A new perspective on old stories

In the fall, our girls' Bible study group began studying women of the Bible. It seemed like up until this point we had done more topical studies, so I thought it was time to just start with basic Bible studies of women and see where it would lead us each week. I hoped the girls would benefit from it, but I honestly never expected how much I would enjoy it! Most of our girls have such weak Bible knowledge, so almost every story was new to them. We started with Eve, which they knew pretty well. But from there it was all new territory. Miriam, singing and leading Isreal, then struck with leprosy. Deborah, the judge and prophet, leading Israel with the courage the men of that time couldn't match. Jaal, the gutsy woman who killed a king. Hannah, the prayerful woman of God, waiting for her son, then giving him back to God. Esther, an obscure Jewish girl made queen, who prayerfully risked her life to save her people. Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah who was seduced by David, lost her husband and child, but went on to mother Solomon, the wisest person ever. Wow! When you haven't heard the stories before, they are full of surprises. Every week I heard the girls gasp in wonder, surprise, bewilderment, horror...just from straight readings of the word. I look at all these women of the Bible with fresh eyes now too. And I look at our girls with a new perspective too. I can't dismiss them, or any teens, as not caring about the Bible. Given a chance, they'll eat it up - and teach me a lot along the way too.

ICE!

Tulsa got hit by the ice storm moving across the country this week. After last winter's crazy power outage (we had no power for an entire week) this seems like nothing! Only a few lost power, which I attribute to the fact that there were no trees left to fall on power lines. It was insane how many trees fell last winter! The piles of debris looked liked small mountains. Anyway, the roads have been icky, and the kids are out of school for the third day in a row. Yesterday a couple teen girls who live pretty close by walked over to the house. They were so bored that they were ready to brave the cold to have something to do. As I watched one of the teens chow down on the popcorn I fixed for a snack, I wondered how all the moms were feeding their kids. So many families rely on school meals to feed their kids breakfast and lunch, how are they making it during this ice storm? Here it is the end of the month, money is probably tight, and they have to feed their kids 6 extra unexpected meals. The girls stayed for dinner, and I felt good about making sure they had at least one square meal that day. But what about all the other kids I know? In these uncertain economic times, everyone is starting to feel the budget crunch, but hard times always hit the poor first and hardest. When you don't have disposable income, what can you cut from your budget? Hard choices are made - electric bill or food? Medicine or rent?

The ice is supposed to melt today, but the hard financial times will continue. What can we do to help our struggling neighbors?

Late Christmas post

Well, I'm only a month late, but here are a few Christmas pictures - from both Contact and our family.

At Contact, our annual Christmas store was a few weeks before Christmas. Toys are donated by area churches and individuals and then sold to needy families at a drastically reduced rate (generally 75% discount). This allows families to have the dignity of shopping and buying their own children's toys. This year was a great success, with lots of families and children served. The day before the store, Miriam and I had the fun of shopping for toys with $400 of donated money. I don't think I've ever spent so much money at Walmart! Our cart was loaded with stereos, jewelry, dart guns, and more. During the store on Saturday, our teen girls helped by providing childcare for our members who were working at the store. We also took care of a few children whose parents were shopping. We decorated cookies, painted, made bead jewelry, played with play-dough, watched movies, and managed to keep the kids occupied for several hours. (See picture below.)


Our family went to AR for Christmas to be with my parents, siblings, and grandparents. It's usually a once a year event to get my sister, brother and I all home, thus making it a special time, even if all too brief. Miriam had lots of playmates (and being the only grandchild) received lots of attention! See a few pictures below.

Miriam and I with Aunt Rita and Uncle Jason


She loved the piano, and entertained us greatly with all the different songs she made up to the tune of "Jesus loves me"!


Pataw "rescued" her from the "fire restaurant" (Asian grill restaurant where they cook at your table.) Miriam was terrified, until Pataw found the ice cream!


Grammy, of course, read lots of books.


Auntie Rachel is so funny! :)

We hope your holidays were special, and that your new year has begun in a blessed and beautiful way!
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Choir

Today the girls' choir went to a local nursing home and sang for the residents. The girls sounded lovely, and the elderly people responded with applause and smiles. It is always beautiful to see older and younger people connecting, and I was encouraged by what I saw today. One of the residents is a grandmother of several of the girls in the group. A stroke has taken away much of her ability to communicate, but you could see in her eyes how happy she was to see her grandaughters and how proud she was to hear them sing.

This was only the second time our choir has performed. The girls sang at Christmas time at Contact. Their first performance was received with lots of encouragement by our Contact family. (See picture above.) Our goal, now that we have a few songs under our belt, is to sing the last Sunday of each month at nursing homes, hospitals, or possibly other locations too. While the girls are still learning the fine art of staying on key and singing together, I think the most important part of choir is the process. Learning to listen, to be a team, to help the younger girls, to hear the very words they are singing as words from God....these are lessons that I hope will begin to seep into their hearts. Please pray for these 3rd -high school age girls! (And pray for the adults who help them...we're planning a choir lock-in soon!!)

Have a Cooking Pot

I was reminded today of a godly woman who studied the Bible with a single lady in New York City. As they were talking the single lady commented on how beautiful the woman's earrings were. She immediately took them off and gave them to the lady. No request was made. No hesitation about whether she would give what she had. No questioning about whether she could give her something that she did not like. She wanted this single mother to have something beautiful in her life.

I got a call today from a mother of ten children. Her kids go to Contact Church. Sarah had made a pot of chili to take to their family. I requested that the kids bring the pot with them to church when they were through with it. She called me this afternoon wanting a phone number, but also to know from where I got that cooking pot. She said that she was in need of something that big to cook soup in. Recalling this special lady from NYC, I immediately offered the cooking pot (careful here, not to say "pot" by itself!). I operated on the principle of it being easier to ask for forgiveness from Sarah rather than permission. Sarah was very supportive of the gift when I talked to her later about the call. I am thankful for people that model unattachment to things. Their acts of caring reflect a worship of Creator, not the created. Their acts of caring inspire us to see God offering the adornment of grace in our lives.

Girls' Camping Trip

In mid-October myself and two other adults took a couple teen girls camping at Sequoyah State Park. The weather was perfect - warm during the day, cool at night and just right for a campfire. The girls had a great time and enjoyed the outdoors - setting up the tents, cooking over a fire, hiking, horseback riding, seeing the stars (amazing!), and campfire devos. We were right beside the water. When I woke up Sunday morning a flock of geese was flying across the water. What a beautiful way to start the day! Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Playing games

Miriam got to come along on the trip. Other than getting sick in the middle of the night :( she had a great time!

Girls setting up the tent

Book give away

In cleaning out closets and shelves at Contact recently I found a huge treasure trove of children's books. They were mostly really great books (lots of caldecott medals!) in really great shape. Sadly, they had been collecting dust at Contact for some time. Since I am always on the look-out for service ideas for our teen girls, this seemed perfect: give the girls a chance to spend time with some kids, and get these books in the hands of children! Yesterday I was blessed to hang out with three teen girls and one adult from Contact as we passed out the books to kids at an apartment complex close to Contact. We met some really special kids who were very happy to get free books, and even happier to have folks stopping and playing with them. It was very encouraging to see our young teens praying about being good role models, and then going out and living it. It's a daily challenge to be Jesus' hands and feet in this world, but yesterday we had the chance to practice. Hopefully, we are learning that service project days aren't the only time to serve...every day is a service day in His kingdom!