2020

Have you ever left church and thought, "Wow! That was exactly the sermon I needed to hear!"? That was me on Sunday. The sermon was about Abigail , a woman in the Bible who responded calmly to a crisis when everyone else was overreacting. Our pastor, Andrew , is from Ireland, so he frequently introduces us to new cultural references in his sermons to illustrate his point. This week he referred to an insurance company from the UK whose slogan in the 80's was: "We won't make a drama out of a crisis." This is one of their commercials: We experience crises on a regular basis. Today you may be having a small crisis -- an unexpected change of plans, for example -- or you may be having a bigger crisis, like the one in the video. But whether it is big or small, you get to decide how you will respond. Will you make a drama out of a crisis? Or will you, like Abigail, respond with wisdom and calm in the midst of your storm? One reason that Pastor

Randy and I are busy planning a return trip to San Felipe, Mexico. The children at Sonshine Hacienda, the orphanage we visited in February , captured our hearts. And each day we long to return. As we think about going back, we are aware of one major hindrance to our connecting most deeply with the children, the staff, and the community of San Felipe: we don't speak the language. Sure we got around Spain just fine. We had no trouble asking for the basic necessities: food, shelter, bathrooms, beer. But when you think about deepening relationships, a common language is so important. Which is why we are taking Spanish classes this summer at our local community college!  We recognized that wanting to have a better grasp of the language was not actually going to give us a better grasp of the language, anymore than wanting to have more money is going to make you rich or wanting to exercise is going to make you thin. We must be intentional about the things we want

In the past couple of weeks I've been trying to schedule my annual doctor's appointments. I say "annual" but really it has been several years for all of these doctors. And I've never seen a doctor in California, so I'm relying on my handy insurance packet to tell me who to call. Invariably, the conversations have gone like this: Me : "Do you accept new patients?" Secretary : "Yes!" Me : "I'd like to make an appointment for a general exam." Secretary : "Great! I'd be happy to help you with that. When is the best time for you?" Me : "I work from home, so I'm very flexible." Secretary : "Who is your insurance provider?" Me , telling her the name of my provider. Secretary : "Oh." Yep. "Oh." Followed by "we are actually all booked" or "we don't accept THAT insurance" or "I can put you on the wait list for August." Mind you, all o

Randy and I recently returned from a mid-week vacation. We had a bit of a hectic May, at least by our standards: a dozen catering jobs  a sick dog who was on pain pills and antibiotics my in-laws moving into a new home   us thinking we had to move only to be told at the last minute that we could stay another 6 months back-to-back house guests (even fun things can be stressful!) our annual spring ant-infestation the highs and lows of thinking we'd sold our Indiana home, followed by yet another delay, then finally selling it, only to receive the wrong check in the mail.  I mean, I know housing is cheap in Richmond, Indiana, but a $500 check made out to State Farm wasn't exactly what I was hoping for when the envelope I'd been waiting two years for finally arrived in the mail. Needless to say, we needed a vacation! And lucky for us, Randy was given a two-night stay at a resort in Lake Tahoe as a "thank you" for one of his catering jobs. S