The Jackson Family Online

School’s out!! Hard to believe but true:). So…I’ve been cleaning my house today getting ready to pack, I’m one of those nuts where I have to clean my house before I can pack, we’ve changed all the sheets on the beds, etc. and I’ve even thrown in a few projects that have nothing to do with anything but for whatever reason were calling my name so…the packing hasn’t happened yet but I think I’m ready to start now:). At least as soon as the laundry is done…It’s so nice to have the girls at the age they are so they can help with cleaning…they worked on their rooms, the front porch and the basement and did a great job. Lauren even throws in my laundry…:). I’m going to include several pictures on the blog today…house progress, a picture of Lauren and Amy our children’s pastor on Lauren’s birthday, and a couple pictures of the girls wearing their “Schools out, summers in” shirts. They actually still enjoy wearing matching clothes once in a while. So…Lydia is officially in fourth grade and Lauren in sixth now…and they both got all A’s on their report cards. Today has been a hot sunny day in Alton…the guys working on my house were sweating it out. I’m really looking forward to seeing what our house looks like when I get back, I know it will seem dramatic. Bruce is bringing his son home from the hospital today and now they will just have to wait and see if the infection is gone or not.

I’ve been thinking some about the whole idea of someone actually asking me out for a date (no particular reason why…), trying to picture what that would look like…who would even be brave enough to go for it…I remember Mark telling me “Ruth…you’re not like all the other girls…” he was referring to the fact that I have never been very flirtacious… or had typical girly behavior. I have to think if and when someone actually got brave enough to approach and ask…that would be a pretty big move…and I’m fine with that, truthfully I have no desire to make it too easy for a man…I’m not just looking for any man…if and when the time comes it’s going to have to be someone who can handle the whole “ruth package” and I have a feeling that won’t be just anybody:). Mark would be saying “amen” right now:).

ANyway…one more night at home and then we head out in the morning…don’t know how often I’ll blog after that but I hope you all have a wonderful month of June!! Enjoy the pictures below:).

Love,

Ruth

Here are my strawberry plants being crushed by the siding that was taken off of my house and will be going back on…some sacrifices have to be made

This picture shows my new gravel driveway…now that’s exciting isn’t it:)

This is the lovely back side of my house…if the yard looks a little barren…well that’s because it is, what a contrast to just a few months ago.

They worked today on putting the trampoline into the ground…it’s almost there, and I can tell it’s going to be nice already, no more kids falling off and it makes the yard look bigger…had to feel sorry for the guy digging today though, although he never complained. And how do you like the fence…pretty nice:) If you look closely you can see the side fence from the neighbor’s yard, notice how much higher my fence is…my yard used to slope down quite a bit but with all of the dirt moved to the back half the yard is much higher and level…therefore my fence is quite a bit higher than the neighbors…kind of interesting…

This one flower looked so beautiful in the yard that doesn’t look so beautiful these days so I had to capture it.

 

This will be my bedroom and bathroom eventually…thankfully the plants left in the landscaping on the side seem to be thriving and look at that beautiful tree…I planted it when we moved to our house two years ago. I love watching trees grow!

 

Here’s the girls on the front porch…”Schools out, summer’s in” shirts and all.

 

Lots of personality here…

Today was a teacher work day at my school which was a really great opportunity to get my choir room ready for the fall…I actually got enough done that I don’t think I will need to go in this summer at all, which was a pleasant surprise. Started off with a bang…I loaded up a SUV load of orff instruments (various sizes of xylophones, for those of you who aren’t music educators:) and was in the process of moving them from one elementary to another as we are moving to a different school next year and didn’t want them to be damaged by the “movers” this summer. I arrived at the other school and was told their was no way I should be leaving them at that school yet…it seems they’ve had 80 windows broken out of the school in the last month and a half and are having some serious security issues, basically anything of value is sprouting legs and walking off…so I was a little stuck, the instruments were already in my car but I wasn’t about to leave them so they could disappear too…so I ended up taking them to the middle school instead and will have to move them when fall comes. It’s incredibly sad to me that people would be that disrespectful that they would intentionally destroy property…especially a school. I’ve kindof come to the conclusion after nine years of teaching that next year…I’m revamping what I do, the funny thing is that at this time of year I tend to have these same thoughts every year, you would think every year would be the same, just repeat what you did the year before, but every year I find that I fine tune and adjust what I’m doing to hopefully have a better year and for me…the biggest thing I’m teaching next year is respect, I’m hoping to throw in music from time to time, since I need to have a couple of programs…but I’ve decided to just focus in, expect, demand, teach, and reteach what respect is, looks like, etc. So…it could be an interesting start to the year. I’ve already been told that at my elementary school the fifth grade class is a class from ……(use your imagination, I’ll try to keep the blog clean:), so I’ve got to come in ready to hit the ground running in the fall with them. After teaching in the inner city for a year and surviving…I’m not afraid…bring it on baby…I’m up for the challenge, at least I will be after a couple of months off:).

I pulled a “mark” tonight…I had a ton of stuff to get done and decided to set it all aside and forget the to do list, which is definitely not a ruth thing to do. My team teacher and good friend Debbie Kanyo is back in the hospital, she’s dehydrated and can’t keep anything down, her cancer has flared up more since her surgery and I hadn’t been able to visit her since she left school on May 6th. I knew I wanted to see her before we left on our trip. She has been such a good support and friend to me this year and I’m looking forward to teaching with her again next year. She’s an incredibly positive, caring person and we just seem to work well together…at least that’s how I feel:). It was the first time we had been up to Barnes Hospital since Mark died, which is a little strange but was a necessary bridge to cross. The girls went with me. You know…when you’re sick or when you’re the caregiver, long visits aren’t necessary but some short visits here and there really break up the dreariness of the hospital life. After we went the girls and I all looked at each other and smiled and said..”we’re glad we went”. Debbie has had this cancer for awhile…at least a year and a half and it should have been detected and taken care of that long ago…someone messed up…and yet as she and I both believe, God is fully in control and their are no accidents with God. For whatever reason, it wasn’t detected then…on the way home I was thinking and realized had Debbie’s cancer been detected at that time it would have been almost exactly the same time as Mark’s cancer was diagnosed and I had a God moment…almost wanted to turn around and go back and talk with Debbie about it. For whatever reason…God allowed Debbie to be there for me at school when I was missing so many days, she covered her class and mine, put together an amazing program, etc. Had she realized she had cancer at that time not only would I have been going through the loss of Mark but also would’ve been going through cancer with Debbie as well. I’m not sure truthfully that I would’ve been able to handle it and I really relied on Debbie…does that help her out, no…and I hope that doesn’t sound too incredibly selfish, but my point is…we never know why some things happen the way they do…but their are no accidents with God and His timing is perfect. At this point…I was able to stand in the gap for her this spring and cover the same program that she covered for me last year…Now I’m just hopeful that we can both do a program together next spring:). Debbie and Jim are a witness to the greatness of God right there in that hospital…I could feel God’s presence and I know the workers and her roomate probably can too.

Bruce’s (my construction guy) son had another surgery today at Barnes…I thought about dropping in on him too but decided it would be a bit much on the day of his surgery. I’m sure he’s pretty drugged out at the moment. He’s still fighting a staff infection in his one foot…and I’m still hoping and praying that God will heal him and he’ll be able to keep his foot. The house project continues…they are working on the cement blocks at present. Found out today from my neighbors that I’ve actually had a couple of people in the neighborhood who have wandered over to check out the addition and I didn’t realize it…curiousity…no big deal but interesting. They called them “nosy neighbors”…but I couldn’t be too harsh, who knows I might have done the same thing if I saw them putting an addition on their house:)…I’m assuming they didn’t step into the yard or they probably wouldn’t have been able to get out of the mud hole:). Between the trip and the addition I feel like I’m having all kinds of interesting conversations with people that I probably wouldn’t be having otherwise and my house should have lots of activity while I’m gone. Construction workers, the twin girls bringing in my mail and feeding and taking care of the cats, Lori, taking pictures and sending them to me so I can see the progress on email, Richard stopping in whenever he feels like it and my other neighbors running my sprinkler to try and keep my plants alive. It’s good to have help with the homefront while we’re gone.

So…tomorrow I can’t put off the final details of this trip any further…I’ve got to actually do laundry..pack, etc. so that we can head out on Saturday. Thankfully it’s not as if we are traveling all day to get to our destination…only about five hours to Branson, MO. I’m planning on dropping in on Richard and Idona before we head out on Saturday and then we’ll hit the road.I think I’m ready…we test piloted the Tom Tom tonight going from the car dealership to the hospital and although it took me several minutes to figure out how to put in the address and get it working right, I did figure it out and it was incredibly easy to follow so I think we’re good to go. I told the girls tonight was our test run, if we could make it then we would know we’d be fine on the trip:)…Saturn told me that my car is in tip top shape so  we should be all set to hit the road and not have any problems. They really are good about getting to know you a little and making what can be a very impersonably experience (an oil change) into a visit with friends.

THanks Lori for watching my girls today! Hope you all had a great Thursday! It’s almost the weekend and it’s the beginning of summer, this is my most favorite time of the year, so much to look forward to! I will keep you all posted as we travel as much as possible and I’m hoping to pick up some postcard stamps and occasionally surprise some of you with a postcard if my good intentions actually come to fruition:).

Love,

Ruth (36 hours til launch:)

You know I was actually thinking today about sometime doing a vacation where the girls and I would go to a mission field and kind of do some volunteer service/ or some form of encouragement for the missionaries and also some sightseeing on the side…thought it might be good to experience fun and service combined in a foreign country…who knows, I like to keep lots of ideas and thoughts brewing in my mind you never know…I mentioned it to the girls and they weren’t quite ready to buy into it quite yet but I think in a couple of years they will be. I just told them I want to go some place where there are no snakes…that’s my one stipulation…Europe would be nice:).

 

 

I don’t think it’s completely sunk in yet…but…I’m done with school for another year…yippee!! Tomorrow I have a teacher work day…no big deal, I mean once the kids are gone well, it’s actually a pleasant place to be:), and on Friday we have two hours with kids but no music classes so that’s all good too:). So, now I’m ready to get into full focus on getting packed for our trip and making sure the house details are in order.

Today the weather was beautiful, which was perfect since the girls had their play day today. They both came home with their faces painted with a design and even though they didn’t plan it, talk about it, or see each other until after school, they both ended up choosing the design of a turtle on their cheek. Pure coincidence…I think not. So good to know that even though they are young and even though their dad has been gone for over a year they carry him in their hearts and minds everyday.

Lately, especially in the last week or so I’ve had a variety of people talk with me who I can tell are a bit worried about me taking this trip that I’m about to embark upon. I am a single woman after all and I figure they worry about my car breaking down or me getting lost or some other terrible mishap that might happen along the way. In truth, I’m at peace with it all. I mean I hope we don’t get lost too much but…then again some of our best adventures have been from getting lost a time or two, and I hope we don’t have any car problems but that’s why I’m taking my car in for an oil change tomorrow night and a quick check over, I hope we don’t have any other terrible mishaps happen but I’m not going to deliberately put me and my girls into harms way, we’re not going to go out on the town at midnight or anything…o.k. we do have to pick up Maryanne at the Las Vegas airport at midnight but that should be fine…right?!?:). This is the conclusion I’ve come to and for me it’s a revelation about who I am and who God is so…here goes…

For some reason when Mark died my trust in GOd while it was there a long time before He died…when he actually did die my trust solidified. It’s hard to explain, and I’m really not looney (well maybe a little:). It’s no betrayal…I loved Mark, still love Mark and always will love Mark. But my entire beliefs, values, life, etc. rest on the fact that their are no accidents with God, and nothing gets by God, not a single detail…as long as my life is yielded to Him…the rest is in the bag so to speak. It’s taken a load off of my shoulders to tell you the truth. I honestly live in such a way at this point where I could be anywhere in this world and know confidently that I’m completely in God’s care and that He is faithful even when I’m faithless so I have nothing to fear. Obviously I would desire to be in some places more than others but still…nothing is too much for God. I could just as easily have someone do harm to me in my home, or get into my car and get into an accident or have a heart attack for that matter as I could have something happen to me on an adventure out west…and truthfully if something is going to happen anyway…I’d just as soon go out swinging if you know what I mean. It’s a radical thing and I can’t explain all of it but to actually have my trust in God solidify and cement itself to the core of who I am because of the loss of Mark…when most of the world would’ve begun to doubt God, to question, to get angry, to do the exact opposite…well I call that nothing less than a miracle from God. And that miracle didn’t depend on me for one thing…that’s a God thing. So…for those of you who are worried about this adventure…feel free to pray for us…that’s always good…but please know that I’m living the abundant life, I’m living life to the full and teaching my children to do the same. I fully expect to see God, to experience God, to need God, to meet with GOd in ways this next month that I’ve never done before…and that excites me! Why in the world would I sit at home…watch TV, read a book, sleep, sit around and be “safe” when I have the opportunity to go for it. I praise God that He’s giving me and the girls this trip and for me it’s just the next step in our journey of faith…a declaration if you will of our complete trust in Him and our commitment to living out the rest of our days in wild abandon for Him. You know I was shopping today at a local clothing store and got talking about my trip…the question came up if I was looking for something specific and so I decided to just go ahead and tell the clerk about the trip that I’m taking…she made the comment that she couldn’t believe I would do that alone…I left the store so glad to know that GOd has given me an opening with this clerk because in a month I fully plan to go back and tell her about my trip and how I’m not alone…and frankly wouldn’t the world be attracted to the Christian life more if we were all looking a little more like we are living the abundant life…Now I know not everyone can pick up and take a month off, I never could’ve until this summer and this is not a money issue…the abundant life is not based on having money…it’s a mindset, a reckless abandon to a God who is so trustworthy we don’t even have to worry one iota about what will happen and when it will happen. So…I’m looking forward to blogging over the next month as I have opportunity to do so to shout out what God is doing in my life and my girls lives and how He is giving us opportunity to broaden our view of Him. God is good…and don’t worry…I know how to turn around when I’ve lost my way, I know how to ask for help when I need it…I have a cell phone, etc. I’ve made good plans and reservations and mapped out the journey but in the end however it plays out…it’s all good…

We serve an awesome God…a God who is faithful, completely trustworthy, and loves us so much He gives us great experiences on this earth even though it’s clearly not heaven. I’m grateful.

Hope your day was great…it’s about 60 hours til launch…:)

Love,

Ruth

I know I’ve already wrote two times today and have no business filling your inbox with a third entry…but then again…that delete key isn’t too hard to find if you aren’t interested so…here goes. I forgot to tell you something that I thought was kind of cool…Last week either on Mark’s birthday or Lauren’s I can’t remember which a girl in my tenth hour choir class gave me a pair of earrings for a thank you gift/end of the year kind of thing. First off, it’s very unusual that a student gives me a gift…after all I don’t have the students for a huge chunk of the day but just for music. This same girl has been a girl that everyday this year has come up to me given me a huge hug and a smile and had me recite the same things to her everyday about God being in control, and how everything is going to be o.k. etc. At times admittedly I’ve gotten a little annoyed with the whole process…(I’m not proud of that but it’s true)…simply because I have 75 kids coming in acting like wild animals and I’m trying to tame the zoo and going through the same ritual with her everyday…but still I’ve tried to be there for her and will continue for the next two years I’m sure. Anyway, she gave me a set of earrings which are green, at the time I thought how nice, my favorite color is green and they looked handmade and unique. I didn’t look closely at them, in fact I accidentally left them on my desk over the weekend in my hurry to get out of school. So…today when I looked at them closely and realized that they had golden etchings on them in the shape of a turtle shell I had a God wink moment…I hadn’t really had a turtle experience in awhile and that’s o.k. I have a feeling it only happens when I really need it and I’ve probably needed it less lately than I did six months ago. But I can’t tell you adequately how much those earrings meant to me, becuase I’ve never talked to this girl about the whole turtle thing…I know I occasionally wear turtle earrings but still…I don’t know that she would’ve noticed…but for her to give me that gift was very significant to me. Sometimes as I’ve recited to her the facts that God is in control, and everything is going to be o.k. I’ve wondered if God has put her in my life just so I’m forced to say it out loud everyday. And then for her to give me something that seemed like a direct message from God…well it just hit me special, and I again have to be in awe of how good God is. Martha and I just got done talking and she had a similar God wink for herself on Mark’s birthday through the kindness of a stranger…God is good.

I had fun tonight looking at the weather of all the various locations we are headed to on our trip…we are going to experience a great variety of temperatures I can tell…this next week in Oklahoma City, Texas, New Mexico etc. it’s going to be in the 90’s everyday, and sunny…that will be a switch right there!! But the funny thing is in Yellowstone National Park in the next 10 days they are supposed to be getting some snow:). So…it will be fun and interesting to experience the variety in temperatures, in the desert, the mountains, near the ocean, etc. Tonight I bought myself a new suitcase, I had already gotten the girls good ones last summer, but tonight I decided that was part of my strategic packing…So…the suitcases are all out and ready to be filled…three days left!!

I talked to Idona tonight about Richard…she said he is in Stage 4 with his cancer, and it’s very fast growing…they will start chemo soon, thankfully it’s with a pill and he can just do it at home. She even asked if I had someone to take care of my cats and mail while I’m gone…I assured her I had it covered but said that Richard can come over to my house anyday he wants to:). He likes to sit on my enclosed front porch and watch the traffic go by, it’s a little retreat from the happenings at his home. We talked about the Footprints in the Sand and how they are being carried during this time, so many of the feelings and thoughts they are expressing seem so familiar to me. We’re going to make a visit Saturday morning before we head out.

Anyway…I’m sorry again that I couldn’t seem to gather my thoughts tonight into one entry…I guess I must be a little scattered:). Looks like no rain for tomorrow…that would be awesome as it’s the girls play day at school!

I’m done…I promise…

Ruth

It seems like I hear more and more these days about people dealing with major health issues. There’s Brenda who Martha mentioned a day or two ago, she has pancreatic cancer which sounds terminal and has young kids and both her and her husband are unemployed and uninsured…that sounds incredibly overwhelming. There’s Richard…I just talked to his son tonight and he is at home and will be starting chemo and radiation soon. At first the surgery seemed to be a rip roaring success but today in talking with his son I learned that news has changed. It’s now being told to them that his cancer is incurable and while they might have gotten it all out there’s a good chance that it’s not all out, and if not they really can’t do anything about it except to put him through chemo and radiation over and over. It’s no longer a matter of “if” but “when” it will return and strike again, at least that’s how Mike put it. No doubt RIchard is discouraged and Idona too…who wouldn’t be. Then as I mentioned my friend Debbie Kanyo…I’m not even sure what she is facing, probably chemo or radiation or both in the near future…Then today the guy who is in charge of my addition, Bruce Grenzenbach has a son who is going to take over his business someday and had a bad fall off of a roof a year ago and broke both feet…while working at my house and walking on uneven ground he started having problems again and today I found out that he’s having surgery to remove infection from his feet and if they can’t get it all out he will have to face amputation possibly…we’re talking about a guy in his 20’s who is planning on a future in construction which is very physical…My heart broke as soon as I heard the news…Bruce has already gone through a nasty divorce and had a daughter pass away in a car accident and this has got to be hard as well. I’m not even sure where Caleb stands with his faith…Sometimes I pray simply for God’s presence and will to be done because I’m not one to tell God what to do, I surely don’t know what is best…but today I have to admit I approached God just like a child and said…please God, please heal Caleb, he’s so young and is going to need his feet. Obviously God will do what He’s planned to do from the creation of the world but it just seemed like an appropriate time to ask specifically. Sometimes my kids ask for things, they don’t demand their own way, or get in a funk if I say no but their is no harm in asking…that’s how I felt tonight. The house addition may very well be on hold for awhile…and truthfully once I found out what was going on I tried to call Bruce and let him know that was fine…family comes first and I was proud of my girls…they had the same reaction and said it’s no big deal for us to live with the backyard the way it is and having the hole in the ground…they understood their are bigger issues at stake. Beyond that I know Kathi’s husband has terminal cancer and I know you all have mentioned several other health issues. And Unemployment…well I don’t know anyone living in Michigan who isn’t struggling through the bad economy in Michigan these days, seems there are no jobs to be found. Heavy issues…

Psalm 84:11-12 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory, no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You!

Trusting…

Ruth

I am so glad this day of school is over…pretty much for me that means I’m done having students this year and now just have to put in the time to finish out the year. I wasn’t real happy about how the year ended, my last class was incredibly disrespectful and it didn’t seem to matter no matter what I tried so I just stopped, turned off the movie, sat on a stool and waited the time out. I left feeling kind of ticked off…no one wants to end on a bad note…however I found myself thinking through what kind of things I would do differently this coming fall and in the end decided maybe I needed to have the experience today that I had to have the resolve to come back stronger and more knowledgable about what things I want to see change. Disrespect is something that every teacher I know deals with in huge doses these days in the classroom. And kids are so used to being disrespectful I think they genuinely don’t even realize at times how disrespectful they’re being which leads into a whole other area of conflict. For example…you ask them to be quiet and I’ve genuinely had kids say to me, “I’m being quiet I’m just whispering…” They have a hard time with the whole concept of silence…of course look at all of the electronics kid use these days and you can kind of see why. So…I’m already thinking about next fall and the things I need/want to change and am happy today that I am going to get a much needed break from it all in a few days. Sometimes we all need a chance to check out of the grind if possible for a little while, a chance to regroup, refresh and recoup.

I don’t see a whole lot of progress on my house today except that the pit which was completely flooded has been pumped out…and of course it rained again today and is supposed to rain again tomorrow. It is unbelievable how much rain we’ve been getting, basically ever since I started the addition.

I’m starting to pack tonight, decided to take it in stages as I want to make sure I’m strategic about the whole thing:). Going to watch “The Bee Movie” with my girls tonight, seems nice to not have anything going on. Tomorrow is Lauren’s last drum lesson and my last small group. I was reading in the bible last night and catching up on my Old Testament reading in Isaiah and read the following great verses…

Isaiah 49:16 Yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands.

Isaiah 54:4b-5 And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore. For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name; ANd your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 55:8-9 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 57:13b But he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land.

Isaiah 58:11 The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden.

Isaiah 59:1-2 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden HIs face from you. So that He will not hear.

Isaiah 62:5b And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

I also read several verses in Psalms, Proverbs and 1 Thessalonians that were great but I won’t write them all out here:). It was good to be back on some mental meat and potatoes…I felt better just like I do after I exercise…Tonight it’s on to Jeremiah…

Now I’m hoping that when I do get back from our trip I can also get back into the physical getting healthy part of my life. Right now my tread mill is actually surrounded and covered by stuff that is being stored until we have our addition done…but I’m looking forward to getting serious about it all again, I always feel better even if it is a constant battle when I take care of myself physically.

Anyway, one more full day of school. Seems so nice to be basically done for another year. That makes nine years of completed teaching for me…my how time flies.

Love,

Ruth

Good news…my basement is almost dried out, I have a great turbo fan that seems to get things dried out fast so things should be back to normal soon:). Today has truly been a veg and relax kind of day here. We’ve watched two movies which I never do but it was nice today. “The Final Inquiry” which was a movie based on the time period just after Jesus’ death and resurrection, and “27 Dresses” obviously a completely different mood for that one than the first:). Lauren said to me…”Mom, why do you always pick out Romantic Comedies” Isn’t that what every woman enjoys:)?!? I did get my hair colored so I already know that tomorrow going into school will be fun, kids just blurt out what they notice that’s different about you whether they like it or not they just say it like it is.

Tonight while the girls were reading their bibles I went in to tuck them in and took the time to pray with them, I should do that every night but truthfully their are times I don’t. And after I was done Lauren called me back and said “Mom…what are some of your prayer requests.” It was such a gift to have her be mature enough to not only be prayed for but for her to turn around and ask what she could pray for me about. I taught the kids class on Sunday and gave each kid a three subject notebook, one section to use for special bible verses they came across in their daily reading, one subject for prayer requests and one section as a journal. It was nice to see my own kids putting it in to good use.

Looks like more rain tomorrow…I’ll be curious to see what they work on for my house…Hard to believe but we only have four more days here before we head out. Those days will be full with school, getting ready for the trip and final house details I’m sure. Tomorrow is my last day teaching my elementary students…woohoo!! Last time having nine classes in a row back to back. Thankfully my schedule will not be the same next year.

Found out today that my team teacher who had surgery in early May has found out that she does in fact have cancer and will begin all of the normal processes that they do for cancer soon. Lots of questions and wonderings…seems so odd to me as she looked and seemed to feel for the most part very healthy. No accidents with God though…I hang on to that truth to get me through each day. How about you…I know of so many people right now with health issues, unemployment issues, etc. In watching “The Final Inquiry” their is a scene where Peter goes in to pray with Tabitha, a girl who is already dead and she comes back to life. Lauren said, why could Peter do that and we couldn’t…I had to explain to her that was one person, one situation and there are times when we’ve known of people being healed here…but at the same time I told her Peter also surely witnessed many more friends and family and loved ones who did not get healed and did not come back to life. The nature of this world is the reality that we will all die at some point. Lydia interjected at this point and said…”well yeah mom…this isn’t heaven…” Lydia is my Jesus is coming back and let it be soon kid. I was afraid of Jesus coming back at her age…but not her…she’s watching, anticipating and expecting his return at any time. In fact we looked at something the other day that I said I would like to buy someday for her children and she said…”well, mom you better wait Jesus might come back before that happens.” I love how her plans are not so set in stone that she wouldn’t jump for the chance to be with Jesus in a heartbeat. That’s the way it should be. And I love the way Lauren’s mind thinks through things and struggles through her own walk with God…we are to be working out our salvation after all, not just being spoon fed…when I talk with Lauren about her faith I can tell she is making it her own, and battling out the tough issues in her own mind, not just taking my word for it. Just today she saw something in that movie and Lydia had a question about it and she said…”Well, Lydia in ____________(a specific reference from the bible) it tells us all about that.” I can’t even remember what the situation was but I was impressed that she is soaking in the bible enough that she had a ready reference point to deal with the question that Lydia had. I wanted to stand and cheer! I bought a bible for a girl at church today that said she doesn’t have one at home…in buying it I realized up front, she might not even read it, she didn’t ask me to get her one, but I just feel that every child at our church should have access to one at home…but bottom line whether she opens it or not…I felt compelled to give her the living water, to help her know their is a plan and purpose for her life. Who knows in heaven someday how that one act of kindness on my part might have far reaching consequences that I could never even imagine now. Not so I can say…Way to go Ruth…but to say GOd uses all of it, every act of kindness, big and small. I just want to be faithful to God as much as I can be.

Anyway…have a great day,

Love,

Ruth

My basement is flooded again…we’ve had rain, rain and more rain lately. I don’t know if it’s a popular thing to do around here or not like it is in Michigan…to go camping on Memorial day weekend, but all I have to say is if I was in that situation this weekend I would’ve pulled up the tent stakes yesterday and headed for home. Hope Covenant Hills is faring better than Alton!! So I spent this morning picking up carpet squares and shop vacing the floor. Last night it stormed so hard that I actually had one of those lay in bed and pray for protection times with God, seriously I could’ve seen a tree falling on our house any moment, thankfully nothing happened, the hole for my addition is totally flooded but beyond that no trees came down, the power went out for about five minutes but I just laid there in the pitch dark hoping and praying that it would come back on and it did! We had every fan in the house going last night for lots of background noise and the kids never even woke up, Praise God!

Anyway, it’s nice to not have any big plans today, few odds and ends at the house…color my hair:)…Trip plans, house details…but nothing huge which is nice. I rented a few movies last night at Blockbuster, it had been so long since I had done that I had to set up a new account…so we’ll probably watch a movie or two today. Hard to believe but in five short days we will be on our trip!!

The girls had fun going through a huge pile of clothes yesterday that they had received from a teacher friend of mine, her girls had outgrown some of their clothes so it was like a big shopping spree going on in Lauren’s bedroom, only it didn’t cost anything. Lauren got some really nice dressy dresses so I was excited for her, she tends to have a hard time finding that kind of thing that fits her and also is flattering…so now we have to put them in use:).

Started thinking about Lydia’s birthday already…you know how it is, one down the next one will be coming along before you know it and Mark and I had promised the girls that their 10th birthday would be a big one since we don’t have a friend party every year. We had one at age 5, 10 and probably at 16. Lauren had one at 11 simply because last year at her birthday things were completely out of whack and we were in Florida. So…I think we may venture to Chicago for Lydia’s birthday to do the American GIrl thing, I’ve never been really big into the American GIrl stuff, I mean I like the history part of it, and I’m sure we’ll see the new movie coming out this summer and the books are great but the dolls and clothes, etc. seem to be incredibly expensive…but Lydia has expressed a lot of interest so…I’m thinking we may Amtrak up to Chicago which is remarkably cheap these days and no stress for me and stay a night or two and swim in a hotel and do the American Girl thing, Lydia is excited about it already and it will be at Christmas time so I’m sure the city will be beautiful. I did tell the girls though that this time…we would take a cab to the hotel instead of walking:). Last summer we walked pulling our luggage to the hotel that I thought wasn’t too far away and I was unsure about the whole cab thing so…we walked and wow I didn’t think we would ever get there, told the girls that we wouldn’t do that again:). And that was in summer so I know we won’t do that in the winter at Lydia’s birthday. Anyway, it was fun to talk about future plans and I’ve found I always have to be thinking ahead and making plans for the coming months in advance to keep up with life.

For today however, I am so glad to be at home! My quiet time has been suffering lately and I can tell I’ve been living off of mental “candy and dessert” and I could use some “meat and potatoes” today…so…I need to hole up at some point and do a whole lot of Old Testament Reading…who knows what God’s been trying to tell me that I’ve been missing out on lately simply becuase I’ve chose to read other things…I’m feeling a little conviction about the whole thing so…today it’s back to the Bible.

Hope your day is great!

Love,

Ruth

It’s been a good but very busy weekend so far. Lauren’s birthday party/sleepover/six flags trip all went well. Her birthday started off on Thursday with the two hour massage…and will end this morning after church. Friday she had a great time bowling with her fifth grade class and I took a giant cookie cake in for them to enjoy and celebrate and they seemed to enjoy it. I was impressed…the Cookie Factory put a girl on a rollar coaster on it and everything, pretty cool. Then Friday night she had two friends come over and play at our house, go out to Golden Corral for supper, play at the park, and then make jewelry here at home. One of the best moments of the day was when her two friends unknown to me subtly lined up the waitresses to come and sing Happy Birthday to her in the restaurant. The smile she had on her face was priceless and full of pure joy and I was impressed that her friends lined up that moment for her. Of course I had to deal with the normal going to bed issues…but by 12:30am…I think they got the point and I didn’t hear much from them after that. Amy K. and her girls joined us for Six Flags and I have to say that made the whole day for me much more enjoyable and doable…so big thanks Amy!! The weather was a bit rough….I had thought it was going to be nice but we ended up getting rained on a time or two, we stuck it out though and still had a great time. Lydia got brave and has now tried every rollar coaster in the park except for Mr. Freeze. Which means she rode Bat Man, Ninja, Screamin Eagle, and The Boss…all really big rollar coasters and she loved them all, I can tell a whole new world has been opened up for her. I had to tell her last night…when it’s back to just the three of us going to six flags we’ll probably be back to our normal rides that we three can ride, simply becuase it becomes too much when Lauren has to wait all the time for her to ride a ride…not really fair for Lauren. So…we agreed that she could ride one on her own with each visit…the truth is it’s never as fun to ride them alone anyway so I think Lydia will be fine with that. WIth the weather being a little rough it actually worked to our advantage because the lines were short, in fact at the Log Flume…the girls could literally stay on the log and rode repeatedly. I think Lauren and her two friends literally rode it 15 times in a row…they were soaked. We also had fun playing some games for stuffed animals which I don’t normally ever let me girls do but it worked out alright for one time. Each girl was able to go home with something so that was good…again big thanks Amy…Praise God she can throw darts at balloons, I’m glad that didn’t rely on me. Overall the day went really smooth and it was good for me to see their friends up close and personal to become more aware of the good and bad going on in their friendships. By the time we got home we all collapsed, my back hurt so bad I actually had Lydia walk on it and it felt good. So…now it’s time to get ready for church….I teach the kids area this morning and I thought I would take in a treat for Lauren’s birthday/end of summer as well. Amy got Lauren a t-shirt yesterday that says “Lolly” on it which is the nickname that Amy has given Lauren and Lauren is thrilled to be able to wear it today. That whole nickname thing is something she craves right now and it makes her feel that Amy loves her. After church I’m looking forward to having the rest of the day at home. Normal house stuff is beckoning, I need to do my grades for the end of the year and I want to start figuring out what I need to pack for the trip and make sure the house details are all lined up. In less than a week we will be gone for a month, seems hard to believe. But I’m looking forwrad to it. Monday we don’t have any big plans which sounds good to me. Tuesday and Wednesday are our last full days of school, last drum lesson, last small group. THursday I have a teacher work day and an oil change scheduled and then on Friday it’s time to get ready to leave for Saturday. I know this week will fly by!

I definitely need to catch up on my bible reading today…I’ve gotten a little behind with all of the extra activity going on at our house lately. I’m teaching this morning about quiet time, the need for it, how to do it, etc. with our 2-5th graders…and I need to get back into it myself.

 Lydia thought of her dad when she was riding those big rollar coasters…he was her buddy on those kind of rides. Seems strange to think that when Mark died the girls were 8 and 9 and now they’re 9 and 11. Time does keep moving on, for that I’m grateful.

Anyway,
Have a great weekend,

Love,

RUth

I know I’ve already wrote today but…you know how it goes:). I wanted to send along some pictures of the girls sleeping. I know that sounds odd but ever since they were babies I occasionally take pictures of them sleeping…Lydia is in her new princess bed…she went to bed very early tonight 7pm…as she wasn’t displaying a whole lot of princess attributes around the house but I’m sure it will be better tomorrow. Lauren on the other hand is just pretending to be asleep…her massage was a slice of heaven for her today, you should have seen the glow on her face when she was all done, I didn’t realize it but somehow I had signed her up for not only a full body massage but also with hot stones and the rainforest shower…so she had a full two hour deal. It was more than I expected but it gave me a prime opportunity to talk to her about how God does exceedingly more than we can ask or imagine. I’ve never even had that much done in a day…so for a 10 year old it was big stuff and I hope a life long memory of the greatest of God and also how much this mom loves her. She fell asleep for part of it:)…too cute. Tonight was middle school orientation and it is so cool for me to be a teacher in Lauren’s school now. It’s quite a status thing for her at present, probably will be until I tick some kid off and then they take it out on her or something:). For a child who could easily blend into the wall simply because she’s quiet and good…she is going to be noticed simply because she is my daughter and I’ve become known in the school due to the music program. Eventually she’ll be noticed and known in her own right but I’m glad she has a jump start and fine with her being able to use my recognition factor to help her on her way. Pretty cool and it couldn’t have been better timed…who knew God could line it all up so perfectly:).

Anyway, here are the pictures and about the allen wrench and my brother’s comments about all of the T handles and padded handles etc. what I want to know is when you buy a piece of furniture surely they could throw one of those things in for free don’t you think…(just a thought…if you ever have my name for a gift…buy me some of those luxury allen wrench thingies…I’ll be forever grateful:). I’m so exciting, first a pitch fork and now allen wrenches…curious to see what it will be next month:).

Notice the monkeys hanging off the curtain rod in Lauren’s room…she’s my little monkey so it seemed only fitting to throw a couple of them in her room. And notice on Lydia’s bed if you look closely you can see a big turtle and a baby turtle…Lydia would you tell you that’s her and dad. Lydia is in heaven now as she has finally been able to have her purple and pink/ princess dreams come true. Her bed is actually pretty cool with curtains around three sides of it. The romantic side of me thinks…hmmm…maybe I should break out a little and do something different for my bedframe in my bedroom…we’ll see. So Bob…when you come to visit be prepared to sleep in the pink princess bed:)…it will be fun for the girls to tease you about it, and actually the bed is comfortable…I’ll be hopping in with Lydia in a minute.

Time for bed…gotta get through three more days of school.

Love,

Ruth