Memories of my years at Wedgwood Baptist Church, taken from my journal (maybe slightly edited)😉

Wedgwood singles fall retreat 1990

I first met David Mikkelson at Como Elementary at a welcome-back-to-school luncheon. He stood behind me in line, I introduced myself, and we ate at the same table. As we ate, I found out he was a seminary student as well as a teacher. His girlfriend came later to help him set up his room. Later that week, Susan and I visited Wedgwood BC. I sat next to Becca Lechner, since I’d met her at Charlie and Angie’s wedding, and she introduced me to a girl next to her- it was Amy, David’s girlfriend, and David was there, too. I joined the church a few weeks later, and David and I became friends at church and school. Oh, he was such a character! We used to sit in faculty meetings together and whisper and snicker. We used to stand in the copy room and I’d gripe about my kids and he’d hug me and say something to make me lighten up. 

He had to quit after a couple of months because the cancer he had had in his leg came back in his lungs and he couldn’t keep up; the work was too hard. He went downhill pretty fast. I remember at the fall retreat he was in the hospital at Houston for treatment, and we made him a big banner. Amy came to the retreat late, crying. I didn’t know what to say. They went to Houston a lot after that. I remember at the New Year’s Eve party David was on a team against me playing Win, Lose, or Draw, and we started having an eraser war (getting chalk dust on each other’s pants.) Anyway, later that night I got Tommy Anderson to get David back for me, and they goofed around and fell on the floor, wrestling and laughing so hard. We all laughed so hard. 

But David got worse. He got so thin, and raspy, you could hear him breathing. He would ask for prayer in Sunday School, but I only remember one time seeing him look down or worried. I remember him with a smile on his face. My most vivid memory is when we went to the Osiek’s for Prayer and Share after church one night- a special one, just for David. He sat in a chair in the middle of their living room, and we all put our hands on him and on each other, and took turns praying for him—his healing, his comfort, his peace of mind. We cried, we were strong, we were scared—we turned to the Father. We gave it all to Him. 

I never saw David again. He went to Houston. Amy went with him. He held on long enough to see his little sister. Amy was with him when he died. Earl told me. It was the day before Valentine’s Day. And I praised God. I did. I thanked Him for saving David from his pain—for stopping the pain. I cried for me, for Amy, and for David’s family, and for death itself. Incomprehensible, strange, vicious, fearful death. But even though I don’t understand David’s short life and painful death...he’s so brilliantly happy now...at rest...healthy...with his 
Savior. Smiling!

Embracing the curl!

After years of hating and fighting my curls, several years ago I decided that God made me this way on purpose, so I might as well embrace it! Finding the right styles and products to help me actually like my hair has been a journey of its own. I have had several people ask me what I use lately, so here is a brief summary of what I have learned. 

1.  Never brush your hair. Seems like a no-brainer, but people with straight hair genuinely don’t know this! I don’t even use a comb on mine, honestly. 

2. Avoid sulphates! And anything else that dries the hair out. Frizzies are hairs reaching out for moisture. 

3. Only shampoo once or twice a week. Some people never do, by using conditioner as shampoo, but I found a shampoo I like and I feel cleaner when I use it. 

4. Wrap wet hair in a cotton t-shirt instead of a towel. 

So here’s my hair care routine:

I shampoo, rinse, then put in gobs and gobs of conditioner and comb it through with my fingers and scrunch  a little. I let it soak in while I shower, then rinse it out. Then I comb Curl Keeper through the same way, gently scrunching. I spread the t-shirt on the counter and plop my hair upside down on it with sleeves closest to me, then fold the shirt up over my head and tie the sleeves to hold it on. I hope that makes sense! After a while I take the shirt off my head and kind of wag my head back and forth to loosen the curls and get them in the right place. I mostly let it air dry, but occasionally use a hair dryer on cold with a diffuser. Usually with my head upside down. 🙃

On a daily basis I wet my hair, finger through some leave-in conditioner and some Curl Keeper and do the same drying routine. Or sometimes I just spray it with water and smooth it out with “praying hands”. 

My favorite products:

Curl Keeper by Curly Hair Solutions. This is by far my favorite of favorites. It keeps my hair from frizzing without making it crunchy. I mean, it can be crunchy if you want it to, but it doesn’t have to be. I have to order this on amazon and the price fluctuates but if I get the big size I  can usually get it for a little more than $1/ounce. 

Renpure Argan Oil shampoo and conditioner. I get this at Walmart for a great price and it’s sulphate free and feels and smells good!

Shea Moisture restorative conditioner. I use this as my leave-in conditioner, and it’s the only thing i use sparingly. Too much can make my hair too heavy. 

As I said, this has been a journey, so things change and adapt as I discover new products and techniques, but I hope this is helpful to someone!

Jessica is leaving.

I've got way too many feelings for Facebook.
Tomorrow I'm taking Jessica to college. 12 hours and 5 states away. The van is all packed up and ready to go, and every time I look at it I feel sick at my stomach.
I'm very experienced with good-byes. I know how to keep from thinking about it until the last possible minute, because there's nothing you can do about it anyway. If you're the one leaving, it's sad, but also exciting, because you're going to new places, new adventures, new friends. But if you're the one left behind, you're just left. With someone missing. And when that someone lived inside of you for 9 months...
When my dad died, I put off packing my suitcase to fly to Arkansas until the last possible minute, because packing meant admitting it was true. This is not even close to the same thing, but still, I haven't packed my suitcase. Because that will make it real. This is really happening now.
A little while ago I walked by the van and looked at all her stuff and thought, "I don't know how to do this." And I don't. But really, I do. I mean, this is what mothers do. This is what we've always done, what we're supposed to do. Mothers birth them and raise them up and send them off. At least my baby is going to college in 2016, when we have Facetime and texting and S
napchat. And airplanes. I talked to my parents on the payphone at the end of the hall once a week for 20 minutes. Angie had to talk to hers through a guy running a ham radio. (over) Mothers of pioneers sent their "babies" off and didn't know when (or if) they'd hear from them again. So I can do this. I know for sure she can do this.
But thanks for the prayers just the same!

Once a Wedgie, always a Wedgie

I don’t remember the very first time I met Al Meredith, although I do remember feeling at home at Wedgwood from the first time I visited! My earliest memories of him would have to be having him call on me on Wednesday nights to say the books of the Bible, or telling me to take a deep breath when I was sharing at the microphone (too often!) during testimony time, or praying together at Friday morning prayer.  Coming from a family that loves to repeat stories, I didn’t mind when Bro. Al used some illustrations multiple times—instead, I rather enjoyed it! Sharing an apartment with a church secretary gives you an even closer look into your pastor’s life, as does being friends with one of his tennis partners. I came to feel I could confide in Bro. Al and go to him with some of my most troubling questions and challenges, such as “Where is God when a child is being abused? Why doesn’t He step in and stop it?” and “How can I forgive someone who isn’t even sorry?” When Mike and I got engaged, we asked my brother to conduct our wedding ceremony, but Bro. Al to do our pre-marital counseling. I still vividly remember some of the advice he gave (even if I don’t always follow it!)

I left a part of my heart at Wedgwood Baptist Church when we left there to serve in Idaho. In fact, any time I have had to miss church because of sick children, I’ve listened to one of Bro. Al’s services on the internet, no matter where we lived. There have been two times when my heart longed to be there most of all. The first was the first Sunday after the shooting. I, however, was 4 months pregnant and 2,000 miles away, and it just wasn’t possible. My sweet husband, however, saw to it that I was able to go to the memorial service one year later. I went up to Bro. Al that weekend and said something along the lines of “I know I wasn’t there when this happened, but my heart was broken.” And he validated my grief with the simple words, “Of course—you were Sydney’s friend.”

The second time is this coming Sunday, when the church family will be expressing gratitude to Bro. Al and Kay for their years of service. (Deep breath) How I wish I could be there! Again it isn’t possible, due to current ministry responsibilities. But I am grateful to be a Wedgie, to have known the Merediths, and to have been impacted by their ministry. Bro. Al and Kay, you will most definitely be on my mind Sunday morning and in my heart forever!

Words to remember

I have been blessed with many good pastors in my life. Each one of them played a part in my life, but there are some who repeated the same wisdom so often that I think of them whenever I hear it. Two of the best are retiring this summer, which made me think about how blessed I've been.

The first pastor I remember was Pastor Jim Duncan of Dale City Baptist Church in Virginia, the church where I was saved and baptized at age 8. He preached using an overhead projector, so I learned to take notes at a young age! Because of him I have a timeline in my brain that goes from eternity past to eternity future. The phrase that makes me think of him is, “Relax and let God.” My Dad led music here! And while he was never in vocational ministry, he taught me more than I have time to write here. His name is in my Bible beside the verses he quoted often at this church: "...be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord..."  (Ephesians 5: 18-19)

Bro. Al Meredith, at Wedgwood Baptist in Fort Worth, taught me so much. His last Sunday there is August 9. Of course I remember him saying, “Once a Wedgie, always a Wedgie.” He gave Mike and I premarital counseling before we got married, and gave a lot of good advice. But tragedy has a way of searing things into your brain, and his name is written in my Bible next to the verses he quoted to the media after eight people were killed in a shooting at Wedgwood in 1999: "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies." (2 Corinthians 4: 8-10)

Jess Little was the first pastor I had who was younger than me--but I still learned from him! Whenever I read Colossians 1:15, I think of him: "For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son..."

When I was in college, my parents helped plant Woodland Heights Baptist Church in Conway, Arkansas. I went there on weekends and summers, but it wasn't until years later that I was a full-time member--with Mike and our three daughters! But I always loved hearing Bro. Dave preach-even though I had to listen fast! He also retired this summer, and I was reminded of two of his sayings at his last Sunday: "All means all!" and "The Bible isn't the main authority, it's the only authority." But my favorite Dave-ism is how he had new members face the congregation, all with their hands in the air and smiles on their faces, and say, "So-and-so, look around--you see people who love you and will be faithful to pray for you..."

My current pastor is Mike Seabaugh, another great preacher. He is teaching a series this year on spiritual armor, and last year's was on the fruit of the Spirit, both of which are excellent. But the words that will forever make me think of him are "one thing," from the year he challenged all of us to read the Bible through using the One Year Bible. Philippians 3:13-14 says, "Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

My husband has ministered to college students for 25 years. My Mike verse is 2 Peter 1:3, which says, "...His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence."

How blessed I am!

Ending vacation with a bang--Blue Man Group!

When we woke up Friday morning, we got pastries and coffee at a little café in the hotel, then drove to the theater where we would see The Blue Man Group to pick up our tickets. We parked our car there to avoid the exhaustion of the night before and rode taxis and trains around the city all day. 

feeling camel wool

First we walked to Lincoln Park and saw a cute baby gorilla and some other animals, then we caught a taxi to Navy Pier. Mikayla was dying to ride the Ferris Wheel that Tris climbed in Divergent, so we did that and ate hot dogs and looked around and bought souvenirs. (Warning...I had too much fun taking pictures of the Ferris Wheel!)

Jessica could barely fit her hot dog in her mouth!

From there we caught a taxi and went to the Willis (Sears) Tower to see how the city looked from the 103^rd floor during the day! But this time there WAS a line, which took over an hour. I'm happy to say the sky deck made it worth it. It was a thrill standing on a glass floor sticking out from the building! 

Jessica wasn't too sure about this...

The elevator ceiling was a mirror...can you find us?

My feet are way up high!

 By then it was time for supper, so we rode the trains uptown to a Thai noodle place Mike remembered from his mission trip there. It was a sketchy neighborhood, but I loved the ladies at the restaurant. The food was good, too. We walked around just a little bit before heading to our show. We went in a thrift shop and bought 4 books for $3, the highlight of the trip for Jessica. Ha!

Uptown Baptist Church, where Mike served once--the sign says, "Christ died for our sins."

We had a little more time before the show started, so we went in a store and bought tennis shoes for Mike, Jessica, and me! That was fun! I put mine on and didn’t remember until it was too late that our seats were in the “splash zone”. Gulp. I was more nervous about getting paint on my new shoes than I had been about any of the roller coasters at Cedar Point! 

The Blue Man Group was so much fun! We went to the bathroom first thing (there’s a point to this) and the music playing in there basically sang the word “bathroom” over and over. We sat on the third row in the middle. There was so much humor and fun that I can’t even describe it all. I recommend it if you ever get the chance! (And my shoes stayed clean. In fact, Jessica was disappointed because she thought we’d get covered in paint.)

Even waiting for the show to start was fun--no filter here!

No filter here, either!

We were hungry and thirsty after the show, so we stopped at Baskin-Robbins and Starbucks before heading back to the hotel. Slept in the next day, and drove until 1 a.m. but made it home at last!

The End!!

Chicago!

Thursday morning we made one last run to the Sandusky Walmart for Sandusky souvenirs before getting on the road to Chicago! 

Looks like Sadie was tucked in right between Jessica and Rebecca!

Jessica got a(nother) s'mores frappucino. A little of it may have ended up on her face...

On our way we were excited to be able to add Indiana to our list of states, plus we were so close to Michigan that we decided to add that, too! So we looked for restaurants that would be close to the state line and found one in Camden, about 8 miles north of the interstate. It was a little sports bar in a little town, but the waitress was friendly and the food wasn’t bad.

Mike got friendly with the help at the Clubhouse.

When we finally got to Chicago, we were thrilled with how nice our hotel was! We checked in and then walked to the train station to ride the “L” to Millennium Park. We looked at the beautiful old library, took pictures at the bean, and ate at Giordano’s Pizza.

The elevator was glass and lit up on the bottom. (top of picture)

What?!?!

The mosaics at the old library were truly beautiful.

The bean!

Free concert

The "L"

The girls were tired after that, but we decided to go ahead and take another train to the John Hancock tower—the city at night from the  94^th floor was so beautiful! And there was not much of a line at all!

Riding the train back to the hotel and then walking from the station seemed to take forever (and it was soooo cold) but we made it back, fell into bed, and decided NOT to have an early start the next morning!

Riding the train