In my pampering era

I texted a 20-something niece to ask: 

Did your mom receive the email gift certificate for a manicure which we sent for Christmas? 

Niece: 

Yes, and she's pretty excited about it too.

I replied: 

I would be too. When you get our age you’ll understand.  

Niece: 

I'm in the stage where I like getting household items.

What era are you in? I would say I'm in my pampering era, but I actually received two vacuums for Christmas, and am pretty excited about those, too! (One is for the van.) 

Bring Your Own Drink

Tuesday afternoon I texted Wednesday's prayer outline to my friend who prays with me in Moms in Prayer.

And then I felt led to advertise on the community Facebook page of our village and the two nearest villages.  

Mere hours later, my three posts had 32 likes, 4 supportive comments, and two comments tagging individuals who might be interested.  

I'm not searching for likes, but searching for moms who want to join us in praying for our schools & our children.  But I am glad that the word is getting out.

I woke up to a private message from a mom who has two grown children and one bonus child. Years ago she prayed in a Moms in Prayer group, and she's interested in joining ours.  

In my reply, in addition to letting her know the day & time we meet, and my address, I added, "Bring your own drink - water, coffee, tea. Kleenex provided." 

 

The Storm

How did you fare in the storm that was predicted to affect 40 states and 200 million people last weekend?

On Thursday:

• Jim picked up the proverbial bread, milk, and eggs, not because of the storm, but because we were out. :) I also asked him to pick up snacks.
• I filled the van up with gas. 
• I just so happened to catch up on laundry, and even wash our sheets.  There is nothing like getting into bed with clean sheets!
• I washed my hair. I didn't expect our power would go out, but one never knows.  It just felt good to be up to date on all the things before the storm.  
• We asked that BK bring his Chromebook home from school.

A week or so earlier, I had run across one of our battery-operated lanterns, and both Jim and BK received headlight beanies for Christmas, so I felt like we were prepared as far as lights go.  (Multiple rooms of our house also have plug-in flashlights that turn on if the power goes off.)

Thursday afternoon the superintendent announced that Friday would be an e-learning day due to expected dangerously low windchills.  (I saw a great reel online in which a mom said she didn't mention it to say she doesn't enjoy her children; she mentioned it because it was a sudden change in routine for each family member. Changes in routine can be hard.)

Jim and I were already expecting that and had made a list on the fridge whiteboard: 

• puzzle or game
• chore
• shower or bath
• read for 30 minutes

... to be completed after e-learning and before fun or screentime.  

On Friday I was happy that I had cooked a big lunch on Thursday. Leftovers it was! 

Friday at 1 PM Jim had his tax appointment, putting an end to his weeks and weeks of bookwork.  Friday afternoon Jim & BK worked at the farm.  Saturday morning  Jim & BK went to the gym so BK could swim laps to practice for the upcoming meet. In the afternoon they ran errands, among other things trying to find farm boots that fit BK.

Both Friday & Saturday, people came to our house to buy things I had listed on FB Marketplace. Now that Jim's bookwork is behind him, he is moving on to other things on his winter list (replacing a toilet, small house repairs, big house projects). This winter the project is: make the basement usable (especially for pre-teen/ teen boys).  I foresee many trips to the thrift store in our near future. :) 

Sunday morning we woke up to a couple inches of snow. Our church (30 miles away) received more, and was canceled for the first time in our tenure there. (No livestream even.) We went to a church in the opposite direction (read: less snow) and with a later start time. We know many people there, and they always have lunch afterwards, so this introvert was EXHAUSTED when we got home. :)

For supper, we ordered gas station pizza & took our leftover tossed salad, went to Grandpa & Grandma's, took their tree down, worked on their puzzle, watched their TV, etc. 

And, surprise! Monday was a traditional snow day! (Due to extreme cold wind chills that are forecasted for Monday morning and the high likelihood of blowing and drifting snow Sunday night.)

House projects in the morning. Errands & speech therapy for LM & me in the afternoon. Farm & haircut for Jim & BK in the afternoon. Swim practice 6-7.30 PM.

And then! Then we received word that the pipes had burst at the middle school & high school. So on Tuesday LM delightedly said, "I get to go to school!" and BK was thrilled he got to sleep in and roll out of bed and log in to his classes at 8.30 AM for another day of e-learning!

Everyone was back to school on Wednesday ... just in time to hear of the next storm coming Sunday night. :-/

1000 Gifts, Vol. 7, #77

751.  cleaning out little (& big) corners & spaces in our house

752.  finding some lost items :) 

753.  selling some items!

754.  friends who give recommendations

755.  friends who cheer us on

756.  a quiet ~ and beautiful ~ 4-day weekend (thanks to the snow & cold) without any physical suffering on our part (we could still drive and didn't lose power)

757.  one more (and hopefully the final) step complete in what turned into a lengthy and an (unbeknownst to me) multi-step process for some business for my mom

758.  pleasurable Sunday supper at Grandpa & Grandma's

759.  fellowship with saints on earth

760.  learning (through biographies) from saints in heaven!

1000 Gifts, Vol. 7, #76

741.  Jim

742.  Jim

743.  Jim

744.  Jim

745.  Jim

746.  Jim

747.  Jim

748.  Jim

749.  Jim

750.  Jim

 

A Prayer for Sanctity of Human Life Sunday

{a week late}

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,

We praise you for being the Creator of all things, for breathing into Adam's nostrils the breath of life. We thank you for the gift of life for successive generations on earth. 

As an adoptive mother, I thank you for our children's birth mothers. I thank you for their courage. I thank You for the hard decisions they made. I pray You will meet them in the lifelong pain they carry of separation from the child they birthed.  I pray You will provide all of their needs - spiritually, mentally, and physically.

For our children (and all adopted children), who carry the trauma of sudden separation from the only heartbeat they knew for the first nine months of life, Lord, please meet them in their trauma. Help them know You as their comforter and their refuge and their strength.  And as they bear the consequences of any decisions their birth parents made or circumstances they were in when they were yet in utero, be their helper, provide all they need either to overcome the struggles or else to live with them with peace.  Help them to thrive to the fullest of their God-given abilities, and to know You as their perfect Father. 

For adoptive parents, give each one wisdom beyond their years or experience. Give them strength. Connect them with resources. Provide what they need.  Be their refuge and hope.  Make their families microcosms of Your family.  Give them joy.  Help them grow in their knowledge of You, as they model to some degree Your heart of adoption toward Your children. 

For Your church, O Lord, help us love what You love. Help us love who You love. Help us be the hands and feet of Jesus for hurting people. Help us model family as You created it. Help us show Your grace and Your mercy and Your forgiveness and Your long-suffering to each party of the adoption triad.  

May Your Kingdom come. May Your will be done. On earth as it is in Heaven. 

Amen.

One day this week

I did a time audit one day this week.  

• Laundry - washer/ dryer
• Laundry - washer/ hang to dry
• Dishwasher - unload/ load
• Dishes - wash
• Counters - cleared & clean
• Table- clear
• Cook taco meat
• Check meat in fridge for expiration dates & make a plan to cook it in the right order
• Creative writing
• A bunch of emails
• Signed papers for school
• Four drop-offs or pickups
• Feed three pre-teen boys at my kitchen table
• Moms in Prayer meeting
• Prayer Meeting
• Pharmacy
• Telehealth appointment

The most true thing I can say about my life is that every day is different.  

50 states

Have you been to all 50 states? In 2024 one of my cousins reached his life goal of visiting all 50 states.  And this past year one of Jim's former youth group kids and his wife completed their goal of taking their sons to all 50 states before they finish high school!

In our 2025 travels, I added two new states (South Dakota & Montana), leaving only 12 to go, but I'm fine to skip several of those.  

Visiting all 50 is not on my bucket list, but I would like to visit New England. I have only been to one of the six New England states. 

If we had just driven 30 minutes out of our way on our western road trip last year, I could say I have been to Idaho. But we didn't. 

If we go to New England (& I could check off CT, ME, MA, NH, RI), I would be at 43 states, and call it quits. :)  Or so I say... I console myself frequently, regarding my travel bucket list, by saying that heaven will be far more glorious than any destination on my travel bucket list!

(If you're curious, that would leave: Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, North Dakota, and Oklahoma. I feel no great need to visit those states.)
 
How many states have you been to?  LM has already been to 18! 

Alabama - Huntsville area
Alaska 
Arizona - Spring of 2013 & January 2017
Arkansas
California - 1985 family reunion + LAX
Colorado - first time in 1991 + at least 4 times since then
Connecticut
Delaware - late 90s
Florida - many times to see relatives
Georgia - many times to see relatives & go to the mission office
Hawaii - 2009
Idaho
Illinois - home 
Indiana - drive through it many times
Iowa - a number of times
Kansas - drive-through :)
Kentucky - many times to see relatives & to drive through on our way to TN
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland - many times to see relatives
Massachusetts
Michigan - 2009 retreat and 2015 or 16 family reunion
Minnesota - 2013 airport (does that count?)
Mississippi - 2009
Missouri - 1991 & several times since then
Montana - 2025
Nebraska - 1998 when my sister moved to CO + this past summer
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey - Newark airport 2004
New Mexico - 1994 & 2013
New York - many times to see relatives
North Carolina - numerous times
North Dakota
Ohio - 1980 for my cousin's wedding (& many times passing through to TN)
Oklahoma
Oregon - spent the night on the floor of the Portland Airport (does that count?)
Pennsylvania - many times driving through to see relatives in NYS
Rhode Island
South Carolina - numerous times to see relatives
South Dakota - 2025
Tennessee - childhood home
Texas - 1994 family reunion + numerous times changing planes at DFW
Utah - airport once + Four Corners in 2013
Vermont - summer of Japanese study
Virginia - college + I grew up a few miles from the state line
Washington - Seattle airport + 1997 for a conference
West Virginia - many times
Wisconsin - many times 
Wyoming - 1998 when my sister moved to CO + 2025

Dream ~ Update

A few weeks ago, I wrote that I have a dream and a prayer of a Special Ed Christian School in Central Illinois. 

I have often expressed that desire, but it was a conversation I "just so happened" to have rather in passing with our pastor a few weeks ago that led me to start sharing my desire and connecting it to a request for prayer.  

As I have shared my dream and prayer with more people, I have added the following: 

Both our pastor and also the principal of a local Christian school have told me that countless parents have expressed this same desire to them - wishing that there were a Special Ed Christian school in central Illinois.  

I have no plans to start a school, to start a school board, to start a website, to start a mailing list or even to hold an informational meeting. I am an ordinary middle-aged mom with children with {mostly invisible} special needs. 

But I can mobilize prayer and watch God do miracles. Won’t you join me?

Expecting great things of our great God,

The response to my invitation to pray has been more than I could have imagined! 

Reply from another special needs mom when I asked if she would pray:

Absolutely!  Funny you should mention this about St. Louis because my friend started a foundation called One Classroom that hires paraprofessionals to accompany children with disabilities into Catholic schools.  

I love the way you’re framing this…I feel the same way about some sort of program for adults.  I just haven’t been able to articulate it as beautifully as you did.  I will certainly join you in prayer!

And from another prayer mobilizer:

I love your idea! It certainly sounds like it could be from the Lord. I will pray, and ask every prayer warrior I know in Central Illinois to make this a matter of prayer. 

More encouragement: 

I will PRAY as you are. We see it too! If God sees fit to work in this way somehow, some way, we would love to see it and likely connect with it!

From a retired teacher who has worked with special needs students:

Wow! Yes, yes, yes! For years I have thought churches should consider this concept equal to a missions budgeted item. 

From the principal of a Christian school:

I will definitely join in with you in prayer.  There is a definite need for what you see in your dream.  At {our school}, we see families all the time who desire a Christian Education that have learning needs that we just can’t provide for them. 

More encouragement:

I am passing your note along to our Elementary Principal.  She has a special place in her heart for this area of education and would want to pray with you also.

And from a friend: 

God can do all things 

The only way this dream could become reality & this prayer request could be answered is because God can do all things. 

Until then I will keep mobilizing prayer and boldly spreading the need far and wide, waiting for HIM to connect the right resources with the right people.  I can't wait to see what our great God does!! 

Lunch in 30 minutes?

Debt Free Mom (on social media) often posts a picture of her ingredients and then a picture of her finished meal. It gives her (& her readers) encouragement that it only took x minutes to get from an idea to a meal. 

I accidentally did the same last week when I made hamburger vegetable soup. I pulled out a bunch of ingredients:

Thirty minutes later I had this:

The potatoes took awhile, and we weren't ready to sit down yet anyway, so an hour later I had this:

Definitely one to keep on our weekly rotation!!  I didn't use a recipe, but pretended I was my mom who made amazing meals out of seemingly nothing.  (I added 4 cups beef broth and 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce. Otherwise, all the ingredients except one pound of ground beef are pictured.)

Another bonus to this is that I thought we were out of groceries and had nothing for lunch. Ahem! We had PLENTY for lunch (& several more meals as well)! I wonder what other delicious meals are lurking in my cupboards and freezer? :) 

Oh, the places you will go! ~ 2025 Version

Places where I spent one (or more) nights in 2025:

Chicago 

Murfreesboro, TN

motel along I-75 on our way to FL

Madeira Beach, FL

motel along I-75 on our way back from FL

St. Louis, MO

Hudson, IL

Williams Bay, WI

Kingsport, TN

Lexington, KY

Orange City, IA

Rapid City, SD

Gardiner, MT

Yellowstone National Park, WY

Grand Teton National Park, WY

Jackson, WY

Cheyenne, WY

Omaha, NE

Georgetown, KY

Gray, TN

and home

(italics - stayed there more than one night)  
(* stayed there on more than one occasion) 

   
2025 travel ...

January 1st found us driving to Chicago for a doctor's appointment.  It turns out that hotel rates are low on the 1st of January, so we stayed downtown right across from the hospital in a corner suite on the 27th floor!  It was good to get away!

We drove to FL in February.

The first half of spring break we went to St. Louis, returning at 4 PM Wednesday.  (Post here.)  We were delighted to discover that spring had already sprung there! Redbud, forsythia, and cherry blossoms! Oh, my!

By God's mercy I was able to attend the church women's retreat ... the first one that had been held in 12 years!  It had been many years since I had slept in a camp setting :) but it was amazingly restful and relaxing not to be responsible for anyone! 

We were able to getaway to Wisconsin May 31 - June 3 and July 12-15.

Our late summer trip to Tennessee was moved up to June 25 - July 1, so we could take an epic road trip out west July 24 - August 1.  

A long weekend back to Wisconsin over Labor Day weekend (got to get to the County Fair!).  That seems like the fewest trips we have ever taken there in a summer.

Our year to be with Jim's side on December 25th, so we headed to Tennessee on December 30th for a New Year's visit.

 

Whew!! We certainly ramped our travel up this year!

Here's to even more exploring in 2026!  I better eat my Wheaties!

I added two new states (South Dakota & Montana) and no new foreign countries.

Where did you go in 2025?  Anywhere new? Any place we should put on our list? We're especially interested in national parks. :) 

Oh, the places you will go! ~ 2009 version
Oh, the places you will go! ~ 2010 version 
Oh, the places you will go! ~ 2011 version 
Oh, the places you will go! ~ 2012 version
Oh, the places you will go! ~ 2013 version  
Oh, the places you will go! ~ 2014 version 
Oh, the places you will go! ~ 2015 version 
Oh, the places you will go! ~ 2016 version
Oh, the places you will go! ~ 2017 version
Oh, the places you will go! ~ 2018 version   

Oh, the places you will go! ~ 2019 version  

Oh, the places you will go! ~ 2020 version

Oh, the places you will go! ~ 2021 version

Oh, the places you will go! ~ 2022 version

Oh, the places you will go! ~ 2023 version 

Oh, the places you will go! ~ 2024 version

Looking Ahead to 2026

Looking Back

I patterned my previous post on my friend Wendy's. She also writes a post, "Looking ahead to 2026." (As a missionary in a foreign country, this topic seems more applicable to her life perhaps, but I'm going to attempt my own "Looking ahead" post.)

Big Rocks 

The "big rocks" are 

• planting & harvest (though both come with lots of uncertainty & timing is weather dependent)
• school & summer, and 
• trips & extracurriculars (all to-be-determined).

In all of these areas, my big rock is logistics & background support.

Areas of Change

We always want to be growing in our marriage & as parents & in our relationship with the Lord. Practically I'm not sure yet what that looks like. Suggestions are welcome. :)  Our small group does not require homework or prep. And I'm not in a Bible study, though this year I'm trying to follow along with our church's Bible reading plan.  And I want to memorize Scripture, even if it's minimal. Minimal is more than zero. :) 

In addition, I want to read more in 2026. My piles of books to read are truly overwhelming. I have chosen 12 missionary biographies & 12 fiction books.

I listen to podcasts, but more for falling asleep, so I can't say those are expanding my horizons or helping me grow in knowledge. ;) 

In terms of blogging, I blogged more in 2025 than I had since 2010, and I hope to continue at this pace. 

Exercise is always something I want to change ... yet never do.  My rheumatologist recommended pilates with Move with Nicole on YouTube. In my dream world, I would do water aerobics. Time will tell. 

I'm hopeful I'll get down to 5 mg or less of prednisone daily in 2026 & hopeful that my body will be able to tolerate it. (My rheumatologist says the side effects diminish greatly once you get below 5 mg.)

My team leader in Japan always asked us how we wanted to grow in character, skills, and knowledge.  Hmm...

Our church is looking for a new senior pastor as ours plans to retire in the next few years, so that is a big prayer request and an exciting (and sad) prospect.

Lily Pads

Wendy mentioned the term "lily pads" in her post, and I will copy that concept.  

"It's a helpful concept for maintaining mental health and includes things that you've got planned for the future to look forward to. Here are some of my lily pads for 2026 (the one's I know about now):"

• long weekends off school (two each in January, February, and April, plus a week of spring break in March)
• possible trips on those long weekends (Chicago, ?, ?, ?)
• exploring new-to-us places in Chicago beyond the Museum of Science & Industry, Children's Museum, Aquarium, Planetarium, and Field Museum
• possible spring break trip (who knows where?)
• hopeful 24 hour date with Jim in February or early March
• summer swim team a few farm towns away (such a great team!)
• summer vacation (another 10-11 day road trip; the kids are voting for an exact repeat of last year's but I think it will be somewhere different)

I think it would be good for me to have small lily pads, like reading a few chapters in a current book, fresh sheets on Mondays, trying a new recipe every other week, or even my 1-2.15 PM rest time on school days.   (I'm going to try to incorporate reading into my school day rest time. Reading before bed is not a good option for me in this season ... zzzzz!) ;)

What are your lily pads or recommendations? 

Ultimately

Ultimately, we have no idea what tomorrow will hold, much less this year. May we walk into this year (and each day of it) with steadfast hope in the One who holds our hands and leads us. 

Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
    teach me your paths.
 Lead me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are the God of my salvation;
    for you I wait all the day long.

A week

Monday I got 16,000 steps cleaning LM's room. [It was a major job, involving multiple bags of trash, multiple loads of laundry, bags of books to be donated, etc.]

Tuesday Jim and I went to Chicago to see my rheumatologist, who was visibly happy to see my reduced symptoms! (Weaning from all the meds will likely be a multi-year process.) I also had blood drawn there for a specialized lab that isn't available here in the hinterland. Thankfully the results show that I am negative for TB. Thank you, Lord!

Wednesday I made a big pot of vegetable beef soup. Yum! And my new loose leaf teas arrived! 

Thursday I learned that my brilliant and hilarious second cousin who had been on dialysis since the mid-to-late 80s (?) has his new body & heard, "Well done, my good & faithful servant." 

I also spent a lot of time on the phone, had a hair appointment, dropped off a trunk load of donations to my favorite thrift store, went to ALDI for a huge grocery haul, took one child to an appointment in town, etc.!  (And was thankful swim practice was canceled and that I had canceled the housecleaner!)

Friday I did dishes and laundry and more dishes and more laundry and made a bunch of phone calls to people to make sure they're doing their jobs (!). I made one of the two birthday cakes for the family party Saturday evening and gathered all the birthday party supplies. 

My week included interactions with the following professionals: nurse, immunologist's office, insurance company, pharmacy, specialty pharmacy, investor, tax guy, school principal, social worker, and probably more I am forgetting. 

Is it any wonder I am sleeping 8 hours or more most nights?!

Two years ago

I wrote this two years ago. Praise the Lord for answered prayer! It was indeed the very expensive & very scary med that my body needed and that the Lord mercifully used to bring relief and eventually to stop my disease from spreading.

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On our way home from Northwestern. 

Had tickets for Amtrak. They canceled trains. Jim drove. We celebrated my birthday with lunch together in a nice restaurant in the hospital lobby. :)

Kids were going to ride the bus after school to grandparents’. But school was closed due to dangerous windchill. Remote learning day. 

I did half of LM’s work with her yesterday afternoon. This morning they went to the farm and my sister-in-law helped with schoolwork. Then she took them to Grandma's for lunch and the afternoon. Now Grandma has them in another town for Upward. Cheer practice 4:30-5:30, McDonald’s, and then basketball practice 6:30-7:30. It takes a village!

Good appointment. Switching to a different med (5th one) - XELJANZ. (Causes shingles.) Doctor says my diseases are aggressive. Not the most aggressive she’s seen but the others have responded to treatment.

Praying the Lord causes this one to work… and not cause shingles. 

I have to stop all but prednisone for a week before starting the new one. 

Also I have a cough, and she’d like me to be better before starting Xeljanz. It of course is an immune suppressant. 

I have an appointment to see immunologist tomorrow about cough and lungs. 

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Praise God with us!

Looking Back on 2025

My friend Wendy uses this as a template for end-of-year blogging, and I am attempting to do the same as I look back on 2025.   

1. What makes this year unforgettable?  

• Our 10-day epic road trip to Badlands, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton National Parks, Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park, and many museums along the way! 
• BK learned to ski and mow our yard and started middle school. I feel like this is the year that the years started speeding up for us as parents. 
• LM became an emerging reader!
• Doing the closings for my homeplace (going to a notary to sign each deed & then sending it via FedEx overnight delivery to the closing agent) consumed my January and February and marked the legal end to a long era.  

2. What did I enjoy doing this year?  

• Praying weekly during the school year with other moms in our Moms in Prayer group.
• Blogging more
• Reading more
• Preparing a testimony for our church women's retreat.
• Sending Christmas cards for the first time in forever!
• New York Times puzzles :)
• Practicing Japanese on Duolingo
• Connecting with two moms (one lives several states away & we see each other every 2-4 years; the other I refer to as my texting friend)
• Making headway on decluttering

3. What/who is one thing/person I'm grateful for?  [I can't limit it to one!]

• Jim for keeping me sane and being a rock and pointing me to the eternal and the true. 
• People who pray for me/us.
• My rheumatologist. 
• My Moms in Prayer moms.
• Our pastor.

4. What did I read/watch/listen to that made the most impact this year?

• A constant diet of missionary biographies kept my heart for missions ignited and also kept reminding me that God can do things that seem impossible.

5. What did I worry about most and how did it turn out?

•  LM getting the academic help she needs in 3rd grade. The school was VERY responsive - changed her reading curriculum (to a strong phonics program) and changed her Special Ed teacher (from a first-year teacher to a veteran teacher), did due diligence in testing her, and the veteran SpEd teacher started over at the beginning with the short /a/ sound. She's an excellent emerging reader! 
• our 2026 health insurance ~ to be determined!

6. What is my biggest regret?

• Not connecting with people more
• Not making more progress on decluttering and on implementing systems 
• Not setting goals (& working towards them) in memorizing Scripture

7. What's something that has changed about me?

• The biggest physical change is that my disease stopped spreading, and as a result I have much more freedom of mobility.
• I'm doing much better about resting from 1-2.15 PM on weekdays before afternoon pickup from school. 

8. What surprised me most this year?

• Learning that at least 4 of the school staff on BK's IEP team are believers in Jesus!

9. What Bible truths impacted me this year?

• "This world is not my home; I'm just a passin' through." 

10. What meta-themes have I thought about this year? (in no particular order)

• how fleeting the teenage years will be
• how faithful the Lord will be to our children after we are gone
• I want to be content & a life-long learner like my mom & Jim's dad!

Highlights:

My disease has stopped spreading! I can move my joints so much more freely! 

Our vacation out west!

Reading significantly more books in 2025 than I have in any year in the past decade.  

 

Lowlights:

My mom's health. (She spent Christmas 2024 in the hospital, followed by a stay in the rehab hospital.  And then spent about three months in the rehab hospital again in the summer, following a hospital stay & operation, and then had to have another operation when that had complications in healing.)

Concluding thoughts:

We really do not know what direction a particular year will go in terms of the physical realm, but for believers in Christ our anchor is FIRM.  2025 was a good year (in many ways) and truly another step forward out of the fog of parenting littles / pandemic / disease. Life is still very stressful, to be sure, but there's a tad more margin (if not emotionally...).

1000 Gifts, Vol. 7, #75

731.  a good start to 2026

732.  good health

733.  much progress on decluttering

734.  better work/rest balance

735.  deep connections with a few people in our church

736.  more time with Jim 

737.  margin to do things like make cookies

738.  keeping up (so far) with our church's Bible reading plan

739.  a slow start to extracurriculars

740.  time to read

I am from

::repost::

I am from a white kitchen radio, from Paul Harvey and baking powder biscuits and molasses.

I am from an old, white farmhouse, antiques, creaking wood floors and second-floor registers, allowing both heat and conversations to drift upstairs.

I am from dogwood and redbud, boxwood and cedars, irises planted decades ago.

I am from midnight walks at Christmas, cousins coming for long stays, and visitors stopping by unannounced for a meal or two, a night or maybe more.

I am from World Book Encyclopedia, black rotary telephones on a party line, Rural Route 1, a multi-grade schoolroom, and low water pressure when the spring was running dry.

I am from Lessley and Theo, F.T. and Neva. From living by principles and escaping to the North by night or dying by principles and being buried in Camp Chase POW Camp, from the Exchange Place, Blockhouse, and Switzer Hill and Gettysburg.

I am from “children are to be seen and not heard” and “sometimes we have to do things we don’t like doing”.

I am from summer Bible camp, Bible memory contests, Happy Growers, and Mrs. Dibble’s flashcard stories.

I am from funeral home visitations, Sunday afternoon nursing home rounds, and drives in the country.

I am from Desta Kup, Krispy Kreme, a talking Raggedy Ann and Andy alarm clock, and the Cold War.

I am from Sunday dinner, antique goblets and great-grandmother’s silver, picnics in the woods and wildflower hikes.

I'm from East Tennessee, upstate New York, the Scotch-Irish, Sally Lunn bread and persimmon pudding, home-canned green beans and Grandma’s Concord grape jelly.

I am from county courthouse deeds, Cousin Mace Duff Gray’s genealogy ledger, framed tintypes, and Grandma’s black shoes.

As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children's children,
to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.
The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.

Thankful for where I am from geographically, but moreso for where and how He has led me these years of life that have been granted me, and mostly for where He is ultimately leading me.

(For background information on "I am from...," see this template.)

Was Saturday relaxing?

I wrote Saturday that I hoped the weekend would be relaxing.  It was!

I slept in and got two cups of tea.  Jim went to Gideons. 

I ordered a new bedspread for my mom. 

I did my Bible reading in the morning (I'm trying to keep up with our churchwide plan this year, and I know if I miss a day, it's hard to get back on the plan. I've been reading it too late at night to do me much good...)

I enjoyed using my Christmas gift of a beautiful & sturdy lap desk. 

I made a trip to the post office and took care of the mail and delivered our neighbors' to their front door knob (as we do once or twice a week). Part of "taking care of the mail" was filling out the online questionnaire for my upcoming jury duty (!). 

I read that Robert Wolgemuth has entered heaven and was in awe of the fact that as the song, “Come to Jesus,” was playing, he took his final breath during the phrase, "with your final heartbeat."

I set out all the leftovers on the kitchen island, and we ate lunch together. Dinner was a repeat of the same. :) 

And then at 1 PM, I gave myself permission to read. :) I'm going to try to alternate thinking books and fun books this year. We'll see how that goes. 

When Jim got home from the farm around 6.15 PM Saturday, he stayed with the children, and I went to visit his dad & his wife.  

Sunday I was home with a sick LM.  Jim & BK had an outing in the afternoon ... and then visited Grandpa for a couple hours. LM made slime, and we played many rounds of Play Nine. 

Sermons through the years

I saw on Facebook that a friend (also a peer - she spent a gap year in Japan a few years after I did) attended the funeral of the pastor of her home church. 

I met him once ... when he and his wife came to Japan in 1994 I believe (or possibly 1995).  I remember a sermon he preached on 2 Corinthians 3.18. 

Thinking of that, I wondered what other sermons I remember.  

I remember Vic's sermon on manna in 1992 or 1993. 

I remember Dr. Bill's sermon on an overview of Exodus in 1984-ish. 

I remember Bart's sermon on Colossians 1 in Japan (I do not remember when). 

I remember Pastor Chuck's sermon on Jesus calming the storm in 2017. 

I remember Pastor Scott's sermon from Daniel 3 in 2017. 

I remember Itakura Sensei's sermon on the Incarnation in 1989. All I understood was, "100% human; 100% God."

What sermons do you remember?