Way to go John and Nikola

Happy Birthday John Calvin. I thought this was a very good article on him and what all I can learn from him.

Also of note is today is Nikola Tesla birthday. Who is that you may be saying? He is the reason you were able to have some electricity this morning.

He would 153 today as opposed to John Calvin who would 500 today.

If you are a fan of Google, they are honoring Tesla today. His patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems including polyphase power distribution systems and the AC motor, which helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution. Sounds like I know what I'm talking about...yeah right, I googled all that.

This post is for Willy, Andrew, and Carl, the electrical engineers in my life, that also know who John Calvin is.

Hooray for Engineers and Theologians!

Different Priorities

I love to read!

Not all people understand this.

My children had an AWANA event one Saturday, when we lived in PB. Carl and I volunteered to drive our children and some of their friends-two brothers and their sister- to the event. Their parents, (what makes this even more shocking is they were homeschooled), had some errands to run in LR and would be gone the whole time of the said AWANA event. I would have called this women, who I can't think of her name at the moment, my friend.

Said AWANA event was cancelled! Now I had 6 children, on a rainy Saturday, for the whole day in my house. This was before cel phones, so we couldn't call them, not that we would have. And, you know, what the heck, my children enjoyed these kids so we all went back to our house for the day.

It was in the spring. I had pulled all the clothes out of the attic and was in the process of 'what still fits', 'what needs to be given away', 'what can a younger brother or sister possible wear next year'. In addition to the piles I normally have around my house, I had even more. The children never noticed. We watched Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, played board games, played with the crash dummies, had a big snack, etc and the day flew by.

Said 'Can't think of her name' and her husband came at the end of the day to collect their children. When they walked into my house the first words out of her mouth were and I quote" On Monday, why don't you drop your children off at my house for awhile, so you can clean your house"

I just laughed.

I should of taken her up on it. Would she ever have known what I really did? Probably, I don't have a good poker face. I still remember thinking, Who would use a day without children to clean your house? I said " If you watch my children on Monday, I doubt I'll clean my house, I'll get my book and read all day"

She informed me in no uncertain terms that she would not watch my children for me to read. I pointed out that I hadn't asked her to watch my children in the first place. We smiled and parted ways.

Now, lest you feel the need to call the heath department on me, I have had folks say that they enjoy being in my home because it is lived in and that makes them feel comfortable.

But I do surely love to read and now most of my piles are of books

One of the blogs on my blog roll is Reading to Know. I love her book reviews and have come to trust that she and I have to same view on books so if she recommends one, I usually enjoy it too. Here are Part I and Part II of an article she wrote on Reading as a Ministry. I hadn't thought of it that way before but I do have lots of folks that come to me for suggestions of what they can read or to borrow books for beach trips (hey Monica, were they good?) or ask me what they can give as a gift to a reader.

So if Said AWANA mama ( I did just remember her name) and I had the above interaction now, I might say, Sure you can watch my children and I'll get ready for some ministry work!

I bet Ralph is dancing.

Yesterday the world mourned the loss of the King of Pop. I did not. I did my part when growing up of listening and buying records of Michael Jackson but when he was arrested for child abuse or whatever it was, I got disgusted and lost interest in him.

Yesterday the world lost a great man. My friend, who sits behind me in church, Ralph, is now rejoicing in heaven with Jesus. He was in his early 80's. He had been in the hospital for about 4 weeks. On Tuesday morning, after his precious wife, Elizabeth, who he loved well, spent the night by his side, he was welcomed into heaven with the shouts and fanfare of the saints that have gone on before him. He is no longer in pain and can get on with work of Heaven.

I feel sorry for the children of Michael Jackson. As strange as their life was, the loss of any kind is hard. I also feel sorry for them because they do not know, without a doubt, that they will see Michael Jackson again.

Elizabeth knows she will see Ralph again and although the pain she feels now seems to her, I can only guess, as unbearable, she does have hope. She knows that her Savior is walking beside her and she knows where Ralph is, without a doubt.

I do pray for the children of Michael Jackson. I pray that they will come to know Jesus who will give them hope. I pray for their growing up years and what their lives will be like as people may want them for who their daddy was, not for who they are.

I am praying for Elizabeth. Half of her is not here today. In marriage, I do believe that the 'two shall become one'. She will have to learn to live with this gapping hole in her heart and life. But I know that Elizabeth will probably pick me up more than I'll do that for her and she will have an even more incredible testimony of the love of Jesus.

The entire world will not note the loss of Ralph like our little corner of humanity does but Heaven is. And eternity is what matters.

Happy 4th of July!

Here is our picture for today.
Here are Carl and Marisa cooking our supper. It was wonderful.
Two goofballs that I found in the kitchen.
Our Red, White and Blue dish for supper. My girls ate fruit- amazing.
Last year we were at the beach with all of Carl's family. What a blast. Here are some pictures.

Here is a glow-stick picture made by all the cousins

Here is our crew. Since this picture we have added two great-grands and a wife-Esther for cousin Alex.

Jumping cousins
cousins
I hope you had a great day.

I never knew

Kaitlin and Marisa threw us a surprise anniversary party at KimT's house. What fun. Pictures are on Kaitlin's blog.

30 years!

Wow! What a group this is! Here is the wedding party and what a party it was and still is. They are starting in the back: Sherrell, Carl's daddy-Tom, Raymond, Ted, John, Alec, Charles, Larry, Jody, Kathy, Dave and Frank. Irene, Marian, Carla, Vicki, Kim and Cathi. In the front are Chris and Pam.

Here are my beautiful bridesmaids: Carla, Cathi, Kim ,Irene, Jody, Kathy, Vicki , Marian and flower girl Pam.
My brother's gave me away. Here they are putting a penny in my shoe.
Here are my friends that served the cake and punch and whatever else was served that day. Karen, Nancy and Linda
Margaret, Debra and Mindy
Here we are on this day 30 years ago. Wow, that seems long ago and then again it seems like yesterday. My bouquet is on a white Bible, given to me by Carl's sister, Marian. A tradition that is being continued with the next generation of girls that marry into this family. My sweet mama made my dress.
Here we are today! I think Carl looks just the same.


Here is the necklace Carl gave me for our anniversary. At our rehearsal dinner, his brother's gave him a ball and chain so he could get used to married life. For this anniversary, on the recommendation of my sister-in-law, Renee, Carl gave me a ball and chain.I am thankful and very blest.

Choose to be faithful today

We all need to read this about marriage and Mark Sanford.