Thankful, Blessed Reflections

The Christmas decorations are down, the family visits and vacation are finished and we’re going full throttle into 2012!  I was reflecting back this morning on 2011 and how thankful I am and how blessed we are!

So here’s just a short list of my thankful, blessed reflections….

…Two absolutely wonderful sons and daughter-in-laws that we so love and adore!  We’re thankful that despite the distance between us, we continue to remain a very tight knit family.  We all lead our own individual lives as couples, but when we come together as a family, whether it’s all 6 of us or 4 at a time, we’re able to pick up where we left off from our last visit.  It’s because we stay in such close contact in between our visits that we’re able to do this!  We laugh, we cry, we joke, we talk, we just sit and enjoy each other.

…Two sets of in-laws that our sons have that just absolutely love and adore our sons and that we love to spend time with.  We so appreciate the bond between our sons and their in-laws.

…Our beautiful and precious granddaughter, Harper.  In just 9 short months she has managed to capture our hearts and wrap them around her tiny little fingers.  She is a blessing to our entire family and it is such a joy to see her grow and move onto her next new thing.  Being long distance grandparents is a challenge but we’re kept up to day with weekly pictures.  Thank goodness for today’s technology and text messaging!  We love that she plays to the camera because we are all such photography nuts and constantly snapping pictures of her.  I’m only afraid she might not recognize her grandpa without a camera up to his eye!

…My dad’s new lady friend, Maureen.  I can’t imagine the loneliness that my dad has felt since my mom passed away a year ago tomorrow.  I’m unable to fathom what it must feel like  that after being married to someone for 65 years they are no longer there.  Maureen has brought life, joy, a spark to his voice and companionship back to my dad.  She is such a delight to talk with on the phone and we can’t wait to meet her.

…My two brothers and their families.  So many times families tend to drift apart when they live a distance from each other.  I think sometimes I chat with my brothers more now than when we were living in the same household!  Chalk it up to growing up!  We just adore our nieces and nephews and thanks to Facebook and e-mail we’re able to keep up with what’s going on in their lives!  As it is with our sons and daughter-in-laws, when we all get together it’s as if we saw each other yesterday.  I’m especially thankful for my sister-in-law, Sandy and niece, Shavonne, who always orchestrate our family get togethers when we’re in town visiting.  You guys are the best!

…Our church family here in Orange Grove who we just love and have really made us feel like we’ve lived here forever!  I love their interest in us and our family, they don’t get bored by my pictures of Harper and talking about our family (at least they’re polite enough not to appear bored).  They are all a treasure to us!  I’m especially thankful that they extended a call to us in this warm climate of South Texas.  After two weeks in the cold of MN and CT we are so appreciative of the warmth of the sunny south-even if it is only 50 degrees it beats snow and 12 degrees.

…Our friends both old and new!  We’re so lucky to have so many long time friends (and some family members) that either live here or winter in Texas along with our new friends that we’ve gotten to know in various ways.  It’s been a very long time since we’ve had close friends and family nearby and we count our blessings each and every day.

…Most of all and on the top of the list I’m thankful for my husband!  I don’t know where I’d be if it weren’t for him.  He keeps me grounded, tolerates my quirkiness and being the queen of worry warts (thanks kids for tolerating the same!).  He listens to me, talks with me, walks beside me walks  in front when I need leading and behind me too.  We are so different in many ways, but so much like two peas in a pod in many other ways.   He’s an awesome dad and dad-in-law and now a pretty rockin’ grandpa!  I am blessed beyond belief for all that he has given me and our family.

So as we head into this year I’m looking forward to adding more thankful, blessed reflections to my list!  Thanks for letting me share this with you!

The Just One Conference is Back!

The JustONE Conference is back!

Need encouragement … challenge … connection … and inspiration? All while sitting comfortably on your couch with a latte in hand?

The JustONE Conference is a free virtual conference for all Pastors’ Wives and Women in Ministry. This 4 week conference will include over 20 speakers sharing from their personal lives and leadership. Each session will be shown 4 times during the week. So find a time that is right for your schedule, and join in!

This year the conference is based on a beautiful passage of scripture, 1 Timothy 4:12b-16 (The Message) “Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity. Stay at your post reading Scripture, giving counsel, teaching. And that special gift of ministry you were given when the leaders of the church laid hands on you and prayed–keep that dusted off and in use. Cultivate these things. Immerse yourself in them. The people will all see you mature right before their eyes! Keep a firm grasp on both your character and your teaching. Don’t be diverted. Just keep at it. Both you and those who hear you will experience salvation.”

The conference begins Monday, January 23 and Tuesday, January 24 and is offered both morning and evening… 11am EST/ 8am PST and 9pm EST/ 6pm PST both days. Join us for four consecutive weeks of teaching, encouragement and connection.

Okay-I’m listening! I hear ya!

Last night was our Progression worship service at church.  I normally will post something on the Progression blog about our time together, but not on my personal blog.  But, today I’m really feeling like I just need to share this with y’all.  I have to admit that as much as I love Progression it’s historically has been somewhat a struggle.  Being a “different” type of worship format that most Lutheran’s aren’t used to it really takes a lot of hard work to get it off the ground.

So here’s what happened yesterday.

As usual it was a challenge to put the worship together.  As usual the laptop would not cooperate, YouTube decides to do maintenance thereby really slowing down the process, and we consistently have tech challenges with our worship program.  Couple that with a cold front coming through and a sinus headache to beat the band, Jon is battling a cold and fielding countless numbers of phone calls from people not being able to be there because of a school event and soon I was ready to just chuck the whole thing.  After all- no one is going to be there to see the fruits of our countless hours of prayer waiting on the Lord to see what direction He wants us to go with the worship time together, not to mention the countless hours of just putting everything together, setting up, etc.  Yep- at that point it’s all about me!  But, we press on.  I have to admit that the times I find myself really tossed into an intimate and worshipful time with God is through song.  One of my favorite groups is Sons of Korah and one of my very favorite songs of theirs is “Forgiven” based on Psalm 32.  I’ve been wanting to put that into the Progression worship time but was really unable to find anything great on YouTube.  So why not create something of my own?  I’m not creative in the least little bit, so I will say that the entire slideshow was the work of the Holy Spirit working through me!  And I had no idea that Jon was going to focus on the Psalms and David.  Okay, slide show is put together, it’s taking forever to upload and process through YouTube because of their maintenance (in the middle of the day???), I’m getting frustrated trying to find other YouTube videos for the songs that we wanted to use – you see we don’t have a band so we do what I call “Christian Karaoke” and sing along to videos- the computer is acting up, etc, etc.  Finally everything is put together, set-up and it’s time to gather.  One, Two, Three- pretty soon there are nine people gathered.  It doesn’t sound like much but after all “where two or three are gathered…”.  People are stressed, tired, cold and I’m right there with them.  And it begins….

I sat through the first song and it starts to hit- the second song and I’m starting to see a trend here- the third song (my slideshow) and it is perfectly evident.  I’m smacked straight upside the head with “Aren’t you listening to me? I’m here to bring you peace, hope, redemption, release and forgiveness”.  The theme of David crying out to his Lord ran through each and every song, the message, the prayers and the people that were there, for we too were crying out to the Lord for the same things that David was.  Was this all planned and coordinated by Jon and I?  I think not!!!  I love it when the Lord speaks to me.  In fact I’ve actually received an audible from him while in Israel!  But, far too many times I forget to sit quietly and listen.  I forget to be still and listen for that whisper in my ear, for that still, strong voice of the Lord leading me to where I need to be and what I need to be doing.  It may be a struggle putting everything together, and we may feel like chucking the whole thing because only a few are coming.  But, for those few if that quiet time together with just a few others, sitting in a quiet and comfortable darkened space listening to the words of the Psalms helps to lift their burdens, relieve their strength, give them hope and peace then it’s truly the work of the Holy Spirit working through our Progression time together.  We’re just the vessels riding the rough waves and fighting the storm to provide this time for them.

And yes, for me- I’m listening Lord!  Maybe one of these days I won’t need a reminder!