2/24/25

 Dear Family,

               Having a day off to spend time with Adriel was so pleasant!  She is fun to be around and I enjoyed meeting her roommates.  As she continues to work hard and do her best, I am glad to be part of that for a snippet of life.  It’s incredible how much we can love another person.  I enjoy seeing her, conversing, and her hugs.  She was so sweet when she picked my favorite restaurant for us to eat and then even bought me something on our shopping trip.  I feel like she is growing up and maturing every day.  I enjoyed some of her outrageous in-city stories and how, “This is just normal,” there.  Goodness.

               Middle school group had definite excitement about a donated duck egg.  It was black under the shell!  Blegh!  That sounded very yucky, which meant much excitement and trepidation.  Bobby promised a free soda to anyone who could down a fourth of the egg.  More excitement.  He was going to do this at the end of youth group just in case it made the whole room stink.  Bobby had concerns.  Prayer time had several requests for the health of those who would later consume the egg.  It went off well, no huge smell, lots of excitement, and fun.

               As part of the middle school lesson, Bobby used people from the crowd for his illustration.  Let’s say Rich is beaten up and lying on the side of the Road.  So and so is a Pharisee and sees Rich.  He chooses to cross on the other side of the road.  He doesn’t even want to look at Rich.  Later another youth also sees Rich.  He too doesn’t want to watch a man die.  He crosses on the other side to pass by.  Then Lucas, who is a hated enemy sees Rich.  He is concerned and Rich might die and he magically has a donkey!  So, Lucas, he uses his superhuman strength to lift Rich onto the donkey, bring him to a hotel, and give the hotel person money.  Then he says, “I’ll be back to pay more if this man needs it”.  That is the story of the good Samaritan.  After this delightful rendition the person next to me asked.  “Rich, do you remember that?”

               High school group has an interesting weekly ritual for some.  They sit on the cold hard ground.  I do not know why.  Anyway, that group sat and Bobby said, “We do stand for the songs.”  They said, “We know, we always do.”  For some reason, Bobby mentioned, “But so and so is very tall.”  This made me laugh.  Is it harder for tall people to stand up?

               Several things have been endearing with Seth.  I do have a perpetual popcorn bowl that I like to keep full.  One day Seth texted with, “I think I ruined the popcorn.”  This interested me and he responded that he had added butter.  I immediately thought of how popcorn sometimes melts when you pour butter on it and assured him he was fine.  I just thought it was sweet of him to be concerned.

               Another incident was his concern about fraud on his card with an Amazon purchase.  “Mom, did you use my card on Amazon yesterday?”  I had not so I thought he should report the fraud.  Later that day, “False alarm – it was a return.”  There are so many firsts in life.  It’s interesting to be part of Seth’s as he is a young adult. 

                 May you also delight in being part of your family’s life.  May you enjoy your interactions, keep lines of communication open, and do God’s will in all things.  Love and hugs,

 

Cristy

PS The picture is of Wallace Marine Park Bridge.  Part of my commute that I delight in.

2/16/25

  Dear family,

               Bobby cracks me up.  He was describing how each person gets one candy at the Middle school Youth Group.  “You are one person, when you come in and find a treat under your chair it is for you.  If you move chairs and think, ‘Oh, look, the Lord has provided!’  No, you just get one, that’s how it works here.  You are one person no matter how many times you change chairs.”

               Later when we were going to do game time Bobby mentioned, “We are going to do something dangerous.”  The person next to me said, “Like eating, expired yogurt?” No, that is not what we did, we used bows and foam tipped arrows to knock down cups.  This is dangerous in Bobby’s mind.  We could poke an eye out.

               The High school group had some fun answers for Bobby’s fill in the blanks.  Bobby chose to talk about Jacob and Rachel’s courtship which brought up a lot of things wrong with the world.  Either way Bobby wanted to highlight their similarities as stated in Genesis 29:1-13.  Jacob finds someone from his r_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ with a similar o _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.  What made me laugh was when someone said, “They had a similar Orthodontist?”  You can look below to find the right answers.

               After talking about how Laban switched Leah for Rachel, Bobby asked if the youth could find anything wrong with this situation.  One student had to say, “If it’s OK to marry your cousin then why not have more than one wife?”  Such a yikes situation – all of it.  Let’s not mention that finding the wrong person in your bed the morning after your wedding wouldn’t be a crazy feeling.

               Thursday brought excitement and joy with the snow.  Bobby also felt high in demand with someone asking for him at 8:45 AM.  Bobby was excited to walk to someone’s house, board games in tow on a sled behind him.  I enjoyed taking pictures.

               Hopefully you might have enjoyed a day or two of snow.  I finished a book, enjoyed relaxing more and didn’t feel a need to go out in the snow at all.  We even enjoyed Valentines Day together.  How fun.  May you delight in God’s mighty hand with snow, sleet, hail.  May the heavens declare the glory of God, and may we marvel and delight in all He has for us.

               Love and hugs, Cristy

 

 

The right answers were Jacob finds someone from his relatives with a similar occupation (not orthodontist).  

2/10/25

 Dear Family, 

 

               Sickness can ruin everything.  Last week I stayed home from Sunday church, Monday work, and Tuesday night youth group with a cold.  I thought it would take me weeks to get better. With prayers from you all (our youth especially)  and Cold Calm, God healed me, Yay! 

               My heart was touched Tuesday night when one of our youth texted me and let me know they were praying for me.  Earlier during our drive to the Ice skating event over an hour away, this person was kind enough to ask if they could rearrange my Glove box and armrest storage.  Now whenever I want to find something in my car I text them because she knows where it is.  Kind of disconcerting but, now I know how it feels to have my items arranged differently than I am used to.  I do this often to Bobby so he laughed when I mentioned what happened.

               Wednesday night at High school group Bobby was trying to teach our youth how to be Humble and kind.  He mentioned if they had the luck to be in line after someone who paid a drink forward at a coffee shop they could also pay for the next person’s drink.  This was met with a lot of pushback and incredulity.  “No, that means we just got a free drink.  Sometimes It’s OK to be a little selfish.”  They probably won’t be paying anything forward for a couple years now. Maturity, it comes with age.

               One student mentioned they didn’t come to youth group last week because they went to see an opera.  When asked for more details they mentioned that it was called, “Rigoletto”, and “I almost fell asleep.” 

               Prayer time was hard for me because the request I had was for snow which I’m not really wanting.  I mentioned that I was praying for this against my will but because I loved x sooo much I prayed for it.  The next prayer request was similar, “Dear God please help it to snow but not till next week because I have a jazz recital.”

               Adriel continues to answer the phone and I enjoy chatting with her.  Sometimes she is so whimsical and fun.  I am glad we have open lines of communication.

               May you also keep bridges open, lines clear and hearts soft even when you disagree about what to pray for, politics, how to stack the dishwasher, or the temperature of your house.  May God’s grace flowing in, through, and over you make this possible.  Love and hugs, Cristy

2/3/25

 Dear Family,

 

               As I marveled at the interesting differences between our friend and Bobby I was so struck, so significantly that I completely forgot to focus on the funny and fun things our youth were doing during middle school group.  Bobby was in California this week on a Youth Pastors retreat.  Our friends and fellow Youth Group volunteers took over and I was so glad that it worked out well.  The kids were the same, fun, giggly, talkative, but the leadership styles were so starkly in contrast.  Where Bobby is loud, boisterous, and energetic our friends are soft spoken, peaceful and calm.  Even the songs became a worshipful feeling of kumbaya instead of a raucous joyful proclamation of God’s goodness.  Same songs, completely different feel. Amazing!

               High school group had Ryland Duval lead music and he is definitely a professional.  That was special, having him come back to his home roots.  Rich led the lesson time very well.  It was good to consider how we can filter the world through God’s word.  One interesting conversation piece was about Psalm 199 being so long.  Rich asked, “The Psalms are what?”  One student said, “A paragraph.”  The right answer was, ‘Poetry’ and Rich went on to mention that Ps. 119 is an Acrostic.  When he asked if anyone knew what and Acrostic is someone asked, “Is that in the newspaper and you have to fill in the blanks?”  No that’s a crossword puzzle. 

               One student mentioned she was excited to turn 16.  I asked if that is because she would get her license? “No, it’s when I get to date.  But now it’s getting closer and I don’t think they like the idea of me dating anyway.”  Ah yes, I remember when our daughter turned 16.  She was allowed to date, but not any person she mentioned that Bobby knew.  No one was good enough for his daughter he had specific reasons for each one but in all reality he did not want her to date at all.

               Please pray for me as I have developed a cold that makes me feel very germy.  I am glad my immune system is updating itself and the virus will die.  For now please pray this happens quickly. 

               May you find joy in serving our Lord.  May His grace flow through you that you can shine for Him and do good things which we are prepared in advance to do.

Love and hugs, Cristy