01/03/04
Today was a day to spend mourning the loss of my cousin. We had a memorial service in Clarinda, Iowa for Jane South Andrew. But, at the same time - I had fun seeing my cousins. Out of 23 of us (now 22), there were 13 cousins there and it was wonderful to see everyone. Some I haven't seen for years and years and years. When we gather together like this, it reminds me how awesome it is to have a family. When we are together, we can remember our childhood, and the fun times we had together. We remember being teenagers and trying to find our ways into adulthood...together. I felt young again.

I saw my cousins' children. What a terrific group of kids! And what a fabulous way to carry on a legacy of faith and family. Some of them will never know how this strong this family has been as a unit, but they come to experiences like this and find that their parents have relatives that love them through everything, even though much time has passed.

02/28/04
It's been an interesting couple of months. And you just have to feel like God is giving you something special with the leap year. An extra day to get things taken care of and completed. We'll see how I use it!

This past week has been wonderful! Last Friday and Saturday I spent in Des Moines with Amy Purintun attending Beth Moore's "Living Proof Live". What a wonderful speaker and what a terrific weekend. I felt so privileged to be a part of that. She has brought me into the presence of God so many times just listening to her speak via video and she has taught me so much aboud loving the scriptures and yearning to know more about Jesus through them! What a fabulous experience.

Then, on Wednesday evening we attended "The Passion of Christ" at the movie theater with 500 of our closest friends (or friends of Faith-Westwood UMC). That was an amazing event. I was terrified going into it, even dreading the fact that I was going to see it. I have managed to avoid exposing myself to the extreme physical pain that Jesus suffered during the last few days of his life. I cried all the way through the movie, beginning with the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane. But, it was amazing and awesome. It has definitely changed how I approach Holy Week and the gift the God gave us when he asked his only son to take on our sins and be punished for them. All the way through I kept thinking (and sometimes saying aloud) "Stop!" At the same time knowing that if He had stopped, I wouldn't be here and I would still be caught in my own sin. That sacrifice is beyond my comprehension. See the movie!

3/6/04
It's a Saturday afternoon and all is quiet. That's kind of different in my world. There seems to always be some noise happening somewhere. But, Max is off to the Douglas County Jail with some guys from the church. They offer the "Alpha" program to the prisoners there. He is loving this and I'm so glad he has something that is important to him.

This week is my niece, Emma's, birthday. I can't believe how fast these kids grow up. But, they do - and I manage to keep aging as well. Happy Birthday Emma!

My entertainment lately has been a new purchase of "The Saint" television series on DVD. Wow. I'm old. But, I certainly love the innocence - yet wordliness of this fun character.

Not too much of any profound nature happening in my world right now - and for that, I guess I'm grateful!

3/13/04
It's been a wonderful weekend so far. I had two boys spend most of the night with me last night (Jacob and Matthew). All of the kids were here to spend the night with their aunts. And both Carol and I loved it. I don't get enough sleep - especially when I let the boys stay up until they can't stay awake any longer (read: 4:15 am). But, I've had a nap and life is much better! I should say that I'm too old for this - but, you know what? I'm never too old to enjoy my kids!

Nostalgia was in my world this week. I just discovered that my friend from high school, Devbra, had a stepson killed tragically last summer. He was murdered and the trial will be coming up in April. How awful!

It got me thinking about my growing up years. What a riot to look at the Sigourney, Iowa website - and see some of my classmates running things. Good for them! I have to admit that some of the names surprised me - but, it's amazing how we change as we grow older. And I'm glad for that.

I've been reading books by Lee Strobel this week. I re-read "The Case for Christ" and just purchased "The Case for a Creator" today. He is a former legal journalist and writes with excitement and knowledge about his subject. He was a spiritual skeptic until his research led him to Christ.

3/17/04
Ok - I have written over this entry twice now. The first one was morbid and depressing and the second one was pious. Neither of which I enjoy being - but, sometimes I just am those things.

I've been stressed this week - worrying over several of my friends. But, I am trying to see that God's hand is always at work. And I simply pray for the assurance that He is close beside those that I love and will bring me peace.

Do you know that as of November 16, 2003 there were approximately 816,167 words in the English language? You have to check out the Global Language Monitor. Now, this is something fascinating! I've always loved words - and this is too cool.

4/4/04
Palm Sunday - Passion Sunday. The beginning of one of the most holy weeks in the Christian calendar. For me, I guess I have been made more aware of the importance of the gift of Christ's sacrifice after seeing the movie "The Passion of the Christ". I am definitely not worthy of a sacrifice that great, yet He did it for each of us, including me.

My friends got together again and we have a few pictures from our evening at Amy's house. You can see them by clicking on "Friends" at the left. I am continually thankful for the gifts that God has given me in these women.

Sometimes the smallest things in our lives get overlooked - we don't realize how fortunate we are. I know that it is easy for me to forget how much God is aware of my life on a day to day basis. Just because I have forgotten to call on Him, doesn't mean that I am not on His mind. From the small gifts to the large miracles - He is aware of my needs always.

But, I am thankful for these friends, I am thankful for my family, I am thankful for my church and the new friends that I continually meet there. I am thankful for the bright blue sky and the beauty of each day.

04/08/04
The Matrix: Revolutions came out on DVD this week. I suspect I've seen it 7-8 times in the last couple of days. Max and I watched it together Tuesday night (as soon as I could get him off of Tech TV). What an exciting movie. I was on the edge of my seat through most of it. I've seen terrible reviews of it, and I don't care. This trilogy was one that really struck a chord with me. And the finale of it, though upsetting to some, meant everything to me. When it comes down to it, sacrifice is the only way to save someone you love.

This week is all about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Tomorrow is Black Friday, Good Friday. The day we commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus. That was a sacrifice that is beyond our comprehension, but at the same time draws our gratitude.

Happy Easter!

04/20/04
The beginning of something new.

Max and I have taken on the challenge of cleaning out the house. I guess I was tired of hearing Carol tell me how concerned she was that I was going to die and she was going to have to clean out my junk. Ok - that's not all true. I have been a little frustrated with my home. It's not how I want to live anymore. So, we're getting rid of the junk and moving things around so that I can have a real house back. I can entertain, I can feel comfortable having people over, I can decorate. Oh, I can't wait!

And, Max found an old cassette of my mother preaching a sermon in Sigourney. June 1977. You can listen to it by clicking here (it should open in Windows Media Player). The sound isn't very good. Turn your volume down - the background noise can be a bit overwhelming. This is also a large file - 9 meg.

It's wonderful to hear her voice again. It's not really how I remember it. But, this was 10 years before she died and I suppose that her voice would have deepened in the years that followed. We have another sermon from 1983, but that cassette isn't working so well yet. As soon as we get that transcribed digitally, I'll get it up on the web as well.

She talks about Bill Shoemaker leaving Sigourney. He was the High School principal and a good friend of ours. An honorable man and a good man. Mom was on the School Board there for many years. His daughter, Sharon, was in my class at school and 1977 was the year we graduated.

04/24/04
This has been an interesting week. Aside from being incredibly busy at Insty-Prints, my brother, Jim turned 40 and Max and I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary. We went out last night to Charlie's on the Lake with Doug and Amy Purintun, and I had a few too many chocolate martinis. But, it was a fun evening and we're headed for our next 10 years. I've decided, though, that I'm much too young to have 10 years of marriage under my belt, even though I started so late!

For some reason, I've decided that I don't have enough information in my mind. So, I've been filling it with weird and strange stuff. At least according to my history. Check out New Scientist. What a great place to visit to have scientific principles explained in a manner that makes sense to the layman.

This site (Intuitor.com) is a hoot. How much trouble do you have with the physics of movies these days? I guess I really don't care. If I'm entertained by the movie itself, then they can project whatever they want, but I suspect that if you knew enough about how things really work, the physics in movies would really distress you.

06/06/04
What a week it has been. Well, actually, the week was quiet, but last weekend was a weekend spent purging and cleaning. Max went to Michigan to spend some time with his brother and I invited my family to join me for a lot of hard word. And they were wonderful! Carol and I worked all day on Saturday and then on Monday, Jim's family joined us as we purged a 10 cubic yard dumpster's worth of stuff out of my house. And I have my house back. It's wonderful.

You can see a few pictures by clicking here. (the link is gone - sorry!) I don't have too many before pictures, but suffice it to say, it was jam packed with lots and lots of stuff - from furniture to just plain junk!

07/18/04
What a wild summer! It seems like so much is going on all of the time. Last week I helped lead music at our children Vacation Bible School. What a fun week. The Praise Choir has performed this summer, I went on a short tour with our youth choir "Soul Seekers" and there have been multitudes of other things happening. It's been wonderful!

We had a small crisis on my computer last week. And many of my scanned photos and email are gone. But, I'm learning to come to terms with the fact that this is simply temporal 'stuff' and I need to not be attached to it. Purging my house was a fabulous start to learning how to live like this. I was able to release so many things. So, little by little, piece by piece, I am releasing the material things in my life and I'm hoping that someday I will finally figure out the difference between the importance of these things and the 'stuff' of God.

Are you an addict for trivia and weird information? Have you checked out Boing Boing? It is a directory of wonderful stuff (in their words). These people seem to find the weird and wonderful all of the net and share it.

07/21/04
Well, I have had 4 evenings in a row ... at home. That's been wonderful! And, I've gotten nothing done. I should be reading and writing and studying and composing. And ... nothing. I suppose I should be ashamed of myself, but I'm not really. Last night I started reading "Great Christian Thinkers: A Beginner's Guide to over 70 Leading Theologians Through the Ages" by Colin Blakely. It sounds more esoteric than it is. It's actually a great little book that gives 4-5 page synopses of these theologians. Names I've seen over the years as I've studied, and now all of a sudden I am learning their story.

The next big project on my list is to organize my shelves of books. It's absolutely wonderful to have them out and available to me finally, but I still need to put them all in order.

If you love listening to Christian radio shows - check this site out. OnePlace.com carries all of the day's radio shows - from Chuck Swindoll to Joni Eareckson Tada, Beth Moore to Adventures in Odyssey.

December 27, 2004
It's time to update this page. Jim & Janet's Christmas Extravaganza was awesome. We had a wonderful time with the whole family there. It was a day of fabulous gifts, too little sleep (we needed naps) and way too much food. But, God blessed us with a great day.

I'm looking forward to a week with no meetings and excursions. It will be nice to have a break and relax in my quiet home. I'm hoping to get the dining room painted and wallpapered this weekend. I just need a large chunk of time all in a row to get this done. Can't wait!