Snow in West TN

It's snowing in West TN.

Reminds me of home. (NE Ohio)

I know my mom is happy to see some more snow! LOL (Hi Ma! Love you!)

It's not Christmas, but seeing the snowfall brings these lyrics to mind:


Still, still, still,
One can hear the falling snow.
For all is hushed,
The world is sleeping,
Holy Star its vigil keeping.
Still, still, still,
One can hear the falling snow.

Sleep, sleep, sleep,'
Tis the eve of our Saviour's birth.
The night is peaceful all around you,
Close your eyes,
Let sleep surround you.
Sleep, sleep, sleep,'
Tis the eve of our Saviour's birth.

Dream, dream, dream,
Of the joyous day to come.
While guardian angels without number,
Watch you as you sweetly slumber.
Dream, dream, dream,
Of the joyous day to come.

Trumpet Section

Here is a picture of the trumpet section from the Jackson Swing Orchestra.

This is from the night of our Valentine's Day gig at Miss Ollie's in downtown Jackson, TN.

Dave, the lead trumpet player, appears to be in his glory with all those females around! LOL

We had a great time that night!

Pictured from the left: Lucy, Dave, me, and Connie.

Are You Missing Him?

This morning I awakened feeling and all too familiar dread at facing the day. I wanted to pull the covers over my head and just stay in my warm, comfy bed. I began to pray out of convicton....
"Father, forgive me for my attitude. Please make your presence obvious to me today. Blow my mind!"
Without even realizing it in the moment, God was already blowing my mind because He responded immediately to my request with, "I make my presence obvious to you all day every day. You just don't notice."
From that moment on, my day changed. I got out of bed and decided to really pay attention to God's presence saturating every aspect of my life and it has been blowing my mind!

He Came From His Mommy's Heart

I think about adoption a lot. Recently there has been somewhat of an adoption explosion in and around my church which is soooooo cool.

Today, after finally getting motivated to clean, I was going through some old memorabilia and found something that I had hung on my refrigerator door for years. It is something I cut out from the newspaper in 1993 from the comic strip Family Circus by Bil Keane.

My motivation to clean ended quickly.

I treasured this strip for all those years and then lost it somewhere in all my moves. I Googled for it a couple of weeks ago and never did find the strip, but only found other people like me who cherish this thing called adoption recalling what the strip was from memory.

Well, I found my newspaper cutout of the strip and I am probably violating some copyright law by posting it. Oh well, it's a classic! I'll pull it off if need be, in the meantime, enjoy!

Romans 8:14-16 (King James Version)

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God"

Ephesians 1:4-6 (King James Version)

"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."

When You Have No Moral Standards

"If someone is that depressed and wants to kill himself because there is no hope of life getting better, I don't see any reason he shouldn't do it. Many times there is no hope of life improving." I paraphrased that from an interesting conversation I had with a friend one day.

The person, who I will call Louise, said the above and also says that she has an easy time accepting people for who or what they are; whatever race, color, creed, sexual orientation...it's just easy to accept people. This, I think, is very noble.

She also sees no problem letting people do whatever they want even if bad behaviors allow them to destroy themselves, like drugs and/or suicide and figures they get what they deserve. If a bad behavior such as smoking kills people, yet someone still chooses to smoke, then no one should say anything to that person. That person has made their choice and no one should say anything, ever, even if someone cares enough about them to ask them to stop. (This post only mentions smoking because it is the "catalyst" of the conversation point I will make below. It in no way excludes other life threatening behaviors including bad nutrition and gluttony of which I struggle myself!)

Then Louise told me that a friend of hers told her that it probably is easy to do because she has no moral standard by which she lives. Louise agreed.

The whole "no moral standard" is interesting to me, but that's a topic for another post.

Then Louise told me she was going outside to smoke. I said "I knew you would wimp out and not quit this New Years." She said "I'm not wimping out!" and I reminded her "remember what you said about having no moral standards makes it easy to accept people however they are? Well, what is the opposite of that?" and she expressed at first a quizzical but thoughtful look and then pondered it a moment before she confessed "I see your point".

I believe it is right to accept people how they are and lovingly help to restore them to a healthy life when they are in a destructive pattern. Whether the lifestyle they have chosen is alcohol, gambling, gluttony, sexual promiscuity, etc., we should not blindly "accept" this and say or nothing, especially with those we care about.

Christians are commanded to love. We are commanded to love fellow believers, but Jesus explained that this isn't anything special. It's easy to love people who are loveable. Jesus commands us to love our enemies. If an enemy is depressed and suicidal, we should not think like Scrooge in the Christmas Carol "good! Let them do it, less mouths to feed and it will help decrease the surplus population!", but instead we should react with love. Sometimes love is tough. Sometimes love means removing the drink, taking away the cigarettes, coaching someone through a nutritional dietary change, and maybe even closing the doors on a destructive relationship.

So, having no moral standard, I guess, can make it easy to take a person however they are and accept it, no matter how destructive their behaviors may be to themselves and those around them. It's also a lot less responsibility.

Focus

This is from a post at my work blog site.....

I am unable to access my normal daily work today due to a problem in the registry. I don’t mess with the registry that is bad…very very bad. So, I will be waiting until tomorrow to have my computer fully functioning again (I hope). So, since I can’t access my calendar to update the website, I thought I’d at least update the blog a bit.

Aside from my computer troubles, I’m having a bit of trouble focusing today. The doctor seems to think I have vertigo. Yay. I just love getting older! I have an appointment this afternoon to find out why it is I’m so "out of sorts" (more than the usual). But, this inability to focus causes me to think about the struggles I have had in my walk with God. Over the past year, circumstances in my life have made it difficult for me to stay on the right track in Christ. I have a tendency to place my focus in places it doesn’t need to be (relationships, career, school, family, finances, circumstances, worry, etc…). In doing so, I have found myself in a place where I have lost sight of the Father’s face….where I have repeatedly wandered from abiding in Christ.

There is so much in God’s word to help us keep focused. Problem is, often when we lose focus, we have a tendency not to run to the Word. Actually, we are more likely (at least I know I am) to run from it. Sometimes, even when we run to the Word, because we are not focused, we do not receive the direction it gives. I am speaking from personal experience as well as from what I read on the pages of the Bible. It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden.

So, how do I stay focused? I keep in the Word even when it doesn’t seem to be clear to me. I try my best to pray without ceasing. I hope in the promises hidden there even though my situation seems hopless. I try to go on what I know in my head instead of what I feel in my heart. I am in a place where I am weary and troubled…as many of you probably are as well. The only rest we can find in these times of despair is in Him.

So, I offer you some words from the Word in hopes that you may find rest, comfort, and focus in Him:

"I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit, apart from me you can do nothing."-John 15:5 NIV

This scripture is such a source of life for me. It is one of those things I have hidden in my heart that God uses to remind me when I am not abiding. It brings me back and tells me that I have my focus in the wrong place (which is why I am bogged down because I am unable to let go). This brings me to another verse I hold dear…

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." -Matt 11:28-30

The gentle and humble heart of my King…this is the love mentioned in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. We can learn from Him because He is gentle and humble in heart. We don’t have to be afraid of him being harsh when we come to Him all broken and confused. He speaks words of love and life from a gentle, humble heart. This is how we need to be towards those who come to us for help. We can not rightly teach anyone anything if we are doing it in Christ...with a loving spirit. We can not learn from those who treat us harshly when we go to them for help. But we can always run to Jesus and lay our burdens before Him without apprehension…for He is gentle and humble in heart. Oh how He loves us!

So, with that being said from an imperfect human who gets of course more often than not, here are some things to keep in mind when you feel like you have lost sight of the One who will never leave nor forsake you…

Put Him in the center of your focus. Do this by staying in the Word and praying ceaselessly. Remember the words of Paul:

"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." -Phil. 3:14 (That is another blog in itself!)

"Let your eyes look straight ahead, keep your gaze directly before you. " -Prove 4:25 NIV

Where is your gaze? Is it on your problems? Is it on relationships? Is it on Christ? Fix your eyes upon Jesus…then let them look straight ahead at all times. Let Christ be directly before you! As the beloved hymn sings, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face…and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."

"So, be careful to do what your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess." -Deuteronomy 5:32-33 NIV

A Prayer:

Psalm 119:33-40

33 Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end.
34 Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart.
35 Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.
36 Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.
37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.
38 Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared.
39 Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good.
40 How I long for your precepts! Preserve my life in your righteousness.

Home for Christmas

For the last two weeks, I have been thinking that Justin was not going to make it home for Christmas. Then a few days ago, I learned that he would be here but it would be at the end of the day. So, thankful that I would at least have him home for a few days...and at the end of Christmas day, and disappointed that there would be no morning wake-up call in anticipation of the presents we would exchange...I went to bed, in prayer...asking God to keep my heart in check as it was not focused on the real reason for celebrating. I went to bed at 3:00 a.m.

After 3 hours of sleep, I recieved a phone call.

"Merry Christmas" said the voice on the other end of the line. It wasn't long in my foggy state of mind before I recognized that the voice was that of my own son.

"Justin, it's 4:00 am there, what are you doing up?" I responded.

"Oh, I'm excited about my trip home today and I couldn't sleep. So, I went out for a run and decided to give you a call and say, Merry Christmas!"

"Well," I said with my early morning cracking voice, "you are the first to wish me a Merry Christmas, today. Thank you. Now, I don't know about you, but I have only had 3 hours sleep so I'm going to go back to sleep."

"Okay, Mom, I'll call you when I get to the airport. I love you and Merry Christmas"

This is just a rough recollection of the actual conversation that took place this morning as my son was about to blow my mind. The plan was that I would go to the airport and pick him up Christmas night. It would be late when we got home and Christmas definitely would be different from those in the past when both kids would wake me up at six in the morning to get permission to open their stockings while I slept a little longer, then they would come in a little later and ask if they could open their gifts. We would not share Christmas dinner with Justin and there would be an emptiness in my heart.

This year is our last year in our home here in west TN as Tiff and I will be moving to Atlanta next summer. It was our last opportunity to be in our home for Christmas as a framily with Sue. It seemed as if my hopes of having a traditional framily Christmas were shot. So, on with the story...

I hung up the phone only to hear a knock at the door a few minutes later. I went to my daughter's room to ask if she knocked. She answered, "No, but I heard a knock."

By this time I started to feel a bit uneasy. The thought did cross my mind that perhaps it might be Justin but I quickly dismissed it. I went to the front door and called, "Who is it?"

The voice on the other side of the door replied, "It's Tim."

Tim is Justin's best friend who had stopped by to visit the day before. He was leaving to go out of town and would not be around to visit with Justin over the five dayse that he would be home. I assumed he had forgotten something. I did hope faintly that maybe he was going to surprise me with a special "Christmas present"..but it was only a faint hope.

I opened the door to see Tim standing there alone. There I was in my bed head, bad breath, and all the rest of my morning "glory", wondering why Tim was at my house so early on Christmas morning. At this point, I didn't believe that he had any kind of surprise. He said, "Merry Christmas Ms. Katrina!" Then I heard another voice that I instantly recognized say, "Merry Christmas Mom!"

It was still dark and I couldn't see more than a shadow moving towards me and I ran towards that shadow screaming at the top of my lungs and bawling! I wrapped my arms around him and kept saying, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" over and over!

You would think that somebody in my home would have come running with a baseball bat or something to save me. But, nooooooooo Sue and my daughter deemed it a safer place to stay in their rooms and let me deal with the "bad guys" that were "attacking" me (at least that is what they were thinking might be going on because of the screams they were hearing!)

Finally, Tiffany came out and eventually, so did Sue...all of us in our nasty morning garb, looking "like dump" as Tiff would put it...then, there was Justin, all dressed nice in his jeans and new shirt we had given to him in Chicago. He had been traveling all night, arrived in Nashville at midnight, had his friends pick him up, then went home with them to visit before coming to wake me up on Christmas morning!

Eighteen years ago, two weeks after my birthday, I received a special package from God. I named him Justin. I got a son for my birthday. I never thought about ever receiving him again in the future for a Christmas present too!

So, the tradition continued one final Christmas in our home as a framily together when my kids asked me if they could open their stockings. I went back to bed just long enough for them to come down a second time and ask me to get up to open gifts.

The only thing that was different was that this year, Justin had been up all night traveling and started dozing off while opening his gifts! THAT'S NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE!

Later, the framily all worked together to prepare Christmas dinner. We picked up our former neighbor just like in years past (but she is in a nursing home now) and celebrated God's abundance as we shared in our Christmas/Thanksgiving dinner one final time. We wound down at the end of the night by attempting to watch the Nativity. Sue was the only one who stayed awake through the whole thing. I did wake up to see the most important part at the end...to bring Christmas home in the heart...the birth of my Savior, the King of Kings, our Lord who is Jesus Christ.

Thank You, Father for a very special last traditional framily Christmas together in our home.

It has been the most wonderful Christmas to remember!