Steele (the Day)

Bustin’ out on a Saturday night

// December 21st, 2008 // 4 Comments » // Uncategorized

What kind of woman with a dead cell phone and a sick dog goes out into the minus 21 degree wind chill facing 2-3 ft drifts to drive 6 miles to church on a Saturday night alone?

A woman with her tree decorated.

A desperate woman with a really big truck.

A drift-bustin’ truck.

And in the silence of prayer, in the midst of an beautiful sermon about “listening” and a handful of church-goers…

there was a really loud God.

Tea tonight: Chinese flower

The Hand, Grace, and Love of God

// December 4th, 2008 // 4 Comments » // Uncategorized

One of my favorite bloggers, Stacy From Louisville (whom most of you will know as SFL) posted this on her blog today, and I watched it at least 4 times – so far. What a beautiful portrait of our salvation. And leave it to SFL to take us from laughing hysterically one day over her family Christmas letter, to shedding tears of appreciation for our huge God the next.

Stacy’s got it going on.

Peace to all.

Tea today: Green with triple antioxidant

Baby Tears

// November 21st, 2008 // 3 Comments » // Uncategorized

I cried twice today.

Every mother’s prayer. Babies. Her babies. Those seemingly perfect-in-every way babies that grow up to be imperfect human beings who need each other and learn the hard way how much they need the Lord. So what was so sad about this beautiful picture I’ve put in your mind?

I didn’t say I was sad. I merely said I was crying.

I held a baby boy this evening, almost 16 weeks old. Peach-fuzz-baby-smelling head. Chipmunk cheeks. He fussed, then I did the baby sway with him (I haven’t forgotten how because I still do it in church with no baby in my arms). He fell asleep on my shoulder, so I sagged my weary back into the couch and this onesied-bundle did the baby-wriggle-gonna-nestle-up-real-close-heavy-sigh REM sleep thing on my chest. And as I covered him with his blanket, I cried. It was a moment that took me back 31 years and that overwhelming feeling of baby passion just overtook me. Sometimes it doesn’t even matter whose baby it is.

And then.

I went to see the unveiling of the engagement pictures of my eldest baby and his beautiful fiance. Fresh faces. Brilliant leaves. Autumn sunshine. Adoring smiles. Sappy (albeit tear-jerking) music background.

I cried again.

I cried out of gratitude for three healthy grown babies and a soon-to-be daughter-in-law. I cried out of angst for days gone by. I cried over mistakes I’ve made and things left undone that may or may not have changed anything at all. The embrace of His grace now brings me peace in my exhaustion and I’m ready to fall into that snuggly sleep just like those babies used to. Without the onesie.

But just one more time, I think I’ll cry.

Three times today.

Tea tonight: Numi Monkey King

(Un)Comfortable in My Own Sin

// November 14th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Uncategorized

I just finished reading (and studying, and discussing) Respectable Sins, by Jerry Bridges with an awesome group of women at church. It was a book I could have finished in a day, and normally would have, but taking a book like this and really digging in for 10 weeks and studying, soaking up the concepts, and feeling convicted, rather than just reading and thinking “How true” or “He’s exactly right”….well, it was just an experience I really want to have again. Soon. That, coupled with getting to know other women who are 25 years younger and 25 years older, yet sharing common bonds of being stuck in those sins we tolerate as women, wives, mothers….it was truly a spiritual experience for me.

It’s one thing to be comfortable in your own skin (which has taken me many years) but to be comfortable in your own sin, now that’s a different story. And one I plan to rewrite. Thank goodness for that Gift of Grace, for it’s never too late to write your story.

What’s your story about His glory?

Tea tonight: Republic of Tea Honey Ginger

My Favorite Veteran on 11/11

// November 11th, 2008 // 5 Comments » // Uncategorized

Thanks, Dad, for all you did…for me, our family, our country. This is a special day in many ways. There’s that 11/11 again, as the Holy Spirit tippy toes into my day.

Tea today: Stash Fusion, Green & White

The Best Laid Plans

// November 10th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Uncategorized

Oh, I had so many plans for this “staycation.” A few of them got accomplished – the insignificant ones. I wonder if you can guess from my list what I did. I say “did” because its all over now. And that 2 weeks was simply a blur. I was decompressing from several months of poor sleep, environmental frustrations (aka dirty, cluttered, in-need-of-repair-and-updating house), 12-14 hour work days, no time with friends or family, and barely enough time to sit on the pity pot because of it. So here was my “to do” list.

• Read 3 books I’ve had in the “hopper”
• Strip the wallpaper from the dining room and paint
• Gather clothes for Goodwill and take them in
• Fall pond and yard clean-up
• Scrub the floors
• De-cobweb – all the way up the 19 ft ceilings
• Start my “Read the Bible in a Year” project
• Bring in Sam and Harold for the winter
• Exercise every day (get tennis shoes out of Goodwill bag first)
• Have lunch with several people I’ve put off for a long, long time
• Find some bargain clothes so I don’t stare at the same rags every morning, some which my daughter wore in junior high
• Shop in Des Moines for a Mother of the Groom dress
• Bond with my puppy who is nearing the Rainbow Bridge
• Take my screens down
• Get all the broken window shades fixed
• Clean out and organize the deep freeze
• Cook and freeze lunches for the next few weeks
• Get the rental house rented
• Wash all the sheets on the kids’ beds and clean their rooms for the next visit
• Search and gather items for consignment
• Help with the “Honey Do” list that has been ongoing for 11 years

We Plan, God Laughs (great book!)

Tea tonight: Good Earth green with lemongrass

I’m a Voter; Shouldn’t You Be a Voter, Too?

// November 4th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Uncategorized

I voted today, and for all reasons good and holy (read: I hate confrontation) I’m not sayin’ who got my vote. The best thing about waking up tomorrow, since I’m NOT staying up to watch any results….

I vote for that.

I’m so humbled…..

// November 4th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Uncategorized

I was in a small discussion group about “impatience and irritability” at my Bible study tonight, and one of the participants was a young college woman, recently engaged, finding her way in her walk with God and this whole marriage thing that is looming ahead. She’s a beautiful young lady, and we engaged in a lot of “off the subject” conversations during our assignment, finding we have a lot in common (other than impatience and irritability!) such as biking and eating “nuts and twigs.”

11/1 – There Are No Accidents

// November 1st, 2008 // 2 Comments » // My Fabulous Life

Up during another restless/sleepless night. Not sure what the problem is…
The date, perhaps? I recall this post.

Today’s post is #111 for me. Hmmmm….

A long-ago friend was born on this day. A friendship that, shall we say, moved on…

Last night we moved a couch that weighed about 1,111 lb. (est.) down from the second floor and out to the truck. OK, that’s exaggerating. It will take 111 days for my back to recover. Possibly.

Tea tonight: Green with kiwi/pear

Blessed Are They ….

// October 30th, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

…who do not see and yet believe! But this is seeing and believing! Oh joy, what a miracle God has done once again.

Tea today: Harney & Sons green with citrus