Infidelity and War

Okay, South Carolina is in the news again and not in a good way.  I have to say, several emotions ran through me as I learned of Governor Sanford's confession.  Anger, disappointment, sympathy, disgust.  It is difficult to deal with emotions that are counteractive to one another.  How can I be angry and still feel sympathy?  I don't know.  These are questions I have been struggling with lately as I also watched Jon and Kate's family dissolve before my eyes.  Is there no one left who values commitment and willing to make difficult decisions even if it means putting your own feelings aside?  Is the prospect of hurting the ones that you claim to love not enough to prevent you from doing wrong, or is the overwhelming desire to satisfy one's own desires more important?  I realize my statement might sound a bit harsh.  I know that I could be in the very same situation and do the very same thing.  I understand that we all do things wrong; that's why Jesus died on the cross; to pay the penalty for our sins.  I am just as much a sinner as the next person.  I have accepted the Lord as my Savior and He helps me to do the right things.  But, until the Lord returns or I die, I remain a sinner saved by grace and still have the ability to make choices whether they are right or wrong.  It just discourages me to see leaders who somehow seem to succumb to fame, fortune, and power and are unable to remain strong under the pressure.  I have prayed for both of these precious families.  It is my heartfelt desire that they would somehow be able to put their mistakes behind them, move forward, and restore their families.

Also in the news is the imminent threats of war both from Iran and North Korea.  While the stories of infidelity appeal to our tendency to enjoy "juicy, gossip", the threats of war seem to be much more important in the bigger picture of life.  Unfortunately, we don't seem as interested in the fact that two countries who have nuclear capabilities could launch an attack at us at any time.  Doesn't the fact that human freedom is non existent in these countries appeal to our sense of right and wrong?  Doesn't the fact that people are being tortured and killed as they stand up to their oppressive governments appeal to our sense of doing something to help others who are in need?  We are so caught up in the busyness of our lives that we don't have time to worry about or think about what it means to not have freedom.  We are not in a country who suffers from this fate; yet.  It doesn't affect me.  If we are attacked it will affect you.  The issues will be forced to be addressed.  Isn't it better to do something about it before we are placed in a defensive position rather then an offensive position?

Summer

June marks the beginning of summer.  Time to relax, get some sun, enjoy good foods, and spend time with friends.  My summer is slow this year.  Not much to do so I am enjoying lots of Christian fiction books.  The one I am reading right now is part of a series and is called "Snitch" by Rene Gutteridge.  It's a funny story about an undercover task force trying to break up an illegal car body shop operation.  I am only half way through so don't know how it will turn out but it has been good so far.  I had been reading a series of books about a bed and breakfast run by 3 sisters.  There are many books in this series and I have been making my way through them this spring.  I discovered several of them at my church library.  In the fall and winter I had been helping to get our church library up and running.  It has been a fun experience and I have certainly enjoyed finding several new books to read.  I am still working on the cleaning project I started last year of cleaning out all our old stuff.  I have been selling some things on ebay which has been a lot of fun and am planning to take some more stuff to the flea market this summer.  Also sold a few things to a buy back books website and took some things to an auction.  It has been a fun experience finding all these new outlets to spread the junk!  Josh and Alli will be coming for a visit for two weeks in July.  We are looking forward to fun times with them.  Em is busy with her summer classes at MidTech.  Spanish and Biology, what a combination!  Mike is busy with Real Estate.  He always has changes happening so you never know what tomorrow might bring.  I haven't forgotten we need to post pictures of our flip house finished.  Hopefully that will be soon.

God's Reminders

It is already May in 2009 and this is my first post of the year.  I haven't had much good to post about of late so just decided not to.  It has been four long months of school and acne.  Yes, I said acne.  I realize I am 45 but am still struggling with this issue.  It is a long sad saga, but suffice to say that I believe I am on the uphill side now!  For those of you who have been praying for me - thank you!  Keep it up, I can never have enough prayer.  I have completed all the course work for my college degree.   Am still waiting to hear about one petition and I have to transfer my Midlands Tech credits, but at this point, it looks like I will have finally finished.  It only took me 7 years with a 27 year interval to be a college graduate.  Now what?  I guess like all college graduates I will have to start looking for work.  Probably won't until the end of summer; it looks like job opportunities are few and far between these days.  Also, for those of you who are interested in our house flip, I so apologize for the neglect of not posting pictures!  That also has been a long saga, but except for paint touch ups, the house is finished!  I will hopefully have pictures posted either in the blog or on Facebook after the touch up work is done.  It turned out quite nicely and now we are waiting for the appropriate occupants to purchase said property.  Lord willing it will be soon.  If you need something else to pray about for the Schrecks, you can add the sale of the house to your list.  Tomorrow we will be headed to Mississippi to pick up Emily who is now officially a college sophomore!  Yeah, Emily, job well done.  Hard to believe your first year has come and gone.  Seems like we just sent you off!  Anyway, we will be extremely happy to have you back, if only for a few short months.  Just want to share a short thought with you.  Several years ago, I went through a mysterious illness that no one could figure out.  I went to many drs., was quite ill, and had many tests run.  Anyway, my wonderful family doctor finally discovered some meds that would help me out and I have been fine ever since.  Unfortunately, while ill, it was a very dark time for me.  I prayed alot and one day during this dark time, I looked out my bedroom window to discover that pigeons had built a nest right on the windowsill.  I believe those birds were sent from God to remind me that there is hope and that there will always be new life.  I was able to look out my window everyday and see the babies hatch, mature, and fly away.  This gave me something to look forward to in the midst of my sickness.  I will always remember this as God's special gift to me to remind me that He cares about all my problems, He will take care of me no matter what, and not to worry or fear (which is one of my biggest issues!)  Well, as I mentioned above, these last four months have been difficult for me.  I was again struggling with physical issues that overwhelmed my thoughts and time.  I could not seem to get past the discouragement and couldn't see any hope.  Well, about 3 weeks ago, Mike woke up one morning, looked out our bedroom window and said, "There's a bird's nest outside the window!" I quickly went to the window to discover that a momma cardinal had indeed made a nest in the azalea bush outside our bedroom window.  I cried, because the Lord had again, in a very dark moment, sent me a blessing of watching nature unfold before my very eyes each day.  The cardinal was not there very long before two tiny birds arrived with hungry beaks reaching for food from their dad.  They were gone about two days ago, so I hope that they are all doing well.  God is so good.  He sends us hope in many different ways when we need it most to remind us that He is there, in control, and we have nothing to worry about.  If He takes care of the birds, the lillies, and the grass in the fields,  "shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" Mt. 6:30.  Thank you, Jesus for this reminder.

You say goodbye; I say hello

Hard to believe another month and year has flown by!  This year has been full of ups and downs, highs and lows, and goodbyes and hellos.  New jobs; goodbye to Ben Lippen, hello to real estate.  Goodbye to ERA hello to Russell and Jeffcoat.  Goodbye to the library, hello to finishing up school.  Goodbye to high school, hello to college.  Goodbye to single life, hello to married life.  Goodbye to a son, hello to a daughter-in-law.  Goodbye to kids running around the house.  Hello to just Mike and me!  Goodbye to a single mom, hello to a married mom.  I don't know if I could have handled much more, but the Lord has been gracious and we are full of joy and happiness to be blessed with such wonderful opportunities and such a wonderful family.  We are so proud of both of our children.  Emily finished her first semester of college with all A's!  Josh and Allison have settled into married life.  They have a lovely apartment, Allison finished her undergraduate degree, and Josh is working in the photography world.  We are so proud of their accomplishments and are so blessed to have such a beautiful, fun, talented new daughter!  Mike and I are still wandering around an empty house and wondering where the time went, but are also starting to see the benefits of less responsibility and being alone together.  For those of you following the progress of our flip house,  I should be posting new pictures/videos in January.  A lot has been accomplished although there is still much more work to go.  It has been a fun learning process and we are enjoying the journey overall.  We are looking forward to what the New Year has in store;  I hope it is a little less eventful then last year!  I know with the change of presidents and the state of our economy we are probably in for some difficult times but we know that the Lord is in control and He works all things together for good.  With that in mind, I know that whatever is ahead will be for our good.  That's exciting!  Happy New Year!

And So It Begins

For those of you who have been following our plan for flipping a house, the saga begins!  I will be posting the progress (hopefully) on a regular basis so that you can follow along with us.  After searching for a house for two months, we finally decided to take the plunge and purchased a house last week.  If you want to see the beginning still pictures you can check them out on my facebook under "The Next Big Project...Maybe".  At this point, it looks like a scary, haunted house in need of much love.  Apparently it has had quite a checkered past but we hope to bring it back to a place of much happiness!  The thing that is different about this flip is that we will not be doing a lot of the work ourselves.  We plan to paint the interior and do some tile work but that's about it from our end.  We have some well-qualified friends of ours who will be doing the majority of the work.  Thank you!  The demolition begins tomorrow, so hopefully we will have more to post and write about.  Stay tuned!  To check out the video:  

Fall Break

October has finally arrived and also a little bit of cool air.  It makes me want to snuggle up with a down blanket and drink hot tea!  The best part is fall break; Emily is home for a few days and neither one of us has school to think about.  Baking cookies, no diet, movies, shopping, and chats.  The simple pleasures of life.  The pastor shared a poem this morning in his sermon.  I thought it was great so decided to find it on the internet to share here.

The Dash
copyright 1996 Linda Ellis


I read of a man who stood to speak
at the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
from the beginning...to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth
and spoke of the following date with tears,
but he said what mattered most of all
was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
that she spent alive on earth...
and now only those who loved her
know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own;
the cars....the house...the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard...
are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
that can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
to consider what's true and real,
and always try to understand
the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger,
and show appreciation more
and love the people in our lives
like we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
and more often wear a smile...
remembering that this special dash
might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy is being read
with your life's actions to rehash...
would you be proud of the things they
say about how you spend your dash?

 www.lindaellis.net.

Politics, Book Reviews

Okay, I have to say I'm a big fan of Sarah Palin.  What a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stale and unsatisfying presidential election!  I was going to vote for John McCain but I wasn't going to do it cheerfully.  While he is better than Mr. Obama he really has not represented all of my political ideals.  When I first heard Sarah's speech I almost cried.  She is the epitome of what a conservative believes and stands for.  Since her first speech, she has not disappointed.  She says everything that needs to be said but does it with grace, humor, and intelligence.  All I can say is thank you John McCain for an excellent choice, and Sarah keep up the good work.  Hope is alive again!

I also want to share two books that I have recently read.  The first one is called, "The Shack".  I had seen the author interviewed on the "Today Show" and at first thought that sounds like a good book, but then as he described it further, I became a bit concerned.  While spending time in Portland for Josh's wedding I had a chance to talk to Mr. White.  He said the book was good but that I would have to read it for myself to see what I thought.  Well, I purchased the book and started reading.  It's a very sad story; however the conversations with God are deep, meaningful, and thought provoking.  In fact, the story was so good that I had to finish it so I could see how it ended!  I didn't really get a chance to digest all the conversations with God as well as I would have liked. Now that I know how the book ends, I will have to read parts of it again to think through more of the conversations.  The second book I just read is entitled, "My Name is Asher Lev".  I must confess that this book was not just pleasure reading.  It was a required reading book for my "Arts and Ideas" class.  I did enjoy the book and again, this one will cause you to think.  It is about a young Hasidic Jew who is a child prodigy of drawing and painting.  Unfortunately, this gift clashes with his and his family's religious beliefs and causes all of them a great deal of turmoil.  It explores how the young man deals with his feelings and beliefs in light of this gift he has been given.  It was written by Chaim Potok the author of the "The Chosen".  So, if you're feeling your intellect and thinking needs to be challenged, I recommend trying these out!