I Was Just Thinking...........

Hair may appear bigger in the photo than in actuality.

………….or not.

Okay…….you can stop laughing now. Everyone had big hair back then….right? Aquanet extra super hold hairspray was the one hair product I couldn’t do without, but it is highly flammable. I would get really nervous when I went to concerts and the band played a ballad. That’s when everyone carrying a lighter, would light it, raise the flame, and wave it around. It was probably the one time that being short worked to my advantage.

In this photo, I was on my way to a Bon Jovi concert. The shirt obviously gave that away. If you look closely, my favorite ripped-up jeans are autographed by a Memphis band, ToraTora. I’m sure they’re worth loads of money now.

Oh, and that was my favorite leather jacket, and I still have it. I just couldn’t part with it. We went through so much together!

I really appreciate all of you who take time to read my blog, and I would like to know more about you all. Specifically, your church background. Absolutely, no judgment from me. I’m just curious. So here are a few questions for you. You can post your answers in the “leave a comment” or if you would rather you can send them to my e-mail.

1. Were you raised attending a church regularly?
2. If so, what denomination was the church you attended?
3. Do you attend a church now?
4. Is it the same denomination you were raised in? If different, why did you change?
5. If you don’t attend a church now, what are your reasons why?

I will start. I was raised going to a rural, very conservative, nondenominational church regularly, and my family was very active in that church. I have always attended church regularly and still do. Currently, we (my husband, our two kids and I) attend a nondenominational church, so I guess I kind of stuck with the way I was raised.

Now it’s your turn.

I’m still here. I just haven’t had time to blog much lately. We stay pretty busy in the summer. Here’s a quick run down of this past week.

Monday - Doctor’s appointment in KC. Praise…my cysts have shrunk to one centimeter. The kids were not good this trip.
Tuesday - Our neighbor’s cat had kittens a couple of weeks ago and some idiot ran over the mama cat, so I offered to help bottle feed the kittens.
Wednesday - Drove to Lincoln, MO to meet Chris’s mom, so Kaitlyn could spend a few days with her. Then we went to my parents’ farm.
Thursday - Got a wake up call from my other neighbor. Her husband had kidney stones and she needed to take him to the ER. I watched their kids who are two, four and seven until 4:00 pm. I’m glad we were home to help.

Today, so far, I’m planning on spending with Tristan, since his sis isn’t home. A mom and son day. I promised I would take him to his favorite restaurant for lunch.

Hopefully next week I’ll have more time to write. Have a great weekend everyone!

I’ve met Brad (not his real name) on three different occasions. He is eighteen and fresh out of high school. I first met him at the JCCA Fireworks tent. As he came up to pay, we asked if he was military, and he replied not yet, but I will be in a couple of weeks. He then explained he wanted to be one of the “few and the proud”. He spoke with great enthusiasm about his decision.

The following Sunday, we walk into our Sunday school class and Brad is there. He came with a friend and again he spoke at length and with much excitement, about going into the military. He was asked if he was nervous about boot camp, and he answered, no I can’t wait! I’m gonna be in San Diego, on the beaches. He talked about it as if it were a vacation. The shaved head didn’t bother him. Being called things other than his name didn’t seem to faze him. The job security appealed to him though. The recruiter’s did their job well.

Yesterday, he sat in Sunday school class once again, just hours before leaving for boot camp. His decision about going never waned. He has a great attitude. I hope that doesn’t change. He has plans and dreams. At eighteen, he has such a different perspective of the world, and it made me smile.

He sat in front of us during the church service, and afterwards Chris and I wished him well and told him we would be praying for him. With tears in his eyes, he gave me a big hug, and shook Chris’s hand. And when I looked into those eighteen year old eyes, I just saw a kid. A kid ready to face this harsh world. A kid that I will pray for, and hope he keeps God the center of his life.

I was awaken last night at 3:00 am by a sharp pain in my right foot. A year and half ago I was going through my daily routine, but a simple miscalculation as I was going down the steps sent me to the bottom. The pain in my foot was instant. I went to the doctor and he told me I had two fractures in the fourth metatarsal.

I was fitted with a boot cast, which was a plus because I could take it off at night for bed and to shower. The first week and a half of wearing that cast was horrible. My entire leg hurt because of the extra weight of the cast, and my other leg hurt because I was shifting my weight to leg. My back hurt. I basically hurt everywhere at first. Walking was slow at first. Going up and down steps was even slower. I couldn’t drive. But after about the fifth and sixth week, the cast had just became part of me. Over time my body had adjusted and I could walk at a regular pace.

At the end of the sixth week, the doctor said I didn’t have to wear the cast any longer. The day I took it off, I felt so light and free, and little apprehensive. I still had some pain, and I kind of wanted to put the cast back on. It was like a safety net of sorts, something I had grown comfortable with, but didn’t need.

Isn’t sin often like that cast; a simple miscalculation or error in judgment and we’re suddenly bound to something that wasn’t in God’s plan. Something that weighs us down, but perhaps over time we’ve become so accustomed to, we ignore it. Even to the point where we feel comfortable with it and rationalize it. Maybe it’s just the opposite though. We may think we are way beyond ever being forgiven. Way beyond saving. And that’s simply not true.

God desires to have a relationship with us. It doesn’t matter what we did fifteen years ago, yesterday or what we were planning today. He most graciously offered His son to take on all that sin we’ve been carrying around and He forgives and restores what was broken. He forgives and forgets.

Although I still have pain in my foot from time to time as a reminder of my miscalculation, I am healed. I can walk……free……without the weight of the cast.