Tuesday, March 27, 2007

For baby Susannah ~ Dealing with grief

Sadly, baby Susannah was reclaimed by heaven after a very few days with her loving parents. This is one little angel Heaven has chosen to raise directly, and we must accept this, though we miss her already. Its tough to let go, even with the blessed hope of Heaven awaiting us. God grant her parents great peace and a strong abiding presence of the Love of God directly over them to ease their great grief. Our prayers are now focused on easing those who were left behind.

Its especially hard when an innocent or a strong saint goes home. When someone we know has lived a good life in Christ or is immune from the penalties of sin goes back to God, they go only to joy. Still we mourn, and we mourn deeply. We feel pain over their departure .

I think this is partly because those who knew their goodness best are often those who were greatly blessed by their presence on Earth. In our human wisdom, it seems unnecessary to face this pain and loss. My husband and I lost our first child to a late miscarriage, and even though we know he is safe in God the Father's arms, we still miss him sometimes: the child we never got to know. Now its a regret, a pain softened by time, and the arrival of the two children we were allowed to keep. I have no doubt that this early experience deepened our appreciation of the honor of raising these two beautiful young people. Every loss like this causes me to feel the pangs of it again - which inspires greater empathy in my own breast and makes me a better servant to those who feel this agony afresh. Still I have not been able to call this pain a joy, save in the light of Heaven's mercy toward that little one and those of us who remain.


I found great blessing in the song by John Michael Talbot "In God's Peace" from the Wisdom album

"The souls of the just are in God's hand. No torment shall ever touch them. In the view of fools they seemed as dead, and their passing away an affliction. But they are in God's peace, suffering a short time, now blessed indeed. But they are in God's peace, for the souls of the just are blessed indeed. Though the just die young, their souls are at rest, in a short time their souls are perfected. Snatched away lest evil pervert their minds. God spared them the weight of the world."


I felt a couple of the testimonies in the comments for baby Susannah were worth sharing::



The Lamb Story

There is a story of sweetness and beauty which flashes its light upon every couple who has lost a little one; this is a story concerning a custom in the Alps. In the summer time, when the grass in the lower valleys dries up and withers, the shepherds seek to lead their sheep up the winding, thorny, and stony pathway. The sheep are reluctant to take the hardships; so they turn back and will not follow very far. The shepherds make repeated attempts, but the timid sheep turn back. Finally, a shepherd reaches into the flock and takes a little lamb and places it under his arm, and them he reaches in and takes up another lamb and places it under the other arm. Then he starts out up the precipitous pathway; soon the mother sheep start to follow, and afterward the entire flock. They ascend the tortuous trail to green pastures.

The great shepherd of the sheep, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, has reached into the flock, and He has picked our lamb. He did not do it to rob us, but to lead us out and upward. He has richer and greener pastures for us and He wants us to follow. Will you follow Him? You will if you catch a glimpse of Him. (Author Unknown)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


He knows the hopes and dreams of each heart that loved her. He alone knows the sorrow that grips each one. When so much has been lost, He alone is our comfort, solace, hope and reason to meet each day.

As milestones of life pass, it will seem so unfair to not have this little one to mark them, but there is so much more to eternity than this. You will see other arms filled with what you longed for . . . others will learn to walk, to talk, to run and play. The tempter will whisper his bitterness and accusations and you will grieve and wonder the unanswerable questions. But God is faithful to fill your hearts and arms with things you could not have held without this loss.

For all that we crave, He wants better things for us. His love for all concerned is greater than our own. When it hurts too much for words, He knows. He understands. He grants comfort and peace that none else offers. Weep in His arms. Gaze steadfast into His face. See? He has wounds. He, too has suffered loss. He knows, and He will not forsake His own. SC

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another mourner offered this hymn as encouragement

Safe in the arms of Jesus

Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe on His gentle breast,
There by His love o’ershaded, sweetly my soul shall rest.
Hark! ’tis the voice of angels, borne in a song to me.
Over the fields of glory, over the jasper sea.
Refrain

Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe on His gentle breast
There by His love o’ershaded, sweetly my soul shall rest.

Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe from corroding care,
Safe from the world’s temptations, sin cannot harm me there.
Free from the blight of sorrow, free from my doubts and fears;
Only a few more trials, only a few more tears!

Refrain

Jesus, my heart’s dear Refuge, Jesus has died for me;
Firm on the Rock of Ages, ever my trust shall be.
Here let me wait with patience, wait till the night is over;
Wait till I see the morning break on the golden shore.



There is hope for the departed who knew God but didn't walk in Christ as they should have done, especially if their loved ones will pray for them, but that is another post.

Welcome home to heaven, little one. We shall miss you until we meet you there. Blessed are we who mourn, for we shall be comforted. Blessed are you, child, who may now behold the face of God.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Well-balanced! :-)

Susan, you are Balanced-brained

That means you are able to draw on the strengths of both the right and left hemispheres of your brain, depending upon a given situation.

When you need to explain a complicated process to someone, or plan a detailed vacation, the left hemisphere of your brain, which is responsible for your ability to solve problems logically, might kick in. But if you were critiquing an art opening or coming up with an original way to file papers, the right side of your brain, which is responsible for noticing subtle details in things, might take over.

While many people have clearly dominant left- or right-brained tendencies, you are able to draw on skills from both hemispheres of your brain. This rare combination makes you a very creative and flexible thinker.

The down side to being balanced-brained is that you may sometimes feel paralyzed by indecision when the two hemispheres of your brain are competing to solve a problem in their own unique ways.

Take this test

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Happy St Patrick's day!

We're not particularly Irish, though we are somewhat Gaelic. My husband's family is mostly Scottish. I get my Celtic side from my French/English/German roots.

Nevertheless, my family has always remembered St Patrick's Day. Seems worth doing. After all, St Pats & St Nicholas are about the only saint feast days that most everyone remembers.

Please accept our warmest wishes for a wonderful St Patrick's Day.

May the flowers near ya bloom fair,
May your heart be without care
May you get lots of fresh air
May the birds miss pooping on your hair
May your troubles go away and stay 'zere
In fact, may your troubles get eaten by a bear.



If you click the image below you can see the 2007 St Patrick's day card Rebecca made for us all






May your day be truly blest!

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Blogthingeringingness..yeah

Just having fun with a few quizzes. Feel free to call yourself tagged if you want to do a few

I get started by reading Dorothy's blog


Because she had this quiz about red. I got the same results she did :-D

You Are Apple Red

You're never one to take life too seriously, and because of it, you're a ton of fun.
And although you have a great sense of humor, you are never superficial.
Deep and caring, you do like to get to the core of people - to understand them well.
However, any probing you do is light hearted and fun, sometimes causing people to misjudge you.


sounds reasonable.

You Are Best Described By...

Impression, Sunrise
By Claude Monet


So I have the impression there's a nice dawn coming? ookkaayy...


Your Leprechaun Name Is:

Moneybags Cabbageleaf


Only if I get the bags of money with the goofy name LOL



You Are a Creative Gift Giver

Your gifts are one of a kind, special, and well chosen.
Whether you've made it yourself or searched all over town...
There's really no one who has more of a personal touch than you.

sometimes, yes sometimes, no


You Are Pumpkin Pie

You're the perfect combo of uniqueness and quality
Those who like you are looking for something (someone!) special


pumpkin pie is deeelliiccious! And good for you too!


You Are 84% Texas

Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit. This ain't your first rodeo!


You can keep your butter where you like but *I* am not going anywhere near you.... LOL


You Are 84% Thankful

You're an incredibly thankful person, and everyone around you feels very appreciated.
You inspire people to be more optimistic, forgiving, and grateful.


Well- I can honestly say I try to be!


Your Aura is Violet

Idealistic and thoughtful, you have the mind and ideas to change the world.
And you have the charisma of a great leader, even if you don't always use it!

The purpose of your life: saying truths that other people dare not say

Famous purples include: Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Susan B. Anthony

Careers for you to try: Political Activist, Inventor, Life Coach



Your Linguistic Profile:
40% General American English
30% Dixie
15% Yankee
5% Midwestern
5% Upper Midwestern



Your World View

You are a fairly broadminded romantic and reasonably content.
You value kindness and try to live by your ideals.
You have strong need for security, which may be either emotional or material.
You respect truth and are flexible.
You like people, and they can readily make friends with you.
You are not very adventurous, but this does not bother you.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Say cheese..I said CHEESE? Guys? Guys?



This is a photo my Mom took years ago. She was planning to take a real picture of us after church but her camera acted up and by the time she was ready, only Becka & I were still even remotely dressed for it (Tom was feeling poorly then too, poor guy. Only back then nobody managed to find out what was really wrong.) and we weren't paying attention either, evidently. She finally snapped a shot anyway. Kinda a day in the life kinda thing ;-)

Definitely the worst family photo we ever took. Feel free to laugh your head off!

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Hanging on a Moment

Sometimes life isn't lived day by day, but moment by moment--seeking guidance and peace with every breath, trying to stay in the grace, mercy, and peace of Yeshua. I've seen plenty of seasons like that in my life. I am not as stressed as I might once have been by a series of curve balls, and I have certainly seen much worse ones, even in recent years but... it sure hasn't been boring lately! The car broke down while I was out with my Mom & kids but stopped at the post office right by the auto parts store. I didn't know it was overheating when I shut it down but it was a good thing I did! Tom was able to come and repair it about immediately because it was already off when we found out there was a problem. That was definitely grace in action.


Becka is facing her big test in a week - presuming the right kind of certificate gets here in time for her to get her ID. If it doesn't we'll have to reschedule. Should be fine, but I always tend to stress right along with my kids. Its a Mom thing.





Some idjits had been stepping up their stupidity in the woods and neighborhood roads lately - but this may become a breakthrough for us as it has resulted in Tom finally getting to talk things out with the newer neighbors about how things look from our side. The police were able to start patrolling more, which helped, but this new cooperation could result in a more peaceful times if everybody will watch for these yahoos at once. A couple more of them have been positively identified & the law has been informed. This is good!



The elderly neighbor seems to have moved in with somebody. Her house isn't for sale but she is hardly ever there. I hope she's happy in her new situation. She seems to be doing okay when she checks on the place.



God has blessed us to cause yet another winter storm bypass us. We were on the boundary line yet again and only saw a few sprinkles. I love to see snow in winter, but I have no warm and fuzzies for freezing rain so I am very grateful for this! Tom had to repair my sink after the cold snap too. That's never fun, but it could have been much worse. We're going to see about re-wrapping the pipes on that side when we can. The construction guys have started the process for that too. The yard repairs have recommenced in fits and starts. Its nerve racking when the equipment is here, but it is good to have progress.

Uru has launched & hurray for Cyan - but its still rather wild & woolly in there. Right now I feel like I am being friend enough just keeping my affiliation for Uru Live in Gametap. I went in to meet friends who agreed to check it out the community again and see if they liked it - and it was buggy in about every way imaginable for everyone. The most entertaining bug was one that warped me from one side of a neighborhood to another as I walked down some stairs. whee!

My friends loved the graphics, the voice chat options, and the Ages (not everybody had played the first Uru offline. tsk tsk) but I don't think they were favorably impressed with the experience in its entirety :/ Its one thing for a game to be slow to load, laggy, quirky, and not quite doing as expected but nobody really LIKES apps that crash their computer. When the culprit is a game - online, no less- its hard for many people to justify taking the risk. Some people claim there is no risk being online with your computer off, BSoD-ing, or rebooting -but, the majority do not believe this. I know I don't. Too many bugs in the past have sought to reboot machines so as to slip something past people's protections.



Here's hoping they can make this graceful bird soar. They have another chance to make something memorably cool & save their company while doing what they love best. I am still rooting for them. I sincerely hope they find whatever or whoever is causing the worst problems. If they can just do that, Uru will be worth everyone's time -including yours. If you are feeling adventurous, please feel free to check them out now.

On the home front, our son loves his new haircut. We took him to the new place and the lady asked him what sort of cut he wanted. William agreed that something like the short style a fellow was sporting in a big picture on the wall would be okay (as long as it didn't stand up like that :) The stylist agreed to skip the gel and set to work. When she was done both she and our ds were drawing compliments from the other customers and stylist, because she had indeed managed to duplicate the haircut exactly --and it suited our son admirably!

Also, I said a bit ago that Kol Simcha was the only thing now that I hadn't been able to replace in one way or another. Well, no longer! We have the cd albums we missed for so long --and they are just as big a blessing as we remembered. The ministry re=released them and we were able to get in touch. Praise God! I especially recommend 'Sound of Joy.' You can hear snippets here

& I have just gotten a ton of other adventure games to play in whatever free time I can find. I even won a new one- Secrets of Atlantis! WOOHOO!!! This time the experience was what it ought to be. I got the game in a couple of weeks of having my name drawn with a sincere-sounding note of Congratulations! from those running the drawing. It was a delight to respond in kind, and thank them most joyfully for the wonderful gift which I am now enjoying!

So we've definitely still got some trials but we also have reasons for happiness. Biggest disappointment at the moment is that we haven't yet won the lottery