Three days...

So thankful for a three day weekend about now...

Saturday: We had a great time volunteering with Mission Arlington. They actually gave us fliers and sent us out to an apartment complex to invite the kids to their after school program AND they asked us to do a Bible story and activities with the kids that day! Wow! Three other teammates and myself planned the songs and games and Bible stories while the other team members went door to door and helped with a free give-a-way of household items. Pray for Chris and Alena and Melissa and Taiwan - a few of the kids we met that day.

Saturday afternoon/evening: Mow the lawn, lay out soaker hoses, do grocery shopping...

Sunday: Church with three of the new interns. It was a wacky day to have brought young, single visitors. Pastor was talking with a local counselor about marital counseling. Hmm... But we had a great time of conversation afterwards at a local coffeehouse: witness, testimonies, heart adjustments. God's amazing. I baked up Amish Friendship Bread this afternoon, changed the dirt in the turtle house, and took a nap before cleaning my room (prep for laundry tomorrow) and heading to a friend's home for an all-GFA get-together.

Now: Procrastinating working on Bible Study. 1 Cor 3. Thankful for my new, blue spiral notebook to help with inductive Bible study notes. (Carly, you're a blessing!) And thankful for God's faithfulness!

Tomorrow's list: Breakfast with cousins, laundry, truck to move tables and chairs, work at office, crockpot meal for lunch?, bake more bread, and...I forgot. Oh yeah, get splitters for soaker hoses. Misplaced my last ones in the move.

Breaking the Guilt Cycle

I haven't posted in so long that I've begun to feel guilty. Then I don't want to post because of the guilt. And then the guilt continues because I don't post.

So what is the right response for guilt? Repentance and forgiveness. (Well, there's a few other answers in there to, but this will be today's answer.) Forgive me?

Today's workday: Long and slightly overwhelming.
Today's movie: Gandhi (long, but not as overwhelming)
Today's new favorite ice cream flavor: Praline pecan and cream. (or something like that)

Today's prayer request (all week, actually): http://www.gfa.org/orissa-update. Hundreds of homes and 20+ church buildings destroyed. Dozens murdered. Thousands hiding in the jungles.

Tomorrow's plan: volunteer at Mission Arlington and work on 1 Cor. 3.

Rainbow

We watched from the front yard this evening as the storm moved closer. The lightening and thunder and building clouds delighted us all and the cooler temperatures felt in a sudden breeze brought a sigh of delight. We were only on the fringes of the storm, watching the sunset through the falling rain and marveling at the fully-visible rainbow in the east.

I spent about four hours on the tractor today, trying to remember how to plow with the larger, clumsier equipment. And listening to R.C. Sproul, Focus on the Family, Walk in the Word, and the random assortment of country songs. I didn't want to allow myself too much time alone with my thoughts. I did spend some time praying, "Oh God, Help me!" There was a strong correlation between the amount of praying, the speed of the tractor, and the proximity of the surrounding fence.

The cooler temperatures encouraged walks with my mother and sisters after supper. Then we all settled in the living room: reading good books, playing Rack-o, giving/receiving back rubs, and chuckling over the wildlife stories of Patrick McManus.

Third Person

Dorinda is on vacation. And she just found a sack of her mother's famous chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. And she is eating them, being careful not to drop crumbs in her keyboard.

Dorinda met her church's new pastor and his family this morning. She thinks she likes them.

Dorinda is glad to be with all her family. They are all asleep right now - all in the living room. In various positions, they rest in preparation for the upcoming week. Maybe they are dreaming about a week in which the tractor and plow don't break down and L. gets blue ribbons at the fair.

Now Dorinda is joining them in slumber.