So good to be home

After all week in Kansas City for training I arrived at the Kansas City airport yesterday to discover my flight back to Minneapolis had been canceled. I was not happy. After half an hour with an agent for the airline I was even less happy. I ended up having to fly down to Houston to catch a flight back up to Minneapolis! Instead of getting to the MSP airport at 7PM I ended up arriving at 1AM with a two hour+ drive ahead of me. Anyway, I am home and glad to be here. I have spent the morning after a quick few hour snooze, doing laundry and unpacking. I plan to catch a nap this afternoon as I am tired. I am questioning whether I will fly or not if I have to return to KC later for more trainings. I could have driven home from KC faster than it took me to get home by plane yesterday. On top of all that I was so lucky as to be chosen to be searched. So after a pat down I had to stand and watch while my briefcase and purse were searched. I had forgotten to throw my 9 oz bottle of discontinued, favorite scent, expensive( although I got it on clearance) hand lotion in my carry on. It was in my purse and since they don't allow anything more than 3 oz on carry on was thrown away. The flight out of Houston was delayed by over an hour...so that was my day.

I am amazed how travelers in airports are so rude. I felt like it is a place where people's true colors really show. I guess people think that since they will never see each other again, they can be rude and selfish and it won't matter. I made several efforts to strike up conversations with people. Most either ignored me or walked away as quickly as they could. I had even showered! In Houston, however, during my 4 hour wait, I struck up a conversation with one young guy. A couple of minutes later, another one sitting in the vicinity joined us. Then an older woman, then her husband arrived. It wasn't long before we had about 8 of us visiting and laughing together. It seemed like people were drawn to our group and several left for flights while others would join in. It sure made the time go faster.

I will get my first assignments from the Census Bureau on Monday so will be busy this next week getting to know my new work. It will be a fun job where I will get to meet many new people and make a little extra money to help pay off some debt as well. Our van is in need of being either traded in or getting some major repair as well so this should help. We are also moving into spring planting weather so I will be working more on the mail route while the regular carrier gets his crops in. I'm very glad the kids and I are mostly done with their schoolwork as May is looking busy.

Living More with Less

I am currently reading several books. Two of them are quite eye opening and I'd like to share about them with you a bit. The first is a book about clutter and how it affects our lives. It is helping me examine my clutter-why do I have it? Why do I continue to hang onto cassette tapes I haven't listened to in oner 15 years? Why is that book, that I will probably never reread still on the shelf? How about the many winter coats? Why do I need more than 1, or even 2? what about the outgrown clothing I will not fit into for a long time, and when I do, they will be so old and out of style I won't wear them anyway.

The other book is called Living More with Less. I have just started it but it is examining some of the same issues. It is really making me think and causing me to really regret some past spending decisions. Over the past year or so, I can see that Shannon's and my spending habits have changed a lot but I know we still have a long way to go. I wish to share with you a quote that is in the front of the second book as food for thought. Spend some time thinking on it and let me know your thoughts on it if you wish.

"When someone steals a man's clothes we call him a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry man; the coat hanging unused in your closet belongs to the man who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the man who has no shoes; the money which you hoard up belongs to the poor.
-Basil the Great
Bishop of Caesarea, c. 365

Also, please pray for the family as I will be away from home for several days this week for a training for my work. Shannon has a big job ahead of him, keeping up with 5 children's schedules in addition to his own.

Womens Ministries

Last night in the women's "coffee talk" group at church we talked about women's ministries. Since it is something that I believe I will be doing a lot of in Tanzania I was pretty excited to hear people's thoughts on it, although I am certain it will look much different there. My vision for our ministry in Tanzania includes a well ministry. In Mwanza, in Tanzania, in most of Africa, clean drinking water is hard to come by. I am hoping we will be able to have a well on the property where area women will be able to come to get clean drinking water. I have dreams of going each morning to meet with the women at the well, develop friendships and minister to them. I hope that through giving them water I can share with them the truth of Jesus Christ and what he has done for each one of them. Oh my, but I must get much better at my Swahili!

"Jesus said, Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13-14

Our church is, in effect, revamping our women's ministries. Ideas that came up were many and it was agreed by all that for individual ministries within the umbrella each need a committed leader, someone who can't not do what they are doing, for it to succeed. One idea I had shared stemmed from my speaking engagement several weeks ago. Each month the women of that church have a ladies night out. It involves, praise and worship, a devotional and lots of food and fellowship. I have been the church librarian for 6? years at our church now and have been feeling a need to move into other avenues of ministry. I suppose God is preparing me for different things. This spring I facilitated a Beth Moore bible study-real hard by the way, I had to push play on the VCR. I am considering trying to head up ladies night out at our church if the leadership would approve. I would love to hear ideas from you that are reading. What are some things that are a part of your church's women's ministries? For those who do a type of ladies night out, what do you do during that time? How long does it last? How often? This is your chance I want to hear from you. Click on comments and speak to me!

More good news

Mom heard back on the lab results yesterday. The lymph nodes show no signs of cancer, confirming the diagnosis as Stage 1. After her incisions have healed she will undergo 6 weeks of radiation. We are very happy to hear that this was caught so early on and was so easily treated. Mom had been kicking herself as she had been 3 months late for her mammogram but I suggested that if she had been on time, the lump may not have even shown up this time around. It might have been yet another year before it was discovered. Only God knows but we all feel mighty fortunate.

"It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High." Psalms 92:1

Good News!

Mom's surgery yesterday went better than expected! Earlier in the week when she saw the surgeon he had said it looked like a stage 2 cancer. Then on Wednesday, the oncologist had told her it was likely a stage 3. Stage 1 or 2 would only recquire radiation directed right at the cancer site. Stage 3 however would need chemotherapy to treat.

Yesterday, Mom went in for surgery around 11:30. The surgeon removed the lump along with several surrounding lymph nodes. The lymph nodes were then sent to the lab to be checked for cancer. If cancer would have been found in the nodes they would continue removing nodes until they found one without cancer. Anyway, the preliminary lab tests showed no cancer in any of the nodes. According to the surgeon her cancer was actually only a stage 1 cancer. This will require much less invasive treatment and we are all thrilled about this.

Mom's surgery was completed by early afternoon. By supper time she was planning to be headed home again after her doctor checked in with her. She has a follow-up appointment with him on Monday where she will get the final lab results on the lymph node testing. Thank you for your prayers and support. Please continue to keep those final lab results in your prayers through the weekend.

Oh, and an interesting sidenote---the surgeon has a unique feature. As a young child, he crushed the ring and pinky fingers of his right hand. At the time, doctors removed both of the fingers as well as a large portion of the outside of his right hand. He says it is amazingly handy during surgery as he can fit his condensed hand into tight places. He even ties the knots of stitches with it with no problems.

Surgery today

Please be praying for my Mom and her doctors today. She is currently at the hospital, with my Dad. A couple of the kids and I are leaving in a few minutes to join them. Until they begin removing the lumps and check the lymph nodes for cancer, it is unknown whether they will do a simple lumpectomy or a full mastectomy. We are hoping for the lesser invasive lumpectomy.

Spring has sprung?

Current local conditions:
Temperature 30F
Wind Chill 15F
Partly sunny
Light snow

So what do you think? Does it look like spring has sprung to you?

We woke up this morning to 2-3 inches of wet slushy snow. The picture is taken from our front deck, looking out over the front yard and the field across the street. The wheelbarrow in the yard has been being used to move around the crushed granite we recently had hauled in for the driveway.

The forecast for a week from now, however is for 60F temps.

Don't even try to tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor.

Happy Belated Resurrection Day!

Here I am, a day late, posting about Easter. That's not so bad though, I still haven't gotten my Christmas letters out, LOL! I had finally decided in February that they were going to be sent as Easter letters after rewriting them but that didn't happen either.

Anyway, I hope you had a great Easter Sunday and really took the time over the weekend to remember what Christ did for us on the cross, but more importantly, that he rose from the dead. Without the resurrection he would have been just another dead person.

Easter morning we went to our church for both services. As always, I sang in choir during both services. The Easter performance was an hour plus long musical and going through it two times in a row was fun. Shannon and the children attended the first service, then during the second service the younger children went to kids church while Collin went to youth worship team practice and Shannon attended a bible class called The Truth Project. After the second service was out we went to my parents home for Easter dinner with them and my sister Corryn and her boyfriend Matt. Dinner was yummy as always and we enjoyed our time together. There was something about the day that was a bit more special than usual. Since Mom's breast cancer diagnosis last week and knowing her surgery is coming up on Thursday this week we just appreciated each other more I think. Please continue to pray for my Mom as she prepares for surgery on Thursday. We are hoping for the less invasive option of a lumpectomy rather than a full mastectomy but will not know for sure if they can do that until after they check the lymph nodes on Thursday morning. Mom is doing amazingly well and is feeling very supported by those around her. People are coming out of the woodwork to send her encouraging words through mail or by phone.

"And the angel answered and said unto the women, 'Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen." Matthew 28;5-6

Change is inevitable

I find it quite humorous that as much as Shannon and I hate change, God continues to throw it into our lives at every turn. Many would say that we choose change-such as we have experienced with fostering, adoption, jobs, home remodeling, ect-but for most of the big changes in our lives over the past years since accepting Christ personally, we have been directed by God to do.

Anyway, if you have been reading our blog before now, you can see that it has undergone a change. This one was not directed by God and it didn't come by choice either. The site we use has been prompting me every time I sign in to update to their new format. I have fought it as long as I could but today had to make the upgrade. I think the site does look nicer and I really like the option of being able to list some of my favorite blogs and websites on the side. I feel like it gives the readers a way to see even more of who I am by checking those out too. Let me know what you think. Is it easier or harder to view? Are there any changes you'd like to see-colors, format? I also like the idea of being able to label my posts into certain topics and will probably work through them over time to update that as well. That way if someone wants to search, for example, our travels to Tanzania, they could do so.

What is really funny is that God still has a major change in store for us...the one of moving to a completely different culture. That is one change though, that with a bit of hesitation, we are looking forward to.

He Chose the Nails

Today, Good Friday, the day we remember what one man has done for us. A day, never to be forgotten, a day that changed history, but more importantly, a day that changed eternity.

Why did Jesus choose the nails? Why didn't he resist when he was beaten and mocked and crucified? Because he couldn't stand the thought of an eternity...without you!

"For God so loved you, that He gave His only son, that if you believe in Him, you would not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

Breast cancer

Please pray for my mom, Sharon. She was diagnosed with breast cancer yesterday. I am hopeful as I know that surviving breast cancer is much more common than dying of it and hers was discovered early on. I am concerned though because my mom has fibromyalgia as well and this will aggravate her condition. Please also pray for my dad, John and the rest of the family.

Speaking at the women's retreat

We are having major issues with the speed of our internet connection lately. At times it takes me half an hour or more just to connect to my email program. That is why it has taken me so long to post about last Friday. I know some of you are waiting for that as you have contacted me by email, phone and in person asking how it went. It went well! I arrived there after a two hour plus drive a bit early so I could hang with Lisa and visit with her. I did a bit to help with getting ready and we set up the video projector for my slide show video. Unfortunately the church's video projector had recently been knocked over so the video was jiggly but it ended up working out. It got my message across.

After around 25 ladies arrived and we ate supper, we headed upstairs to have some praise and worship time. Lisa then called me forward. I gave our testimony. I say our because from the age of 13 on I have been with Shannon so most of my testimony involves him. It is a testimony of God turning bad to good, over and over and over again. Shannon and I have had many troubled times in our marriage and it is truly by God's grace that we are together today. I called my talk Pieces of Our Lives and used my most recent quilt as a prop. I held up the many different but boring fabrics. They had ragged edges and aren't all that beautiful by themselves. I talked of how God can take all of those pieces and put them together into something very beautiful. We both are thrilled that he has chosen to use us to fulfill His purposes in His glory. I then challenged the women there to each be watching for their purpose in God's plan. I also showed our slide show video. It was made up of pictures from our trips to Tanzania and the song What Now played in the background. The words to the song are at the bottom of my January page in the archives. You can access it in the column to the left. I haven't quite figured out how to link things. Afterwards, several of the women came up to speak with me about our plans.

We then did some more praise and worship and eventually headed to the basement to play games and eat. We played Apples to Apples, a game I would highly recommend. In fact, the next day I ran to Target to buy the Junior edition to play as a family. We have had fun with it. As the night wore on some women went home to sleep, others went to sleep on the couches and others were still up when I left. I left at 1:30 and arrived home around 3:30AM. It was a long drive at that time of night and it was rainy and foggy.

I really enjoyed my time with the women there. They seem to like having a great time together and were a wonderful loving group. They also have a ladies night out one Friday night per month where they all get together at the church, childless except for nursing babes and play games, socialize and have fun. It would be fun to carry something like that over to our church. I may need to mention it to someone.

Thank you to the ladies of that church. I really had a good time. I hope you were able to take something from my talk and personalize it.

A public thank you

"Serve one another in love." Galatians 5:13b


I just wanted to issue a public thank you to some dear friends from our church who have helped me prepare for tonight's talk. I am so happy that I have been asked to share "just" my testimony as I am familiar with that. I have done it before one on one and in small groups. But, I had a few other things that needed to be done.

The first was that I really wanted a slide show or video presentation to share at the end of my talk. A great big thank you goes out to Julie for helping put my photos into a properly timed slideshow. One that would time out with the song I had chosen. Because it was put into a powerpoint presentation I then handed it over to Torry-last night! Shhhh....I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone how quickly he could work to bail someone out of a bind. I know how fast he did this for me was atypical but I so appreciate it. He was able to take Julie's powerpoint, rearrange a few photos and add the music to it, turning it into a video presentation on DVD. They both did this for me without charge and in a rush. Thank you to both of you. I am so pleased with the finished product.

I also have been wanting, for a long time, not just for tonight, a business card style handout with our info on it. So often people are asking for the website or our contact info and I feel so unprofessional, as I am, as I handwrite it out for them on a piece of scratch paper. One of our church secretaries was happy to do this for me and she did an amazing job. I am so happy with what she has done and will have them tonight and Shannon and I will both carry them in the future to share with others. Rose, also did this for me just this week, in a rush. Thank you, Rose.

One of these days, Shannon and I are hoping to upgrade our computer so that we will be able to do more of this type of stuff on our own. We are glad that Collin has much of the knowledge needed as neither Shannon or I do.

Can I also share here a photo that got added to both the video and the business card? I took this while in the small village of Bukumbi in Tanzania about 2 1/2 years ago. The little girl was hesitant to have me take her photo but her mother nodded at her to do so. She is leaning against her mother's leg and as you can see is not sure about the camera at all. I so wish I could somehow find this little girl to give her a copy. Shannon and I plan to enlarge it to hang in our home.

It had to happen eventually

Well, I knew it had to happen eventually. As missionaries to be, both Shannon and I knew that one day we would have to start speaking. We will need to go around to area churches and try to find financial supporters of our family so that we can do what God has called us to do. There is no way for us to hold a job while doing all that God has planned for us in the ministry and jobs aren't real easy to come by in Tanzania anyway. Neither of us likes to speak much. Sure, I love to talk...but in front of a group of others?

Anyway, just last week I received my first phone call for a speaking commitment. The call came in from Shannon's cousin, Lisa, asking if I would be willing to speak at a women's retreat at their church this weekend. Not only was I not anxious to speak when she called, but the church is over 2 hours away from us. That wouldn't bother me near as much if we hadn't just had three crazy busy weeks and two even busier weekends in a row. My original instinct was to say no but Shannon kept mouthing to me, while I was on the phone with her, to think on it. I told her I would with the intention of calling her back the next day and telling her no. After getting off the phone, Shannon really encouraged me to do this. He knows as well as I, that this is an area we are moving into. I just wanted it to be him more than me. LOL.

The next morning, as I was thinking about calling Lisa to tell her no, a great title came to mind for my talk and as I thought a bit more, the props came to mind. Lisa had asked me to share my testimony and how we had gotten to this point in our lives, the point of knowing we are called into missions and to be willing to go. The way my talk just poured into my mind, I knew it came from the Holy Spirit. As I talked with Shannon about it, I had to admit to him that this was something God wanted me to do whether I felt ready or not. After all, Moses could not speak either but God took care of that in assigning Aaron as his assistant and giving him the words to say. I felt very strongly that God was just wanting me to yield to His will against my own. Although I knew on Wednesday I would be speaking, it took me until Friday to call her back and actually make the commitment.

So, tomorrow I head off to my first speaking engagement. This will be the first "speech" I have given since the 8th grade and I am a bit freaked out by it all but I know that just like Moses, my God will be with me, giving me the words to speak and encouraging me every step of the way.

"The Lord said to him (Moses), 'Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." Exodus 4:11-12

Glory Conference-Spring 2007

This past weekend End Time Glory Ministries held their bi-annual glory conference. It began Thursday evening and ran through Saturday night. There were 3 meetings per day except for Thursday evening. It was held in a local school's gym where we had plenty of room during praise and worship times to dance, wave banners and just really enjoy the time. Each meeting-one in the morning, afternoon and evening-consisted of extended praise and worship, a teaching time taught by either Rev. Debra or a guest minister she had brought in and a time of prayer and personal ministry for many in attendance. Shannon was involved in ushering at each meeting while I was changing the transparencies for the music being projected on the wall. We took Collin with us Friday evening where one of the ministers there prayed prophetically over him. She was someone who did not know him or anything about him but spoke of him being in the nations and gave him some very encouraging words. Saturday evening we took all of the children along. They really enjoyed the praise and worship time and asked as soon as we left if they could come back again for the next conference that will be held in the fall. It was a weekend where we got very little sleep but it was a great time of refreshing and renewal for all of us.

Saturday evening we brought along a friend of ours who is unfamiliar with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. She attends a church that does not do a lot of teaching on that. She had told the kids there was no way she was going to wave any flags or join the rest of us in our exuberant and unfamiliar to her, worship. We hadn't been there long when she was up waving flags and joining us in her enthusiasm. She later told us that she could feel something there just "fall down" on her. We explained to her that was God's glory. We did a lot of talking with her about the things we are now familiar with that had never been encouraged in our previous churches-speaking in tongues, prophecy, dance, and words of knowledge. She could also see that the words that were being ministered over individuals were from God due to many factors such as how smoothly they flowed from the mouths of those speaking them as well as the things that were said that the speaker had no way of knowing. It was fun to have someone unfamiliar and even uncomfortable in that style of praise to be able to know that it was all very real.

There are many out there that do not believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for today. I remember when Shannon and I first started attending our current church. As visitors we were curious but unconvinced of the genuineness of what we were seeing. We spent many hours speaking with the pastor there at the time as he met with the two of us to answer our many questions. I am so glad that we are involved in a church and a ministry that does believe in the gifts for today. It is hard for me to imagine not allowing God's words to be spoken over me and through me. If you have doubts I just want to convince you that those gifts are real and that they are for today. The book of Acts is a great place to begin researching if this is something you are unfamiliar with.

"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams." Acts 2:17

"Therefore my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues." 1 Corinthians 14:39