Procrastination Pays

My friend Yvonne and I have been concerned about a young friend who recently had her first child. Jill's husband, Jack, has been insisting that Jill go back to work when John turns 3 months old, because otherwise they may have to sell their home. Jill was working at a day care which is understaffed, often resulting in cranky children; she didn't get that many hours; and she would have to pay for John to be at the day care with her. Yvonne and I were thinking that working probably wouldn't bring in that much money, and that Jill's family could probably benefit financially if she would learn to save money instead of earning it. We prayed together for Jill several times, and were wondering what we needed to say to her or to Jack. Yvonne's been learning from the Lord that she has this feeling, left over from her childhood, that if she doesn't do something it won't happen, and that He wants her to trust Him more in certain situations, instead of trying to do something. Sure enough, a few days ago Jill called Yvonne and asked if she could work at the church day care (with Yvonne!) a few hours per week. Jack had run the numbers and determined that the net income from Jill's job would be miniscule.

Whether the Lord prompted someone else to talk to Jack, or gave Jack the idea, Yvonne hadn't lifted a finger, I hadn't said a word, and the job was done. John will be better cared for by his own mother; Jill will be happier and healthier; and Jack will have just as much money for his family. Thanks, Lord - may we know when to procrastinate and when to act!

Bustin' Our Buttons

David presented his senior voice recital on Saturday at Augustana College in Sioux Falls. Including our immediate family, sixteen relatives came to applaud and enjoy his performance. He sang in six languages - English, German, Norwegian, Italian, French and Spanish - with flawless pronunciation. His range, tone, pitch, diction and expression impressed the crowd - even Weston Noble, the 93-year-old interim director of the Augie Choir who has seen students come and go for over 60 years, most of them at Luther College in Iowa. When Liz Stadem asked him, "Wasn't my grandson good?" he replied, "He wasn't good. He was fabulous!" I agree - we're all pretty proud of what he has accomplished with hard work (and superior instruction by his voice teacher, Cheryl Koch) over the last three years.

We also got to see Callie in the musical, "Zombie Prom," and her junior voice and harp recital. Wow! Her acting and vocal skills shone as Miss Delilah Strict, the strait-laced principal of Enrico Fermi High. She had so much fun with the part, it was a joy to watch. The skill displayed in playing the harp astounded those of us who haven't had much experience with it. There are so many strings! She tossed off her first song with incredible ease, and made the modern English pieces enjoyable (not an easy task).

Basically, we're bustin' our buttons with pride - what a musical duo!

Honor your Father and Mother

(by Pete)

John (not his real name) called me last night and asked if the men were meeting in the morning. They weren’t, but I had wondered about going to the church every Friday even if no one else was there. So he brought muffins this morning, and we chatted, then read the Daily Text, Mark 4:22. That led to the Masterbuilders Bible with its questions, which led to discussion about family stuff. John is having issues with Mike, who won't listen to him. His grandpa started him in a pickleball league and it has been as many as three nights a week playing pickleball. “That’s too many.”

"John Jr. is home from college and I tell him to clean his gun from last fall. He doesn’t do it so I hide his shirt and tell him he can get it back when he cleans his gun. The gun still isn’t cleaned. Mike was told to feed the dog when he feeds his rabbit and he doesn’t do it."

We talked about honor and I turned to Exodus 20:12: “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” If only our children would trust that this commandment is for flawed and broken parents as well as good ones. We need to emphasize the promise attached, I told John. We looked at Malachi and reviewed how our hearts need to be turned to our children or there will be a curse. John has tried to get his children to join him hunting and fishing. . .

We talked about the mustard seed size and marveled that the little thing can even germinate. Yet we are to plant the seed and trust that God does the growth. In our prayers we asked God to help us turn our hearts to our children and for our children to see the blessing in the commandment and for the seed to grow without our anger or manipulation to help it along. Apparently John's wife sided with John Jr. and told John to give back the shirt, but John prevailed. We also prayed that our wives would respect us and that we would love our wives.

I shared my own family struggles. And ours are good, strong, stable families! Lord have mercy.

You Never Know

On Oct. 18, my hairdresser's husband woke up with blood in his stool, and he's been bleeding ever since with colitis. The doctor has prescribed numerous medications, none of which has helped for long. It's all they think about or talk about, except when their three little children need attention (which, blessedly, is often). Now he's going to try fasting for a few days and then slowly reintroducing foods one at a time to see if he can get a handle on it without medications. A healthy man all his life, he has no template to handle the inconvenience of it all (he has been able to continue working), but more than that, the fear. What will be the outcome?

A shirttail relative is scheduled for surgery on Wednesday after about six weeks of battling some colon problem. He's been in and out of the hospital; for the last week he has had no food OR WATER, with no results. Says he, "I'd kill for a piece of pizza!" The doctor's best hope is for a temporary colostomy, I assume as opposed to a permanent one; what they will see when they open him up is unknown. Again, what will be the outcome?

On the other end of the surprise spectrum is one of our missionary couples. They have been trying to conceive for years, and she had a surgery to fix something in the fall. They decided to wait until March and then pursue adoption. They've known she was pregnant for a few weeks, and she was spotting and cramping so they were sure she was miscarrying - again. But at their recent appointment, the heartbeat was strong and the baby is perfectly healthy! Praise God! But once again, what will be the outcome?

You never know what will happen tomorrow to change your life, for better or worse. All we can do is walk with God today and trust Him for tomorrow, because He's the only one who knows.

Providential Miscommunication

Sometimes miscommunication works out for the best. On Thursday I played the organ for a funeral at Svea. A niece of the deceased, Kris, played a saxophone solo, beautifully, and remained on the praise platform for the rest of the service. The last hymn, "Precious Lord, Take My Hand," was in a different hymnal which had been handed out before the service. Kris didn't have the hymnal on the platform and wasn't singing the first verse. I tried to catch her eye and nod toward the correct hymnal sitting on a pew beside her, but she didn't get it. Finally I took advantage of a break in the music and actually pointed to the hymnal. Kris thought I pointed to her saxophone, so she picked it up and started playing along. Her beautiful tone and excellent improvisation provided a lovely addition to the hymn, and the congregation appreciated it. I didn't even tell her afterward that it had been a miscommunication - the Lord works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform!

Keeping the Faith

We are praying for unity with Michelle and Saul regarding whether they are being called by God to pursue a relationship leading to marriage. Pete feels strongly that the whole thing began wrongly and doesn't feel good about it continuing unless there are major signs of repentance. No one wants a wedding with hard feelings, or even uneasy feelings, and no one wants Michelle and Saul to abandon what they feel called to do unless they have faith that God is in the abandoning. Since we went to Puebla in August, we have been praying for unity - and we don't seem to be any closer. I get quite discouraged about the prospects, but then I remember what CS Lewis wrote about the devil's delight in getting us to give in to temptation just before he would have to quit tempting us. If we can keep the faith, I believe we will see the power of the Lord. Jesus said, "Father, may they be one as we are one, that the world may know You sent me." May we receive the gift of faith!

A New Chapter

I'm going to be a mother-in-law! Wow!! On Saturday evening, David had Michael (his roommate) text him and Callie, asking them to go to the chapel and get some flowers and a note that he, Michael, had left there for his fiancee. Of course, they were for Callie. Unfortunately, Callie said, "Oh, David, you go get them - I still have to change and we're already late for our get-together with the parents at Minerva's.." David tried a couple of gambits, but they failed utterly and he found himself at the chapel - alone. Finally inspiration struck, and he texted Callie that he had accidentally locked himself in a room whille searching for the flowers. When she arrived to rescue him, he was sitting on the chapel steps with the flowers, the note and the ring. She knew then, of course. I'd arranged the blue hydrangea and yellow daisies (Callie's favorite colors - and mine - and her mother's) in some semblance of order, and though the hydrangea was still somewhat wilted on account of being left without water because its stem was shorter than those of the daisies, Callie found them beautiful. She cried over the note and loved the ring - "It's exactly exactly exactly what I wanted!"

Meanwhile, Pete and I and Callie's parents, Jon and Laurie Berg, were sitting at Minerva's wondering why it was taking them even longer to get engaged than we had imagined. We were about to call them when David called and said they were on their way. We enjoyed appetizers, champagne, dessert and the play-by-play of the whole affair. Michelle and Britta stopped by to give hugs; when Callie went back to her dorm, she and her roommate Mandy (who also happens to be the above-mentioned Michael's fiancee) knocked on a number of doors to share the good news, resulting in quite a bit of screaming and further news spreading.

Yesterday at Augustana's cafeteria, we settled on September 1 as the date (probably) and the Draxton Wedding Barn as the location. The Bergs and the Draxtons have been very close friends for years and when the Draxons had cleaned out a hundred years' worth of manure and were having a celebration of their Century Farm in May of 2003, Jane, the oldest Berg daughter (of four - no sons) asked, "Couldn't I have my wedding reception in this barn?" The Bergs and Draxtons spent the summer renovating the barn and each of the daughters has been married there.

At the Browns' for the Super Bowl, the rest of the Stadems screamed and hugged and welcomed Callie with sufficient enthusiasm. She's excited to have "little" brothers and a multitude of new cousins. Grandpa Stadem will officiate, as Callie doesn't know the current pastor of her church very well. And so we enter a new chapter - adding grown members to the family! God bless us, every one!