And now, a word from our sponsor… (Guest columnist, Sallie's husband)

I’m offering my first stint as Sallie’s guest columnist! I’m David, the guy mentioned in Sallie’s profile. (As if you’re wondering what I look like, you can go here.)

Today is Sallie’s birthday, as she alluded to in her posting from yesterday. And for her birthday, I pay tribute to her in the:

Ten Things You Need To Know About Sallie

1. Sallie believes that potatoes are one of the basic food groups, whether it’s potato soup (and she makes a good one) or mashed potatoes, or baked potatoes, or fries.

2. Pansies are her favorite flower. Yep, those flower pots are itching to get filled by me in a couple Saturdays.

3. She owns a baseball bat that was used as a prop in one her favorite episodes of the Christy TV series. (We verified the authenticity by watching that episode.)

4. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT get into a battle of wits with Sallie. You will lose. She has a quick wit that rarely gets beaten. (Or, is it that I’m an easy target….)

5. Proper care and feeding of Sallie requires an occasional road trip to Loafer’s Glory, a little restaurant/country gift store in the dinky little burg of Blanchard, Michigan.

6. She really likes it when the vacuuming gets done by others (Read: me).

7. Squirrels tremble at the sight of her. Really. I’m not making this up. One leaped up on our window bird shelf and Sallie stared him down for several seconds. The little weasel started shaking violently and dove off!

8. Quite often during TV college basketball games, Sallie will comment about some aspect of the game. Moments later, the color commentator will say the same thing. Amazing. I still haven’t found the microphone in our living room with a feed to CBS Sports.

9. One of her favorite pick-me-ups is to play the “cold hands game”. I subject my warm tummy to her cold hands. It makes her laugh so much. Once again, I must be an easy target…

10. She was created especially for me, and it’s a special privilege to know that there’s no doubt about who I was to marry. And I’m so glad that she gets to share her thoughts with you who read her blog. I hope that you all get a glimpse of the wonderful woman that I get to share my life with.

Happy Birthday, Kitten!

- Your David

On to the Sweet Sixteen! (aka My husband can't believe he has a wife who loves to watch college basketball)

The best medicine I've had the past two weeks was watching my beloved Michigan State University Spartans beat Old Dominion on Friday and Vermont today in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

Next up is Duke.

I've mentioned the NCAA tournament a couple times recently and I'm sure the vast majority of the women who visit my blog just cannot believe that I waste precious blogging space talking about this. But I’ve been a college basketball fan since the year Earvin Johnson led the MSU Spartans to the national title over Larry Bird and the Indiana State…. What is the Indiana State mascot?

Anyhoo, I’ve been a fan ever since.

A couple of years ago my husband went to a men’s breakfast at church on a Saturday morning. It was during the tournament and David mentioned that we were looking forward to watching the games later that day. The men were stunned. The words were, “Wow. Where did you find a wife like that?”

Funny thing is that he found me online and I never mentioned I liked to follow college sports. It was just a bonus that he discovered later.

Go green! Go white!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday. Due to health situations, we weren't able to celebrate in person today. (We live about 90 miles apart.) Hopefully later this week we'll be able to be together to celebrate both of our birthdays.

My mom spent her birthday when she was xx years old (sorry, can't give away confidential info) in labor for me. I didn't make my appearance until the next day when everyone involved decided that I was apparently a stubborn little child and they pulled me out. (Hey, I have the gift of discernment. Even then I knew what the real world was going to be like, so why rush?)

Here's a favorite picture of mom when she was a little girl.

Thanks, Mom, for giving me life and being a bright part of my life.

Thinking of Joanna

When I was in my early to mid 20’s, I had the blessing of becoming involved socially with several younger couples from church. This may not sound like a big deal, but for a single gal who wanted to be married, it was a real blessing to have the fellowship of Christian couples and not feeling like a fifth wheel (most of the time). Actually, more often than not I was the fifth person for intense games of call partner Rook so being single definitely worked to my advantage then!

One of the couples I got to know was Jim and Joanna. They were several years older than me, but we hit it off and I spent MANY Sunday evenings in their home over the period of a few years. We laughed – A LOT. Whenever I was in their home, especially if we were playing Rook with another couple or two, it was a hilarious (and intense) atmosphere.

Joanna was a very simple person. She was kind and had a servant’s heart. She always made sure I had chocolate chips to munch on while we were playing Rook. She had a funny little giggle that I still can hear. She prayed often for me and my future husband, believing that God had someone special for me. We had lunch dates a few times and those are special memories for me.

The weekend before my 27^th birthday, Jim and Joanna invited a bunch of folks from church to their house to celebrate my birthday. We had a good time. This was an especially loving thing to do because Joanna had had knee surgery about a week to ten days before and she was still on crutches. But we had fun, laughed a lot (like always) and I appreciated their friendship.

A few days later I was at church on Wednesday evening when I heard that Joanna had collapsed. The last time I saw her was when she was being wheeled out to the ambulance. She was gone within the next hour or so. She died from blood clots due to her knee surgery which had taken place almost two weeks before.

As I said, Joanna was a simple person who loved people. She loved children and was serving them at Awana the night she went home to Jesus. That was one of the hardest funerals I’ve ever been to. The place was packed. Not because Joanna was a prominent person in the worldly sense of the word, but because she was a prominent person who loved and served so many people. I think she would have been amazed to see how many people were there and the level of emotion that was in the room for one of our sisters in Christ who – from the earthly perspective – had been taken much too soon.

I always think of Joanna at this time of year. It is impossible to not think of her since everything happened around my birthday and her funeral was the day of my mom and dad’s anniversary.

The one thing that I always come back to whenever I think of Joanna is the incredible power of one life serving others. It is a yearly reminder and challenge to me to be a servant and love others with the love of Christ, just as Joanna did.

Baked Potato Soup

This is my favorite potato soup recipe! It is the ultimate comfort food. We enjoy it topped with shredded sharp cheddar and bacon.

2 cups water (can use chicken stock)
2 cups milk
4 tbsp butter
1/4 cup flour
3 bay leaves
1/4 tsp white pepper
3 cups potato, diced
1 tsp salt (reduce to 1/2 tsp if you use chicken stock)

Heat water and milk in large saucepan over medium-high heat to almost boiling. Remove from heat and set aside.

In large soup pot, melt butter. Add flour, stirring constantly 3 minutes to cook flour and make a roux. Gradually add the milk mixture to roux, pouring in a slow steady stream while stirring vigorously to blend and eliminate lumps (use a wisk if necessary). Add bay leaves, white pepper, salt, and potatoes.

Cover and continue to simmer over low heat 15 to 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender and soup thickens. Lightly mash potatoes in soup and stir to blend well.

Makes 4 cups.

Thoughts on Prayer

Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.
William Cowper

If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me.
Robert Murray M'Cheyne

God never gives us discernment in order that we may criticize, but that we may intercede.
Oswald Chambers

A prayerless soul is a Christless soul.
C. H. Spurgeon

God tolerates even our stammering, and pardons our ignorance whenever something inadvertently escapes us -- as, indeed, without this mercy there would be no freedom to pray.
John Calvin

The childish idea that prayer is a handle by which we can take hold of God and obtain whatever we desire, leads to easy disillusionment with both what we had thought to be God and what we had thought to be prayer.
Robert L. Short

The primary object of prayer is to know God better; we and our needs should come second.
Florence Allshorn

God usually answers our prayers so much more according to the measure of His own magnificence, than of our asking, that we do not recognize His benefits to be those for which we sought Him.
Coventry Patmore

Where there is much prayer, there will be much of the Spirit; where there is much of the Spirit, there will be ever-increasing prayer.
Andrew Murray

Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.
Oswald Chambers

Children who have it all - where do we go from here?

I’ve been itching to get back here and follow up on my last post! Then when I actually started writing, I realized that this is such a huge topic. So look for several related posts to follow…

Let me start by chiming in with what Amy wrote regarding over-the-top birthday party blowout bashes for five year olds. She made the observation “…where do we go from here? The kid is only five years old. I don’t want to be the one to tell her, It’s all downhill from here, baby.”

One of the concerns I have for children today (among the many) is that they have no concept that the life they are living as children and young adults is not “real life”. By that I mean, that the life they live at their parents’ expense from birth to 18 (or 22/23 if they go to college, or 24+ if they go to grad school) will bear little resemblance to what they will be able to do once they are off the gravy train (aka mom and dad’s checkbook and/or home equity line of credit). Real life is not an all-expense paid excursion.

When a girl is sixteen and she has been to Hawaii, Europe, Mexico, all the major ski resorts, multiple cruises, and Florida is just normal part of the yearly spring break routine (if you live in the Midwest you will understand), what is her future bridegroom going to do for a special honeymoon? Sign them up for Fear Factor or The Amazing Race?

I created a handout called “Questions to ponder…”. There are 33 questions for parents to think about, discuss and pray over. One of them is:

Do my children realize when they are on their own they will probably not be able to afford what they enjoy and take for granted now? How can I prepare them?

This is a challenging question for the average middle class/upper middle class couple. In a desire to make sure that their children have “every advantage” and the opportunities “I never had”, are parents actually doing their children a disservice in the long run? When children are jaded by ten and have done it all by eighteen, where else is there to go?

When I had this discussion with a group of about twenty-five primarily upper middle class Christian couples, I was actually quite surprised by their frankness regarding struggling in this area. Several told me that they were just so relieved to have the opportunity to discuss these ideas. Most of these parents knew that what we were discussing was true and had been sensing it in their own lives already. But they didn’t know what to do. They could see their families were not what they could/should be, but they didn’t know where to begin.

It is hard to swim against the tide, especially if you perceive from the beginning you will be dong it alone. It is easier to follow the lead of the other families in the youth group or school district. Sadly, the church at large has become so much like the world, that it can’t even begin to offer any solid direction to parents who are numb and know things are out of whack. So, with an uneasy feeling in the pit of their stomach, most of them cross their fingers, say a few prayers, try to remain hopeful their kids will stay away from sex and drugs, and plod on with “doing it all” and giving them “everything they need to be successful”, hoping in the end it will all work out and their children will come through with their faith intact and relatively few battle scars.

Sadly, if you look around you, it isn’t working out quite that way.

Simple Living - staying home and doing less

Today is one of those days that I would describe as absolutely cozy. My husband and I have hunkered down in the living room with our work (we work at home) and there are large, fluffy lazy snowflakes floating down. We took a brief walk earlier this morning (during which time I had fireplace-envy because I could smell a fire coming from someone’s house and we don’t have a fireplace). After several challenging weeks, I’m feeling quite a bit better and I am just so thankful to be home. In fact I have been home since Saturday afternoon when I ventured out for a prescription. And to tell you the truth, I haven't missed not going anywhere. Life is good. Only one problem…

I have to go to the grocery store today. I told my husband over lunch I would gladly pay someone to go get my groceries for me if it meant I could just stay home and be cozy. But that isn’t going to be the case so at some point we’ll venture out.

In the meantime, as I took a link to a link to a link, I came across a blog entry somewhere else that I would like to share with you. It is called Simple Living: stay home. How timely. I have never met the person who writes this blog (Rick Saenz), but I have heard him speak many times on the Basement Tapes, which I mentioned in a previous entry. What he has to say in this entry is so simple, but it is so radical for most couples and/or families today.

I have really wanted to write about this topic since also reading Amy’s Humble Musing from the other day (see her March 12 entry - Chasing the wind) that is in a roundabout way related to what Rick wrote. When I have done classes/seminars on “Calling vs. Clutter: The Joy of a Deliberate Life”, these themes have been a big part of our discussion. We had some incredibly honest and thoughtful discussion when I taught this class twice at a church that is in one of the most affluent areas here in town.

So, I’ll let you read what Rick and Amy have to say about a couple of topics and then I’ll be back sometime soon to add my two cents…

Enjoy!

God speaks through old postcards

I wrote previously about how after we have walked with Christ for awhile, we begin to see patterns in the way He deals with us as individuals. At that time I wrote of how God speaks to me through His creation. Until yesterday, I had forgotten one of the other ways.

I was looking for a recipe and pulled a cookbook off my shelf that didn’t look familiar. (That was because it was one that my husband had from his bachelor days.) When I opened it up, a postcard fell out. His mom had sent him a recipe on it March 10, 1989 and the front of the card had the following poem.

I Needed the Quiet
Alice Hansche Mortenson

I needed the quiet so He drew me aside,
Into the shadows where we could confide.
Away from the bustle where all the day long
I hurried and worried when active and strong.

I needed the quiet tho at first I rebelled
But gently, so gently, my cross He upheld
And whispered so sweetly of spiritual things
Tho weakened in body, my spirit took wings
To heights never dreamed of when active and gay.
He loves me so greatly He drew me away.

I needed the quiet. No prison my bed,
But a beautiful valley of blessings instead –
A place to grow richer in Jesus to hide.
I needed the quiet so He drew me aside.

From the book I Needed The Quiet, © 1978 by Beacon Hill Press

Until I read that, I had failed to remember that there have been several significant periods in my life when God has put me flat on my back (read: allowed me to be very sick) in order to get my attention. I’ve even talked with people in the past about how God will sometimes lay me out flat so He can get my attention when He has something really important He wants to show me.

So I was not only encouraged by the poem, I was encouraged by the reminder of God’s faithfulness to work, not in spite of the hard times but because He allows them on purpose. Not to hurt me, but because He loves me so much. We don’t think of pain and love as going hand in hand, but in God’s economy they certainly do. All I can think of is getting better, getting off these medicines that make me feel crummy, and getting back to “living life”. But in God’s plan to make me more Christlike, I am “living life” and probably living it more fully right now as I am forced to cling to Him than I would be if I were just going about daily life as it falls into place.

A verse that God has given to me on a few significant occasions is Joel 2:25. God is speaking and says, “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten – the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm – my great army that I sent among you.” The words that are circled in my Bible are in bold here. God controlled the locust and sent the locust for a purpose. It was an event that probably seemed destructive at the time, but was under God’s control and according to His purposes.

May we all rest in God’s purposes each day, even when He draws us aside because we need the quiet.

The deepest spiritual lessons are not learned by His letting us have our way in the end, but by His making us wait, bearing with us in love and patience until we are able honestly to pray what He taught His disciples to pray: Thy will be done.
Elisabeth Elliot
Passion and Purity

Quick visit (aka health update)

I wanted to stop by and say hello since I haven't written since Monday. I've been really wiped out and so much has been going on.

This blog isn't intended to be Sallie's daily health update and hopefully I can get back to other topics very soon. However, I did want to follow up since a number of you had indicated you were praying.

My visit to the orthopedic specialist went well, and my husband and I were in agreement regarding the course of action to take. Tomorrow morning (Friday) I will have a cortisone shot via fluoroscopy in my back. There is an 85% chance that this will do the trick and allow my body to speed up the healing process. If that doesn't work, then I will do another shot in two weeks. If that doesn't take care of it, then I am looking at a low-grade back surgery. So we are praying that I will have a good result from this procedure tomorrow.

Thank you for praying and thank you for your kind notes. Hopefully I will be able to respond to some of your emails this weekend. The shot may make me feel worse for a few days or I may begin to notice improvement immediately. It generally take about 10-14 days to know if the shot has been completely effective since it is a gradual improvement, not a quick fix. Each person's body responds in a different way. In the meantime, there will be plenty of good college basketball to watch this weekend. (smile)

Staying sane during difficult days (aka college basketball, a gift from my mother-in-law and God’s grace)

As I mentioned previously, my MRI showed a problem with one of my discs. I will be seeing an orthopedic specialist tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday) to hear what he thinks. However, I was in such extreme pain and so at the end of my rope Friday morning that I went to a chiropractor (twice) and then went back twice today.

Now there seem to be two general camps regarding chiropractors. The first is run for the hills, they are nothing but quacks. The second is they gave me back my life and if I was stranded on a desert island and had to choose between my dog and my chiropractor it would be see ya later Fido! I can’t say I’ve really been in the first camp, but considering I’ve been suffering with this situation off and on for say, oh, seven years and have never seen a chiropractor, you might get an inkling of my general fear of them.

Anyway, the chiro I went to has done an amazing job on me so far. It is actually a husband and wife team and the wife is working on getting me stabilized. After the first two visits on Friday I was in less pain over the weekend and able to basically stop taking the strong pain medications I had been on since my trip to the ER about a week earlier. After two visits today, I am able to sit at my computer and type to all of my new and old friends in the cyberworld with only very minimal discomfort. This morning I could get out of bed, walk around upright and not collapse in a heap on my bed. Yippee!!! You truly have no idea how much the small things mean until you experience them afresh.

Well, I’ve been keeping myself sane on my road to recovery a couple of different ways. First of all, yesterday was one of the best days of college basketball I have ever watched. I normally don’t advocate spending Sunday watching sports, but I was thankful for the diversion from my discomfort. The Illinois-Ohio State game was a classic, and I also really enjoyed the Duke-North Carolina game. (For those not in the know, I am a Michigan State grad and huge Big Ten person!) So I was thankful for college basketball yesterday and the opportunity to just rest on the couch with my ice pack.

Yesterday, I was also blessed by a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law from two years ago. It is a little paperback called “Promises, Praises and Prayers for Women”. I keep it in my nightstand and pulled it out to read a little bit before bed. Last night I turned to the section for “Difficult Days”. There were some Scriptures there and two quotes. I would like to share the quotes because they ministered to me so much.

God does not dispense strength and encouragement like a druggist fills your prescriptions. The Lord doesn’t promise to give us something to take so that we can handle our weary moments. He promises us Himself. That is all. And that is enough.
Chuck Swindoll

We should not be upset when unexpected and upsetting things happen. God in his wisdom means to make something of us which we have not yet attained, and He is dealing with us accordingly.
J. I. Packer

Although this verse was not listed on the pages of the book, the phrase that kept coming to me time and time again as I was laying there in bed so tired and discouraged was “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9). It kept ringing over and over again in my head “My grace is sufficient for you.” Not your husband’s grace, not your friends’ grace, not your family’s grace, not your church’s grace – MY grace. GOD’S grace.

So that’s where I am. Trying to lean moment by moment on God’s grace. Trusting that His power will be made perfect in my weakness (and there has been plenty of that lately).

So this is the hymn that has been in my mind this evening…

He Giveth More Grace
By Annie J. Flint

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
To added affliction He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

His love has no limits, His grace had no measure,
His power has no boundary known unto men:
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father's full giving is only begun.

His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
His power has no boundary known unto men:
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!

Increase our faith, Lord

God delights to increase the faith of his children. We ought, instead of wanting no trials before victory, no exercise for patience, to be willing to take them from God's hands as a means. Trials, obstacles, difficulties, and sometimes defeats, are the very food of faith.
George Müller

The last several days have been very trying. My faith has been stretched in so many ways. The irony of starting a blog to encourage others and then having so many challenging things happen in my own life is not lost on me. And I don't think it is ironic. It is God. He apparently has decided to serve up a feast for me.

My MRI came back on Friday with a result of "very large disc protrusion". Well, that explains why I've been in so much pain for so long. Anyway, that has led to challenging decisions regarding what kind of treatment to pursue, etc.

In the midst of all of this, I have sought to be cheerful. To be sure there have been some very low moments due to the discouragement of ongoing physical pain which in turn becomes emotionally and mentally draining, but I have tried to remain positive and trust that God has something going on in the midst of all this. There are just too many different things going on and coming together over the past few months for any of this to be anything other than God at work in increasing my faith.

Well, that’s it for now. Perhaps I will share more in the future about all that has been going on, but not tonight. I need to get some rest. I hope you will be looking for ways that God is increasing your faith and also look for opportunities to be an instrument of grace to others who are being stretched in their faith.

Northern Lights - The heavens display the glory of God

One evening last November, I was visiting a favorite online discussion board when someone posted that the Northern Lights were out and were putting on a spectacular display all over the eastern part of the country. I had only seen them once before in my life, about twelve years ago. David had never seen them so we immediately bundled up and headed outside. Even living in the city, we could see the white images in the sky over us. We hopped in the car and headed further north out of town.

We found a side road and pulled over where we could have a full view of the sky. We didn’t know it at the time, but it was one of the best U.S. displays in a long time, reaching far into the south. Spaceweather.com has an incredible gallery of spectacular pictures from all over the United States and world. This image shows the incredible reach of the event.

Don't be put off by the fact that there are ten pages of photos - some of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring photos are on some of the later pages. You can also click on any of the photos to see a larger version. Here are a few of my personal favorites:

Memphis, Michigan

Quebec

Another from Quebec

Mio, Michigan

Norway

Alaska

I know this isn't high season for auroras, but I wanted to share this great site with people so you can bookmark it and begin watching for them in the spring. When the conditions are right for aurora displays, they will put information on their homepage regarding when to expect them and the areas with the greatest potentional.

I hope you enjoy these photos. What an incredibly creative and awesome God we serve!

Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Muffins

When I first came online, I found a wonderful site called Stephanie's Country Kitchen Goodness. It very sadly no longer exists. This is one of my favorite recipes from her site.

I love chocolate and I love the flavor of sour cream. These are so moist you really have to eat them with a fork! I especially appreciate them because they freeze wonderfully and thaw/warm up great in the microwave on high for about 20 seconds.

5 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
1 large egg
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 and 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cups mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350º F.

Combine butter, sugar, vanilla, salt, sour cream and egg; mix well.
Stir in baking soda and baking powder.
Add flour and stir until well combined; stir in chocolate chips.

Fill paper-lined or greased muffin cups 3/4 full.
Bake for 18 minutes or until done. Cool.
Makes 1 dozen.

.

When high tech comes to your neighborhood

Yesterday I had an MRI since I've been having problems with my right leg for over a month. Being claustrophobic I was not interested in being stuck in the regular tiny MRI tube. I was thankful to discover after doing a little online research that there is a new kind of machine called an open MRI. Until recently there were only two places in Michigan that had them (Flint and Detroit). I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the first one in West Michigan opened in October 2004 and is only about six miles from my house!

This is a pretty amazing machine (and should be with a price tag of about $2.5 million dollars). The link shows the same kind of machine that was used on me.

I wrote the other day about how thankful I was for drugs and the medical profession. I just wanted to say today that I am also thankful for the incredible technology that we are blessed with in this day and age.

But that's about all for tonight. I wish I had something more profound to share, but until I can get this nagging ache in my leg healed, it is hard for me to sit for very long or be very profound. See you tomorrow!

Wisdom from Miss Stacey

What we must bear in mind is that all these trials and tribulations that pop up in our lives....serve a very useful purpose. They build character, as long as we can hold onto the lessons we've learned from our mistakes.
Miss Stacey to Anne in the television version of Anne of Green Gables