What the New Year will bring....or what I will bring to the New Year!

After a three month hiatus, I decided that the last day of 2013 would be a good day to start blogging again. Why today and not tomorrow? Go with the flow....who knows what the new year will bring?

I am going to start a number of new projects in 2014: Here are a few -
1. All my photos will be organized. I spent a week at my parents' house and came back with a digital viewer than they had received as a gift but did not know what to do with, and many, many pictures for me to scan and put on it. Some of the photos I took I will also put on my computer - pictures of me and my siblings as kids, etc. Maybe someday my kids and grandkids will be interested to see them - who knows?
The two pictures below were taken when our family of four traveled for a year by motorcycle all over North America. Herb and Nikolette on left, Herb and Erik on right. I love my kids more than they will ever know. I know they have struggles - that is life, isn't it? I am proud of the loving caring adults and parents they have become.

So enough nostalgia about pictures - starting looking at a few old pictures and I start getting weepy - so many lovely memories!! I still have boxes of hard copy pictures in boxes too. And they will get organized this year as well.

2 - I will design a better system to deal with the minutia of life. Find a way to declutter better! I already started this process by cleaning 3 of my six closets! I practiced with a YouTube video about how to fold a fitted sheet until I could do it easily and now my linen closet looks great! My cleaning supply and luggage closet looks so much better - still has boxes of photos to organize but that will come too. So now on to the other three....http://youtu.be/9QXrZtXfo58 - Crazy guy but his method is easiest!

3 - I am going to either release permanently the weight I need to lose or give away the fabulous clothes that are waiting for me in my clothes closet - and I really do not want to give them up, so I guess I get to lose the weight instead. Anyone want to be a "buddy" in this process with me, let me know, as I know that it works better with another women dealing with the same 30 pounds to lose!! I am reading a good book by Dr, James Beckerman that is really hitting the spot to help me motivate myself ("Design your own weight-loss Plan").

4 - I am going to simplify life in general. Already gave up TV - no more cable TV bill to pay. No more newspaper or magazine subscriptions (Sorry publishers). Library for all books - and I do read many, many books every year. I counted one year, and I read over a hundred books that year! Now I no longer count, but just enjoy the 70-100 books I read in a variety of genres. I am currently enjoying an unusual book called "The Harbinger" by Jonathan Cahn, a Jewish rabbi. Very interesting......

5 - I am going to dance more! Yes, in my own limited, small-stature woman way, I love to dance. I don't have the 10 foot legs my gorgeous wonderful dancer daughter does, but I love to move to music. When I play my Spotify (free version) playlist, I often have to get off my chair and startle the dogs by dancing wildly in all directions. Cleo and Beemer are not quite sure what to do! Check out http://youtu.be/PfDVnX4j3-w - Herb does the waltz really well, but other than that, dancing is not his thing! So me and the dogs can dance to our hearts content...in the kitchen! And I'll pull Herb in every once in a while with a lively waltz. (Especially to Oceana's "Lala" - for married couples only!)


5 - I am going to renovate a house! Either the one I am living in or another one I buy for under its renovated value. I think it will be a wonderful project and great fun and hard work. Being a Realtor should help me to find the right one.....more on this once I think it through. I have great ideas and YouTube is filled with how-to's and I am pretty handy with tools. Yes, I have my own tool box which no one else is allowed to touch!

6 - I am going to be involved in a ministry at my church. Whether it is cleaning toilets or organizing something (I am good at both) I am mandated to minister and I want to be open to do that. Giving back is a necessary part of who I am.

7 - I am going to evaluate my African involvements and either do something amazing or give it over to another organization. I am helping two elementary schools in Malawi and Zambia. The Zambia organization is fledgling and has many projects, called African Generations. The founder Hillary Luo is a good friend, an African son, and he has big dreams! Sewing and literacy classes for women, carpentry classes for young men, and over 100 children (many orphans) attending their elementary school as well. Malawi's Kondwani Kindergarten and elementary school is progressing with limited funds but a very generous Rotary Club in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada has donated funds to not only build a first grade classroom, but also help to fund teachers and feed over 100 children in kindergarten and Form 1 (first grade). My African brother, Colvin Chirwa, is the project director, and he spearheads the community committees involved. I have probably spent thousands of personal dollars over the years, helping first the ERGO Secondary School for Girls get going, and then the Kondwani Kindergarten (sending a friend over there to teach and help out for a year and a half), and then Hillary's project is just growing in leaps and bounds. My parents and even my husband have questioned my sanity over the years, but "the starfish" story kept me going......

So, that is my perfect list of 7....I'll keep you posted and in the meantime,

Freedom means dusting off your feet

There is a passage in the Bible that talks about how the traveling apostles were told to dust off their shoes and leave the towns that did not welcome them warmly.

In life we must often do the same. No matter how good our motives are and how much we hope to make a difference, there are times and places and yes, people that do not warm up to our presence in any capacity.

I am glad that God gives us permission to do this. It is healthier to dust off our shoes (minds) than to continue to be frustrated by beating our head against the metaphorical wall! 

Even when the past tries to intrude on our present, we can mentally shake it off, not letting those grumpy, toxic, uncaring people have any power in our present journey. 

That way we can be refreshed in our minds and hearts to focus on our new path in life. 

Goodbye, Past. Hello, Present.

My shoes look pretty dust-free today. Knock yours together hard and move on....

A New Direction - written in September

Written September 5 - "Today as I take the pictures off the wall of the small office in which I have worked for the past year, it finally feels real that I am in fact making a HUGE change in my life."


Sometimes it is easier to resist change, until you are forced to do it.

As of September 5, I am no longer the Victim Advocate in Scott County, Missouri, a small county in the Midwest. I have started a new career as a Real Estate Agent with Realty One Associates in Cape Girardeau, MO.

For six weeks, I attended real estate school from 6-10 pm four nights a week, after a full day in the courthouse. I wrote my school exam, and then wrote the national and state exams, passing both on my first attempt. I have a mentor, Laura Ritter, who is one of the top agents in this area. I have a fabulous location to work out of when I am not showing homes and meeting people at the Realty One new Cape Girardeau office on La Croix Road in Cape Girardeau.

You see, when I (and my office) saw the writing on the wall, and then got the news that the grant that funded my position would be dwindling away, I got proactive, and took up the offer of my friend Laura to go back to school. Perhaps the county will decide to fund this position in their next budget starting January 2014, but unfortunately I do like to eat, and could not wait around, or work for no pay. They recognized that too and so they suggested that if I found a new opportunity, I should probably grab it. The Prosecuting Attorney's office knows that they desperately need a good Victim Advocate. I was a good one. I would have continued in that very difficult position for a long time, longer than most of my predecessors, if there had been funds to pay me. I would have listened every day and read reports every day of how people hurt other people, by attacking, molesting, abusing, and beating them. The stories often made me cry and yet I had to listen in order to assist them through the process where they, as victims of crime, may have to face their abuser in court, and often testify against them. 

My last work at the court house was a jury trial which convicted a pedophile, so I left the courthouse feeling good about the work I had done here. I advocated for many victims and hopefully helped ease the stress of the judicial system for them as well. I often sent them on to other community resources as well, like to Beacon Health Center for counseling and assessment, to Mission Missouri for Anger management or parenting classes, and to House of Refuge for shelter. I urged the county's law enforcement to listen to the victims of domestic violence and incorporated new practices to make the paperwork of law enforcement officers easier. Using tough love, I encouraged - tough but with kindness - many women to find a better way than going back to the man beating them.

So, now for the turn around.....I hope to help many of you have less stress in either the buying or the selling of your home. I plan to be the very best realtor that I can be, and will use the same passion and focus in helping my clients in my new job as I did in the old. I plan to blog with some focus on how your home can be your castle.......see you down the road....new things ahead.

Life can be peaceful in rural Missouri

Yesterday I sat on the front porch of a little house in the historic town of Leopold, Missouri. The air smelled like summer turning to fall, and the birds were singing, the sun was shining. It was a peaceful moment.
I was in Leopold to put the lockbox on a little house that I am selling there as a Realtor, and doing a few things to help the seller have the house ready to sell.

As I sat on the front step, I thought about what it would be like to live there. My dog, Cleo, was with me, and she was making friends with the neighbor's male daschund. The two of them were sniffing each other and jumping all over the front yard. She was enjoying being with a dog her own size, instead of the 80 pound brother she has at home.
 
The 1.4 acres of land was mowed and smelled sweet. I thought, I could be here, live here, feel at peace here. There is a historic church just down the road built in the late 1800's. I can see its spire from my spot on the front porch; it is lovely and I want to tour the inside of it. The schools here have won awards. There is a small general store that looks like it tries to meet the needs of its community.
 
I am sure that I could get to know people here easily, and I already have one friend that lives here. It felt a little like going back in time, when we were not so concerned about the digital age,(even though I checked and my cell phone did have great coverage there on the porch). And it made me think of all the places in the world to which I have travelled, where the focus is on taking life easier, going slower, and developing relationships instead of just getting business done.
 
History Lesson: In 1856, Reverend John van Luytelaar established Vinemount, Missouri when he and 12 other families went looking for farm land. These families traveled down the Ohio River and up the Mississippi River by boat to Cape Girardeau and then found the community of Vinemount. Other families followed them and the community was starting to unfold. Some of these families were unable to make the pioneer life and left back for Cincinnati after two years of living here. In 1894 the first post office was built to serve the town of Vinemount. In the process of building the post office, they realized there was already a post office in Missouri by the name of Vinemount. This was when a name change was in order. The people then decided on the name of "Leopolis" (City of Leo), in honor of the Pope. This name was rejected and the present name, Leopold, was then proposed and accepted.

Interesting Facts: St. John’s Catholic Church, located on Main Street in Leopold, was built in 1899. Work began in the spring and the church was built in pure Gothic style from native limestone found around and near the town. Parishioners of St. John’s did most of the work on the church themselves. In May 1944, the Shrine of Our Lady Queen of Peace was dedicated to the members of the parish who were serving in the armed forces. Children of the community were asked to find the stones used to construct the shrine. After the shrine was built, evening Rosaries were said for those serving in the armed forces. The prayers for the safe return of the service men and women have worked, for not one member of the armed forces who lives in the Leopold parish has failed to return home alive.

Sometimes, it is meaningful to take a moment and appreciate the history of a place. I wonder why life was so hard for some of those early families that made them return home to Cincinnati and I could imagine the pioneers working hard on the land, creating farms for food and commerce. I wonder what the families that stayed saw when they looked around their new community, and how they conceived of building a limestone Gothic church in this remote newly adopted home.

Check out my listing on www.homesbyreno.com or www.semohousehunter.com or www.houseviewonline.com
Maybe you will find the same peaceful experience I did.




 
 

Getting Your Ducks in a Row

 

Today I understand better the saying: "Getting All My Ducks in a Row"

 

Ever felt like your head is full of ducks.....so many different critters all quacking for your attention while you are trying to figure out your life. Nothing makes sense, and you are fighting for survival?

 

 

Maybe it's time to let some of these thoughts out.

 

My week: a client, who is almost 80, came in with his 24 year-old girlfriend. He is very deaf, and she is a skinny-as-a-rail former meth-head mother of three. They have been together since his wife died, and he seems unconcerned that she has had 3 kids in the interim. He is so concerned about her "lisbean" friend coming to the house and getting between them that he is yelling it all over the courthouse lobby and she is shaking her head in embarrassment and maybe even a little pride.

This was the same day I counseled someone whose boyfriend had punched her numerous times in the head, but she still "loves him"; someone else who has been swindled out of many thousands and is so distressed over losing her life savings; someone else who was attacked by her doctor; and someone who was kidnapped and attacked by 3 men; and someone who sat in my office a month ago is now dead.

 

 

This has been my life for the last year, not including the heartbreaking stories of the children who have been abused by step-family members, or even their own parents. And don't get me started on the people who lie to me every day.

 

In the meantime, while I hope I am making a difference somewhere, somehow, the grant that funds my position gets dwindled down to 1/6 of what it was....hmmm...what does that mean? I do not know.

 

My brain is tumbling with a million different thoughts....Maybe I just need to make some room for all the other things that are likely to come my way today and this week, this month, this year! My ducks are not all in a row yet, but just thinking of it in that way has helped.  Quack, quack....

 

 

 

 

Closing a door and Opening a Window...Really, God? Again??

Dear God, How many times in this life do I have to re-invent myself? 

It is rather exhausting picking myself up by my bootstraps once again....hey, I am 58 and fairly energetic. You created me with enough energy for two people some days, and I know how to get things done. 

But this thing about moving me on to other jobs, callings, careers? Well, sometimes I just find it hard to do. New co-workers, new offices, new clients, changes all over the place.

Now don't get me wrong, I love change. You know me, I get bored easily which is why I like projects. A new project for me to dive into with both feet, and you know I am going to do that again. You made me a passionate caring woman, and I love that about myself. (My husband does too!)

So, Lord, give me the courage to do it all over again. Give me the wisdom to deal with new people, and to make a difference for you in the next challenge too. 

Thanks for the opportunity to see my world and my work in a whole new way. I appreciate that about you, God. You have given me some amazing opportunities. 

But Lord, do you think this could be the last change in my working career? Hmmm......that would be nice. 

Well, as long as I don't end up on the street....Amen.

Reading...ever hated that a book ended because you have come to love the characters?

I really am addicted to reading. I can no more not read than I can not breathe. If someone wanted to punish me for a crime, all they would have to do is take away every book I have on my shelves and not allow me to read anything for a month...I would be dead, extremely well punished, and probably "mad as a hatter" after those 30 days. 

I found these photos - see below (which I know are really ads). They seemed to picture how real the characters can become to me. Some of the characters in books I have loved have felt so real to me that when the book ended, a best friend had died and I cried at a happy ending for the sheer joy and pain of having known the character. 

What am I reading now...just finished I Think I Love You by Allison Pearson. Great writing, and then hearing it on audiobooks (while I drive to and from work 5 days a week) was brilliant with the Welsh, British and American accents. It is the story of a group of girls who "adored" David Cassidy, the teen idol in 1970-1974 or so. How they contrived to go to his concert in White City, outside of London, England, where a girl in the crowd was crushed to death. How they entered a contest to meet their idol...and then 30 years later find out that they actually won the contest, and how it changes their lives....again. Brilliant story. 

On to The Tin Horse by Janice Steinburg in the car....sounds promising. Waiting for me on my bedside table is the hard copy of the latest Henning Mankell mystery, A Treacherous Paradise. Mankell is famous for his Kurt Wallander series, a Swedish detective whose angst continues brilliantly through a series of 10 mysteries (police procedure, not gore). If you are into mysteries, read the Wallander series in succession. You will not be disappointed.

 

Until next time, curl up on these rainy days with a cup of tea, a warm dog at your side, and a new friend in pages that will take you away.....

Travelling North America - by motorcycle - with teenagers...yep, we did it.

Our Family Odyssey

In 1992, my husband and I decided to sell the house, put stuff in storage, and travel by motorcycle around Canada, USA and Mexico with our 14 and 16 year old teenagers. We took 3 months to prepare, all the while putting everything we might need on our trip against the dining room wall. We sorted it out, packed it on 3 motorcycles, and rode 6 hours to my parents' house where we went through everything again, and sorted out what we thought we might really need. We left behind half of what we had originally loaded that morning. 

My husband rode a BMW K100, I rode a Honda CBX550F, our son Erik rode a Yamaha Vision, and daughter Nikolette rode behind my husband most days. We packed all the things we thought we would need into certain categories: Kitchen Bag, the Clothes bags, the Tent bags, the school book bags, the Tool bag, and the Misc Bag. Each item had to go back in exactly the same spot after using it so that we always knew where everything was when we needed it. 

Similar to Herb's bike

After discussing it with our kids' schools (Niki was going into 9th grade and Erik into 11th grade), both principals seem to think it would be a great idea, asking for correspondence along the way. We enrolled them in Alberta Distance Learning, and figured out a system to mail lessons from on the road. They got the highest grades ever while working on one subject at a time, studying in campsites on picnic tables while I cooked over a small propane stove and tutored when needed. Our daughter sent weekly postcards back to her school, which unknown to her were read over the intercom every week, making her a celebrity when she came home. Our son came home and told some motorcycle celebrity that he had just ridden 60,000 kms in the last year. He was told he was crazy until it was verified by the two reliable adults with him that it was indeed true; then he was lauded as Hero for the Day, earning the respect of many other riders. 

Our general modus operandi was to travel for 200-300 miles in a day, and then find a campsite. Then usually Herb or sometimes Erik would ride back into town for supplies after the tents were set up (3 tents: one for Herb and I, and one each for the kids) if we had not already picked up supplies passing through town. While I cooked supper, the kids would do their school work and Herb would check out the bikes, or the campsite or plan our route for the next day (hardcopy road atlas, no gps, before Google Maps). Our 14 year old daughter was so proud that she could set up her tent by herself, and the kids would often compete to see who could put up their tent faster. Both kids learned how to find firewood and start a good campfire; how to use a knife in a useful way; and how read a map to plan the next day's travel. 

We had been on the road about a week, and were in northern Michigan and we set up camp at a lovely spot on the river. Erik came back from town saying, "Batten down the hatches, a storm is coming through." We ate quickly while making sure everything was as waterproof as possible. That night the thunder shook the ground under the tents, the rain came down in bucketfuls, Niki nearly floated away in her tent and we got totally drenched. I remember laying there thinking, "I sold my house for THIS!" After packing up very soggy sleeping bags and tents the next morning, we rode into town for a hot breakfast. In the little diner, the electrical company employees at the next table could not believe we had camped through what they called "the worst storm in a decade". It took a early stop with sunshine to dry out all the gear before we fell asleep that night in another campsite. 

From Sept 6, 1992 to May 20, 1993 we travelled through all ten Canadian provinces, all lower forty-eight USA states and about eight Mexican states. We crossed the continent 6 times, and rode about 60,000 kms (about 40,000 miles). We met wonderful people, rarely went on an interstate, choosing instead the "blue highways" of John Steinbeck or William Least Heat Moon. 

Not us, but a typical KOA Camping Cabin

A Mennonite Family in Mexico

Mostly we stayed in campgrounds, but sometimes we did get a KOA camping cabin, or occasionally a motel room in really bad weather. We also used a Hosting Program called "Mennonite Your Way" or we stayed with friends in all four corners of the continent for a day or two. That way we got to be in homes like a lighthouse in Michigan, a dairy farm in upstate New York state, the home of the only doctor to lepers in Louisiana, and an eco-ranch in Arizona. We stayed in a monastery one night, the first married couple ever to share a room there with the silent monks. We rented a condo for the month of November in Cocoa Beach, Florida and shared American Thanksgiving with friends living in Orlando. We spent Christmas in Chino, California where we had once lived for 6.5 years when the kids were small. For that holiday we actually treated ourselves to a nice hotel with a pool. One of our Christmas presents to each other was an hour each to ourselves in the room - we had been having a little too much "together" time. Herb and I shared our hours....

In Mexico, we found not only my extended Mennonite family who only spoke my childhood dialect, but we also met my parents there and traveled with them for two weeks. Then together we looked up a family that had been so good to my husband when he had an accident in Mexico, and they treated us like royalty, inviting us into their home and life, sharing feasts of delicious Mexican foods in rural central Mexico. We visited the home of an exchange student we knew well who took us to tour the Mexican pyramids in El Tajin. Traveling with a young Scotsman named Charlie who had bought a motorcycle when he entered the USA and was crossing the continent, gave us interesting company and new stories. He did not want to travel Mexico by himself, so he became a part of our caravan for three weeks. 

Too many stories to share in one blog, but if anyone wants to hear more of any particular part of the North American continent, we have probably been there!! 

It was a crazy year, a wonderful year and it was hard to come home. Every curve in the road brought a new adventure. When we came back to Edmonton and had bought a house and started settling in, our daughter said, "Dad, it's boring being in one place all the time." Our son said, "We made memories for a lifetime." We did.....maybe Herb and I will have to do it again....soon.

Got the Travel Bug AGAIN......

Every few months I get extremely restless. 

My children often wonder if they are children of gypsies! The gypsy blood I have in my veins....The desire to see new places, and eat new foods, and hear new sounds, becomes stronger and stronger in me until suddenly I am preparing for a trip to Kenya, or Haiti, or Brazil, or even Canada. 

Truth be told, my parents come from Mennonite farming stock, but my ancestors for the past 500 years or so were on the move, not because they wanted to be adrift or even travel but because they believed in adult baptism and so went from Holland to Prussia, Russia, then Canada, Mexico and even Central America to avoid persecution by the Catholics and Lutherans. Maybe that is where the genetic urge to travel comes from. My maternal grandpa and I spent many afternoons reading travel books together, he reading about places he would never visit, me researching for the future travels I would make. 

When I was in Grade 12, I spent a Friday night at a friend's house and came home Saturday morning to see my mother doing laundry. My mother only did laundry on Mondays, NEVER any other day! So when I asked her why, she said, "Because we are leaving for California this afternoon." Okay....my father did not like to plan, for fear that what he desired would not happen. So the 5 of us left that afternoon for a 2 week trip to California, school left behind and new adventures around every curve. And while we were there we saw the desert, the beach and some other wonderful views. We stayed in very cheap hotels, got meals from grocery store supplies, and drove...a lot. 

We did the same thing when I was in Grade 10 and we went to New Orleans for Christmas. Drove...a lot. Saw and toured a couple of antebellum mansions, ate at places in the French Quarter where most tourists would not go. My dad struck up a conversation with anyone anywhere, never had any fear to talk to a stranger, and so we always heard interesting stories. From the horse and carriage driver, the blues singer, the nun, the prostitute, the plantation owner, anyone with a story....we were not embarrassed by Dad because we got to hear the stories too....and we learned more on those trips than in our classrooms at home.  


We traveled anywhere my dad could drive. Then I married a guy who also has that gypsy blood (his mother is Russian Mennonite and his father was Norwegian - some Viking stuff going on and they were travelers too, right? I think that is the polite word for invaders?) He does most of his traveling on a BMW motorcycle (almost a million miles so far) even when overseas. Together we have traveled to a great many countries. I have traveled to over 30 countries, some more extensively than others of course. There are so many left to visit, and some to which I want to return for more discovery. This world and its people are incredibly interesting. My husband and I always enjoy our travels together and have had some interesting adventures. Stories to come......

Reno in heated jacket liner riding
a motorcycle in the rain in Morocco
drinking hot mint tea.

If you have not experienced that little hollow feeling inside that gives you a craving for new vistas, then maybe you are fortunate. It is like an illness, and the only cure is to get on a plane, in a car, or on a motorcycle, or start walking and go.......somewhere else....I feel the fever coming on again........did I ever tell you about how we took our two teenagers out of school and traveled for a year...by motorcycle?

Maybe next time. Right now I have a map to check....

Reno greeting one of the teachers in a rural school in Malawi

Chasing Francis...Someone send me to Italy, please.

A sort of review of Chasing Francis by Ian Morgan Cron

Fiction wisdom literature is an interesting genre in Christian publishing, and it has been revived in recent years. This genre had mostly been used for self-help or even new age authors trying to pass on a story with underlying morals, principles, and yes....wisdom. I generally stay away from Christian fiction, because I am an English Literature major, which means I am a snob about good writing, and except for the exceptions like Madeline L'Engle or C.S.Lewis who are in a category of their own, the fiction I read is generally not published by Zondervan.

Think of when The Shack exploded onto the market a few years ago. When I read The Shack, I knew it was fiction and read it as such. People were recommending it as a must-read but they all refused to give you any details. "You have to read it for yourself," they said. I heard preachers praising it or condemning it because some thought it was being portrayed as an actual experience and that scared them, and some thought it had some new and interesting thoughts and that excited them. What I took from reading it was that God was awfully fond of me, and I like the idea of God having a good sense of humor. While I take my faith very seriously, the novel introduced me to the possibility of a sense of playfulness in my relationship with God.

Reading a blog recently that praised a new book, I went to the website of Ian Morgan Cron and saw the chance to download two chapters of his new book, Chasing Francis. Reading those two chapters made me laugh and made me cry....and I immediately went to Amazon and ordered the book. When it arrived, I was disappointed to discover that the book was a work of fiction...wisdom literature it was called. Don't get me wrong....I am a fiction junkie. I often read 100+ books a year, and over half of those would be fiction. But those two chapters had led me into believing this was someone's real life account of their experience, and I was hooked.

I wanted to vicariously follow this stumbling pastor who had lost his way and see what he saw on his pilgrimage in Italy. I wanted him to be a real human being that I could relate to, and not just use his story as a fictional escape from my own life.  Like The Shack, The Celestine Prophecy, and many others, Chasing Francis has a fabulous idea, and pulls you into a story that keeps you going.....until the third last chapter or so....every one of those authors seems to have a little schmaltzy lag in the story line around that part of the book, which in this case, revives again, even with a fairly predictable ending. Chasing Francis has its' lag when the hard-luck, clumsy but beautiful single woman from his congregation chases him to Italy.

The pastor has this perfect (and much coveted by me) opportunity to find himself in Italy. He conveniently has an uncle who is an Italian Franciscan monk who takes him on a pilgrimage, following the life work of St. Francis of Assisi. I learned a great deal about the saint's life that I never knew before, and it made me want to read more about this rich kid who turns his world upside down and restores the faith and the church of a community in rural Italy (Francis would be considered a bit of a celeb today, maybe even a bit of a nutcase, but loveable and very admirable in his faith). In the process of his pilgrimage, the pastor meets with the wise hermit who can give wisdom just by his presence, the jovial friar, and the clumsy woman who wins his heart. All the characters help him in his inner pilgrimage to "restore the joy of his salvation".

It is different when an actual autobiography or even memoir where the author tells a story of what actually happened, but when you are making it appear to be a memoir, and it lapses into schmaltzy, even if for a chapter or two, it is deflating for the reader because you want so badly for this to be a true actual real story. I REALLY DID!!

I did greatly enjoy the book, and would hope that Mr. Cron would not take offense at the word schmaltzy, as his writing has moments of brilliance and despite the one chapter, the reader is left with a connection (with the pastor's struggles), a sense of wonder (at the life and work of Francis of Assisi) and longing (I too would love to take the same pilgrimage). If only I had an uncle who was a Franciscan monk and would invite me to Italy.....alas, none of my uncles would ever qualify as monks.




 

Don't Stop...Don't Give Up....Keep trying.....it's in my head now.

How many times have you been tempted to give up...on a dream, on a relationship, on an idea, on life...?

This nice gentleman was in my office today, and he has quite a story to tell. He watched the movie, Second Hand Lions, and decided to bring a yacht back to his pond in southeast Missouri. In spite of it taking a month to get his yacht from Florida to Missouri, with most of the time stuck in Alabama, he did not give up, and is restoring this beautiful boat today. Way to go, George.

In my work, I deal with people who have already given up and with some who want to give up. But there are those rare souls who have been handed a whole basket full of lemons, and then just go on and make lemonade. Tracy lost his sight in one eye, but is thrilled that due to a marvelous surgeon, he will get to actually keep the eye. So what if he had to undergo over 5 hours of surgery. Angie found a new job where they are thrilled to have her cheerful spirit, and she gets a new lease on life. So what if her last boss was a real piece of work. Debbie has left a very abusive husband, and is working in a nursing home where she feels she has much love and caring to give to people confined to beds and chairs. So what if her memories of married life still give her bad dreams.



If you haven't already seen this little girl's version of a Yo Gabba Gabba song - (not having little kids around, I had to google it) - her version of Don't Give Up gets in your head.

While I have been tempted to give up on some things this past year, people like the ones mentioned above encouraged me.....I won't give up....I will keep trying.......





 

Monday, Monday...under the mango tree.....

Like the lyrics to the song made famous by the Mamas and the Papas, I find Monday mornings the most difficult part of the week, right after Sunday evening.

There seems to be a pattern to our days, and for a semi-free spirit like myself, I often wish that there could be more spontaneity to my life. Like this, the first ever flash mob dance that seemed spontaneous but of course had been very carefully choreographed and has now been imitated many times in many different ways.

 
If money is no object, then you have the freedom to "do" more spontaneous things, but as there are moths in my wallet, I will just have to "be" more spontaneous. We heard a good sermon this past week on doing and being.

We, especially as North Americans, just want to do, do, do......and in other countries, it is often more important that you "be". I have reminded of this many times as I see many churches (my own included) or service clubs sending out mission teams that always "do" construction or VBS for kids, or medical missions, etc. etc.  Of course many of these things are much needed. Yet we also need to "be"....be present in the moment, be in the lives of the people we want to "do" things for, be a light in the darkness, be a loving, caring human being. After all, we are called human "be"ings, not human "do"ings, although the later might apply to some of us.

A Malawian friend once said to me, "Sometimes it is just so good to have someone visit from North America who will  just be with us, sit with us, walk with us, eat with us, and let us know that there are other people of faith in this world. We are not alone, and because you have been here with us, we can be together in our struggle to live a life of faith, especially when times are hard."

It was a profound moment for me.

Since that time, I have tried to always find at least one person in the country that I am visiting with whom I can sit under a mango tree, or in their front yard, or in their school or church, and just listen and maybe talk. It is amazing at the amount of communication you can have with someone whose language you do not know, through gestures, smiles, and nods. If I see a woman sorting beans or chopping tomatoes, I will often sit beside her and help her in her work if she is okay with that.

Maybe I just need more time under the mango tree today.

Monday Monday, so good to me,
Monday Monday, it was all I hoped it would be
Oh Monday morning, Monday morning couldn't guarantee
That Monday evening you would still be here with me.

Monday Monday, can't trust that day,
Monday Monday, sometimes it just turns out that way
Oh Monday morning, you gave me no warning of what was to be
Oh Monday Monday, how could you leave and not take me.

Every other day, every other day,
Every other day of the week is fine, yeah
But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes
You can find me cryin' all of the time

Monday Monday, so good to me,
Monday Monday, it was all I hoped it would be
Oh Monday morning, Monday morning couldn't guarantee
That Monday evening you would still be here with me.

Every other day, every other day,
Every other day of the week is fine, yeah
But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes
You can find me cryin' all of the time

Monday Monday, ...

Nighty night........

Middle of the night and I can't sleep.....again. So I thought I would tell you a bedtime story. 

When our son was 3, he liked to dig in the dirt with his little shovel. He  unfortunately liked digging right by the gate between the house and the garage, often causing problems for people trying to walk into the yard.

My husband tried to be a smart dad and had our son take his little red wagon filled with dirt and some grass seeds to the hole by the gate. Together they planted the seeds, filled in the dirt and watered the seeds, talking about the importance of not digging in that particular spot.

Later that night there was a big storm which knocked down a huge branch in our yard. It fell over the exact spot between the house and garage where father and son had planted seeds earlier that same day.

Our 3 year old son got out of bed extra early and went to check on his planting project. He opened the back door only to be confronted with the leaves and branches of the fallen limb filling the doorway in front of him! We woke up when our son ran into our bedroom jumping on our bed yelling, "Daddy, you planted the wrong seeds. Daddy you planted the wrong seeds."

Okay I can sleep now - good night....

Friday means I get to read all weekend....Books, love them, gotta have them, can't live without them....

I grew up reading. 

Reading is like breathing to me. I cannot live without reading. People at the library always know me no whatever where I live because I am there at least every week or so. 

My parents did not get a TV into our house until I had left home, so even though I am a Baby Boomer, I did not see many of the tv shows that my fellow boomers grew up on. Many tv shows I saw for the first time when they were re-runs after I was married. When my husband and I were newly married, I fell in love with James T. Kirk and watched all the re-running episodes of Star Trek that came on every day at 5:00 pm when I came home from work. That would have been in the mid-70's. 

So instead of TV, I read. In the long winter evenings in the frozen north, we read out loud to each other. Classics like Old Yeller and Little Women came alive as my mother read a chapter to us every night before we went to bed, and we often could hardly wait until the next evening for the next installment. My younger sister and brother are big readers too. 

On Friday afternoons I came home from school, elementary and high school to a spotless house. Friday was my mom's cleaning day and she kept a very clean house. I would grab an apple and whatever book I was reading, and sit in my little corner in the living room where the sun was shining and I would revel in the experience. Bliss.......

My parents would say that if they could not find me, they only had to look for a book and my nose would be in it. My maternal grandparents lived only a block away and I was grandpa's favorite. When I went to the library I would pick out travel books that we could read together, and we pored over many a book about Mexico (his favorite) or Africa (my favorite). I sat with him at his handmade rolltop desk top, and we would look through the pictures of exotic places and talk about how we would like to visit those places. 

Luckily I married a reader. My husband reads differently than me, but we enjoy many of the same books, especially about travel. I also love mysteries - not the blood and gore kind, but the police procedural novels that talk more about how the detectives solve the mystery than how the crime was committed. Henning Mankell is a great writer, and got me hooked on Swedish and then Scandanavian mystery writers - that was after I had read all of the Inspector Wexford novels by Ruth Rendell, and the Inspector Morse and on and on.... My big love are the books that tell another person's travel experience. So many writers excite me about the places they have been and give me a little hollow feeling inside that can only be filled by planning another adventure. 

I have about 6 books just waiting for me on my beside table. I can hardly wait.

This should be fun.....more on reading to come. 

Shining a little Light into Darkness

Light vs. Darkness

Two friends shared extreme opposite views on their FaceBook status this week. One, a woman whose blog I love and follow, said  "How can light enter the dark if Christians are too afraid of what the dark will do to them?" She was in Asia, seeing the destructive side of darkness personified in the sex-trafficking of girls in Cambodia. She wants to shed light into this darkness. 

The other, a guy who works in a prison and sees darkness everyday, posted a photo that he says looks tame compared to his workplace. Everything about the picture made me think of living in darkness. Grimy people using their middle finger, lying or crawling on the ground like Zombies; it seemed to me to personify the hopelessness I imagine the world might hold for people who have no faith in God and do not live in the Light. 

As a Christian, and as a Victim Advocate in the legal system, I know there is evil in this world. One defendant recently walked out of the courtroom where he was given probation after beating up his girlfriend, and declared, "I just made a deal with the devil." He went on to beat up another man very severely and is now in prison for the next 7 years. Some deal. John 3:19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

I appreciate the fight against darkness that Jamie (FB: Jamie the very worst missionary) and so many others are in thick of, often standing toe to toe with evil on a line in the sand. That is why I am doing the job I have (in spite of low pay and few perks) as a Victim Advocate. Every morning as I drive to work, I pray...for not only the victims of crime that I spend time with, but also that the whole armor of God protects my heart and my mind in the hearing of how often children and women and men are treated by other human beings in a ways that make your stomach turn and your eyes want to weep. I do it because I also strongly believe in the power of The LIGHT. John 8:12 Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jesus is the light in the darkness. 

Ephesians 6:10-12: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

The only way we can fight the fight is covered with the armor of God. There are a lot of pieces to this "armor". Ephesians 6:13-19: Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith,with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel. 

The good news is that we can make a difference. John 1:5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The darkness does not win. "Evil only happens when good men and women do nothing" as Edmund Burke said. Put on your armor...it's time to fight.