Lisa

So this time of year is pretty busy for most people. We become consumed with things like cards, letters, pictures, cookies, gifts, wrapping, decorating, shopping (did I miss anything?) For most of us (adults, anyway)the month of December is just a blur. Three years ago, my December changed. I still get consumed with all of the above activities but now there is something hanging over the Holidays that makes it a bit surreal. Three years ago this week, I spent a week in California with my family members who at the time, I hadn't seen for 25 years. Normally a reunion like this would be something to celebrate. But this wasn't a happy occasion. We were all gathered at Stanford University Hospital to be with my sister, Lisa.
Lisa had been diagnosed with Leukemia 4 months earlier and she was experiencing some extreme difficulties with her treatment. She had suffered a seizure and was lying in a coma with a fever they coudn't control.
So the first time I saw my sister in 25 years, she didn't even know I was there. The last time I had seen Lisa, she was a 12 year old kid. Now she was an adult with 3 kids of her own. She had lived a pretty tough life but always seemed happy when I spoke to her. I envied that about her. No matter what she ws going through, she seemed happy.
Without getting into specifics, Lisa and our brother, Bobby and I were raised separately. Lisa and Bobby were raised by their mother and our father. I was raised by my mother. We grew up very differently, with very little contact with each other. I always knew I had a brother and sister. I always loved them, even though I didn't live with them or even know them very well.
From the time she was 12 and I was 16, we had no contact for about 18 years. By that time, we lived on opposite sides of the country and had families of our own. When we began speaking again, I always knew that I would eventually make a trip out to California to see Lisa and Bobby in person. Someday.
When Lisa was diagnosed, I figured it was a wake up call for me. I planned to go out there wen she was done with her treatment. I was going to be a great "big sister" and take her to a spa. Let her be pampered for once in her life. It would give us some time to reconnect without any other distractions. It would be so great!
Unfortunately, things didn't work out as planned. Lisa never came out of her coma. She passed away on December 14, 2005.
So I want to dedicate this post to Lisa Gilbert Anderson who lived with gusto and died way too young. I hope you can find it in your hearts to pray for my Dad, Bobby, Shirley, Billy, Nathan, Cam, Kirsten and Krystal this week. May God bring them some peace and comfort during this very difficult time of year.

What Freaks you out???

So I'm sleeping blissfully sound early this morning (about 2:50 a.m.) and the phone rings. That is one of the scariest things for anyone. No one calls in the middle of the night unless it's an emergency. Before I answer, about a hundred possible scenarios go thru my head.
Once I remember that my kids are both home safe in their beds (or couch), the worst scenario is put to rest. Then I start thinking about mine and Daves extended families. One of our parents or siblings, maybe? Someone from church, or maybe there is a serial killer loose and someone is trying to warn us. There are so many things that it could be but one thing it's not...good!
Then I remember that our phone number is only one didgit off from one of the local 24 hour grocery stores. It's probably just someone who can't sleep and decided to call Redners to see if they carry Tylenol PM. Sure, that's it!
So I answer "Hello" and I try to make it clear that I've been sleeping so the caller knows that he or she dialed wrong and now has woken some other poor fool up. Then I hear "Is Lt. Colonel Stenman there?" Rut Ro! Now my thoughts go to the world. What is happening? Were we attacked again? Is my husband being deployed? Did something happen to one of the people in his unit?
Dave woke up and took the call. It turns out an alarm was going off in his office (which is 2 hours away) at the base. Nothing more than that, thankfully. Someone local was called and the situation was resolved but not before making me remember that things in our world can change very quickly.
What freaks you out?

Back to School Night

So the other night was Back to School Night at the High school.
This is a ritual I've participated in every September for the last 14 years.
It started when my son was in Kindergarten. It's very exciting. You get to meet the teacher and some of the other parents and you get to see what fun and exciting things your child is doing while they are away from your loving arms for those few (blissful) hours.
A lot of parents dread Back to School night or think of it as a chore. But I've always really enjoyed it. As the kids get older and information gets more sparse coming from them, it was very helpful to have an idea of what was going on in ther lives while they were at school. It also gave me an idea of what kind of teacher(s) they had and what type of work would be expected during the year.
So here we were at another one. But, for me, this one was different. This was our last one. That's right, our baby is a senior this year.
My family (especially Caity) love to tease me when we are watching movies and things get emotional. I can't sniff without everyone looking in my direction and rolling their eyes. They know me. It doesn't take a lot to make me cry. And once it starts, it's really hard to stop.
So back to Back to School Night. The way it works in High School is we report to the childs 1st period class and that's where we get her schedule so we know where to go when each bell rings. So we are sitting in her 1st period class (Spanish 5) with a handful of other parents, waiting for everyone to arrive. While waiting, the school had the graduation ceremony from this Spring playing on the telelvision (each class has a tv) for us to watch. As soon as the music started playing and I saw all of those kids in their caps and gowns, I could feel it coming. My eyes started welling up, my nose got stuffy. All I could think about ws that my baby was going to be graduating in a few months.
So I got up discretely and headed for the kleenex box. Most of the other parents were clueless. They don't know what a wuss I am. For all they knew I have allergies or a cold or something. But not Dave. He looked up at me with the "oh, you've got to be kidding" look. It's true...I am a wuss.
This isn't my first child to graduate. I remember being the same way when Alex was a senior. If I was in Target and saw graduation paraphenelia, I would well up. When he got his senior pictures and had to put on a cap and gown, I welled up. When we had the graduation party at the youth group at church, we were asked to speak about about Alex and I knew I would never make it through so I asked Dave to do it for us (I wrote the words and he read them.) Little did I know he wouldn't be able to get through it, either.
This year feels a little different, though. This is our baby. She is growing up and this time next year, she will be away at college. That is a really hard thing to wrap my mind around.
But that is our job as parents, isn't it? You do the best job you can, hopefully instill your values, teach them as much as you can about life (even though they don't want to listen sometimes) and then send them off into the world.
When we attended our first Back to School night 14 years ago, it seemed like these beautiful children were going to be around forever. It's such a cliche but IT GOES BY SO FAST!!!!
So remember, when you want to ring their necks because they color on your walls or talk back to you or leave the milk out on the counter and it spoiled, that soon, they will be grown and this will all be a memory.

Urgent - Your help is needed!!!!!

I had the pleasure, earlier this week, off attending a township meeting in a neighboring township.
I'm not in the habit of attending township meetings in my own township so why did I schlep to another township and crash their meeting???
Here's why:
Under the guise of "open Space" this township is planning on building a new park. Sounds nice, doesn't it? Apparently a survey was put out to township residents and the findings were that the township needed more open space. Had I lived in said township, I probably would have voted for more open space. Who doesn't want more open space??? However when I hear "open space" I define it as undeveloped land that is being protected from developers. So new new houses or shopping centers can be built on that land. If you wan to make it a park where families can spend time in the great outdoors, well that's nice, too. Still sounds nice, right???
Well, what if I said that in order to build this park, a number of families would have their land taken away? They would be offered a fraction of what that land and their homes are worth and they would have to move themselves and their horses somewhere else. These are families who have owned this land for many many years. Their children and grandchildren have grown up being able to ride horses and ATV's on the property, they have a beautiful garden where they grow fruits and vegetables that are shared with friends and neighbors. And now because Pekiomen Township wants a new park, they are being forced out.
IS THIS STILL AMERICA????
That land is their legacy. It is theirs to leave to their children after they are gone. It is theirs to enjoy for their remaining years on this earth.
Please, whether this affects you or not, whether you live in Perkiomen Township or not, please take the time to help these families.
Pleas go to http://www.helpoutyourneighbor.com/ and sign the petition. You can also find the addresses for all of the people on the township committee and write them letters. You can send this link to everyone you know and print out copies of the flyer and pass them out.
If you can do nothing else, please keep these families in your prayers. Also, please pray for the Township Supervisors that they would have a change of heart and allow these families to stay in their homes.
These are good people. They are elderly and some of them are in failing health. They have served this community well as neighbors and taxpayers and what is being done to them is just, plain wrong!
Thank you for your time!

Linus

In my profile, I refer to our "crotchety old cat" named Linus.
Well, I laugh about him but he really was a sweet old guy.
We adopted Linus and his litter mate, Lucy, from the SPCA in May of 1995. Alex was in kindergarten at the time and we thought it would be a cool idea to have me bring the kittens in for show and tell one day. So we made arrangements with his teacher and I did just that. What a disaster! The kids were so excited and the kittens were scared to death! There was one girl in his class who had Downs Syndrome and she just wanted to squeeze them. Well, they survived and I learned a valueable lesson...don't take kittens for show and tell with a bunch of 5/6 year olds. Dumb idea!
Linus and Lucy were great cats. Cats are pretty easy to take care of and they were no exception. Caity quickly adopted Lucy as her own and Alex did the same with Linus.
I'd love to say that they were extremely helpful in taking care of them but lets be real. They fed them and changed the litter boxes when nagged enough. But they loved those two cats just the same.
So this last year has been sad for us. Last August, we were forced to have Lucy put down after she developed kidney disease. This was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life. Dave and I took her to the vet and stayed with her through the end. We were very sad but we knew we were doing the best thing for Lucy.
Linus seemed to take it pretty well. Of course he didn't understand where his sister went, just that she was gone. We tried to give him a lot of extra attention.
So in the pst few months, I was noticing Linus loosing weight and not eating. He started to develop some other symptoms and so I took him to the vet. She gave him some medicine and he seemed to be getting better.
We left for vacation a week ago and he was starting to not look so good again. I said I would take him back to the vet when I got home. Alex was keeping an eye on him while we were gone.
Unfortunately, Linus didn't make it until we got home. He passed away on August 21.
Most unfortunately, Alex was the one to find him. This makes me sad beyond belief because he really loved that cat.
So now Linus and Lucy are together again in "kitty heaven" (and no, I don't want to have a theological discussion on whether such a place exists or not. :)
The house isn't the same without them.
Rest in Peace Linus and Lucy, we miss you!

Getting something off my chest

This will be a bit of a different post for me. Warning...it's about politics!
Ok...so I have been thinking about a blog post I read recently where the poster questions why most Christians consider themselves"conservative" politcally.

That blogger also defines conservatives as not wanting "change." Change has become the buzzword of choice for the democratic party during this election cycle. I'm not sure but I would bet that if someone had thought of it, it could have been used during the 2000 election as well. That was the one where most of us wanted a "change" from the philanderer who was holding the office of president at that time. But I digress. I don't think conservatives are against change.

First of all, there are many aspects of conservatism. There is fiscal/economic conservatism, which I admit, I don't know that much about. Economics was never my "thing" although I know it's a very important issue.

Then there is Social conservatism. This covers issues like abortion, gay marraige, capital punishment, gun control, etc. I admit I am split right down the middle on this one. When in comes to social issues, I tend to fall mostly on the liberal side of things. I said MOSTLY. That doesn't mean totally.

The issue that put me over the fence onto the conservative side is the issue of national security.

Let me say that even though I have been a military wife as well as the daughter and grand daughter of soldiers and the sister of an airman, I really never concerned myself too much with military issues. That was until September 11, 2001. That was the day that changed so much for so many people in the world. For me, it made me consider how sticking my head in the sand for so many years made me so narrow minded. It made me realize that (even though I knew this) there was real, true evil alive and well in this world and something had to be done to irradicate it. It made me MAD! Really, really mad!

I was so proud of my country as they stood by all of the firefighters, police and military members and recognized the sacrifices those in uniform make every day for all of us. It was so heart warming to see all of the American flags...everywhere. Not only the front steps of homes but on cars, lapels, scarves, you name it. Patriotism was everywhere and never have I been so proud to be an American. George Bush's approval rating was through the roof as we all wanted to see justice done. We wanted to not only see those who attacked us brought to justice but we wanted to feel safe, that we were not going to be attacked again.

This is where my politics changed. You see, in 2000, I had voted for Al Gore!

But, unfortunately, things "changed" (there is that word again.)

We Americans who love our country so much, can be pretty short sighted.

Slowly, the flags came down. Support for Bush's aggresive plan to combat terror deteriorated. A lot of people didn't understand why we would invade Iraq when they had not attacked us. I guess they wanted to wait for another attack, which was inevitable had we not acted.

So this is the biggest issue for me in choosing a president. I realize gas prices, health care, and the economy are extremely important. But none of that matters if we are not safe.

I will never forget how I felt that day and I hope I never have to feel it again.

In closing, yes, I think Jesus was probably a liberal. I know those who hurt us would be forgiven if they accepted Christ. But until then, I want my family to be able to take a trip or go to a ball game without the danger of some nut job blowing them up. So I vote for safety over anything else.

Stretch 2008 Day 1

Wow!
Last night I had the privilege of serving at Stretch, our church's summer middle school conference.
This is not the first year I've served at Stretch but I enjoyed it this year so much more for many reasons. First of all, in the past, I've served on the refreshment/hospitality team. These folks work so hard and do such a great job but it is tiring! And in years past, Stretch has been held the same week as Kid's Camp, which is our summer program for younger kids. So after serving a large portion of the day at Kid's Camp, we came back at night for Stretch and served until much later. These made for some very long days. So this year, the church decided to hold the two camps in different weeks. It was so nice and I left last night, excited and anxious for another two nights, not exhausted and dreading two more nights.
Second, I think this year, I really have a better appreciation for why an event like this is so important to families in our area. For anyone who has ever been the parent of a middle schooler(or been a middle schooler yourself,) you know what a pivotal age this is. There are so many confusing thoughts in their heads and most of them haven't got the "tools" to deal with and understand what to do with those thoughts. There are so many pressures to do new things, some of them good, some of them NOT! Unfortunately, this is the age group that gets the least attention and ultimately, where many kids fall through the cracks. Our church has done such an outstanding job at hosting regular events targeted at this age group. These events have a lot of "fun stuff" and a lot of great messages wrapped in "fun stuff" They know that a middle schooler isn't going to want to come to some church thing where they are going to be "preached to" or made to feel guilty about things they are thinking/feeling/doing. While there is a clear message about God and right and wrong, these students aren't made to feel judged. Hopefully, they feel love and acceptance, just like Jesus would have wanted.
The third reason this was such a great experience for me is going to sound a bit boastful, so please forgive me. I was beaming with pride last night watching my two kids, who also worked tirelessly(with SOOOO many other volunteers and employees) to make Stretch happen. My daughter, Caity, most people don't see, but she played an extremely important role. Caity works in the Tech booth, behind the scenes. She has been there at the youth group, pretty much every Sunday since we've been in our building. After serving many mornings in our younger childrens classes, she's back at church at 4:00 to get ready for the Sunday night youth groups. I won't say she never complains (she is, after all a teenage girl!) but she's commited to the job and she loves the people she works with. I am so proud of her and her commitment to Christ. So it was so cool to see her up in the Tech booth working like a pro (she definately gets her technical abilities from her Dad!) and having a great time.
My son, Alex, is seen by many. He plays guitar and drums in both the youth band and also on Sunday mornings with the adult band. While I know very little about music, I think he's pretty good, and this has been confirmed by many others so I know it's not just me being biased!
This summer, in addition to the bands, he's taken on the role of summer intern. So watching him play last night was awesome but it was even more awesome knowing that he was responsible for much of the organizing of the event itself. He has really taken ownership of this job and, even though he's pretty tired, I really think he loves it.
It has been so incredible to see how God has worked in their lives. When we started at CCV almost 8 years ago, we had never regularly attended church. Alex was the age of these middle schoolers I refer to and Caity was a couple of years younger. We have all grown so much as a result of finding CCV. I hope that as a result of Stretch and other events like it, more families will come to know Christ. Who knows where it will lead!

Maggie the dog

I have a weird dog.

She's a great dog, most of the time but she has these weird quirks that I really can't explain.

Some of them are really cute. Like the way she likes to chase her tail when she gets excited. Or the way she goes crazy whenever the Happy Birthday song is sung (one of theses days, we need to videotape that one.)

But there are other things she does that are not so cute. If left unsupervised in the back yard for too long, she might just chew through an air conditioner hose or a very expensive, borrowed volleyball net pole. Some of these things can be very costly. As she gets older, these events are getting less frequent but other unsavory behaviors are starting to emerge.

Maggie has always been a very social dog. She loves people and, up until recently, most other dogs. We made almost daily trips to the dog park in our area and she (and I) met a lot of really nice dogs and their people. It was great for me because I am a people person and I love dogs so I got to combine both. However, over the last few months, I've noticed some aggression towards certain other dogs. So I had to watch her closely when we would go to the park to make sure she was on her best behavior. But lately, it's not just some dogs, it's pretty much all dogs. She gets all excited when we go to the park but as soon as a dog comes up to her, she snarls and snaps. And it's not just a cute little playful snarl, it's a "get the he** away from me before I take your head off" snarl. Of course this kind of freaks the other owners out (can you blame them?) and I become a "why does she bring that kind of dog to a dog park?" person.

I don't understand why she does this. But I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that our dog park days are over. This really bums me out because I enjoyed going there and she was able to to get some much needed exercise as well as socialization.

I anyone has a suggestion for handling this, I'd love to hear it. Unfortunately, hiring some pricey "dog whisperer" isn't an option for us so unless I can figure out what to do, we will have to not go to the park anymore.

Summertime

So today I'm going to lunch with my "homies." My homies are the ladies from my Home Team which is another term for "small group" or Bible study"

During most of the year, we meet on Friday mornings to study different parts of the bible together. Some in our group are more diligent and committed to this portion and thankfully, they keep the rest of us on track (or atleast they try really hard)

But we take the summer off so we are just getting together today to get together and I can't wait! I really miss my home girls!

Plus, I'm really starting to get bored. I've been doing misc. administrative work for my boss which has been giving me some hours and a little paycheck but there are many hours of quiet this summer.

My daughter, Caity, is away this week at a conference and my son, Alex, is very busy with his job and his life. Dave is at work all day so it's mostly just me and Maggie (my totally awesome but mentally touched dog) and Linus (the crotchety but lovable cat)

Hence the formation of this blog.

So any chance to get out of the house and have some human contact, I'm all over it!

Tomorrow is Saturday and Dave is off for the first time in 2 weeks so we have a big day planned going out to look at fireplace/chimney configurations. Normally, that wouldn't excite me but hey, now it does! (More about why we are looking at fireplace/chimney's in a later post. Try to contain your excitement)

I'm thinking of next week cleaning my carpets. I'll let you know how that turns out :)

Crossroads

So I guess I'll jump on the bandwagon with this blog thing!
I've thought about it for a while but honestly, what do I have to say that would possibly interest anyone?
But, I hear it's good therapy so here goes. If you have nothing better to do an you wish to read this blog, thanks! Leave me a comment so I know you were here.
So I guess my life is at somewhat of a crossroads. The future of my job is questionable and I've been thinking of making a change anyway. Only now the decision might be out of my hands. It's nothing I've done, mind you, it's just the way business works sometimes.
I've been in my current job for 9 1/2 years. I really like what I do, for the most part but honestly, it's not at all challenging or fulfilling. It's just easy and comfortable.
I've really never been a career minded person. Thankfully, my husband is but I've always been very comfortable in a support role. I keep the laundry done, the house somewhat clean, the dog fed and sometimes I even cook dinner for the family. My "job" has always been a part time gig and that has suited me just fine. However in the last few years, we have felt the pressure of 2 kids headed for college and the need for a more full time income .
So what do I want to do with my life? What do I want to be when I grow up? What do I have to offer a potential employer? The answer keeps coming back to a big fat "I dunno!"