Women Walking Wisely

Wow, what an evening. I am rejoicing today and last evening for the wonderful initial meeting we had with the new year of studying Respectable Sins. We had a great table of women willing to share and learn from each other. My heart is overflowing with gratitude for ways God blessed us. Terry and I were able to work in tennis fashion to keep the conversation moving and hopefully avail all the ladies to be able to share and grow and learn. We provided notebook for the ladies to work with with colorful dividers and a journaling page. This was great. We were able to write out our plan and almost get through all of it.

One of my favorite moments goes back to my teacher days. We call it the "Ah-ha" moment. It is when one of your student "gets it". He/she understands something, in fact, if it is a really good one, they will say "Ah!" or "Oh!"in a breathy wondering way that indicates his/her delight in learning. This is why teachers teach. It is worth all the difficulty teachers endure in a job for this moment. It affirms why we work so hard to convey truth in many ways, to many types of learners and if all the eyes stay dull, we rethink what we have tried to teach until we get some person to indicate some level of understanding. "If a students hasn't learned, a teachers hasn't taught." Last night, I got an "Ah!". I was so happy because I was actually sharing my own tidbit that God had reminded me of that I had forgotten. I was affirmed that it was valuable when it clicked in anothers mind and had the same impact. YES! See, once a teacher, you die a teacher.


Terry has asked those able to meet at 5:30 next month to come to decorate our notebooks and get to know each other. I feel so honored to be a part of this study and growth opportunity. Terry is a great lady for me to get to know and grow from.

Fireproof, the movie

Today Devanee and I went to see the movie, Fireproof. May I admit to being a bit sceptical? I thought it might be hokie and have a lot of those "akward" movie moments. That is not to say they do not exist, but the flow of the movie is smooth, the special effects are believeable,
the love is believeable(except for the-one-step-at-a-time moment). I had the sensation of watching a testimony. Ever go the movies and you cringe at a couple of parts, wonder if I should have left for that part, or just feel unsettled at the outcome? I had none of those here. I left feeling completely edified. There is even some comic relief, in case you feel it might be too intense. I don't want to ruin it for you, but I think that you may be interested enough to make this part of your at-home collection.

Matthew Henry on Jesus Satisfies

Nothing will supply the needs, and satisfy the desires of a soul, but water out of this rock Jesus Christ, this fountain opened.
The pleasures of sense are puddle-water;
spiritual delights are rock water,
so pure,
so clear,
and so refreshing
-- rivers of pleasure.

- Matthew Henry

Ernie, what a blessing

Ernie, prepped for surgery at 6:30 am.

Today Steve and I went to wait at the hospital with Fernando's family for Ernie to come out of surgery. I have to say that the peace and calmness of Ernie was a great testimony to his brother and cousin. Shorty, Ernie's cousin, commented that it was good that Ernie was a Christian because of that peace in facing death. He was ready to go either way. Shorty is not a believer himself. But he could see God working in his life.

I have to say, that as always I greatly enjoyed the fellowship with Monique and Fernando. It was a blessing to spend so much time with them, they were confidently trusting God to work His Sovereign plan.

Around 3:30 we were finally able to hear from the doctor and recovery nurse. Ernie did well. We got to see him. He was unconscious with tubes and machines everywhere. In a way, it was like seeing a dead man. Except a machine was making his chest rise and fall and a monitor was telling us his heart rate was 89. At that moment I recognized God's Grace. Except for this being God's plan Ernie could so easily be with our Holy God right now. Thank you, God that you have kept Ernie here for us and Your glory for a while longer.

I am thankful I could be there for a while with the family.

Cheffing it up

I have been in that nesting mode with cooking.

Yesterday I made wheat rolls called "Grandma's refridgerator rolls", thanks Pam and pulled pork, thanks mom. The pork was super delish. I cooked it 9 hours overnight and then again 5 hours with the BBQ sause.

I even made my own slaw to top with the pork. My neighbor Cynthia came over and helped me make a salsa with fresh everything. I really liked it. It had Kosher Black beans, corn, cilantro, red onion, red, orange, green, and yellow sweet peppers, salt and pepper, and balsalmic. It was really lovely to look at with all the fun colors.

Today I attempted Lion's Head meatballs. It was a little Thai in flavor with coconut and curry sauce. I was ok with the flavor, my preference being for the beef, Steve really liked the pork ones. I think I can stand some improvement. The recipe came from "Eating Well".

Making Cards on a Ring

I volunteered to help make reminder cards summarizing Respectable Sins with the monthly memory verse. I had to help Spencer run them thru the laminator. Well you certainly get what you pay for in my case. Lots of my cards will need to run thru again.

Next we begin the painful process of cutting them all out. You cannot cut too close lest the lamination peel. Also it must be a very straight edge so holes can be drilled into the cards. After that the 600 cards must be collated and then a ring installed. What a huge job. I only hope we women from WWW use them well.

Donna has invited anyone over who has free time Thursday, Friday, and next Wednesday to participate in the cutting process. What a fun time to talk and learn from each other.

Projects

I've been working on some projects lately. I am not professional but these have been fun and nice. I love power tools.


First, Steve found a glider on the side of road. So I re-did the stool and I am still pondering the chair cushions. He was so funny when he came home one night from parking his car with an excited gleem in his eye. "Come here, I want to show you something." He took me to inspect the roadside find. The white glider has no cushions but works well. I have jimmy-rigged some cushions until my sisters come and give me their brilliant ideas. Steve says he feels like he is laying on a counseling couch when he sits in it.

I also put together two new shelves for books. I really like them. We moved our tiny place around and have just about finished our 6 month dutch cleaning.

Chinese food lesson

At Ronnie's house we learned a new cold noodle dish and we were inspired to give it a try. Scrambled eggs, tomatoes and our secret sauce simmer while the noodles cook then are cooled in running water.

Top the dish with green onions, cucumbers, and whatever else you wish to garnish the dish.

Tchaikovsky and the Hollywood Bowl

Mary gave us two tickets to the Hollywood Bowl to see Tchaikovsky and the firework display, along with the USC marching band, for the Grand Finale, The 1812 Overture.

Ok, this kid, EUGENE UGORSKI, played two unfamiliar pieces, but it was very impressive. He is all of 19 years of age, but get this: He made his orchestral debut with the San Diego Symphony at the age of eight . Yep, that is no typo, 8 years old. He started studying violin at 6. --fast learner.

The firework show was pretty cool. Wine was flowing around us very freely, and we had the peanut gallery commentators behind us, but otherwise it was a good experience. Steve expected people to be more dressed up and formal, but afterall this is SoCal.

Ladies Tea and Devonshire Cream

Saturday, September 6 was the kickoff annual ladies tea for Women Walking Wisely. Jenny was my co-host. She has a knack for creatively making things pretty. I was so thankful for her help as that gene seems to have escaped me. She is a great hostess.

Laura Brown, Head of Women's ministry spoke to us about the importance of Worship and the comforts we have from knowing some of God's attributes. We can trust God's wisdom to guide us thru his Word. His Sovereignty rules the universe. He has us in his hands, and no man can pluck us out.


Sue made the mediterrain themed food. Steve and Karine spent a lot of time helping. They did a great job. I was given the job of making the devonshire cream. My first time to attempt this was for 150 ladies. The recipe is simple. Whip up the heavy cream then add cream cheese, vanilla and pd. sugar. Any dummy can do that, right. My fist problem was trying to mix it all up at one time. When I turned on the gigantic mixer it protested by spewing a large glob of cream at me and the floor. After cleaning up that mess, I then proceeded to make butter or cottage cheese. So this year the devonshire cream was definitely not fluffy like whipcream, but more like snotty cheese. I will do better next year, I promise. Sue might not let me have that job. Bev and I really laughed cause Sue tried to get her to whip it more to add fluff, but it just got more cottage cheese like. Good try Bev. Sue told me to add more sugar if we could not get the texture correct. So people still liked it...Sugar makes everything better. And that is something I have believed for a long time. =0)

Pauline decorated with a lovely collection of fruits and vegetables. She has a lovely assortment of dishes. She said she stores them in clear tubs with lists of what is inside lined up in the garage.

We saw a BEAR!

Yes, it is true. Raffi was in the lead, we were hiking on an easy trail may 50 yards from our cars. Raffi said, "There is a bear." He said it in his usual quite, serious way. Of course we thought pretty much he was joking. After struggling to see it, or some part of it, we finally all agreed that it truely was a bear. Unfortuneately one of did not see it, as his flight adreniline juice kicked in. I got some pictures but pretty much all you can see is the black blur. Trust me, that really is a bear. It stared directly at us with disinterest. Monique wanted to see it closer to the concern of her hubby. She said she loves to be scared. Needless to say, that was the end of our hike.

This weekend we had such a fun time "camping" on Pine Mountain Resort in a large house. We were really roughing it with two bedrooms and three bathrooms. We played Wii tennis, bowling, and Super Mario. The best part was really just talking, laughing, and eating. What a blessing to talk about Jesus and to learn from each other, from applying the Word about how we can be more holy. We even discussed the merits of "Christian Rap" or the non-merits.

Happy Birthday, Steve and Raffi. Both turned 34. Steve is two days older than Raffi.

Jenny did such a great job organizing and cooking. It was super fun and relaxing. We are already talking about next year. We just have to convince Fernando to want to try real camping.