Happiness: new grill, steaks and his truck

How Do Others See Me?

Often you go to a fair or street festival and you will find an artist or two set up drawing Caricatures, a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person to create an easily identifiable visual likeness.

In literature one of the key features is the Character Sketch. Here you are introducing the reader to someone. You want your readers to know that person’s characteristic ways of doing things, to know something about their value system. Character sketches only give a snap shot of people.

This is true in life, when we are trying to describe someone to another person we often describe that person using exaggerations of certain characteristics or even oversimplification of others.

So how am I described to someone who hasn’t met me before? Is it by my physical features, my expressions that I use or by my character? Do others see what I am or what I try to be?


Others determine your reputation. You determine your character.
Character is defined by integrity and at the heart of integrity is the idea of wholeness.

Psalm 25:21

Who Has the Best BBQ

Today Kyle and I decided to take the scenic route home from Leavenworth, WA. We left and headed over to Chelan and then to Ellensburg for lunch. At TRC there are a whole lot of folks that rave about a BBQ place in Ellensburg so we decided we needed to check it out.

I have eaten BBQ in at least 47 of the 50 states and at least 3 of the Canadian providences. I really like good BBQ and was looking forward to seeing what all the fuss was about at Rodeo City BBQ. I usually get my BBQ fix these days from 3 Pigs in Bellevue. Not only is it good BBQ, but it is also less than a mile from where I work.

So after eating a helping of Baby Backs, two sides and a piece of Cornbread here is the result: Rodeo City has really good BBQ, it is smoked a little more than I tend to like it, the top is a little tough from the smoking, but overall the meat was cooked well, tender and flavorful. The Sauce was a sweeter sauce and I was never offered a HOT version so I had to use Tabasco sauce, but that is not unusual. However, I think 3 Pigs is better.

3 Pigs has wonderful sauces that come in mild, medium and Hot, they smoke their meat with a dry rub so there is no toughness on the top layer. The meat is tender and easily peels off the bone.

Rodeo City has much better side dishes then 3 Pigs and the Corn Bread will be enough to bring me back.

I would rank both of these places in the top 10 of the best BBQ I have ever eaten.

The top 5 are:
San Antonio, TX on the River Walk. I was there for 5 days and at BBQ three times.
Memphis TN, Jack Neely’s Intersate BBQ
Oxford, MI – My sister Linda’s
Atlanta, GA – Dreamland BBQ
Chicago,IL – Russell’s BBQ.

So what BBQ is your favorite?

99 and Counting

This past Sunday my husband ‘s Grandmother celebrated her 99th birthday so we went to visit her and bring her some flowers.

We were sitting and chatting when Kyle asked her how she met Grampa Herb, her 1st husband. The smile on her face and the twinkle in her eye made me wish I had thought to bring the video camera to record this memory.

She giggled once and then started in:

I met him at church you know. It was when the church was down town and I used to walk to church.

I was all dressed up and walked in and looked at the clock to see what time it was, he was sitting right under the clock all by himself. I thought, “Oh look he is sitting by himself”. I went and sat next to him. Neither one of us got anything out of the preachers message because we talked through the whole service.

The service ended and I started to walk home. Pretty soon a car drove up next to me and it was him offering me a ride home. I told him no, I wanted him to know that I was independent. [Those of us that know her would probably laugh a good one at that, stubborn is more like it]. But after some prodding, not much really I got in and let him drive me home. And that is how it all started.

Another little giggle, big smile and the story was over.

Memories like these are often lost; I was so blessed to be let in on that little story.

Deuteronomy 4:9

What Do I Think

Thinking involves the mental manipulation of information.

What information are we allowing into our minds, what are we doing with that information?

One morning last week as I was getting ready for work I caught my image in the mirror. I stopped to look. What I saw actually made me happy. I have been working out at the YMCA for about 11 months and in that time my body has slimmed down, toned up and is starting to look like one of the athlete I once was and not the grandmother I am now. I have lost weight, my clothes are fitting much looser and in general I am pleased with the results of my hard work.

So the information my brain was manipulating was all good and I only saw good things in the mirror.

Later that night as I was preparing to go to bed for the night I stopped to look at myself in that same mirror. This time I saw the scars, mutilation and defects in my body.

It was the same body, same mirror and two totally different results.

That night my brain was manipulating new information and it wasn’t good and I only saw the bad things in the mirror.

My mind ran away with all of the possibilities for the five days that it took for the test results to come back. I struggled to keep my mind focused on the positive and not the negative.

Now that I have gotten the best results possible I can reflect on what I saw in the mirror both times that day. I look at my image today and still see the positive changes and yet rejoice in the trials and history that the scars mark.

Lord, I thank You for all that You have done for me.


2 Corinthians 10:5

Waiting

Wait

Wait

Wait.

Not something that we enjoy. Sometimes we wait with expectation and anticipation. Sometimes we wait with fear and dread.

Wait.

Wait.

Wait.



Isa 40:31

Never mistake activity for achievement

A couple of weeks ago Pastor Jeff used an avalanche beacon to illustrate a point in his Sunday Tru message. That next Monday morning I was meeting with a group of people to train them on a new product we were releasing that week. While we were waiting on all of the folks to attend someone asked me how it was going. My reply; “I am running as fast as I can to stay ahead of the avalanche of things that need to be done.” The good news is that our company is starting to accelerate; the bad news is that they are not hiring anyone so all of us have more work to do.

We can all get very busy, but are we really accomplishing anything? That is the question that I have to ask myself. I work through lunch, I go in early, I work in the evenings all trying to stay in front of that avalanche. What I really have to focus on in this time is keeping my priorities straight: 1) God, 2) Husband, 3) Family, 4) Church, etc.

I have to remember that work is not my life. I am blessed because I have a job I truly enjoy, but it still needs to be kept in the proper place in my life.

Ecc 9:10

Simple Fun

One of my favorite summer memories growing up was the summer my family traveled from our home in Michigan to Kansas City Missouri pulling a rented popup camper trailer. We stayed in a campground that was up on a hill and had very few trees. The sun shone bright every day and the temperature would reach 120 degrees or more each day, that was hot. Down at the bottom of the hill was this big lake full of cool blue water, but for some reason it was not safe to swim in. We were there with the Majorette/Drum Corp for a National Championship so there were approximately 15 families all camping in the same area.

So what do you do when it is 120+, out in the bright sun, 50 or more people and a water pump? Well you have water fights. It didn’t matter whether you were 7 or 70 everyone got involved. Any and all buckets, balloons and cups were used when a water fight would break out. These were not planned and everyone had so much fun that it is one things that 40 years later anyone that was there talks about.

We have forgotten the heat, the dried out grass, but everyone remembers working the pump handle to get more water for the action. We didn’t care that we had to work for that water, we were just grateful it was there. That was part of the fun, working that pump handle. That memory just reminds me of a time when it was the simple things that were the most fun.

Psalm 116:5-7 (New Living Translation)

Absolutely Amazing

I want to tell you about my new friend. Her disposition is just that Absolutely Amazing. Give her circumstances she could easily be justified in feeling sorry for herself and yet she is the first to greet you with a big smile, a merry song and cheerful “how are you today”.

My friend is a lot like me, she is young; probably in her late 40s early fifties (see I’m that age so I consider that young). She has an engineering degree and worked for many years for Boeing. The big difference is that my friend is unable to form words to speak anything but a few phrases. There is a disconnect in her brain. I met my friend at the nursing home where my mom lives. She is has been a resident there since she was beaten, leaving her unable to use her right hand, unable to walk because her right leg is also partially paralyzed. Her mind has full capability except speaking. She knows what is going on and what she needs to say, but the words just don’t come. Her vocabulary is limited:

“How are you today?” “I’m fine thank you.” “Absolutely Amazing”

How I wish I knew my friend before, if those are the only things her damaged brain can say today. Think of all the angry, foul phrases that she could be spouting?

I look forward to seeing my friend every time I visit my mom; even though I do most of the talking we hold entire conversations. The speech therapist is amazed, I guess because we are so similar we converse easily.

I am truly blessed to have made a new friend.

Matthew 12:34

More Than a Meal

When we fix ourselves a meal we make our selection based on a number of factors. Maybe you are into organic food, maybe it is the ethnenticity, or maybe on convenience. But there are just some times that we select our meal based on the emotion behind it, thus the meaning of ‘comfort food’.

I have had a tough couple of weeks and last night when I got home from a long day I needed something in my body, not necessarily nutrition(I could miss a meal and be none the worse for it) but I needed to feed my soul. I needed something that would bring a little joy to my life. I have the ability to buy a lobster dinner, an expensive piece of beef but I needed Spagetti-Os.

I remember the 1st can of Spaghetti-Os I had, it was such an extravagant expense for our family. Such a diversion from the meals that we had it was sweet and fun and pure enjoyment for a child. I remember warming up Spaghetti-Os in a hotpot in my dorm room during my freshman year of college, another time where money was scarce.

I dumped the can in a bowl and popped it into the microwave while I spread lots of butter on a couple of pieces of good ole white bread. When the microwave finished I took my bowl to the table and sat and dipped that bread into that red sauce then into my mouth and I was reminded of all that I have survived, overcome and accomplished in my life and my soul was encouraged.

Not everyone may look at Spaghetti-Os that way, but last night it was just what I needed.

Deuteronomy 4:9-10

Good stuff

Its THAT Time Again

On Sunday The Red Wings (46-15-9) were the first team to reach 100-points and clinch a playoff berth this season, their 18th straight and the league’s longest active streak.

Go Wings!!!!

"I'm So Dizzy,

My Head is Spinning..."*

That was me a few weeks ago, if I lifted my head up from the horizontal position the whole room started to spin. I went to the doctor to find out that I had a case of Labyrinthitis. Basically I caught a cold in my inner ear. There is no cure, just like with a cold; they can only treat the symptoms with industrial strength Dramamine™. The fluid in my inner ear became a little cloudy and less viscous due to the virus. This caused an imbalance of my equilibrium. Normally the inner ear fluid if free to move and therefore helps us stay balanced. But when it thickens, the fun begins.

Our bodies are so amazing. Such a slight change can throw us off balance. This is true in all areas of our lives. If we get a little sluggish, overly tired, not eating right, neglecting time refreshing our spirit with Bible reading and prayer, we become less fluid and it throws off balance. It doesn’t take much to start the spin out of control. It is the small things, our inner ear is one of the smallest areas on our body and yet.

So what is the treatment, rest, healthy eating, and quality time spent with the Lord. Find your favorite CD of Christian praise and worship and sing to it every 4 hours until you are back in balance.


*Dizzy by Tommy Roe was #1 on April 10, 1969

“Look Into My Eyes”

Blue, green, hazel and brown, what was the color of the last person you have a conversation with? The direction of one’s gaze indicates to others where their attention is. Eye contact shows personal involvement and creates intimate bonds.

Of all the ways we communicate with people eye contact is the most powerful. The way we look or not look at someone when we are talking to them says volumns. Looking at people and meeting their eyes are the first steps toward making positive impressions and deep friendships.

There is this woman at church that I have been watching for a while. It doesn’t matter what else is going on around her, when she is talking to someone, friend or stranger, there is nothing else in her immediate focus. She will look directly at you while she is engaged in conversation, totally interested in your every word as if it is the meaning of life and death. She does this in a way that gives the other person value and security. I’m not sure she even knows she is doing it. If it isn’t natural for her, she has done an excellent job in learning this skill.

I have a bad habit, or a natural tendency, to know everything that is going on in a room so I can jump in and help someone else. This is good when I’m not talking to someone, but the reality is that I probably come off cold and un-caring when I talk to someone in a public setting. Get me in a one on one situation and I do a little better, but I am still aware of everything happening around me.

Lord help me to be able to focus on the person in front of me and to give them my undivided attentions.

Matt 6:22

Friends - On Purpose

I have a Facebook account ; it is fun to keep track of ‘friends’ and what they are up to. You add Friends that you want to be connected to or stay in contact with. In face it was a friend from New Mexico that convinced me to sign up for Facebook. It is an easy way for us to connect on a daily basis if we choose. In some aspects I think social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Linked In are also bad for relationships, if we don’t watch out our friendships will become casual.

Starting this weekend I will be attending church at our new 2nd campus and that means that I won’t be able to have our normal brief chat and hug each Sunday with some of my closest friends. I remember the night I told one of my friends that we wouldn’t be together on Sundays and she got mad at me. She felt as if I was abandoning her. My response to her was that it only meant that we had to be more intentional in our friendship and not just let it happen on Sundays.

I have some close friends that live in other parts of the country and I have to work at being On Purpose with those relationships because of the distance between us. I have friends that live within a few short miles of my house and it seems that I am don’t spend much more time with them than I do my long distant relationships. I can sometimes take them for granted.

Deliberate, planned, designed, purposed, intended, calculated, prearranged, premeditated. Are these words that describe your friendships or do you like most of us take them for granted? So what is a friend, per good old Webster they are person you know well and regard with affection and trust.

I continue to be On Purpose with my friends even in these busy times.

Prov 27:6; 17:17

green bananas

Each week my husband buys a small bunch of bananas for us to eat during the week. I really don’t like overly ripened bananas so we only have a few in the house at a time. Some weeks we run out of them because it seems that everyone is eating them and then other weeks they get too ripe and I have to throw them out. There are not many things that bother me as much as throwing out food. I would rather run out and have to get more then to waste it. Maybe that comes from the days in my past when food was scarce and I went to bed hungry some nights. Anyways back to the bananas.

Bananas are shipped into our region so they are not always the ripest when we bring them home. We had a bunch of bananas in the house a few weeks ago that were so under-ripe they were almost a florescent green color. I had to do a double take when I first saw them. I guess the correct term would be that they were raw. In that state they are really not very good for you to eat unless you actually cook them. So we hung them on the banana hanger and waited; waited for them to ripen. It took several days but they finally did ripen into something that was eatable and rather good for you.

I find myself like those bananas sometime, flat out raw, not yet ready for general consumption. I need to sit and ripen for awhile. Seems funny when you consider that I am over 50 and yet I still have to ripen in some areas of my life. I am formed in the right image, just not ripe yet. If I were to run out and do what I was created to do that early I would cause a great big stomach ache. Instead I have to hang around for awhile and let that part of me, that skill, that dream, that idea, that vision, that desire ripen until I have reached the state where I am rich with nutrition and sweet to be around.

So as I hang here and ripen, please don’t throw me out, I will come out the perfect fruit.

Col 3:10

A Handshake Said It All

It is common practice in the US and in most cultures to greet each other with a handshake, especially upon the 1st introduction. Handshakes tell a lot about a person. Do you make direct eye contact? Do you initiate the handshake, demonstrating your eagerness to meet the other person? Nobody likes a limp handshake. You show respect for yourself and the other person through a handshake.

It was a bright sunny, Sunday morning and I was greeting at the front doors of our old church building. A stranger walked up and I immediately reached out to take his hand and introduce myself. We had never met before but as soon as his eyes lit up and his warm hand grasped mine, I knew I had met a special man. By that one handshake many years ago I knew that he was a kind, gentle and caring man; a man that knew who he was and had lived through much only to come out of every situation better.

I remember that handshake and every other one afterwards and came to know him as someone I would call a friend. Always quick to take my hand in his and just say hi. Never in a hurry, there is always time. Over the years his body became weaker, but the warmth and gentle strength of his handshake has never lessened.

This week my friend Manfred shook the hand of Jesus face-to-face.

I will forever remember that handshake.

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The way it should be

Part of the Process

Earlier this week I had a minor surgical procedure on my shoulder and things are going better than expected, my doctor is even surprised, Thank You Jesus. Now it is just time for the healing to take place.

With any healing it is a process, I have more mobility and less pain every day. I have bruises that have started to appear and are now going through the various stages of color dark purple to green to yellow. I have a rash from the bandage tape that is fading. The worst part is the stitches. I have two of them and with each day they are becoming more and more of a nuisance. As I have more use of that arm they tend to pull, and itch! My goodness they itch, I know that is a good indication of the healing and I will resist the urge to pull them out myself and wait until Monday and let the doctor do it.

Physical healing is a process but so is emotional. We all experience the pain, irritation and the different phases of healing. Just like with the stitches we would love to pull out and skip that part, but we are only truly healed and not scarred if we allow the full process to take place.