Summer Vacation, Days 73 ~ 77

Days 73 ~ 77

Saturday, August 1

We packed up & headed to Wisconsin. Jim worked in the morning, so we got a late start, and stopped for lunch before getting on the interstate. Once there, we made a Walmart run. And then I spent an hour washing and prepping the fresh fruit & veggies, boiling eggs, making iced tea, etc.  Jim got pizza for supper. 

Sunday, August 2

Sunday morning found me sitting by the lake with a cup of hot tea & a breakfast sandwich. Aaah! 

Church was oh, so good!  During the sermon, the pastor quoted Oswald Chambers: "The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else." 

Lunch at an old-fashioned diner.  Afternoon of beach & fishing. 

Monday, August 3

We arrived at the waterpark just after lunch and left just before supper. I did the lazy river three times and rode one waterslide (perhaps the last one I will ever ride in my life!). Jim found a seat in the shade and read "Age of Opportunity." LM made friends, two girls & their homeschooling mom. One of the girls asked if we could share info so they could have a play date. Alas, we live hours away. Made it back to the WI house in time for LM to go to VBS!!

Tuesday, August 4

After a nice breakfast out & time for LM & me to walk the streets of the resort town, beach & fishing were the themes of the day. Of course, LM was at VBS from 6-8.30 ... and sad she would miss the last three days. "I made a friend, Mom!" Yes, of course she did! 

Wednesday, August 5

We left around 8.30 and were home by noon. A pleasant ride home. We all were tired! 

But we kept going ... Jim to PT, then BK to the farm, then LM to tutoring, and then BK to a youth group swim party. 

I didn't keep notes of our time there but sprinkled into our days there, in addition to the beach & fishing, were:

• lots of requests for mac & cheese (including for late night snacks),
• naps,
• Boxcar Children, 
• bicycle & scooter rides, 
• trips to the ice cream shop,
• lots of reading for Jim & me, 
• and in general - REST - big picture windows, mature shade trees, quiet street, open windows, box fans, & simple meals.  

Staying for four nights is exponentially more restful than two trips of two nights each.  

Summer Vacation, Day 67

Sunday, July 26

Jim was in worship for the first time in a month! Our pastor is preaching through Deuteronomy. Every word of the sermon & hymns & songs ministered deeply to Jim and me. That's what happens when you feel your need of Him desperately!

Culver's for lunch. Nap for me (I slept VERY soundly). Jim & BK visited Jim's dad in the evening. 

1000 Gifts, Vol. 7, #92

891. safely through another week

1 Safely through another week
God has brought us on our way;
let us now a blessing seek,
waiting in His courts today;
day of all the week the best,
emblem of eternal rest.

2 While we pray for pard'ning grace,
through the dear Redeemer's name,
show Thy reconciling face;
take away our sin and shame;
from our worldly cares set free,
may we rest this day in Thee.

3 Here we come Thy name to praise,
let us feel Thy presence near;
may Thy glory meet our eyes,
while we in Thy house appear:
here afford us, Lord, a taste
of our everlasting feast.

4 May Thy gospel's joyful sound
conquer sinners, comfort saints;
may the fruits of grace abound,
bring relief for all complaints:
thus may all our Sabbaths prove,
till we join the church above.

892. calming music

893. such a fun summer swim team

894. safely through the first week of unstructured summer vacation (!)

895. older women to speak truth to me

896. peers to share each other's burdens

897. fun book series in which I could escape

898. we ate this week, even though I was out of practice with cooking, after a week with relatives in town

899. spending a half hour of respite with Jim's 96 year old dad & his wife

900. watching the Lord arrange plans for the coming week

Midsummer Ox Day

Have you ever heard of it?

In 2026, the Midsummer Day of the Ox (Doyo no Ushi no Hi) in Japan is July 26. On this day, people traditionally eat unagi (freshwater eel) to gain stamina and survive the intense summer heat.

Many times I went to the "eel restaurant" with some Japanese friends.  They were shocked that I liked eel.  But I imagine it all depends on how it is prepared.  I think these are grilled with a sweet and salty soy sauce-based "tare" glaze.

At this particular eel restaurant, near where we met for English & Bible class, we often saw yakuza (similar to the Japanese mafia), recognizable by their tailored suits, cars, and sunglasses. (We were always safe.) 

One day when we ate there, they were having some sort of campaign and giving away a mug to customers. (This is a very common practice.) The ladies gave the mug to me. 

And to this day I use it every day! It holds my toothbrush & toothpaste. 

I love the texture, and the sheep, which remind me of our Good Shepherd. And it is a reminder to pray for those particular ladies to come to know the Shepherd of their souls. 

1000 Gifts, Vol. 7, #91

881.  family in town for a week

882.  leaning hard into my village when our schedule requires me to be in two places at the same time

883.  safety in all the driving (one week recently I drove 1200+ miles - all within 30 miles of home!)

884.  getting to know so many swim moms better this summer

885.  we survived another summer of summer swim team! 

886.  LM especially made so much progress in her form, stamina, independence, etc.

887.  Jim's turning the corner in knee surgery recovery

888.  Looking back to 2 years ago and the daily crises we faced on multiple fronts, and seeing the Lord's patient provision in so many areas

889.  Knowing He will be faithful in these last 3 1/2 weeks of summer vacation ...

890.  ... and in the transition to the start of school (!)

Summer Vacation, Days 52 ~ 53

Days 52 ~ 53

Saturday, July 11

We all slept in! LM & I went to a baby shower at church from 1-3. She went to tutoring from 3.30-5. BK had friends over, and I ordered gas station pizza for supper.

Sunday, July 12

A hard night for Jim, so I was up a bit.  The children & I went to church, got take-out, and were home by 1 PM. I dropped BK off at Wilderness Camp at 3.30. LM spent time with her aunt & uncle while I went out for a fun evening. 

We are waiting on the Lord to answer our prayers for Jim's knee replacement recovery ... 

1000 Gifts, Vol. 7, #90

The Surgery Edition

871. The Lord enabled Jim to get through planting (at one point it looked doubtful)

872. a new recliner for recovery

873. air conditioning during a heat wave! (& the new windows as of last year which we so desperately needed to keep out the air)

874. all the decluttering I had done in weeks prior so our house was more walkable & enjoyable!

875. Grandpa & Grandma's hospitality overnight & waking up early & transporting children to swim practice at 7.45 AM

876. aunt, uncle, and cousins' hospitality overnight & transporting BK to Youth Group

877. swim team mom to drive them to practice & another swim team mom to be responsible for them at the meet

878. small town pharmacy that delivers our regular meds when I needed to stay home with Jim

879. surgeon's report that everything went very well

880. praying friends!

Summer Vacation, Days 38~39

Days 38~39

Saturday, June 27

LM slept in. She had tutoring in the afternoon. We had family reunion at 5 PM.  Two of Jim's uncles went to heaven in the past year, and three of the cousins who usually attend were not there, plus several others who sometimes come. But there was still a sweet spirit. 

Fun fact: my parents attended this annual reunion before I ever did!  They drove out here with me one weekend about a month before our wedding.  The ladies of Jim's church had a shower for me on Friday evening, and we were to attend family reunion on Saturday evening, and drive home Monday.  Instead, Jim was in the ER Saturday evening, and ended up having surgery Monday morning. Whew! My parents had such a good time at the reunion, though! :) 

Sunday, June 28

After church, we met 15 others for a post-reunion pizza lunch! Home for a bit. And then a special prayer time for our nation at church, to celebrate America's 250th.  We drove separately, and I stayed in town to bring BK home after a youth group service project (8-10.30 PM unloading a U-Haul truck into a U-Haul storage unit). Talk about a late night! 

1000 Gifts, Vol. 7, #89

861. The orange orb coming over the horizon at 4-something AM when I rolled over in bed

862. The quintessential blue summer sky with tall white clouds out my side mirror, with tall greenish-golden grass framing the bottom of the mirror

863.  A sanctuary filled with small groups of people huddled in circles praying for our nation

864.  The lovely pasture I drive by 8-12 times a week with good-looking cattle grazing & resting

865.  Watching LM confidently walk into swim practice, swim cap on her head, swim bag over her shoulder. 

866.  Ease of doing laundry & ease of keeping our home clean, as I have decluttered more and more!

867.  Amazing way the Lord provided someone driving 700+ miles between a friend's hometown & here, so they could hand carry an item to said friend. 

868.  Finding "The Blessing Series," when I was searching for historical fiction about Norwegian immigrants to the Upper Plains

869.  A shared love of books & learning - one of Jim's cousins brought a book to me at family reunion, and the other recommended a book!

870.  The coffee shop around the corner from swim practice. ;) [They serve great tea!]

Summer Vacation, Days 24 ~ 26

Saturday, June 13

EARLY morning wakeup call so we could leave at 6 AM ... BK packed in his youth-group-issued black tote with a yellow lid (so they stack in the trailer & are critter-proof in their tents) and the rest of us packed for WI.

We waited in the church parking lot for the prayer circle (40 trip participants; almost a 1:1 ratio!) and then we got on the road.  After stopping at Walmart, we still reached the house before noon.  We three had a leisurely afternoon of reading, beach time, and eating at the same lakeside restaurant where Jim and I ate on our second date. :)

Sunday, June 14

Church was really special, as always. I sobbed my way through, "Hymn of Heaven," by Phil Wickham. (Video here. Lyrics here.)  

And on that day, we join the resurrection
And stand beside the heroes of the faith
With one voice, a thousand generations
Sing, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain"

Lunch. Naps or reading. Safari!! (That was a new experience.) Walking around a touristy town, and trying out a new playground. Jim got takeout for supper.

Monday, June 15

We slept in. I paid bills (work which I had taken with me). LM & I walked almost 3 miles on the shore path. I love our tradition! I don't think we did it in 2025, but we did it together in 22, 23, 24, and this year! Jim met us at the restaurant at the end of our walk (near the Red Park, where LM played after lunch). 

Another leisurely afternoon of read alouds, napping, and, at 5.30, packing.  Home shortly after 9 PM (with another Boxcar Children read aloud completed in the van!) and very well-rested!

Summer Vacation, Days 17 ~ 19

Saturday, June 6 ~ Monday, June 8

Saturday

We woke up, packed, and hit the road to Wisconsin. By 2.30 PM, we were at the (rather tiny) beach.

The women's restroom was out of order, so I had to walk over to the boathouse. There I ran into our neighbor, so I joined her on part of her walk, and we caught up and praised the Lord for His work in our families the past year.

Almost immediately, LM had met a family from Central Asia! After playing in the sand with them for a couple hours, she ran over excitedly to tell me that she was going fishing with them!

I met the mom, her oldest son suggested we exchange phone numbers, and then we introduced our husbands, and then I spent a couple hours on the pier visiting while the boys took turns helping LM fish! 

What a gift to run into people from another country, culture, language, and religion, and get to spend time with them! 

Sunday

We love our church in WI! LM had the best time in children's church, and came home with some great handouts to keep her in the Word over the summer. 

Lunch at a small town diner. Back to the beach. Eventually Jim & BK went to golf, while LM continued playing in the sand for quite awhile. 

Monday

We all slept in and had a leisurely morning. Jim treated me to my favorite breakfast restaurant for a really late breakfast.  Then we visited the library. After the kids packed their things up, Jim took them down the street to the ice cream shop, while I cleaned the house. 

Home around 4.45 PM. 

Books for Mom

My mom turns 92 next month, and is the epitome of a lifelong learner. She just took up watercolor painting, and her paintings are AMAZING! She watches the birds & deer out her window. She participates in all the activities. She reads her Bible and several devotional books, calls & prays for & writes friends & family, etc.! 

She also reads! I can hardly order books fast enough for her! This is the last book order I made for her:  

I'll be interested to hear what she thinks of this. I have discovered this past school year that YA books are quicker to read and can still be excellent writing! I listened to the audio version of this and really enjoyed how the story of Ruth came alive.

As I said, Mom is a lifelong learner, and she is very interested to read this book. 

She started this one right away and is finding it fascinating. 

This one and the next are for children / tweens, but we adults can still learn from them! Mom looked through one of them right away, and can't wait to read it!

I've seen a lot of people mention this, but it's a wild card, so I'm curious to see if Mom likes it. 

This one looked interesting. Time will tell. 

I am always open for suggestions!  She especially loves biographies & missionary biographies.

Summer Vacation, Days 14 ~ 16

Wednesday, June 3 ~ Friday, June 5

Wednesday (Summer is not slowing down!)

BK & I left at 7.45 for swim practice. 

Jim & LM left at 8.45 for VBS. 

I did uninterrupted housework from 9.45 - 11.15! Made laundry detergent for the first time, cleaned out the laundry soap cabinet, and attacked the laundry "room" floor (a small pass-through from garage to house... ugh).

Picked LM up from VBS at 11.30 and visited with other moms. 

All three of us attended our library program, "Bingo for Books," from 12-1.

At 1.40, we left to drop BK off at a friend's home with a whole gaggle of soon-to-be 7th grade boys.

LM had tutoring 2.45-3.45. 

We picked BK up at 5.40 for youth group. (LM & I went to prayer meeting.) Dropped him back off at 8.50 at his friends' home.  (The other boys had gone to another youth group.)

So, today from 7.45 AM - 9 PM, I took a tour of six small towns around us. This is what summer days look like when you live in the middle of nowhere and have children who are old enough to have lots of friends & activities but are (thankfully!) too young to drive. 

Thursday

9 AM - dropped LM off at VBS 

Swung by the pharmacy to pick up this week's refills (6)

1.5 hours to work on housework and enjoy introvert time ;)

11 AM - picked BK up from his friends'.

11.30 AM - picked LM up from VBS

12-2.40 at the pool with friends from church. 

ZZZ

Friday

My nurse was here at 8 AM, and I was hooked up to an IV until almost 1 PM. 

Jim took LM to Grandma's, and she delivered LM to VBS and picked her up afterward.

BK was at the farm part of the day. 

This infusion went really well!!  I wasn't so exhausted that I slept during it. I wasn't fatigued after it. Thank you, Lord! 

I did more housework, LM & I ran an errand, I made my favorite meal for supper (salmon, rice, & broccoli), I shot some hoops with BK, and I made Scotcharoos.  Wow!

Women's Ministry

I have never been to a TGCW (The Gospel Coalition Women's) conference, but I have heard great things about it!

Did you know you can watch the main sessions for free? (Register here.)

You can also listen to a playlist based on this year's theme: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/turn-your-eyes-free-tgcw26-playlist/

And I found this article about Nancy Guthrie fascinating, especially the stats about the state of the American Church when she was born, and the state of Christian publishing in the USA in the 90s. 

The Mountain Missions of the Southern Appalachians

My mom's uncle and his wife were Northern Missionaries to the mountains of northeast Tennessee. The ministry with which they served (& which he later directed for decades) also ministered in southwest Virginia. 

They had association with similar ministries throughout southwestern Virginia and southeastern Kentucky. I grew up hearing (great-) Uncle Martin telling of his friends working in the various camps & ministries that dotted the southern Appalachians. There was sometimes a flow of workers from one camp/ministry to another. 

In my experience, most of the missionaries were from the north, they lived by faith trusting God to provide for their needs (no salary was promised from any organization and neither did they mention financial needs, instead trusting the Lord to supply), they taught Bible in the schools, they started Sunday Schools in hamlets where there was no Sunday worship, they received missionary barrels from the north with donated clothes, quilts, etc. that were of immense help to the southern folk, and they started summer Bible camps.  These Northern missionaries also traveled back home to the North regularly (annually?) on "deputation."

If school children memorized so many Bible verses in a year, they earned a free week of Bible camp. As late as 6th grade, I remember the Bible teachers coming to our school once a month to teach the Bible, using flannelgraph stories. In elementary school I remember memorizing the first verse (or verses) and earning a little booklet of verses, and then memorizing those and earning a Gospel of John.  One could later earn a New Testament. 

Imagine my surprise to hear, when BK joined youth group this summer, that there is a Scripture memory challenge.  Any student who memorizes three consecutive chapters of the Bible gets a $75 discount off the registration cost for fall retreat! 

1000 Gifts, Vol. 7, #87

841.  pleasant early summer weather (read: low humidity)

842.  inaugural visit to the local pool in the next farm town

843.  start of summer swim season

844.  start of the library summer reading program (& weekly events, such as the nature program)

845.  5th Sunday lunch at church (corn dogs + lemon shake-ups + lots of conversation)

846.  doctors, scientists, and medication

847.  seeing a friend the other day

848.  30 minute ride to & from small group with Jim ❤️

849.  running into friends & neighbors at a funeral

850.  lunch out with Jim's aunt

Book stall

Sunday morning I received this photo in a text message. "I'm visiting a church out of town, and saw these in their book stall.  Would you be interested in any of them?"

Such a kind friend! I have read seven of them :) and have one other one (A Fallen Sparrow), so she is picking up the other one for me. 

How many have you read? 

1000 Gifts, Vol. 7, #86

831.  progress days & maintenance days & survival days 

832.  especially progress in planting!

833.  getting off my 40 mg/day prednisone boost!

834.  the Lord's goodness

835.  listening & praying friends

836.  a new friend to pray with & read a book together

837.  my doctor in Chicago! I love her! And am soooo thankful for her!

838.  insurance & medicine

839.  safety on the roads ... every day

840.  respite

Isn't God good?

Happy Birthday, Jim. ... Isn't God good to keep giving us more time to serve Him? Our days at {your home church} are the "stand-out days" of serving the Lord - like "home." I'm sure you are serving the Lord as you have always done. God bless you, your family, and your continued service.

So read a message on Facebook at the time of Jim's birthday. 

I love his former pastor's wife's attitude, as she is in her 90s! Her mission on earth is to keep serving her Lord! 

And I love her confidence that that would be Jim's mission as well. 

May it be true of all of us!

Joys of biographies

One of the joys of reading biographies or listening to testimonies is learning how the Lord leads people through unique circumstances. 

One of my earliest blog posts mentioned an incident in J.I. Packer's life that providentially led to his going down the path of academia. 

Recently I listened to a 2-hour podcast interview with Wayne Grudem.  (I have linked the video below. I listened to the audio on Spotify. Find it on any podcast platform.)

As you can imagine, it's a fascinating interview, more like a conversation really. I was especially interested in the story of how he moved from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School to Phoenix Seminary. 

His wife had lingering health issues from a car accident. The cold & humidity of Chicago made it worse, but when they visited Arizona she was fine. On their second visit, he told her that he would move anywhere for her health, but that he's not an electrician or plumber. He can't just find a job anywhere. He said, "I'm a theologian, and there's no seminary in Phoenix." A few days later, she showed him in the yellow pages that there was in fact a seminary, so they drove over and introduced themselves, and "the fledgling seminary found a place for me." 

How has God led you uniquely through circumstances?

The first one that comes to my mind in my life is the fact that a certain couple moved to our hometown and then were very involved in my childhood church for 3-4 years (?). That period of time "just so happened" to overlap with the time that his brother's family was headed to the mission field in Japan, and the time when they were looking for someone to come for a year to help homeschool their children, and the time when I graduated from high school, and could go.   How very different the path of my life could have been.