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| Westward, Ho!Yeah, I didn't think we could get much further west, being out in the boonies of Idaho. But God moves in mysterious ways!
Recent events have been happening, and my wonderful husband, Luke, was blessed with an offer to teach at a school and help build their secondary curriculum and be the vision for the classical, Christian school. This is basically his dream job: of course he loves to teach, but to really help the vision of the school, and to guide the kids along will be absolutely fantastic! Naturally, this is going to take tons of work, tons of prayer, a lot of sacrifices, and all our perseverance. But we aren't afraid or uncertain that this is what we should do. God opened these doors to this school wide, while closing other school's doors quite firmly (at least for now) so that we had quite an easy choice and knew where he was leading.
So next month we are off to Oregon! This is bittersweet because although we are excited to be moving and learning how to become part of a different community, after being so long in this wonderful community, we are going to have to leave ALL our family behind. Literally! They all live here! It's been beautiful to live so near Luke's parents, my parents, all of our siblings and their little families, my aunt and uncle, their kids, and my grandparents. Also, we are only about 7 hours away from Luke's grandparents and a bunch of his aunts and uncles and cousins.
But Oregon isn't so far away, really, in comparison with other places on the east coast that we were considering. God was gracious in that respect, and our families have all threatened to visit us - which delighted us!  We will need visiting and need to see our family, especially while we are getting established in a new place.
It's great how God opens doors and while you think you are making the biggest decision in your life (moving away from everyone you love) and the immensity of the whole thing has you in a grip, when suddenly, God nudges you a few steps through the door. You look around, and realize it's the only thing and God has been making that particular move possible over the last few weeks..."Hey, that wasn't so hard!"
That's kind of how I feel it has been for us, easy because we asked God specifically to make the decision very, very clear to us and that everything would go smoothly if we were supposed to go to Oregon. And He did!
As for God, His way is perfect;The word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.
2 Samuel 22:31 | | |
| Yesterday's WildlifeAlmost ran over an arrogant pheasant that dashed in front of my car on my way to clean a home. I looked in the rearview mirror after passing him and saw him strutting back to the same side of the road.
Four hours later, I was on the same road, done cleaning, and headed home. At the last moment, but at the same spot only on the other side of the road this time, Mr. Neener-neener plunged once again in front of my car only to narrowly escape. "Do you have a death wish??" I suppose I was just in the path of his pheasant patrol.
Later, headed north on the highway, Luke and I saw about 20 deer in a field. Soon, we realized that just about every field growing winter wheat was also crowded with at least 20-40 deer munching heartily as unto the Lord.
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| A Snapshot of Shadiah10/08: "Shadiah doesn't take easily to strangers, but she likes you!" Her mother informed me about two weeks after I'd been coming daily to help with housework. About 4 days after I had begun the children's nearby great-grandmother died. The whole family struggled with that loss for a week, and during that time the 1 1/2 year old was lonely. Her parents were helping the older children deal with the grief, teaching them to not take it out on each other, watch their tempers and be extra careful to be loving.
Shadiah didn't say anything, but reached for her mother. Someone was in her place, had occupied her mother's arms all morning. This little boy was suddenly in the way, had been in the way for one month and Shadiah was jealous and needy. This boy was new, smaller than her, but somehow had found a way to always get into mommy's arms and get attention first.
Shadiah began going into the kitchen and watching the strange girl take all the dishes off the table, baptize them in the sink, and later tuck them back in the cupboard. After a few days of observation, she began standing on the girl's shoes, holding onto the legs of her pants. That was the signal she gave, and the girl understood and would toss her high in the air. Shadiah's grin burst into a laugh that shrieked when she was high in the air not touching anything, and bubbling when the girl caught her on the way down.
2/09: The 2 year old sits on stool nearby as I dry dishes, softly padding her feet on the kitchen floor and holding a bear. She hasn't talked yet, but makes squeaks, grunts, and mm's to get what she wants and needs. She often gets lost amid the raucous noise her 6 older siblings make, and thus became my shadow while I work, handing me laundry, standing next to me while I wash dishes, fold clothes, pick up toys, wipe off tables. More often than not she insists I swing her around. Her usual greeting to my arrival is to take my hands in hers, pull her feet up and hang there by her arms, waiting to fly with an expectant, smiling look in her eyes.
The gentle sound of her bare feet on the cold floor was the first I notice of her sitting around the corner of the counter. I swing her onto my hip and explain the importance of doing a good job of cleaning silverware. I always talk to her as if she could reply back with words, instead of throat noises. She could talk, but she won't. She didn't try walking for a long time, either. But one day, she got up and ran out the door, her mother not far behind and anxious to snatch her before she reached the road, but so thrilled at her accomplishment that there was not much scolding for her independence.
So I ask her questions, and wait.
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| Letters of Athanasius; a Word from JohnI was going over my old Hill Abbey journals, and here are some pearls of wisdom from Athanasius, followed by a quote from John that has been running in my head. What a joy and consolation that the forgiveness and cleansing of God is His justice and delight! What wondrous love is this?
Salvation: "For He regarded our salvation as a delight and a peculiar gain; while on the contrary He looked upon our destruction as loss." - Festal Letter VI.4 Thankfulness: "It is a wicked thing for us who receive the gracious gift, not to acknowledge it..." - Festal Letter IV.3 Works: "For the crown is not given not according to position, but according to action." - Letter to Dracontius, chap. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness- I John 1:9 | | |
| Zorba the dogZorba is an Airedale Terrier. The primary reason we are housesitting is so that we can give attention and take care of the dog of some friends of mine.
This is very much what Zorba looks like. He has been wet and muddy looking before, but thankfully not all the time! The dog in this picture has a tail about twice as long as Zorba's. Zorba's tail is just a stubby little tail, that wags like a clock ticking. Most dogs with long tails have a more "swoosh" effect when they wag, but Zorba's tail is so short that it can't swoosh, it just ticks and tocks.
He's a sweet dog, with a good temperment, loves to be played with, and loves weird things like eating snow that's thrown at him, and is constantly at war with his arch enemy, Sammy the Squirrel (who always annoys Zorba by trespassing in his fenced yard).
Zorba has been a source of frustration and annoyance for both Luke and I. But there are plenty of moments when he is cute, and when he has had our sympathy and affection. Some of the frustrations come from his mild obedience. He's not too bad, but he seems to be constantly testing to see if the rule "Stay out of the kitchen!" is really a permanent and perpetual command. Zorba will usually obey us, but some days he'll just saunter into the kitchen as if he always goes in there, and we have to be quick to command him to get out and stay out. Once he's out he'll rarely try it again right away, he usually waits a few hours or til the next morning. Luke thinks this is good practice for us for when we are parents. Just as with children, we are trying to be quick and consistent with rules and punishments. We also want to be consistent with praise and give him lots of love and attention.
But there have been days when we've both been busy during the day, and we are tired and want to sit and read together in the evening. Zorba is outside when we are gone, but he doesn't give himself exercise. He's not as self-disciplined as the people in workout videos. So Zorba has all this energy and need for attention, and he's feeling playful and wants to be chased, to play tug-o-war with his toy duck and us. We've been better about giving him good walks recently, and are learning that he needs not only the exercise but the attention and time with us.
The other day Zorba heard a car alarm go off, and started whining desperately. When I let him inside, he dashed up the stairs and proceeded to whine there for a while, and would not come down to eat. I brought his food up to him! The poor guy was lonely and scared and ate it later in the night.
A few weeks ago, I had a habit of putting a stick of butter on the heat vent while it was on, to make it softer. This house doesn't have a microwave, so this little trick of thawing butter worked really well! Until I forgot to get it off the heat vent, and Zorba was let inside. He found it immediately, grabbed it and ran back outside. Luke stood in the doorway yelling for Zorba to drop it, and Zorba thought it was all fun and games, gingerly holding the stick of wrapped butter in his mouth. Luke found his shoes and ran after Zorba to the end of the yard. Luke tried to make him drop it, but in the next moment Zorba swallowed the butter stick - wrapping and all! I laughed. But I also don't soften the butter on the heat vent anymore.
About 15 mintues after the butter episode, Zorba got into a trash can and ate some tissue paper. He had plenty of fiber that day.
Although it was a change for us to get used to a big, smelly dog in the house most of the time, and although he will steal my slippers at any opportunity and triumphantly run through the house with them, and pushes his wet nose over the table to get a whiff or possibly a bite of our food, we have learned to like him.
Luke and I have talked before about getting a dog that would be able to be a semi-guard dog but also good with our future children. And now that we've experienced a dog that has access to almost every room in the house (the kitchen, and our bedroom are majorly off limits) we have definitely decided that we are not getting an indoor dog. It will be welcome inside every so often, but not for all day and all night.
I find, from past experience with my family's dog Penny and now with Zorba, that I can love them much easier when they are outside most of the time and are only visitors when they are in the house. Penny has gotten into mischief before, but because of her timid and humble nature she doesn't really try to create havoc when she's inside. Zorba thinks he has rights wherever he goes, but he does know that Luke and I are master. Luke is the one Zorba is mildly afraid of, and Zorba doesn't seem to fear me but often will sit next to me and follow me around like he's supposed to guard me. He also will sleep upstairs or by the back door a lot, but when he acts like he's attached to me, it sure is cute! And it shows that not only does man need dog, but dog needs man
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