Monday, July 28, 2008

The next step!

Well, it is official! I am a Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) student! I found out that I got accepted at the end of last week and we are so pumped.

CAM (our mission) requires that I have 30 hours of Bible training and I have 5 years to complete it. I am not sure what happens if I don't, but that isn't the point. DTS has a Certificate of Graduate Studies program that is entirely on-line, and it is 30 hours! How perfect is that! And if I ever wanted to, I could apply those 30 hours to a degree later! I am so excited and a little nervous. Please pray for me that I can manage 2 kids, ministry, Spanish language school, and now 3 hours of masters level work.

The really cool thing is that it is the same classes that I would take if I were in Dallas, only on-line, so I don't have to miss out on too much. My first class begins at the end of August, and it is Bible Study Methods and Hermeneutics. I audited this class when Brandon was in school and I loved it, so I am looking forward to doing it for real (for credit, that is).

Oh, BabyM and I went to a women's conference at our church last Saturday. It was really cool and I understood most of what was being said. That was a little victory, and I got into a good discussion with a friend of mine who went with me. She doesn't attend my church, but she is a believer. We were discussing the appropriateness of demonstrative worship (raising hands, clapping, swaying while singing, etc). She told me very plainly that God is the author of order, not disorder, and how it is very important to God that we come into His presence with reverence, not like we are listening to the radio. She finds the drums and guitar very distracting and irreverent. It was an interesting discussion. She said "You don't need to clap your hands and move around to show thankfulness and adoration to God". It was a good discussion, no one was angry or frustrated, but I could tell that she felt very strongly about it. We I brought up what David did in 2 Samuel chapter 6 (He danced like crazy, rejoicing at the returning of the Ark, and his wife was appalled at his behavior) He said " I become even more undignified than this"....

she told me that just because he did that, doesn't mean that that is what pleased God, or that he should have done it. Hmmm..It was interesting. I love to hear your thoughts on this.

Then Sunday, we skipped church b/c BoyD had a pretty high fever (104 in the afternoon). Instead we went to the Zoo for a little distraction and some fresh air. There is the photo of BabyM getting ready for her first trip to the Xela Zoo, the next photo below is of Brandon and BoyD looking at some sort of horned animal. The last photo is of a little Mayan girl that was at the zoo. Her clothes are the typical Mayan dress, and you even see babies in this type of clothing. It is very expensive and very pretty. All of it is hand woven. Pretty cool. Anyway, you can see in BoyD's eyes that he really isn't feeling up to par.

Ok, I'll type more later....BabyM is hollering for me in her crib.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

I miss my daddy.

I was getting ready for bed tonight and found a photo of me and my grandfather when I was like 4-5 months old. It is a really great picture and I looked at it with such joy that we got to meet and that I have one or two memories of the man. He was apparently a great man. He died when I was 2, but at least I have pictures.

Then I realized that Madeline will have no photos of her with my dad. Deacon will have very few, but at least my dad got to meet him. I am heartsick that he never got to meet my beautiful daughter. He would have enjoyed her so much. I was his baby girl and a daddy's girl, and he would have just loved to meet his baby girl's baby girl. I am so saddened by this. he didn't get to live to a ripe old age with a full life, knowing all of his grandchildren and even his great grandchildren. I feel like we got cheated. We all got cheated big time. Most of you didn't know my dad, but he was so cool. He was ornery, but super cool.

Madeline never got to sit in his lap, never got to hear his voice, and my dad never got to see his own face and his own curly hair on our little girl. Que tristesa. How incredibly sad.

Sorry to be a little depressing. I am still grieving this. Maybe I will always. This evening was incredible difficult. I know that the Lord is lord of all of this, and that my daddy is with Him right now, but I can't help but feel like he shouldn't be. He should be here, getting to know my children better. He should be here getting photos taken with them. He should get to see Deacon dance on skype like the other grandparents. Madeline should get to ride around on his wheelchair when she gets older. He should have gotten to teach them his funny phrases and silly jokes. But that is gone. At least until Christ brings us all home to be together again. I'm sad. I want my daddy back. I want to pray to God to please turn back the clock a while so that I could take better care of the time that we did have. And it is so frustrating that I can feel it in my bones that I can't have him back again.

I am so tired, so I have to go to sleep, but I hope that I dream of him. Here are a couple of cool pictures of my dad and Deacon. The sad thing is, these two of VERY few photos I have of my dad with my child. Please, all of you that still have parents alive, please take lots of photos.

Friday, July 11, 2008

I like it a lot.

Pure Genius! Watch the attached video to see a really cool Guatemalan thing. This could be in other parts of the world, but I have never seen it in the US. Tell me what you think!