pamela – Page 92 – The Welcome Home

At least it’s not frogs!

And just when I thought we were getting a handle on the flies. All day long my mind has been flooded with fly quips and witty inventions (for the demise of the flies or a fly’s demise, which ever applies). As I was going around (yes, again!) with the wand of the shop vac (for hours!), I was getting a bit haughty with my newfound success at sucking up flies. I’ve learned some clever new fly catching maneuvers and have captured now hundreds and hundreds of flies. But… as they are multiplying at four or five times the rate of captures, I’m not appearing to be all that successful at my attempts to eradicate the fly population in our home.

None of the stores in town have any fly paper strips. They did, however, have this fly catching contraption that cost Wes about seven dollars… and I have discovered that he paid about 6.99 too much for the plastic bag that (after lifting the plastic housing and filling the unit with water and dispersing an extremely foul smelling solution) is hung up and then attracts flies… supposedly by the hundreds ―the bag boasts a promise that it can hold 10,000 flies. Well, that’d be a good start, here. A dozen flies have met their demise by landing on the black cylinder and falling into the cesspool in the bag. O… and the bag is decorated with flies. I’m sure this is to let the other flies know that their relatives are hoping for a visit or something.

In the meantime, with the silence and finesse of a skilled burglar, I’ve learned to stalk the flies in their favourite landing spots. It’s become a game to me as I stand almost motionless, wand in hand, waiting for a group of flies to land as I calmly move the wand near them. I experience a tremendous rush of satisfaction if I can get five or six flies: thwp, thwp, thwp, thwp, thwp… bonus if I get a couple of the repopulating culprits. Extra bonus points if I get both flies and cobwebs at the same time. See, I didn’t know I had cobwebs until I started poking that wand into some high corners. So, I suppose there should be seen in all of this an additional benefit. However, this benefit brings me little satisfaction as the flies multiply in ever increasing numbers throughout the day and throughout the house.

Had I been Pharaoh, I think I’d have chased the children of Israel away after the swarms of flies… no, come to think of it, it would have been even before that. The thought of frogs gives me the creeps. So I suppose I see another benefit in all of this… these flies. At least it’s not frogs!

The Law

I’ve been thinking about a bunch of things tonight. I mean, I was vacuuming flies and I had lots of time to think. Seriously, hundreds of flies. Actually, it felt more like dozens of hundreds of flies. So I was vacuuming them up with Wes’s shop-vac. I have never seen so many flies in all my life– truly. As the day passed, the flies increased by such an alarming rate that I was beginning to feel as though an OT Egyptian style plague had come upon our home. We did have the fellowship here today and we did share a meal and the door was open all the while and the flies multiplied and multiplied. And multiplied. Many “fly-strips” were completely filled. Seriously, it was incredible and more than I have ever seen. But I said that already, didn’t I? Probably a hundred or more were sort of caught in the stairwell and still more covered all the books and the fan blades above the light in the kitchen. And the ceilings… everywhere.

There’s almost a sadistic drive to vacuum up and hear the thwp sound of the vacuum as another pesky fly goes into the vacuum hose. I had to learn to seal off the end of the hose when the vacuum is turned off so that the flies don’t fly out and multiply further.

So I was thinking about people’s stuff. You know that “issues” we each deal with. I find it interesting that when someone’s dealing with something that’s not “our issue,” then it’s really quite easy to sit back and think that issue is really pretty awful. I mean, I think we sometimes get pretty smug and think… well, at least I don’t do that or at least that’s not my issue. I was thinking about smoking. I mean, I was not thinking about smoking, but rather, I was thinking about the habit of smoking. I remember a few kids asking: …is that person (in line to buy cigarettes at the grocery store) going to hell? It’s so easy to think our stuff’s not nearly so dastardly as someone else’s stuff. Like there are degrees of sin. You know, sin sin’s, and then bad sin’s and then the really, really bad stuff. I think we like to think our stuff falls in the category of “everyday sins,” the every day stuff people do. Well.. coveting a little, or lying a little, or gossiping a little or being a little disobedient on the road or whatever. But we’re sort of smugly proud of the fact that at least we don’t smoke or swear or do (really) bad things. Well, not like smoking, anyway. So I was thinking about the “sin categorizing” I do sometimes. This is bad… but it’s not as bad as this______ and so as long as I don’t do_______, then I’m pretty much okay.

I was thinking about the law. We love the law when it’s on our side. You know, for example, if a policeman were to come onto the scene just as you had pulled over because you had a sudden blow-out of a tire and couldn’t repair or change it yourself, then you’d think the law was great –the law being the policeman. The helpful policeman. Awwww. But then, consider: you’re speeding. In a school zone. Children are present. You don’t have your driver’s license with you. Your tabs are also expired. You’re also not wearing a seatbelt. Dumb law. Mean policeman. Creep. See how differently we look at things when our “issue” is involved?

I think we do that with sin. It’s really bad unless we’ve deemed it to not be “that bad.” The law is a schoolmaster that brings us to repentance. It’s our guide. Psalm 119 is a marvelous Psalm about the law… the perfect law of God and how the Word of God is our protection, a lamp unto our feet and light unto our path. The Word is Truth. It is only against this Truth that we can truly see *the* Truth. For the truth is not in us—for we would lie. But God is not a man that He should lie and so He cannot/will not compromise truth. He is Truth. So, no matter how we see things, unless we see them in light of God’s Word –in light of the truth, we will not have wisdom nor truth – no matter how much we think we know.

Praise the LORD that regardless our issue, there is forgiveness with God and with God all things are possible and He will place His law in our hearts and none of our steps shall slide. These, from Psalm 37 (vss 26, 27 and 3,4,&5):

He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed. Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore.
Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

So the flies remain, pesky flies they are. But it’s been a good reminder to me of the pests that plague us from time to time. It’s not always the stuff we can see that’s the most irksome. It’s more often the stuff we (and others) cannot see that plague us the most. And are doing the most damage.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. -2Peter 3.9

It is in the spirit of prayer and repentance that we see the light of the LORD –the forgiveness, the cleansing, the enabling… the light to our path. Then, no matter how great or small our “issue” seems to us to be. With God, all things are possible. But we must humble ourselves and call on His name.

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments:
and his commandments are not grievous.
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world:
and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Who is he that overcometh the world,
but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
1John 5.3-5

ps — By the way, I picked smoking in my example bcz smoking’s an easy target. No hidden message was intended there and no accusation, either. I just picked something… could’ve been anything – food, even.

lingering to rush

I always feel like 1 Thessalonians is like lingering over a great cup of coffee and fresh hot bread with butter and jam and then glancing at the clock: and it’s like a race to get out the door to catch a plane. You know what I mean; the times you linger in pleasant conversation and then suddenly it hits you: you’ve got to leave –right now! 1 Thess starts like a soothing chat and ends like… well, sort of like that moment when you’re standing in the doorway of a train and hear the PA system: please step away from the doors.

As you hug and say the good-bye’s, you race through all the important stuff you meant to say but reminisced too long to say them and then you recognize that some very meaningful things will be missed or imperative instructions won’t be given unless you just blast them out sort of like bullets firing from a machine gun. So you make several points in as few words as possible and hope they’ll stick more than all the things you said during that seemingly unhurried portion of the visit. So… yes, that’s what Thessalonians is like to me. And motherhood.

We do that, as mothers, to our children. We stand at the door and say all the stuff in about a minute and a half that we had already spent years teaching them and then think we need to tell them again when they leave on a trip or whatever. Or even when they go to visit for a few hours somewhere. You know… the list that starts our sounding a bit wistful and then speeds up as you see the doors closing and the seatbelts fastening… Be sure to call when you get there. Mind your manners. Be sure to say thank you. Be sure to ask interesting questions. Listen well before you answer. Be gracious. Be helpful. Be careful of what activities you agree to do. Don’t do anything you wouldn’t do if your father were standing next to you. You’ll be fine, the LORD will watch over you: He’s faithful. Remember, I’ll be praying for you. Have a good time. Be careful. Greet all of them for us! Be good! God bless you…. I loooooove yoooooooo……..

And they’re off. And you pray. 1 Thess 5 is sort of like that.

This and That…

Tidbits I’ve gathered today from previous posts: I’m partial to Susan Branch stuff—Cookbooks, Keepsake books, Calendars… stuff! I just received an email update about her site… I think you’ll like it! Her work reminds me of Karla Dornacher whose work I so admire and like seeing around our home—probably much more because it’s inspirational!

Site-seeing: Another great site with GREAT stuff! Though I love-love-love the Silpat sheets that my daughter-in-law gave me, I cannot justify buying more of them at this time (they’re pricey—but worth it, to me!). I just visited a site which offers a baking sheet and I really want to try the nonstick material for baking! These sheets at 12.00 per, look a bit more ‘doable’ than the 27.00 Silpats. Additionally, I’d be more apt to use one sheet for crafting —at that price! Apparently, glues don’t stick to the material and they’re not damaged by heat, thus they’d be great for under crafts with the glue-gun and Fimo or Sculpey stuff. While you’re at that site, check out their GREAT prices on needles!!

The Bittersweets: My Dad’s birthday came and went this week and today, seven years have passed since the morning he died… and O, how I miss my daddy today! O, the bittersweet’s of life. I wrote this letter about him a year after his death—I could have written much more at the time and since then have filled many pages. O, the power of life and death… it is so over when it’s over! He was an amazing individual… one of those larger than life sorts of men—a real gentleman and surely, one of my heroes.

On Men and Boys: Though I’ve had friends reject the writings of this author, I still think the things I’ve learned about men from reading books by John Eldredge have been extremely helpful. His book, Wild at Heart, has been used of the LORD to teach me a little more about my ‘boys who would be men’ and about my role in their lives and in my husband’s life. Over the years I’ve observed ways of boys and because of this, things don’t surprise me like they used to… things don’t discourage me in the same way and things aren’t as hard for me as they used to be in raising boys. I guess our trainer set really was the greatest blessing. They know that’s an endearing term I have for them and they also know I adore them—but truly, still, they’re a trainer set and I’m still, in many ways a trainee mother.

On raising boys to be men: I wish I’d said all this as succinctly as Jack Heald did. In the raising of many boys to be men, I’ve shared many of these exact thoughts with each one of them; Wes has enlightened them on many of these same points. This piece is sort of like Wear Sunscreen, the piece by Mary Schmich that has been attributed to Kurt Vonnegut (who probably wishes he’d written it!). In this QotD, Jack Heald shares advice to sons on such topics as: “…the gamut – Life, God, Women, Fighting, Working, Dying, Friendship, Money, Politics, Education, Culture, Leadership. It may be a book one day, a la Chicken Soup or Jabez…”

More on boys and men: I sometimes think that I’d sure like a mulching vacuum—you know, for all those little bits and pieces of things in the carpet. I don’t know how many little Lego’s have been vacuumed up over the years—our incomplete sets would give a clue. I also don’t know how many pennies have shot into the motors of our vacuums—many, I’m sure! Yes, that’s plural: many pennies and many vacuums. Now, most of our home is not carpeted—BUT—for the rooms that are, a Hoover Mulcher would be great. My sons thought this: would be a great vacuum! I’m not sure we’d get much actual work done with one of these!

thinking about space…

I’m looking around and thinking about how to change or beautify the decorating scheme of our home. I’m thinking about space. Mom’s of many do this a lot, I think. Interspersed in thoughts of “simplifying” and decluttering, I think we look around every day and say something like, “I’m sure there’s more space in this house― somewhere!” And then I think, hmmmmm, how can I get a bit more creative with windows, bookshelves and bunkbeds –bcz that’s pretty much the list of more prominent items or space grabbers in our home. I initially think perhaps we ought to downsize –the stuff, not the house(!!!). Maybe get rid of some lots of the books—I sure don’t want less bunkbeds, that’s for certain. And I wouldn’t want to trade windows for wall-space. Then I think perhaps, no, maybe we ought to just get taller bookshelves. Then I realize we cannot have taller shelves bcz they wouldn’t fit in the upstairs –both around the tight turn of the stairs themselves and in each of the low-ceilinged attic bedrooms. Besides, the bedrooms are filled, with no space to spare, with bunkbeds and shelves already. And, downstairs, well… windows. But maybe… enough room to squeeze in another bookshelf or two. The way we figure it, there’s always enough room for more children, more books and more teacups.

Full bookshelves do provide for interesting decor, however. If the books are read and reread then the decorating scheme changes as the books are replaced on a shelf other than their original location. But oddly, one bookshelf never becomes or looks sparse. They are all overloaded, but that overloading is never due to one or another shelf’s diminished volume of books. I don’t know how that happens. And I don’t know how exactly we came to have all these books. No, wait. I do know… and it’s not just eBay and Vision Forum. And we don’t own the ever changing mass of library books though they have a designated spot.

I don’t know where I was going with this, but initially I was thinking about making new coverings for the boys’ bunkbeds. I s’pose they ought to be painted, too –the bunkbeds, never the boys. So, a friend and I were discussing how the “bargain bin” at Macy’s always contains king-sheet sets and how I could get a few of those and use them for making duvet covers for each of the beds –coordinating navy, cranberry, and hunter greens by sewing tops and bottoms of different sheet colours together. We thought of how we could make covers and sew extra large buttons onto the blankets/duvets and buttonholes in the top of the duvet covers so the duvets don’t slip down and around in the covers. What a sweet gesture that would be and they’d (well, maybe) be enthused to keep their room tidier.

I then thought if I did that, then that same sweetness would be required at the other end upstairs as the girls’ bunkbeds would need new coverings also. Then I thought… well, if I do that then maybe we ought to paint upstairs, too. But then I thought of all the bookshelves that line the hallway and in each of their rooms. Hmmm. Maybe I will just go refill this teacup and think on this sweet plan a bit longer.

“ooooo, that’s different!”

In the ongoing saga of attempting to set up an online “store,” we continue to find out that there’s just “one more thing” to take care of before we can do the next thing and “just one more thing” till that can happen and so on. So, yesterday, we were sitting at the bank opening another account to handle merchant stuff and business transactions. This was our second trip because we learned during the first visit that we needed to have the business name registered… that we could not use the business license we’ve had for many years to open the account because the name didn’t match.

Okay… so over to the Department of Revenue. Once there, we filled out the necessary paperwork and gave them what they really wanted: $. O, I know they wanted us to fill out the necessary paperwork to legally conduct another business in this state, but the bottom line is always the bottom line: money. We don’t argue with the IRS… remembering that regarding money and the IRS: just run it together: the irs. Theirs.

So we were sitting at the bank and the accounts rep asked to see photo ID, and so Wes and I handed her our driver’s licenses. She looked at his, handed it back; looked at mine – sat back and said, “ooooo, that’s different!” I put on my glasses to see what had happened to my license (go ahead, laugh). I laughed out loud and said, “Yes… it is.” In that pic, my hair is down, my hair is dark brown and I look… yes: “ooooo, that’s different!” So, yes, me today, me then… oooo, that’s different. My weight is not accurate either. It wasn’t then and it isn’t now. But do you think I am going to go over to the Department of Licensing and get a new license? No. O, c’mon… you wouldn’t either. And it’s not just the money. It’s nostalgia. That, and I have a year and a half to carry around this “ooooo, that’s different!” picture. Besides, I sort of miss that girl and, actually, it’ll do my heart good to see that picture from time to time. It’ll have sort of an aerobic effect on me to see it. My heart will race and I’ll think omygoodness, my time’s slipping away pretty fast and I’ll get a lot of exercise chasing memories!

So, the paperwork’s done, the name’s registered and in place. Now all we need is something to market and we’ll be online! ~wink!~

ooooo, that’s different

CLEAR speech

During a newscast this morning, I’m standing talking to my radio (I know, I know… second mistake) and I’m saying: new-klee-er, new-klee-er, new-klee-er!

I hear new-cue-lur. Again I say: new-klee-er! It’s: new-klee-er, new-klee-er!

I listen on… blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, newcuelur blah, blah, blah, blah, nucuelur… blah, blah, blah, blah newcuelur blah, blah…

Ack! No… not new-CUE-lur It’s new-klee-er, new-klee-er, new-klee-er! C’mon! You’re the President. Home-schooled children are listening and I’m attempting proper pronunciation and clear speech in our home! NuCLEAR.

Truthy… Truing… True.

It’s all stuff I think about. Pretty often. Whatsoever things are true… Truing past events and warding off Truthiness. The longer I live the more I see that people would rather be -truthy- than just about anything else. For, really, if we are truthful, people might not like us or at least might not like what we say, do or think. But, if on the other hand, we are truthy, we think they’ll likely “buy” our stuff. You know… stuff like “fine, thank you, and how are you?” If it’s true, fine. Thank you. If it’s not true…well, then, it’s truthy. It’s what you *want* the other person to perceive. It’s not what’s necessarily true, but what you hope they’ll accept as truth. Truthy. Truthy works on most of the people most of the time, some of the people all of the time, but not all of the people all of the time. There’re people truthy doesn’t work for. Mothers, usually. Mothers usually don’t buy truthy. Well, and dad’s don’t buy truthy, either. Usually.

Truthy is what you want people to believe or perceive about you or about what you’re saying. I was raised with truthy. I know truthy… and that’s probably why I hate truthy stuff today. If you were raised with truthy, you probably hate it, too. You know… things are completely out of control in the home and the doorbell or the phone rings: (sweet voice suddenly answers) “Helllloooo? O, yes, wonderful…” And on and on. Truthy answers: Fine, thank you, when it’s anything but finethankyou. Truthy works, though. Truthy works because, in reality, everyone only wants to hear the finethankyou answers. People don’t really want to hear any thing besides finethankyou, because if they hear anything other than finethankyou, they will necessarily have to do something about it… whatever it is. Anything but finethankyou requires a thoughtful response. Truth is, most people don’t want to deal with more than that.

But then there’s truing. Truing is what happens after the finethankyou answer is given. People who care will get past the truthy and onto the truth by truing. Builders use planes to true warped or twisted beams or boards and make them fit for use by truing them. Cyclists “true” spokes of wheels by truing. They set them in balance to eliminate wobbles or bumpy rides—and to protect from or prevent damage to the wheel. The truth is in the ride. I think that truing sort of needs to happen when it’s obvious that the finethankyou answer is, well, truthy. But you know… it takes someone who cares enough to do some truing to get past the truthy and get to the truth. Those are the people we probably trust enough to allow some truing of our warped answer or our out-of-balance answer. But then, there’s gotta be trust to allow that to happen. It starts not with truthy, but with truth.

A remarkable offer from Vision Forum

smiles

I loved seeing a comment from Kathryn…

I miss you guys…I’m tryin’ to act smart for your sake! Love you.”

(See the post about Homeschooling below) How I miss our precious girl! We always have mixed emotions when she’s gone… wanting her to stay and wanting her to enjoy special experiences. We’re torn over wanting to keep her home and letting her go, too. So, she’s out of town visiting a friend in Oregon who leaves in a couple of days to return to the mission field in Yemen. Many months and a whole world away, Kathryn will be especially sad to see her friend go away again.

I’m glad she checked in on my blog… a sweet, sweet surprise.