Whistle while you work

I have been thinking about what to write lately. God has given me opportunities. I am not on a career track or anything, but I had an opportunity to work more and I jumped on it. You see, we thought it just might be providential that they happened to need someone on Jeb's random days off each week. We have been going through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and he is all about paying off debt. My student loans have been hanging around for what feels like forever. So, we are seizing this opportunity to work and dedicate my efforts to being free of debt! Our hope and goal is that in one year ALL of our debt will be gone and we can then focus more on our future. I haven't been able to think of something to write because I am a little more tired than before. I don't mind the working at all, in fact I do enjoy it. But with it comes sacrifice. I miss my husband and kid on what used to be family days. BUT, we both agreed that one year in the big scheme of things isn't much time. So I will press on and be disciplined for this year to hopefully achieve our goal or at least get us a lot closer to it. And in the meantime, you can pray for us.

Confession

I pick my son's boogers for him. And then I show them to him afterwards because he likes to look at them.

Retoast

So I got the honor and privilege of making a toast at my sister's wedding last Saturday. I have never made a toast before and it really showed. I had been thinking about what I was going to say for months, literally. And when it came down to the day I still had nothing except 1 Cortinthians 13. The Bible is always a good thing to use, right? Well I ran it past a few people and they said to say something more sisterly and personal. Rachel and my sisterly relationship is very much a love/fight relationship. We love eachother so very much and she is my closest friend, yet for some reason we can not stop fighting or debating or arguing or getting under eachother's skin after all this time. So I took the mic and started going into Rachel's "fighting spirit" and telling a story about her. The crowd laughed, so I don't know if that was good or not, but I didn't say what I really wanted to say. I really am not very gifted with words when in front of a crowd, I tell a story and leave out the most important part or just forget where I'm heading. So since I wanted to explain myself a little more, I am going to re-toast Rachel and Stephen right here. So pause for a minute, go get your glass and fill it because we're going to say cheers and clink glasses at the end.

My sister Rachel. I have waited 28 long years to be able to say these words. To my sister and friend. And to Stephen, the man we have waited and prayed for for years. We are so glad you are a part of our family. I would like to tell you about a unique and exquisite quality that Rachel has. Her redeeming quality is that she is a fighter. We need to travel back in time to when Rachel was in junior high at a friend's sleepover. During the night all the girls snuck out of the house except one girl. That's right, my sister stayed at home and went to bed instead of sneaking out of the house. And when all the girls got home from their nighttime rendezvous, one of the girls woke Rachel up to get her to move because she wanted to sleep there. So Rachel said no way, hauled off and slugged the girl, grabbed her sleeping bag and her clothes and walked home a mile in the dark to her own house to sleep. But this was a good thing in my eyes. Rachel fought back for doing the right thing. And there have been many other events in Rachel's life where she fought hard for good things. She sets her eyes on the goal and works hard to get there despite the obstacles in her way. She pereseveres and is in it for the long haul. So Stephen, I just want to say that you are getting a good girl that will fight hard for the right things. She will work hard and she does what is right. And my hope is that the two of you will continue to fight for what is good in your marriage. That you will fight and strive for a deep and unwavering love for God. That you will fight for a love that is selfless and humble, always putting eachother before yourselves. And that you will fight for the good of others in your ministry together. Here's to fighting for what's important. I love you guys.

(And everyone in blogland raises their glasses and clinks them together and says "Cheers!")

Mr. & Mrs!

You are looking at the beautiful Mrs. Stephen Winter. My sister Rachel was married yesterday! I am thrilled that she has found such a wonderful godly man who is going to take care of her and be her partner in life. Stephen, we have been waiting and praying for you for years, and are so thankful that you are now a part of our family! It is amazing to pray for something and then to be so surprised and tickled once it shows up...Rachel and Stephen are a great match! But here is the sad part...my sister will no longer be living a 3 hour car ride away from me...she will now be a 3 hour plane ride away from me. So after the fabulous celebration and fun and as I watched their car speed away with the toilet paper and whipping cream smeared so artfully over it...I cried. While I would never want things back the way they were and I celebrate this very joy-filled event...I will miss my sister and my friend.

Malaria

I read an article on malaria recently in National Geographic. I was not aware of how horrible this disease is until I read this article and I was blown away by the statistics on this terrible and deadly epidemic. In Africa alone, the article said that a child dies every 5 seconds, that's 3,000 every day and there are over a million people who die from this every year. While malaria is found in many parts of the world, and was even present in our own nation over 50 years ago, Africa is the one place where they can't seem to get a good handle on it and it is one of the few epidemics that has actually gotten worse over time. Science and the medical field usually jump on epidemics like this to put a stop to them. In the past in our country we used a chemical called DDT to wipe out malaria and they used this in many other parts of the world, but somehow got put to a stop before it reached Africa. Now that we have more knowledge of this chemical (DDT) and it's effect on peregrin falcons and their offspring, we don't use it for the sake of the birds and environment. I just want to be extremely clear that I don't know all of the complications of malaria and chemicals like DDT, I have only read one article on it....BUT, IF we are choosing not to use DDT to preserve bird life over human life, because of its effect on the environment and on birds, then we live in a pretty sick and inhumane world. But like I said before, I am far from being an expert. In Africa they are also doing things like giving malaria meds, which apparently have lost some of their effectiveness because the mosquito has grown immune to it. Sometimes even the most simple thing like sleeping under a mosquito net with insecticide on it will help reduce the risk of malaria by a significant amount. I write all this because I hope that we can help the people in Africa to be rid of this horrible sickness once and for all and I hope we never turn our back on people who are hurting and dying just because it is in a far off distant land and it doesn't affect our own comfortable suburban American lives. What can we do? I don't have a clue, but I do know that I am going to read and learn and listen and hopefully get off my hiny and at least try something.