Recognizing the Signs

“I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace. I had a dream, and it frightened me; while in my bed, the images and visions in my mind alarmed me.” Daniel 4:4-5

Have you noticed the signs? There’s more of a nip in the air (when I left to take Lotti to the bus this morning at 7 a.m., the thermometer said it was 38 degrees!). Some of the leaves have begun to change color. The pollen count is up. And, a sure sign that Autumn has arrived: my kids don’t complain about wearing a jacket to school…they actually request one!!

God had been giving Nebuchadnezzar signs for years. The king had heard Daniel not only interpret a disturbing dream, but describe the dream first! He saw the 3 men he’d tossed into the fiery furnace walk around, be joined by a fourth who looked like a “son of the gods”, then exit a fire so hot it had killed some of his own men, yet left not even a hint of smoke on their clothes. In every instance, he came to understand more of Who this God was. He marveled at the power of this God, recognized that He should be respected, and that He was a God who had answers and was willing to share them. But despite all that, Nebuchadnezzar never understood the signs he saw as communication with him personally. God was the God of the Israelites…He was Daniel’s God. Nebuchadnezzar had his own gods, and he never even considered that this Almighty God would ever desire to pursue him. Until the events of Daniel 4.

Nebuchadnezzar got the “mother of all signs” when God sent him a dream in which he was made to act like an animal for seven “periods of time”. While the dream itself was disturbing (the idea of eating grass for any length of time is disturbing to me!), he apparently still didn’t comprehend that God was really talking to him…Nebuchadnezzar continued on his way until he had fulfilled every part of that dream. Only then did he realize that God wanted him…that God wanted his praise and worship…that God wanted recognition not only as Daniel’s God, but as his God too.

It is tempting to criticize (and even ridicule!) Nebuchadnezzar for missing all the signs God placed before him. I want to think that if I had had dreams like he did, and had them interpreted as he did, that I would respond differently. Yet every day, God uses things all around me to try and get my attention. That nip in the air…the change in the color of the leaves…even the escalating pollen count…subtle signs I use to recognize that Autumn is here. But if that’s as far as I take it, I’ve missed the point. All those signs also point to the magnificence of a God Who wants to be recognized and praised, not just as the Changer of the Seasons, but as MY God. Maybe that’s why God had to use strange and disturbing dreams to get Nebuchadnezzar’s attention…he’d ignored the subtle things. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to have to live through some kind of judgment (bizarre or simply embarrassing!) just because I ignored the signs God put up for me to see. I want to recognize each and every one of those subtle signs for what they are: a praise offering to the One God Who has also made Himself my God.

In praise of His glorious grace,
Sherri

Normalcy

“Now among them from the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.” Daniel 1:6

Normalcy: a line of days marked by their lack of anything other than the expected routine of those days. Some might call it boring. I guess if it went on interminably, I might agree. But right now, I could go for a little normalcy…a line of days with no big bumps in the road…a stretch of time long enough for me to yearn for the excitement and anxiety of the unexpected. Right now, normalcy seems more like an elusive dream than a possible reality.

Daniel & Co. (a.k.a., Hananiah, Misheael, and Azariah, a.k.a., Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego) had spent several years with a distinct lack of normalcy. Removed from home, family, culture, and country, they found themselves almost immediately having to face challenges they never would have encountered had things remained within the status quo. A foreign diet, new names, a new language, foreign customs, a foreign king with great expectations, government positions in a foreign government, facing death because of those positions…I have to wonder if they didn’t sometimes long for a little run-of-the-mill, a few weeks with less adventure and more hum-drum, a stretch of time with more routine and fewer bumps in the road….normalcy.

The interesting thing is that each of those bumps was an opportunity; each of those unexpected adventures gave them the chance to stand up for what and Who they believed in, to choose to face the challenge with faith, and to grow in their understanding of and relationship with the One Who stood with them through it all. Through every bump and in the midst of every challenge, they found His grace to be more than enough, and His strength to be all the power they needed.

I still wouldn’t mind a few weeks of normalcy. But until the Father chooses to make that a reality, I’ll navigate the bumps and twists and turns of my life with a heart at rest: a heart deeply convinced that He is right beside me, upholding and undergirding me, ever whispering, “My grace is sufficient for you…”

Seeking Him even more than normalcy,
Sherri

Lotti the High School Band Member

Here she is, the intrepid flute player with the marching band. This is the stance they take as they come in, and having the head up, chin somewhat tilted, is very important. This is all the uniform except the white gloves (they didn't wear those for the first game since not everyone had them yet), and a fuzzy black and gold feather thing that attaches at the top of the gold piece on the helmet and follows the line of the helmet around to the back (over the top of the helmet). The band keeps those in a safe place and hands them out just before the kids take the field, and then takes them back up when they get back into the stands.


This shows Lotti as she really feels about band. Part of their training, however, was to keep that "stiff upper lip" she has in the first photo, even when cheered or razzed by parents and other loving onlookers!!










Here they come! I don't know if you can tell, but the drum majors are in the front in black and have sparkly sashes.




Here you can see Lotti. She's not quite in line, but she wasn't the only one, and it is the first game!






Here they are in the stands, getting ready to play. This is how they sit for every game.











And, they're playing!!







She's getting ready to take to the field for the 1st time...does she look nervous? Her mother had no earthly idea how the formations looked at the end of the performance, as she stayed completely focused on this one band member! Lotti did great, and is well on her way to becoming a fantastic band member!! It has been fun "re-living" marching band while I watch her, and she has caused a lump in more than one throat while watching her. Amazing she's this old! (Notice how much like Tyler she looks with her hair up?)

Horn Creek "Talent" Show 07

Every year, our church goes away for a church-wide retreat. It is such a wonderful, relaxing weekend. These are some of the shots from the Talent Show, which is always on Sunday night:

Believe it or not, the man in the picture and the woman just to his right in the America t-shirt are my fearless worship team leaders! They are doing a silly do-wop song here. It was really cute and funny, and they are a lot of fun no matter where you catch them doing music!

Recognize the little imp on the right? That's Nate with 2 of his best buds from church. They came up with 3 skits they called "Time Wasters" all on their own. The last 2 were actually kind of cute, but this one almost got them gonged! They sat there and counted to 120....seriously! And then told us they had just wasted 2 minutes of our time! I think if anyone had had rotten tomatoes, these guys would have gotten them in the face!



This is our beloved, fearless pastor in one of his newest metamorphoses, Joey Rocky Road the Boxer. His daughter interviewed him, and his age kept going up throughout the interview (every time she asked him how old he was, it was older!). Chuck never seems to be afraid to try anything!





This is our dear family doctor and part of his family (his son is the one sitting next to Nate in the picture above, and is also a Nate). Every year they come up with the cutest skits. His wife is seated, acting as the patron of Bubba's Burgers. His oldest daughter is the waitress in the foreground, and he is the chef, Bubba. The patron tried to order a burger, but kept finding a hair in the burger and sending it back, until finally she asked to see the chef. Out steps Bubba to explain he didn't know what the problem was since he made them all the same, at which point he proceeded to smash the "hamburger meat" flat under his arm! Needless to say, they got the laughs and groans they were looking for!!

Here is our pastor with his family (the twins were the only ones not there...his wife is on the end, and his daughter and son-in-law are in the middle). They proved that they are not afraid to be complete sillies even without a disguise as they played a kazoo medley together!

This was our offering for the talent show. Lotti and Nate are playing the part of a couple at home when the phone rings and it's a telemarketer on the other end. Steve and I are hidden behind the curtain on the right, where we played the parts of the telemarketers. We got some good laughs out of these, and have a whole book of them, so we'll definitely do more next year. The other boy in the photo of Nate and his buddies couldn't wait for a telemarketer to call their house, since he wanted to try out some of the strategies we gave them!

Here's our pastor again in what has become his yearly skit as Rev. Ima Fundy. He worries that people will get tired of it, but we've told him it's like a great movie you watch over and over until you know the lines (people have begun quoting some of the lines with him...they are hilarious lines!). This picture was actually taken last year, but this year's pictures were really blurry (he's pretty charismatic as Rev. Fundy). The only real difference is that he has no beard now.


This has been the final act for the past 2 years. This is the pastor's son-in-law. He's fire-breathing. Every year, he reminds the kids that this is not something to try at home, and how much training he's had. His wife has said she can't kiss him for days afterward. He puts some kind of igniter in his mouth to do this. It is really quite amazing.

Well, that's it. There were other acts, but they don't translate as well to the blog. Needless to say, we all had a great time again this year!

1st Day of School 07

Well, nothing stops them. When it's time to go to school, they both head out the door.

Nate left for 5th grade this year, where he is doing very, very well. He has a man for his homeroom teacher, and he and Nate have really hit it off. He thinks the world of Nate, and tells him so at every opportunity. He's told me he really "gets" Nate, and that Nate reminds him a lot of himself at that age. At Nate's school, 5th and 6th graders share portables and classes together, being known collectively as the Upper Team (since they're the "top dogs" of the school). K-2 is the Primary Team, and grades 3-4 are the Middle Team. While the other 2 teams do do some activities together, it is not to the extent that Upper Team does. We fell in love with the Upper Team when Lotti was there, and they are still just as great now. They do a fabulous job of preparing the kids for middle school and, believe it or not, high school. The way they handle the kids' responsibilities (or rather, impress upon the kids how to handle their responsibilities!) and the way they teach has a lot to do with that. Nate is really flourishing and has shown everyone what we've known all along: he's quite creative, extremely smart, and very responsible.

Lotti started her freshman year in high school. Wow. We are all still reeling a bit from that. The high school here uses a schedule somewhat like a college schedule, except that the days simply alternate rather than being a straightforward MWF and TTH. They have what they call Green and Gold days (those are the school's colors), and you alternate days, period. So, if you have Green days on MWF this week, you'll have them on TTH next week and so on. That means she only has 4 classes each day. While she has the same 1st period class every day, the other 3 switch from day to day. I think she really likes the way that works, and she's said she loves her schedule. I have to admit, when I went to Open House (more of a Meet the Teachers night here), I really liked her schedule and her teachers. So, what does she have for her freshman year? More than I did, that's for sure! She has physics, literature (a genre lit class where they cover a variety of topics), culinary arts this semester and photography next semester (they're each one semester courses), Latin (this is her choice for her foreign language...when I was in high school, we could choose French or Spanish!), geometry (which is SO different from when I was in high school...I thought I'd be able to help her some with this, but it's not at all like when I had it...who knew geometry could change???), world history (her favorite subject), and band. Since the whole high school eats lunch at the same time, she gets to eat with a bunch of the kids from youth group at church, and she really enjoys that too.

They're growing up! But they're doing it so well!!

Lotti's 1st Parade

Every August, our county holds a county fair. One of the first events is the County Fair Parade. There are the usual floats (I have no pictures of those for some reason) and crazy cars (those are used in the Rodeo, and the white one here bucked up on the back wheels and shot water out of the roof of the car....there is a clown on the back),




cars with local celebrities in them,











and of course, horses.











One of the highlights has always been the high school band. This year, it was an even bigger highlight for us since Lotti is now in the band. This was her first experience marching, and her first parade. The route is about a mile long, and while the parade began around 9 or 10 in the morning, it was August and it was plenty hot by the time those kids came through.


The kids in the gold t-shirts are the drum majors. The one on the right is a boy from our church. He's a neat guy who's really got a heart for the Lord.









The band stopped right here and we were able to enjoy one of their songs before they moved on. Even this early, they sounded really good!






Here's Lotti as she marched past us. We had brought shorts for her to change into after the parade. Her thoughts immediately afterward: "It was cool. But I am so hot and thirsty!" She did keep her band t-shirt on as we wandered around the craft booths and the fair entries, which made her feel like a bit of a local celebrity herself (and so she was!). It was fun to see her reaction to people we knew tell her what a good job she'd done, and especially the little kids we know who seemed a bit in awe of knowing someone in the parade!

Lotti begins baking

Every summer, I have my kids do "homework" (I know, it's the curse of having a former school teacher for a mom!!). In the past, they've used the unfinished portions of the workbooks they bring home at the end of the school year to do a little grammar and math each day (which Nate still did this summer). But with Lotti going into high school this year, we all realize how limited our time with her at home is growing. So one of the things I began to work with her on was learning to do some basic baking and cooking. This was her first batch of muffins. She chose the recipe, a chocolate muffin with a struesel on top. We did them as mini muffins, and they didn't quite turn out, although they look good in the picture. The tops were good, but the bottoms burnt. She was pretty excited, as you can tell.


Here, Lotti is making a rolled bread. This was her second baking attempt (the muffins were the first). This is a loaf of French bread with a basil pesto in the middle. That's the green stuff you see in the middle of the dough. She's spreading it around the dough, after which you roll up the dough like you would for cinnamon rolls and bake it like that. This turned out beautifully! You can see one of the rolled loaves on the cookie sheet in the left of the picture. She and I made these side by side, with each of us making 2 loaves a piece. We took them to a bridal shower for the guy who's been our youth intern at church. They were a BIG hit!

This semester, Lotti is taking a Culinary Arts class. She is learning even more than I had time to teach her this past summer. She's made Tres Leches (3 Milks in Spanish), a cake that has you pour a mixture of evaporated milk, condensed milk, and half-and-half (the 3 milks) over the baked cake and then let it sit for several hours. You then "ice" it with whipped cream and sprinkle cinnamon on it. She had to make that for homework for the class and then take a piece to the teacher along with comments from us. She did this one all on her own, and it turned out really well. Lotti is discovering that she enjoys being in the kitchen!