Once Upon a Sunday

There I was one Sunday morning minding my own business when God decided to step in and make obvious He had a rather unexpected plan...and had all along.  That morning I was tired (as I often am), but tired enough to pray again about it.

"Father God, I'm so tired.  I can't keep doing this all by myself.  I know I'm supposed to trust you solely, but unless you plan to come down here and mow my lawn and wash my dishes, you have got to send me someone."

And there was an "Amen" at some point.  This was not a totally unusual prayer for me.  I'd prayed similar ones before.  But this time the words I said would stick with me...probably for the rest of my rational life.

Later that morning, after the early service for which I am music coordinator, I got into a conversation with the man who runs the screens for the that service.  He asked me about what it was like being a single foster-parent.  We chatted while we were waiting for one of the other worship leaders to arrive for some brief system training.  Afterward he asked if I'd like to get some lunch.  I found myself agreeing without thinking about it.

So we went to lunch.  It was nice.  Took longer than I had originally anticipated, but I still had just enough time to get home and get ready before going to choir rehearsal.  As we were parting ways in the parking lot it occurred to me I had just accidentally gone on a date.

That week was going to be a short one.  I was getting ready to leave town to go to Vegas with Mom.  There was so much to do.  I was feeling very overwhelmed.  How was I going to get everything done I needed to before I had to leave?  And now there's this man from church asking for my attention, wanting to go out to dinner, see me, spend time with me...and that Tuesday night he mowed my lawn while I did the trimming and tended to the garden.  And Samson made a new best friend.

The following night I did cave and we had dinner followed by me in the roll of technical support trying to help fix and update his laptop.  Not my usual gig and it almost completely halted any forward progress in getting ready to leave town.

That Thursday I left work early, went to physical therapy, and then came home feeling quite frantic about all that remained to be done.  And I had company again.  This time he was washing my dishes while I packed.

Did you catch that?  Prayer on Sunday.  Asked out on Sunday.  Then he mowed my yard.  Then he washed my dishes.  Mind...blown.

Coincidences and random things in common started to pile up.  I go into some sort of shock.  What in the heck?!  Okay, God.  I appreciate the lack of subtlety.  In fact, I had asked for that at some point along the way, too.  I said (and I quote), "Make it obvious."  So, apparently, He did.

Five weeks passed.  It was Sunday.  I was sick.  I felt miserable, was coughing and stuffy.  He had made me dinner and there were two roses in a vase on the table.  How sweet!  And here I was feeling yucky.  I managed to eat some and then put on my pjs, put Vics under my nose and curled up on the sofa to just watch some TV for a while before I would send him home and go to bed.  Or...

...I could get engaged instead.  Came to learn he had been planning to propose and then almost didn't since I was sick, but in his words, he "just couldn't wait."  So he proposed anyway despite my pjs, germs, and Vics nose.  In sickness and and health, right?

I know what you're thinking.  Certifiable?  Quite possibly.  But it gets better.

So, now we are planning a wedding.  The date will be January 1st...2017.  New year, new life, new beginning...and it's a Sunday.  Keeping it very small with just the immediate family and the one friend each standing up with us, so no one but them has to figure out how to be comfortable in long underwear underneath dress clothes...since we'll be outside for the ceremony.  (Should help Pastor keep things brief unless the outdoor heaters are just too darn good.)

We're now just about seven weeks out from the wedding and God has had His hands in the planning, too, as everything from the dress to the rings has gone very quickly and smoothly.  We both see the signs all around us of His handiwork, His planning, His purpose.  Not in a million years would I have expected to be writing this blog post.  If you'd asked me five years ago when I moved to Lincoln where I would be by 2017, I'd have not guessed getting married and preparing to bring not just a husband, but also a teenage step-daughter and step-chihuahua puppy into my home.  Heck, you could have asked me that just a couple months ago and I'd not have guessed anything near this!

But the Lord does work in mysterious ways, and there's just no denying He's been at work in both our lives to prepare us for, well, each other, and all that we bring with us.  I've spent a considerable amount of time trying to wrap my mind around that one...It's impossible to fathom.  I have found it is less impossible to just accept what God has obviously planned and just be in awe of how I am being loved.  I'm pretty sure I no longer live in the state of Nebraska, but in a state of perpetual amazement.

All that being said, we're not doing any formal engagement photos, but it would probably be bad form to not introduce you all somehow to my husband-to-be.  So, we took some lack-luster selfies (we're too old maybe to be able to take good selfies, or maybe a selfie by definition is a bad picture), so you can at least get an idea of what he looks like.  His name is James Schulz, by the way, but you may call him Jim.  He looks forward to getting to know all my crazy family and friends...which may just go to show that he's just as silly in the head as the rest of us, and that's okay.

Jim & Corrine Sunday, November 6, 2016

A Special Day with a Special 8-Year-Old

It was perfect weather on a weekend in October.  Perfect for taking Ivy horseback riding for the first time as her special birthday gift from her Auntie.

After her soccer game, Ivy hurriedly changed clothes and we headed to Mahoney State Park.  Upon arrival, literally a dream came true.  "We only have one horse available at 4:00."  What?!  I had that exact dream not more than a couple weeks prior.  In that dream our plans were utterly decimated.  But, the ladies took pity on my poor panicked expression and called nearby Platte River State Park to see if they had any availability.  Hallelujah!  They had plenty of room and we had only to kill about 45 minutes.  Off we went on our grand adventure!!

Anxiously waiting for the horses to appear.

Saying hello.

Smile, horsey!

Finally atop a real horse!

Curly and Wasabi, here we go!

One Happy Cowgirl

 After the excitement of riding horses for an hour, we went looking for food and found great food at The Main Street Cafe in Louisville.  More fun and adventure!

Hungry cowgirls ready to order! 

A grown up 8-year-old

Play hard.  Nap hard.

We had a blast and she determined we need to go horseback riding for every birthday...and go with the whole family.  Sounds like she had the same kind of fun her sister did for her birthday.  Who's the cool Auntie?  :)

A Little Mommy-Daughter Vacation

I had two free nights in Las Vegas at my disposal, so I packed up my mommy and went on a vacation.  We didn't do a stitch of gambling or see any of the shows, but we explored and laughed and had our own little adventure.

Our flight out of Omaha was delayed several hours, so we got a later start than expected, but made it eventually.  We definitely were not in Nebraska anymore!

Where we stayed: The Hilton Grand Vacation Resort

Once we were settled at the hotel, we hit the pavement and hiked about halfway down the strip and back again, soaking in the sights, taking pictures, eating and exploring.

A kind foreign tourist took our picture for us outside the Venetian.

The view from a walkway outside the Venetian.  Yes, those are functioning gondolas down there.

One of the highlights of our first night there was going to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.

I met Frank Sinatra!

I promise I rescued Mom from the Hulk...after taking a great photo first.

 After dinner at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas where we each got souvenir glasses), we walked along the strip again to see what the evening had to offer.

The famous light and water show at the Bellagio.

Random costumed street artist floating in the air.  No idea how he did that.

Another light and water show this one set to show tunes and classic Sinatra sounds.  I forget which casino had this one.

Day Two: Adventure upon adventure!  Horseback riding followed by a drive out to Lake Mead and Hoover Dam.

Receiving instructions from the quintessential example of a cowboy.

Happy Trails!

 

The only way to get a shot of both of us while riding single-file is a strange angled selfie.

Photo stop along the trail.  Thanks, trail guides!

Lake Mead viewed from the National Park's visitor's center.

En rout to the dam we stopped at the Memorial Bridge.  Don't look down!

A brave selfie with our backs to the railing way, way, way, way high up on the windy bridge.

Bird's eye view of Hoover Dam

Have to pose with the sign to prove I was there you know.

This thing is massive beyond description.

 On our last night there, we headed out again to explore.  This time we wandered to the old strip to check out the "Fremont Street Experience."

Entrance to the "Fremont Street Experience" where no cars are allowed and there's all sorts of sensory overload.

Under the canopy that stretches from one end of the "Experience" to the other with regular light/music shows...and zip lines.  We are not that brave.

The next morning we attended a small church where we met some nice people and crossed paths with someone who is related to another member of the family.  Small Lutheran world!  We were delayed in the airport on the way home, too, so got back to the farm really late and really worn out from all the excitement.  I think we needed a vacation from our vacation when we got back.  Totally worth it though.  I should take vacations more often.  Mom, it was so fun adventuring with you!

An Awesome Night

  Thursday night I was blessed with the opportunity to attend the Chris Tomlin concert at the Nebraska State Fair.  This was the second time I've seen Chris Tomlin in concert.  He's one of my favorite musicians to see, hear, and sing.  But what made the evening truly special was that I was honored to share it with my oldest niece and first god-child, Nikki.  It was her first "real" concert.  I'm so grateful her parents let me take their newly 9-year-old all the way to Grand Island and stay out way past bedtime on a school night for something so awesome as a packed (standing room only) auditorium of people singing praise in unbridled worship led by one of the best Christian musicians of our time.

I confess it was emotionally and spiritually overwhelming as I watched her wide-eyed try to take in the scene, process the view of thousands of people all standing and cheering and singing together, and the joy and excitement on her face when she recognized songs.  What an amazing moment to share with my god-daughter!  There are very few people with whom I can share this type of thing who would actually want to be there and who would get something out of it.  What a blessing Thursday to share this with my niece!

She was impressed to learn later that these types of events happen all the time and that every year the Thursday concert at the Nebraska State Fair is a Christian music artist or band.  We decided to find more of these and she thought it would be okay to bring along her sister next time.  This might have to become a tradition!

It occurs to me as I write that there are a plethora of paths my life could have taken, places I could have been, people I could have been with.  So many of those alternative paths would not have left me with an evening like Thursday.  It was definitely one of the highlights of this particular path.  Who knows if we'll have opportunities like that one again?  God willing there will be many, many more.

Recent Changes

As many will attest, a constant in life is change.  We've had some around here recently.

After 16 years sponsoring a child in Guatemala (whom I visited last summer), the agency has decided that area is doing well enough they were more needed elsewhere in the same country.  My sponsorship will be ending about three and a half months earlier than expected.  After so many years, it is really hard to imagine not having Carlos as a part of my life albeit from a distance.  I've decided to go ahead and sponsor a new child in Guatemala.

Another change around here: new car!  My new baby is a Subaru Forester Limited.  It's fancy pants!!  I'm loving it and have become almost paranoid parking farther away, having the overwhelming desire to clean it, so on and so forth.  It's name is George after the Looney Tunes sketch with the monster who grew attached to Daffy ("I will love him, and squeeze him, and call him George.")  My car's name is George...and yes, I am special, but my mommy loves me.

The biggest change was in our household.  After about exactly five months, one of my foster-daughters was moved to a different home where there were closer ties to her relatives.  It was a little sudden, but a little expected at the same time.  We'd all gotten used to a full house, so it is strange to have a room empty again.  I pray the new placement works out well for her and that she continues to improve and grow and excel.

And now we wait to see what God has in mind next.  Meanwhile, I hustle to make sure my trainings get done in time to keep me legal and I keep my eyes and ears open for the next indication of the proper path.  I'm sure there are many more changes to come and who knows how soon...or not.

Book Review and Food for Thought

I recently read a book titled I Don't Wait Anymore by Grace Thornton (Zondervan Publishing, 2016).  It's caused my brain to do all sorts of thinking.  I generally don't mind thinking, but it's left me doing more of it than usual, I think.  There was a lot of good food for thought throughout, but some things really, and I mean really struck me.  Thoughts about the choices we make (how and why and when) and the perspective we take on our lives are rattling around in my brain like crazy.  I need to share a bit.

"So you see it comes down to one thing.  Every day I have a choice.  I can focus on how life doesn't look like I wanted it to, how it's moving at a crawl, the way the road's too slippery, the way the outlook on the ground is gross or frustrating or exhausting for miles and miles.  I can worry if something much worse is going to happen if I walk on into what's ahead of me.

Or I can choose a song.  I can choose to sip my coffee slowly and keep my eyes on the goodness tumbling down from the sky, choose to keep my heart in a place of total, unwavering praise."  (pgs 172-173)

Okay, so I can't relate to the coffee drinking, but the musician's heart in me was piqued.  Most importantly, though, it reminded me that I have the choice: frustration and worry, or peace and joy.

 "Ann Voskamp says that our time is precious, like diamonds.  It's short, friends.  It's short.  Even if you were to live a full ninety years.  If a .05 carat diamond were used to represent each week of those 90 years, they'd barely fill up a tablespoon.  That's a really, really small amount of very precious time. And we aren't even guaranteed that much.

We don't have time to settle.  We don't have minutes to just throw away.

It would be a sad way of spending our spoonfuls, she says, to waste eah diamond wishing we had a better one, thinking that this one wasn't good enough.  Thinking that God wasn't good enough.  Thinking everything would be better if..."  (pgs 187-188)

This passage had probably it's desired effect.  Three words: sense of urgency.  Time (and life) is too precious to waste.  It's frustrating in a way for me.  Now I'm thinking, "How much time have I wasted?  How many times should I have picked a different path?" and, the most plaguing thought: "Now what?"

"At every moment of the journey - not just the forks in the road - there's an opportunity, a choice.  There's the chance to choose the normal, and there's a chance to choose a story.  So often we don't even recognize that the choice is there."  (pg 204) 

And that word "choice" is back again.  It happens over and over and over.  Choices matter - some short term, some long term - but they matter nonetheless.  And I have frequently said I'm glad I'm not and don't really want to be "normal."  Not that there aren't days (don't get me wrong) when "normal" sounds nice because theoretically "normal" would be easier.  But I'd prefer having a good story with a happy ending, thanks anyway.

So the book is aimed at people along the lines of my demographic (being single and female), but there's something to offer for others as well.  I would highly recommend it for my single female friends, though.  And beg a level of forgiveness from the rest of you who wonder what has happened to my brain and attitude.  Must have been something I read.

An Interesting Interview

This was really interesting.  This is not for the liberal among you...if there are any who actually pay attention to me.  Or maybe it is, because it might prove to be food for thought.  And don't assume this means I want to go out and buy a bunch of guns and arm myself and my home.  I just think it's right that my fellow citizens get to arm themselves.  (You know who you are.)  Enjoy!

http://www.billoreilly.com/video/public-appearances?pid=20751

A Neat Moment

Some moments make some choices totally worth it.  We had some of those the other day...well, I did...or I recognized the moments even if the girls didn't.

I have these girls in my house who just needed a safe, healthy place to be.  They have families out there and even if they don't say the words to my face, there are definitely "you aren't the mom of me" moments and attitudes.  But the other day I got to overhear being called "foster-mom" and they referred to each other as foster-sisters.

In those brief moments, in their choosing of those words, we were a little family unit and it seemed like maybe, just maybe, my choice to do this wasn't so hair-brained as some might have thought.  I have witnessed transformation in these two girls and hope to see even more.  If  nothing else, at least for a time, I gave them a safe and healthy family.

The Big Project

This Memorial Day and week was busy.  There was a lot to do and luckily I had some awesome help...misadventures and all!

Hey.  At least I mowed.

Before #1

Before #2

Go, Mom, go!

Team work!

In Process

So much better!

And then for something completely different...plumbing fail!

First we discovered the water running under the sink...

Then we discovered it was running into the basement and making it rain.

So we shut off all the water to the house because we couldn't get it to stop and went back to work on the yard.

More of the process

Getting closer!  Almost done!

This part is done!

And this part

Let there be gate!

Finished product!

Putting together a new toy...

Look!  I made fire!

We did some other things here and there, but those are the highlights and the big projects that got finished.  Thanks so much to Dad, Justin, and Mom for being the best helpers/workers ever!  The garden and yard look great and I think Samson is enjoying having the extra space to run.