The Event ~ The Morning Walk at Sunrise

The sunrise continues to be the most awesome event to experience.

For several years I have enjoyed getting up early (earlier than usual) and getting in a swift two-mile walk.  The early morning hours are the best time of the day, the calmest time of the day.  Walking in that calm, serene is a perfect time for prayer and meditation.   

I don't walk in the winter time or in stormy elements.  I'm not one of those die-hard walkers who are out there regardless of the weather.  I am a fair-weather walker!  I am  noticing it is getting harder and harder to get up earlier and earlier.  However, I think this gloomy, rainy, cold weather that has infringed into our normal beautiful April and May days are to blame for my resistance to getting up.   The weather is just not cooperating lately.

However, this morning, after a long, hard rain through the nite, it was quiet and serene and the sun showed promise of breaking through the clouds.  My husband prompted me to get up and walk, and I stood at the window observing the overcast sky and crawled back into bed.  With more guilt-laden prompting, I arose, dressed, and headed out the door.

The minute I stepped outside, I took in the fresh air and the warmth, calmness and stillness of the morning, and was so glad I did not waste this moment lingering longer in bed.   I walked my two miles, and then pulled a few weeds when I returned to the yard, and planted my cabbage plants in the garden. 

Today, the sun shown brightly through a parting in the clouds as it rose above the horizon.  Again, I felt thankful that I had not missed this sunrise. The sunrise is a most amazing event. 

I use this time to pray for my children, my friend Lori and her family, other friends in need,  my family, and today the people in Joplin, Missouri and other areas suffering weather wrath.   I give thanks to God for creating the beauty around me.  I sing the Doxolgy ~ "Praise God from whom all blessings flow. . . ." and the song I learned in Sunday School  as a child ~ "Thank you Lord for saving my soul, thank you Lord for making me whole.  Thank you Lord for giving to me. thy great salvation so rich and free."     I also talk to myself as I practice some ventriloquist dialogue.  This morning it was Delila ~ my pink and purple scatter brained bird ~  whom I conversed with.  It seems she wants to sing in the choir, insisting that all God's creatures have a place in the choir.  .   .   .  

The Event ~ God's Wrath

I sit here being thankful for living in this isolated little valley tucked down among the low-lying hills of western Nebraska, where we are so often removed from the glamour, excitement, newest and latest of the rest of the world, and more often than not, missing the severe weather that is turning the rest of the nation and the world into  disaster zones.

Week after week, year after year, we listen to and watch the news of devastation destroying communities, families, lives, and possessions  across the nation and the world, from hurricanes like Katrina in Louisiana and hurricanes in Florida, tornados recently tearing the state of Alabama apart, the sunamis destroying small countries on the other side of the world, earthquakes in Japan,  fires and floods in California,  the Mississippi flooding out millions of farmers' cropland and  communities along the boundaries of that mighty river; and now today seeing vivid pictures on the news of the mass destruction of Joplin, Missouri at the hand of the most powerful and  deadly single tornado in history.   And the weather experts promise more to come. . . .

We cannot control the weather!  The weather is a force of its own.  Does God allow this destruction on the face of the earth  because He is so saddened by the abandonment of people who reject Him, the governments that have eliminated Him from schools, and eliminated the right to share prayer openly.   Is God showing his wrath because people don't  acknowledge Him as the creator, their savior; because people don't commune with Him and include them in their lives; because of rejection and people choosing other inanimate sources to invest their heart and soul into?  (inanimate: not endowed with life or spirit; lacking consciousness; lacking power of motion.)   

I'm not grouping all people together in one category, because there are many, many Christian believers and prayer warriors who are part of the kingdom of God here on earth.    And many of  those real Christians are among those suffering in these fierce storms of nature.    Isn't it ironic how many people who don't include prayer and God in their life will turn to prayer and/or plead to the one true  God for grace and mercy and help only when they personally are affected by tragic events? 

"God can use sorrow in our lives to help us turn away from sin and seek salvation.  We will never regret that kind of sorrow.  But sorrow without repentance is the kind that results in death."

Even the news media shows clips and video of devastated people  turning to prayer following devasting events.  And the news media are not avid promoters of God and prayer.   It is a known fact that  trials and  devastation of lives and homes can turn more people to God than to not.  Is this God's way of rebuilding his Kingdom here on earth?  "Trust me and know that I am God!"   

It is amazing when people who have rejected God will turn to Him only when they are so far down and out and have exhausted all their own "fixes", and tried all their own ways, and followed all life's fun and games to fill the void in their heart; and only when they are completely beaten, will they turn to God with a plea for help.  And then through God's grace, mercy, and favor He will pluck them out of their dire mess and rekindle a fellowship with them to bring them to live and experience true happiness and joy through Him.  These acts of weather destruction in people's lives always bring many, many people to their knees and turns them to depend on God, because there is nothing else left but to  let the hand of God direct and rebuild their lives.   People who have to rebuild without faith will have a tough row to hoe.  People with faith will have a tough row to hoe, but they will have that inner peace, comfort, spirit, love, and direction that enables them to turn it all over to God ~ to let go and let God. 

I know I, we in Western Nebraska, are not exempt from any fierce acts of nature.  We have already experienced mild storms of hail destruction, tornado destruction in the past ~ not anywhere close to what the rest of the nation and world have been hit by.    Is our turn coming?  Very well could be.  How will I handle it?    In the meantime, I am thankful for His grace, mercy, love, peace, comfort, and blessings God has allowed me to enjoy.   I will remember in  prayer the people suffering in Joplin, Missouri that they will somehow feel God's presence in their lives and allow Him to be a part of their rebuilding process ~starting with the heart, soul and spirit.

I have for a long time claimed the scripture verse "In everything give thanks."  In all things find something to give thanks about, for when left in God's hands, all things will work together for good to those who love God.   


"The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure."      

The Event ~ Echos From the Past

Saturday night we had dinner out (in), in a home of people we did not know.  Except I felt like I  knew this older couple just a wee bit.  Backup  a minute.

A year or so ago I read a book (which I don't do very often) called "Echos From the Past".  It was in a box of books that landed in our garage from an auction.   What made me notice this book was that it was written by a local woman that used to own and operate a  store in Scottsbluff years ago, Anita Osborn.  She was a German lady, you could tell by her very defined German accent.  The book was about her childhood years being abandoned as a child during WWII in Germany and her escape from Germany. (Her parents had to choose to leave her behind when they escaped, because they couldn't take all four of their children.) I found it quite interesting, especially since I could put a face to the author, as she shared her German memoirs, her echos from the past.

Back to the present ~ Last week a friend, Steve Huber, called and asked if we would join them for a genuine  home-cooked, German dinner  at the home of Bill and Anita Osborn.  Absolutely YES, no doubt about it.  Then I asked what the deal was.  Steve had bought this "home-cooked German dinner for six" that Anita and Bill donated at a fund raiser several months ago.   Steve and the Osborn's finally scheduled the dinner for Saturday night and Tim and I were one of the couples Steve and Sue invited to join them.   The other couple was Jim and Cindy Neuwirth, people we know, but don't really associate with. 

I remembered this was the lady who wrote the book.  I grabbed my copy of the book and took it along and Anita autographed it for me. 

The evening was elegant, the food delicious, the hospitality wonderful.  We started with hors 'dourves and German cocktails and German beer, followed by salad, mushroom soup, beef and gravy, potato balls, red cabbage and vegetables, ending with a very delicate German cheesecake, all accompanied by German wine.  The last little treat was a German chocolate filled with German liqueur.   German music played in the background.

Bill and Anita served the entire meal to the six of us at a table graced with white linen, elegant German Bavarian china, crystal, silver, and flowers.  I asked Bill and Anita to sit and join us for dessert which they did, and we continued to fellowship, sharing interesting conversation around the table.

Bill and Anita Osborn were gracious hosts.  It was such a pleasant evening out ~ an event I was glad to be a part of as we made new eventful friends. 

The Event ~ In Remembrance of Dad

I missed the appropriate posting day for this blog.  It should have been April 18. 

April 18, 1998 is the day my father died very unexpectedly.  He had been hospitalized for something which I can't remember.  But he received his dismissal papers and was dressed and ready to go home when he sat back down on the hospital bed to regain his composure, equilibrium, or whatever, because all of a sudden he didn't feel right.  He laid back down on the bed and died a few hours later.   The doctors must have known it was something serious and out of the ordinary because I was called and told they didn't think he was going to live.  Tim and I hit the road as fast as we could to get to Billings, MT,  but Dad was gone by the time we got to the hospital.

I remember it was on a Saturday.  Tim and Janel were here for the weekend because they came to see  Cash in the high school musical that weekend.  We all had tickets for the Saturday night performance.  Tim and Janel and Cash drove to Billings the next day. 

Dad was cremated, and later in the summer, by brother Allen and his wife Suzy, and my Mom took Dad's ashes to the old homestead farm that he grew up on and buried his ashes on a knoll on the farm.  They also planted tulips among the wild flowers and sagebrush.

Later Mom had a stone made and placed at the burial site.  Tim and I were able to visit the site several years ago when we were in the area.  My cousins Arvid and Sherry took us out there.  It was a solemn event.  I miss my Dad.

The Event ~ Graduation

What a privilege it was for Tim and I to attend ~ locally ~ our soon-to-be daughter-in-law's college graduation as she received her Bachelor's Degree in Dental Hygiene from the University of Nebraska Medical Center on Saturday, May 7.   We have had the special privilege of being part of her life for the last 12 months since her and Cash met and rapidly planned their future together. 

Following graduation, we all gathered together at our house for a bbq.  Annie's parents, brother and sister-in-law, and sister, along with Tim's parents and Tom and Kathy and Paul gathered to share the special event with Annie.  The weather was absolutely the most wonderful weather we have had the pleasure of enjoying for an outdoor picnic in a long time.  The temperature was perfect, there was no wind and no flies!  It was such a pleasure to linger longer outside in such perfect weather. 

This graduation day brought back memories of previous graduations that were so very special.  Here is a look back in time at those special occasions.

Cash graduating from Kindergarten at Lincoln Heights School in Scottsbluff in 1987 .   Janel and Alexis did not have graduation from Kindergarten in Bayard.  At least I don't have pictures of it!

Janel graduating from Scottsbluff  High School in 1990.

Janel graduating from University of Nebraska Medical Center with a Master's Degree in in Physical Therapy in 1995.

Alexis graduating from Scottsbluff High School in 1993.

Alexis graduating from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology in 1999.

Alexis graduating from Boston College with a Master's Degree  in Social Work in 2002.

Cash graduating from Scottsbluff High School in 1999

Cash graduating from Moody Bible College in Chicago, Illinois in 2004 with a degree in Biblical Theology.

Daniel Meurer ~ our exchange student from Germany ~ graduating from Scottsbluff High School in 1997.

My own graduation from high school in 1968, here with my Dad.

Graduation is an event worthy of being recorded in family history, or at least blogged about to preseve the memories!

The Event ~ Mother's Day

Mother's Day 2011 ~ Uneventful.  We didn't cook.  We didn't go out.  We didn't go to church.  We helped Annie and Cash pack up and move out one last time.  Cash recently moved to Denver for his new job at REI and was taking yet another load of stuff to Denver.  Annie recently moved in for about 10 days as she finished the last of her classes in preparation for college graduation.  Now she was moving her stuff out and heading home in preparation for her wedding day in a month. 

Once they left, I worked a little in the garden.  We ate left overs from the nite before.  And that was Mother's Day 2011.  But in all my laziness, I did remember to call my mom and Tim's mom and wish them a happy mother's day.  The following picture sums up mothers day.  It's a four-generation picture of my mom, me, my daughter Janel and her first born Jakob in 1998.  This is a Mom moment if there ever was one.   Is there a family resemblence? 

Every day is mother's day!  There is not a day goes by that we are not mothers!  A mother's job is never done ~ no matter what the age.