At least there seems to be quite a slump in the World of Blogs. (If you've actually been a good faithful blogger and been posting things on your site, forgive me!) Seems like several of us have just sort of disappeared this past week. I figured it was time for us to start crawling out of the woodwork and it's always best to lead by example. So now that I've posted, I fully expect Blogland to re-enact that scene from the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy first arrives and all of the muchkins start popping up and gathering around and singing and having a merry old time together. But I must insist that we skip the Lollipop Guild part. Ooooooh, I hate that part.
It's been a good week around here, however extremely busy. There is a whole lot going on in our lives right now and we request that you please pray for us. Not bad things going on, just some things we're praying about and need some direction from God on. They have been occupying our thoughts, prayers, and time a great deal this past week, thus my lack of blogging. I detest the whole "secretive" thing. You know, the "there is something SO MAJOR, but you don't know about it and I do, so please pray, but I can't tell you what it is, but it's SO BIG, too bad you can't know about it, but it's HUGE so please pray..." thing. Always been a pet peeve of mine. So I've intentionally stayed away from Blogland because I didn't want to throw out one of those "please pray, but I can't tell you what for" requests! Ha! Anyway, now I've done it. Please love me enough to pray for what you don't know about, just this once! I'll try to not let it happen again. ;-)
You'll never believe this, but I started packing yesterday!!! WHOA!!! Not really packing, but the beginning stages. I found all of the clothes that I will be needing for the trip and hung them together in the front of my closet, then did the same with Katie's clothes. We don't leave until Thursday and this is by far the earliest I've ever started even semi-packing for a trip, but it just seems like there is soooooooo much to be done before we go--I figured I'd better start super early or I won't have a chance to get it all done.
Tonight I typed up two or three letters to the region with info about our Regional Paper and the Assembly and the upcoming Minister's Retreat and stuff like that. It's been a really bad computer night for me and I've made a whole lot of mistakes. Like printing the cover page of the Minister's Retreat program on both the outside and the inside. Then starting over and making only 1 copy instead of 30. James just came inside and made me aware of a significant mistake I had made in the letter itself... but he's already folded and sealed all of them and got them ready to mail. So he printed 30 labels addressing the mistake and slapped them on the back of the envelopes just now. Oopsie! I think he thinks I'm out to sabotage him. As if I sit, chortling away while I'm intentionally composing mistakes to sneak into our correspondance for the sheer pleasure of making things hard on him. "Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!!! This'll add 20 minutes more work for him once he discovers it--it'll be great!!! Wonder what I can mess up next..." ~sigh~ I do feel bad. He's got sooooooo much to do and I hate to make yet more for him to do 'cause he's got to fix my mistakes! But, you know!!! I did my best--it was just a really bad night for me! (Coincidentally, I can only assume that this post, too, will be chock-full of mistakes, so don't bother trying to point them all out to me--it's just not worth it!) James comes from people who never do those kinds of things because they are so paranoid of messing up that they check and recheck and check again, then still worry that something will go wrong. I come from much more carefree and thus mistake-prone stock. I came from a mother who forgets to put the coffee grounds in the machine when she tries to make coffee. Or sometimes she forgets the water. One time she even forgot the pot. (No lie.) I come from a Grandmother who would put the butter in the dishwasher and then gripe because somebody misplaced it. A dad who would pull up to our house and start to get out of the car... seven years after we had moved away from that particular house. I still wonder at some of the reasons why God arranged for people so opposite as James and I to be married. I know that we balance each other out a great deal and that's a good thing, but it's like there are some particular things that there seems to be no hope of ever understanding about one another. Marriage is a tricky thing. Especially when you've got a conniving wife who's bent on doing stupid things for the sadistic thrill of wrecking your otherwise perfectly ordered and controlled life! Ha! Oh, the frustration of being a Choleric married to a...whatever I am that causes me to be that way! A Smith, I guess!
Anyway... Let's see, what else has been going on around here. We had a good church service here today. At the end of it, we set Sam Kaufman forth as an evangelist! How exciting! When James asked him to come pastor here in Andrews almost two years ago, Brother Sam was a certified teacher. He has maintained that license throughout his tenure here. When James asked him to come he assured Brother Sam that he was not "calling him to preach," only to fulfill the office of a pastor because he believed he had the heart of a pastor and that God was leading that direction, regardless of whether Sam ever "preached" or not. But in the past year and a half there has been a definite... progression (for lack of a better word) in Brother Sam's ministry and there is no denying that he preaches to us far more than he teaches anymore! He is still a great teacher (he did some terrific classes at Camp this year), but it's apparent that God has moved his ministry into a new realm to go along with that and he now feels that God has, indeed, called him to preach. It's pretty exciting to see what God has done in him--and through him. He's a weird-o (I mean that in the best possible way!), but he is such a blessing!!! To the church here and everybody else in town who bumps into him. :-)
Hhmmm. Kids, kids, kids. What have the kids been up to lately? There were several great stories I was going to relate, but I failed to take notes and now I can't remember what they are. I do, however, remember taking Sam out of church today to deal with him for being bad. He's been bad an awful lot lately and seems to be in trouble all the time. We talked about it for a few minutes and his eyes started welling up with tears and he said, "Mom, when I start to be bad I just don't know how to stop!!!" I could hear the frustration in his voice and I even felt a little sorry for him! I told him that I was doing my part to try to help him stop being bad (!!!), but that he needed to try harder to be good--and to pray for Jesus to help him to want to be good!
Bummer. I know that the kids have been saying and doing some very Blogworthy things the past few days, but I can't recall any of them! Hhmmm. I haven't taken very many pictures lately either, but I guess I'll post what I've got.
First of all, here is the first produce from our garden! HA! I just had to pick one to see if there really was a carrot under there! Isn't it cute?! They should be getting to a pretty decent size by the time we get home from the Assembly. If they're not all scorched to death by then! Ha!
First of all, here is the first produce from our garden! HA! I just had to pick one to see if there really was a carrot under there! Isn't it cute?! They should be getting to a pretty decent size by the time we get home from the Assembly. If they're not all scorched to death by then! Ha!
Here's a picture of Katie in one of the new nightgowns Grandma Vicki just made for her.
Here is fireman Sam, out to save the day!
And here he is with his new favorite toy: a mini-Spiderman from the dollar store!
And here is Joe on a typical school day.
Ha! I love this picture!!!
Okay, I guess that's it for tonight. James just came and gave me one of those sideways smirks of his. The one that says, "I still can't believe you could do so many dumb things in one night, but I forgive you." He's a pretty good guy. :-)
~Becki~
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