Touch of Culture

What blog would be complete without a touch of culture?

We’ve not seen “Narnia” yet, but we do have a new family favorite. Yep, a family favorite….from Zander – Mike we all enjoy this one: Veggie Tales, “Lord of the Beans”.

Lord of the Beans is a satirical look at “Lord of the Rings” and throws in various other spoofs as well. We are huge Tolkein fans so this appealed to our funny bone. LoB however, does pack a message. It follows the fantastic journey of a Flobbit named Toto Baggypants who inherits a most unusual gift. With the help of his mentor Randalf and a spirited group of friends, Toto embarks on a mission to discover how he should use his gift. On the journey he has to cross Mt Much-Snowia, encounters Lord Scaryman and sporks, and continually asks “Why have I been given this gift”. Obviously (if you’ve read the Tea Time thoughts) you’ll see that this message would resonate with me personally.

I’ve been asked if the message is stronger than the most recent fare from Veggie Tales and I’d have to say yes. We really liked this one – and it seemed like the “old ones”.

That’s it – our touch of culture for the week.

EXTREME LOVE

Excerpt from the PWOC newsletter I wrote in December.

It's here!

The time of year that we call Advent and celebrate the coming of our precious Savior to earth IN THE FLESH! Traditionally Advent also celebrates the coming of God's presence into our daily lives and looks ahead to the coming of our Lord at His second coming. This time of year is incredibly awesome to Christians. In all the hustle and bustle of the season do not let the "EXTREME" love of our Heavenly Father and His Son go unnoticed. Yes, EXTREME! Consider the EXTREME love of the Father. He sent His SON to REDEEM you back to Him (John 3:16). Consider the EXTREME love of the Son. "...though He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:6-9) Consider the responsibility you now have to walk in EXTREME love. For you see, I skipped verse 5 of Philippians 2: "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus". As you take time this season to reflect on the EXTREME love of the Father and Son....may your thankful heart well up with praise and overflow in humble, obedient service and EXTREME love for others.

May you find time this season to bask in His EXTREME love for you.

Lights, Lights EVERYWHERE

Mike is working late this week preparing for an Off-site, so the children and I have been going out looking for the best lights in the area. We have found that our very own neighborhood really has the most lights; but we’re still exploring. Wow – it’s a wonderland.

In our driving around we ventured to parts of town we’d never visited before – or at least parts we didn’t’ recognize at night! We finally found the river and the city’s light tour. It is amazing. We will be going back with Mike and our company in December. There are huge light displays all up along the side of the river – looking even more spectacular as they reflect in the water. The major theme is “12 days of Christmas” but there was a huge nativity scene done in lights. There were also big bill board greetings along the route from various businesses and many wishes for a wonderful CHRISTmas. The tour eventually led us by our County Courthouse that has a big nativity set on the front lawn. While you drive you can listen to Christmas music on an FM station and greetings from various civic leaders and pastors in town. It is all very well done...all for only $3 a car.

You would think with the varied selection of Christmas music a great traditional Carol would have gotten fixed in my mind…but NOOOO…..I can’t get “Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer” out of my head.

Our Nikon is due back today; we’ll post pictures from our next trip.

Nolan’s Journey for Understandable Speech

We’ve been navigating the TX red tape to get Nolan back into speech therapy. He was evaluated in May, before we left Alaska, and had a 49% understandability (up from below 19%). We had been advised not to begin phonics with him last year because of speech. Our insurance, Tri-Care, was paying for two 45 min sessions a week because the school district said he needed the services but they didn’t have the resources to provide the service.

I had hoped that Tri-care would simply take our info from AK and transfer it to TX – but this was not to be. I had to contact the local school district and begin from scratch again. We ran into a road block when the school district would not return my calls. Persistence paid off when I was finally given the phone number to the DESK of the District’s Superintendent of Special Education. I began calling her desk daily. She kept apologizing for not returning my calls. I faxed reports to her. I waited and prayed and continued to call. Finally, after six weeks, a meeting was set up with the District Superintendent, the speech therapist from the school down the street, and myself. They offered me services contingent on enrolling him in public school. I declined the offer. They then told me that there is a “general pot” that they are required to have. Into this pot goes a percentage of the federal funding they receive for Special Education. These monies are to pay for services for “non-traditional” students. That would certainly be us. As long as they still have money in this pot, they will pay for private therapy at the West Texas Rehab Center. She explained that if they run out of money I will have to fight with Tri-care to cover the services. I was fully prepared to fight with Tri-care as we did in AK, so this is a bonus.

West Texas Rehab called and wanted to see Nolan for an evaluation. We did that on Monday (12th of Dec). I’m a bit skeptical of their plan but I’m giving it a shot. I have already told them that if Nolan needs more than the SCHOOL authorized (two 30 min appointments with one being a group session instead of two 45 minute private sessions) I will pursue getting Tri-care to pay. At that point we would have more freedom in what care is given to Nolan. BUT Tri-care won’t pay for treatment if the schools will…what a racket. They used the same test Tracy had in May. It showed that Nolan has made some progress in the past few months. I explained that we began phonics when it became apparent in July that he wasn’t going to be in speech any time soon. I think that focusing on each sound has helped him to isolate the sounds. She agreed. She also agreed with me that he needs to be tested by an audiologist. I’ve been asking for THIS for over two years and kept getting sent to the school district where they do a “screening” and say “no hearing problems”. She agreed with me that that he needs more than a screening. I suspect she was more willing to listen than others because this center has their own audiologists.

W TX Rehab will be calling to set up appointment times with us “soon”. This is a huge change from “All for Kids” in AK. This place is NOT a friendly private practice…it’s big…more like a small hospital. It is also high tech. They have one way windows we can watch through and phones we can listen in on. I miss the “personality” of All for Kids, but we are determined to make this work for Nolan.

It was gratifying to hear that Nolan has not lost ground. We are grateful for the improvements….some days things still sound like “Charlie Brown” speech around here…but we are believing that a day will come when he is understood the majority of the time. Prayerfully by the end of this assignment. OK – a pardon to all my Southern friends…but I’m a bit concerned as to how understandable he will be after three years of private sessions with a native West Texan. The older boys have informed me that *my* accent is getting terribly bad and I corrected Arielle this week reading “asked” as “axed”…something we hear a lot down here….

The Good News Flash!

The Good News Flash takes us back in time. We begin in the office of the editor to the Bethlehem Times. She is giving her three reporters the job of finding a big news story that she is just sure is about to break. Jamin is a reporter. The reporters proceed to interview angels (Arielle is one), Shepherds (Nolan is one) and inn keepers…finally arriving at the manger in back of the last inn where Baby Jesus (complete with very cool purple binky) waits. Throughout the play various classes lead the audience in Christmas Carols. This was a CUTE play and was perfect for our group. Involving the audience in singing certainly helped to bolster the choirs.

The high school class was placed “in charge” of the play with Josiah being named as the director. This was a stretch for him and used of God to move him out of his comfort zone. Two months ago he was reluctant to read Scripture in the service. Within the last month I’ve seen him organize classes of little ones, read Advent readings in chapel, give a speech at the beginning and ending of the play and in short, emerge as a leader. I’ve heard great comments from the Religious Education Director and her husband. Josiah and Jamin were involved in selecting the play, building props (which were darling), recruiting kids and advertising.

We were very proud of all our kidlets and their parts in the play.

“Sistering”

This is a concept introduced to me by Rochelle Wheeler, PWOC National President from 2002-2004.

I recently was asked to explain the term and since I use the term in "Tea Time Thoughts" I will explain it here as well.

Sistering is a carpentry/woodworking term. Evidently, when wanting to strengthen a (post, wall, joist?) a carpenter will put another of the same kind right up next to the original one. This causes strength as the two support the burden of weight. This is a vivid picture of what we as Christian Sisters can do for one another. It’s a great picture of what a vital PWOC can be. We can “sister” each other in all areas of life….spiritual growth, parenting and etc.

I will do some more research and get an “accurate” definition and edit this – but this is what I remember from conversations and messages from Rochelle.

I’ve been in the military world long enough that I seem to have trouble speaking without acronyms. PWOC = Protestant Women of the Chapel – the military term for Women’s Ministry.

Tea Time Thoughts

The Christmas Tea at Chapel is now a part of history. The day went very well. I was blessed to have Shannon and Emma’s help. We managed to set up, decorate, and have tea ready to go in just under an hour. Whew! We kept things simple but elegant…and I found myself thanking God for the blessings of Dorreth and Nichole in my life over the past three years. It’s impossible not to reflect and I found myself in a nostalgic mood when driving away from the chapel.

Three years ago I had never attended a tea, let alone hosted one. On our way to our new home in Alaska, my mother and sister-in-loves (Heather and Sherri) treated the girls and me to an afternoon at their favorite Tea House in Eugene, OR. Before this, I had decided I didn’t like tea – and I didn’t. We had a pot of freshly steeped imported Vanilla Tea, with cane sugar and cream….scones….yummm it was wonderful and we were hooked. Our afternoon tea times at home are fond memories from Alaska. Alaska was a “tea” type of place….and God placed Dorreth and Nichole (both tea party planners extraordinaire) in my life during this season. I think I did them proud yesterday. From Dorreth I learned: the elegance of using REAL tablecloths, plates and silver; of making sure the water is “almost” boiling….and to slow down and take deep breaths . From Nichole (a professional caterer) I learned: to do as much ahead of time as possible. The tips from these two made it possible to pull up at 1:05 and be ready for guests at 2:00p.m.

The fellowship was sweet and I enjoyed getting to know some of my new sisters from this base in a deeper way. It is so hard to really “know” each other in this chapel setting where we see each other once a week. I’m excited that we are beginning a Bible Study in January. I’m praying this will provide more opportunities to build relationships. I’m also dreaming of a few fun things to do – yes, Ch. Hatcher may have been right – I do seem to have a “party spirit” about me.

The afternoon put me in a reflective frame of mind. I find myself wondering exactly where the boundaries are that God would set for me here, as far as ministry outside and inside the home. I have a passion to see women “sistering” one another, I have a passion to mentor and disciple women, I have a passion to see women growing deeper in their walk with the Lord and embracing an extravagant and wholehearted love for Him….but I also have a calling and passion for family and the ministry that I’m called to fulfill in the home. I know in AK that I spent about 30 hours a week in women’s ministry…that is far too many hours for THIS season in my life. My two adult daughters have moved on; I have a new young daughter and varying ages of mentoring within the home…

When we moved here Mike and I agreed that I would not get involved until at least January. We agreed that I would prayerfully consider my involvement in ministry outside of the home and that we would establish some boundaries. I’m excited as I see January approaching, and yet those boundaries are still a bit nebulous. I’m in prayer over this issue. I feel a drawing to be involved, God is birthing a vision for THIS group in my spirit, but I also am reluctant to give up the new found peace and order in our family life. I’ve noted that I tend to go “hog wild” or “do nothing”….at Malmstrom I was very involved in PWOC, in San Antonio I did nothing (and loved it), in Anchorage I was very, very involved in PWOC and here I have so far done very little…..there has to be a middle ground. If you are a praying sort, I’d covet your prayers as I listen quietly for His voice to confirm where the boundaries are for this season. If you have wrestled with this issue, I’d love to hear your thoughts…any Scriptures are welcome too.

I know that first and foremost my ministry centers on home. In a real sense helping in PWOC is a help to my husband (the Sr Protestant Chaplain on base)…and so is an extension of being his helper. I know my gifts and callings. I seem, however, to have a hard time doing anything “1/2 way”. Those of you who know me in real life are fully aware of this strength/weakness…so where is the balance? Are there clear-cut, common-sense, guidelines…or is this a matter of following the Shepherd’s leading very closely….I keep remembering Chaplain Ray saying “You Gotta Get Out of the Boat”. At times I think this is speaking to me to “get out of the boat of public ministry and stay home” and at other times it seems to be a call to “get out of the boat of your new found comfort zone”.

Ah well, though I’m not sure where any of this is going to lead me, I am invigorated to feel a stirring in my spirit.