Curl up with a Good Book

I have always loved to read, always loved to curl up with a good book. My love for reading came from my mother. She has always loved to read too, and she read to us and took us to the library from the time we were babies on up. I always LOVED going to the library, although, when I was little, our library was this really old big building. It was beautiful, but at the time, it creeped me out. I wouldn't even go to the bathroom by myself.

Anyway, I've always loved to read, and I credit my mother with the fact that I was one of the very few kids who could read and write before I got to kindergarten. I attribute it to the many trips to the library and her reading to me and getting me interested in books. I am very much like my mother in that I can get lost in a book for hours and cut off everything around me. It's almost like I have been absorbed right into the book and am standing in the middle of the story watching the characters play everything out. My mother is the same way. I can remember her reading and us trying to get her attention. Many times, it would take 6 or 7 times of calling her name loudly to get her attention. I am the exact same way. I began reading a book right after David left for work last night, and did not put it down until he came home. (Don't worry. He works nights, so my children were sleeping.)

I had gotten away from reading for a while, but lately, I have been taking my own kids to the library, and I have been reading to my girls since they were babies as well. I have been reading books by an author named Gilbert Morris. He is a wonderful writer. I love his books! He was a Baptist pastor for 10 years, and then he became an English professor at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas, which by the way I believe is the school Mike Huckabee went to, but I digress. His books are wonderful. He uses history and makes it come alive by wrapping a fictional story around it. I am a big history buff, and I love a good story, so his books are perfect for me. Many of them do have a romantic story embedded in them, but it is of course clean romance because he is a Christian writer.

Lately, I have been reading his "The House of Winslow" series. It tracks a family all the way from the first ancestor that came to America to the 20 century. I have read the first two books and am on book 3. The history in these books incorporates American history and the history of the church. In fact, John Bunyan, George Whitefield, and Jonathan Edwards have appeared in these books, and I have learned a lot about church history just from reading them. Of course, the stories are fictional, but he uses historical fact to tell them. Also, in a way, these books have helped me grow in my spiritual walk. Don't get me wrong. The Bible is absolutely the most important book to read, and without the Word of God, you can have no spiritual growth. However, his writing is very inspiring for people of faith.

Anyway, I just thought I would recommend these books to anyone looking for something good to read, especially anyone who likes history, also, anyone who likes romance but does not want to read the smut put out by most romance authors.

P.S. You can tell this guy used to be a pastor too! In the book I am reading now, there is a party at Jonathan Edwards' house, and one of the guests says that if people would quit fighting the pastor and start fighting the devil, the churches would be better off. I just laughed and said a quiet amen when I read that. You can definitely tell he pastored a Baptist church! LOL

Sweet Home Tennessee

Okay, so I changed the title of the song a little, sue me. :o) And technically, Tennessee is not my "home." I was born and raised in Illinois. Ever since I was a little girl, though, I have always wanted to live in Tennessee. I don't know if you remember those tourism commercials for Tennessee that had that little jingle, "Come to Tennessee. We're playing your song." Anyway, those commercials were running when I was a little girl. Ever since I saw those commercials, I was fascinated with Tennessee. Then, when I was probably about 12 or so, we went to Hendersonville, Tennessee for my cousin's wedding. It's where his wife was from. Anyway, driving through the hills and seeing the beautiful old plantation home they got married at (it was a bed and breakfast then) made me fall head over heels in love with Tennessee.

Fast forward a few years, and I met a guy on the internet. He just happened to be from Tennessee. We fell in love and got married. (No, not just because he was from Tennessee. That was just a bonus.) He moved to Illinois, and we lived here until 2005 when he graduated college. Then, his friend from Tennessee called and said that he had found a job for him, and once he found a place, we all moved to the town where my husband was raised. I had been there a few times in the course of our relationship, and I always loved it. I liked Nashville too, which was where his mom lived, and even though that's where David's job was, I refused to live in the city. I am a small town girl. So, we lived in Dickson which is about 45 minutes west of Nashville. We started going to a church, which we liked, but through a series of events, we discovered that there were things going on there that we didn't agree with. I won't bore you with the long story, but we ended up leaving the church. We searched around for a while and were getting kind of frustrated because we couldn't find another church we liked. Finally, we decided to try one last church in the area, not expecting much. From the moment we walked in, it felt like home. The people were amazing, the worship was wonderful, and the church was alive and growing. It was the perfect church for us, so we joined. We LOVED our time there, but eventually, after David lost his job, we felt God calling us back to Illinois. I was kind of excited about moving back because I missed my family. On the other hand, I was really sad because I loved Dickson and the church.

So, we moved back up here, and God really blessed us. David has been preaching more than ever and is actually now the interim pastor for a church. I have missed Tennessee ever since we left, and even more so since David has been preaching/pastoring. Not because I don't enjoy joining my husband in his ministry. I do. It's just that the churches around here are nothing like the churches down South. I never realized how dead the churches up here were until I moved South and came back. I hate to tell you people, I love you, but most of your churches are either dead or dying a slow agonizing death. The church my husband is the interim pastor for has about 10-15 faithful members. And those members are happy just to warm a pew once a week. That's right, once a week. They only have services on Sunday morning. The worship is dead. It sounds like they are singing at a funeral or something, and when David preaches, it's almost like he is preaching in a morgue. I guess in a way, all that is kind of true, sadly. The church in dying and not far from closing their doors. It is horrible to think of any church closing their doors. It's only one of two churches in this small town. The fields are white for the harvest! The only problem is, the workers aren't in the field and refuse to do so. They've never done it before. That's the Baptist mantra. "We've never done it that way before." To change a bunch of Baptists is like trying to push an elephant up the stairs! My granfather was a Southern Baptist minister, and he always said that the Baptist theme song should be, "I Shall Not Be Moved." How true that is!

Anyway, David has been doing the evangelism alone, knocking on doors because no one else will. In fact, while he was knocking on doors, he came to the house of another pastor that has been pastoring for years and believes very strongly in door-to-door evangelism. He was shocked that David was even out witnessing. He was pleasantly surprised because not very many churches around here do it. They think it doesn't work. It does, and I've seen it work! As David likes to say, and has said in a sermon that ruffled a few feathers, "It doesn't work because you're not doing it!!"

People are out there searching and begging for something, and we need to be taking Christ to them! In the little community around the church David pastors there were 3 suicides in the span of 2 weeks! Three in two weeks!!! Doesn't that tell them something?!?!?! These people NEED to hear the Gospel! They are begging for answers! Had the Gospel been taken to these people, perhaps their lives would have been spared. Perhaps they would have felt like their lives were more important, like they had something to live for! God could do so much with this church, and we believe He wants to. We just have to convince the members to let Him.

Whew! Sorry! I will step down off my soap box now. I think David is rubbing off on me. :o) Anyway, the point of this blog was, although reading back through it I think it turned into something else, I MISS TENNESSEE! I know God has us here for a reason, maybe to use David to build this little church up and reach out to the community around it. I don't know. I just know we are supposed to be here. I would never want to go against God's will, and I love watching God work through my husband and use him in His ministry. And I know that He is using me too. When your husband is called to be a pastor, you are called to be a pastor's wife. It's definitely a calling. I hope I can live up to what God wants me to be. I am trying. Anyway, I know God wants us to be here, but I can't help but feel that my heart is in Tennessee.

Lost and Found

If you've been married for a while, you know that occasionally, a little something gets lost. That happened to my husband and me. Don't get me wrong, love wasn't lost between us. We've always been madly in love, but between kids, work, bills, and the ministry, a little bit of the romance was lost. When we were dating, my husband was so romantic. He always surprised me, always found something romantic to do, especially on special occasions. Lately, though, the romantic side of him has been lost. Last night, we found it again!

As most of you know, yesterday was Valentine's Day. All day, my husband apologized because he didn't get me anything. It was no big deal. He woke me up when he got home from work and told me Happy Valentine's Day. Just the fact that he remembered was enough for me. I'm not picky. And, he was upset all day because he had to work last night. He works the night shift. So, he left for work at 10:00, and I settled in to watch TV as I normally do. I stay up late because I cannot sleep when he is not here. At 3:00 in the morning, there was a knock on the door. That's not unusual because that's about the time he takes his break at work and comes home. I answered the door, and there stood my husband with a rose, a card, and some candy. Then, he said, "You've got me for the rest of the night." It turns out, he wasn't scheduled to work last night. He has been setting me up all day. What a surprise! And if you know me at all, you know it's hard to surprise me.

That's the romantic guy I married! We found him again! I have the best husband in the world. I've always known it, and I've always been madly in love with him. Last night was one of those times though that made me fall in love with him all over again. I'm the luckiest woman in the world!

May I Have Your Attention Please!

Something has been bothering me lately, so I decided this is the best place to get it off of my chest......

A lot of people refer to Illinois as "the North," and when I lived in Tennessee, there were people who thought of me as a "yankee." In fact, my husband, who grew up in Tennessee, teases me about being a yankee all the time. I would like to clear one thing up. Now listen close. I AM NOT A YANKEE!!! People from Chicago are yankees, and we in southern Illinois despise them as much as people in the South do. I may not have been born and raised in the South. That's true enough, and I would never classify myself as a Southern Belle. I'm not, but I also am not a Yankee. I am a Mid-Western farm town girl!!

I was born and raised in a small farm community. I was once woken up at 3 am because my grandma's cow was giving birth to twins. I know how to shuck corn and snap green beans. I know the difference between John Deere and International. I also know that to farmers, that debate is just as huge as Ford vs. Chevy to car guys. Some of the biggest name brands worn in my school were Carhart and Wrangler. One of the biggest and most popular clubs in my high school was not the drama club or the Latin club...it was the FFA! In fact, one week of the school year was devoted to that club. They drove their tractors to school, and one day of that week every year, my homeroom would be turned into a barnyard when they all brought their farm animals to school. It was okay though. Living in a farm community, most of us were used to the smell. I personally know two people who were seriously injured in bull riding accidents. I've seen tractor pulls, demolition derbies, and rodeos. I know how to bait my own hook and catch a fish. I live in a part of the state where, on the first day of shot gun season, they declare it Deer Day and let school out. I know what corn fields and freshly mowed hay smell like....very well. In fact, living in Tennessee, I rarely smelled it and got homesick for that smell. Weenie roasts and hayrides are a yearly occurence. I live closer to Kentucky than I do to Chicago. Does that sound like a yankee to you? Of course not! Because I AM NOT A YANKEE!!!

Furthermore, Illinois is not a liberal state. Granted, it usually goes to the Democratic candidate, but we are not a liberal STATE. Chicago is liberal. In the 2004 presidential elections, statistics showed that 7/8 of the state voted for Bush but because Cook County holds the biggest population and is liberal, the state went to Kerry. That happens all the time. The state is not liberal. Chicago is. Chicago and southern Illinois are like two different states, and most of us in southern Illinois wish they were!

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE the South, and I miss Tennessee like crazy. There are definitely differences from there to here, but they are not as drastic as people down there think. So please, if I ever get to move back, don't call me a yankee!

What a Bummer!

Well, it turns out we did get that big snowstorm. We have about, I'd say just as an estimate, maybe 4 inches of snow on the ground. I was so excited. I am used to snow, but we lived in Tennessee for 2 years where we didn't see much, and it hasn't really snowed a whole lot since we've moved back up here.

I was all set to take the girls sledding, and so was David. We were both excited about it, but David still isn't feeling well. There is a nasty cold/flu type thing going around, and they got it really bad at the nursing home. He ended up picking it up from one of the residents. So, he's had it in his chest really bad, but he is on the mend. I am glad because, for a lot of people, it has ended up turning into bronchitis and pneumonia. We were all set to go anyway, since David was feeling a little better, but when we woke up this morning, Isabel had caught it from David. So far, she's just had sinus congestion, a runny nose, a little bit of a cough, and a slight fever. Hopefully, she won't get it very bad either, and we are really hoping the baby doesn't catch it because her surgery is scheduled for the 12 of February. If she gets sick, we will more than likely have to rechedule the surgery, and David has already taken time off of work and everything. Please pray for Isabel and David, and pray that Kayleah stays healthy and strong before her surgery.