Happy Birthday To Me

My Mother...she turns 90 on Christmas Day!
My sisters, my Mom and my daughter...celebrating birthdays and family!

Me, opening a birthday present. Can you tell I LOVED it???

In my world, it just doesn't get much better than this...

I'm sitting at my sister's, savoring the warm memories of my birthday spent with a few of the special women in my life. We laughed, we cried, and we celebrated another year of LIFE!

Tonight we will attend a midnight Christmas Eve service and sleep over at my sister Karen's house.

Tomorrow we celebrate my Mom's 90th birthday. She's a real survivor and we are so thankful for her and all she means to our family.

Through the years, many people have commented on my Christmas-time birthday. It usually happens whenever I have to show someone my driver's license. Most people say something like, "Oh!! A Christmas baby!!" Or they ask me how I celebrate my birthday. They want to know if I actually have a birthday, or if it all gets jumbled together with Christmas. And then there are a few joy-killers that get the most anguished look on their faces as they exclaim to me, "Yuck! How H O R R I B L E to have a birthday at Christmas!"

Well, Christmas is all about a birthday, isn't it? A miraculous birth. I pray that each one of you have a wonderfully joyous Christmas...the best birthday party of them all!!!

Joy to the world, the LORD has come!

Computer Blues

I am sitting in Panera with my laptop, trying to get my "computer fix". Our computer at home is not working, and I have had to endure a whole weekend without the Internet. Lo and behold, I made it through! Truth be told, I actually had a delightful time catching up on my reading.

I have lots to write about, but will wait until I can enter some pictures. I took my morning students on a field trip to a historical park that is only 15 miles from our house. We are studying Colonial Days and this was the closest thing to Colonial that I could find.

On Wednesday we will take another field trip (can you tell I'm loving this time of year??). We read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. On Wednesday we will take a tour of the making of the Narnia movies. I think the exhibit even has items on display that were used in the movies. Today it was amazing to see their response to Aslan when it finally dawned on both of them the reason Aslan went in the tent with the Witch and why Aslan died without a fight. I could tell that they were ever so slowly making the connection between Aslan and Jesus...it was a precious moment to witness.

I can't believe I'll be in Chicago in just a few days. I fly in to Chicago on Thursday, Elise will pick me up, I'll stay in the dorm until she finishes her final exam, and then we will head for Grand Rapids. The two of us will spend almost two weeks with my mom and celebrate her birthday...hard to believe that she has bee blessed with 90 years. Her birthday is on Christmas and my birthday is on Christmas Eve. Elise and I can't wait! But I wish Bill and David could come with us...Christmas won't be quite the same without them. I'm already humming, "I'll have a blue, blue, Christmas without you."

Well, more later, when I (hopefully!) can write on the computer from home...it's kind of drafty here in Panera!

Just When I Thought I Was Out Of Ideas...

Have you noticed it too? I just don't write as frequently these days. There are many reasons why, one of them being the fact that nothing too unusual has happened. Until today...

Men might not "get" this post, so you men out there might want to leave now.

I have very dark brown hair. I have since the day I was born! Nowadays, however, the dark brown is being run out of town and and the grays are taking over. Actually, the gray hair has been visible since I was in my 20's. (Laura, do you remember helping me look for the gray hairs on our trip to Washington D.C.?)

Okay, with that little piece of background information, our story will proceed...

The past few years I've been trying to figure out how to make this dark to light transition a little easier on myself. First, I tried giving in and letting the gray take over. I looked and felt sort of "washed out" (aka made me look old and pale and anemic!) and "washed up" (aka made me feel like I was traveling at top speed over-the-hill and had no breaks!)

Next, I added highlights. This went well. The highlights helped the gray less noticeable. The bad side was that highlights can get expensive. So, in an effort to save money, I gave up highlights and colored my own hair. That's where I am right now. The problem is, my hair is WAY too dark! I buy the box that says, "Light Brown" and end up somewhere between "Way Too Dark For Your Age, Sista'!" and "Who In The World Do You Think You're Foolin'?".

Another problem with being so dark is that the grays are much more visible because of the contrast. This means I have to dab a little color on my roots quite often. I've also been experimenting with this whole root thing...trying everything from "Just For Roots" to mascara. The other day, I was in a beauty outlet store, and I happened upon something new...spray color in a can. I tried it in the store and the results were, well... miraculous! This stuff was amazing!!! Just what I have been looking for, so I bought it and had a smile on my face all the way home. No more ugly roots! From now on , all I have to do is spray them away!

Today I woke up and began my morning ritual of getting presentable for the day. Oh, no...ROOTS!!! Never fear, said I. I now have my handy-dandy miracle spray. One spray, and the problem was gone!

So, I went on with making the bed, eating breakfast, etc. One quick, final look in the mirror before I leave, and...hey, wait a minute. There's something on my face. I smile. I must have gotten a little "spray" on my face...nothing a little moist towel can't fix..and I'm out the door.

So, I teach for the next three hours, hop in the car, happen to catch a glance at my face in the rear view mirror and...WHOA!!! WHAT HAPPENED???? I have dark brown streaks coming down my face! On my nose, on my ears, all over my neck. How am I supposed to get this stuff off? Why didn't anyone tell me I was turning colors? Where are all the napkins I so faithfully keep in the car in case of emergencies?

I had another class to teach in 10 minutes. He's in high school. Hopefully he won't notice, and if he does notice, hopefully he won't care. After spending 90 minutes teaching about the periodic chart and chemical equations, I raced out of his house to the safety of my car. I looked in the mirror to assess any new damage. It looked passable. Until I held up my bangs!!! It looked like I had a good three years worth of mold growing on my forehead. How ironic, I thought. I just was teaching about chemicals, and here I was with some strange chemical reaction happening all over my head!

I raced home, determined to wash my face before my next teaching assignment! Finally made it to the safety and security of my own home, only to discover that there was brown spray all over my white counter top and sink! Urgh!

When I was all done with my workday, I was determined to take a shower, wash away all the mess on my head, and thoroughly clean the bathroom sink and counter. Ahhh...all clean again. My last laugh came when I put on my pjs. You guessed it...a nice ring of brown all aver the neckline. Needless to say, my "Miracle Spray" is going back to the store ASAP!

Jesus, I Am Resting

Last night in church, we had a mini hymn sing. Three people got to choose a favorite hymn to sing. The couple in front of us were selected...they asked to sing #139. Then I saw the wife tell her husband, "I don't even know this song! Oh well, we can ask for ours another time."I wanted to shout out, "NO! This isn't a mistake! This is MY song! I LOVE this song!!!"

There are two melodies to the song, but the words are the same in each version. I remember singing this song CONSTANTLY in my head the week my father was slowly transitioning from this world to the next. So last night we sang the song. And the words of the third verse seemed to come alive. So often I look for my joy to come from "things". My heart's desire is to find my joy in the fullness and the deepness and the richness of God's love. I want to see Him as the Lover of my soul! I want to be passionate about HIM! These lyrics say it best...

Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus

I behold Thee as Thou art

And Thy love, so pure so changeless, satisfies my heart.

Satisfies its deepest longings, meets, supplies its every need

Compasseth me round with blessings...Thine is love indeed!

I hope the couple that "accidentally" selected this song last night ended up enjoying it as much as I did (d0!).

Walking In A Winter Wonderland!

Yesterday it snowed in Houston! As a former "Michigander", I found the response to this strange,cold, white stuff very puzzling. For me, it was wonderful, almost magical! For most Houstonians, however, it seemed to create high levels of anxiety...except for the children and the young-at-heart. Children took advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime experience by having snowball fights and building snowmen. So what if the snowman was only 12 inches tall...it was a SNOWMAN!!!!...in HOSTON!!!!

I found it remarkable that one or two inches of snow brought this city to its knees! Schools were closed, government offices closed, stores closed early...I was one of the few that ventured out after 6 pm and found the mall to look more like a ghost town.

I found all of this strange, until I started hearing some of the facts. In the past 15 years, it has only snowed 4 times! The city does not own any snow plows for the streets. The last time it snowed as much as it did yesterday was in 1973.

Another Houston blogger wrote, "It has only snowed on 39 days in the last 113 years in Houston, the largest of which occurred in 1895 with a record 20 inches! Counting those 20 inches there has been less than 50 inches (my math says 44.5) to ever touch the ground in Houston!!"

Today, the snow will exist only in our memories. The forecast says we will be back up to 58 this afternoon...well, it was fun while it lasted!!!