Lighting the Fire on the Family Altar

Today, for various reasons, we had family church at home. Normally we would go to our wonderful church community at OHOP, or if we're ministering somewhere else, we'd be having fun experiencing a new worship service. I think God pushed us into rekindling the fire on our family altar. There has been much hustle and bustle, and very little connecting with God around our home. Nick and I have been desiring to pray together with the kids more. We've been planning to have purposeful worship time as a family. We've talked about what we'd do for family altar time. But, there was very little actual DOING.

I tell ya, sometimes I feel like a little kid and my Daddy has to yank me along by the hand 'cause I just won't keep up! (God, thank you for not letting me get lost or left behind. You are loving and faithful.)

It was a good day to light those fires. After we all went around and said our own opening prayer for our family, Nick opened his prayer book. He read out that in 1967, on today's date - June 5 - it was the beginning of the Six Day War in Israel. He gave a shortened version of the events and outcome of that conflict. God did miracles. There will always be conflict over that little bit of land - Israel - the Promised Land. He reiterated that we need to keep praying for Israel because of the enemies, pressures, spiritual warfare continuing to surround that little nation. We prayed together, taking turns again, for Israel, Jerusalem, and the Jewish people. We read several passages from the Bible and prayed some more. The two youngest were very distracted/distracting, but I know they will learn to take joy in the place of prayer and how to be reverent to God.

Even if I have to yank them by the hand so they keep up!

5 Guys Burgers and Fries ;)

Lego is having a contest in which younger kids are supposed to make creations of their favorite foods and then send in a photo. My kids all love playing with Legos, and Rocky encouraged Luca to enter. He created "5 Guys Burgers and Fries." Considering he's only 5-years-old, I thought he did an amazing job - he even included the peanuts (foreground) that the restaurant serves while you're waiting for them to make your custom burger. I thought this was so cute, I had to feature it here!

 
P.S. I did not get any compensation for mentioning Legos or 5 Guys. Just having fun.

A Few Parting Shots from a Dying Town

While I was in Marshall, Oklahoma, I decided to take a walk "around town" to see what I could see. I was in a melancholy mood, it being the day after Grandpa's funeral, and the condition of the town didn't help. It occurred to me that my Grandpa's life was pretty closely related to the life of Marshall, where he lived his entire life except for the time he spent on a Navy ship during WWII. As I was blown up and down the empty roads by a strong Spring wind, I thought of Don Huffer's life - a farmer, a sailor, a husband, a father, grandfather, great-grandfather, a church-goer, Republican, traveler, a man who worked hard, made big plans, and loved life. This town, established around 1890 and barely hanging on to life through the post-office, co-op store and one last church, was only a little over 30 years older than he. How must he have felt seeing it pass away in front of him?

These photos are a few from my bittersweet tour of Marshall last month. I'm still clinging to my roots buried deep in the red, red soil of northern Oklahoma.

The family church - weddings, funerals, confirmations, and Christmas pageants.

Marshall school - est. 1904, closed 1988

The old fire truck, used for the parade on Prairie City Days. (They do have a modern one.)

One of the empty Co-op grain elevators, the train doesn't come through here any more.

Part of Main Street - plate glass of the bar broken out, small grocery closed for good.

Destruction and Life.

Empty playground.

Among the broken, dead brambles - LIFE and COLOR - roses

Little red wagon along the backyard I used to play in - it was my great-grandmother's house once.

Irises my Grandpa planted along the back of his workshop.

Scrap metal wheels

 

Town billboard in the middle of the wide Main Street, news: Huffer funeral.

 

I found an entry for this little town on Wikipedia, obviously written by someone who lives, or grew up, there. The part that spoke to me said, "Back in the town's prime between 1900 and 1980 it had two gas stations, a hotel, 5-dime store, drug store, cafe, bar, grocery store, laundromat, hardware store, lawyer office, bank, doctor office, blacksmith, barber shop, beauty shop, fire station, arcade, movie theatre, two car dealers and farmers' co-op. Today all that is left is the co-op and post office. Where main street was once lined with cars on Saturdays is now pretty much a ghost town. Most of the buildings downtown are, or have, fallen down or empty. During the 1980s the oil bust happened and the town hasn't been the same ever since."


To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die;
      A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted; 

A time to kill, And a time to heal;
      A time to break down, And a time to build up; 

A time to weep, And a time to laugh;
      A time to mourn, And a time to dance; 

A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones;
      A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing; 

A time to gain, And a time to lose;
      A time to keep, And a time to throw away; 

A time to tear, And a time to sew;
      A time to keep silence, And a time to speak; 

A time to love, And a time to hate;  A time of war, And a time of peace.  —Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

My Big Girl is 10!

A week ago, we celebrated Cecelia's 10th birthday. I was overwhelmed by the realization that my big/little girl is growing up and out of childhood. She didn't even get any toys for presents. (She didn't ask for any either.) She had wanted to have a sleepover, but one of her friends wasn't able to spend the night and the other is allergic to our pets. The best alternative was THE BEACH! 

Rocky, Keliah, Cecelia, Carlo, Antonio and Luca

We drove out to Ft. Desoto park on the gulf coast and shared a picnic lunch with seagulls and had a great time swimming, exploring, and playing. Because of the long road trip and extended time on the beach (as evidenced by the pink shoulders of some of us), we had cake, ice cream and presents the next day.

Happy Birthday Cecelia!!!

I was touched when Keliah (8) wanted to pray for Cecelia to bless her birthday.
Sweet Cecelia, you may not always hear me say all I feel for you. I love you - you know that - but do you know how much I treasure and cherish you? You are the delight of my heart and everyday my respect for you and my pride in you grows. You are an amazing lover of the Lord, a girl who desires the things of God with your whole heart! I pray that you are continually blessed and amazed by the goodness of your Heavenly Father and that we as your family will always lift you up on your journey.

Keliah praying a blessing over Cecelia

My Hope is in YOU!

Source: etsy.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Proud Momma Moments...

On Sunday, big changes were announced for the Children's Equipping Center at OHOP. Of course, I already knew about them because I was almost finished with the CEC newsletter coming out this week. ;)  There was a great moment when the talking was over and they showed a quick promo video put together during the week. Jessica, CEC's interim director, really wanted to show what we're growing here. The fastest way to show that is by letting the kid's do what they do best - PRAY! Friday mornings Nick teaches a group of kids 9 and up music and the Harp and Bowl model of the prayer room, after class they do a full intercession watch in the prayer room. Recently, a friend and I began a short class to equip the younger kids to participate as well. The older kids have done a great job and have grown immensely over the past 2 years; they are patient and kind to the little ones too. The "newbies" are so excited to participate in the prayer room. They are blossoming with the Joy of the Lord! Many of these kids got together for the filming of a short version of what we do on Fridays. This is the resulting video – props to Luke Schepler who did an amazing job with this!

Hats & Boots to Fill

While in Oklahoma for my Grandpa's funeral, I was party to some pretty interesting post-death goings-on. There were typical moments of ordering flowers, picking out pictures from a long life to share with fellow mourners in celebration of our loved one, lots of eating of funeral food. (Praise God for wonderful women -and a few men- who cook for comfort.) We wrote MANY thank-you notes.

Then, there were the not-so-typical times.
My aunts and mom were intent on DOING CONSTRUCTIVE THINGS. They worked on the yard, emptying long-ignored flower pots to take some home to use (a little piece of Dad's garden.) They all went together to the nursing home to remove Grandpa's clothes and hygiene items. They divided the MANY gifts of plants sent for the funeral - I only escaped bringing one home because I was flying. The strangest moment for me was when they lined up all of grandpa's shoes and boots to see if any of us could use them or wanted them. Grandpa had smallish feet lengthwise, but very wide. I ended up taking 2 pairs home for my boys. I thought they could use them for a year or two when they visit Uncle Rodney's farm, then maybe I can use a pair for a cool planter.

Just a few of Grandpa's hats. (Uncle Rodney in background.)

My cousin Kevin with his choice of hat.

My cousin Chris with his "new" hat. He's the oldest grandchild.

An awe-inspiring moment was when they brought out all of Grandpa's hats. Stacks of them. Lines of them. Straw cowboy hats, leather ones, wool fedoras, canvas sun-hats, a wooly sheepskin winter hat. Each of Grandpa's children AND grandchildren got to pick a hat. I carried mine home. I put it on while waiting in a Southwest Airlines boarding line at the request of the gentleman in front of me. Trying to tell the story, I got a little teary and couldn't talk. I tucked it safely on top of my carry-on bag under the seat in front of me.

Most of us (3 cousins had already left) with our hats. I'm in the center.

These are big shoes & big hats to fill. I miss you, Grandpa!