Kristin, Pit Mu and Elah...

The Burmese Alphabet...

I know. I can't figure it out either.

Thankful, addendum.

Hopefully, some pictures will convey the great Thanksgiving Day we had. Hosting a refugee family was really a treat for all of us. Kristin, thanks for asking us to do this; I think we all benefitted from getting to know this noble little family. The father is Dah Bue, the mother Pit Mu, 7 year old son, Say Nay and 3 year old daughter Alah. Bonds of friendship between Denver and Say Nay formed quickly and without words. They were out on the swingset in minutes of meeting though neither knew the other's language.

Pit Mu and Dah Bue immediately bonded to the twins as the universal language of cute babies. Since this family only arrived in the US Sept 22nd, the fact that we could communicate at all was amazing. Lots of charades, pantomine and pictures were the order of the day. Kristin had Pit Mu write their names and our names in their language. This was brilliant and certainly let us know how difficult it would be for us to learn another language, really a whole new culture..

As part of the addendum, I need to also express my thankfulnes for Kristin, a more wonderful daughter one could not ask for. Because she is so unassuming, she gets mixed into the shuffle of nuttyland around here. I totally missed recognizing Kristin's birthday on this blog last month. So here it is: Happy Birthday, Kristin. (FYI I did not miss her birthday however. She had a great trip to NYC and we called her there.)Another deal Kristin is up to is she is speaking at both large and small venues about the impact of suicide. In September she spoke at the Stauros Organization at a conference about suicide prevention. A few weeks ago she spoke at a local high school and last weekend, she ministered to her own house group in Barrington where many of the students were acquainted with the family of a 16 year old guy who had taken his life. Much lighter note, Kristin is going to be a dancer in the 12 Willow Creek's Christmas services titled "Imagine". The rehearsals will be demanding in the middle of the Christmas season but knowing Kristin she will sail through with her classic grace. Cool, Kristin. I am thankful for you.

Taken from the balcony, the tree of "Blessings" is beautiful.

I am so thankful for having this No 1 Cubs fan as my daughter.

Thankful...

The tables are set and lots of food prep is done and I am very content to sit for a few minutes and jot a few thoughts.

It is beginning to snow outside. We cannot believe how early Christmas advertising began this year but I am not complaining. Pete has already done two Santa gigs, one at Deer Park and another downtown last Saturday and as always, he looked great. Today, Pete had a misshap while jogging. Pete tends to look down at where he is going as he jogs and today just as he looked up, a low hanging tree branch caught him in the eye. Two doctor's visits today, swollen eye, antibiotic drops and another doctor visit tomorrow at 8:15 AM (Yes, on Thanksgiving morning!) , we are praying for a speedy and complete recovery. Ouch, it reminds me too much of my shingly eye from a few months ago!

This week I received my early Christmas present to me...a paver brick replica dedicated to Laurie. The actual brick will be laid outside Wrigley Field where they will have a locator so "your" brick can be found. It was extravagant but a gesture I wanted. If that's my only gift this year, I'm cool with that.

We are excitedly anticipating a new twist on our Thanksgiving tomorrow. Kristin thought it would be great if we invited a refugee family to join us. Soooooo, tomorrow we will be picking up our family of four, father Dah Bue, mother, Pit Mu, son (7) Say Nay and little Ah Lay (3). This family has been in the US only since September and they are from Burma, which is actually called Myanmar now, though not officially recognized by the US government as Myanmar. If you go back to Greg's blog in January, he visited there and found it a very troubling country. My nieces will be here as well as Katie and her clan. Kristin, of course, too. I am hoping she will be the point person. This will be an adventure, one I hope to get lots of pictures of.

And am I thankful for a church that is constantly innovative, creative yet so powerful? Yes I am. Over 300 people getting baptized on stage last weekend was amazing enough. Last night, it being Tuesday, my day to watch the Michel kidlets, we all went to the one-day early New Community focused on a family approach to Thanksgiving. Ushers handed us construction paper leaves in fall colors with a long twist-tie attached. During the service we were asked to write down things we were blessed by on our leaves. Denver was intent on his leaf, Maya busily listed family names on hers and Isaiah asked how to spell words. Our leaves were attached to a branch in the back of our section and before you know it, branches from all over the auditorium are being brought down to the stage and attached to what was a barren tree trunk. Denver was sure he could see "his" leaf. The result, a tree filled with blessings, our blessings, was just the kind of visual I love. After this the congregation went over to the gym to help fill assembly line style 4000 gift boxes that will be given to elderly folks in our area. Corraling three little kids and then wrapping these gift boxes did prove to be pretty stressy and not quite the serene picture of giving one would like. Point is, we did it, the kids got it, it was good. I am thankful for the blessing of family and friends that fill me up.

I am most thankful for: a God that sent His Son for me. Isn't that extraordinary?

Protesters in Kuala Lumpur...

100 bulbs!

Last week I celebrated (okay, bragged.) 100 days of not smoking. Today Isaiah and I put an exclamation point on those 100 days by planting 100 daffodil bulbs in the front and back yards. I spent several minutes making sure I was "in the moment" in a beautiful day in November in Illinois. Part of not being "in the moment" but being on the sidewalk involved me trying to teach Isaiah to ride a two wheeler without training wheels. He toppled at one point and I toppled right over him. My knee, my hands, my ankle, all ache. And right this minute I am remembering that I have promised 17 year old granddaughter Ashley that she and I will sky dive for her 18th birthday!!!!

Putting an exclamation point on an event was also part of last Wednesday's New Community at Willow. Since they video stream the service, why not go to www.willowcreek.org and check it out? Teaching pastor Nancy Beach did a service on worship and putting the exclamation point on our week by our worship of Him. Great service!

This last is in response, sort of, to Greg shutting down his blog and what is going on in Kuala Lumpur. Over the weekend there was a political demonstration of between 30000 to 40000 protesters who were eventually subdued by tear gas, water cannons and road blockades. Creepy to be here and just reading about it via Greg's and Ashley's blogs and even creepier that in the US we don't really hear about things like that around the world. Our "news" consists of Britney sightings, what Paris Hilton is wearing, yah da yah da yah da...This is news? To wind this up, pray for safety for the Mayasian Boncimino's.

And to just be inspired, read the Nitty-Gritty link once in a while. This young woman that I don't know, inspires me!

Isaiah "helps" grandpa with the leaves...

More Halloween cuties...

Autumn fun...

100 days!

When I do this check in deal online with Chantix, I am notified how many days since I have quit smoking. Yesterday was day 100! I am really happy about that; I feel like the poster girl for someone who is extoling the wonders of this drug but it really has been a Godsend, and I don't use that term lightly. I have wanted to quit for a long time but really felt like I was not willing to give up the "pleasure" of smoking. ( I know. That sounds horrible, but I loved to smoke and loved the stress relief I thought I felt.) What I hated was the cover-up of gum, perfume, Fabreeze to make it seem like I was not smoking. Oh, the tangled web we weave. Well, hooray for Chantix because this medication blocks the nicotine "pleasure" receptors and I have come to know I don't need cigarettes to de-stress, self medicate, etc. Is it too tacky to announce that quitting smoking is my Christmas gift to the family? :)



Really all the above is small potatoes (what a funny term!) to the bigger, better news. One of the ladies at my Grief Support table has made the big decision to get baptized along with her daughter next week at Willow. I am elated because this lady struggled deeply after the death of her son six years ago. Now she has come to see the way to get through this is with Him. How great is that? And to top it off, Monday night after Grief Support I had volunteered to pick up Denver and Maya and Isaiah from Oasis and have them stay overnight with us since there was no school Tuesday. Oasis had been teaching about forgiveness and Maya had her little book she had been given. She was reading it from the backseat and is able to read many of the words, including "ask". All of a sudden she says, "I want to ask Jesus into my heart." So as I am driving, she prays her childlike prayer, thanking God and asking to forgive any bad things she has done and asks God into her heart. Wow! What a moment. Denver had already told us he did this last year the day before his birthday. So to top it off, Isaiah has been listening to all this and says he wants to pray too but doesn't know how. Denver and Maya both say, "We'll help you." and they do. We all got into that car that night with some of us knowing we will be in heaven someday and we all got out with me knowing all of us will be in heaven someday.