, it's pretty entertaining. Actually I haven't read the book, but we all know it's usually better. I'm usually more of a realist. There is some definite fantasy, but I still like the story. Here I go wandering from the point. After I told Mom about the movie I asked why she was randomly calling to ask about it. "Well, I've been digging so many holes, I finally remembered the name of the movie".

Here's what happpened. My parents have had some plumbing work done by a friend. He asked when the septic tank was last pumped. Ummm......never. I think their house is about 22 yr. old. So it was time to dig to find the top of the tank. Mom and Dad discussed where it was, and came to a consensus. Quite a few that regularly stop here to read know Dad. For the few that don't, he's blind and his health doesn't allow him to help with things like digging. (Side note...he could sure use any prayers you're able to lift for him. His health has been far from stellar. Feeling awful all the time has been very exhausting for him.) So Mom dug in (pun intended). After a little while my uncle showed up and helped for awhile. They worked a few hours on Saturday morning with no luck. The following Monday another family friend (Thanks Sam) came over and helped look some more, using the tricks he had in his bag. Still no tank.

I think Mom called with her question on Wednesday evening. She had dug and dug to no avail. I suggested that she follow the pipe from the side of the house, but knew that would be the long way around the house to get to the barn, so to speak. A day or so later, she decided that even though she didn't really want to go that route, it was not looking hopeful just digging in the places they thought the tank was.

Here's a picture from the roof, taken by same uncle who did some of the digging. Thanks Ardi! I tried climbing the antenna to get to the roof, but chickened out. I think my legs must have gotten shorter because it sure was a lot easier when I was 10. Hmmm. You can see a pretty definite line of holes, following the pipe.

These are some of the more random holes where we were all sure the tank was. I wish you could see them up close because they look much larger when you're standing right by them. The ones following the pipe are each about 18 in. wide by 2-3 ft. deep. Thats a LOT of digging.
This past weekend, I was in Sturgis on Saturday to celebrate Father's Day with my Dad because I had to be in Fort Wayne on Sunday. Friday evening out she went again determined to find that tank. I was doing the dishes and then heading out to help. Determined she was because about 10 minutes later she came back inside just bursting with pride. SHE FOUND IT!!!!

I have to say I'm pretty proud of my mom on this one. My Grandma Eichorn said it well. "She just doesn't give up easy, does she?" Sometimes a stubborn streak needs correction. Other times, though, you just have to respect it. Who ever thought so much work would be involved just for the privilege of sucking poo from a concrete box?



Here's the theme song from the movie. Needless to say I played that one for Gerri a time or two.