Somewhere in Northwest Iowa

    

 I am still roaming around an abundance of corn fields, observing the sweeping dives of the crop duster. and scarecrows with crows on them.  I've seen pigs on...well everything you could put one on from postcards to rooftops, and experienced the unmistakable smell of the ever pungent pig farm.  Ah - Iowa! 

You might think, "What is there to do?"  Well, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:00 to 5:00 you can venture into the park and purchase all of the baked goods, jellies, jams, and vegetables you could ever want, while your children play near the windmills and giant wooden shoe.  Top that, if you can.

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You can go walking at the track, as Shannon did, and see bunny rabbits running to and fro, or you can sit in a lawn chair, as I did, while my oldest son chipped plastic golf balls at me with his golf club.  Nary a dull moment. Grampy has taken three grandchildren to Wal-Mart, just a few corn fields away. They will return with no doubt more than they need, as all who go into a Wal-Mart do.
Tonight we will watch the movie, "The Blue Train" as we have been reading and discussing the book.  Lee, (who didn't read the book) says the butler did it.  Shannon (same story) says the husband is always the guilty one.  We shall see.
I wish I could bottle the relaxed atmosphere so prevalent here.  I have not learned the secret of capturing time with loved ones.  It does not stand still...yet.  Until it does, when we are all together with Christ, Tommy and I will continue to make trips to Timbuktu and beyond in order to see our children and grandchildren...even if we need to travel to places like Orange City, Iowa and Chicago, Illinois.

She ate with us at Pizza Ranch last night.

Iowa 2013

Tommy and I are in Iowa visiting our son Luke, daughter in law YuJueng (otherwise affectionately known as Aunt YuYu), and Mae.  Lee and family are with us.  We made it in one day with everyone in tact, though a bit disheveled.  Twenty one hours. T w e n t y  o n e  h o u r s.  I was actually impressed with attitudes along the way.  We stopped once in Oklahoma for a picnic lunch and a hundred other places for breaks of a personal nature. ;)

The tree house in Luke's backyard is the main attraction.  It is about twelve feet above the ground in stages.  There is a landing and then a step up to the first story and you enter the second story by way of a ladder through a hole in the ceiling.  It is that hole that holds my attention the most when I am out there.  I keep a steady watch should a foot or - dare I say it - head come through with rapid speed.  So far, they have managed to avoid any mishaps.

 Whoever built it years ago, had the ingenious idea of installing a pulley.  Luke had an extra clothesline and YuYu contributed a colander and poof!  They were in business.  Everything imaginable has been lifted up in that contraption...with the exception of Mae and Ivy.  Luke says no one has been up there except for a visiting grandchild of the neighbors next door.  He said for all he knows there may be a body up there.
We are reading an Agatha Christie novel together.  We have never done this before, but have enjoyed theorizing about the suspects each night.  We have an old movie version it and we will watch it on Thursday night.
As I sit at Luke's desk, I can see the backyard where Lee is playing baseball with Luke and Emma and Tommy is in the lawn chair....reading, of course.  The guys all got up and played a round of golf early this morning, so they are walking around right now with one eye open.

We spend most of our days outdoors because the weather is amazing.  Highs in the 70's and lows in the 50's.  Cooler than we expected, but we don't mind grabbing a sweater or long sleeved shirt.  Raspberry picking and firefly hunting are favorite past times and Emma tried in vain to keep a firefly as a nightlight.  She did manage to capture a jar of them for a sweet, though short lived glow.
Bella is DEATHLY afraid of bugs and so she comes out for small intervals of time.  In fact, I began to set the timer on my phone to see how long she would last with each appearance.  Her best time was 4 minutes.

Can you see Emma's face through the jar?

We went to church on Sunday - Cornerstone Baptist Church.  The building is beautiful and its tower is undergoing renovation, being the oldest church building in the city. The people were warm and friendly and tonight we will go to Pizza Ranch, where the tips and 10% of the purchases will go to the visiting missionaries from China.  What a great idea!
Mae is getting used to us and our overwhelming intrusion into her quiet world.  She and Ivy are a constant source of entertainment.  I think Mae is teaching Ivy to speak Korean.  All of the kids are learning Korean songs and you can hear them singing throughout the day.

It is always so wonderful to see where my children live and spend time with them in their worlds,  if only for a week.  As long as I have my trusty camera, memories can last a lifetime.

Shoes on the landing.

Two Lukes

My Sunday School Class

This is my Sunday School class...

and this is my Sunday School class.

Most of the time they resemble the children in the latter picture...really.

I love them all in spite of everything they torment me with.  They make me laugh and I must say that I have shed some tears over them as well.  At this time each year, my heart grows a little sad at the thought of upcoming promotion.  I will lose some to the 4th through 6th grade class....and I will gain some from the preschool class.  The cycle of life occurs everywhere.

The ones entering will barely know how to read, if at all, and they will try to impress me with corny jokes and rabbit trails that divert us from the lesson, but sometime during mid-winter, maturity kicks in and the light bulbs begin to glow over their sweet little heads.

Through the years there have been a variety of themes that make their way into the cards we create for the nursing home, or Mother's Day, or Father's Day...according to the popular trends of the day. This year the boys have been obsessed with guns and arrows, castles and dragons, and the ever favorite dinosaur.  Girls usually stick to the prettier things in life...butterflies, hearts, and flowers.  I do not know what the elderly think when given a valentine with a machine gun spraying bullets into a red or pink heart.  It probably does not matter at all when it comes from a smiling child.

There are five sets of siblings in this picture.  If you have nothing else to do today, see if you can match them up.  While you are at it, pray for each adorable face.

A Moment of Senility - One Of Many To Come, I Fear

This morning when Tommy was leaving for work, he threw an envelope at me and said, "We have new church credit cards.  Don't forget to activate yours and tear up your old one."
I know it is just a little inconvenience, but I do not like doing things like this.  Red tape makes me nuts.  (I remember when we took in my niece Jana and nephew Denny after their father died. Because we received Social Security as their legal guardians, Tommy said I had to save EVERY receipt in order to prove that we are not spending their money wrongly should we ever be audited.  These were the days when everything was done checkbook style and a check registry was not good enough.  I completely rebelled at that and said I would not do it....as I attached a ziploc bag to the refrigerator to drop the receipts in for the next nine years. BTW - Jana and Denny are our children, daughter and son to us.)
Anyway....back to my story.  I opened the envelope and called the number to activate the new card. Everything is automated and done by pushing buttons on the phone...you probably knew that, and that was what I was anticipating.  When the computer voice asked me to enter the last four digits of my social security card, I went blank.  The numbers were there swimming around in my head, but they came out wrong.  I am sure that somewhere on the other end of that phone, a red light went off and perhaps an alarm - something akin to the sound a submarine makes when diving to avoid collision.  Haven't you ever seen Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea? Immediately I was talking to a real person.
A sweet young lady was on the line.
She: How can I help you?
Me: I am trying to activate a card.
She: Let's see, can you tell me that last 4 digits of your SS card?
Me: Yes. ____.  (getting it right this time) I am sixty years old and I just forgot it.
She: That happens to me, too. Okay. What is the name on the card?
Me: (Yes, I do know who I am and I got this one right.)
She: Who is the primary card owner?
Me: Providence Baptist Church.  Robert Thomas Dahn - He is my husband and the pastor.  He goes by Tommy.  I go by June.  We both go by our middle names...I don't know why, we just do. (Hint: when I get nervous, I tend to talk a lot.  I am easily intimidated by those in authority, even if they sound like a high schooler, which she did.)
She: Hmmm.  All of the answers you are giving me are wrong. So, I am sorry, I cannot activate your card.
Me: (Well, his name IS Tommy and my name IS June and he is the pastor, and....I am thinking, it is like a puzzle and I need the right code word...suddenly I remember who is in charge of this.)
Oh, I forgot...it is ____________ ______________.
She: Okay.  I still need to verify.
Me: He is an elder in our church and he is an astronaut.
She:  Okay.  And what are the last 4 digits of his SS card?
Me: (Really?)  I do not know.  Why would I know that?  He is in Russia right now.
She: We take international calls.  Can you have him call us or find someone who has this information?
Me: (Oh, sure.  I will call him and tell him to call you and give you this information while he is training in Russia to go to the international space station. You bet.)  No.  Never mind.  I just won't do any shopping for the church.
She: Well, I am really sorry I can't help you.
Me: Do not worry about it.  It is my fault.
The moral of this story is...well, actually there is no moral.  There is just me...left without access to the church's vast amount of cash flow.  Since Vacation Bible School is over, I don't really care.  The End.

Taking Time

I have always tried to write of what I know...to be me on these typed pages.  Life has kept me busy and while there are no regrets for my activities, this blank page seems hard to fill just now.  It isn't a bad thing or a good thing...just unusual.  Journaling over the years has been sporadic at best and my blog has been a good way to keep it up, but all of the ink seems to have leaked out of my head.
My prayer life has suffered as well.  Quick words spoken from my heart or my lips - with good intentions, but...is that how it is supposed to be?  I don't think so.  He is in my thoughts throughout the day...so, why is staying before the throne like trying to keep a paddle ball in one place?
He hears my every word, my every conversation, but am I taking time to hear Him - to tell Him all that is inside me - then to wait...for His peace that passes all understanding?  It is already mine.  It is one of His promises to me. Let my days begin and end with Him who gave His Son that I might live.
Lord, keep teaching me that You are the answer to all of the very cares that surround me and invade my thoughts and push You out.    Thank You, thank You that Your throne stands forever. Your love never ends.  You are forever accessible to all that call upon Your name.  No other gods can stand before You. You are the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. Forever let Your name be praised...by me.

O Me Of Little Faith

Have you ever started to earnestly pray for someone's life to change, and over time the once zealous prayer became little more than an occasional thought?  I have seen it happen quite often in my own life - especially when the subject of the prayer is a rebellious soul...someone who has chosen to live without regard for others and without regard for God at all.
Their names are on prayer lists for so long that they become commonplace and barely seen. Before long, they are not seen at all.  The fervor of the request has died and there is no belief that anything will ever happen.  Shame on us. Shame on me.

Proverbs 15:29  The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous. 

I do not feel very righteous when I fail to pray for those I love.  Perhaps this makes evident my lack of love.
Just when I was not looking...when I was too busy being exasperated, God worked.  Wait a minute.  God worked???  Where was I?
The person on my list begins to live a life that appears to be making a turn.  I do not trust what I am seeing.  Surely it is a trick.  I stick my big toe into his life.  Hmmm. Seems real.  I engage in conversation.  Hmmm.  He says the right things. (As if I am the one who could see the heart.)
I observe him going through some trials.  He is patient.  He is calm.  Wow, God.  You are amazing.  You had a plan in spite of me and my doubts.  You saw a soul when I saw an annoyance.
The Lord has done what only He can do.  I only wish my faith had not been so weak.  I am glad to know that someone's life isn't dependent on my zealousness.  I bow before Him in such gratitude and praise, and ask forgiveness.  His example of unconditional love speaks a piercing truth to my soul...love never fails.

Lamentations 3:22  The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 

O Lord, let me stand with those who remain faithful in bringing names to Your throne.  May I never cease to offer intercessory prayers.  Thank You that someone's salvation does not depend on my earnestness.  You sit on Your throne and do as You please.

Psalm 115:3  Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. 

May my prayers be constant as I love others enough to talk to You about them.