Christmas is Exciting

Christmas is a wonderful time and I look so forward to having all the children in the house at one time and enjoying a wonderful meal together. We don't go all out with presents (see David's blog) for each other but we do have the stockings stuffed and monetary gifts for the children. But now it's over! The Christmas holidays are drawing to an end and the big celebrations are over. Our children came and went within 4 hours. Again, as at Thanksgiving, the preparations took far longer than the actual event.

My step-daughters are visiting their mother and my boys are back in Wilmington and visiting relatives respectively. So, my husband and I are home alone! Sounds pretty romantic, huh? Well, let me remind you of our occupations. He is a Baptist minister and I am a minister of music and youth, both in the same church which is synonymous with "never a dull moment".

Our respective families were begging for us to take the few days after Christmas to visit with them. One set is in Ellerbe, NC and the other in Appomattox, VA. We had considered to do just that since we didn't have services on Wednesday evening but because we had a church member in the hospital recovering from a triple by-pass and one in the hospital/rehab recovering from a serious back operation, we just didn't feel we could leave town. This didn't go over too well with the parents, but it's just the way it has to be in our professions.

The day after Christmas, David and I headed to Wilmington to visit our heart patient and the girls headed out for a day of shopping and to their mom's. On our way home we got word that one of our church member's grandfather had passed away Christmas night. Since the grandfather was not a member of a local church, David was asked to officiate the service which would require a funeral service and several visits to the home. As he was preparing this service, we did our worship planning for the upcoming Sunday which includes 3 services.... all in the morning. The phone rang, another death. This time it was the mother of a woman who had visited our church several times but had no church and they requested David do the service. Being the compassionate person he is, he couldn't turn this family down. Funeral #2 preparations are now to be made. One would be Saturday @ 3:30 and the other on Sunday at 2:00. On Sunday afternoon, I will be taking our youth to Caswell for The Edge Conference, an annual event for us but only after I sing in the Sunday funeral.

Christmas is a busy time for most folks and for many, as myself, enjoying the hustle and bustle the season brings is part of the excitement. However, I've had just about enough excitement for one Christmas. Our prayers are with the families we are currently ministering to because of the deaths of their loved ones. May God be with all the families who are experiencing grief this Christmas season.

Christmas Is 4 Giving

Christmas is for giving. I like that phrase and the youth at Brunswick Islands Baptist Church, where I serve as Minister of Music and Youth, took that phrase to heart this past weekend. Since the majority of our members are retired, we have a small youth group but they do great things ... most of the time.

I picked the girls (all of the youth are girls except one and he was involved in family stuff this weekend) up at the church at 4:00 on Friday afternoon and we headed to Wal Mart. Prior to our meeting the girls had picked 3 recipes a piece from Mrs. Claus' Cookbook and sent them to me via email so I could compile the ingredients list.

I divided the ingredients and printed them onto index cards: Dairy, Baking Supplies, Grocery and Other. Each girl was given an index card, a grocery cart and sent on her way. Of course before the chore was over, they were all huddled together picking and choosing their items carefully.

After the shopping adventure, we headed to an oceanfront beach house owned by one of our members. The girls took turns making and baking their goodies until about 1 am Saturday morning. They had a great time and did a terrific job. We had gingerbread men, Rice Krispy Christmas Wreaths, Peanut Butter Kisses, Fudge that didn't turn out too well, 7 layer cookies, etc.


We packaged everything into containers with an assortment of cookies and candies and headed to bed for a few hours. We got up, cleaned up our rooms and headed out. Now, you may wonder out to where. Our mission was to bake goodies for the shut ins. We made home visits and nursing home visits. The girls hate that sort of thing, until they get there.

One of our shut-ins lost her daughter to Cancer last week. Needless to say, this was an emotional time for the lady and the girls. We didn't quite get through delivering on Saturday so we began again on Sunday afternoon. On Sunday our lone guy joined us. We had a grand time and the young people realized it truly is better to give than to receive as was noted by the smiles and the tears from those who received.

Is God Greedy?

Now that school is out for a little while I am able to expand my horizons, so to speak. Tonight was no exception. I filled in for the teacher of the 4-6 grades Bible Skills & Drills class. As it turned out, I only had one student, Elijah. One of the regulars is a heart transplant patient and was in Chapel Hill getting his regular scheduled biopsy and the other two were out of town.

Elijah and I had a nice class time playing the Books of the Bible CD game that went along with tonight's lesson and we got into a discussion of God's character. We talked about big words such as omnipresent and omniscient and omnipotent. Then out of the blue, Elijah asked me if I thought God was greedy.

Of course my first answer was, of course not, why do you think God is greedy? He preceded to tell me that God wants everything. He wants us to love him and worship him and adore him, etc. By this perception of this young boy, he decided God was greedy.

I thought about this before answering and wondered if I could come up with something that would help Elijah understand the difference. I told him that if I were a greedy person, I would want everything for myself. Since God already owns everything, the things he wants from us is for our good, not God's.

Since God doesn't need, God can't be classified as greedy. Can he?

Missing CUDS Already

I must say today was filled with mixed emotions for me. I am usually so ready to be finished with a semester. Goodness knows I've seen several semester endings over the past years. This one, somehow, was different. Today was the last day of exams at Campbell Divinity School in Buies Creek, NC. That may not mean too much to some of you, but to some of us, it means a few weeks of rest and relaxation. It means no cramming for exams or pulling all-nighters to get a book read in order to write the review by daybreak. ( I didn't do that but I know who did!) :) It means being able to spend more time with our families and enjoying the little things like staying up a little longer at night to watch the entire game on Monday nights.

Even though I was finished with another semester, today was a little different. I began to ponder why this one was unlike the rest. When I tried to come up with a good reason, all I could come up with is the fact that I am in my "last" days. No, I'm not dying. Not as I know of, anyway. But you know the days ... this was the last Advent season I will celebrate with my Campbell friends. This was the last time I'll leave the Campbell campus wishing everyone to have a Merry Christmas. It was the last time I had to fill out a class request form...(previous blog).

I've tried to get Dr. Cogdill to create a position for me at the Divinity School so I can stay around. LOL. He said he wasn't sure the campus could handle that. LOL

I have had to remind myself over the last few days that even though there were challenges along the way (exams, papers, etc), there is much to be thankful for. I have met new folks every semester I've been at Campbell, but have been able to keep in touch with the old ones too. This semester seemed to be chocked full of even more new friends, and for this, I am thankful.

For the professors who have challenged us and expected the best but who have seen fit to offer grace when necessary, I am thankful. For the folks who replaced the stinky paper towels in the bathrooms, I am thankful. For Elaine's great smile and willingness to "be there for ya" and Joyce's sense of humor, I am thankful. For Irma's big smile and Kelly's sweet grin, I am thankful. For Lynn's precious disposition and Amanda's willingness to serve, I am thankful.

You see, Campbell is a great place to be. Why wouldn't I miss it when I'm gone? Yes, I'm glad the exams and papers are finished, but I look forward to January when old friendships are renewed and new friends are found.

Mother/Son Graduation

College graduation is a huge milestone in the life of an individual as I well remember. I was 34 when I received my college degree and I was so excited about going to the graduation exercises at Campbell University and having my children there to see "Mom" get her degree.

Well, now the tables have turned. My oldest son will graduate from UNCW in May of next year. It has taken 5 years but isn't that the norm nowadays? I'm not sure I know too many who get a 4-year degree in 4 years anymore. He went to St. Andrews Presbyterian College on a partial baseball scholarship but decided after a couple of years he wasn't going to play baseball the rest of his life, so he wanted to transfer to UNCW. When he was first applying to colleges, UNCW was his only choice even though he had several colleges interested in him to play baseball for them. He applied at Wilmington and I remember the day so vividly. February 15, 2002 was the day he got his acceptance letter. He was thrilled. It wasn't until later in the year he decided to give St. Andrews a try so he could play baseball a little longer. Five years later he's going to graduate from the one and only school he wanted to attend. I am so proud of him and can't wait to attend his graduation ceremony.

When I entered Campbell University Divinity School, Daniel and I joked about us graduating at the same time. Of course we had no idea, then, how long it would take either one of us. Well, it's going to happen but we have a slight problem. My hooding date and his graduation date are THE SAME BLESSED DAY!!!!!!! (sorry about the exclamation points, Dr. C)

I was doing a little checking on the UNCW site the other day and came to a startling realization. If the December graduation is any indication, his ceremony will be at 9:30 in Wilmington and mine is at 3:00 in Buies Creek, 2 hours away. I think we'll make it. :)

Is Blue a Christmas Color?

Today is Thursday which means a 12:30 class at Campbell Divinity School. I usually leave home around 10 which gives me about 15 minutes for error. Today was a little different for some reason. I left home around 9:45 and enjoyed a leisurely drive down Hwy 17 and then around Wilmington on Hwy 421. My mind was on a thousand things, none of which were too important. I was thinking about this being the last day of classes for the semester and how I would have to get busy studying for exams tonight when I got home from class.

Hwy 421 becomes 2 lane about 15 miles out of Wilmington but this time of day doesn't usually pose any problems. Most everyone is where they need to be by the time I come passing through so I don't usually have to think about my driving skills too much.

I was still ahead of my Thursday schedule and in no rush as I cruised down the road when I noticed the yards of the community I was passing through. They were all decorated for Christmas. This had happened since I went through on Tuesday. One yard had a blow-up Santa and Snowman while another had the Nativity scene outlined in various colored lights. I chuckled a little to myself when I noticed Mary was outlined in red and Joseph in green. The shepherds were outlined in some dark color and then I saw the camel. It was outlined in blue.

BLUE. Who ever heard of a blue camel? The other colors fit the traditional Christmas color scheme but a blue camel? Blue isn't a Christmas color.

Because the road isn't very busy, I set my cruise control at 61 and don't usually have to change it except in Clinton at the stop light and at Spivey's Corner at a stop light. For some reason I had come off my cruise control when I was "admiring" the colorful Nativity scene. Evidently a car had turned off the road in front of me and I had to put on brakes. I guess I never reset my cruise when all of a sudden I saw blue, again. So much for being a little ahead of schedule.

The dreaded words were drifting into my window, "Ma'am, is there a reason you were speeding?" Well, I couldn't come up with a good reason so I simply said, "probably not" even though I wanted to add, "but give me a minute and I'll think of something."

After 15 minutes of the agonizing wait and wonder, the patrolman got out of his car with the pink paper. Why couldn't it have been blue? After all, isn't blue a Christmas color?

My phone rang shortly after the incident and it was David. He asked me what I was doing. My answer ........ about 55.

10 Hours of Cooking - 15 Minutes of Eating

Easy come, Easy go.

My parents came to our house and brought my 92 year old grandmother. My mom told me earlier in the week that they would be leaving around 10 which would put them here around 12:30. This was fine considering I was planning to have lunch on the table by 2 pm.

I decided I wanted to get my Thanksgiving shopping done on Tuesday night after I got home from classes at 7:45 pm. Wednesday morning I mixed up everything we were having and had it ready to go in the refrigerator by 2 pm. Roast Turkey Breast, Baked Ham, Dressing, Gravy, Broccoli Delight, Cheesy Corn Casserole, Baked Pineapple, Sweet Potatoes w/Apricots, Cranberry Salad, and Deviled Eggs. For dessert we had Butterscotch Supreme, Pumpkin Pie, Sweet Potato Pie and some Potato Roll my grandmother contributed. Everything was in the refrigerator ready to be baked on Thursday morning.

We had a great Thanksgiving Eve service on Wednesday night but I was beyond tired by the time the service was over. I was more than pleased there was no choir rehearsal after the service as is usually the case.

Anyway, my parents were early and caught me mopping the kitchen floor, which was the last thing on the list of things-to-do. My oldest son and his girlfriend came in a little later with my two grand-dogs and then my youngest son called from California where he is in the midst of desert training for the US Marines.

The dinner bell rang and we all gathered around as David said the blessing and we started the process. It was over in 30 minutes and that's only because we sat at the table and talked for a little while. Something that took 10 hours to prepare was consumed in 15 minutes. Can it possibly be worth all that?

Absolutely. To be able to spend time with my family is worth everything. I hope each of you were able to spend time with some if not all your family today.