Where I've Been

I was noticing that it's been a while since I've blogged. Holy cow, where does the time go?

Looks like the last time I blogged was July 8th. On July 11th we took Denny to the Indianapolis airport and sent him off for his nearly two week trip to Uganda. Then we (my Mom and my kids) drove on to Panama City Beach, Florida where we spent a week. I would love to show you some pictures from our trip, but I put my camera card into what I thought was a slot for it on my computer (wrong) and now I can't get it out. Looks like I'm gonna have to take my computer on a field trip to my workplace to visit our engineers to see if one of them can fix it. Of course I'll have to endure the ridicule that will come along with that. :-)

So, I had one week away from home, and then I had one week at home without Denny, and I didn't get on the computer much that week. I simply tried to stay busy doing stuff so I wouldn't miss him. Pathetic huh? But true.

And on top of all that, God has given me some new songs. I've been doing a lot writing lately. It seems to work that way with me. I'll go forever without writing any songs, and then all of a sudden I'll write a whole CD's worth of songs. So, I'm currently working on about four new songs....writing and arranging, and recording them. I can't wait to share them with you. One I'm really excited about because I wrote it with Joshua Mibourn, our seven year old. He had a great amount of input in both the lyrics and the melody line of the song, and I am loving the way it has turned out. He also sings on it, and he does a GREAT job!! It has been so much fun seeing his little creative mind at work. More on that later!

This week I will fly out Thursday night with my friend Kathy Lay. We are traveling to North Carolina to attend the Proverbs 31 Ministry "She Speaks" Conference. I cannot tell you how excited I am to be going this year. I have made some friends within the P31 organization who are very near and dear to my heart, and I cannot wait to see them!! Not to mention how much fun Kathy and I have together!! Needless to say, I am REALLY excited! Please pray for safe travel for us.

Jesus...

We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.

He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.

You yourselves are a case study of what he does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God's side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence. You don't walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message—just this one. Every creature under heaven gets this same Message. I, Paul, am a messenger of this Message.

Colossians 1:15-23 (The Message)

How Do You Do Life?

I must admit that it does not take much for me to get sucked in to the Michael Jackson media coverage. As I flip through channels, I find myself stopping on the ones that are doing stories about him.

I was never a HUGE fan, but I always found him fascinating. On stage he was incredible, his showmanship. But off stage he always seemed to be quite mysterious, somewhat bizarre, and hard to figure out.

In watching all of the media coverage, my favorite interview has been one that Harry Smith did with Gladys Knight. I'm partial to Gladys anyway just because I LOVE her singing, and her style. But what I loved most about this interview is that Gladys, to me, humanized Michael. She made him "real". The part that touched me is she said that there were times when she and her husband were alone with Michael and he would ask, "How do you do this? How do you handle life with all the pressures?" Or in other words, my interpretation, how do you do life?

That makes my heart go out to him. Have you ever asked that question? How do you do life? I can relate to that, and I can tell you that if not for my Heavenly Daddy, and His Word, and His Holy Spirit to guide me, I'm not sure I'd know how to do life either...and I don't have any of the pressures that Michael Jackson had. Although living with Denny, who always has a camera in his hand, is almost like living with the paparrazi. :-)

There is a song that has resonated with me ALLLLL of this past week. We're worshipping with it this morning. It's called "breathe", and I can tell you that He, Jesus, is the air I breathe, and I would be lost without Him. I would have a HARD time doing life without Him.

This is the air I breathe....this is the air I breathe
Your Holy Presence...living in me

This is my daily bread...this is my daily bread
Your very Word...spoken to me

and I'm desperate for You, and I'm lost without You

Here's a link to the interview with Gladys if you'd like to see it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vebiqt8rSNM

Good Day - Good Hugs

"He fills my life with good things." Psalm 103:5 NLT

When I was younger I never liked to hug people. I'm not sure why, but it was out of my comfort zone. Though I still slip into that mode from time to time, I can tell you that MOST of the time I appreciate a good hug. You know the kind of hug I'm talkin' about? Not the kind where you're just huggin' 'cause it seems like that's what you're supposed to do, but a genuine, heart felt, full fledged hug. I typically get those from my husband and my kids, but today I was pleasantly surprised and blessed by three other good hugs.

First, I met my friend Christa for lunch. I haven't seen her in a while, and it was genuinely good to see her...hug #1. A good hug.

Then after lunch, I had broken my sunglasses (I don't think that happened during the hug. ha.) Anyway, I needed to buy a new pair, so I made what I thought was going to be a quick trip into Walgreens. I picked out my sunglasses and went to pay for them. As I was paying, the cashier said, "these are buy one get one free today." A good day. So, I quickly ran back to get another pair. As I was looking, I heard a voice say, "Hey, what are you doing?" I looked up to find my friend Priscilla. I used to work with her at TV-2 (NBC). We were good friends, but I have not seen her for probably three or four years. I was so glad to see her. Hug #2. A good hug.

THEN, as Priscilla and I were talking, she glanced away for a moment to say Hello to someone, I looked at who she was talking to, and was so pleasantly surprised to see another gal that I used to work with at TV-2! Her name is Phyllis. She was the Program Director at TV-2, when I was a new/young salesperson there. She looked at me, and said "oh my gosh!" enter in hug #3. A good hug. It was wonderful to see her. I think it's been ten years since the last time I saw Phyllis.

So what started out as a quick trip to buy sunglasses, ended up being 30 minutes talking with good friends. A good day.

THEN, to top off my already good day, when I got back to the station, my boss said, "since it's a holiday weekend, you can go ahead and go home now."

Good hugs. Good day.

Just Sharing

I'm preparing this morning to lead worship at North Side Christian Church in Terre Haute, and as I was reading scripture, I came across this one, and felt God's love so strongly in it, so I thought I'd share:

"as for me, I am poor and needy...but, the Lord is thinking about me right now." Psalm 40:17a

Wow. So true. Me in my nothingness. But God.

May you too be encouraged by being reminded that the Lord is thinking about you right now.