Dad

There are many memories that come to mind growing up with Dad. Road trips, camping, Algebra 1, home improvement projects. When we moved to the farm, Mark and I were old enough to do many things related to the remodel. Grunt work, like scraping bricks and siding.

 I'll never forget the time dad came home with some discount paint that we were to use to paint the entire upstairs floor of the original house. He handed me a paint brush and a can of paint. It was pink, mind you. He thought it was beige, but I digress. 

Anyway, I think I remember him telling me not to paint myself into a corner. Then he left to go work somewhere else on the property. I did paint myself into a corner, at which time I realized what that exactly meant. I must have been about 8 years old. 

Once I finally worked my way back out of my bedroom with paint can in one hand, brush in the other and pink feet, I victoriously yelled out the upstairs landing window, "Mooooom! Daaaaad! I'm done!"

Then CRASH, BANG, BANG, THUNK... All the way down the stairs! I had dropped the paint can and it splashed paint all down the beautiful original woodwork of the stair case of this now 100 year old farm house!

Dad and mom heard and didn't need to be told what had happened. At the same time, I realized that I had just lived the last moments of my life. Surely, I was dead.

I don't remember how I got down the stairs. There was no anger or punishment. They were too busy cleaning up paint as fast as they could on this hot, summer day. The most important thing to me about this memory, that I treasure to this day, is how both my parents handled what must have been a very frustrating situation. I was mortified and humiliated. They didn't make that worse. 

Now, years later, as we raise our children in the very same house, I travel up those same stairs many times each day. I often think of that day that my parents didn't kill me. The day that I did pretty much everything wrong, and they cleaned up after it. Will I serve my own children as well? I pray that I will.

"Your Pastor is here to see You"

Last weekend we celebrated Samuel's 6 th birthday and Williams 8th birthday. I want to share a story about William and the circumstances that occurred after he was born. It is such an example of God's goodness and abundance to me.
William was born at home, as planned, three weeks early and weighed a healthy 9 lbs 2 oz. Though that is not usually significant, we realized some hours in, that he was not breathing normally and his color was not right.
William was our ninth home birth and we had never had any concerns before, other than Jaundice. So, we packed up a few things, including the oxygen tank and midwife, and headed to  the emergency room in Tacoma. Our midwife had called ahead so that we would not spend anytime in the waiting room.
A couple doctors and nurses assessed him and soon they wisked  him off to the Nicu.  I was saddened at this separation, but I really felt a peace about it too. We knew he needed these medical professionals.  We had to wait outside as they hooked him up to various things and when they called us in to be with him, I'll never forget, he was in the same cubicle that our nephew, George, was in eight years before, fighting for his life at only 1 lb. 11 oz. Some doctors and nurses even remembered George, who survived after 8 months in the hospital. Again, I felt at peace with this: our family cubicle in the Nicu.
We were weary, and I had been up and on my feet for hours, after having just given birth. As a pastor's wife, I must confess, that at one point the thought went through my mind, "Well, the pastor won't be coming coming to visit." We were between assistant pastors at the time, so David was the only pastor at MCC.
This is where God really showed Himself. We had to leave William for a bit so that I could lie down and as we walked out of the nursing station, a nurse stopped us and said, "Your Pastor is here to see you." What?
We shook our heads and I tearfully said, "No, this can't be." And as I said it, the doors to the Nicu opened and there was Pastor Roth and his wife from a church across town!  They were such a blessing and the timing was so good! Ruth right away went to work giving me a back rub and sharing their own Nicu story. Of course, we let them see the baby.
This isn't all! During the 10 days that William was in the hospital, many people from our church visited and several friends from outside our church, but do you know? In end, FIVE Pastors and/or Pastor's wives came to visit us. Pastor Houston and his wife, Emily, Pastor Jackson and his wife,Jan, Pastor Pollock and his wife, Susan, and a Pastor's wife that we didn't really know but had heard and cared.
 Really, I can only remember that one instance of self pity because, of course,  otherwise I was focused on William and his oxygen levels, but somehow, God in His wisdom, knew that I needed to see that ministry may seem lonely at times, but the reality and truth of it is this- We are one body, and when part of our body hurts, we all hurt. Also, God hears our thoughts and knows our needs and He is abundant far above anything we can ask or think.

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Eph. 3:20-21

Blah, Blah Blog Post

The Blah, Blah Blog post

Blogs are just that: Blogs

Blogs are often being passed around FB and other social media these days. There is a lot of interesting reading to be had in many of them. And I certainly am not saying to stop sharing!Some are for building a business, others are trying to I change the world or our culture, while others are just an online journal.

I do worry a little that the generation that grows up having a ton of exposure to blogs is going to really struggle with confusion rather than gaining clarity about how best to live. I think it's important to read them as you would a magazine article. For the most part, an article in a magazine (do I need to explain what a magazine is? Lol) is something you read at the doctor's office because you forgot to bring a book, or rather your iPhone is Low on juice. You flip through looking for something that might interest you, maybe start reading it and then, sure enough, the nurse calls your name. Then you either throw the magazine down because the article was no good, or maybe you bring it with you because it was actually interesting. 

There is a huge difference between magazine articles and blogs,though, as you can also read through peoples comments in a blog where you will then be exposed to lots of falsehood - even foul language! Many of the comments are based on taking a point way beyond what the writer ever meant, misunderstanding it completely, or completely missing the point of the article as a whole. It brings a whole new level to what may fill our minds.

My blog, if certain sentences and statements were put under the microscope while others were skimmed over, would offend anyone who reads it. None of my posts were ever meant to be taken for anything more than "here is my experience". 

If you think about it, we all have very limited experience- even in this internet era. For instance,  a person who has moved around a lot is limited to knowing about a lot of different places and people, whereas, the person who still lives in the town they grew up in, has an understanding of community that can't be understood by the person with a broader experience of people and places. Both experiences are good. Both experiences are different. 

As a pastor's wife I have a different church experience than a non- pastor's wife. Both are important. If there weren't non- pastor's wives in the congregation then there would be something terribly wrong. Yet, I do have a different worship experience, service experience, friendship experience, family life experience and so on than a congregation member does. 

So, as you take time to read my blog and others, please, remember that it was written by a human who is working only with what they alone know to be true and that their experiences will change or deepen over the years. As a Christian, I do have God's truth in the form of His Word but as a mere human, I may not communicate it well or correctly to others. I pray that as my relationship with the Lord grows and deepens, I do change. My hope and prayer is to be like Him.

God's Wondrous Ways

       Today, something very significant happened to me. I feel so blessed and unworthy to be able to share His goodness and faithfulness in my life.

When I was a young unmarried lady, I went about things fairly willy-nilly. I took church for granted and I took God for granted. I married the love of my life at barely nineteen years old, even though I had no real idea of love at all. It is only by God's grace that I learned a deeper meaning of love and David and I grew up together during that time. 

Flash back to exactly 22 years ago today. I was in the hospital holding a dead baby boy. David and I had been married just over a year. It was a hard painful time, but it was a time of major spiritual growth. We prayed that we would conceive again and we did a couple months later.

Enter Andrew. I knew that when Andrew made his appearance at 10 pounds and 6 ounces, that God was in the business of doing things big. Then, tonight, exactly 22 years after our first painful introduction to parenthood, Andrew was voted in as a student intern here at Manchester Community Church for while he is in seminary. This way he will get some experience in the pastorate. He has felt called to be a church planter for over ten years, and it is precious to see another step fall into place tonight, and that God would choose to have it happen on what I consider to be a very special day to me is just His abundance evident in my life once again.

I praise God for His goodness in calling Andrew into the ministry. It is hard. Hard. But it is full of truly amazing blessing as well, and I pray blessing on you, Andrew, and what God has for you. Follow Him.

Scones:
Eddy family recipe

Makes 32 scones.

Dry ingredients:
8 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
4 tsp. salt
4 TBS. baking powder

Wet ingredients:
2 2/3 cups milk
1 1/3 cups olive oil


Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Stir all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. After all the dry ingredients are stirred well, add the wet ingredients. Stir well again.

Using your hands to divide the dough in half, in fourths, in eighths. Make small round loaves with each of the sections and put them on a metal pan with about an inch of space between rounds. Cut the dough rounds in fourths.

Put the pan(s) in the oven and set a timer for 20 min.

The scones should be done when the timer ends, but to make sure, cut one of the rounds open, using the already cut lines, and if the knife comes out clean, the scones are done. If the scones are not done, and the knife comes out with dough on it, set the timer for another 3 min. and keep adding 3 min. until the knife comes out clean.

Illness

Recently, I was down with a stomach virus. It is very rare for me to get sick, but after cleaning up after the younger kids stomach virus for three days, it's no wonder. One of the things I noticed upon recovery was how some of the kids use their different nursing skills. I heard Rebekah using a firm voice in her approach to try to get David Clayton to eat something.  And when she brought me coffee, I don't know, some how it sounded as though I had no choice but to drink it.
Tabitha, on the other hand, quietly suggested that if I had some yogurt, my headache would get better because that it what worked for her. Then she just sat quietly with me for awhile and suggested the yogurt again. Then, a little while later, she said, in her softest voice, "So, should I get that for you?"
She was right, too. The yogurt helped my headache lift enough to consider getting up and facing life again.
Meanwhile, downstairs, Rebekah and others with a more sergeant air, are keeping up with laundry, dishes, and so on. I sure am thankful for all my children and family. Hubby does a great job juggling everything too, as this came down on the weekend- which with him being the preacher- means it is not a weekend.

Essential Oils Face Book Page!

To kick off the new year, I made a Face book page for the essential oils I've been learning about! Please, stop by and like my page if you can. www.morethanascent.org