Like Rolling off a Blog

I thought I'd share Lara's blog with you today, followed by my comment. I thought the tears had stopped for a while ... You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil." - Psalm 5:4a "Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord, how long? Turn, O Lord, and deliver me. Save me because of your unfailing love." - Psalm 6:2-4 "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." - Philippians 3:20-21 It's hard to feel out of control. I watch as my little boy gets weaker and even the best doctors cannot really help him. They can treat the symptoms but there is no human cure for this horrible disease. I watched as he lost the strength to suck sufficiently to nurse. So we tried bottle...

For many years, we've been hearing that "content is king." I'm attending a conference for tradeshow and event planners, and this afternoon's workshop was on knowing your customers' communities. The presenter then said that content is no longer king... Community is king. Hmmmm. Would you agree? How many community groups online do you belong to or regularly read? And do you go there primarily for the content or for the community? Is it a toss up? Is the community the conduit for the content? Okay, the brain is now officially fried for the day.

But I think I'll know when I'll be back, Lord willing. Work has taken me flying a lot lately, and then a week after I return from this one, we'll head out to California to be with Timmy for his first birthday. That's the trip I'm looking forward to. I wish it could have been sooner, or that we lived closer to all the kids and grandkids. But if we can just stand the flying, that makes it less than a day's trip. I'm glad that so much of the family and friends take advantage of jetting around the country to help out. Pray for safety on all ends of the trips.

Frankly, I could hardly wait to get home and write this blog. If you don't want to read much, let me sum up this movie in one word: embarrassment. Silly me, I should have read some reviews. Any reviews. But because I really do like Abba music, I thought this might be fun. And in some parts it was. But other words come to mind: crude, socially irresponsible, immoral (please don't call me prudish, it really is). You know how I've titled my blog as "a hotflash in the making?" Well, this movie was a hormone wanna-be. Tasteless is another word that comes to mind. So save yourself the money and just buy a CD if you like the music.

I've missed the anniversary by a few days. On July 15, 1976, Richard Toshio Sawyer went to be with Jesus after a two year battle with cancer. He was 9 years old. In our minds he will always be 9. It seems incredible that he would be 41 years old now had he lived. About a year later, my mom wrote a little booklet called "Take Care of My Child for a While." It was based on a poem that I think I've quoted in this blog previously. I typed it up for her on ... gasp ... a typewriter and we copied it and saddle stitched it ourselves to be distributed at a local Cancer Aid thrift store. It was my first foray into publishing. The book was a memoir of Ricky's adoption and our foibles in fitting him into our Anglo family, and subsequent cancer treatment and succumbing to the disease. When Marshall was born in July of 1977, Mom handed me a copy of the book, signed thus: Perhaps now you will know what it means to love someone so much it hurts. I do. And Marshall and Lara do, ...

On my way in this morning, men were working on a new turn lane where I get on the highway. Couldn't help myself ... I just thought this was a cool picture.

Ingrid sent this to me, and it's really not fun to have tears hit your keyboard. Don't know the author, but this reminds us of family priorities. *Just for this morning, I am going to step over the laundry, and pick you up and take you to the park to play. *Just for this morning, I will leave the dishes in the sink, and let you teach me how to put that puzzle of yours together. *Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the computer off, and sit with you in the backyard and blow bubbles. *Just for this afternoon, I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and whine for the ice cream truck and I will buy you one if he comes by. *Just for this afternoon, I won't worry about what you are going to be when you grow up, or second guess every decision I have made where you are concerned. *Just for this afternoon, I will let you help me bake cookies, and I won't stand over you trying to fix them. *Just for this afternoon, I will take us to...

And praying Psalm 20 for Marshall and Lara and Timmy... (thanks to BibleGateway for the online Bible.) Psalm 20 For the director of music. A psalm of David. 1 May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. [RJE: Lord, You have been faithful to put the right people in place for Timmy and his family. You have protected him when his life has been in danger] 2 May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion. [RJE:We trust You, Lord, for the support You have and will give to Marshall, Lara, and especially Timmy. You have assigned people to be Your hands and Your feet during this time, tangibly surrounding them with love and gifts] 3 May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings. Selah [Selah, indeed...rest] 4 May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. ...

No, I didn't mean "who are you praying for." I want to show you who you are praying for... our grandchildren. Starting with Timmy, who has seen more of the inside of a hospital than I ever have, and he's only 11 months old. And then there is Oliver, who is now 16 months old and VERY redhead!!! That will earn him a lot of stranger attention throughout his life, I'm sure... And, of course, the two we get to see the most of, so that we can watch the changes in mobility, speech, character... not to mention frequent kisses and hugs. We love and pray for you all!

When a person goes a whole day without blogging, they really aren't a serious blogger. So what about those of us who just make up drivel so that we don't go a whole month without blogging? July for this household has been woefully lacking in time for serious thought! Babysitting, travel, tradeshows, conferences, and throw in two days of vacation and what do you have? Blog fodder, of course. We were treated royally for two days (well not quite a whole two days, but close enough) to a friend's home in a gated community, complete with BMW convertible with "beach tags" on it so we could take this picture. It was a lovely ending to a hectic 8 days. But when I got back to work on Monday my blogging coworkers complained that I was posing. What self-respecting thoughtful individual has nothing to say for a whole week? And may I add that this blog really didn't count. I'm sure it's been seven years in blog years...

The next time you see a picture of lightning, I hope you'll go "ooooooh" and "aaaaaahhhhh" and "how did you do that?" Because I'm sitting in the midst of an electrical storm in Orlando with my trusty camera set to "burst" and have taken approximately 120 shots. ALL of them missed any single lightning strike! Any ideas?

And if you're here, would you please go HERE instead? And pray for Timmy, especially, and Lara and Marshall. Peace. Discernment. Guided hands. Many thanks to those who have been meeting the physical and emotional needs of the family during this stressful time.

I just flew in to Orlando, and boy are my arms tired! Old joke, but so true. This morning I was picked up by the Mercury Limo service and was treated to stories by an acquaintance of a coworker. Does that sound convoluted? Well, this driver's fiction concepts were well done and it made the traffic at 6:30 AM go by a bit faster. No problem so far. I got through the "expert traveler" line at Midway. Again, no problem. Upgraded (on my own dime, I might add) to business class, which is well worth the $49 on AirTran . When I went to weigh my one piece of checked luggage, it was 5 pounds overweight (my luggage struggles just like I do!). I immediately knew what it was...the convention binder. When I took it out of my luggage, the suitcase weighed a full NINE pounds less! So now that 9 pounds is walking with me as carry on luggage. No glitches in the flight from Chicago to Atlanta, although I really wish I could have gotten a through flight, because anyone who has ever lived wit...

What's the shortest hour of the day? The one right before the alarm goes off. What's the longest hour of the day? The hour before nap time! We've really been enjoying Ashley and Amberleigh. Once you get into a routine, it's really not so bad. Hahahahaha. Like I said, I know why young women have kids! Seriously, it has been fun to kiss, hug, snuggle, paint, ride, walk, match, etc with eager little minds and fingers. I only wish we could do the same with Timmy and Oliver. I'm really afraid that they won't ever really know their Nana and Papa Elfstrand. And we will only know them from afar. Life in the day to day is so important for memory making. But we can't have it all, I guess. In a few short hours, Gramma W will be picking up the girls for her turn. And I'll be packing for a trip that starts at 6:30 tomorrow morning. Whew! Good night! I hope... :-)

Okay, I don't ever remember knowing someone with a peanut allergy when I was growing up. Never even heard of it, and thought the parent was joking, when our kids were in middle school and I was told a child had a peanut allergy. Ever since, they are cropping up all over the place. Has it always been around? Is it more prevalent for some reason? But this takes it ... we now have peanut-free zones everywhere, and churches won't even have snacks for kids because of allergies. If I was a parent of a child with an allergy, I'd be very grateful. That's not the best. Or the worst. Check this out: Good warning, right? I mean, a parent might actually pick up this product and inadvertently feed it to their youngster, right? Get a brain, folks! It's on a jar of PEANUT BUTTER!!!

It wasn't until I got the funeral notice that I decided to look at the picture. I'm wallowing in guilt. For the last several months, we've had prayer requests in our church bulletin for a young woman whose name was vaguely familiar. She was undergoing chemotherapy and it sounded like the usual bouts with chemo sickness. But this past week she passed away. During church prayer, there was an audible gasp when the pastor asked for comfort for her husband. I'm grateful she knew the Lord as her savior, but horribly guilty that I never bothered to follow up on visiting or sending a note or calling ... anything! When I got the funeral notice, I opened up the pictorial directory and gasped myself. This was a couple who was in our membership class at church. I should have known them much better. I should have called her. Known why her name sounded familiar. Cared!!! I feel like scum. I really have no excuse for leaving her and her husband high and dry in a time of crisis. Will t...

Why young women have children. Why Nanas don't sleep well. Why babies are cute. Why three year olds are a never ending source of entertainment. Why mommies and daddies need vacation. Why grandparents will work until they die for enough money to support the grandchildren habit!

I remember reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, and his line about our discomfort with time. It is, says Lewis, an indication that we were not ultimately built for time, but for eternity. We are constantly looking at our watch or the clock. Everything is "too early" or "too late." Rarely do we agree in spirit (although we mouth the words) that God is always on time. So it is with great mixed emotions that I mark the time of the birth of our firstborn! Happy Birthday, Marshall! To some degree it seems like only yesterday, and I can recount all the birth story leading up to 8:39 AM on Saturday morning, July 2, 1977. But in other ways, it seems like a lifetime ago. It IS a lifetime ago! My first son has a son of his own. And with all due respect to my second and third born, there is something unique about the first birth experience and first born child. Go ahead, admit it, you guys, now that you all have first borns of your own. And for reasons I won't go into,...