Counting Chicks

Remember the old saying, "Don't count your chicks before they hatch"? Well, I should have remembered that over the past few months.



Last school year, I substituted as occasion allowed for Instructional Assistants in the local school district. I thought my service in this role was appreciated. And I particularly enjoyed my interaction with students in the "Learning Center." This is the group who are only mildly disadvantaged in their learning processes. I got to sit in with them in some of their mainstream classes. And I worked with them in the Learning Center sessions as well, when they worked on special projects designed to help them increase their comprehension and application of concepts and information.



In the Spring, one of the male teachers approached me about applying for one of the upcoming vacancies that would occur in their department. He said that if I was interested, he would campaign earnestly for my acceptance. He felt that the department needed more male presence (at that point, all 4 IA's in the department were young ladies) and that I would be a good fit for their needs.



I figured, with inside support like that, I was virtually assured of getting hired. He did his part. I know he did all he could. But other forces weighed in and other people were chosen--again. (This has happened before.)



Unfortunately, I (and to a degree BW also) had been counting on this job. I/we felt it would meet some definite needs we have for clearing our credit card debts. And it would enable me to take more short term mission trips. We had already been planning some opportunities--tentatively planning. It was more like dreaming.



But when the dream turned sour yesterday evening (I first wrote this on Tuesday, 26 August), I felt the hit particularly hard.

(Following added, 29 Aug:) I'm feeling somewhat better now. It suddenly occurred to me that I think I must have a fair quantity of resilience inside me, because I keep getting knocked down and I keep getting back up and trudging on. So already I'm thinking of some alternative courses of action (no firebombing the Sped department is NOT one of the courses). But I still have occasional, brief spaces of time when I wonder why I keep doing anything.

Thanks for reading!

Ramadan prayer

Tonight I received this note from my VOM state coordinator:

I am writing to share a resource I have found useful in bringing awareness of prayer for Muslims. In particular during the Islamic month of Ramadan. The dates for Ramadan follow the shorter lunar calendar. In 2008, Ramadan begins approximately on September 1st and ends on September 30th. This may vary from country to country because the fasting period begins and ends with the sighting of the crescent moon. ~ 30 Day Fire Prayer Guide~

This link to 30 Days Fire has great information to assist with remembering to pray for Muslims.

www.30daysfire.net

God Bless,
[name withheld]


Lu 10:2 Then He said to them, "The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

Would you please go to this web site (CLICK HERE) and get involved? After the intro on that page, they will link you to this page. I've only started looking at the info and ideas. But time is short. So I'm doing what I can to get the word out.

Every day thousands (that's right--thousands) of Muslims turn to Christ. How is this happening?

It's simple really....

AND....

it's kind of involved and hard to explain....

BUT....

it all boils down to prayer ....

and one of the best times to pray is when the Muslims are spiritually sensitive--during Ramadan.

It begins September 1. So please join me and get started!

tyvm

Coming out of Babylon

I know the majority of my readers do not call yourselves theologians. I know that 2 or 3 aspire to the possibility and grant that they try to order their theologies. And half of that latter group rarely give any comments here.

But could ya... would ya do something for a brother? (This request is for "non"-theologian types as well as "aspire-to-be-"theologian types.)

Would you look at Revelation 18:4, and tell the rest of my readership: What does the heavenly messenger mean by "come out of her [viz. Babylon/Rome], my people"???

In our home Bible study group this past Thursday, we got into a lively and enlightening discussion. I actually felt pleasently surprised at the turn of the interaction.

Before you take the plunge and reply, however, we should cross a couple things off the list: (1) This is NOT a geographical command, because (a) it cannot refer to leaving the city of Rome because the churches receiving this letter were in Asia Minor, already a few hundred miles away from the city of Rome; and (b) it cannot refer to leaving the empire of Rome because for all intents and purposes they could not leave the geographical empire. So it is NOT a geographical command.

(2) While some of the traditional "do's and don't's" might enter into such a discussion, I hope you will look beyond those because that tends so easily to become legalistic.

So once more: How can followers of Christ "come out of" our modern day Babylon/Rome?

tyvm

Clouds

This past Tuesday evening as we were finishing walking Kasama, we noticed the clouds at sunset. So BW hurried inside for the camera and these are some of the results.

Notice the moon in the background, above. This is looking southeast.

Looking almost due west.



And this video goes 360 degrees.

ttfn

My creation

Okay, so most of my vast readership already knows that I am not inclined to manual projects. I mentioned previously that it took me 2 days to assemble the BBQ. Well, this week's project (after FS & hubby left) was to assemble bedside tables (from IKEA). Fortunately, I've assembled the wall shelves from IKEA previously. So I already had an idea of how to interpret their "instructions" booklet (what a trip that is!). So these only took me a couple hours--after FS & hubby left.
Well, any time I "assemble" something and it turns out they way the pictures says it's supposed to look, I feel kinda proud. So I wanted to show it off to you.

ttfn

Gale and Cheri visit!

My favorite sister Cheri and her husband Gale visited after the wedding!

So of course we had to show off the beautiful Columbia River Gorge.

I met them at Crown Point (not shown) and escorted them through the waterfall area.

The next day all five of us (Kasama included of course) hiked the Twin Tunnels Trail from Mosier. These are pics from that excursion.
I must explain BW's grimace above: This was one of the first times I used the timer. So when I rushed back into place, I banged into her hand! :( We didn't have time to compose ourselves after her injury (which has since healed).

More posts to come! They're stacking up on me now that I've started in again. :)

ttfn

Wedding time

These come from the actual ceremony.

Not sure they need explanation.
Her mother made the dress.
Walking the bride.

I think they called this the "Unity Sand Ceremony." They took 2 containers of different colored sand (green and white). And they poured the contents into a common container, representing 2 separate lives merging without losing their individual identity.

The kiss!

As previously mentioned, you can see ALL my pics from the wedding at webshots.com. Just click here and discover 2 albums about the wedding, plus another about Joe's wedding last year, plus a whole bunch more albums about a bunch of other activities.

Wedding morning

Okay...

Some pics from the pre-ceremony preparations.

The garden area where people will gather.

This is at the Hanson Country Inn, located at Corvallis, Oregon.

Amber & Rick "posing" for the photographer. (Sorry, I don't have his web-site.) His name is Jason and his partner is Amy. They did a great job, getting shots everywhere, before and during and after the ceremony--all without getting in the way or distracting!

The main wedding party: (L-R) Angela, Erin, Amber, Rick, Scott.

(Yes, 2 female attendants and 1 male--deal with it.)

Jeremy, Amber, Joseph, joking while the photographer works.

Almost time, FD squeezed the big wedding gown into a chair in the living room and immediately crossed her legs! Maybe you had to be there to catch the humor in the moment.

As said before, you can see all my pics at webshots.com. Just click here and you can see all my photo albums.

ttfn

Wedding weekend

We enjoyed our "rehearsal dinner" on Saturday evening.Here Sara & BW come back from swinging together (see swings in background).
BW found a climbing wall and scaled the heights!
Here is the "whole crew." I think I could call everyone's name. But following Favorite Daughter's example, I won't name them here.
FD with mother-in-law Carol and sister-in-law Jennifer.
Afterward, we got together with others who had gathered for the big event. Went to a fun spot in Corvallis called, "New Morning Bakery." It's more than a bakery; more like a relaxed gathering spot with great food & drinks.

See more pics at my webshots pages! Click here.

ttfn

Wedding time

Last night we had the rehearsal for Amber's wedding. It's being held at the Hanson Country Inn, Corvallis, Oregon.

Ha! You were expecting the first pic to be of Amber! Weren't you?

That's Jeremy (L), then Rick (fiance) and Scott (Rick's bro-in-law).

The rest of Rick's family: Brittany (L), niece; Jennifer, sister; David, nephew; Richard, father; Carol, mother.

Clowning around as we practice walking in.

Sara (L), stood in for Angela; Erin & Amber.

Overview...

For a full slideshow, you can go to this link and click on the "slideshow" option. It even includes a couple videos that show an overview of the whole garden area.