Bible Study

We had our Bible study/home group meeting this evening. The group started when the church was going through Rick Warren’s study on the 40 Days of Community. Tim and I agreed to host a group and voila, we were given list of names and told to go forth and start a new group.

The 40 Days study has come and gone and we continue to meet. It’s been fun. All of the couples (plus one single mom) are fairly new to the church. One of them went many years ago, moved and is now back in the area. We lost one couple (to our group and the church in general). They have a toddler and twin boys and difficult work schedules–all of which make life complicated.

This month we’ve met twice and both times had a pot luck dinner ahead of time. We are enjoying getting to know each of the couples better. There is a range of number of children and their ages among us. Tim and I have five, another couple has four (the oldest is a teenage girl who has taken care of the little ones for us several times), the single mom has three children, another one is pregnant with their third girl, and the last couple is pregnant with their second girl.

Today a new couple joined our group. Hooray! I had met the wife at the Women’s Retreat (and enjoyed her in the brief moments we had chatting) but hadn’t seen her husband before. They are newlyweds (3 months this past weekend). The husband is in the military (due to be deployed this summer). We saw them in Sunday School class this morning at church and ended up inviting them to our Bible study this evening. Hooray–they decided to join us. We had a fun dinner with lots of food.

The coordinator of the Home Groups came and visited our group this evening, bringing with him a couple who is heading off to Alaska to work on the radio ministry there. They told us all about the work in Alaska and their hopes for the future. The husband is in Tim’s men’s ministry Bible study. It was interesting to hear them share their passion for this Christian radio work in Alaska and how God worked to get them ready to go.

The kids all played beautifully together. There was much running around and noisy play during and after dinner. When we started our Bible study time the little ones went upstairs and watched a movie. Joshua (and one of the little toddlers) stayed downstairs. Joshua read his book and looked through the host’s HUGE Civil War collection. The little girl played quietly around Joshua. The only time she made any noise was at the end of our visit when Sarah insisted it was her turn to play with the grocery cart. Oops, time to go home. Ha!

I tried to upload some pictures but couldn’t get it to work (and Tim isn’t available). I’ll go back and add some (unrelated but cute) kid photos.
Kathy

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Trying to post

Hello! Tim has been working hard getting this new (to us) blog format going. The changes are pretty much all behind the scenes (address didn’t change) but they should help us (me in particular) be able to blog more smoothly and, most importantly, include more pictures. I do think pictures are one of the very best things about blogs. I love to see snap shots into people’s lives.

The Edgren Girl Cousins at our Easter Tea PartyThe Edgren Girl Cousins at our Easter Tea Party

I have all sorts of work I should be doing. I’ve made Tim’s breakfast muffins already. They are cooling on the stove top. I still need to finish cleaning up from dinner. Who is on dinner duty this week?? I think it may be Daniel. Of course, he was sent to bed early for fussing at his father and is now in bed moaning over some stomach cramps. Sigh.

I guess either I convince Joshua to do the dishes and clear the table (possible) or I do them myself (more likely). I need to pack Tim’s lunch, work on my Bible study (BSF) lesson, and sneak in an exercise work out. Ha! I doubt all of that is going to get done as it’s already 9 pm.

Tomorrow Daniel and David have dentist appointments at 7:30 am. That is a terrible hour to be out doing errands, much less something as painful as having a cavity filled. Will Daniel be well enough to go? There may be a little bug going around family. Tim had some stomach cramps yesterday for about 15 minutes (then felt fine) and Daniel woke me up this morning at 6 am to say David had thrown up (was fine the rest of the day). Perhaps there is a 30 minute flu bug hitting our household. That’s got to be the shortest bug in history. Ha!


David and Sarah enjoying books on our swing in early April (not a sunny day)

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Detestable Food

The really strange thing is that I wrote this blog before I started my 30-day subscription to Kathy’s Maniacal Eating Plan (KMEP), and, of course, the title has nothing to do with the taste of the weird grains and vegetables that she has me eating. I guess it is just prophetic … read on, if your curiosity is piqued.

Allergy season has arrived with a vengeance, and so I begin the unhappy practice of waking in the night, sneezing uncontrollably, and rubbing at my eyes until I look like someone from a horror comic book. About three years ago I started taking Allegra, and I found that I could survive if I started early and stayed current with generous doses of the medicine.

This year I managed to get my doctor to agree that a dosage for a ‘normal’ adult was not quite enough for someone of my girth and weight, but even so, the medicine doesn’t quite suppress the symptoms for the whole 24-hour period.

One happy side effect is that once allergy season is over, I am very thankful for my health for a couple of months afterward.

Recently, I was perusing the book of Numbers, and I read about the episode of the Bronze Snake. As was their frequent practice, the Israelites were complaining against God and Moses, this time about the food. As you may recall, God provided manna for the Israelites during their 40-plus year sojourn in the wilderness, before they were permitted to enter the promised land. As Numbers 19 records, they complained and said, “We’re tired of this detestable food!”


It doesn’t look all that detestable to me. A little maple syrup …

Sometimes I am amazed that any Israelites survived to enter the land of Canaan. Just a few verses before, a good chunk of the tribe of Levi had been swallowed up by the earth for their presumption in challenging God’s selection of Moses and Aaron. Considering the great mercy that God had for the people in providing manna for upwards of two million people every day, it seems the height of stupidity and ungratefulness to complain about it.

While I was thinking about those rascally Israelites, feeling a bit superior, the thought occurred to me that I have a lot in common with that rebellious people. Every time I complain to God (and I do it more often than I would care to admit) aren’t I, in some sense, doing the very same thing that they did, spitting on His grace and mercy and presuming to second-guess His sovereign and majestic will?

Ah, but I do it in such an enlightened, twenty-first century style, couching my complaints as ‘prayers of supplication’ and stopping short (in my words, at least) of open defiance against God.

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Family Pictures

My folks and the 'grown ups'

A couple of weeks ago we all went out to the Duckabush to take family photos while my sister Posie and her family were in town. Mark and Elizabeth and Posie and her husband Greg were there with all their kids — we made quite a tribe, with proud grandparents looking on.

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Pictures-14

Trying out something new

A dear friend of mine (college roommate) has been blogging up a storm these days. It has been so much fun to read about her life. I really enjoy keeping up with all the comings and goings in her busy family (they are in the process of selling their house).

I write lots of e-mail, especially to/with my family (EMF–email family) but I don’t spend much time blogging. Reading Rachel’s blogs make me want to do more writing myself. Tim did some research and found us a new blog editor. He wanted to make it easier for me to blog and post pictures. Yay! This is my first try.

Kathy's college friends, 1992

Dear College Friends–Jodi, Me (Kathy), Anne, Cara, Kim and Rachel 

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