Saturday, October 16, 2010

Fun Weekend

 Driving to see the Grand Twins I saw this beautiful field of grasses and pristine farm house. 


 At this time of year the grasses, which originally covered most of Texas before it was settled and developed, are green, gold, red and purple.

 A few, not many, trees are beginning to dress in their Autumn colors. 
Temperatures are in the 50's and upper 40's at night. When the first freeze arrives, the colors really pop.




 Last weekend Grandpa bought a kite for Jonah and Gracie. This weekend he bought a kite for Em and Roo.  Em thought she might try flying it inside the house. 

 Em, Roo, Grandpa, JB and I walked to the neighborhood park .  Em busied herself on the slides, sidewalks, and swing. Roo declared she was the captain of a big pirate ship and was sailing the seven seas. She commanded from the lofty heights. 


Meanwhile, JB and Grandpa made valiant efforts on a mostly windless day to fly the kite. Every time it would crash,  Em would say "Oh Noooooooo! Try again!"  Good advice for life, I think.



As the shadows lengthened from west to east along the width of the park
the girls began to tire of the kite, the slides, the pirate ship and
long afternoon Grandpa held Em by the feet upside down for a while
then allowed her to lay in the gravel--dirty but so texturally pleasing.







Monday, October 11, 2010

More Processing

This morning I opened my email to read an interesting word about "rising up and coming away" to the Lord. In further research I found this teaching on "process".  Since it seems that I am not alone in learning more about "processing" my spiritual journey, I thought I would post these resources just in case there are those who pass by this blog and are in process as well.
http://wadetaylor.org/Manna/Divine%20Delays.html

Process

Since the end of September the Holy Spirit has been showing me about process.  Elements of my life that were once simple, ordinary, every day events have become processes. For example last week my computer, a Mac, and my phone, and iphone, began duplicating contacts faster than rabbits multiply. Faster than you can drink a cup of coffee, actually.  I had almost 9,000 contacts in my address book, AND, some of those had duplicated information within each card up to 200 times.
I followed instructions on the web site. They kept multiplying. I called Apple support and after much quality time with Melissa and her supervisor, she said "I've never seen this happen before" and advised that we call tech support with Mobile Me.
Call made and after a few hours with tech support, Justin and Muffin did all they were supposed to do. Justin said "I've never seen anything like this before".  A few days later the contacts were multiplying again.
I made an appointment at an Apple store, 200 miles from my house, for Friday morning at 9 a.m.  We arrived with computer and phone in hand and I had high hopes for a quick fix and some time to learn more about making movies with my phone and computer. After an hour and a half, Jesse, our Genius of the Day, said "I've never seen anything like this before" and told Muffin how to fix the remainder of the problem.  We left the store and thirty minutes later during a phone call with CB my iphone died--totally black screen.  We tried all the restore features and settings, took it to Boo's house and started over and nothing would help. Called tech support and spent quality time with more people who said "I've never seen this happen before."  Learned that my iphone was eligible for an upgrade and made an appointment at the same Apple store at 7:15 pm.  Amanda said, "I've never....." and called Ping, the manager, who said the same and both were shocked that Jesse, the morning Genius was unable to solve the problems.
But, the AT&T store was involved because that's where the phone was purchased.  So at closing time that evening, I had a phone replaced, but the information in the store computer said my phone was not eligible for the upgrade. AT&T said it was. After much confusion and physical trips to the AT&T store it was decided that the following morning would be the big exchange--a 3GS phone exchanged for an iPhone 4, and Ping would give accessories for our trouble and hassle for the day (and week).  Of course the AT&T people said "I've never seen anything like this before."
So a two day trip turned into a three day trip and we were able to
1. Follow up at the dentist office
2. Spend an evening and morning with Kak
3. Spend an afternoon with Boo, Gracie and Jonah and see Michael before leaving
4. Figure out the multiplication problem
5. Clean out the Address Book, Phone book contacts, and Google contacts
6. Do our grocery shopping at Central Market
7. Spend time on the phone with Nannie, Nana, CB and Rowdy Girls
8. Exchange phones

But here is what happened on Saturday morning.  Arriving with coffee, phone and computer in hand at the Apple store, we again saw Amanda, added Alex and finally Ping to the mix.  The AT&T people said that Kak's phone was the first phone eligible for the upgrade, so I took the replacement 3GS and gave her the new iPhone 4 with all the bells and whistles for face time, camera, movies, etc.  It represents three upgrades for her and she will use it well!  And the Apple employees thanked us over and over and over for not being angry and impatient with them.  So did the people on tech support on the phone.  And the manager did give Kathleen a new case and protector for her phone.  And I learned that the process was really about praying for the people who came in and out of the Apple store, including the employees, and about keeping God's peace, joy and love through the process.

Draw me Nearer

"Mother, if I had a choice, I would still choose to remain blind ... for when I die; the first face I will ever see will be the face of my blessed Saviour."

Thursday morning I performed, or rather I participated in a program of hymns written by Fanny Crosby. Oh they are sweet!  They melodies were all written by others but her words are rich and eternal:
Redeemed, How I love to proclaim it, redeemed by the blood of the lamb!
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, Jesus is merciful. Jesus will save.
Jesus is tenderly calling me home, calling today, calling today.
Draw me nearer, nearer Precious Lord to the cross where thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer Precious Lord, to thy precious bleeding side.

It was a lovely morning for a program--almost no wind and about 72 degrees without a single cloud in the sky. The caretakers of the building forgot to open it, so our Harmony Club members visited in the parking lot while waiting for someone with a key. The time for the meeting to begin was 9:45 and we arrived upstairs at 9:43.  I began the program and between music selections we had readings about Fanny's life as a blind poet and hymnodist.  She performed one of her hymns at President Taft's funeral and spent her life speaking at missions and collaborating with song writers.  Among our club members we have some very gifted pianists and they also contributed, playing beautiful arrangements of Near the Cross and To God be the Glory.  The morning was visited by the Holy Spirit, who touched our hearts with memories of loved ones and countless members of our club who are with Fanny and Jesus in heaven.  I do trust that they were all having a group hug as we sang and played her beautiful songs for one another.  I know that I felt drawn nearer to the Lord all day as the words to those sweet songs lingered in my mind and heart.  
Frances Jane Crosby
BORN: March 24, 1820
South East, New York
 
DIED: February 12, 1915
Bridgeport, Conn.
LIFE SPAN: 94 years, 10 months, 19 days