Home for the Holidays

I’m so thankful that for the first time in seven years I was able to spend Thanksgiving with my parents. I also got to spend Christmas and most of January. As you can see, my parents weren’t the only ones glad to see me get some rest at home.

Mom’s pretty fall flower arrangement and Iowa indian corn added to the mood...

And her hours in the kitchen added to my waistline : )

Just moments after I took this picture, Bogie (the Great Dane/Lab dog) stood next to the table, and while our backs were turned, licked out half of the pumpkin pie with three swipes of his big tongue! Mom laughed so hard that she couldn’t properly punish him. And she stayed up until almost midnight making another pumpkin pie...

Most of this yummy relish tray was Mom’s home canning! It was so good that there were only two pickles left by the end of Thanksgiving dinner with Grandpa Minikus, my Uncle Kevin & Aunt Margo, Margo’s parents, Mom & Dad and I.

Christmas morning I woke up to sparkling frost patterns on my bedroom window! (the new background on the blog is also frost on the window - I did colorize it, of course)

A storm had covered everything in 1/2 inch of ice and created thousands of 3 inch icicles, then dumped 6-8 inches of snow.

Unfortunately, it was so cold outside that I could only take pictures for about 45 minutes before my gloved fingers couldn’t bend to push the buttons anymore.

Mom brought the barn cats into the basement for fear that they would get snowed in there without any thawed water. It’s a good thing she did because it snowed for the next two days - a real Iowa blizzard!

Haven’t the “kittens” grown?! I tried to repeat the picture I had before by holding all three monsters in my arms. But even with a bowl of wet cat food I couldn’t get them to co-operate...

It was fun being snowed in. Christmas presents, though nice, were not half as nice as getting to spend so much time together. (Speaking of presents though, I got a really neat one. Dad, a coin collector, bought me, from Littleton Coin Company, a real Roman coin from circa 100 B.C. - the type the widow would have given in Jesus’ day, a tiny bronze “mite.” It is crazy to hold something in your hand that is so old!)

OK, maybe we got a little bit of cabin fever after three days... But Roxy, Mom’s dog, still wanted to cuddle!

Dad made a new knob for my crockpot out of a piece of firewood! It was such a nuisance when the old handle broke; I am so glad for a new one. You can see the piece of firewood he used and how he put my name on it under the finish. (he even put a little R with a circle around it so it looks like the cookware trademark is Toni : ) How’s that for a designer kitchen appliance?!

And the snow continued on... Mom used to have to reach up over her head to fill these bird feeders! The drifts were over waist high in many places of the yard.

Matt and Josie needed to leave Dec. 28th, and our quarter mile driveway was too deep for the neighbor’s tractor. So we called another neighbor from eight miles down the road. He took one look from his big tractor and went back home! Three hours later he came driving up our road in his CAT with a box grader on the back! Unfortunately he got stuck on the second pass and Dad convinced him that it was good enough. After a lot of shoveling by hand, we were able to send Matt and Josie tobogganing down the hill in their station wagon. They made it!

January 4-6th we had another blizzard and very cold temperatures (like air temperatures down to -30F!). After the storm, the snow crystals still being blown around in the air created this beautiful snowbow! By tomorrow (Jan 15th) we are supposed to get up to 34F, so our winter wonderland is going to start to melt away. I’m sure Mom and Dad will be glad to not have to park at the neighbors and walk up and down the driveway to get to and from work!

Finally got to go to my sister's place spend some time with her family. The boys have grown so much!

The warmer temperatures caused the snow to evaporate and make dense fog in the air that formed thick needles of frost at night!

And so the winter wonderland continues!

A New Mission and Dreams Fulfilled

I have to write to tell you all of my new job. No doubt it will be the most difficult position yet, but it is such an answer to prayer I can't help but be excited.

As I was finishing up in Topeka, Kansas I learned that my job with Empowered Church program through Amazing Facts was going have to end because of legalities of stipend workers and government regulations (they were going to have to pay me a regular wage rather than a stipend and they couldn't afford it).

Pastor Jean Ross took my resume and presented it to the church in Sacramento CA where Doug Bachelor preaches from. They e-mailed me a few times and asked me to come out for a three month probationary position! This would have become a permanent position with great opportunities. It was a Bible worker's dream job for sure - the hoard of people wanting Bible studies would even come to the church and I wouldn't have to drive anywhere! I hadn't heard anything from the other resumes I had sent out and decided that this must be the way God was leading. I was to start in Sacramento on Feb 1st.

Then on Jan 5th I got a surprise call from the Iowa/Missouri conference of Seventh-day Adventists asking me if I would consider a position as the Bible worker and church coach for two churches who are simultaneously doing the Empowered church program (which is what I have been doing for the year and a half). I will have to live in Sioux City for half a week and Spencer for half a week (a 2 hour drive apart), and one of the churches doesn't have a Pastor or any leadership at all... It's not exactly a dream job, but I have to explain something....

When I first became a Christian I was watching a video report at church that showed a map of the USA with little shining dots appearing where missionary work was going on. They were reading a quote about how the message of who God really is will go to every part of the world. And I watched to see a light appear in Iowa... the scene ended with not a single dot in Iowa and just one or two in the whole Midwest! It sparked a dream in my heart to be a light here in Iowa so that all my neighbors and family would also get to know God. And as the years have gone by I have tried to get a Bible work job here, tried to share with my family and neighbors, tried to stay here to shine for Jesus. But I kept getting sent everywhere but Iowa!

Now my dream is coming true! I know it will be really difficult - the needs here are so great that even a whole team of Bible workers would struggle to make a difference. But God has led me for the last 7 years... to Ukraine, to ARISE, to my first two years of Bible work in Michigan, to Radiant Living, to working in three places with the Amazing Facts Empowered Church program... I have learned so much in these places. Most of all I have learned that God is the one who loves people, and I am the one who gets to witness it! And I am SO thankful that He is calling me to shine my little light here in Iowa. There is a dot on the map now! Even if I only get to be a small part of starting this work, I will be eternally grateful. God fulfills the dreams He plants in our hearts!

What to Do When the Flu Bugs You

Drink Lots of Water!

It is amazing how much water you lose while perspiring from a fever! I drank a gallon a day (literally) and was still getting dehydrated. All of your body’s defense mechanisms use water to remove the dead viruses and bacteria from your body. All that mucous is made from water... so you need a lot of plain water to keep up with the extra demands.

Sleep, sleep, sleep...

With that H1N1 flu, you won’t feel like hopping around anyway! I could barely stay awake during the fever days. Your body heals most when you are in sleep mode; when other body functions are at rest the immune system is allowed to use your full energy to fight off the virus.

Eat those “bitters”

Goldenseal, garlic, grapefruit seed extract, elderberry extract, and the like, are natural antiviral substances. Antibiotics only kill bacteria, and “the flu” is a viral infection; so the only medicines that can do much to fight viruses are natural options such as these.

“Feed a cold; starve a fever.”

I think that saying is backwards. If you have an extended fever like with H1N1 it is probably a good idea to eat something everyday to keep up your strength. Applesauce was my favorite - takes little energy to prepare and swallow. Eat something or you’ll end up like a stick!

Fresh Air and Sunshine

Climb out of bed and try to get some fresh air and sunshine. Thankfully we had a nice warm (with the help of a blanket) sunny day when I was starting to recover. I fell asleep in the patio chair and felt so much better when I woke up! The body needs lots of oxygen for all of it’s processes, and sunshine is a known healing agent.

Pray, man-’tis mortal

Whenever I get sick like this, every ugly thing I have ever seen, ever repetitive song, every fear, every nasty thought - all comes into my mind and cycles over and over in a horrible fever dream. Sickness is a breeding ground for depression and self pity. Only our Creator and Great Physician can heal these infirmities. And “He hears the prayers of the faint... and him that has no helper”!

Inch back into Life

Even though you begin to feel better, remember to be temperate. Don’t overdo it. Slowly get used to eating regular meals. You’ll have to exercise to get your strength back for sure! But don’t try to do it all in one day. Relapses are not worth it!