Good Saturday to you from a wet and gray day Iowa. Seriously sick of the humidity and rain that keeps saturating the area...so far our ground is holding it well and we are not seeing any flooding here like way east of us this week. So much flooding everywhere! And tornados? Oh my. Okay, time to stop complaining.
Speaking of complaining, yesterday Joel and I decided to not complain once all day. It did not take us long to figure out that it is easy to complain...in small ways.....subtle ways like how hot is was..or how a car pulled out...or......so we did a lot of catching ourselves and correcting our words. We did not think it would be so difficult to not complain, in fact we thought we were pretty good at being positive!
The other night we sat on the porch, noticing that it gets dark earlier and earlier. Summer light is fading. The bats were starting to dive for bugs, and I hate bats so was going in when I noticed three deer come across the front and go into the neighbor's yard. He feeds the animals corn cobs. Remember? We have corn that tries to grow in our yard cuz the squirrels bring it here. A momma deer and twin fawns were across the street enjoying a feast. It was fun to watch them, even though it is common place here where deer have the run of things.
I watched a 20/20 special last night on Kayla Mueller, a humanitarian aid worker who was kidnapped by ISIS in 2013 and killed in a Jordanian airstrike in 2015. She worked in Turkey but went with a boyfriend to Syria for an overnight with his work. She was kidnapped, tortured, made a "sex slave" and went through horrific trauma because she was an American and because she would not renounce her Christian faith. If all that was presented last night was true, I can't help but feel everyone in authority let her down. Our government, the FBI, Doctors Without Borders, etc. I can't comprehend the evil that defines this group. When we think of one person acting out such horrors we feel sickened, but when it is a whole group of radical brainwashed men and some women who have gone over into the dark side, it absolutely blows our minds. So hard to comprehend.
Someone was telling me about a house their relatives were building. A big house. It made me think back about places Joel and I lived as kids. Joel's parents first lived in an old grain building on their farm place. They pulled an old small pig barn up to the side for a lean-to kitchen. There was no heat in the upstairs where Joel and his brothers slept except for the stove pipe that came through and vented out the roof. They had an outhouse and no running water until his teen years when a small house was brought in to replace the old makeshift home. Joel never felt "poor" or that he was missing out on anything. He never thought, "When I grow up I will live in a big place with lots of this or that." Nope. This was his home. He was loved, had food and clothing, a community, and his church just down the road. I moved a lot with my family, at age three I would call the car "home" and in some places we lived I slept on a sofa with my sister or later alone on a sofa as my bed. At 12 I moved in with my older sister and her family and three of us girls shared a double bed for three years before we each got our own single bed. That happened because of smoke damage from a fire. Boys in one bedroom, girls in the other. I loved our home, big or small. Lots of good memories were made in that place. Times have changed. Now Joel and I live in a house that is way too big for two people! It is just the right size when the kids all come home which is only 1-2 times a year. Otherwise, wasted space. We certainly are blessed, but will eventually be downsizing as soon as God gives us the word. It is amazing how much most of us in America do have.
We rearranged the living room this week. After the tree limb broke off more sun comes in the window and reflected on the TV so we moved things around. I like to do that periodically. I used to say, if we can't move, I rearrange or it gets to dull. More than once years ago Joel would come home from a meeting and trip over things I had been busy rearranging while he was gone! Now I need his help so there are no surprises!
I am almost finished with Joy Dawson's book, "Forever Ruined For The Ordinary". I learned so much from this 90 year old woman's teachings! I have a new heavyweight devotional by Rick Renner that I am starting. Heavy like in weighing 4 lbs at least and heavy in like each day is a deep study in itself and takes time....So far it is worth it! Joel and I are beginning to read a book called, "Spiritual Pathways" by Gary Thomas. It is interesting and helps you identify where you are most comfortable in worshiping and in your relationship with God, It is going to be used in a study group we are joining. Joel continues to preach, ride, and write. I continue to write and walk, this week 3/4 mile each day. The porch calls our name at night. We are blessed.
Until next time...............
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