Happy Birthday Big C

Dave's Dad's birthday was last Thursday. He and Wanda are coming out to see Kevin off today. Then they're coming out for supper. They're the best and we love them.

Kevin leaving for Florida

Today Kevin is leaving for Bigstuf Camp in Panama City Florida.

Thanks family and friends for buying all that chicken.

Here's a link to see what you helped finance. http://bigstuf.com/panama/
Pray for him, the twenty-five other students, the leaders, bus drivers. etc. I wish I were going.

Happy Birthday Mom

On your birthday I pray for you all your favorite things:

Humming birds, blue birds, misty eyed deer
Songbirds of every kind you'll hear
Books by Thoreau and Hawthorne to read
Visits to Linda and Duffy's, Godspeed
Milkglass and china as far as the eye can see
Perdita licking your face with glee.
These are the things I pray for you
On your birthday and every other day, too.

Love
Karen

Yesterday was my Mom's birthday. We had lunch today so I didn't post this until today because I wanted her to see it first. We went to lunch at a new restaurant called Hot Rod City. It's really nice there. They have it made up to look like an old time gas station on a large scale.

Happy Birthday Jim Howard

Reflecting Jesus

Do you think it’s true that when you live a Godly life that people watch you and see Jesus in you? There are two people I’ve been watching for years and I didn’t even realize I was doing it. The two people I’m referring to are Jim and Marie Mason. You might know them if you go to New Pointe. Marie recently went to be with God.

You know in those moments after church service lets out when there’s a sea of people walking down the isle way, almost in slow motion. Everyone is a blur. As you’re waiting for someone to let you merge, along would come Jim and Marie gingerly shuffling down the isle way together, Marie holding on to Jim’s arm. When they would see us, they’d always stop and say hello. Though the other faces in the crowd were a blur, they were completely in focus, kind of like when you’re taking a picture and all the background is fuzzy except what you’re zoomed in on. Was it Jesus’ light that I would see reflecting from them that made them stand out? I don’t mean to imply that they were glowing. I’m just trying to point out that they did life the right way and something inside of me was attracted to that. After Marie’s diagnoses, I stopped and thought about what a great relationship that they had and how I want my relationship with Dave to be that way.

The most glowing thing about them was the way they handled their last days together on this side of Heaven. I heard about the lovely things Jim said to Marie when she was first diagnosed and the moment when God took her home. I can’t remember most of the good books I’ve read, but their story will stay in my mind and I’ll replay it in moments of reflection, kind of like I’m doing now.

People have their own unique style of trying to spread the good news about Jesus. For instance, there’s this car driving around town that has a menagerie of Jesus bumper stickers, doomsday messages, scriptures, you name it, covering every inch of the car. I must say it does have quite an impact on me. I not sure it’s the one they are hoping for. Who drives it is a mystery. My eyes never get past the car. Maybe it’s Bubba Jo.

Anyhow—back to what I was saying--the only people who’ve ever had any spiritual impact on me are people who are just living out their beliefs hour by hour, day by day, week by week (like Jim and Marie).

Poison Ivy

Dave was on vacation this week. A very old willow tree finally fell. It had poison ivy all over it. Dave covered from head to toe with clothes to avoid exposure. His wrists were exposed between his glove and his cuff. Well, he's got it bad there. Some vacation. Between moving the tree and enduring the poison ivy, he'll have to go back to work to get some rest. He's my rock. I don't know what I'd do without him. I hope I never have to find out. We are doing a spiritual journey together. Sometimes I get ahead of him. Sometimes he gets ahead of me. But we keep each other grounded. I pray your Father's Day will be more pleasant then the past week has been.
Love
Karen

P.S. Thank you Mark for your tireless work in moving the tree. What would we do without you?

Gone missing from blogger world

With summer and end of school and murals I haven't blogged in forever. This is our third home school year and it gets better every year. I hope we keep improving.

Kevin just got back from church camp in Michigan. He had a great time. Next stop is Florida at the end of the month. He is handling independence really well. That's a good thing, right? We forgot to pack his phone charger, so we didn't get to keep in touch as much as hoped. I'll make sure to pack it for Florida.

Here are the latest additions to the Reign Forest at New Pointe. I could not get a straight on shot of the mural because the room was not deep enough. Zebras are fun to paint. The stripes make them look like they could walk right off the picture.