I am feeling overwhelmed by all the work that keeping house means. Keeping tidy, keeping up on the dishes, mopping and vacuuming every so often. Meals every day, laundry before the clothes run out, trash before the house starts to smell. Trying to get the lawn mowed between raindrops, learning how to clip a hedge, wondering why my green beans didn’t take.
I’ve decided I’m going to take things one step at a time so as not to get (too) overwhelmed.
Yesterday’s step?
The laundry room. Sweep the floor, tidy the bottles, remove the stuff that doesn’t belong.
At least one room in the house is in order (for now.)
I’m also feeling overwhelmed with opportunities.
I have four middle school girls who craft or sew with me regularly and a few more who do so less frequently (or would like to do so eventually). I’ve got some friends I’d like to do Bible study with, and a new friend who’d like to do Bible study with me (Yay!) I just started what I think might become my favorite part of the week–reading to dementia patients in our long term care facility. And tomorrow, I’m going to babysit for my pastor’s wife!
I love that I have so many relationships in this city I found myself surprisingly transplanted into six months ago.
But, like the rooms in my house, the new abundance of relationships has me somewhat overwhelmed.
I imagine I’ll “manage” them in the same way.
One at a time, taking time to love and be loved.
Basically, I’m overwhelmed by how rich and how full and how amazingly over-the-top my life is.
A year ago, I was in a completely different place, dreaming completely different dreams, having an awfully difficult time.
Today, I am in a town I’d never imagined I’d be in…
working at a job I never imagined I’d work at…
living in a home I never imagined I’d live in…
with relationships I’d never dreamed I’d have.
I’m simply overwhelmed with how full this life I never chose is…
and overwhelmed with thankfulness to the God who chose this life for me.
We held a family Easter Egg Decorating Contest for Easter this year (see the full album of Easter eggs here)–and after we were done, we shelled the eggs and made ourselves some egg salad sandwiches for supper.
Dad has always enjoyed eating the crusty stuff around the edge of the pan.
Tally as Tuesday afternoon:
Nights out past ten-4
Trips to Grand Island-2
Trips to Lincoln-2
Hours spent in a car-11
Hours spent driving-8
Confessions:
Confession #1: I hate to drive
Confession #2: I hate to be out late
Confession #3: I love my baby sister
Which is why I took another trip into Lincoln,
spent another couple house driving,
and stayed out late another night–
So that I could see my little sister’s
final Junior year show choir concert.
Folding fabric, dying sections, waiting hours before you can see how it’ll turn out.
It’s no wonder the girls were so wary. It’s no wonder they felt more comfortable free-hand drawing their designs.
Tie-dye takes faith–seeing the finished product in your mind’s eye even when what you’re looking at has little in common with your intended result.
I believed in tie-dye and started using the technique from the get go.
Why?
Because I’d read a book of instruction. I’d seen illustrations of how to fold and what the finished result was supposed to look like. I’d had a friend show me his finished product and describe how he’d gotten it.
The girls hadn’t seen this yet. They didn’t have the evidence I’d seen to support my faith.
They were skeptical.
They’d stick with what they could see.
I forged on in faith, evangelizing my little brood liberally. “How about you try a real tie-dye on this next one?”
They made slow steps–little scrunches tied here and there. Still mostly sight.
But as they saw me walking out my faith, as I continually brought my book and its illustrations to their minds, they started to believe my witness.
They chose to act on their fledgling belief.
They folded, dyed, and left their shirts–still folded and tied–with me.
When I rinsed out their shirts, seeing the first fruits of their faith, I was in awe.
My own faith strengthened, I determined to tie-dye even more, to convert more to tie-dying.
And so their faith and mine mutually strengthened one another.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
~Hebrews 11:1
It was just four of us–Esie, Krystal, myself, and Taylor (left to right in the photo above)–but we had a blast!
We made ourselves custom smocks out of trash bags, we folded and drew on and dyed our shirts (and my pants and skirt), we laughed over the unfortunate placement of a certain bit of yellow dye and the new-tire smell of the black vat of dye.
And we drank tie-dyed Koolaid.
Here’s to accomplishing goals–and to getting to know some great girls!
Lincoln (my hometown) is a small city or a big town, depending on whether you’re calculating by US standards or by whole world standards. In Nebraska, it’s the big city.
Columbus (my current lodging place) is a small town, no doubt. A small city by Nebraska standards.
Nevertheless, one Sunday afternoon a group of us younger women who somehow found ourselves working and residing in and around Columbus made our way to the smaller town of Schuyler, Nebraska to enjoy a movie.
For five dollars collected by Boy Scout volunteers, we saw The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (without 3D, thank goodness!) in a tiny community theatre.
We sat about in the middle of the theatre.
Five people sat in front of us.
Maybe twelve sat behind us.
The theatre shows one movie a weekend–7 pm on Friday and Saturday, 2 pm on Sunday.
The movies are generally family-friendly, PG-13 at worst.
On this day in history 38 years ago, a court decision legalized the genocide which has since killed over 40 million unborn babies.
In 1973, my cousin Danny was a baby. 615,831 of his peers were murdered.
In 1974, my cousin Donna was born (I estimate). 763,476 of her peers were murdered.
In 1975, my cousin Shiloh was born. 854,853 of his peers were murdered.
In 1977, my cousin Judah was born. 1,079,430 of his peers were murdered.
In 1979, my cousins Sarah and Janalynn were born. 1,251,921 of their peers were murdered.
In 1980, my cousin Jamin was born. 1,297,606 of his peers were murdered.
In 1981, my cousin Adam was born. 1,300,760 of his peers were murdered.
In 1983, my sister Anna was protected in our mother’s womb. 1,268,987 of her peers were murdered.
In 1984, my sister Anna and cousin Ariann were born. 1,333,521 of their peers were murdered.
In 1985, I was born. 1,328,570 of my peers were murdered.
In 1986, my brother Joshua was born. 1,328,112 of his peers were murdered.
In 1987, my cousins Joseph, Vicki, and Luke were born. 1,353,671 of their peers were murdered.
In 1988, my cousin Joseph and sister-in-law Debbie were born. 1,371,285 of their peers were murdered.
In 1989, my brother Daniel and cousins Elizabeth, Becca and Christine were born. 1,396,658 of their peers were murdered.
In 1990, my brother John and cousins Matthew and Paul were born. 1,429,577 of their peers were murdered.
In 1991, my cousins Patrick, Joanna, and Jennifer, and sister-out-law Joanna were born. 1,388,937 of their peers were murdered.
In 1992, my brother Tim and cousins Joel, Jesse, Jeremy, and Caroline were born. 1,359,145 of their peers were murdered.
In 1993, my cousin Eric was born. Another cousin, Melinda, was born stillborn and grieved for by a loving family. 1,330,414 of their peers were murdered.
In 1994, my sister Grace, cousins Michael, Aaron, and Naomi, and brother-out-law John were born. 1,267,415 of their peers were murdered.
In 1995, my cousins Dominique and Kyle were born. 1,210,883 of their peers were murdered.
In 1996, my cousins Ben, Joel, Clayton, and Hannah were born. 1,225,937 of their peers were murdered.
In 1997, my cousins Caleb, Bethany, and Susannah were/was born. 1,186,039 of their peers were murdered.
In 1998, my cousin Lauren was born. Over 884,273* of her peers were murdered.
In 1999, my cousins Isaac and Tabitha were born. Over 861,789* of their peers were murdered.
In 2000, my cousins Megan and Brett were born. Over 857,475* of their peers were murdered.
In 2002, my cousin Anthony was born. Over 854,122* of his peers were murdered.
In 2004, my cousin Brooke was born. Over 839,226* of her peers were murdered.
In 2006, Ezekiel was born to my cousins Shiloh and Janalynn. Over 846,181* of his peers were murdered.
In 2008, Lexie was born to my cousins Sarah and Byron. 1,212,350 of her peers were murdered.
In 2010, Mackenna was born to my cousins Ariann and Mike, and Carter was born to my cousins Adam and Theresa. A thus far unnumbered multitude of their peers were murdered.
In 2011, my nephew or niece will be born. How many of his peers will be murdered this year?
Please pray…
and take action
to end abortion
Are you or your children survivors of this genocide? Would you like your name to be listed within these rolls? Please leave a comment or send me an e-mail and I’ll add you/them to the list. And please, please pray for the end of this genocide.
*Statistics were not reported by the states of California or New Hampshire from 1998 to the present. Alaska did not report from 1998-2002. Oklahoma did not report from 1998-1999. West Virginia did not report from 2003-2004. Louisiana has not reported from 2005 to the present. The children in these states murdered through abortion remain unnumbered, but not forgotten.
Our family Christmas last night was enjoyable, but the last gift absolutely stole the show.
In a box labeled “From the Menter family to the Menter family”, we found two cards and several “Grandma” and “Grandpa” baby bibs. It was my brother and his wife’s way of announcing that they’re pregnant.
Baby J. Mentner will be making his arrival somewhere around the middle of July.
They’re not finding out Baby’s sex, but Debbie and I just KNOW it’s going to be a boy. (Grace reads over my shoulder and says “And me!”) Daniel, of course, is obstinate and insists it’s a girl–and that she’ll be the cutest girl in the whole world.
The pre-wedding plan said something about having the first kid somewhere around January 2012–but I’m glad they re-thought that plan and decided to start a bit earlier. Since they anticipate moving elsewhere for Dan’s Ph.D. program sometime in 2012, this gives Auntie Rebekah a bit more time to spoil the little one!
On the day of our fantastic BET (Burn Evil Things) Party, I took some photos of my friend’s and family’s hair. I thought I’d set them up as a matching game–to see who can recognize who belongs to what hair.
Hair Sample 1
Hair Sample 2
Hair Sample 3
Hair Sample 4
Hair Sample 5
Hair Sample 6
Hair Sample 7
Hair Sample 8
Your choices for people are Mom, Dad, Anna, Myself, Joshua, Daniel, Debbie, Timothy, Grace, Mary, Joanna, Steve, Katie, Abigail, and Joseph.
My apologies for any differences in color due to the flash on my camera. I guess that’s what makes this fun :-)
If you don’t know these people but still want to play, you can check out the sidebar cast of characters for the first eleven names. Katie is the blonde in the fourth and fifth photos of the BET collection. Abigail and Joseph have their own album (from that same day) here
Correct answers will post next Monday afternoon–so you’ll have plenty of time to guess!
My little sister texted me this Friday afternoon to ask if she could hitch a ride to our church’s ladies retreat.
Then she asked what she was supposed to bring.
I checked the informational piece I’d been given and saw that the dress was “Conservative casual.”
Now I know how to do business casual–but I’m not exactly sure what conservative casual means. So Grace and I decided to play it safe:
Long skirts make for conservative, T-shirts for casual, right?
(Just for the record, these were on over our normal garb–school clothes for Grace and work clothes for me. I brought some casual-ish corduroys to wear with my fitted knit top on Saturday.)
