A couple days ago….Monday, I think, there was a gorgeous sunrise and I just had to get a picture. It sat on my memory card for days, neglected and forgotten. Here it is: Isn’t God and artist?
And, I took some photos of our Davidovics Thanksgiving party and forgot about them, so here they are:
Zolie had a lot of fun playing with all our oddball decorations.
Mom and Aunette, our neighbor took care of dishes.
We had Kinga take family pictures of everyone.
Today was, in fact a lovely day thus far. It is Thursday, so I had to leave at 7:30 rather than 8:30, but no problem, I’m an early riser anyway. I spent some time this morning over a cup of coffee and in the Word. First I read in Zephaniah. It is one of the shorter books of the old testament and I finished it in no time. Still feeling spiritually hungry, and physically hungry, I made myself some toast and sat down with Psalm 19. First, I read over it quickly to get the gist of the psalm and was delighted to read about joy and God’s glory. One part stuck out to me and that was verses 7-9:
“The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.”
I felt as though I needed to investigate this further instead of just skimming over as I do so many times. If you notice the phrases are put into two parts: the first a statement on the Lord, the second its effect on us. I wrote down definitions and worked on finding connections and did quite a few things to fully understand these verses. The result was a page full of words, arrows, scribbles, and what not, and as I stepped back to look, once again at the whole picture, I was filled with a desire to worship this Lord who’s commandments are pure, law is perfect, testimony is sure, fear is clean, and who is true and righteous altogether. I wondered at how I could ever resist rejoicing from my heart, having enlightened eyes, and being completely converted by Him. How marvelous is our Lord!
And, it was on that note that I left for school, earlier today than on Monday’s and Wednesday’s. We started class with a quiz which was a breeze. I must have been the only one who thought that because I was the first to turn it in and had to sit quietly for at least twenty minutes for the rest of the class to follow. During that twenty minutes I thought about those verses in psalms and wrote them down from memory in my notebook. I couldn’t help but send up prayers of worship as I let the verses from His word overwhelm my spirit and touch my heart. At one point I stopped and realized that a prayer was being answered just as I sat there. Earlier this week Philippians 4:8 was brought to my attention and I complained that it was too hard to always meditate on the pure, noble, just, lovely, etc. I found that in an effort to think of good things I would think of the things I should avoid thinking of and in doing so found myself thinking of just those things. It was just one of those trials that I had to give up to God, and plead for His help in the matter. Now, today, as I sat in class pondering the Psalms I was delighted to find that for twenty minutes I did nothing but meditate on godly things!
Anyway, for school we are learning gait training, so basically, how we would teach our patients how to use walkers, canes, crutches etc. We go through different scenarios and role play our way through them. It was a rather dull and laid back day and I can’t say much for it besides one small instance:
My partner and I were working on a scenario in which the patient (me) had surgery on their knee and could only put partial weight through that leg. The patient was to be going home that day and they needed to be fitted with crutches, taught how to use them on level surface and stairs with no railings. We went out into the stairwell as there is no room in the classroom. We were making our way down the stairs, my partner guarding me from the front and I, trying to be as realistic as possible limping down slowly, when the door to the stairwell opens and a man comes through. He had a terribly distressed look on his face and in a panicky tone asks if we need help. He must have felt very silly when I flung the crutches from beneath my arms and hopped on the stair and assured him we were only practicing. However silly the situation may have been I was touched to see that there are still compassionate people out there in the world. The remembrance of this event has been bringing smiles to my face all day.
I know many blog posts that start out with this line, and though I do hate to be repetitive, it is really the only thing I know to say right now: blogging is the last thing I should be doing right now. There I said it.
We just got back from our women’s volleyball league games. Amy had made us Team Meister tee shirts, each with our own names on them. They were so gorgeous that we just had to play well to do them justice. And that’s what we did, played very hard and ended up winning all six of the games. We all felt so victorious especially after coming off such a long day and having played so many games. We had to celebrate with ice cream at Mcdonalds. Snack sized mcflurries. Of course we all missed Karin so much. She was sick tonight.
The reason today was so long was because it was Jodi Keiser and Fred Lamen’s wedding today. Oh, I do so ever love a good wedding. The church is always full to the brim with people from at least 16 different churches all across america (I counted). Seeing the sanctuary packed is such a heart warming sight. And there is something about the atmosphere on wedding days. The very air just permeates festivity and joy. A sense of celebration can be seen on every smiling face as old friends are reunited and new friends are made all due to the joining of two very lovely and in love people. The most beautiful part however is just knowing that Jodi and Fred have already made a more important commitment in their lives, one to our Lord and Savior and Father and Friend Jesus Christ and because of that first relationship there can be great hope for this new one. I truly wish them every blessing.
Now, though I do love to see the church packed in such a special way, it was crazy trying to serve at lunch today. Well, first off, we got out of the first service and headed towards the lunch room to sit down and have a prayer before eating. With our heads bowed we listen as Mark Keiser, the father of the bride, blesses the food and all of the sudden an ear peircing siren blasts forth. I believe poor Mark was caught off guard, for he continued praying for a little before realizing what was going on. Then Tim Funk, the elder instructed that we all need to stay calm, and exit the building as there will be firetrucks on their way. Oh my word, why on this day! There had to be at least six hundred people in that church that were now to file out to the lawn calmly. Not to mention that it was lunch time and they were sure to be hungry. We got outside and after a few minutes told we could go back in. The word memorable came to mind. Poor Jodi and Fred, I bet that caused a little worry. But anyway, so that set the agenda for the day off a bit and I was to serve second shift. I didn’t know when that started now. I was talking and socializing when I looked at our table and mom, who was to serve with me was busy working away. Woops. I joined her and would for the next thirty or so minutes work non stop. I hadn’t had the chance to eat yet due to the crowds and was rushing around so much I had quite the dizzy spell at one point. A future doctor was sitting at the table and I thought if I pass out it wouldn’t be a big deal. Just kidding! That was just one of those silly scenarios that went through my head in all the business. Mom and I did worry some about being able to finish cleaning up in time for the wedding. Luckily we did make it in time to sing number 212 out of the Zions Harp (a real tear jerker and memory bringer upper of a song) and see the bridal party enter the sanctuary with all their smiles and tears and pure loveliness. Have I mentioned yet that I loooooove weddings?
So now I am trying to come back to earth and remember my everyday routine. I know I have school tomorrow, and, oh I cannot forget that quiz! It’s on the shoulder skeleton, joints, and muscles, a real doozy. Then there is the online classes that I have to take and I sure hope I have no tests coming up….
Porky the pig: th-th-th-th-That’s All Folks!
So, I had some recent money problems. It all started on Saturday when I went with the Sauder boys to pick up some Halloween stuff. I get to Wal-Mart and my debit card is declined. I told the lady I know there is money in my account and I know exactly how much. She tried and tried to make it work, scanning it countless times to no avail. Giving up we went to a Halloween store at which it worked fine. A couple days later I went to gas up and was slightly worried that it wouldn’t work, but was relieved when it did. Then I went to McDonalds for a sandwich and it didn’t work. That’s it, I thought, I’m going to get to the bottom of this. Went to the bank and told them that there is something wrong with the card. They spend a little time on the computer. The teller looks up and very quietly and kindly says, “Well, that might be because you have no money in your account.” WHAT!!! I knew what was in there and there sure was more than none when I last checked. She tells me that a big check cleared recently and I remembered that was for the ICC mission trip and I was anticipating that. I was sure there should have been more in there. I’m not a big spender.
Well, first I had to call mom and she tells me to get on my internet banking account to check it out, just in case someone might be stealing my money. I start scanning through the withdraws and deposits and it all seems pretty normal until I see a check for an odd amount. I didn’t remember writing a check for that much ever, at least not recently. I click on it and find that it is a check to Jackie and in the “for” box it says bonus. When I looked at the signature line I find who the culprit was. Mom’s name was scrawled across the bottom of that check. She has her name on my account so the check cleared fine.
Later when I went to deposit the money mom owed me, Barb, one of the ladies at the bank joked with me saying, you can never trust those mothers. Sneaky, sneaky. Of course, I know it was an innocent mistake and mom couldn’t believe she had done it. I’m just glad to know I didn’t spend all my money in four short weeks. I’m also glad for the lesson. I realized that between selling baby goats, to selling baby birds, to Cindy’s foal that I took the profit for, I’ve always had money come to me pretty easy and certainly have always had more than enough in my bank account. Until now, I didn’t know what it was like to have none. It was a bad feeling and I hope it helps me use money wisely in the future.
Last night we hosted our Titus Bible Study group at our house. I came home from school two hours later than usual due to studying and quickly rushed straight into cleaning. There was no time to spare. Although the company coming would be only family, I felt we needed to present our home with at least some standards (difficult when one is trying to keep up with the mess two young brothers leave behind.) Once finally satisfied with the state of the most trafficked areas, Anni and I headed over to the barn for vaulting practice. Nothing exciting or extraordinary can be said for the practice. We came home with a little over an hour until people would arrive for the Bible Study and since I was satisfied with the house I decided I could relax a little and actually do the study.
Mom hasn’t been in this study, but since it would be at her house she decided to join in and did the homework with me before hand. I really enjoyed doing the study with her. It was nice to get the insight of one much wiser than I, and I contributed my ideas too. As we were going through it I had to say that this was a really good chapter and I was excited for the discussions tonight. I had good reason to be excited, it turned out to be one of the best studies yet, in my opinion.
This Saturday was the Sauder’s Halloween party, an annual event. Anni and I headed over early, after cleaning at home to help with the set up. I’m always impressed with the amount of work the Sauder’s put into this party. Not only do they clean their house nicely, clean the garage and roll out carpet and set up tables, but they also decorate the yard and garage extravagantly. Spider webs and bones hang from the ceiling in the garage and the yard is converted into a graveyard of scary bones and skeletons. The affect is added to with strobe and black lights and fog machines. However, the best part of the party is the costumes that show up. It seems like everyone is trying to outdo everyone else and the result is maximum creativity. If you don’t believe me, see for yourself:
