Why "Shalom in the Wilderness"?

      You may have wondered how I came up with the name, "Shalom in the Wilderness."   It all began when Jack & Friede Taylor stayed with us.  They commented on how peaceful and restful our house is.  I told them I had always wanted to find a name for it so that I could embroider shirts to give to our guests, but so far, had not come up with one.  (One of our earlier guests, Melinda Fish, talked me into buying a Husqvarna Viking embroidery sewing machine, so I thought it would be great to have a logo. As a matter of fact, she also is the one who kept after me to start a blog.  I guess if you think about it she has added a lot of extra work to my life :o)—but so many extra blessings, too!)

       Jack said he had named his place on the ocean, "Shalom By The Sea."  He commented that this house definitely should have “shalom” in the name.  So I looked up “shalom” in our Strong’s concordance and discovered it means not only peace, but also completeness, soundness, welfare, safety, health, prosperity, tranquility, contentment, friendship with others, and friendship with God.

     Before we built our house, we had to make a road through the woods to the spot where we wanted to build.  To do this Country Guy and I walked through the woods leaving stakes in the ground so the man driving the bulldozer would know where to make the lane.  We have always called the section he had to come through “the wilderness” because the blackberry bushes and multi-flora rose growing there make walking very difficult.  The name, "Shalom in the Wilderness", seemed perfect!

      I asked my embroidery instructor to make an outline design—I think she called it ‘redline’--of our house from a picture I took, and then I designed a logo, which I embroider on sweatshirts to give to all who stay with us.

     A few months after I began doing this, I picked up my Bible.  It fell open to Ezekiel 34; verse 25 stood out:  "I will make a covenant of shalom with them and eliminate harmful beasts from the land so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods." It seemed to me to describe our place in the woods and God’s intentions toward it, so I added this verse to the logo.

     As I was discussing starting a blog with friends, I said how difficult it seemed to be for me to begin.  My friend, Cindy, said, “You already have a name for it.,” and I realized I did.

     When I give the sweatshirts to our guests, I explain to them that as I make each shirt I pray for the wearer.   I bless them with shalom (peace, completeness, soundness, welfare, safety, health, prosperity, tranquility, contentment, friendship with others, and friendship with God) in their wilderness.    

    That’s my prayer also for the readers of my blog.  As you type in the address, or read the name, receive the blessing I have already prayed for you.  I pray, too, the contents of the blog will bless you and contribute to your shalom (peace, completeness, soundness, welfare, safety, health, prosperity, tranquility, contentment, friendship with others, and friendship with God) in some way through inspiration, humor, information and by reminding you that we share life and experiences together.

     I bless you with "shalom" in any wilderness you encounter!   

Wedding Anniversary!

     Today is our 45th wedding anniversary!  I can't believe we have been married 45 years!  In many ways our wedding seems only a few years ago.  I can still remember it well, and I don't feel much older than 45 now, so how could I be married that long!
   The years have been wonderful, for the most part, filled with the addition of 3 great kids, 7 adorable grandchildren, building our dream house together, exciting adventures, new experiences, and lots of memories.  Of course, there have been trials and tribulations, too, but the good memories far outweigh the bad.
      Country Guy has been a great husband, who has provided well for us, and made it possible to do so many things I would never have dreamed we would be able to do.  We have visited most of the United States, traveled to Canada, Mexico, Israel, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Croatia, Brazil, England, Ireland, and Scotland (hopefully visiting many more countries in the future), and taken a few cruises.  We have met people from all walks of life.  Our family cares for one another and our friends are the nicest people in the world.  How grateful we are to God who has blessed us 'abundantly more than we could ask or imagine'!
    We look forward to many more adventures as we grow old together.  It has been a wonderful life and we believe the best is yet to be!
    Thanks, Country Guy!  I love you!

More on the ocean and God

           As I reflect on the ocean, I have been thinking of the recent tsunami in Japan.  What a display of the ocean’s power!  In a short span of time with one huge wave, it swept away cars and buildings, even trains, with no strain, no diminishing of it’s power.

     How much more powerful is God!  How easy it is for Him to sweep away our problems and concerns with one wave of His love!

     One of the differences in God and the ocean, though, is that He waits for us to ask Him to remove those things that are in the way.  He gives us a choice.  Shouldn’t we have much more confidence and awe in His power?  Shouldn’t we have no trouble believing that if we ask, He can and will, remove any obstacle in the way of His love when we see how easy it is for the ocean to remove anything in it’s path?  Why do we wait so long to ask?

God is an ocean and so much more!

      Today I have been thinking how much God is like the ocean.  The ocean is beautiful, vast, unfathomable, nourishing, mysterious, powerful, unchanging, bringing forth treasures for us to find.  And so is God, only much, much more!

      I often say how much I love the ocean, but how little I really know it!  I walk along the shoreline, sometimes getting my feet wet, sometimes even getting in up to my knees.  A few times I have swam in the ocean and once in a while I take a sight-seeing boat trip farther from shore.   I have even gone on 3 or 4 ocean cruises--but how little of it I have really seen or experienced!

     My experience with God is that way, too.  I have seen Him from a distance, even getting my feet wet occasionally, but very seldom have I understood even a tiny bit of His vastness and power.  It’s my desire, though, to know God more, to experience His love and power as much as I possibly can!

Symphony

       Last weekend we went to hear the Terre Haute Symphony.  We love going to the symphony because the musicians play beautiful, interesting, and unusual arrangements of the classics but also include popular music in diverse ways.  We especially appreciate the conductor, David Bowden.  He is passionate about music and tries very hard to impart some of that enthusiasm to all who attend.  Before each performance he oversees what he calls Concert Conversations.  At this time he brings out the guest artist for that evening's performance so the audience can get to know a little about his/her background in music and thereby begin to understand the musician's passion for the instrument he/she plays.  Mr. Bowden explains why he has chosen the specific music for the evening's performance.  He also tells something about the composer and points out things to be listening for in each piece.  Then during the performance he interjects additional background material that helps us better understand what the composer was trying to achieve through the music.  For those of us who are not very knowledgeable about classical music that is very helpful and adds so much to the pleasure of the evening.  It provides a wonderful, relaxing, educational experience.
     The evening begins with a cacophony of noise as the orchestra is tuning up before the conductor comes out.  And then when he raises the baton all is quiet and the most exquisite sounds begin to come forth from the instruments.  I often think how very much we are like that in life without God.  We are playing 'our own tune' making sure our instrument is finely tuned, often making a lot of noise, but then when we turn our attention to the Great Conductor He is able to use each to the maximum potential creating an experience of beauty and harmony.
      That's one reason I love the symphony.  There are so many lessons to be learned about life just watching the conductor and the musicians.

What a day!

       What a day I've had!  The Dish Network guy came--I thought to put in the new antenna--but he said only to hook up our DVD player to the internet--that he would have to come back for the antenna.  I was resigned to that fact, but at least one job would be done.  No way!  He couldn't get the DVD player to work so he said he would have to come back some other time.
       I was a little irritated that I had waited on him all morning and still nothing was done, but decided that's just the way it is sometimes, and then I went to check my email.  I could not get online!  I tried all the things I knew to do, restart the computer, shut off the modem for 10 seconds, do them both together--you may already know the routine.  Nothing worked so I began a series of phone calls in which much of the time I was on hold or pressing "1" for this or that.  Then when I finally would get through to an actual person and explain my problem their response was, it was somebody else's department and they couldn't help me.
     I finally called a local technician who came out right away and was able to get me back online about 3:00, but could not for the life of him figure out how to get the "an application has changed your internet address" sign off my Systems Preferences.  Therefore, if I happen to open System Preferences--which I usually do only by instruction from technical support, so I'm not too worried about it--I have to Force Quit my computer.  Don't you just love electronics?????
     The Dish guy came at 9:00, so it only took 6 hours to get back to where I was before he came--checking my email and trying to decide what to post today on my blog.  I guess the only thing accomplished today was determining a blog topic!  :o)  I hope your day was more productive.

Amena Brown again

       I am so in awe of Amena Brown's way with words that I decided to post this poem entitled "You," too.  This one and the one posted yesterday were the two she did at the Beautiful Things concert Friday night.  What a wonderful way to worship!

Amena Brown - He is here

       Last night some friends and I went to Gungor's "Beautiful Things" concert at a church in Decatur!  It really was wonderful!  All members of the band are extremely talented.  They played a great variety of instruments, sometimes in ways the instruments are not usually played, to bring forth hauntingly beautiful music!  Michael Gungor was absolutely phenomenal on the guitar!  At one point, as he played, you couldn't even see his fingers because he was strumming so fast!   I didn't know a guitar could be made to do some of the things he did with it!

        What a creative concert--difficult to explain what happened, but very beautiful and moving!  The girl in the video below is Amena Brown.  She spoke her poetry two different times during the concert, and was amazing, inspiring awe and worship with her words.  She is only touring with Gungor through April, so she won't be at Elevate 2011, but I thought you would want to know about her.  She has other videos that are just as moving on YouTube.

      After hearing Gungor in concert, we are even more excited about Elevate 2011!  What an amazing line-up of bands we have!  I can hardly believe we were able to get such talented musicians and groups this year!  You won't want to miss it, if you are at all able to come!

Favorite Houseplants, continued

      As I think about my favorite houseplants, I must admit I am so partial to ferns that if I had to slowly get rid of all my houseplants, the ferns would be the last to leave and the ones I would miss the most.  I love the graceful fronds of Boston ferns, but I also have a fern whose feathery fronds are even more beautiful than the Boston.  (I actually have two of these because I divided the first one.)  It was given to me by my friend, Michel, at least 20 years ago.  I only recently learned its' name when I saw several in a local nursery.  It is called a Whitmani fern.  The Whitmani has such a striking appearance that almost everyone who sees it comments on it's beauty and uniqueness.  These ferns seem to be rather rare since the only two I've ever seen are the ones I have and the ones in the nursery.
      The top picture includes two of my Boston ferns.  These are in an east window.  The Whitmani, in the lower picture, is in a west window but since we live in the woods tall trees block most of the afternoon sun.

     Ferns are relatively easy to care for if you give them plenty of light, but not direct sun.  They also seem to need more water than most of my plants, but don't like soggy soil.  They actually seem to enjoy an occasional drying out.
     The one drawback to ferns is that they are rather messy, always dropping dead leaves if you don't keep after them.  I've found that if I give them a good shake so that all the dead leaves fall at once every time I vacuum it takes them about a week to accumulate again to the extent that they are constantly dropping.
     I must say though, that the beauty they add to our surroundings far exceeds the little extra trouble they cause me with their messiness.  So if you're looking for a beautiful plant that packs a lot of interest I highly recommend a fern!

Air traffic in 24 hours

     This link was in our internet service provider's monthly email newsletter today.  The video was taken from a satellite and shows the air traffic across the globe over a 24-hour period.  It has been condensed down to one minute and 12 seconds.  From space, it looks like a beehive of activity that flows from continent to continent, day to night. 
      It is amazing there are so many flights in each 24 hour period!  What a wonderful safety record the airline industry has!

Printing info from this blog or other webpages

     Someone asked me if it is possible to print directly from my blog.  The answer to that is "yes" and "no".  The 'yes' means you can print the blog, but as in the case of recipes, all the recipes will print when you are asking for just one.  The 'no' means then that you can't print only one specific thing directly from the blog.
     There is a way to do that, though.  Let's use a specific recipe as an example.  You can go to the Recipes page, find the recipe, highlight it by holding down on the mouse button as you scroll across the info in the recipe that you want to print.  Then copy the highlighted text by pressing the word "Copy" under "Edit" in the browser toolbar.  (On a Mac, you can also press Function (Apple key) and C at the same time after you have highlighted the text as a shortcut to copying.  I'm not sure if those are the 2 keys to use on a Windows computer but it will tell you under Edit in the toolbar).  After you have done this open up a new blank Word document, click the cursor at the beginning of the page and press "Paste" under "Edit" from the browser toolbar (or press the Function and V keys together as a shortcut to paste.)  The text you want to print should now appear in the document and you can now change the format, font size, or anything else you want to do and then print it from this document.
       You can also save it for future reference, if you desire, in My Documents by choosing "Save" under "File" in the browser toolbar.  And then telling it to save it to "My Documents" when the 'where to' words appear.  I have created a folder labeled "Recipes" in "My Documents" for that purpose and then every new recipe I receive from others, or type for myself, gets sent there.
     If by some chance you don't have Microsoft Word, you can also follow the above directions for copying, but then instead of Word, open up your email as if you were going to send a new message.  Paste the info in the new email according to the instructions above.  You can then print the email even without sending it.
      I hope this helps.  You can use this same method for most anything you would like to print and/or save from any web page, if you can't print directly from that web page.

Ian Andrews

    I am so excited!  Ian Andrews is going to be speaking at out church April 15--17, Friday & Sat. nights at 7:00, and Sunday morning at 9:30.  I first heard of him a couple of years ago through the owners of Aqueduct Conference Center, but I had never heard him speak until recently when I discovered a podcast of one of his talks in Michigan.  I was so impressed by what he said and did at that meeting that I searched for other podcasts on the Internet and discovered that Chiswick Christian Center in England has several.  (I posted a link to Chiswick on the Speakers page.)
    Here is Ian's bio and vision copied from his websites www.citadelministries.com/ and www.iequippers.org   


 Bio "Ian is the Apostolic Director of the International Association of Healing Ministries and the Founder of Citadel Ministries. He also serves as a part of the R.A.I.N apostolic team. He has been actively a leading figure in the healing ministry for more than four decades and has authored two books which are available at this web site.

     Ian has traveled to over 65 nations bringing the good news that every believer can and should heal the sick. He has also been used to start several revivals throughout the world. Ian is married to Rosemary and they live in the West Country, UK they have one grown son who lives in USA. . ."

      "Ian was called by God whilst practising Accountancy as a Chartered Accountant at a time when he had little or no faith for healing as he stammered very severely and could never imagine becoming a preacher. Over many years God performed His own version of SOZO on Ian and slowly Ian began to be healed! From the very first day Ian was surprised as God regularly performed miracles through him. The meetings were mainly small in size but that did not stop God using Ian to perform creative body part miracles from the very start of Ian’s ministry."

Vision: "Our primary burden in these days is to see the healing ministry restored and fully functioning in the body of Christ, so that everyone can move in healing.  So our focus is on equipping people and releasing the anointing so that they have the confidence, knowledge and faith to move ahead in praying for people and seeing them healed..."


      After reading the above information, I'm sure you can see why we are excited that he is coming to Crawford County Christian Center.  Why not listen to one of the podcasts? If you do and you are anywhere near Robinson, Illinois, on April 15-17, I know you will try your best to be at these meetings.  I believe they will be life-changing.

Favorite Houseplants

     As I began thinking about what I wanted to say in this post I was reminded of a quote by one of my favorite authors, Glenn Clark, who founded Camps Farthest Out.  He used to say, "The answer resides in the question."  The question I was asking myself is, "What are my favorite houseplants and why?"  As I pondered this I realized the answer to that question is that my favorite houseplants are those that are easy to grow.  The reason people think I know how to grow houseplants well is because I find out what will grow (usually by trial and error) in a certain place and then I let it.  It isn't that I am good at growing things, I am just good at discovering what will grow in certain areas.  That is the key--to discover a plant that will grow in the conditions that I have--place it there, water it appropriately (see earlier post) and then let it grow.   That's the way I garden, too, by trial and error.  If something isn't growing well in a certain spot I move it and try to find something else that will grow there.
    I think over the years I have had at least one of almost all the popular plants growing in my house at one time or another.  Some died, some didn't flourish, and some were just too much bother, so I threw them away, but not without a twinge of guilt. There were a few, though, that seemed to be very happy, so I replaced the rejects with more of the ones that flourished.  As I mentioned in an earlier post I have many plants in my house, but I have narrowed the species now living here down to only a few--keeping only those that are easy to grow and don't require too much time other than watering.
    Of all the plants I have tried to grow, pothos is by far the easiest.  (If you're interested, I posted a link to more information on pothos on the Favorite Plants page.)  It is one of my favorites because it doesn't need much light and therefore will grow almost anywhere--except in the hot sun of a south window.  It will grow in soil or even in water.  I actually prefer to grow them in water because they don't get so 'leggy'.  Since they are so easy to grow I stick them anywhere I need a little greenery.  

Pothos in water

     Whenever I need another plant, or I want to share one with friends, I cut off several stems from one of them, stick the stems in a jar of water, sit the jar in a basket and let it grow.   I have three of them in water on the bookshelves lining the hall to the garage.  There are no direct windows so the main light they get is from the canned lights in the hallway.  One of the three has been there--living in water--since we built our house.  Another one, also in water, is sitting on the divider to the kitchen.  Some of the potted ones are hanging off the plant shelf over the entry.  I am adding pictures so you can see what I'm talking about.  

These are growing in soil.  The plant on the right is the parent of all of the others plus lots more!  It was given to me almost 30 years ago by friends, Sam & Carol, as a house gift.

     Since this post is getting rather lengthy, I will discuss some of my other favorites in a later post.

Spring is just around the corner!

       Yesterday was a beautiful day--73 degrees and sunny!  In my opinion that is perfect!.  I picked up sticks for several hours, (Country Guy helped me in the afternoon) but we still have some to do yet.  Picking up sticks is a never-ending chore when living in the woods!  It is amazing how many fall after a storm or strong wind.  What good exercise, though--all that walking and bending over, and then the result is a nice big pile to burn for a wiener roast!

The results of our labor.

         I learned from my North Carolina friends that they plant pansies in the fall because they flourish in cooler temperatures and will survive and thrive in their mild winters.  How wonderful to have blooms all winter!   In late spring they dig them up and plant summer blooming annuals.  Since our winter is harsher than theirs, I knew they wouldn't survive all winter, but realized they would be fine much sooner than I used to plant them, so yesterday I filled the pots at our front door with pansies.  Don't they look cheerful?  I have been so eager for spring that I just had to get a head start on a little beauty.  (If you look very close you can see my reflection in the door as I'm taking the picture--in case you forgot what I looked like.  :o)

  

     Country guy also helped me dig daffodils from a spot on our property where they grow wild.  We moved most of them to the new garden I started last year in an area where several trees died.  (It seemed to me a garden would be a good way to cover up the stumps left from the removal of the trees.)   I have tried to move a few daffodils every year since we've lived here, so this year there should be a great many blooming when spring arrives.  In another week it will be very beautiful around here!

This picture was taken last year when I had a different helper.

    

Paul Zerdin, a Ventriloquist without a dummy

My sister sent this today. What a creative--and funny--idea!