Looking Back

Quote of the Day: Knowing we must make the best of every day, because we do not know when it will be our last, makes us all realize how valuable family and friends are!
—Jeremy Fine, in the Christmas 2013 edition of The Fine Times

Every year Eddie and Billye Joyce Fine put out a two-sided, two page Christmas letter, The Fine Times, with contributions from Eddie, Billye Joyce, and their son, Jeremy.  It was one of several I read today, with time after the Christmas rush to savor this season's Christmas letters.
I always have been the nostalgic type, a tendency that's only increasing as I get older. And I took a turn in that direction as I thought about the long-time friendships with wonderful people who sent us letters this year.
I became friends with Eddie and Billye Joyce many years ago when they were leading Teacher Leader Conferences for Standard Publishing and I had the privilege to travel with them for the seminars. Their commitment and hard work were an inspiration to me, and I reflected on their lifetime of service as I read the news about their 50th wedding anniversary celebration this year.
Glenn and Carolyn Kirby always send us a newsy letter; this year's included the fact that Glenn turned 65 this year. How is that possible? It seems like just a few years ago that he was youth minister at First Christian Church in Longmont, Colorado, while I served there as education minister. (Actually that was  1974-76, coming up on 40 years ago!)
Bob and Sue Willson and their kids were among our pals when we came to Mason Church of Christ and I served there for more than four years as part-time education minister. We joined the church the year Jennifer was in in first grade, 1983 if I'm counting right--30 years ago! Of course, we've been at the church ever since then, and the Willsons have been our friends, even after they moved to North Carolina several years ago. Their Christmas letter reported that they've moved into a continuing care retirement community. "Our goal was to prevent our children from a similar experience with us in the future," they wrote, alluding to the difficult transitions they had experienced with both of their mothers a few years ago. Not long after their move, Sue had a stroke, from which she's recovering nicely. How is it that our peers, just a few years older than us, are experiencing such things?
Other letters reported births (our daughter-in-law's sister, Shannon, and her husband have a beautiful new baby boy this year) and illnesses (a friend and mentor, Eleanor Daniel, has suffered major illnesses, including a series of problems that almost killed her while she was serving in India earlier this year) and weddings and accomplishments in building the church and serving the Lord.
The letters are an encouragement to me to keep on keeping on. There's great value in perseverance; some things don't change—the Lord's grace, the world's need, the pleasures and challenges of serving—even though our bodies and our health and our circumstances inevitably will. Yep, Jeremy, "we must make the most of every day."

Pictures of the Day: These pictures weren't taken by me, but by a new friend, John Cornett, who accompanied us with his wife on our "Paul's Fourth Missionary Journey" cruise this summer with Marshall and Judy Hayden. His Christmas card included a CD chock full of the masterful photographs he took on the trip, and I didn't take time to look at them till this afternoon. What a treasure! What a gift! I've been intending to make a Shutterfly book with pictures of our experience. I'm so glad I've put it off, because very few of my pictures are as beautiful and crisp as his.  It's going to be a much more impressive keepsake because of his generosity.

This is Wendy Wagoner and Roy Lawson atop Mars Hill in Athens

John caught Evelyn and Wendy and me in a pose in Malta.

And this sweeping panorama is looking down from an elevation on the Greek island of Santorini.

Trevor DeVage, Garrison Keillor, and Man of Steel

Quotes of the Day: "Be careful not to forget the Lord" (Deuteronomy 6:12).
"We all need reminders
of what the Lord has done in our lives."
—Trevor DeVage, Christ's Church at Mason, January 5, 2014.

Another Quote of the Day:

May we not lose our marbles,
and keep up the pace.
May we face getting older
with something like grace.
—Garrison Keillor 

Frustration of the Day: Discovering that almost four hours of work during Christmas vacation created files on a flash drive that today were all polluted and inaccessible. I'll ask IT tomorrow if they can recover the files, but a) my plans to make two or three hours more progress today were thwarted, and b) it's possible I'll be starting from scratch tomorrow.

Accomplishment of the Day: We decided to attend church at 10:30 instead of 9:00, since Evelyn had a lunchtime meeting at church at noon. So we were up early, and I was able to get written a draft of my January 7 column for christianstandard.com before we left for church.

Very Grateful Today: SO-O-O-O glad I brought in the outside Christmas lights on New Year's Day when the sun was bright and the temperature was flirting with 50 degrees. Since then it's been cold and snowy and blustery and ugly. And even yesterday when the temperature topped freezing, all the bushes (those bushes that the lights had been adorning) were covered with snow. And today, on a gray afternoon, the forecast was for rain and then snow again, which leads me to my second measure of gratitude: I'm SO glad I had no plans to sit in the freezing mess at the Bengals game this afternoon.

Disappointing Memory of the Day: Man of Steel, last year's Superman prequel now available on DVD. If you like 143 minutes of computer-generated imagery (I didn't keep count, but I doubt there was any 10-minute stretch in the whole film without it), enough explosions and falling buildings for 40 9/11's, super-hero fistfights (again, tiresomely made possible by CGI and inexplicably finally won by Superman), unaffecting performances by Hollywood stars, and a plot that frankly I found confusing, then do like we did yesterday and pick up the disc at your local Redbox. The best thing about it was I had a promo code and got the experience for free.

Picture of the Day: Sorry, Mr. Kroger, but I doubt we'll have all our Christmas candy eaten in time to buy more for Valentine's Day.

Important Tasks, Former Neighbors

Fred and Kay have been home two days from a
5-day cruise with their whole family, kids and grand-
kids and a niece, to celebrate their 50th wedding
anniversary and Fred's 75th birthday--14 of 'em
in all.

A quiet Saturday was a welcome experience, but it wasn't a do-nothing Saturday. I paid bills and wrote checks and did a little e-mail correspondence for our our June trip. While I was on my standardpub account, I answered a couple of work e-mails too. Read in Falling Upward, by Richard Rohr. It's been on my to-read list for far too long; I may polish it off this weekend. Went outside after it warmed up this afternoon and took down all the outside Christmas decorations: the floodlights, the extension cords, the big wreath, the sled on the front porch, and the "gumdrop" tree on the deck. Some of it was still a little wet or snowy after I brought it in, so I'll put it all away in the bins tomorrow afternoon.

Glenda and Gayle are planning to drive to
Arizona--1900 miles--about January 19.

This evening (5:00) we met our former neighbors, Gayle and Glenda Mulberry and Fred and Kay Freeberg, for dinner at Spinning Fork restaurant in Fairfield. We hadn't visited with both couples for years, probably, and it was good to get together, catch up on their kids and grandkids, and enjoy a really good meal. I'm not sure if we've ever eaten at the Spinning Fork, but it was really good. We want to go back there!

Snowy Morning, Shopping Afternoon, Showy Evening

I was up at 7:00 to see if it was snowing and how much it snowed overnight. It was. And it had--about 2 inches.
Matt was planning to leave for Indiana with the kids at about 8:00, so I got dressed and shoveled the driveway and put down a little ice melter so they wouldn't have to get out in a mess.
After they left, the three of us (Jen, Evelyn, and I) relaxed and ate some Christmas carbs. Then I took Evelyn's car for an oil change, because Jen drove it to Indiana this afternoon.
Once the sun was up and shining, we could see that the wet snow and the still air combined to make every scene outside look like a Christmas card.

After showers, the three of us headed to Kenwood for some shopping and lunch. Evelyn and I found a dining room set on sale at Macy's--it's the first new dining room furniture we've had in almost 40 years of marriage. Jen found a winter coat on sale at Macy's too--it was a productive shopping trip!
She left about 4:30 to meet Matt in Greensburg where they're visiting friends and family today and tomorrow.
Evelyn and I grabbed some Christmas leftovers for a quick supper and then drove back to the Kenwood area to see "Argo" at the Kenwood Theater. It's the only theater in town still showing the movie--I'm glad we got to see it. (If you've missed it, this is one movie that will translate well to the TV screen--get the video when it's available sometime in the future.)

A Quiet Day, a Quick Day

By "quick," I mean the time passed by quickly, even though we weren't that busy. Maybe the fact that we weren't too busy made it all the more surprising when I looked up at the clock and realized another couple of hours had passed.
The Johnsons arrived at about 1 a.m. this morning after having left home yesterday at 9:30 a.m. (and no, there are no time changes involved from their house to ours). They were exhausted after navigating the Pennsylvania Turnpike through a small blizzard, waiting maybe two hours for an accident to be cleared and waiting another hour for the tow truck to pull them out of a ditch after they'd slid on an unexpected patch of ice.
In spite of how tired all of us were, we stood or sat and talked and snacked for another hour before finally turning in about 2:00.
Most of us slept in this morning. (Matt was up before any of us, though, for his morning run.) We nibbled on cinnamon roles and sipped coffee and visited before splitting off from the group to shower and get ready for the day. By the time everyone had finished that, it was almost time for lunch! We enjoyed Christmas ham and cheese ball and then adjourned to game playing (and a phone call from Geoff on his way to his Colorado ski trip after Christmas in Fort Collins) while Jen had a business call at 2:30. Before 4:00 we headed to our outing for the day to Kohl's and Target to pick up some necessities and bargains.

Evelyn took a first look at the
calendar Jen made us featuring
pictures of the Johnsons from this year
to decorate our kitchen next year.

When we came home, Evelyn and I put together dinner, starting with some yummies from the freezer, courtesy of the Aulens who sent us a big box of good things from Omaha Steaks for Christmas. We probably ate dinner after 6:30, maybe it was 7:00. When we looked up and saw it was already 9:00, we knew we had to get busy opening the packages under the tree. Actually we had just a few, except for the grab bag gifts I had bought and wrapped. We had fun choosing, opening, stealing, and admiring the fun little goodies "Santa" had brought us.
The day went quickly. But it was a relaxed day, quiet in many ways. A good way to spend  Christmastime with family.

A Quiet Day, a Long Day

The day hasn't turned out the way we planned--for us or for our family, the Johnsons, whose 10-hour trip to our place is logging in (so far) at maybe 16 hours.
First they lost about three hours waiting for jacknifed tractor trailers to be cleared from the PA Turnpike. Then Jennifer called just before 8:00 to say they had slid off the Interstate into a ditch, just this side of Wheeling. Triple-A promised the tow truck to arrive by 9:20, but then she texted at 8:16 to say the happy tow-er had already arrived. So maybe it'll be 15 hours instead of 16.
Meanwhile we wait.
I've been checking websites for weather reports and highway updates all day. Of course, none of this helped them, and it didn't really help me, either.
We've had maybe 6 inches of snow today. At one point late this morning the snow was falling at the rate of an inch an hour. My pictures don't really capture the spectacle. I'm glad it didn't continue for any more hours than it did!

We had planned to spend half a day or so with our friends the Webers, helping them pack for their move tomorrow (which they've put off till Friday; at last report they're planning to load tomorrow and drive Friday). Verna called before noon and said, "Don't come." I think by late afternoon we might have made it OK, but then I heard about accidents on I-71, and I decided maybe we were smart just to stay put. Roads were passable but several still slushy when I ran to the grocery after 4:00.
Our neighbor, Gary Lavon, brought over his snow blower and cleared our driveway and walk, bless him. I went out two other times to shovel an inch or so of new snow each time. I put down ice melter so it will be clear for the Johnsons--whenever they get here.
We've had a quiet day--Evelyn did some baking. We ate leftovers, yummy leftovers, for lunch and dinner. I wrapped some presents. We're spending the evening watching TV--a rare event; Evelyn's doing some ironing and I'm reading through some old newspapers while we watch. . . . And wait.

A Little Different, a Lot Nice

A nice Christmas--different, when I come to think about it--than any Christmas I can remember.
Evelyn and I were alone today, except for our fun dinner with all the Webers who were at our place from about 2:00 till maybe 5:30.
We had a nice, relaxed morning and spent a lot of the time getting ready for dinner. We had Honeybaked Ham, cheesy potatoes, fresh green beans, and applesauce Jello. Verna brought a tasty beverage for us to enjoy with our cheese ball and crackers, and Jocelyn brought wonderful Christmas cookies to add to ours  and the Graeter's ice cream we had for dessert. It was a respite from packing for them; they're still planning to load and move on Thursday. And if the snow will allow, we plan to go help them pack tomorrow afternoon.

Mildred Holmes, "Oma," had a pretty smile
while Nora and Ruby wiggled for my snapshot
just before they left this evening.

They're predicting 4+ inches for Butler County tomorrow, preceded by freezing rain, so we're hoping it's not as bad as they're expecting so we can get to Price Hill to help a little. Jen and Matt and the kids are planning to make the trek from Pennsylvania here tomorrow, and I'm nervous about the bad weather they may be facing.
After Webers left this evening, I got on line and bought tickets for the 7:00 showing of Les Miserables at the Rave. We got there by about 6:20 and waited in line behind 50 or 75 people till the theater was cleaned from the previous showing. We had great seats, high in the theater, right in the center of the row, for the best movie experience I can remember in a long time.
A hoard of my Facebook friends went to see the movie today. One of them said he started crying when it started and cried through the whole thing. He would have had good company with the young girl sitting beside me who sniffed and wiped her eyes intermittently throughout the film.
I was surprised to find myself moved to tears more than once during the musical. It was compelling, not so much because of the familiar music but more because of the remarkable portrayals, especially by Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman. Kudos should also go to Eddie Redmayne, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen. Of the major players, I was least impressed with Russell Crowe, but he was sufficiently evil enough to make us want him to lose.
Evelyn and I came home and snacked on dinner leftovers, checked Facebook, and watched the threatening weather reports on the TV news to end the day.
It was a good Christmas, like I said, just a little different than most Christmases we can remember.

The Day Before Christmas

We decided to spiff up to go to dinner and read
Scripture at the Christmas Eve services.

The day before Christmas was a wonderful day for us!
For starters, we spent the whole day, till evening, at home--not one errand, not one trip to a store or a grocery. We just listened to Christmas music while we took care of other tasks around the house. And I read in a book a little and took a 10-minute nap in the afternoon.
We ate leftovers from our dinner the previous evening for lunch and saved up so we'd be hungry for what we anticipated would be a wonderful dinner.
It was! Due to the generosity of some friends who lavished much more appreciation on me than I deserved, we had a gift certificate at Eddie Merlot's, a fine restaurant on the northeast side of town that I'd always thought about going to someday. Since we were alone, we decided it would be the perfect spot for our Christmas Eve dinner.
It was! Homemade crab cakes for appetizer. A remarkable chopped salad (with artichokes) to share. Evelyn had cedar planked salmon with spinach and fingerling potatoes and I had the 6-ounce filet and a side order of mushrooms. All of it was delectable. Our reservation was at 7:00, and we had promised to be at the church by 9:00. It was a leisurely dinner, and we decided we'd better not take time for dessert. They gave us a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese icing to take with us, and we ate it before bed after attending two Christmas Eve services at the church.

Kim blessed us with a remarkable
rendition of "O Holy Night"

Dave Lautzenheiser had asked us to read Scriptures for the two Christmas Eve services (9:30 and 11:00), and we enjoyed doing it. Kim Rodarmel sang "O Holy Night," and Greg Henderson accompanied "Silent Night" on the bells --he soloed on about two octaves of them, first playing the melody and then playing chord and descant accompaniments. Mark Sullivan and Brad Wilson spoke--I've never heard them do better. We sat with Dan and Cindi Cooper at the first service and then left after our readings at the second service. It was all very nice.
We took a long way home and looked at Christmas lights on the way, and Evelyn made her applesauce Jello before we went to bed. Three generations of Webers are coming to eat with us at 2:30 today.
We had nice phone visits with Jennifer and then with Geoff late in the afternoon before getting ready to go to dinner.
The day before Christmas was a very good day!

Christmas with Friends

"This is my favorite day of Christmas," Sev Friskney said when they arrived for dinner Sunday night. The day before the day before Christmas. It was a good--although a busy--day for us.

The choir wore their formals and tuxes to help lead
our Christmas Sunday worship service.

Evelyn and I did a brief narration as part of the worship services at 9:30 and 11:00 at church in the morning. (I had written it in response to an e-mail from Dave Lautzenheiser asking for ideas to connect two parts of the service.) And this was our Welcome Center Sunday too, so we got to church about 9:00 and stayed till almost 12:30.
John and Mary Jane Burgess came to worship with the church at Mason, and we had a nice visit with them as well as happy "Merry Christmas" greetings with many others in all the time we had to spend in the church lobby Sunday morning.
We grabbed lunch at LaRosa's and I took Evelyn home before heading out to run a couple of errands--last-minute grocery run and a visit to the Honey Baked Ham store.
Then I worked with Evelyn to complete preparations for the Christmas dinner we hosted with friends that evening: roast beef, green beans, Waldorf salad, twice baked potatoes; Evelyn's traditional cheese ball and fresh shrimp for appetizers, along with the cranberry apple hot punch we enjoy making at Christmastime. Since all our Christmas with family will be after "the day" this year, we decided to host this Christmas dinner on the weekend before Christmas.
Sev and Paul Friskney and Verna and Bill Weber came after 5:30 and stayed till almost 11:00. We laughed (even though Bill said it hurt to laugh after gall bladder surgery Thursday) and talked and snapped a couple of pictures before they left.

Three Days Before Christmas

Christmas (and work!) has definitely gotten in the way of blog/diary writing. But I want to keep track of what I've been doing, so I'll quickly review highlights of the last three days.
Thursday evening Evelyn and I both served at the Healing Center. She's tutoring folks in English for their GED tests, and I help sign up folks for government aid (food stamps, etc) through a computer program called the Benefit Bank. Evelyn works 6:30-8:30 every Thursday; I work 7:00-9:00 one Thursday a month. This week I was there till past 9:20, because an 8:00 appointment was tied up with some other services at the Healing Center, and she didn't get over to me till I almost left because I thought no one was coming at 8:00.
It was a long day, because I had met with my  Thursday morning men's group at 6:00 a.m. at Cracker Barrel for our end-of-the-year breakfast.
The Healing Center (a ministry of Vineyard Cincinnati) was decorated for Christmas, including this beautiful tree.

Friday was my last day in the office till January 2, and I got a lot done. I needed to get a lot done, because we give our February issue to the printer that Friday, January 4. I finished reading the proof (had started Thursday), did some rearranging of pages and cutting of articles that were too long, and wrote some copy to fill a couple of blank spots. I still have more of that to do when I get back to the office, but not more than I'll be able to finish in the time I have. 

The office was VERY QUIET. More people had already started their Christmas break than were at work that day. That seemed to be true for the other offices in the building too. The parking lot was almost empty when I got there after 8:00. 

Shirley Wuske had invited us for dinner that night, and we had a lovely time eating her wonderful food and enjoying the company not only of her and Terry, but also Brandon and Jonathan (in for Christmas from his current landing place in Phoenix, AZ). Chicken marsala, and homemade crescent rolls for the meal and pumpkin cobbler (!) for dessert. All wonderful. All recipes I hope Evelyn will get! Jonathan snapped our picture on his phone as we sat down to eat. 

Today was a productive Saturday: bill paying, late Christmas-card sending, errands to the dry cleaner, post office, and oil change place. We Skyped with Wendy after she had gotten back home from a candlelight and carols service at a Lutheran mission/church in Arusha. She's leaving tomorrow with a missionary couple that are her good friends for a Christmas getaway at a resort on the ocean. She was smiling and in good spirits, and it was good to talk with her. 

This evening Evelyn and I grabbed supper at McAlister's and did a little shopping at Meijer's for some odds and ends Evelyn needed to finish the weekend. We're having friends for dinner tomorrow night and more friends sometime Christmas afternoon or evening. Just enough to feel like we're celebrating. (Just enough for me; Evelyn's been working hard to get ready for these two meals, plus our holiday visit from the Pennsylvania Johnsons starting Wednesday night.)

A Quiet Night

I don't remember a Christmastime when we've been finished decorating so close to Christmas. I think we're about there tonight, December 19. We were supposed to go with the Ambassadors Class on an outing, but we reneged because we planned to go see Bill Weber in the hospital. He was scheduled for gall bladder surgery this morning. But we found out after 5:00 that his surgery was postponed till tomorrow. It was really too late to join the Ambassadors outing, so I just came home . . . and used the time to finish up a couple of pre-Christmas tasks here.
Put up our tabletop tree with the white lights and the white and glass ornaments--it's one of our favorite traditions. And sorted out a mishmash of CD's that hadn't had much attention since last Christmas. Sorry Bill's surgery was delayed. Sorry to miss the fellowship with the Ambassadors. Glad for a quiet evening at home.
Skipped supper and ate a piece of turkey and cheese after 9:00, because Matt Lockhart took his direct reports for lunch today, as a pre-Christmas treat. We went to the Melting Pot and had a feast of cheese fondue; chicken, beef,and shrimp and lobster tail to cook; and chocolate turtle fondue with fruits and cake for dipping. It was a wonderful treat.
Two more days of work before a long Christmas break. Breakfast with my Thursday-morning men's Bible study guys in the morning at our favorite haunt, Cracker Barrel.

Monday Before the Monday Before Christmas

Spent a good part of Friday writing an editorial (blog post) that may never see the light of Wordpress. It's about the similar experience of Zechariah, Mary, and the shepherds--they all saw an angel. But each of them reacted a little differently, and each of them compares to a situation or challenge or life stage people today can identify with. Each of them was afraid when confronted with God's work and God's will--and sometimes we are too.
It was going to be my big pre-Christmas editorial. But I decided instead today to write something about the tragic shooting at Newtown, Connecticut last Friday, not quite two weeks before Christmas. Ben Cachiaras wrote a good blog post Friday afternoon, and coincidentally Paul Williams's column that goes live this week is about how God identifies with us and our suffering, because he came as a frail infant. Even though I was quoting from both of them, it took me the better part of the day--in between interruptions and e-mails and a productive meeting with the marketing folks this afternoon--to get it written. I'll read it one more time before giving it to Jim to post tomorrow.

Paid bills this evening and worked with Evelyn to get some pictures framed. Now I'm writing this brief diary entry while we watch a Hallmark Christmas movie, "November Christmas," we recorded yesterday.
We realized after it started that we've seen it before, but we're probably going to finish it anyway.

Eight Days Before Christmas

Teach Ambassadors at 8:30 a Christmas-themed lesson based on the appearance of the angel to Zechariah, Mary, and the shepherds. CHECK.
Enjoy a good sermon by John Russell at the 9:30 service. CHECK.
Take Evelyn to lunch at one of her favorite places, Abuelo's, pick up a Christmas gift for the grandkids, do a drug run at Walgreen's before heading home. CHECK.
Complete some random decorating: redo wreath for sled to display on the front porch, arrange some artificial Christmas greenery for a blank spot in the living room. CHECK.
Address and stamp the Christmas cards. CHECK.
Put up the Christmas tree . . . a longer process than I'll enunciate, interrupted with wonderful leftover pizza from Dewey's and another long, sad news report about the mass murder at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. CHECK.
A good day, but at the end of the day, I'm very tired, and my back hurts.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Today was a Christmasey day.
Finished up a Sunday school lesson I'm leading tomorrow; was given carte blanche, so decided to look at three sections from Luke 1 and 2 that I've looked at before. But it was a blessing to study it again for the discussion tomorrow morning.
Then dug into the Christmas cards and got them almost all addressed. Plan to finish up tomorrow, stamping and sealing them.
Took some breaks to help Evelyn pull out the Christ decorations, put away enough everyday dishes to get out the Christmas dinnerware and Christmas mugs. Went to the grocery and to Graeter's to get some gift cards and take advantage of their ice cream pint sale (cinnamon, peppermint stick, and egg nog ice cream for Christmas and following!).
This evening the Cincinnati Symphony and May Festival Chorus performed the first section of Handel's Messiah (plus the "Hallelujah" chorus) at our church this evening. It was a real treat to be so close to the musicians and to hear that marvelous sound fill our auditorium. I enjoyed it even more than I thought I would--a real soul-restoring event.
We came home to drink decaf homemade "lattes" and watch the hour-long Christmas special of the Annie Moses Band on public television. (THAT would be a DVD or CD worth having, by the way!)
Tomorrow--the tree!

 I snapped this picture of the platform at our church as concert-goers were arriving for tonight's performance of Messiah, and the picture before as the musicians were taking the stage.

Christmas Scene, Christmas Party

This is one of those days too busy to write about. But I promised I'd post this picture of our nativity scene with the barn Becky Snyder made to house Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. It's a nice addition to the set.

Today was the annual Christmas party at CFM Religion Publishing. A nice spread of catered food preceded by Scripture readings and verses of "Joy to the World." They gave away six door prizes, but I wasn't a winner. This is the TV I did not win. I'm glad, because we don't have a place for it, even though Evelyn and I have been discussing putting a small flat screen in the living room. (We've been discussing it, because she doesn't think we need it, and I'd like to have it. No plans for buying one anytime soon, though.)  :-)

Checking in, Checking up

You could call this my check-up week. Saw my family doctor yesterday for my annual check-up. My blood pressure was lower than it has been recorded in months100+ over 60+. Very good. Talked with the doctor about a couple of minor concerns that we'll keep watching, but no dramatic action indicated at this time. So that's good.
Went to the dentist today for my 6-months check-up. I had a crown on one tooth several months ago, and it's still a little tender once in awhile when I chew something hard. But I couldn't make it hurt today, no matter what he gave me to bite down on. So we agreed that sometimes the healing is slow, and we'll keep watching it. The nurse gently urged me to be better about flossing. I think I can, I think I can.
Ran some errands at Target on the way home and stopped by Michael's to get one more red bow to put on the wreath on the front door. They were out of 'em, but I found another item, and got several of them--can't tell what I found; they'll be a surprise for some people who may read this blog! :-)
Wrote a draft of this week's editorial (goes live Thursday); I'll read it again before giving to Jim to post. Handled a bunch of correspondence about outstanding assignments, our college student subscription plan, and the June Cruise to Turkey, Italy, and Greece we're helping to host this summer. The ad appearing in the December Christian Standard has generated some interest--I think we'll add several to our group as a result of it. That's good!

None of this was particularly picture worthy, so I snapped a shot of our "gumdrop tree" lighting up the night on our deck. That's a heavy stone holding it down, in case of wind. We're going to find something to wrap around the base to make it look a little more attractive.

Wreaths for the Season

Evelyn walked past the other house in the neighborhood that is essentially the same floor plan as ours, and guess what? They decorated the front the same way we did! Wreaths on the windows and floodlights to illuminate them. (They put wreaths only on the front four windows--two on either side of the front door, because their garage opens to the front instead of the side like ours. Our arrangement gives us six windows at the front of the house instead of their four.)
"Maybe they got their idea from you," she ventured.
No matter, my decorating sense has been vindicated, and Evelyn agrees that the wreaths can stay. (The only problem we have is the bright light shining into the front bedroom, even with the wooden blinds closed tight. If Nina sleeps in there at Christmas, we may give her one of those masks they issue passengers on overnight international flights! They really do block out all the light!)
I snapped pictures when I got home from work tonight, but they don't really do justice to the whole dramatic effect!  :-)

These are the wreaths on and above the windows of our garage.

These are the wreaths on the bedroom windows to the left of the front door.

These wreaths are on the dining room windows, to the right of the front door.

Sometime this Christmas I'll take a picture of the whole house from the front sidewalk. Actually, it's pretty simple, but it's what we're doing this year.

Giving's Fun--Getting, Too!

Don't you just love getting Christmas presents in the mail? Especially when they're fragrant and green with red berries and a tartan bow and variegated holly? Isn't it great to have a fresh and beautiful reminder of friendship and partnership as well as the Christmas joy that underscores the gift with meaning more significant than the value of the gift itself?
That's the kind of gift that came to Evelyn and me today from a valued friend and colleague. It's beautiful, and it will be a centerpiece on one or the other of our tables throughout the Christmas season. And this picture will remind me of my friend's goodness and generosity for years to come.

Had a pleasant evening. Visited Dave Wick at Bethesda North where he had surgery today. He and his good wife seem pleased with the outcome, and he's hoping to be home tomorrow.
Then I went to the Healing Center at the Vineyard and worked with Evelyn's GED students so she could go to a ladies neighborhood party tonight. I really enjoyed the two gals I met there. I may have done them some good, I'm not sure; but I really had fun talking with them and hearing their stories. Here are two hard-working 50+-year-old ladies who are committed to getting their GEDs. I really hope they do!

I Wish it Could Look a Lot More Like Christmas

It happens every year about now. My to-do list is overflowing with important to-dos, and none of them has anything to do with decorating for Christmas, stringing lights outside, putting up the tree, or arranging greenery and candles on the mantel. Evelyn and I both have the bug to put away the gourds and scarecrows and pull out the snowmen and Christmas china. But, no time yet to get at it.
I did stop by Lowe's on the way home from church yesterday, though, to see what they were offering for illuminated outside decor. Frankly, I was a bit disappointed--nothing there struck my fancy. But I did snap their lighted Christmas tree display before I left.

Had a productive day at work today--some correspondence about our cruise/tour next summer, read the last half of a Lookout proof and the first half of the Christian Standard January proof. We had our last art meeting for the February issue, and I got out of the office right after 5:00 to run three errands on the way home. I thought, as I was getting home about 6:40, that I was having my Saturday afternoon on Monday evening. Went to the dry cleaner, the grocery, the pharmacy in the grocery, and the gas station. Discovered that it had been awhile since I had cashed in my Kroger's gas points. I had 700 of 'em, which gave me a discount of 70 cents a gallon on my gas. Here's the evidence. I got my gas tonight cheaper than anytime I can remember.

It's All About the Rhythm

They've decorated all
the evergreens around
our offices with white
lights and red ribbons.

"Are you settling into the new rhythm of producing a monthly?"
My daughter-in-law asked me the question over Thanksgiving. I want to answer in the affirmative to all  questions about our new format, because I'm so pleased with it. But on a scale from completely yes to completely no, I do believe my answer to her question would fall past the halfway mark toward the "no" side of the scale.
Finally, today I finished editing all the copy for the February issue. It always takes me so much longer than I anticipate to edit a whole issue's copy. Meanwhile the proof for January is waiting to be written, along with incidental other copy on the proof, and MY COLUMN  for the issue. And it goes to the printer Wednesday, the same day Paul Williams will be in the office for our semiregular planning meeting (which I need to get ready for before then).
But the February issue is going to be a good one. It's all about spiritual formation. One quote from one article stood out to me, and I offer it here as a preview:

We want spiritual growth to be straight, predictable, and controllable, yet true growth is more circular than linear. It occurs in cycles where we move forward, then find ourselves moving backward. It's the old "three steps forward, two steps back" mantra. Much like a baby who is learning to walk, we develop spiritually through a process of forward momentum, followed by failure, pain, and stumbling. If we don't get discouraged and bail, but stay with the process, we will find that the backward loops often result in the greatest growth.

Encouraging words to me--I hope to our readers, too!