For the beauty of the earth
For the glory of the skies
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving!
I started writing this post a week ago...guess it's time to finish it. :)
I've already had 2 Thanksgivings, and have 2 to go!
Last weekend my Mom, oldest brother, his wife, and about half of his family came to our house for an early Stuart family Thanksgiving. They came Saturday in time for a big dinner with all the fixin's. We ate, watched football, played dominoes, and then everyone spent the night! We had people sleeping everywhere. It was so much fun. They all went to church with us the next day, filling up a pew, and I was so proud of them. One of my choir friends said my nephew Jason looks like me. :)
Tuesday night at BCM our church provided a turkey dinner for our college students, and then we had a share time, when students were invited to tell how God has been working in their lives as well as words of good-bye to the 2 graduating in December. I get teary-eyed every time, especially when the students leaving us are ones we've known since they were freshmen. Hard to believe we've been here that long!
Tomorrow night is our church Thanksgiving meal, another time I always enjoy. This year our missionary speaker is J.P. Manley, whom we worked with in Slovenia. He and the four girls who went with me came over tonight for brisket and catching up, and tomorrow night he'll speak and Mikayla and Rebecca will sing with the children's choir. And I'll take dill green beans and potato salad and be thankful.
Then of course this week is the official Thanksgiving Day. We are spending it in Texas with Mike's family, and all they asked of us was Mike's chicken and dumplings, so it'll be like a day off for me! I will miss 2 of my nieces who have grown up and moved away, but it will be good to see everyone else. What are your plans?
I've already had 2 Thanksgivings, and have 2 to go!
Last weekend my Mom, oldest brother, his wife, and about half of his family came to our house for an early Stuart family Thanksgiving. They came Saturday in time for a big dinner with all the fixin's. We ate, watched football, played dominoes, and then everyone spent the night! We had people sleeping everywhere. It was so much fun. They all went to church with us the next day, filling up a pew, and I was so proud of them. One of my choir friends said my nephew Jason looks like me. :)
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| What do you think? Is it the facial hair? |
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| the spread |
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| Kid table |
Tuesday night at BCM our church provided a turkey dinner for our college students, and then we had a share time, when students were invited to tell how God has been working in their lives as well as words of good-bye to the 2 graduating in December. I get teary-eyed every time, especially when the students leaving us are ones we've known since they were freshmen. Hard to believe we've been here that long!
Tomorrow night is our church Thanksgiving meal, another time I always enjoy. This year our missionary speaker is J.P. Manley, whom we worked with in Slovenia. He and the four girls who went with me came over tonight for brisket and catching up, and tomorrow night he'll speak and Mikayla and Rebecca will sing with the children's choir. And I'll take dill green beans and potato salad and be thankful.
Then of course this week is the official Thanksgiving Day. We are spending it in Texas with Mike's family, and all they asked of us was Mike's chicken and dumplings, so it'll be like a day off for me! I will miss 2 of my nieces who have grown up and moved away, but it will be good to see everyone else. What are your plans?
Thursday, November 10, 2011
10 on the 10th: Missions Ed. 101
For my Southern Baptist friends, this is the time of year we begin to focus on international missions and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. And my non-Southern Baptist friends, who don’t know Lottie Moon from Goodnight Moon, are thinking about Operation Christmas Child and Compassion International and other ways to give this Christmas season. So in that spirit, here are 10 things I learned on mission trips:
1. Not all missionaries live in grass huts. All the missionaries I have personally visited lived in homes very similar to mine OR in inner city missions.
2, Few other countries put ice in their drinks. And it’s really not that big a deal.
3. Kids are kids are kids. From Ecuador to Houston to Vail to Mozambique, kids like attention and love and playing and having their picture taken.
4. Missions involves hard work. But not always unpleasant, dirty work--sometimes it’s the most fun, most beautiful work you’ve ever done! (Hmm…and sometimes the unpleasant, dirty work could be the most beautiful work you’ve ever done…)
5. Toilets drain in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere.
6. People appreciate your attempts to speak their language, no matter how bad you are at it.
7. The missionary mealtime prayer ("Lord, I’ll swallow it down if you’ll keep it down") works. Sometimes you just can’t think too hard about what you’re eating or where you’re eating it.
8. Music reaches beyond language barriers.
9. If you feel sick on an airplane, don’t mention it to the flight attendants until after you are in the air. (More explanation of that one can be found here.)
10. Missionaries are real people. The only difference between them and the rest of the body of Christ is where God calls them to serve Him. More times than not, they consider where they live “home,” and it’s right where they most want to be. (They just wish it was easier to visit the US sometimes.) And they come in all shapes and sizes and job descriptions. Whatever skills and talents God has blessed you with can be used to serve Him and build His kingdom, wherever He places you! What a relief to know that He’s in control of all these things, and we can trust Him to work His will in our lives. So His yoke really is easy and His burden really is light!
I’m sure there are some readers out there with more mission experiences than I have, and who are deeper thinkers than I am…so what have you learned on mission trips?
1. Not all missionaries live in grass huts. All the missionaries I have personally visited lived in homes very similar to mine OR in inner city missions.
2, Few other countries put ice in their drinks. And it’s really not that big a deal.
3. Kids are kids are kids. From Ecuador to Houston to Vail to Mozambique, kids like attention and love and playing and having their picture taken.
4. Missions involves hard work. But not always unpleasant, dirty work--sometimes it’s the most fun, most beautiful work you’ve ever done! (Hmm…and sometimes the unpleasant, dirty work could be the most beautiful work you’ve ever done…)
5. Toilets drain in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere.
6. People appreciate your attempts to speak their language, no matter how bad you are at it.
7. The missionary mealtime prayer ("Lord, I’ll swallow it down if you’ll keep it down") works. Sometimes you just can’t think too hard about what you’re eating or where you’re eating it.
8. Music reaches beyond language barriers.
9. If you feel sick on an airplane, don’t mention it to the flight attendants until after you are in the air. (More explanation of that one can be found here.)
10. Missionaries are real people. The only difference between them and the rest of the body of Christ is where God calls them to serve Him. More times than not, they consider where they live “home,” and it’s right where they most want to be. (They just wish it was easier to visit the US sometimes.) And they come in all shapes and sizes and job descriptions. Whatever skills and talents God has blessed you with can be used to serve Him and build His kingdom, wherever He places you! What a relief to know that He’s in control of all these things, and we can trust Him to work His will in our lives. So His yoke really is easy and His burden really is light!
I’m sure there are some readers out there with more mission experiences than I have, and who are deeper thinkers than I am…so what have you learned on mission trips?
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Jesus loves me!
When I went outside this morning to get the newspaper, I saw this as soon as I stepped out from under the carport:
Then Mike took the girls and me up to Crater of Diamonds State Park where we dug for diamonds but ended up with jasper, calcite, agate, and quartz. Along with brisk sunshine and togetherness.
After having our rocks identified, we took a short hike to the Little Missouri River where (among other things) I saw this:
Psalm 96:13
Let all creation rejoice before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Grasping the wind and other thoughts
*We're all busy, and all our kids are growing up in the blink of an eye. I know that. But lately I have felt almost desperate about how time is flying by because of our busy-ness. I want to grab hold of time and make it slow down--make Jessica fit in my lap again, and Mikayla have chubby cheeks and not say her r's, and Rebecca...well, okay, she's still pretty little. :) But instead of slowing down, life just seems to speed up. Jessica will be in high school next year, and Mikayla will be in youth group. Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner. The only day that doesn't seem to sneak up on me is pay day. So I'm trying to savor moments of peace, like our time in Conway a few weekends ago. I sat on the hay ride out to the pumpkin patch as the sun was beginning to set and just breathed. Looked at my beautiful daughters and nieces and the fall colors around me. I hadn't felt so relaxed in a long time.
*I have always loved this time of year. Halloween may not be my favorite holiday, and sometimes I'm even ready for it to be over, but watching Mikayla and Rebecca trick-or-treat the other night, and seeing my neighborhood filled with families roaming door to door just made me happy--gave me a sense of community. (But that didn't keep me from being scornful of the candy beggars who didn't even dress up or say trick-or-treat. If you wanna play, follow the rules.)
*Jessica's Algebra is making both of us pull out our hair. Maybe Mike should take over this subject...
*Tomorrow it will be 10 years since my Dad went to heaven. Sometimes his voice still echoes in my head. And the funniest things make me think of him. For instance, Wednesday night at "prayer meeting" we sang "Softly and Tenderly." Now, my dad was not a music minister but he was the "song leader" at our church in Virginia when I was a kid. And I grinned at the chorus when I heard "O ssssssssssssinner, come home." That always bugged him! He was so much fun. I miss him.
*One of the bad things about being such a sporadic blogger is that I think of things to write when I can't get to the computer, then when I get to the computer I can't think of the things I thought of. So I'll stop now and help Jessica made a pumpkin pie cake. And enjoy the moment.
*I have always loved this time of year. Halloween may not be my favorite holiday, and sometimes I'm even ready for it to be over, but watching Mikayla and Rebecca trick-or-treat the other night, and seeing my neighborhood filled with families roaming door to door just made me happy--gave me a sense of community. (But that didn't keep me from being scornful of the candy beggars who didn't even dress up or say trick-or-treat. If you wanna play, follow the rules.)
*Jessica's Algebra is making both of us pull out our hair. Maybe Mike should take over this subject...
*Tomorrow it will be 10 years since my Dad went to heaven. Sometimes his voice still echoes in my head. And the funniest things make me think of him. For instance, Wednesday night at "prayer meeting" we sang "Softly and Tenderly." Now, my dad was not a music minister but he was the "song leader" at our church in Virginia when I was a kid. And I grinned at the chorus when I heard "O ssssssssssssinner, come home." That always bugged him! He was so much fun. I miss him.
*One of the bad things about being such a sporadic blogger is that I think of things to write when I can't get to the computer, then when I get to the computer I can't think of the things I thought of. So I'll stop now and help Jessica made a pumpkin pie cake. And enjoy the moment.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Hi, I'm Kecia...
...and I'm a binge reader.
I was thinking about that as I stirred the cider syrup for our apple pancakes last night. When I start reading, I can't stop! That's why the only books I'm reading right now are the ones I'm reading to/with the girls for school (Escape Across the Wide Sea and The Minstrel in the Tower, to name a couple), the Bible, and Beth Moore's Daniel study. (Wouldn't it be great if the Bible was one of those books I couldn't stop reading? Hmm)
My love affair with books started before my memory did. I can't remember not knowing how to read. Or not loving to read. My favorite books became friends to me. I loved the way they looked and smelled and felt and made me feel. I would read the same ones over and over and over (still do). Whenever I see a favorite book from my childhood, I want to buy it, or at least make my girls read it, hoping they'll love it like I did. Mr. Pine's Mixed-Up Signs, The Tiny Family with their tiny little things, Katy No-Pocket, with her sweet little face. Here Come the Tuckers--they moved, just like I did! And when we moved across the country, the books I owned got to go with me, and most of the time my favorite library books were there in the new library, easy to find by the author's last name. The only beloved book I only found in one library and never saw again was a doll book called Merry, Rose, and Christmas Tree June. I looked it up on Amazon out of curiosity, and it's there! I didn't buy it, though. Yet. But back to the library--mmm, I love the smell of a library. It smells safe, and home-y, and a little exciting, with so many old friends to connect with and new friends to be discovered.
I guess what started this reminiscing was taking Jessica to the "Nifty Vintage" store yesterday, to try on silly clothes as one of our mother/daughter dates. When I asked if she saw anything she wanted me to buy her, she went straight to the books. :D That's my girl! She is completely absorbed by the Anne books by Lucy Maud Montgomery right now--I think she's read more of them than I have! I ended up bringing home Swiss Family Robinson for her, Trixie Belden #1 for Mikayla (I know they're not quality literature, but I loved them at that age!) and a collection of all the Madeline books for Rebecca. I still have the original Madeline memorized, along with many others that I read to them when they were little. As an older child I read the Little House books so many times I think I even had some of those practically memorized! The Narnia books, too. (Again, maybe if I read the Bible that much...)
I'm so glad my girls love to read as much as I do, even if I do get frustrated when they're in "book world" and don't hear me talking to them, or when I find them reading under the covers with a flashlight. I'm fussing on the outside, but on the inside I'm gleeful. With friends like Anne Shirley, Laura Ingalls, the American Girls, Madeline, and yes, even Junie B., I think they'll do just fine.
I was thinking about that as I stirred the cider syrup for our apple pancakes last night. When I start reading, I can't stop! That's why the only books I'm reading right now are the ones I'm reading to/with the girls for school (Escape Across the Wide Sea and The Minstrel in the Tower, to name a couple), the Bible, and Beth Moore's Daniel study. (Wouldn't it be great if the Bible was one of those books I couldn't stop reading? Hmm)
My love affair with books started before my memory did. I can't remember not knowing how to read. Or not loving to read. My favorite books became friends to me. I loved the way they looked and smelled and felt and made me feel. I would read the same ones over and over and over (still do). Whenever I see a favorite book from my childhood, I want to buy it, or at least make my girls read it, hoping they'll love it like I did. Mr. Pine's Mixed-Up Signs, The Tiny Family with their tiny little things, Katy No-Pocket, with her sweet little face. Here Come the Tuckers--they moved, just like I did! And when we moved across the country, the books I owned got to go with me, and most of the time my favorite library books were there in the new library, easy to find by the author's last name. The only beloved book I only found in one library and never saw again was a doll book called Merry, Rose, and Christmas Tree June. I looked it up on Amazon out of curiosity, and it's there! I didn't buy it, though. Yet. But back to the library--mmm, I love the smell of a library. It smells safe, and home-y, and a little exciting, with so many old friends to connect with and new friends to be discovered.
I guess what started this reminiscing was taking Jessica to the "Nifty Vintage" store yesterday, to try on silly clothes as one of our mother/daughter dates. When I asked if she saw anything she wanted me to buy her, she went straight to the books. :D That's my girl! She is completely absorbed by the Anne books by Lucy Maud Montgomery right now--I think she's read more of them than I have! I ended up bringing home Swiss Family Robinson for her, Trixie Belden #1 for Mikayla (I know they're not quality literature, but I loved them at that age!) and a collection of all the Madeline books for Rebecca. I still have the original Madeline memorized, along with many others that I read to them when they were little. As an older child I read the Little House books so many times I think I even had some of those practically memorized! The Narnia books, too. (Again, maybe if I read the Bible that much...)
I'm so glad my girls love to read as much as I do, even if I do get frustrated when they're in "book world" and don't hear me talking to them, or when I find them reading under the covers with a flashlight. I'm fussing on the outside, but on the inside I'm gleeful. With friends like Anne Shirley, Laura Ingalls, the American Girls, Madeline, and yes, even Junie B., I think they'll do just fine.
Monday, October 10, 2011
10 on the 10th of 10
It's bedtime, and I just realized today is the 10th! I've been wanting to share about my FABULOUS weekend anyway, so here are 10 memorable moments:
1. Angie (and Will, who was going to spend the night with Coleson) picked me up at 1:30, but as I left my 13-year-old in charge of the other 2, I had to kiss good-bye the feverish forehead of my 7-year-old, so it wasn't quite as exhilerating as I expected. :( Then on our way there, Mike called from Little Rock to say his car was acting up and he didn't know if he was going to make it home! So I was then worrying about him and feeling guilty about leaving Rebecca. The next time he called me we had a "misunderstanding" (?) and I almost started crying.
It was not how I expected my fun weekend to begin.
We talked and texted and made up before I finished supper, and he made it home to the girls by 7, and then the fun could really begin!
2. We went to Ouachita first--I always get excited driving onto that campus! We met the ladies Coleson works with, then were walking across campus when Tauna called, and she was waving at me from the amphitheater! We hugged her and snapped a picture before going on to the bookstore...
3. ...where we ran into Susan and Amy! It was so much fun! We were standing there talking and laughing and catching up, when I looked behind them and saw Carlos and Shannon, friends I had made in Conway the year we lived there before Magnolia, who now lived in Texas.
4. After a beautiful (and chatter-y) drive up to Hot Springs, we turned into Cupid's Lingerie by mistake and Angie shook her finger at a man going in there on purpose.
5. We ate pizza with Jennifer, Sandra, and Angie J., and eventually Stephanie. All of us lived on the same floor our freshman year in college, and eating pizza with them again was just like going back in time--I keep wanting to listen to the song by Huey Lewis!
6. Once Stephanie got there, we followed Jennifer to her dad's lake house(s). We got to meet her 5-year-old sweetie, then picked our bedrooms and talked around the table, showing pictures of our families and getting caught up, while Steph ate her pizza. Then we migrated to the couches with old photo albums, scrapbooks, and yearbooks. We talked, we laughed, we ate pie. I haven't stayed up 'til 1:30 talking in I don't know how long! Motto of the night: "Didn't Kecia have a crush on him?" Yeah, yeah-
7. Breakfast and coffee by the lake was so relaxing I could have stayed there all day.
8. Jennifer's and Sandra's husbands and kids met us at the on-campus bbq, which was fun. We saw Sharon standing in line, plus I saw a girl from my church in Magnolia that I've been praying for. Then I saw Shelly Breen, and noticed she was talking to Karen, a girl who lived on our floor our sophomore year. We walked up and said, "Hi Karen" and she looked at me and squealed and hugged me, and looked at Angie and squealed and hugged her, and we all 3 stood there grinning and talking. So fun.
9. The football game was hot and I got sunburned and it was really hot. We did talked to Dean Dixon and Snookie, and saw some people we know, but I'm not sure they remembered us. I was glad when it was time to go meet our husbands and kids at the Flippen lobby. We hung out there, visiting and cooling off, until some girls came in with a movie to watch; then we went to the Student Center for some ice cream and lemonade.
10. Tiger Tunes was fun, and I had entered my I'm-so-tired-it-makes-me-goofy stage, so I laughed a lot--at the show and at things Angie and I said and did. I laughed so hard coming out of the auditorium I almost wet my pants!
And now I've run out of numbers and didn't even talk about Cracker Barrel and running into more friends there. We got home late and tired (and Rebecca's still sick) but it was a great weekend.
1. Angie (and Will, who was going to spend the night with Coleson) picked me up at 1:30, but as I left my 13-year-old in charge of the other 2, I had to kiss good-bye the feverish forehead of my 7-year-old, so it wasn't quite as exhilerating as I expected. :( Then on our way there, Mike called from Little Rock to say his car was acting up and he didn't know if he was going to make it home! So I was then worrying about him and feeling guilty about leaving Rebecca. The next time he called me we had a "misunderstanding" (?) and I almost started crying.
It was not how I expected my fun weekend to begin.
We talked and texted and made up before I finished supper, and he made it home to the girls by 7, and then the fun could really begin!
2. We went to Ouachita first--I always get excited driving onto that campus! We met the ladies Coleson works with, then were walking across campus when Tauna called, and she was waving at me from the amphitheater! We hugged her and snapped a picture before going on to the bookstore...
3. ...where we ran into Susan and Amy! It was so much fun! We were standing there talking and laughing and catching up, when I looked behind them and saw Carlos and Shannon, friends I had made in Conway the year we lived there before Magnolia, who now lived in Texas.
4. After a beautiful (and chatter-y) drive up to Hot Springs, we turned into Cupid's Lingerie by mistake and Angie shook her finger at a man going in there on purpose.
5. We ate pizza with Jennifer, Sandra, and Angie J., and eventually Stephanie. All of us lived on the same floor our freshman year in college, and eating pizza with them again was just like going back in time--I keep wanting to listen to the song by Huey Lewis!
6. Once Stephanie got there, we followed Jennifer to her dad's lake house(s). We got to meet her 5-year-old sweetie, then picked our bedrooms and talked around the table, showing pictures of our families and getting caught up, while Steph ate her pizza. Then we migrated to the couches with old photo albums, scrapbooks, and yearbooks. We talked, we laughed, we ate pie. I haven't stayed up 'til 1:30 talking in I don't know how long! Motto of the night: "Didn't Kecia have a crush on him?" Yeah, yeah-
7. Breakfast and coffee by the lake was so relaxing I could have stayed there all day.
8. Jennifer's and Sandra's husbands and kids met us at the on-campus bbq, which was fun. We saw Sharon standing in line, plus I saw a girl from my church in Magnolia that I've been praying for. Then I saw Shelly Breen, and noticed she was talking to Karen, a girl who lived on our floor our sophomore year. We walked up and said, "Hi Karen" and she looked at me and squealed and hugged me, and looked at Angie and squealed and hugged her, and we all 3 stood there grinning and talking. So fun.
9. The football game was hot and I got sunburned and it was really hot. We did talked to Dean Dixon and Snookie, and saw some people we know, but I'm not sure they remembered us. I was glad when it was time to go meet our husbands and kids at the Flippen lobby. We hung out there, visiting and cooling off, until some girls came in with a movie to watch; then we went to the Student Center for some ice cream and lemonade.
10. Tiger Tunes was fun, and I had entered my I'm-so-tired-it-makes-me-goofy stage, so I laughed a lot--at the show and at things Angie and I said and did. I laughed so hard coming out of the auditorium I almost wet my pants!
And now I've run out of numbers and didn't even talk about Cracker Barrel and running into more friends there. We got home late and tired (and Rebecca's still sick) but it was a great weekend.
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