“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.

November’s gone?

Already???? It’s December? December 10th? What happened? This is the question I am starting to hear most often. What is going on in your household? Why haven’t you written?

There are several answers. The first revolves around the loss of our digital camera. I can’t seem to remember all the fun little things we’ve done without the accompanying photo essays. The Nikon D 70 (which we love) died at Jamin’s homecoming game. You may wonder how a homeschool student has a homecoming game…isn’t every day homecoming and aren’t most days game days at our house???? Jamin had a blast playing for TLC this year and the homecoming was a heady experience for a homeschool freshman. The crowds roared. He played most the game, they let the freshmen and sophomores carry the game and they won handily. The camera, however, quit working!!! We quickly sent it off to NYC as it was still under warranty. Three weeks later I called and the camera was at Nikon getting fixed. Two weeks later I called and it was back in Amityville, NY. I was then told it had been mailed out to us one day mail. Mike was TDY at this point and in the hustle of welcoming him back home I forgot to watch the mail box. Hmm….it’s been 5 days and WHERE is the Nikon? Called Cameta Cameras back and it HAD been delivered! WHERE? In Alaska!!! The customer service had NOT updated our account as they told Mike they did. UPS was given a day to try to retrieve our camera from the current residents of our old home. They did. They shipped it 2 day air back to NY, now it’s been mailed out again – this time to TX. We miss our camera. Yes, we do have a “regular” Nikon but it isn’t the same!

The other reason you haven’t heard much from us is that we’ve entered our “Birthday Season”. This begins with Mike on 17 Nov and progresses through Christmas, Birthdays (Jared, De’Etta, Nolan, Josiah, Zander, and Jamin) and an anniversary. We come up to breathe again in March.

Mike’s birthday was a hoot. We all went together and got him a surround sound system. He was totally shocked!

We fit a camping trip in. I will try to write more about this when we get the pictures back (which will be sometime after I deliver them to be developed ). We searched for water and found it…..under the shadow of a Power Plant which didn’t show up on the state maps. The campground was very empty and we had a wonderful time. We even got to dialogue with the Park manager about careers in the Parks dept.

The night after returning from camping found Mike at Mr. Gatti’s with the 7 children from home while I hosted a tea for the Staff Spouses/females from the Chapel. This was a fun night and gave me the opportunity to use my new china set for the first time.

Thanksgiving was full and fun. We had a few students from the Intel school over and a family from the chapel staff as well. We missed the girls but took comfort in the fact that they were spending the day together at Bre’s host home. We continued the “sign the tablecloth” tradition. Arielle had gotten all the signatures stitched from last year finished Wed. night. She was relieved to hear that instead of 50 we were having 30 people this year – much easier to stitch.

Josiah is directing the chapel’s Christmas Program this year. From all accounts he is doing a great job. We’ll see the results tomorrow. Jamin will be a reporter, Arielle and angel and Nolan a shepherd.

The younger ones and I enjoyed a field trip out to our local Christmas Tree farm. We have a seedling to plant and are hoping to be able to use it for our last Christmas here.

We are once again enjoying our Advent schedule. We are reading *Bartholomew’s Passage* this year and loving it. We also have a Jesse Tree and ornaments with names of Christ that we hang on the tree.

Yes, the tree…this year we decorated solely with picture ornaments. We have these of the children for each year. We love the tree. It’s simple and meaningful.

Josiah and Jamin directed the outdoor decorations this year. They had a vision – and what a bright and cherry vision it is. I hope to get a picture up. We realized in November that we had purchased a home on Christmas Lane. We’ve had steady traffic each night since Thanksgiving. We have lights and then took all the other yard signs out of the yard…leaving a simple, white wooden nativity cut out and a yard sign that says “Jesus” Celebrate His Birth. We have a spot light shining on it. Mike and I are very happy with the way the yard turned out.

We have continued on with school and are about ½ way through our second unit of the year. We will begin our school break on 16 Dec and resume school on 2 January.

We have all visited a new dentist….only one cavity among us. Josiah has been fitted for a night guard…the hopes is this will help his jaw to relax. He has quite a case of lock jaw.

Nolan has finally been approved for speech therapy. We will be seeing W TX Rehab this next week to set up a plan.

We’ve discovered online shopping this year. Wowee!!! We’ve been able to find everything we want, usually with free shipping, discounted prices and NO 8 ½% sales taxes. We’re still new enough to this that it is totally exciting each day when the UPS, Fed EX or USPS trucks pull up.

Ah, we’ve also been busy making gifts but I can’t share about those quite yet.

That’s where our November has gone. I do hope to keep up better than this, maybe even be able to begin sharing thoughts, feelings and insights and not simple narrative…..

Today is a Ladies Tea – I’m involved in planning, organizing, setting up and hosting it – so I’d best get moving.

The girls and my parents arrive here on 21 Dec. We are counting the days!

I won’t wish you a Merry Christmas yet because I’ll be sure to write again before Christmas. In fact, as soon as the D 70 arrives I’ll need to take pictures of Stacia….and when I get the film developed I’ll have lots of pictures to post.

Family Weekly Digest ~ Week of 23 October
“Just the facts” – http://not2many.blogspot.com


Note:*means there is an entry with more details on the blog about this line item
**means there is an entry with photos on the blog about this line item

~** Saturday adventure: We searched for water and found ATV trails, cotton and family fun at the base’s rec camp instead.


~**School Daze - A busy week as Nolan finishes the first ½ of his phonics program, go, Arielle reaches step 27 in her program, Jared “clicks” with math; we make a flag and a hurricane.


~*Homecoming for TLC – Jamin played all but about 5 minutes of the homecoming game. The final score was 68-21. Our camera quit working and we were unable to take pictures. It’s still under warranty and is on it’s way to New York as I write.

~**Funny Family Quips and Pics of the week. More one-liners from Zander and cute pictures of the children.


Note: I’m sorry this was not sent out last Saturday. The weekend was far to busy for spending time writing a blog. Love you all, De’Etta

Few Family Quips and Pics

~Earlier this week I had given Nolan and Zander the instruction to "take everything off your bed and carry it to the laundry room". I, of course, meant sheets, pillow cases and blankets. They heard EVERYTHING. I pushed open the laundry room door and discovered a barricade of stuffed animals, pillows, toys and such. Note to self: give more detailed instructions to young boys.

~ I told Zander he was going to grow up to be "just like your big brothers". He responded, "Mom!, I'm NOT crazy!"

Arielle picks up where BreAnne left off and embroiders signatures on our Thanksgiving Table cloth. She only has one left from last year. Mike is inviting the staff home for Thanksgiving this year; this will be an ongoing project.

The younger 3 (hmmm....that doesn't work any longer)....Arielle, Nolan and Zander, were invited to a birthday party where they were to come as animals. Here is Zander in his cat costume. The only thing more alarming that seeing his "kaBOOM" potty dance is to see his "I'm a kitty" dance. :::snort::::

Yes, Stacia, some days are like this!

Arielle's Bugs Bunny Look. She is thrilled to have lost another front tooth and spends a lot of time doing her Bugs Bunny impression.

It's buzzing time again in the G home. Yes, I have seriously decided it is time to get the baby fat off now that the doctor has taken me off of bed rest. I refuse to be pictureless, however, due to my size.

Homecoming

27 October found us in the football stands cheering for Jamin as he played in his first homecoming game. What fun we had!!!

Jamin played all but about 5 minutes of the game. The coach put in his second string for most of the game and the boys still won 68-21. TLC “45” River City. Games are stopped in 6 man football when one team is 45 points ahead.

We were amazed at Jamin. He caught passes, made interceptions, knocked numerous big looking opponents to the ground and even made a touchdown…. I wish I knew football to tell you what he played. He kicked the ball quite a few times, does that help? I’ve heard terms like “safety” thrown out. I know that he was usually in the back row and charged to the front to knock the man with the ball on his backside. Mike said he was like a “heat seeking missile”. Unfortunately, our Nikon D70 quit working at the game and we have no pictures. The boys have one more game tonight and I’ll take the “normal” Nikon as the digital is in New York City seeing the home of it’s birth and getting a check up.

It is unsure if the boys will be playing in the play offs. They won a team that was the champs last year, and that left the coach a bit perturbed. This coach is in charge of scheduling the play off games. TLC is a 1A school….he put them playing a 3A school in their first game. His team doesn’t even play the 3A teams. Our coach originally said they would not play the 3A teams as they would get hurt but now he is saying they “may”. As far as we know tonight (3 November 2005) is the last game they will play.

Another bit of homecoming trivia…..our gas was siphoned while we cheered in the stands. We need to buy a locking gas cap.

School Daze

We are still amazed at how much we are enjoying school this year. I believe it’s the grace of God. We don’t have a lot of outside friends and activities yet, and so we are enjoying a season to become acquainted with our newest member and to school.

I love the “connections” the kids make all on their own with the subjects we are studying. One day last week, after noting that Nolan and Zander had been quiet for an extended length of time I went to investigate. I discovered them in their room playing with a Solar System puzzle. This week we studied Jupiter. We made a Hurricane to see how stormy it was on the planet. (No pictures because the camera is on the fritz). We are enjoying these Apologia Elementary texts so well that we are going to need to order another book in the series. This text should have taken us the rest of the year but the kids are doing in 1 week what I expected to take 3 weeks. We voted to let Jared choose the next textbook because this will be last “elementary science” he does before doing Apologia’s “set”. He chose to do Zoology. Expect a lot of bird studies in the next few months. Unfortunately, I’m not sure this is the time of the year to study birds. I’ll have to look over the book and if it looks like we won’t be able to do many of the projects we may have to order botany yet.

Nolan finished “Off We Go”, the first book in his phonics program. This means he has learned the alphabet and all the consonant and short vowel sounds. It’s a huge step. We’d been told it would be wise to hold off on phonics and focus on speech therapy. We were fairly confident he’d complete the kindergarten program quickly this year – and he has. We are still waiting to hear from the school district about getting him speech therapy here. If I don’t hear back by the end of this week I will call the base again and ask them to refer us to private therapy in a local rehab center.

Jared has conquered a big math block he’s had for years. He’s finally able to read the lesson, understand what it means, and score well on his work. He’s made 80 – 92% all week on his work. YaHOO!

Arielle is on step 27 in the Raceway Book. She is reading up a storm. Her new favorites are the Boxcar Children. She loves the fact that her big sister’s left behind their childhood series for her and Stacia.

In History we are all studying James Madison’s Presidency and the War of 1812. We have found a lot to admire in James and Dolly Madison.

The younger ones and I took a side jaunt and researched Francis Scott Key and the Star Spangled Banner. This led to a study on flags in general and the US flag specifically. Arielle and Nolan painted a huge flag on Friday – complete with 13 stripes and 50 stars.

Zander helped.

That quickly summarizes the week.