Black and White Issues

The last time I posted I was at the annual meeting of the Presbyterian Church in America's General Assembly. This year, 2018 we are in Atlanta, also known as "Hotlanta" but not this week, I am thankful God arranged for a relatively breezy mild welcome for us.

I was encouraged as I attended the women's breakfast conference where two women spoke of their friendship and their experience on bridging the racial divide that faced PCA churches in Mississippi. They overcame awkwardness and fear (perhaps of saying something dumb) and forged ahead for the sake of the gospel. Their togetherness is not the result of a social mission by a white church to evangelize a people of color.

This (and the previous three PCA General Assembly meetings) have had racial reconciliation as a prominent topic. I hear of the protests being submitted about this from some (presumably white) people asking "How long..." "But it wasn't me..." and so forth in frustration to what they perceive as too much on the topic of racial reconciliation. These protests are signals the conversation needs to continue.

As a mother of minority children I feel I should speak up a little, although, to be honest, I'm really nervous about it. Forgive me if I botch this up, laugh at my stupidity as I learn more by getting vulnerable here.

Since the brown skinned people outnumber the white skinned people in my home I'm going to take the liberty to say something based on how I feel when I hear other white people speak about people of color.

Black people are not "they", there is not "their" hair or any other big lumping generalizations a white person should say about people of color.

Let me explain: Before I became the mother of 6 minority kiddos I would notice large similarities among people of a certain race or ethnicity and make a generalization. For example, I would look around the room and notice the hair of African American women. The styles were such that I couldn't imagine how it would be possible to achieve that look since my hair (and the hair of anyone I had ever known closely) would never look like most of the styles I would notice on black women. I would see everything that seemed different from what was familiar to me and my caucasian world and I would lump all black women into one category: DIFFERENT THAN THE NORM.

That is to say DIFFERENT THAN NORMAL.

If I'm honest, that is what my thoughts were. They weren't so clear, I wouldn't have termed it that way but that's really what it was. I considered my white world "normal" and anyone else was "unique" or "different". Having black daughters and sons has opened my eyes to my own sad state of understanding.

I now experience the hair standing up on the back of my neck when I hear someone speaking of a minority in certain ways. For example, when speaking about my daughter's hair some will generalize and say "they do it this way..." or "they are very..." in reference to the African American community (or any cultural people.) It's really not a fair comment. It's a ME focused comment.

Every person is created exactly the way God designed them. Each of us represents God as each of us was created in His image. Since people exist in many skin colors I assume we are all necessary in order to accurately represent the image of God (just like both men and women are needed to completely represent the image of God.)

I have an exercise for you:
The next time you are in a room of ethnically diverse people look around... 1) Look at the individual black women and notice how each lady's hair is different from the hair of a lady whose skin is the same as hers. Also notice all their differences from each other. 2) Now look around again. See all the caucasian women in the room. Is their hair all the same? Some white women have thin hair, some white women have thick hair, some color their hair, some are gray, some get perms, some straighten their hair. Some white women have "good hair."

Do you see it? Do you see the differences? Hmmmm maybe ALL us women have more in common than we might have once understood. Is it possible we are all unique and individual in many ways? Do black women struggle with losing weight? with crazy kid's activities? with what to make for dinner? with reaching out to their unsaved neighbor? ummm, you know the answer to these questions. White women don't even think about how they are the same or different from other white women, right? And so we shouldn't even think of lumping all women of color in with each other.

Let us see each other as individuals, each as different as we imagine ourself to be while bearing the image of Christ. Let us see all women, no matter their skin color or ethnicity, as part of the body of Christ, necessary for a complete picture of the body of Christ. Let us strive to form friendships that leave an unsaved, watching world wondering about this hopeful state of affairs here in the PCA and the Christ-following crowd throughout the world.

To God be the glory!!

xo Lynnette

P.S.  I welcome feedback on this important conversation. If I have struck a nerve, I'd like to know about it so I can continue to work on my blindspots!

My Awesome Peeps are Sinners

Chattanooga is filled with beauty--this is my pic of the Tennessee River.

Wonderful words have pricked my soul this week and spur me on to run the race more fervently, more infectiously. I'm with the hubs in Chattanooga at the annual gathering of our denomination's church leaders. It is apparent this crowd of men and ladies desire to honor our Lord Jesus and His Word with their hands, their hearts, their minds. They seek to push themselves and those back at home in their congregations to a bigger faith and a sweeter ministry. They are striving to right historical wrongs from our denomination. They are seeking to utilize the full gifts of all people God created. They are striving for our denomination to be an example and lead in the fight for life. I am so happy to find myself in the midst of these saints.

Don't misunderstand my gushing. They would not say they are an awesome group of people. They would be the first to tell you they are stained, greedy, envious, lying sinners. And that's what makes them so marvelous. My experience has been that my PCA peeps aren't content to stay stained, greedy, lying so and so's. They are empathetic, forgiving, humble men and women in hot pursuit of holiness. Therefore they pray and confess with great transparency peeling off layers of fleshy bonds in the hope of pointing others to the perfect unstained, not greedy, un-envious, never sinning Lamb who is Jesus Christ.

Despite staying up til 2 am and reporting to the conference by 8 am I have been able to work on a little of my own ministry responsibilities like ladies Bible study and spend time in prayer as well as whoop it up with people who made me laugh and cry. I was able to participate in a couple ladies outings and I enjoyed snapping a couple pics of this beautiful city. I look forward to meeting up with these ladies again one day.

So I will return home soon and I feel ready to tackle more and fight harder for souls. I am happy to be a pastor's wife, happy to be called to hard things in this life because I know the next one is worth the challenges and duties of this one. Thanks for reading. I will leave you with the special kind of encouragement only God's Word can give.

Ecclesiastes 11:6 In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

xo L

August Is Ending

Hooligans roam the streets of our town

School has started for us and that meant a lot of organizing and scheduling of appointments and school shopping. School shopping for 6 kids…now there is a task not for the faint of heart. But we managed to get them all off to school with minimal disruption.

We recently noticed dark spots on our kitchen floor which led to the discovery of water under the floor and in our crawl. We have torn it all out, discovered a bit of mold but believe we have it taken care of and think we have the leak fixed. It was either the water line to the ice maker or the dishwasher. Now to replace the floor. Scott is voting for the "safe" stone-like look of porcelain tile and I'm sweetly showing him sheet linoleum in fire engine red. Stay tuned.

Anthony and Phineas are whooping it up on the football field on Saturdays. They are both good players and we are having fun watching the games. Scott continues to try to balance work at the bank on Saturdays with making it to the 1:00 games that are 1 hour away. He is helping coach Phineas' team but due to Scott's lack of presence on game day he has been (teasingly) given the title of "Loser Coach" by another coach (Jeremiah) who is becoming a fast friend.

Lila is playing soccer on Saturday mornings. She LOVES it. We are so thankful that it is not a big pressure sport. They only practice for 1 hour on Monday and if it's threatening to be over 90 degrees (like this past Monday) they cancel practice. Yay. She's supposed to have a game this morning but it's supposed to rain. We shall see.

My mom's visit is coming to an end. Her 10 day stay was extended as she wanted to stay and watch Anthony's football game again. We were pleasantly surprised to hear from Scott's parents that they had decided to visit this weekend. They arrived last night and will be here until Sunday afternoon. We will celebrate September birthdays before they leave.

I accepted an RN position for 24 hours/week at the local hospital. It is Monday through Friday no weekends, no holidays, no nights with a variable daytime schedule in outpatient surgery. 

We have recently been encouraged by visitors to Amazing Grace Church. We look forward to getting to know them all better but we are praying they will find a church home with us. They have expressed interest in helping where needed and I shared my hope for a warm body willing to help teach children's church. ;)

September 14th is the installation of Scott as the pastor of Amazing Grace Church. We need to get on the stick with a little celebration planning for afterward. One lady volunteered to bring the ham. 

Here's how we look nowadays:

Hooligans take over the streets

Old Church People Meet New Church People. Bernie, Scott, Miriam.

August Is Here!

I've started about 10 blog posts this summer and they're all sitting behind the scenes, waiting for their big debut but they need to have pix added or grammar corrected or make sure I haven't said anything I'll regret later (not that I have that problem. ehemmm) and the moment is gone and the words are old news. So this week I chose some pretty recent pix to upload then write something to explain each one. If you're reading this, you know how this idea turned out.

Here's a little bit of what we've been doing. Some of it will be exciting.

The church Bible Study meets at our house every Wednesday. We have a group of 10 to 12 people most weeks. We have been studying the book of Luke. Scott leads the night starting with prayer requests and then we go on to the study. We've had some wonderful answers to our prayer requests. Wonderful in the way you know it was the Lord at work because of how things fell into place. And the study has been excellent also. I wasn't here last week for the study but had feedback from a couple people that it was great night. He does not usually put his foot up on the table to lead.

I wasn't at study last week because it was the last week before school started. I packed up 4 of my kids and went to visit my mom. These girls were full of energy and wore their dress up clothes most of the week--especially the high heels which they weren't wearing as I snapped this pic because they 

were getting ready to take a flying leap!

OK, before you look at the next picture I have to 'splain a little. School started this week and I decided to use my rice cooker to make steel cut oats because of this blog post. Love steel cut oats, love a protein breakfast for my gang, love "hands off." You with me? The above said blog post does not give any specific instructions, indeed her rice cooker has a "porridge" setting. I debated exactly the ratios and if I should or shouldn't try it in my simple one button (on/off) rice cooker. The clock was ticking as I debated in my mind so I gave up and threw it in. 2 cups oats, 8 cups water (the box proportions), "ON".  I came back 15 minutes later to a wonderful smell wafting out of the kitchen and the kids shouting, "MOM, something's happening with your stuff!" Great gobs of bubbling over indeed was happening.

I pulled the plug, popped the lid and looked at a liquidy mess. Sigh, threw the lid closed again in case it would finish any cooking still needed and be salvageable. 

Don't miss that big pile of paper towels on the floor where the bubbling goo landed too. Needless to say I needed to mop my floor that day (Wednesday, second day of school was when all this took place) and I did get my kitchen beautifully swept and the rug washed up but the mopping never did get done. Apparently oatmeal goo is not all that sticky.

When the lunches were packed and it was time to revisit breakfast I peeked in the rice cooker, gave it a stir and realized nothing was burned, gave a tiny taste and forged ahead. I added cream and maple syrup and served it up. They all shouted, "hurrah!" and the birds started singing. It was normal and delish, tasted the same as when I make it on the stove top. I loved that I could walk away from it and not have to stir and would definitely recommend this minus the bubbling over part. Now my dilemma is how to tweak it to make it not boil over. I had enough for a second day's worth of breakfast so I think I'll just halve the quantity and give it a go again.

Walmart is here. There are also two smaller, more local stores I've come to appreciate and frequent, Berkots for groceries, and Big R for your mini-Cabelas/get your western fair wear (I LOVE Big R and wish I needed cowboy boots and giant blingy belt buckles, not that either would be flattering on me.) But occasionally I find only the Wmart will have what a wanna-be cowgirl really needs (I don't remember what that was) but the other night I came out and almost spilled the milk (I don't really think it was milk because its on sale at Berkots.) The sky was gorgeous! I get a lot of awesome sky out here. It seems so big and lower to the ground than any place I remember being before. Anyhow, my camera phone does NOT do these big beautiful skies any justice, but here it is anyhow. Peter was with me.

I'm a little embarrassed with the last pix. It's a selfie. I was recently reading an article on …"if you're gonna do 'em… here's how." So, whatever, I found myself testing some of the techniques the other night and I have an update that can go along with it because it involves me. So, sorry for the vanity pix at the end here, but just pray for her anyhow! 

Scott and I have been pondering me going back to work as a nurse. I haven't worked in 6 years but our youngest is in Kindergarten now and we could use the financial relief, and we also realize it will be a good way to get to know people here in our new town. Back in June I sent an email to the human resources dept. of the hospital here in town expressing my interest in an OR position that was Monday through Friday with some call but that I was still awaiting my IL nursing license. No response. Okay.

I would occasionally see nursing jobs posted that included frequent weekends and nights and things of that nature. Well, as things moved along, Scott got a job at the bank and July was full as he started that. I began teaching children's church and helping sing some of the songs for worship on Sunday morning. I thought my nursing license had come but it was a notice requiring fingerprinting for it. I did that and sent it off again. July was packed, football started, we've had a steady stream of (much beloved) friends visit on weekends. As we discussed my working, we both felt I should not pursue a position that would require weekends, nights, etc. It just would not fit. We just prayed and decided to wait and make more decisions about it all when my license came. 

About 3 weeks ago I got an email from the gal I had sent the note to in human resources. She was notifying me of an opening in surgery and outpatient and was I interested? The one in outpatient with no call was full time. I spoke with her later that week and she encouraged me to fill out the online application and schedule an interview even though I didn't have my license yet. My license came the next day. 

My interview was yesterday (Wednesday). They would like someone in outpatient and it requires no call and she is fine with this being a part time position. It's Monday through Friday with hours that vary but as she showed me the current gal's recent hours she was able to leave before 3pm on several days and a couple days she didn't even clock in until 9am. Of course, some days require a 6 or 7 am start and some evenings require a person to stay until 5pm. 

Scott and I feel like this is an excellent option for us. We believe God has given us a vision for how this can work and then opened doors to show us this is where He's taking us. It will mean adjustments and tweaking but then that is nothing new for us. 

I must go empty my cruddy old rusting, tine missing, non rolling trays dishwasher because my awesome sauce mom is visiting and bought us a shiny new DW and it will be here in 5 minutes and the guy will probably kill himself trying to climb over the pile of garage sale stuff in the garage. So you see, I gotta go. Here's that last pic, you were warned!

xo L

Rain, Weeds, and A Little Garden Tour

Tomato plant growing amidst the weeds. I pulled out gobs of weeds and popped about
7 tomato plants in where weeds had lived only moments before. Go plant go!

I have TOMATO plants! Tomato plants bring me joy. I love that a girl can spend $5 at the store in May find herself getting back many more times that amount in July and August and September. We have also had a fair bit of rain. This too is a joy for me. At one point it rained for a straight 24 hours. The other day it got dark and cloudy, to our surprise it did not rain instead the sun came out and low and behold, the skies opened up in the midst of the sun and a full on 15 minute downpour ensued. 

Some days I forget about those tomato plants (as I'm preoccupied with finding a place for my crazy stash of yarn and fabric or figuring out where 3 girls in a 11 x 12 room should store their socks or snapping pictures of our new home or battling the pesky ants that think my bathroom is their new home too)  and as a mild panic attack starts to set in on a day I remember that they (the tomato plants) require water I'll also remember that it rained yesterday afternoon or the day before and I go check on those plants and they are smiling and happy and taller than I remember. And so here you see why the rain brings me joy--no dead, sad tomato plants!  

And this brings me to a little gardening trick I love, (aren't you glad you clicked the link for this update?--so many happy things I have for you) many of you know this too: Water plants (in the ground) for a  L O N G time (10 minutes) every other day or so and they don't need you so much. I think they grow bigger roots hunting for water. I only end up out there with the hose about once a week with the rain and all. It reminds me of my kids. If you are slow to get to them when they are hurt, give them a quick squeeze and kiss the boo boo and tell them they should probably go lie down for awhile they spring right back up and seem to be miraculously healed. Go figure. My youngest kidsky, Mabel, likes to lay across the back of my couch which is in the middle of the room. She slithers and turns up there like a nimble boa constrictor. The other day she was up there, I was sitting on the couch and a tremendous THONK came from behind the couch and startled me. Mabel was gone. I (slowly) got up to check on her--normally she quips, "I OKAY!" from where ever she lands but all was silent now. I find her laying prostrate and she looks up and musters a sad, "I okay." I went to pick her up but she's gotten so big we both fell down.

I also have gobs and gobs of my very favorite plant in the whole wide world: HYDRANGEAS. *sigh* 

God saw fit to provide us with a comfortable home here for our family. It has presumably beautiful landscaping all around it. I say presumably because after sitting empty for almost 2 years it has weeds. LOTS of weeds and those weeds have weeds. Even a beautiful flower (Stella de Oro daylily)  has turned naughty with the lack of supervision and sprung up in the gravelly part of the landscaping. I love flowers and I enjoy gardening but those weeds have been competing with the boxes calling my name indoors. I'm torn: pull weeds or hang those pictures on the wall? Spray weed killer on the cracks or visit with friends who drop by? Organize a garage sale or dismantle the dinosaur of a satellite dish portraying itself as a plant next to the clematis. Respray the pesky weeds in the crack or update my silly little blog. The answer to some of those questions is a no brainer but at times I'm torn on which way to run.

Love the Hydrangeas. I have about 200 more just like it... well maybe more like 12.

The church, Amazing Grace, is feeling more and more like family. We are all learning to know each other more and leaning on our Lord and Savior as we adjust and become part of the family. We are encouraged by the attendance and the joy we experience at opening the scriptures together and digging into the Word at Bible study. Last week we were blessed to look at Luke 17 and considered that we should keep eternity our focus as we interact with others and the circumstances we encounter throughout the week.

I have more I'd like to share but again, I'm torn: Should I feed my kids or blog more? Run to the store to find an appliance replacement light bulb so I can see what I'm cooking for dinner or post some photos of our home and community? Organize the entry way closet or do Mabel's hair? What I really want to do is sit on the couch and crochet. Maybe after the sun goes down and the kids are in bed when I won't want to make a bunch of noise I'll pull out my yarn and crochet hook but then I'll probably remember I'm supposed to send a note to a friend so we'll just have to see which one wins out--you'll know next week when you get a note from me--or not.  :) 

Backyard oasis wannabe currently occupied by weeds.

Tomatoes aren't the only thing I've planted.

See this tall leggy weed trying to blend in with the Day Lilies and Trumpet Vine?

The weeding is underway in this garden. No, that is not a silver plant but an old satellite dish trying to blend in. Of course removing the ivy and trumpet vines from it made that job a little harder-what was I thinking? That thing's gotta G-O.

Our new front door. Those flowers were not meticulously placed there but rather landed in that
spot by someone who unloaded the moving truck. They make me smile so I just leave them.

I'll leave you at the front door. Maybe I'll remember to take you inside for a tour next time. Have a great day. Go water some plants…or not (it's raining here.)

We Are Not Illini

Living Room and some of my help

I have not fallen off the edge of the planet, just Ohio, but we are officially residents of Illinois now. Or at least we have an Illinois address. My license and van plates beg to differ and I wonder if people think I'm a tourist at the Watseka Wal-Mart with my Ohio plates. I believe living in Illinois makes us "Illinoisans"--figure out how to pronounce that one. I like the term "Illini" (pronounced ill-EYE-nye) and wish that was the term applied to all us Illinoisans because I know how to say it and it's catchy but I believe that is reserved for only those who attend the University of Illinos--makes me want to enroll. While I'm on the subject, did you know the "s" on the end of Illinois is silent? I bet you did, but just in case, thought I'd mention it. I don't know what you do with that tidbit when calling people who live here "Illinoisians." I'm thankful I only have to type that word at this point.

We are winding down our whirlwindish days of moving in. We only have about 50 more boxes to unpack or so. The bedrooms are back there, patiently waiting for some help. My bedroom has a well worn path through the boxes. The boys' room seems close to orderly. The girls' room, not gonna lie, is what you would expect to see after a series of tornado touchdowns. Its a bunch of carefully stacked boxes on top of squished up clothes on top of toys on top of shoes, and it's all precariously balanced. No one sneeze in there! Maybe tomorrow I can get in there because it's backing up my laundry as they don't know where to put their things so they can't put their clothes away. GIRLS!!!!!

This was the beginning of their unpacking. It's much worse now. 

I have decided one of the tricky things of moving into a new home is assigning areas of the home to different tasks: Where to put the file cabinet of important papers, where do we drop our keys, where to hang the school back packs, how to keep the dog from finding new escape routes so she can visit the neighbor dog, those sorts of things.

I planted tomatoes and zucchini in one of our many flower beds, yup, just pulled out some kind of weedy, over grown flowers and plopped those crops in their spot right next to the Clematis and Black Eyed Susans. I can't wait for those to get going.

Most excitingly, we met our neighbors. We have received a warm welcome here. It seems people knew we were coming which has been pretty nice. I think small town living is not for anyone who wants to be anonymous or wishes to keep their beeswax private. For someone who desires to be with others and get to know others, as we hope to do, it's perfect.

We've hosted a few neighborhood kids for dinner already and I'm so happy about that. I've decided I want to have a ministry around food. Feed them and they will come is what I'm envisioning at least for the teenager-ishy group. We also had the church over for a little cook out on Sunday. It's such a joy to be here and participate in the life of the church. We look forward to that growing more and more.

A few of our dear friends from Toledo have expressed interest in praying for specific needs we have so I'm putting together an email list for anyone who would like to pray for us and I'll send you our prayer requests. If you're interested in receiving our email prayer requests, let me know. I think most of you know how to reach me and if not, comment below to be included and I'll get back with you unless I end up buried alive under heaps of girl accessories and dolls, so if you don't hear from me, you know how to pray: may someone find me before I'm a goner.

Have a good Tuesday (although a quick peek tells me tomorrow is not Tuesday but Weds., so whatever day is tomorrow for you, I hope it finds you rejoicing in God's faithfulness.

This was the first day of unpacking. It is better now. I feel like this should be made into a game of eye spy…can you find the waffle maker, dish soap, trash can, little boy?

The Countdown Begins: Leaving T-Town In 5 Days

We have our closing date for leaving our beloved T-town and our friends and family: Friday the 16th.

We are relieved to have this date and sad to actually leave even though we are excited about the future and the work God has for us to do in Watseka.

Our schedule looks like this:

We close on the Watseka house Friday, zip back to Toledo that same day, pick up and load up the Penske truck that night and Saturday am and pull out for Watseka Saturday whenever we finish loading.

Meanwhile, Monday, Tues, Wednesday, Thursday involve packing the house and making phone calls for updates and mail changes and so on and so forth. I hope to make it to Bible study Wednesday morning but it will depend on our state of packing.

Some of you have offered help and we are so thankful for that offer. We are ready to take you up on it if you are still available. We could use help packing the garage, shed and attic -those looming big scary areas need packing up this week. Most of the rest of the house is under control. If you are still interested we'd be happy to have your help. We have some boxes but if you have some or want to find some in a dumpster I'm sure we'll need more. I have packing tape to put them back to together if they're broken down. We could then use help loading the truck Friday night and/or Saturday too. 

I better go, our list of things to take care of is a couple pages long. Completing this bity update will be the second thing I get to cross off. *whew* I love crossing things off!

 

Boxes. Everywhere I look, I see boxes. And a girl who needs coaxed out of her shell (NOT).