Providentially Blessed

2008-12-10T15:12:00.002-05:00

I just ran across a blog of a lady who budgeted $800 for the entire year of 2008 for herself and 3 daughters. Incredible! You can find it here.

2008-11-24T18:47:00.002-05:00

I like to use coupons. I learned from a lady at church that if I go to the recycling center on Monday mornings, I can pick up a bunch of coupon inserts from the Sunday paper! She also told me about a website http://www.hotcouponworld.com/ that has discussion boards where people match up coupons to local grocery store sales. I've found some great deals, even some free stuff, by doing this. It's exhilarating to come home with a whole bunch of food and a receipt showing it only cost $6.00! I got Birdseye frozen vegetables for 30 cents a bag, Daisy sour cream for 50 cents, Coffeemate flavored creamer for 50 cents, and lots of other great prices. Of course, because I can get multiple coupons at the recycling center, that means I can stock up when I get a great deal! It's been a lot of fun. :)

2008-11-21T08:58:00.002-05:00

Oh yeah, I have a blog. I almost forgot.

I have a new sister-in-law! Her name is Lizzie and she's wonderful. She's coming over to help me make fudge and peanut brittle and buckeyes this morning. She and Daniel are working on renovating a house in East Palestine but meanwhile are staying at Mom's house.

Miriam and Charles moved to Pennsylvania. It's great to have them around.

Rachel's expecting another baby! We haven't had another baby in the family since Dora was born, and that was almost 2 years ago!

My hubby and I are going to visit his parents over Thanksgiving. He's preaching at a church in New York on the way there this weekend and on the way back next weekend.

Quick update, but at least it's an update! :)

2008-05-23T10:47:00.002-05:00

The seminary has a summer program for teens called Theological Foundations for Youth. I have the privilege of being their cook this year! It will be the first 2 weeks of July. I'm having a lot of fun planning the menu and I've actually already started buying some of the food stuffs. They have 31 students registered, so including the program directors, counselors, and professors, I may be feeding about 40 people lunch and dinner, for 2 weeks. I've never done anything like this before, but I'm excited about it. :)

Today is my niece Eliana's 8th birthday. David's family drove up to Mom's place last night to stay for the weekend. Hopefully either this evening or tomorrow evening we'll have a picnic birthday party for her. I haven't seen their family since last August!

Next Monday is our first anniversary. We're going to Niagara Falls and then heading to Vermont Tuesday to spend some time with Deborah and Sue in their cabin, then off to Dan's parents' house in Massachusetts for the rest of the week. It will be nice to get away without taking my computer this time. Real vacation time! Yay!

So I'm obviously excited. I'm supposed to be at work, but it's hard to stay focused. I'd better get back to it.

2008-04-15T17:54:00.007-05:00

Well I ended up picking up a few other items at Giant Eagle in addition to what was on my list: an extra container of yogurt, 2 cans of chicken broth (2/$1), a loaf of white bread (59 cents), and Edy's loaded cookies and cream ice cream ($3.33). The total came to around $23. To make up for the cost difference, I'll skip the $5 bacon at Sparkle tomorrow. We still have a package of turkey bacon in the freezer, so that will tide us over until I see it on sale again.

I've enjoyed making weekly menus to cut down the stress of figuring out what to cook every day. This week it looks something like this:

Monday
lunch: deli turkey that Dan brought home from presbytery, leftover stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, grapes
dinner: chicken barley soup with crackers

Tuesday
lunch: pizza, salad
dinner: baked chicken leg quarters, twice-baked potatoes, mixed vegetables, chocolate cheesecake

Wednesday
lunch: grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup
dinner: I'll be at Mom's house that evening so Dan can eat leftovers from Tuesday.

Thursday
lunch: fish sticks, brown rice pilaf, mixed vegetables
dinner: hamburger helper stroganoff, peas, carrot cake

Friday
lunch: tuna salad sandwiches and/or veggie burgers, grapes
dinner: local restaurant (using Entertainment book coupon)

Saturday
lunch: workday at church, lunch there
dinner: game night at church, dinner there

It's pretty obvious that we don't get enough vegetables, but that's something we're working on. Dan doesn't like them and tells me that since he's eating a lot more of them now than before we were married, that's sufficient. We usually eat a lot more salad but since I didn't see lettuce on sale anywhere, this week we're eating frozen vegetables.

2008-04-14T18:24:00.004-05:00

Giant Eagle:

$4.00 Kraft American Cheese x2 @$2 ea.
$8.00 Sargento Shredded Cheese x4 @$2 ea.
$2.00 Daisy Sour Cream x2 @$2 ea. with 50c coupons doubled, $1 ea.
$2.50 Dannon Plain Yogurt
------
16.50

Sparkle:

$2.98 half-gallon milk x2 @$1.49 ea.
$1.36 Quaker Cinnamon Life x2 @$1.68 ea. with $1 coupons, 68c ea.
$1.50 Quaker Oatmeal Squares @$2.50 with $1 coupon
$6.00 sirloin tip roast x3 lb @$1.99/lb.
$0.99 Plochman's mustard
$4.99 W. Virginia sliced bacon, 24 oz.
$1.00 FiberOne Yogurt 6-pack @$2.50 with $1.50 coupon
$1.00 oranges x5
------
19.82

Total: $36.32

2008-01-09T14:21:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Mom! I love you!

2008-01-07T18:50:00.000-05:00

Vote for Ron Paul!

2008-01-01T10:06:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

2007-12-27T16:07:00.000-05:00

Very brief post here -- I know it's been a long time since I wrote, but there's good reason for that!

I had my wisdom teeth extracted last Monday and I've been on Vicodin. The pain is much better now and I'm really glad to have those teeth gone. They gave me headaches.

Dan and I are in Massachusetts at his parents' house. We drove up yesterday and plan to stay a week. Classes start up again January 7.

Grandpa is coming over this evening. I have a grandpa now! Both of my grandfathers(actually all 3 since Grandma Chamberlin was married twice) died before I was born. Dan's grandfather is wonderful. I adore him. I love claiming him for my own.

Dan's whole family is wonderful.

2007-12-08T10:46:00.000-05:00

Our landlord sold our building. It came as a surprise last Friday. We're now under the care of Mozart Management. Others in the apartment have expressed concern about the change, worry that they might be kicked out, that our leases might not be honored and they will raise the rent, etc. They have treated us well so far, though. I wrote them a little letter with our rent check to introduce ourselves to them, and they called us back to thank us for the welcome. Since this company doesn't use security deposits, they refunded ours already, so that was a nice surprise. They have also changed the door locks and fixed the back door so it locks automatically, so we are feeling better about that already.

I don't know if I can keep up with the schedule I've given myself for this quarter. It's like this: Monday mornings I'll do grocery shopping, laundry, and house work, then work 3-11. Tuesday morning I'll be in class at the seminary from 8-2:45, then work 3-11. Wednesday mornings I'll babysit June's kids from 8:45 to 12:30. I'll have Wednesday afternoons free. Wednesday evenings I'll go to Bible study at church. Thursdays I'll work 8-4, and I'm looking into doing some typing for Dr. Prutow Thursday evenings. Fridays I'll work 8-4 and leave the evening free for fun. Saturdays I'll work 8-4 and spend the evening getting things ready for Sunday. This really doesn't even give me enough time to keep up with the reading in the two classes I'm auditing! I want to make the best of every moment we're here, though. This is such a fun time of our life together, and I'm loving it.

Professor Miller gave us an outline for our class on the history of missions Tuesday morning. We did an overview of the spread of the gospel from Pentecost to the Great Awakening. What a lot of material to cover! I'm sure I'll glean much from this course.

Dr. Spear went over the time of the covenanters and the Westminster Assembly in class on Tuesday. I actually missed part of it because I had to go home and take a little nap before work. I was disappointed to miss it but I had to get some sleep to be able to do my work well.

Bible study was canceled due to snow Wednesday evening, so I sat in on Dan's Greek Exegesis class. That was the third class I went to this week! I enjoyed it, even though I don't know Greek. Dr. Kinneer discussed matters of grammar and interpretation of passages in the gospels regarding the timing of Christ's birth. He believes it could possibly have been in December of 5 BC. I remember hearing before that it was in March, but apparently that's when Herod died, which is when they returned from Egypt. After class, Shane invited Dan and me over to their house to enjoy some chocolate cake Kelly had made. We stayed a lot longer than we intended, but it was great to see them again. I hadn't really visited with them much since Thanksgiving break.

Yesterday while Dan was working at the seminary, Paul came over and invited me to bring our dinner over to share the evening with other students. We had an impromptu potluck ("pot providence" Paul calls it). Some of the guys who live there, Kihei, Ryan, Alex and Ron, the girls across the street, Jill, Teresa and Yasuko, along with Paul, Dan and I, had a good evening together, eating, singing, praying, fellowshipping. Good times. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm so glad we live close to the seminary! :)

2007-11-28T20:35:00.000-05:00

Last week was great. Miriam always makes a lot of good food, no matter what the occasion. She's a wonderful Thanksgiving hostess. So, having spent the entire week at her house, we got to eat a lot of good food.

The babies are growing up, of course. Annie talks now. How does that happen? Dora is perhaps at the most adorable stage of a baby's existence, sweet and cuddly, rolling and crawling around all over the place. I miss both of them.

Tuesday morning Miriam, Mom and I went to Sam's Club with Annie for some Thanksgiving supplies. Wednesday we all went to Ikea, Mom, the Brown family, and the Drost family. They have good breakfasts there for cheap. For 99 cents you can get scrambled eggs, bacon, and potatoes. We had a gift card from our wedding but had no idea what to buy. Dan suggested we could just plan to go there for breakfast once a week until we use up the gift card! We browsed a while, thought about getting a study desk for Dan, but decided to wait and get it here in Pittsburgh.

John Brentlinger's house burned down. Apparently he put the kettle on the stove, went out to his office, and forgot about it! Next thing he knew, he looked back at the house and saw flames flickering through the windows. Wow. He's staying with his son for now.

We watched movies, played games, cooked and ate food. Daniel and Jonathan came late Wednesday night, I should say Thursday morning. They worked all day Wednesday then drove at night. Daniel had talked about possibly renting a plane and flying out but for some reason that didn't work out.

The Monopoly game Friday night was a highlight, just like old times. Jonathan and I lasted the longest but quit around midnight. Saturday we went to a museum of science and industry. For some reason that seems like a blur to me, I don't really remember anything striking about it. Long line waiting to buy tickets, expensive lunch... the Star Wars exhibit Daniel wanted to see was sold out for the day. We just walked around and looked at a bunch of stuff. There's always way too much to see in museums like that. I think we would do better to focus on one or two areas and get all we can out of it than to skim through the whole building.

There was a young medical student from the Netherlands at church Sunday whom Dan had met a couple of years ago at the Cambridge RP church. That was kind of a neat "small world" experience.

Daniel and Jonathan drove home Sunday afternoon, and Dan, Mom and I drove back Monday morning.

Gotta go for now. I'm at the seminary computer lab and I think Dan's class is over now, so we'd best be heading home. I'll write more some other day!

2007-11-17T20:11:00.001-05:00

Last night we went to an NRA meeting at church. National Reform Association, that is, not the National Rifle Association. Bill Chellis and Anthony Cowley were the speakers for the evening. Very interesting, important stuff. (So much for any deep commentary from me!) It is so surprising to me how few people show up for those meetings. About 20.

I'm tired and stressed today. Finals are over, and we're getting ready to go to Miriam's for all of next week. First, though, Dan will preach at College Hill tomorrow evening. We're slated to leave early Monday around 6ish.

Anne & Co. will be arriving tomorrow at church, hopefully with Mom in tow. They plan to stay overnight at Mom's house then come to Pittsburgh in the morning.

I've got some tidying up to do around the house, church clothes to iron, food to prepare, and the rest of the packing to do, including my work computer. I'm feeling way behind. Dan is finishing up some laundry over at the seminary. I can't wait to see him again. Yes, we're newlyweds -- even an hour or two away from each other seems unbearable! I can't believe we're almost to our 6-monthiversary!

We finally have our wedding photos! We'll take them out to Miriam's. I'll bring my scrapbook along, and maybe she can help me get started on it at some point during our visit. I'm so looking forward to it. I've taken some days off work to enjoy while we're there.

2007-11-12T20:41:00.000-05:00

I'm supposed to be working but I just can't get into it today.

"Seminary women" met this evening but I didn't go. I think they had somebody give a talk on "Leading a Bible Study."

Our beer is done. Dan has been enjoying some of it this evening.

Anne Sexton called this morning. Her mother-in-law is very ill and Anne wants to bring the boys to Pittsburgh to visit her for a couple of days. Dan and I will be in Chicago when they are here, but we told them they could stay at our apartment. I wish we could be here to host them -- it's been such a long time since I've seen them! But it should work out well for them to stay here while we're gone.

I'm planning to babysit at the McFarlands tomorrow morning.

2007-11-10T22:27:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday, Jonathan! I can't believe he's 25 already.

Dan sailed through his presbytery exams today. Praise God!

We're babysitting baby Joshua from church while his parents go to the opera. He's a sweetie, 2 years old, blonde, blue eyes, with a most engaging personality. He called Dan "Boy" this evening. "Hey boy come play!" Cute, cute kid. :)

I mentioned in a post last month that the stepdad of a lady from church was diagnosed with leukemia. We received word today that he passed away. We had been praying for his salvation. Death is such a striking, sobering thing.

Any other bits of news seem completely irrelevant.

2007-11-09T12:55:00.001-05:00

This apartment building is swarming with police officers right now, even have one of those K9 German Shepherds. I hope this means that if there was a crack dealer here, they're getting him. The guy they're looking for probably isn't home right now though.

2007-11-01T22:10:00.000-05:00

It's time to register for next quarter's classes already. I signed up to audit two church history classes, one on the history of missions and the other on the history of the reformed presbyterian church. They're both on Tuesdays, which should work out pretty well with my work schedule. I'm not sure yet if Dan will be taking both of them as well. I hope so, because I love to hear his interaction in class. :) This should be fun.

Tomorrow CJ Williams is coming over for lunch. He was my pastor for a couple of years and now teaches full-time at the seminary. He's Dan's Hebrew professor. I made some chocolate chip cookies -- hope they last until tomorrow!

2007-10-25T12:37:00.000-05:00

Presbytery meets next weekend at Covenant Fellowship. Dan will have 3 exams: personal godliness, systematic theology, and a sermon. He was asked to preach at College Hill next month, November 18, in the evening, and also at Providence December 16, in the afternoon service. It is so exciting to watch things progress. He is always so eager to preach!

He has been looking into possible internships for next summer. He might do it at the Cambridge RP church, and we could possibly stay with his parents. The church near Washington, DC, also sounded positive last we heard, and we are still hoping things will work out at some point in the Triangle church in NC. Only one internship is required, but he could do one next summer and another the summer after graduation for more experience, depending on our options at that point.

2007-10-18T12:25:00.000-05:00

There was an eviction, and our apartment is quieter now. The landlord is urging Dan and me to find other seminary students to stay here. He even told us he'd give us $100 for every tenant we can get him. Dan said he'll talk to some people at the seminary and make sure they know there are openings here. The apartment right across the hall from us is available. It would be awesome if other seminary students would move in. It's only $450 a month plus gas and it's so close to the seminary. They're all one-bedroom apartments, but the rooms are fairly large. We should try to fill the whole building up with students!

On another note, I'm making beer. We bought a kit on craigslist this summer but didn't get started on it until yesterday. We now have 5 gallons brewing in a corner of the livingroom. It's called American Cream Ale. I hope it turns out drinkable. It should be ready to bottle next week, then it will need to brew another couple of weeks. We're hoping it will be ready by the time we go out to Miriam's for Thanksgiving! There should be plenty -- the recipe says it makes 48 bottles! That should last us a while!

2007-10-17T16:14:00.000-05:00

Cooking is fun. I don't experiment with new recipes much because my husband likes basic foods (steak and fries!!) but I have tried a couple of new things lately. I roasted a chicken. I'd never done that before. It turned out perfect! Bread-making has been fun. I think I'll quit buying bread altogether and just make it all the time. I'm thinking about making bagels one of these days too, when I have some free time. You have to let them rise and then boil them before you bake them. This week my adventures included eggs Benedict -- wow, the cholesterol! Hollandaise sauce is kind of complicated. You have to put 3 egg yolks in a double boiler along with 1 tablespoon each water and lemon juice, then add half a cup of butter, one piece at a time, stirring constantly until melted. Poach eggs, toast English muffins, fry bacon (we just used regular bacon instead of Canadian bacon), and put it all together for a fancy breakfast! That was Tuesday morning. I made it after Dan came back from his morning class at the seminary and we had a nice leisurely morning together. Right now I'm making baked chicken legs and rice pilaf from the cookbook Rebekah Cumbee gave me for my wedding. I'm using instant potatoes for the chicken breading.

Kurt Bowman is going to kill a deer for us. We just have to pay the butcher. I can't wait. Dan loves venison. Although I'm not that crazy about it, maybe I'll develop more of a taste for it. It will be nice to have so much meat on hand.

2007-10-15T18:51:00.000-05:00

We've been doing a lot of socializing lately. It's fun living so close to the seminary. Saturday evening Paul Martin had us over for dinner. (He makes good enchiladas!) We took a family with us who just came to the states from Kenya last month to go to RPTS. Steven, their 2-year-old son, is adorable. He speaks Swahili but can repeat English words very clearly. I'm sure he'll pick it up quickly. Alex, Kihei and Jeremy were there, too. We had a good time, which of course included singing Psalms, reading Scripture and praying.

Yesterday we slept in. I couldn't believe it when Dan woke me up saying it was 9:27! Our church starts at 10. We decided to go to Covenant Fellowship RP church, which is only a couple of blocks away and starts at 10:30. They did a bunch of things during the morning worship service that made us a bit uncomfortable, a children's object lesson involving a relay race around the sanctuary, a pause for "the peace" they called it, where everybody walked around shaking hands saying "May the peace of God be with you," or something like that, and other things that we would not consider to have Scriptural warrant in the worship of God. Our church had communion in the afternoon, so right after lunch we headed over there. Rut preached from Psalm 9. Each month before communion, he preaches on a Psalm which we then call our psalm of the month, like we did when CJ was pastor. We have been moving through the Psalter, a practice I really like.

In the evening, we went over to the Sapps and listened to two Dave Reese sermons with them. That was another really good time of fellowship.

I spent this morning at the McFarlands. Their first baby was born about six weeks ago, but they already have 4 adopted children, all under the age of 6. That's a busy household! I just went over to help with laundry, kids, etc. She took the 2-year-old with her to get some groceries while I was there. I'll go back again next week when she has a doctor's appointment.

2007-10-13T09:39:00.001-05:00

To begin with, it didn't bother me at all. Call it naivete. We were staying in a house next to the seminary that had a wooden fence around the back yard, with a gate opening to the seminary. Our upstairs neighbors were Christians, another young married seminary couple. Our street was relatively quiet, other than a bar a couple of houses down on Penn. We knew it was kind of a bad part of town, and sure, we heard sirens at all hours, but that's city life, right? I wasn't at all phased by it.

When we moved to this apartment things were a little different. We're only two blocks away from the other house, but suddenly it's a lot more like the "hood." Our apartment building has 10 units, including section 8 housing. We hear noises at night, people yelling at each other, etc. I mentioned this in an earlier post. I began to obsess about what was going on around us. I started reading police reports, news articles, etc., about what really goes on in day-to-day life in Homewood and Wilkinsburg. Drugs, assault, robbery. Last week there was a shooting (2 injured) in Wilkinsburg and another in Homewood (1 dead, 1 injured). I became more and more suspicious of everybody I saw. Anybody hanging around outside the apartment was, to me, a potential burgler. I began to imagine that our neighbors are dealing drugs. When people came to work on the roof a couple of weeks ago, I nearly had myself convinced they were up there harvesting marijuana! I quit walking to the seminary by myself, even during the daytime, even though it is only 2 houses down.

I was obviously getting a little out of hand. Come on, Abigail. My imagination is probably worse than reality. There are, after all, thousands of people who live their lives around us every day without trouble. If I could get over this culture shock, maybe get to know some of our neighbors, things would be a little less scary.

Then last night, before we went to sleep, we thought we heard gunshots. At least 5 or 6 of them. We wondered what else the sound could have been, a car backfiring? Fireworks? I googled Wilkinsburg shooting this morning and found an article about a 21-year-old boy shot dead near the Save-A-Lot I frequent, a few blocks away. On second look, though, that actually happened last month. We don't know what we heard last night.

Will I get used to this?

2007-10-09T16:15:00.000-05:00

We had a nice time at "home" over the weekend. I can be confusing talking about Mom's house as home even though this apartment is home now, but that was home for 27 years of my life, and it's hard to let go of that!

Daniel bought a 60" TV. It's in what was once the library - takes up a whole wall!

I brought Heather's wheat grinder back with me yesterday, along with a can of cracked wheat. I'm going to try to make some flour. I've been baking bread in the bread machine Miriam gave me. It's really easy. I got some gluten from the food co-op and it makes the bread stay together very nicely.

I went to the dentist again this morning. Dr. Omar Aboosi gave me my last filling. The hygienist will do a deep cleaning next (two appointments, starting tomorrow), and then in November the surgeon will take care of my wisdom teeth. I can't wait for all of this stuff to be done. My mouth hurts.

Our landlord stopped by this afternoon with two other men. They knocked on the door just as I was reading a news article online about another shooting in Homewood last night. I scare myself sometimes! Anyway, they were just here to check our smoke detector and furnace. The furnace is going to need some work, apparently, so they'll be back next week. Our landlord is from Russia. It was neat to hear them talking to each other in Russian. Such a beautiful language!

2007-10-06T11:45:00.001-05:00

I'm so in love. This man is wonderful!

We're going to Mom's house tonight after work. Tom Reid is preaching at Rose Point tomorrow, so hopefully she'll go with us to worship in the morning.

I'm going to get some dried lima beans from the food co-op for Mom so she can try grinding them into flour. She read somewhere that she needs to use lima bean flour for some reason or another, so we'll give it a try!

She made a bunch of grape juice. I can't wait to have some!

2007-10-05T16:45:00.000-05:00

My brother Daniel stopped by this afternoon for about an hour. I was supposed to be working, but it was nice to see him. He's on his way to an OPC singles' conference with his pastor but his pastor had a meeting at RPTS this afternoon first, so Daniel just came over here to hang out with us a bit. I gave him some tea and apple cake while he and Dan watched some tetris thing on youtube. Then they went over to the seminary and Dan showed him around, then they smoked some cigars in the parking lot. Daniel accidentally took a bite of a buckeye because he thought it was a chestnut. He thought he was feeling a little woozy from it. Maybe it was the combination of the buckeye and the cigar?

This evening Dan is going to CJ's with a bunch of guys from the seminary. June Whitla called me up to see if I'd like to come over to her house for the evening but unfortunately I have a bunch of work I need to catch up. For various reasons throughout the week I'm behind about 4 hours. So that's my plan. I'll listen to some good classical music in the background, sip Ginger Ale (which I'm not particularly fond of, but it's what we have at the moment!) and type the evening away. Here goes...

2007-10-04T10:02:00.000-05:00

I miss these kids.

2007-10-03T20:48:00.000-05:00

Organized some things in our bedroom this morning then went to the Sapps to babysit. When Grover saw me, he was like, "Why are you wearing a kilt?" I guess plaid skirts are now men's clothing, in his mind, since he went to Scotland this summer. Played with legos, listened to a story on tape from the library, colored.

Another beautiful day. This weather has been unbelievable.

I had to see the dentist again this afternoon. More fillings. This time he had to stop in the middle of his work and give me another shot of anesthetic. It wasn't exactly comfortable for me, but he's a very nice doctor and I think he's doing a great job.

I stopped and bought a frozen pizza for dinner since I didn't have time after all to bake the chicken. It will have to wait until tomorrow. Dan had an evening class and I went to the Bible study at church. I love our church. Deana's step-father was just diagnosed with leukemia. He's 77. I talked to her for a little bit after the study.

Today is Sarah's 4th birthday. Rachel wants to have a birthday party for her tomorrow evening. I don't think Dan and I will be able to go, since Dan probably will need the time to study. We may go home Saturday after work though and hopefully we'll get to see her then.

Daniel is going to a singles' retreat this weekend with his pastor.

My honey just got home from the seminary. Gotta go!

2007-10-02T13:55:00.000-05:00

This morning I found out my oven works after all! Ever since we moved in, I had it in my head that the oven didn't work, because I turned the broiler on and didn't see the flame like on Mom's stove. It is a gas stove, but apparently the oven works differently. Or maybe just the broiler is broken. I turned it on this morning and it got hot quickly. I was so happy. I made an apple cake in the bundt pan John Laing gave us for our wedding. Had to substitute some ingredients for the recipe (I have no baking soda, so I used some self-rising flour, I added nutmeg instead of allspice, and I skipped the pecans), but it turned out great! Too big for Dan and me to eat by ourselves, so I put half of it in the freezer for later.

I'm really excited about the oven. I'm going to try roasting a chicken tomorrow.

This afternoon I met Rut in the seminary computer lab to see if we could get one of the computers there set up with the software to convert his sermons to mp3 so we can put them on sermonaudio. We ran into the same problem we had with Dan's laptop -- "No Disk Drive Found." Argh. We don't know what to do with it but I hope we can figure it out soon. I'm eager to do the sermonaudio thing again.

2007-10-01T15:44:00.000-05:00

Picking up from where I left off...

Saturday: I got sick, sipped chicken broth while I typed and listened to classical music with Dan while he studied. It was a very pleasant day despite both of us having colds. In the evening we walked to Patrick Marx's place about a half a mile away for a "game night." Of the 10 or so people there, we only knew Kihei and Theresa but learned some new games, and had fun and good fellowship.

Sunday: We picked up Jill from across the street from the seminary, and also Melissa from Carnegie-Melon University and drove them to church with us. Rut preached his final sermon in Malachi, and after lunch Shane gave us a slide show presentation of his family's adventures in Scotland over the summer. He did a pastoral internship there. In the evening, Dan and I drove up to Beaver Falls to visit the College Hill RP church. Crazy fly guy told his story (supposedly a prayer request) and then Paul Martin preached, on Psalm 5. Dan and I went to Mom's house afterwards. She wasn't expecting us. She was playing the piano, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, when we got there, and we snuck up the stairs and sat on the couch until she was finished! It was fun surprising her.

Monday: Dan and I slept in. I think we were both tired out from our colds, and Deborah's room was nice and dark. It was after 10 before we got up. Then we helped Mom take some of Grandma's things out of her trunk. She had gone through a bunch of stuff with Aunt Sarah and Aunt Mary a week or so before, and hadn't had a chance to clean out her car yet. Then Dan taped up some boxes out in Daddy's shop to send to Ron Cooke, a big project as it was about 10 or 12 paper boxes. He and Mom took them to the hardware while I sorted some things out in the fruit cellar and got a couple of things for our apartment. We took 7 wooden folding chairs and Grandma's dishes, and various other things. We had to leave around 1:30 because I was supposed to be at work by 3. I worked and Dan studied for the rest of the day.

Tuesday: Dan went to class, then I went over with him to chapel at 9:45. Micah Ramsey, who just graduated from RPTS this spring and is now pastor at Eastvale RP church, preached. Afterwards I went over to the Food Co-op across the street and then made lunch for Dan and our pastor. I cooked some chicken legs and mixed vegetables. I tried to make mashed potatoes and gravy, but they didn't turn out right so I just mixed them together and added some leftover smoked sausage. Heh, we'll call it "The Great Soup!" Of course I didn't serve that to our pastor, but settled for chicken and vegetables. He came over to talk about a sermon he finally got to hear, which Dan had preached last year in chapel. Sounds like he liked it. He said it was edifying. Also, he showed me some software we can use for our sermon audio site, which has been woefully neglected. I'll be taking care of that again, hopefully starting sometime next week. I had to work 3-11 again.

Wednesday: I had a 9 o'clock dentist appointment. Haven't seen a dentist in a long, long time. They decided I needed a bunch of fillings and also a good cleaning in which they'll actually inject antibiotics into my gums and dig up under them to clean them. Doesn't sound like a fun procedure. I don't actually have that scheduled yet. I went back that same afternoon to get started with the fillings (6 of them!) and made an appointment for Thursday morning to get some more done. The evening was taken up with work, to make up for the time I would be losing the next day, so I was unable to go to the Bible study at church. It was on John 3:16, so I'm sorry to have missed it.

Thursday: Another dentist appointment. This time a dental student did 2 fillings, and he actually re-did one of them so it took a bit longer. It hurts for me to have my mouth open very wide for very long because my wisdom teeth are coming in (the real reason I decided I needed to see a dentist!). I'm feeling quite experienced at sitting still and just taking the torture they give in the dentist's chair. This guy actually asked his assistant for a "hatchet." I kid you not. A hatchet! What is that? I had to go get a prescription after they finally let me go, an antibiotic and also ibuprofen 800 mg p.r.n. because my wisdom teeth give me headaches and I won't be able to see the surgeon until November. After working for the rest of the afternoon, I made a "turkey dinner" for Rachel and Tommy and the kids. Actually it was just 3 turkey legs, so we were a bit skimpy on meat, but I made a bunch of stuffing and mashed potatoes and vegetables and salad, so we were alright as far as food quantity. Even made celery sticks with cream cheese and seasoned salt! Rachel brought us some tomatoes from her garden and made an apple pie for us to enjoy. Before they left, I warned Steven and Naomi that it was a dangerous area and that they needed to stay with their parents when they went back out to the van. I told them about a random shooting that had taken place a couple of years ago in Wilkinsburg, where a man shot 6 people who were in the drive-throughs of McDonalds and Burger King right down the road. I may have scared them too much. Steven was scared to go outside. Then believe it or not after they left here, they hit construction and had to detour, didn't know where they were, stopped at a gas station and some guy approached them asking for money! Rachel told them, "Look at what we're driving, do you THINK we have money?" They called me for directions and were relieved to finally get back on track on the way back to safe little New Waterford. I hope they weren't too frightened to come back some day!

Friday: I worked 8-4, Dan had classes, and in the evening we went to Paul Martin's. He had a couple of other guys from the seminary there, Alex and Kihei, and they were busy making grape juice out of concord grapes that grew on the property where Paul lives. He is renting from Dr. and Mrs. Spear. Very nice rural location. We ate salad with lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppeers, and things like grated butternut squash and beets and sweet potatoes. Then we sang some psalms together and talked for a while.

Saturday: I worked 8-4, Dan studied. He did some laundry for me over at the seminary. We pay $35 per quarter to use their washer and dryer, which is much better than using the coin laundry they have at our apartment building. After work we went to a bonfire and hayride at Julie Maurer's mom's place up by McConnell's Mill. We were actually very late because of traffic and construction and also we just got a late start. It was a beautiful evening. We roasted hot dogs and visited with everybody when they got back to the farm after the hayride.

Sunday: We took Jill and Yasuko to church. The Sapps usually take Yasuko with them, but Shane preached at Trinity RPC in Maryland. Rut is going to start a new series in Ephesians but first he wanted to explain the transition into the New Testament so he preached on John the Baptist. After lunch we had "Bible class" which they just started doing every other week. Christ the King and Head of the Church was the topic. We asked a bunch of people if they wanted to come to our house afterwards for a psalm sing. Melissa, Yasuko, and Jill, and Theresa came, as well as Alex, Kihei, and Ryan from the seminary and Paul Martin. Julie Maurer came a bit later. too. It was a nice little gathering in our little apartment. I made a big bowl of popcorn. We sang for about an hour and a half then visited for almost another hour. We'll do it again sometime. In the evening we just stayed home, did some reading, had family worship, and went to bed fairly early.

In the middle of the night, we were awakened by somebody yelling over and over again outside our window, "You going to JAIL, you B**TCH!" We hear things like that a little too often in this neighborhood. Sometimes people bang on the door of the building and we hear it all the way upstairs. Sometimes people yell hateful things to each other, I mean really hateful things that wake us up, "I F**** HATE YOU!!" The other day while I was working, a loud rap car was parked right under our window and a bunch of people were just hanging out in the parking lot. I'm glad we're up on the 3rd floor. It feels a little safer up here. We don't know our neighbors very well, but we pray for them and hope we can be a witness to them somehow.

Monday: Dan has no classes on Monday and I don't work until 3 p.m. so this is the only day we can have a leisurely morning together. I made biscuits (in the electric skillet since our oven doesn't work) and eggs and we had tea together and then family worship. I had to do some running around, the bank, grocery store, return an overdue video. Also stopped at a thrift store and bought a few household things. He had a take-home test for Civil Government class, which he did today, then went over to the seminary to study in the library for a paper he has to write for his soteriology class. He's doing a refutation of N. T. Wright's view of justification.

I'm supposed to be working until 11 tonight, so I'd better get back to that! I'll write more often, I promise.

2007-09-21T18:37:00.001-05:00

Dan's friend Anthony came over for lunch today. He was at the seminary the first time Dan came to Pittsburgh, the first day we met, the day I picked him up at the bus station and we went out to dinner. They shared the guest room at the seminary that night, and Dan told me later that Anthony was asking him all sorts of questions, "What's she like?" "Do you like her?" "Did you kiss her?" "Are you going to marry her?" :) It was fun to have lunch with him today, even though I was working and had to get back to my computer as soon as we finished eating. The two of them went to a park to smoke cigars afterwards.

My honey seems to be getting a cold. His nose keeps dripping, but he doesn't complain. He's always good-natured and never complains about anything. Really, it's true, even if he is in obvious discomfort, he will just ignore it and be happy anyway. I have a lot to learn from him. He did mention this evening, though, that he wishes his nose was upside down so it would quit dripping. I better go buy him some medicine and vitamin C.

2007-09-20T16:17:00.000-05:00

I have too many clothes. I need to sort through them and get rid of what I don't wear.

We have an insanely bright security light right outside our bedroom window. We didn't notice it when we came to look at the apartment because it was daylight, but our first night here was an adventure and a half trying to block out the light. We didn't have any curtain rods or anything so we moved a tall bookshelf in front of the window. That wasn't tall or wide enough, so we stacked boxes on top of it, moved my desk over to the other side -- it was sheer craziness! We still don't have good room-darkening blinds so I tried duct-taping a bunch of cardboard over the window, but I keep having to re-do it. It falls down every time. We've got to find something better.

My teeth hurt. I need to have my wisdom teeth taken out but I just can't bring myself to make a dentist appointment.

I didn't do very well at work today. Maybe I did but I think I didn't because my total line count is lower than usual. Most of the work I do now is ASR (automated speech recognition), which means the report comes up completed by the computer, and I just listen and edit. My ASR goal is 2000 lines per day but sometimes, like today, some of the jobs are regular transcription, which obviously take a bit longer, so I only got to 1618 lines. I always feel discouraged when I don't make enough lines. Then I start worrying about money, because I get paid according to my production. It's okay though, everything always works out just fine. The good days usually balance the bad days out and my average has been sufficient so far. God always provides!

I've been feeding Dan casseroles all week but tonight I'm making his favorite -- steak and fries! Well, actually, I have to admit, I'm cheating bigtime. It's not real steak, it's a frozen salisbury steak dinner from Save-a-Lot. We'll eat as soon as he comes back from working at the seminary.

2007-09-19T20:46:00.000-05:00

Since Wednesday is my day off work, I attended chapel this morning. Steve Miller preached. He's my brother Daniel's pastor (OPC) and also professor of missions at RPTS. He's a very good preacher. Afterwards, I went over to the Sapps to babysit while Kelly audited Professor Miller's class. RPTS allows and encourages students' wives to audit any class they like for free. I plan to take advantage of that next quarter. For now, I feel like I have enough on my hands just settling into our new apartment and adjusting to our current schedule.

Grover is four-and-a-half-almost-five. He is very articulate, intelligent, and friendly - a joy to spend time with! His little sister Clementine is as sweet as can be too. I think she's two years old. We colored, read, ate a snack, talked a lot, and colored some more. It was great.

I meant to lie down for 15 minutes this afternoon but I didn't wake up until an hour and 15 minutes later! Then I sorted through our wedding pictures online to decide which ones to order from the photographer. I'm trying to limit it to 65 because he gave us a discount for up to that many. Not an easy task!

After dinner (a hodge-podge of sausage, cabbage, and potatoes), I went to the Bible study at church and Dan went over to the seminary for his Civil Government class. The Bible study is led by our pastor, Rut Etheridge III. We're in John 3, and today covered verses 13-15. It's quite in-depth, usually discussing key Greek words, explaining context, etc. Somebody had brought chocolate chip cookies, and I brought two home for my sweetie.

On the way back, I stopped at a grocery store in Bloomfield. It's the same one Mom used to visit when she was staying at the Mariott while Daddy was in the hospital. Dan and I decided to limit our spending to $50 a week, including groceries and gas and other normal expenses of daily life. This being our first week at it, we've done pretty well so far! We'll see how it goes.

2007-09-18T21:22:00.000-05:00

2007-09-18T20:10:00.001-05:00

So much has changed since I was here last. I won't spend a lot of time catching up but I want to start posting again, so a few things need to be said first.

Daddy was diagnosed with leukemia in January of 2005. He fought it valiantly at the VA Hospital in Pittsburgh for 18 months and finally went to be with the Lord last August. We miss him!

I got married this spring! To a wonderful godly man who is in his second year of seminary. We are living in a little apartment near the seminary, and I am doing medical transcription full-time from home. God has been very good to us and has provided us with everything we need.

Today I cut my husband's hair for the first time. It's not perfect, but at least it's not shaggy anymore! He is in Greek Exegesis class right now, and I am supposed to be typing medical reports, so I will get back to that. I'll write again soon!

2007-09-15T12:13:00.000-05:00

Testing...

2004-04-22T17:24:00.000-05:00

I learned a lot about myself today.

I'm NOT a redneck.

I'm a potato.

I'm 60% slacker.

I'm 29% bad. That means I'm as bad as Tom Hanks! I have a tendency to do good, and I get along with everyone.

I'm a sun shower. I'm warm, forgiving, and naive. I put others before myself, even in rainy situations.

On the keyboard, I'm the Ctrl key. Figure that one out.

I'm a white chocolate chip cookie. Elegant, refined, I demand to have the finer things in life.

I even did the toilet paper quiz. I'm environmentally friendly toilet paper.

I'm the blue M&M.

I'm a NON-Geek.

I'm a Quiche Florentine TV Dinner. A somewhat dependent yet caring individual. It seems I don't need assistance, but I enjoy help and security anyways.

My "inner rock star" is Kurt Cobain.

I'm 17% dumb -- as dumb as Bill Gates!

The 80's test tells me I'm a pair of white jeans.

I'm 25% eccentric. I can usually pass myself off as a normal person.

I'm a glazed donut.

I'm Velma from Scooby Doo.

I'm a rock climber. I like making my own trail. I have high goals. I'm a bit impulsive.

I'm a hibernating snail.

Internet quizzes are crazy.

2004-03-23T14:57:00.000-05:00

I've been busy. Miriam and Charles came for a visit and took Miriam's car back to Chicago with them. That Saturday we had a baby shower at the church for Darren DeVault. That's one family full of D's -- Dustin, Deena, Dinah, and Darren. I went to the Pittsburgh Symphony with Ian Work and heard Gustaf Mahler's Fifth Symphony that evening, then spent the night at the McFarlands. Michael Owens came for a visit the next weekend, tuned our piano, Rachel's piano, and the Whalen's piano. He gave me a "Book of Praise", Anglo-Genevan Psalter, and some recording software for the computer. The next weekend I went to a play in Pittsburgh, Gilbert and Sullivan's "Patience". I stayed with the Reids overnight.

The following Wednesday I left for Florida with Daniel, Jonathan, and Daniel and Christian Ashby. 18-hour trip in one day. What fun. Really, it was a lot of fun. Daniel bought a conversion van on ebay to travel down in. His idea was to buy this van for $900 and if anything went wrong on the way down, just stop and fix it. Turn around and sell it when we get back. So far we haven't sold it yet, but hey, I think it was a good idea anyway. We had planned to take Jonathan's Tahoe, which would have been more comfortable, but it was totalled in January. We got a condo in Orlando for about 5 days. Nathanael Kramer came from Kentucky, stayed with us and went to the Ligonier conference with us. RC Sproul, John MacArthur, Sinclair Ferguson, Robert Godfrey, and Ligon Duncan all spoke on the attributes of God -- his omnipotence, omniscience, simplicity, beauty, etc. We visited the Orlando RP church where David Smith was just called to the pastorate, then headed up to David and Leah's house and spent Monday there. We left early Tuesday morning and were back to work by the afternoon.

Naomi turned two on March 13. I bought her a book, Genesis 1 with photographs. I love picture books. I love nature photography.

Friday night my church did this thing called "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" There was a sign-up sheet for guests and hosts. The hosts planned a meal for a certain number of people, not knowing who would show up. Guests were to bring a side dish or dessert. I had to sign up as a guest, since I live so far away from everyone else. I took Deborah with me to Alexa Howald's house, and the Murrays and Bowmans were there. It was fun. I have a hard time getting along with Bob Bowman, but I'm working on it. Patience, patience. I took dessert -- strawberry yogurt pie and brownies.

I've been doing a lot of cooking and baking recently, with what little spare time I have, and I'm really enjoying it. During the week I'm always too busy with work, but usually on Saturdays I make some kind of food to take to church, since we eat together every Lord's day. I made a lemon meringue pie with Rachel at her house last Saturday, spent the night on their couch, then had pie for breakfast with the kids and Rachel and Tommy. I made oatmeal raisin cookies yesterday morning before work, apple crisp this morning... Hey, I'm finding out that if I get up early, I actually have a couple of hours to myself during the day.

Rachel makes up songs for her babies. Steven's is "Pedafoddatuda" -- "You are my little baby boy, I love my little Pedafoddatuda, Mommy loves her baby Steven, I love my little Steven Jack." Actually, come to think of it, that song is often open to improvisation. I know I sing it differently every time. But it's Steven's song, nonetheless. Naomi's song is to the tune of 'He's able, He's able, I know He is able, I know my Lord is able to carry me through". I had to think about the English words for that one for a bit before I remembered them. I think 'On mozhe' (Polish) when I hear the tune. But anyway, when we sing to Naomi, it's "Naomi, Naomi, I love my Naomi, I love my little baby Naomi-girl". Sarah's song is the funniest. Hers is to the tune of Bicycle Built for Two. It's so funny to hear Steven singing it. "Sarah, Sarah, Sarah Luella Jack, I love Sarah, and Sarah loves me right back..." Except Steven still calls her Sawah Duella Quack.

Deborah, Rachel, and I sang a song before supper the other day at their house, and as soon as we were done, Steven piped up, "Let's sing Sarah, Sarah next". So we did. :-) He's such a sweetie.

The guys are working at Essroc again, 12-hour shifts. Tonight they'll be working 7 pm to 7 am. That will be their schedule for about a week. Keith got out of it because last Sunday his cow kicked him. What luck. He's limping around the shop here doing what he can here, but we can't make him go to Essroc.

Tomorrow Susie and Marlin Nolt are stopping by our house on their way to Michigan. They have four kids now. I can't believe how time flies. I won't get to see them because I'll be at work.

In the evening I'm going to Gisela's house for supper before the Bible study. I'm looking forward to that. She's from Germany. She said her sister usually eats with her on Wednesdays, then they go to the Bible study together. Wally is in Florida for a couple of weeks. I saw her at the conference, but only briefly, at the very end when the guys were ready to leave, so I didn't get to talk with her much.

Amy came back from Cambridge last Saturday. I think she'll only be around for about two weeks this time. She passed all of her exams, of course. She's so smart.

Deborah and Heather and Tara and Shawn Martin and an Amish girl named Liz and I are driving up to New York this weekend to go to Dawn Martin's wedding. We'll be back by Sunday night. I hope we can stop at the Oswego RP church on our way home.

Amy will be at the wedding. I'm so looking forward to seeing her again!

I should write more often. Then I wouldn't have to write so much.

2004-02-29T15:33:00.000-05:00

Here's the outline from this morning's sermon. CJ took a week off from our series through the book of Revelation to preach from II Timothy 4:1-5.

Peddling the Passion

There are times when social phenomena call for a biblical response. Part of our witness is to stand for the truth and to "cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God" (II Cor. 10:5). A recent movie depicting the crucifixion of Christ is one "high thing" that cannot go unanswered. This sermon is not about that movie; it is about several timeless, biblical principles that certainly apply to that movie but are also applicable in all of the Christian life.

I. The gospel is not to be accompanied by visual or emotional manipulation.
God has appointed the preaching of the Word as his chosen method of making known the plan of salvation (Isa 55:9-11; I Cor 1:17-25; II Tim 4:2-4). Man cannot improve upon God's methods. Visual and emotional manipulation inevitably cheapens the gospel, obscures its content and produces "faith" that has no root or substance (cf. Matt 13:20-21).

II. God is not to be portrayed by any image, whether that image is still or moving.
God is Spirit (John 4;24), therefore we are not to make any representation of God, of all or any of the three Persons, either inwardly in our minds or outwardly in any kind of image (Ex 20:4-6; Deut 4:15-19; Acts 17:29; Rom 1:21-23). The real humanity of Christ is no justification for making an image of Him. His human nature is joined to His divine Person, which no picture can represent. Besides, images of Christ are entirely fabricated by the imaginations of men. This practice is nothing short of idolatry, and idolatry can never be defended with the plea of good intentions.

III. Beware the messenger.
In a world where there are many false teachers and much false teaching, Christians must exercise biblical discernment, being aware of the methods and motives of those who peddle the gospel and get rich in the process (II Pe 2:1-3; II Tim 4:3; I John 4:1). This applies to preachers and producers alike. The film released this week and hailed by gullible evangelicals is not evangelical; it has a Roman Catholic producer who worked closely with Roman Catholic theologians and gained the endorsement of Pope John Paul. What kind of gospel will such a movie portray? A false one, but it will make money, which is its chief end.

IV. Application:
1. Be a conscientious hearer of the preaching of the Word. Affirm its importance by your careful attendance, and invite others to hear it with you.
2. Worship God in Spirit and in truth, in the way that is pleasing to Christ.
3. Test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Exercise discernment, and give no support to false teaching and false teachers.

2004-02-19T18:26:00.000-05:00

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid:	Low
Schizoid:	High
Schizotypal:	Moderate
Antisocial:	Low
Borderline:	Low
Histrionic:	Low
Narcissistic:	Low
Avoidant:	Very High
Dependent:	Very High
Obsessive-Compulsive:	Moderate
-- Personality Disorder Test - Take It! --

2004-02-08T21:12:00.000-05:00

My life has changed since I wrote here last. I met with CJ on the 30th of October, and we went over a whole bunch of stuff, and I left the restaurant resolved to join Providence. November and December were really busy. Charles proposed to Miriam toward the end of October, and the wedding date was set for January 10. Miriam and Deborah and I went to Virginia one weekend to visit David and Leah. I drove over to Lynchburg to meet with the Cumbees again in December. They're right near the top of my list of favorite people in the world. I met with the elders at Providence on December 21 and joined the church, publicly taking the membership vows on the 28th. Amy was home from Cambridge for a couple of weeks and came for a visit with Christiana just for a couple of days at the end of December. Then there was the wedding and all the stress and running around that led up to it. Now I'm trying to adjust to life without Miriam. I have my own room now, for the first time in my life.

One of the babies Deborah delivered in October died. He had some kind of congenital heart defect. He lived for several months, in intensive care the whole time. They took him off the ventilator for about 10 days because he needed to build up enough strength to be able to survive breathing on his own in order for them to do the next necessary surgery, which had to take place within a certain time frame, and he didn't make it. They had actually taken him home for a couple of days before he passed away. Deborah and Heather are back in North Carolina again, not only for the funeral, but to deliver two more babies. I think one has been born already, a girl, and they're expecting the other one any day.

All my nieces and nephews are doing great. Steven has memorized the 23rd Psalm, and Naomi tries to say it too. Now Tommy and Rachel are working on teaching them the Lord's Prayer. I talked to David yesterday, and Eliana sang Psalm 19:14 to me over the phone. Benjamin had to have some kind of therapy for his neck because his head was a little bit misshapen, but that's all straightened out now.

Things are still really stressful at the shop, but they're going better financially. It's not noticeable on a day-to-day basis, but the reports are showing improvement.

I went to the Bible study at church Wednesday evening. Matthew 18:7-14. It was really good. I'm going to try to go more often. If I cram my work schedule just right, I think I'll be able to do it again this week.

I watched A Beautiful Mind last evening with Rachel and Tommy.

My car has been out of commission for about a week. Blew a gasket and got oil all over the engine. Jonathan is going to fix it, but he said Autozone didn't have the right part, and he is going to have to get it from a dealer. Meanwhile I'm driving Miriam's car. I hope she remembered to get the insurance renewed. She and Charles are coming back here in two weeks to get her car and take a bunch of their stuff back. Their wedding gifts are still over at his parents' house. Jonathan and I were planning to drive out to Chicago in the Tahoe and Miriam's car, and deliver the stuff to them, but one evening on his way to go play hockey, Jonathan totalled the Tahoe. Slid right off the road into a bunch of trees.

Daddy has not been feeling well the last couple of weeks. He was out shoveling snow one day, and afterwards his chest felt really bad, and he thought he like froze his lungs or something. Then he was taking over-the-counter cold medication that made him feel dizzy and tired. He finally went to the VA hospital in Butler last Wednesday, and they told him he probably had walking pneumonia. They prescribed him something with codeine and guaifenesin or something. He's still not getting around much.

I borrowed a book from Kurt today, actually from Stan because Stan was already borrowing it from Kurt. It's John Murray's commentary on Romans. I wanted to read his treatment of Romans 13. I don't understand this whole debate about legitimate/illegitimate government very well.

Enough for now. I'm sure I could write all kinds of stuff, but I should get to bed early tonight and get up early tomorrow to type.

2003-10-27T15:11:00.000-05:00

Went to Pittsburgh last Tuesday to help Lois Falcone with her house, because her father died and she had company coming from out of town. Piano lessons in the evening with Sarah and Naomi. Wednesday morning I got up at 3:30 to do my typing, then after work at the welding shop I went to the Bible Study at Providence -- studying the Sabbath. Thursday Rachel came over to the shop at lunch time, and then in the afternoon Jimmy and Michelle called and said they would be in the area and would stop by for the evening, so I left work early and went to the grocery store then to Rachel's house to cook supper for them. I spent the evening visiting with them. Friday I went to the doctor's office, welding shop, and then left for Rochester, NY with Miriam to go to Bill Chellis's ordination. Anthony and Michelle were there. Anthony did the "charge to the pastor" during the service. We stayed at a hotel, then had breakfast at Bill and Katrina's Saturday morning before heading back home. Laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, etc. Saturday. On the Lord's day I went to Providence. Steve Bradley was there and preached in the morning. He used to be an elder there before he graduated from seminary and was called to pastor the Trinity congregation in the DC area. I talked to Jay and Jenya during the lunch hour about membership. Of course they both think I should join. Jenya just joined the church this summer. I don't think his brother has joined yet. I haven't seen his sister Olga there since Jenya joined. I'm pretty sure she has been going to the Russian Baptist church with their mom. I read an article online about reformed liturgy in the afternoon. Bill Chellis had been talking about it when we were at his house. Then in the evening Rachel and Tommy and their kids came over for a little while. Today is really frustrating, because I don't have my own computer at the shop and I can't do anything profitable, and it feels like nobody is telling me anything that I need to know. I'm just playing on Daniel's computer to pass the time right now. The guys all went out to install a big railing at a church. I can think of tons of stuff that needs done, but Daniel took my computer home over the weekend and forgot to bring it back this morning. He bought a new one on ebay, but FedEx lost it. Rachel came with Steven, Naomi and Sarah for a little bit earlier. We had lunch together. I'm going to get together with CJ sometime later this week, probably Thursday, to talk more about terms of communion and church membership.

2003-10-23T21:44:00.000-05:00

Tired, confused, cold, lonely...

2003-10-14T18:02:00.000-05:00

David called a little bit ago -- they're on their way up here for a couple of days! I don't know why, really, maybe the weather is bad down there and he can't work for a couple of days, but hey, I'm glad they're coming. He's so impulsive sometimes. They talked to Mom, Jonathan, Miriam, a bunch of people yesterday and never said a word about coming for a visit. It was probably just a spur-of-the-moment decision. Nothing like a David in your life to keep things exciting.

It will be great to see them again. Benjamin is two months old already. I hope we can get some pictures of Steven and Eliana and Katie and Naomi and Benjamin and Sarah all together. This is going to be fun.

I had to cancel piano lessons again tonight because so much other stuff is going on. I still have a bunch of typing to catch up yet this evening too -- seems like I'm always trying to catch up! Miriam's working 7-10 tonight, so she won't be able to help with the laundry or straightening up the house or getting bedding ready for them.

We cooked some salmon tonight for supper, and now nobody's here to enjoy it. Jonathan had to go up to meet with the painter at his house, Miriam had to leave for work, and Daniel still isn't home from the shop. The salmon came from Daniel's friend Alex, who is from Russia. He went on a fishing trip last year and invited Daniel to go along, but at the time he was just way too busy with work to take the time off. So Alex gave us some of what he caught. Very nice of him.

2003-10-13T12:39:00.000-05:00

Sarah was in the hospital for a couple of days because her bilirubin level went all the way up to 18. Veronica was staying with the kids last week. The baby's doing alright now. They came home from the hospital Saturday morning.

I talked to Amy Saturday afternoon. Mom called our telephone company and set us up with good rates to England, so I'll be able to talk to her more often.

Deborah is in North Carolina waiting for a baby, or maybe two. I'm not really sure who she's delivering them for this time. I think they're Amish.

Miriam and I were talking about possibly driving down to Virginia to visit David and Leah next weekend, but Mom and Daddy decided to take a little time alone for themselves, leaving Thursday, so I think we'll end up staying close by in case Rachel needs any help with the baby.

Things are going ok at the shop.

I'm getting more money from my insurance company. They are sending me $1700 for "pain and suffering" because of my accident. I am thankful for being so well taken care of. I need to get a paper signed, notarized and mailed back to them, and they will release the check to me. Can't do that until tomorrow though, since today is Columbus Day and everything's closed.

I got some more sermon tapes from church yesterday. CJ's mom got a new tape duplicator, and she's all happy with it. She's ready to catch up on all the sermons my little heart desires. Yesterday CJ preached about the church at Laodicea, the last of the letters to the seven churches in Revelation.

God is good.

2003-10-03T18:52:00.000-05:00

It's a girl! Rachel called about 3 o'clock, and we all went up to the hospital (Rachel and Tommy, Steven and Naomi, Mom and Daddy, Deborah, Miriam and me). Sarah Luella was born at 7:11. She's beautiful. :-)

We brought the kids back here for the day. Tommy was at the hospital all day. He is going to sleep here tonight and I think he'll bring Rachel home tomorrow.

I had to work today, so I didn't get a nap like everyone else did. I'm definitely going to bed early tonight.

2003-10-02T13:58:00.000-05:00

So tired. I can't concentrate on anything. I got up yesterday morning at 3:30 to catch up my typing, then after a long day's work stayed up in the evening watching TV with Jonathan until almost 11. I was going to get up early again this morning to type, but couldn't get out of bed until after 8. Tonight I'm going to watch Luther with Rachel and Miriam. Tommy can watch the kids for a change. I haven't done anything with just my two sisters in a long time. I saw the movie last Saturday night with Jonathan, just on a whim at 10 pm. Miriam was a little upset that I went without her, so I have a good excuse to go see it again.

Let's see, what else is new? I haven't really been paying much attention. I'm being too introspective these days. Rachel and Tommy were baptized last Lord's day, no actually the week before, while Miriam was in Chicago. It was in somebody's swimming pool, a nice heated pool. When I was baptized it was May, Memorial Day, in a big cold lake with living things floating around in it like seaweed and fish.

I can see that things will be better at the welding shop in the future, but right now we're not able to make ends meet, especially with the extra expense of the consultant firm. We will have them paid off in two weeks. We're going to have to borrow money to cover that.

A classical concert is what I need about now. Like a Beethoven Symphony.

2003-09-24T21:31:00.000-05:00

My life is too busy. I can't think about anything anymore, just work and more work.

I'm learning a whole lot at the shop. This accountant we've had working with us has given me the basics of accounting and taught me how to use Quickbooks and Excel (at least, well enough for our immediate purposes), and we actually have a budget for the next year which is looking not too shabby.

I'll stick it out with Daniel through some of the changes, and pray that he will be able to find somebody else to take my place in the office while I look for a full-time transcription job.

I finally finished my typing from the doctor's office today, just a couple of minutes ago. I'm listening to Sequences and Hymns by Hildegard of Bingen. It's a Mass from the 12th century. Oh well, it's Latin so I don't know what they're saying anyway. I enjoy the music.

2003-09-20T16:28:00.000-05:00

I only have a few minutes, which actually I should be using for other stuff right now, but I'm going to take the time to do a quick recap of my week.

Monday
Went to the shop at 9. The business analyst project manager came with an accountant at 11. They spent the whole day going over stuff with me and Daniel. We have our work cut out for us for the next couple of weeks. Daniel brought his computer to the shop, because it's faster than the one we've been using there, and I brought that one home because I can do my medical transcription on it and I'll have to do it at home for the next little while, since our office there is being overtaken by these business consultants. I went to the doctor's office after 5 and since the doctors hadn't done all of their dictating for the day yet, I was able to get all of my typing done before 7 there at the office. I don't remember what I did in the evening. I must have gone to the covenanter chatroom on MSN, but I don't really remember anything about it. I think I went to bed early (some time before midnight).

Tuesday
Went to the shop at 8. The project manager left at 2, but the accountant will be staying for the next two weeks. He kept me busy. After work, I went to the doctor's office, then came home and set up the computer to do my typing, went to teach piano lessons and came back by about 8:30 then started on my medical transcription. Steven and Naomi were here for the evening because Rachel and Tommy are going to like Lamaze classes or something on Tuesdays. Jonathan came home about 11 and asked me to drive to the mechanic's with him, he needed to take his Camaro in for some repairs, so I did that and we were back home by about 11:30. After we got home, we sat in his truck and talked for two hours. Just about life. I still had some typing to finish, so I didn't actually get to bed that day until 3 a.m.

Wednesday
I don't remember much about Wednesday. Just the usual, I guess. I went to the shop at 8 and worked until 5, then stopped at the doctor's office, came home and typed. I think I was done with my work by 8:30 that day. I sat in Jonathan's room and watched TV with him for a while before I went to bed.

Thursday
Again, just a normal work day for me. Miriam flew to Chicago to visit Charles. She'll be there until next Tuesday. She called me a couple of times in the morning needing reassurance. I was starting to get overwhelmed with the stuff that needed done at work. I came home from work and typed. Went to bed early.

Friday
I didn't go in to the shop until 9. Stopped at the hardware store first to get some tarps for the shop. Rainy day. All kinds of things going on at work. I went with Jonathan at noon to the bank to apply for a loan I'm going to co-sign for him. He needs the money to work on his duplex, getting the windows finished and the exterior painted. The lady who is renting from him gave him a bad check. He's been trying to get it all straightened out -- apparently her bank changed names or something, and if he would have deposited it before the first of September it would have been ok, she said. She told him she'd get him another one, but when he went up there in the evening when he had arranged to meet her, she wasn't there. The doctor's office called me in the morning needing a couple of reports that I hadn't typed yet, so I had to leave early to get that done. I went to the doctor's office from 2 until 5, then went back to the shop to finish some things up there. Daniel was still working there, of course. He's been working really late every day. I got home around 9. My mom told me Debbie had called, so I called her back. Went into the chatroom for a little bit.

Saturday
Tried to catch up some laundry before going to the bank to co-sign Jonathan's loan. Went directly to the doctor's office from there and typed until almost 3. Jimmy and Michelle are in the area this weekend, and they're going out to eat tonight with Rachel and Tommy. I'm going to babysit Steven and Naomi. Gotta leave like now.

2003-09-14T18:10:00.000-05:00

Lord's Day
I should have a lot to write... all kinds of things have been happening around here. It's been a full week. I'm becoming less and less inclined to communicate, though.

Change.
I've been thinking a lot about change. Not just the change that I might hope to find somewhere in my purse, but all the big changes in my life that I see looming ahead of me. Change always involves loss. I feel like I'm grieving prematurely the loss of that which I may not even lose. It's weird, like my apprehension about these changes has caused me almost to believe that they are not only imminent but presently taking place, and so I take a step beyond the present into a future I've conjured up in my own mind, and find myself looking back at what I actually still have as though I've already lost it. That probably doesn't even make any sense, which is why I don't really feel like communicating. If my own thoughts don't make sense to myself, I can't ever expect anybody else to understand me.

Why does it matter that other people understand, anyway?

It does matter. So I'll make a feeble attempt to explain myself.

Work.
I'm a medical transcriptionist working in a doctor's office for two family practice physicians. I've also been trying to be my brother's secretary at his welding shop for the past year or so. I've been doing both jobs at once, and stressing myself out pretty majorly about failing one or the other. Daniel's shop has been going through some really tough times financially, and I've been blaming myself for it. I feel entirely inadequate for the job. Right now we are seeking professional help, trying to get everything in order and learn how to manage the business better. I can't devote all of my energies to his shop because what I should be doing is pursuing a better position as a medical transcriptionist, perhaps in a hospital or full-time at home. I would feel really awful leaving my brother though.

Family.
I don't know why I'm trying to categorize this stuff, it's all inter-related. I'm concerned about the changes ahead of me if I leave the welding shop, because of the way it would affect my relationship with my brother. Brothers, I should say, since I work with two of them there. It's wonderful being with them all day. I really enjoy spending time with them. If I quit there and worked somewhere else, I would feel like I lost them because I wouldn't see them so much. Of course, they would still be my dear brothers and I would love them as much as I ever have, but I would miss being with them all the time, and it just wouldn't be the same.

Miriam too. She's going to Chicago to visit Charles this week, from Thursday until next Tuesday. I guess I'm worried about how that will change my life too, since she has always been my very best friend and if she ends up getting married and moving to Chicago, I will feel the loss acutely.

Church.
I really like Providence. I don't know all that is going on with the family that is in the middle of all the controversy, but as far as I can tell, they'll be leaving the church by the end of the month. I am in agreement with them, as far as I can tell, on the issues they are raising, which puts me in a very uncomfortable position. Either I go with them when they go, or I stay with the church and tell them that they're making the wrong move by leaving. It's a decision I'll have to make, and no matter which side I take, it won't be easy. I've almost convinced myself that joining that church is the right thing to do. I haven't done it yet, but I'm close. Doing so would wreak havoc on some of my closest friendships, which happen to be outside of the RPCNA, which is such a very painful thought that I don't even want to dwell on it at any length.

So there you have it, my biggest worries and fears, which I'm sure are much smaller than they seem to be in my own mind. I know all of this is under the care of a loving Father who has always proven Himself to be my stronghold and rock, who gives me the strength and courage to face each new day. The sweet communion I have with Him will always be constant, because He never changes. I rely on His protection and guidance and trust Him to provide for my every need. He is inifinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. He loves me. No matter what happens, I will rest securely in Him.

I was reading about our mystical union with Christ this afternoon in a Brakel's second volume of The Christian's Reasonable Service. It's beautiful.

2003-09-09T21:02:00.000-05:00

I feel like a friend died. I hope she's ok.

David Blaine is an idiot. He's in a plastic box suspended over the Thames River in London, and he plans to stay there for 44 days, drinking only water.

Jonathan has people in his duplex now, a black lady and her two sons. They moved in a week ago. He has put so much time and energy and money into it up to this point, I'm glad he's finally starting to get something out of it.

We had a baby shower for Rachel last night. The ladies from her church planned it.

I'm going to Providence tomorrow to meet with the pastor before the Bible study.

2003-09-06T17:06:00.000-05:00

I spent yesterday in my car. I drove halfway to work and realized I had left the ibuprofen and back brace and Ben-Gay at home, so I turned around and drove all the way back home to get them. Daniel and Jonathan have both been having serious back pain, they work too hard and are way too hard on their bodies. They both went to the chiropractor on Wednesday, but it didn't seem to do much for Daniel. He woke up Thursday morning still unable to stand up straight. So like a good little sister, I took him a bunch of stuff to try to make him more comfortable.

Then when I got to the shop, he sent me to the hardware store to buy some drivers for a certain type of screw they needed to use. So I drove to the hardware store.

When I got back, Jonathan called from Steubenville where he was working. He was doing some welding at an old YMCA in the historic district that is being remodeled to be an apartment building, and he had to put up a railing that required some pipe elbows that he didn't have. So I drove to Steubenville (Stupidville, we call it) to deliver them. Like an hour and a half away. I got pulled over for speeding on my way there. Actually got cited this time. This is the first time I've ever gotten a speeding ticket. I've been pulled over five or six times for exceeding the speed limit, but every other time, they just let me go. Not this time. 67 in a 55. There's no reason for the speed limit to be 55 at that stretch of the road, it's a rural split lane highway, but I wasn't going to argue with the cop. I'll meekly pay the $110, since they've let me go many times in the past. By the time I got to the job site, it was already after noon, so Jon took a break and ate the lunch I brought for him.

On my way back, my car broke down. I pulled over beside the road as soon as it started making this awful sound, and called Daniel. I let him listen to it over the phone. The noise was only when the car was in gear, so he thought it was a transmission problem. He had me search around under the hood to check the transmission fluid, but I couldn't find it. The car wouldn't move when I had it in drive. It just made this horrible sound. I called our roadside assistance program, and they found a local towing company to tow me to the mechanic's again. I just got the car back from the mechanic last week, after all the repairs they had to do when my timing belt went.

Well, after waiting for an hour, I found out that the tow truck had gone to the wrong location and gave up and went back to its base. So they dispatched another one for me. Again, an hour later it still wasn't there. Apparently there were delays because of another call. So I waited some more. Five cars stopped to see if I needed any help, and each time, I told them that a tow truck should be there any minute, thanks anyway. Jonathan worked until 5:00 and on his way back to the shop, I was still there, so he stopped to help. He figured out that it was a CV joint, something he could fix himself if we got the car back to the shop, so when the tow truck finally got there at 5:30, that's where we had him take it rather than to the mechanic's. I hope he can find time to work on it soon. Meanwhile I'm back to driving Miriam's car when I can or Jonathan's Tahoe when he'll let me.

I spent the entire afternoon sitting in my car expecting a tow truck any minute, when I should have been at the shop working, and doing my medical transcription. Yesterday was payday, so when I finally got back to the shop at 6:30, everybody was waiting around for their paychecks. Well, they worked late finishing a trailer they were extending, so it's not like they stood around for an hour and a half just for their paychecks, but I was feeling really pressured and upset and hassled and I knew that I hadn't made it to the bank to deposit the money to cover those paychecks, so I asked them to please step out of the office and close the door behind them. I was feeling like a real jerk. Two of the guys' time sheets were all messed up, they hadn't written their hours in right. I was really feeling yucky. I did get them their paychecks though, and I made the deposit today, so everything's ok, it just seemed at the time like the world was caving in.

I didn't get home until after 8 o'clock, then Daddy wanted to show me this CD he got of bluegrass music. I did not feel like listening to bluegrass music with the headache I had, but I humored him and let him play it for me, and it made me feel better to see him all tickled about it.

I went online and found out that one of my internet friends has been hiding her real identity. Her husband told Martin that she overdosed Thursday night and is in the hospital. I chatted with her son and her husband for a little bit. I'm very concerned about her and her family.

This morning I had to go to the doctor's office and try to catch up some of the typing that I couldn't do yesterday. I had to leave at 3 because that's when they close on Saturdays, but I'm still not caught up. Oh well, it will have to wait until Monday.

We picked some plums today. This is the first year these plum trees have produced. My grandparents planted some trees a long time ago when they lived here, but those trees died off, and these are shoots that came up a couple of years ago and David transplanted them. Miriam's making jam out of some of them.

I should be mowing the lawn. Miriam started it yesterday, but she only got the middle sections and there's still a lot to finish. It's a nice day today. The sky is clear, and it's cool outside. I'd better get out there and enjoy it.

2003-09-02T16:23:00.000-05:00

Of all the busy weekends I've had to live through over the past month or so, that one was probably the most relaxing. I didn't have any vehicle break-downs or big theological discussions that turned my world upside down, and yet for some reason at the same time it wasn't very restful. I totally didn't get enough sleep all weekend. Heather came back from Minnesota Friday so I picked her up at the airport at about midnight and took her back to her house. I didn't get to bed until about 3:30, then had to get up early Saturday morning to pack my stuff and drive out to camp Maranatha for my dad's meetings. There were only a few people there this year, which was really quite a disappointment for Daddy. Other than our family, it was basically just Marsha and Veronica V., Joe S., Clayton P., and Florence and Calvin L. David's family didn't come up because the baby is still so new. Eric didn't even go this year, because he has not been feeling well. It was cool and kind of drizzly all day. The place was all muddy. Dan and Jon didn't show up until late afternoon, and they brought Daniel and Christian A. Daddy spoke in the morning, and Joe spoke in the evening. The afternoon was free for whatever. We played carpet pool, ping-pong, played with the kids. I took a nap, but it didn't seem to help much. I was still really tired when I got up. It was nice with so few people. I'm really sounding like an antisocial bug, but seriously it alleviated a lot of the stress that usually goes along with events like this. I think the whole weekend was actually somewhat rejuvenating for Mom. She hadn't been sleeping at all for several days prior to this, and her stress level was skyrocketing, but when she got there she was able to take it easy. We played "Mad Gab" in the evening, which was a lot of fun. Veronica and her mom brought the game, and also Dutch Blitz. Daniel was playing with his new digital camera. He got a great video clip of Miriam acting all upset over some big discussion they were having about whether or not Charles was a "boring preacher." The boys stayed up really late playing volleyball in the dark. We girls got to bed at about 1.

Deborah flew home from Russia Saturday with the family she went with. They arrived at JFK in the afternoon. They had parked their van there for the whole month, so they had to drive themselves home, after the international flight and time changes and everything. Heather and I had considered driving up to New York to be there when they came in, and help them drive home, but we couldn't work it out, especially with Heather coming back from MN so late on Friday. It would have been neat, but it simply wasn't humanly possible.

I got up early again Sunday to drive all the way to Providence for church. I was stressing out about what was going on with Will and the session, and my uneasiness was exacerbated by the lack of sleep. I took a wrong turn off 579 and ended up in downtown Pittsburgh. I was trying to find the Liberty Tunnel but somehow found myself taking 279 over the Ft. Pitt bridge, and then I had to do all the detour stuff because that tunnel is closed. That city is so confusing. So many bridges and tunnels and interstates piled on top of each other, all the rivers and hills and wow, it's absolutely crazy. I just tried to follow the orange arrows, hoping they were the right orange arrows, and somehow landed in an area that I recognized, only because I've gotten lost there so many times before. I actually had given myself enough time to get lost, so I got to church right at 10 o'clock.

CJ preached a great sermon on church discipline. The Lord had a few things against the church in Pergamos and actually threatened to fight against them because they were tolerating immorality and heresy. The pastor brought the admonitions home to our own situation, calling for repentance and greater zeal for the truth and sanctity in each of our lives, individually as well as corporately. Faithfulness in church discipline starts with being good disciples, faithful hearers and doers of the Word, being zealous for our own sanctification and spurring each other on to greater obedience. Will and Kim were there, and I did have an opportunity to speak with them a little bit after church. I was really tired and had a bad headache. I couldn't stay for lunch, because I had to get back to the camp.

I got lost again on my way back. This time I made it through the Liberty Tunnel ok, then promptly took a wrong road east. I had to dig out my map and try to find another route, right through eastern part of the city, over by Wilkinsburg. So that was interesting. By the time I got back, lunch was over and the kitchen was already cleaned up for the most part.

Miriam, Veronica and I took a walk in the afternoon. Everything was still wet and muddy, but it was nice walking through the woods by the creek. It was like a river this year, the waters were so high. The rocks that we usually climb out on were totally under water.

Miriam went home in the evening, because Charles told her he was going to call. The boys went home, too. I stayed and helped in the morning, packing everything up, sweeping floors and so forth. I left about 11 o'clock and went right over to Heather's place, where Deborah and her friends were, and had lunch there with them and Miriam. Deborah brought me a watercolor painting of St. Basil's cathedral and the Kremlin, and also a tea set. We looked at their photos and heard all about their adventures, and we shared some of our memories from our trip over there a couple of years ago, too.

When I got home, I had to unpack my car, which was loaded down with food and stuff. Miriam was no help, she had to email Charles. I tried to catch up on all the laundry that had piled up over the weekend.

The air show was cancelled because of rain. Jonathan wanted to work on his Integra all day. I was so looking forward to Steven going, but I guess we'll have to wait until some time when he's older and may appreciate it more. Daniel left early with some other friends and ended up going to the science center in Cleveland instead since the air show was cancelled.

I talked to Amy on the phone in the evening. She's leaving today to go to Cambridge.

One nice thing about this weekend is that because the doctor's office and the welding shop were both closed yesterday, there wasn't a bunch of extra stuff to do when I got back to work today. I need to go to the doctor's office this evening, then teach piano lessons, but I'm not feeling all stressed out about getting everything caught up like I usually do after a weekend off. Rachel has a midwife appointment this evening, so they're leaving the kids at our house for a couple of hours tonight. I'm looking forward to seeing them when I get home.

2003-08-30T02:04:00.000-05:00

I was looking through a book at work that one of the guys left in my office, some kind of self-help book about personality types and relating to people in the business world and all that stuff. I'm what they called an S type. I forget all the "s" words they used to describe me, but it's always interesting and sometimes even a little disconcerting how accurate things like that can be. I see all my negative personality traits spelled out so clearly. It's good though because then I can be aware of what needs worked on. Here are some bits and pieces of what I picked up about this personality type in the book.

I'm reserved and people-oriented. I love my home and family, and seek a steady and stable environment for everyone to share. Natural timidity can be a struggle. I'm uncomfortable about change. It takes a lot of time to get used to new ideas or adjust to changes. Under pressure, I am hesitant and indecisive. I'm afraid of confrontation. When I feel cornered, I get quietly stubborn. I defend myself by trying to withdraw. I prefer to be a dedicated follower and do not seek out leadership roles. I prefer to do things myself rather than impose on other people to do them. I place high value on appreciation and gratitude. I don't speak out when I am offended. I have difficulty saying no to requests. I can be easily manipulated. I'm reluctant to be seen as pushy or assertive, keeping opinions or feelings to myself unless I'm asked or if I'm really hurt or angry. If asked directly about my feelings, I will down-play my emotions because I feel intimidated easily. I try to be supportive and help other people, sometimes to the point where it is detrimental to my own advancement.

And right now I should be in bed.

2003-08-28T19:08:00.000-05:00

Steven's a sweetheart. I call him Baby-love, but I'm afraid he might be out-growing a name like that. He is 3 years old, after all, that's a little boy, not a baby. A big boy, I mean. He says my dad is a man, Uncle Dan and Uncle Jon are guys, but Steven's a big boy.

I used to sing him that oldies song, "Baby-love, my baby-love, I need you, oh, I need your love..." And "Bye, bye, love, bye, bye happiness, hello loneliness, I think I'm gonna cry-y" whenever I had to leave him. And I changed the Beatles song "She loves you, ya, ya, ya" to "I love you, ya, ya, ya" and I've been singing him that one ever since he was born. Miriam and I both sang that one to him a lot. It was great when he first started singing the "ya, ya, ya" part along with us. He loves me too. The other day I was getting ready to leave, and he was walking around in the livingroom, "Abigail, you don't go home ever!! Every time I go to leave his house, he cries. He stands on the porch and cries. So I get out of my car and go give him another hug. His poor mother has to try to comfort him after I leave. I never heard of aunts being so close to their nephews. I don't remember anything about my aunts when I was little. Steven is definitely one of my favorite people in the world.

This evening they went to the Canfield Fair. What a cute little family, Tommy and Rachel and Steven and Naomi and the one that isn't born yet. I'm sure Steven's having a blast with all the animals and activity. I left work early the other day so I could go to Peace Valley Orchards with Rachel and the kids, and they had a little area with goats and sheep and ducks and chickens and bunnies, for the kids to go pet. Steven loved it. So did Naomi. They're both a lot of fun.

The Canfield Fair always reminds me of Uncle Kenny. I've only been there a few times, but my cousins have always been very involved with it. It's a pretty big deal in the farming community. Uncle Kenny's family used to actually take a camper and live there during the whole week. He was very involved in everything local and community-oriented. When he died two years ago in a tractor accident, it was right before the Canfield Fair, and they planted a tree there in his honor, right by the 4H building.

Big major unexpected financial crisis at the shop again today. I hope things change if we are approved for that dealership to erect structural steel buildings. I hope, I hope, I hope that's a good move.

This weekend is the "Pilgrim Brethren" retreat thing again out in Pennsylvania. I don't think very many people are coming this year. The grounds are nice, I hope I have some time to myself to read. Nathanael might drive up from Kentucky. Daniel's trying to convince him to come for the weekend so he can go with them to the air show in Cleveland on Monday. The Blue Angels will be there. Daniel and Jonathan and Tommy are going, and I think they're taking Steven, too.

Imagine gazing up into the sky to see six F/A-18 Hornets flying in tight formation. Seamlessly, they transition between maneuvers, methodically flying at hundreds of miles an hour. Their aircraft appear to be moving as one unit, sometimes so close to the ground you feel as if you need to duck your head as they pass. As you witness the gravity-defying loops and rolls, you gasp in wonderment. How do they do that? Once you've seen the Blue Angels, you've seen the epitome of teamwork, dedication, and commitment to excellence.

Oooh, I want to go. Rachel and Miriam are talking about maybe going shopping Monday or something, but I think I'd rather go to the air show. Hey, maybe we'll all go.

2003-08-19T19:30:00.000-05:00

Today's Katie's 2nd birthday.

The librarian at RPTS checked out a Brakel's book for me, and he'll give it to me at church this Lord's day. I'm pleased.

I'd better get back to my typing. It's been a really busy day.

2003-08-18T22:02:00.000-05:00

Drove home from Virginia today. Miriam and I went down last Friday after work to spend the weekend with David and Leah and Eliana and Katie and Benjamin. We didn't do much Saturday, just bummed around the house and played with the kids. Benjamin is absolutely beautiful.

Oh yeah, they got a new piano. Well, a used piano, but a really nice one. David went and picked it up Saturday morning and I helped him put it in the livingroom. Leah's happy about it, she has wanted a real piano there for a long time. They had an electric piano that she bought in Japan, but it just isn't the same as a real piano.

Sunday morning, Miriam and I went to church with David and the girls -- Leah stayed home with the baby. They've been studying church government, seriously desiring to set up their church according to Scriptural guidelines. David lent the pastor my copy of Rutherford's Due Right of Presbyteries.

In the afternoon, I drove to Lynchburg, about an hour and a half east, to visit the new RP Mission there. The sermon was on marriage, from Genesis 2. I went back to the Cumbees for supper with the other family that meets with them. Spent quite a bit of time discussing historic covenanter distinctives with Greg. He recommended that I read Plain Reasons for Presbyterians Dissenting from the Revolution Church by Andrew Clarkson, and also Wilhelmus a Brakel's second volume of his works. I've got a lot to think about.

I got back to David's house about 9 o'clock and spent the rest of the evening with him and Leah. The kids were already in bed, and Miriam was on the phone with Charles.

It was a good trip, but now I've got all kinds of work to catch up this week. I'm so glad I don't have anything planned for next weekend.

2003-08-14T07:39:00.000-05:00

Saturday I drove out to the middle of Pennsylvania with Heather. We took my car, the Jetta that I bought to replace my totalled Olds. We stopped at another Old Order River Brethren family's house at about lunchtime, then took two of their girls with us the rest of the way to Amy's house in the afternoon. When we were about half an hour from her house, we were heading back onto the interstate after filling up with gas, and suddenly the car died, right on the on-ramp. After repeated attempts to get it going again, with no success, several people stopped to see if they could help, but everything looked fine under the hood as far as they could tell. We even tried jumping it, checked the fuse boxes, did everything they could think of. Christiana called her dad to see if he had any suggestions, but we were an hour and a half from their house, so he really couldn't do much. I tried calling home because I didn't have our roadside assistance number with me, but nobody was home, because Mom and Daddy had gone sailing with Charles and Miriam. I called Daniel, and he suggested that it might be the timing belt, which did end up being the problem, we discovered the next day. We called somebody from Amy's church, who made arrangements for a tow truck, and drove out in a van to come and pick us up to take us to Amy's house. She didn't even know we were coming, so it wasn't too bad that we were two hours later than we had intended. It was still a surprise for her when we got there. We had a good time with her and some other friends that evening. We all took a walk together, cut up a watermelon and ate it while she opened her gifts from Heather, Dawn, and me. I had to call the family I was planning to meet with the next day to let them know that I didn't have transportation, and they offered to come pick me up to take me to their house for worship in the morning. Amy and I stayed up after everybody else went to bed, and we sang some Psalms together in the kitchen.

Christiana wasn't feeling well the next morning, so she stayed in bed while everybody else went to the Old Order River Brethren meeting. My ride came at about 10 o'clock. A covenanter society meets about five minutes from Amy's house, so I spent the morning and afternoon with them. I had only met one person there before, in New York last year. I had been in contact with one of the families over the past several months by email. I enjoyed meeting them and worshipping with them in the morning, then we ate lunch together and talked all afternoon. Amy came to pick me up and stayed for a while too. They gave me George Gillespie's "Aaron's Rod Blossoming" to borrow until I come back some time. I hope I can go back some time in December, when Amy is home from Cambridge.

In the evening, we went to a park with a bunch of people from Amy's church. I had met a few of them before, but not many. It was a beautiful day, and some of us took a walk, got some pictures... Christiana and I sat on a bench and sang a couple of Psalms together. She has a psalter and said she enjoys singing Psalms in her private devotions.

Back at Amy's house, Dawn and Heather and Amy and I sat out on their swing in the dark and sang for a while. We had to use flashlights so we could see our psalters. After Heather went inside, Karen came over to spend the night, so she came out and sang with us. We prayed together before going inside and eating some ice cream.

Monday morning was spent picking peppers and onions from the garden, and Amy's two sisters-in-law came over with some tomatoes. We chopped all morning and made some salsa. Dawn left in the afternoon. She was in the area because her brother's wife just had a baby boy, and she was there to attend the birth. She had to head back to New York Monday.

I spent some of the time in the afternoon reading from "Our Covenant Heritage", a book given to me by the pastor of the church I've been going to. I also read the introductory part of "Aaron's Rod Blossoming", and the first several chapters.

I read some of it to Amy while she worked on canning some pepper relish after supper. She also wanted me to read the letter that John wrote to the RPCNA Synod. That took a lot of explaining and discussing.

There's this guy named Matt that Heather met in Florida at Chapel Library who has shown an interest in her, but she has felt like something strange is going on, nothing he says seems to fit together, it's like he's trying to hide something. He doesn't have a job right now, and he is not in a church anywhere... He claims to be an evangelist. He came to our area last week and called her wondering about a place to stay, so she referred him to a family in her church. While we were gone over the weekend, he openly admitted to being involved in witchcraft. He said Christ told him to do this. Some of the men from Heather's church sat down with him and had a three-hour discussion with him about it. I was very glad that we were away. It was certainly a providential blessing that my car broke down and we stayed there for an extra couple of days while this was happening back here. Matt tried to call Heather on her cell phone on our way home Tuesday, but she didn't even answer it. There are some things single women shouldn't feel responsible for taking care of, and this certainly fits into that category.

Amy, Heather and I prayed together about Matt Monday night before I went to bed. Heather and Amy stayed up and talked for quite a while into the night.

My car was done after lunch on Tuesday. They replaced the timing belt, but they told me that it would need a lot of work to fix the bent valve or whatever it's called that was messed up when the timing of the piston was off. Obviously I don't know what I'm talking about, but they did, and they tried to explain it to me. They got it in working condition so I could drive it home, but told me that I needed to get it taken care of as soon as I got back. We drove home on three cylinders. After the mechanic showed me everything that I had to do to keep it running to get it home, he handed me the keys and told me, "You're a brave woman." How comforting. We did make it home safely, with no trouble at all.

Wednesday was spent trying to catch up with work. I called Will and Kim in the evening to catch up a little bit with them. Apparently Will's meeting with the pastor was more than a little disappointing. One of the other elders came halfway through the discussion and things blew up. Will told me they may go back one more time, but that's it.

Jonathan went with me to take my car to the mechanic's and bring me back home. He's letting me drive his Tahoe while my car is being repaired.

I need to get to work. I've got lots of typing to do for the doctor's office, and things that need sorted out at the welding shop. We were flooded again, last Saturday. Over a foot of water this time. Daniel says he's ready to close the shop as soon as we're finished with the jobs we're working on. He's said that lots of times before though. I'm really not sure what direction to encourage him in.

Piano lessons tonight with Sarah and Naomi. Uncle David and Aunt Joann will be in the area for the weekend. My dad's side of the family is having a family reunion on Saturday, but Miriam and I won't be here since we're going to Virginia. Rachel's planning a picnic tonight at her house, but I may not get there until late by the time I get all my work done and piano lessons over. Come to think of it, I may not even have a way to get there, since Jonathan is going to have his truck. He is having an open house at his duplex this evening from 6 to 9. Several more people have shown an interest. I hope he gets some good renters.

2003-08-13T21:29:00.000-05:00

Yuck.

I'm having a very difficult time accepting my lot in life right now.

Remember the mercies of God, Abigail.

2003-08-07T16:15:00.000-05:00

I like apples. Both Keith and Tommy had apples in their lunches today, and they looked so good, I just had to go to a nearby farm market and buy myself one. Well, I bought four. I got extra just in case Daniel wanted to throw them at anybody. The other day, he had me write on his calendar for today "throw hand grenades at various pedestrians" so I felt like I should supply him with some ammo. So far he's only eaten one, and didn't even throw the core at anyone. He must be having a good day.

Deborah wrote last night, she's already having adventures with difficulty with transportation and lodging and communication and all kinds of fun Russia stuff. The family that went with her is getting a great introduction to the wonderful comfort and efficiency of life in Moscow.

I might go to Rachel's house to watch Beauty and the Beast with Steven and Naomi this evening. Miriam tells me that's her favorite Disney movie, and I've never even seen it all the way through. Oh, how deprived I am.

2003-08-06T14:42:00.000-05:00

I have another nephew!! He was born about an hour ago!! Benjamin David, my brother's first son, born on their 4th wedding anniversary. Miriam and I want to make a trip to Virginia to meet him next weekend. :-)

2003-08-05T14:25:00.000-05:00

No word from Deborah yet. I hope she's made it safely to Russia. I guess when any of us travel, we usually assume that everything's ok unless we hear otherwise. She's probably having too much fun and just forgot to call or email. Or, more likely, she hasn't had an opportunity to make an international phone call or hasn't had internet access. Maybe she's still sleeping off her jet lag. I hope we hear from her soon.

No word from David and Leah yet either, about the new baby. Deborah was hoping she could deliver him while she was with them in Virginia last week, but she had to leave Saturday so she could make her flight from NYC on Sunday. As far as I know, Leah still hasn't gone into labor.

Today's Miriam's 23rd birthday. Charles is coming over for cake and ice cream, and so are Rachel and Tommy and the kids. A lady from College Hill RP church made a really pretty birthday cake for Miriam. I didn't get her anything for her birthday, but hey, she didn't get me anything for mine this year, either. What I'd like to do is just go out to eat with her some time and we can pay for each other's meals. Maybe some time next week, since she has plans with Charles every day this week.

I've got tons of stuff to do here at Daniel's welding shop. I've been completely overwhelmed today, not because there's more work than usual, but I'm just so preoccupied with church stuff. I don't know what's going on. I'm really scatter-brained.

I wrote to Christiana and told her Heather and I will be able to come this weekend. Amy's leaving for England next month, and we want to have a farewell party for her. Actually, Christiana and Karen are planning a party for Sunday evening, but we won't be able to come to that. Heather has to be back here for work in the evening. So what I'm thinking is that we can drive out either Friday night or Saturday morning, and spend all day Saturday with them. I am hoping to have the opportunity to meet with Jill and Jeremy for worship on the Lord's day, then Heather and I will have to drive back home in the afternoon. I think it's about a five hour drive.

I'm not sure if Will plans to spend the whole weekend in Albany or if he'll back at Providence next Lord's day. I need to get in touch with him.

First I need to organize the papers all over this desk. I'm not sure why working here is so stressful for me. I should listen to Beethoven piano sonatas or something. What I'm in the mood for is Mozart's Requiem, but I haven't been able to find that CD anywhere lately. Who knows what happened to it, people borrow my CD's all the time.

2003-08-04T21:55:00.000-05:00

Oh, I can't believe I forgot to mention this -- Charles is back in the area for the next week. He spent this afternoon with Miriam then took her to his parents' house for supper. He's going to be seeing her every day this week except Wednesday.

2003-08-04T21:34:00.000-05:00

No new strongbad email this week. Two weeks in a row now they've gypped us out of a new strongbad email. This is just wrong.

Jonathan's fun. We went to Office Max and Wal-Mart and Lowe's before going to his house. When we got there, he put in the plumbing under the kitchen sink this evening, in like 5 minutes. I think it's the first time he's ever tried anything like that, but he's good. He can figure out how to do anything.

2003-08-04T18:51:00.000-05:00

This evening after work I went to the chiropractor's office. My mom convinced me to go last week to make sure everything was alright in my neck since my car accident almost three weeks ago, and today was just a follow-up appointment. My mom has been going to this chiropractor for over 25 years, ever since he started practicing. The doctor who preceded him in the office took care of my grandma since before my mother was born. It's neat how many close ties there are in a small community like this. It's the same story with our family dentist, our optometrist, etc. Anyway, he said everything is fine, and I won't need to go back. I'm very thankful that everything is working out so well since that accident, not only with my own physical health, but also with the car situation. Prayers have definitely been answered.

Thank-you cards are hard to find. I stopped several places this evening to see if I could find one that would be appropriate to send to the people at church, and nothing I looked at seemed to be quite right. They've been so supportive and shown their care and concern in many ways, with prayers, cards, even money. It's almost overwhelming how much money they've given. I absolutely must send them a card to let them know how much I appreciate it. Maybe I should forget looking in the Thank You section and just get a blank card with a nice picture, and write in it.

Jonathan is going up to his duplex this evening for a little bit, just to pick up some tools, and he wants me to go with him. I wanted to write more here, but I guess I can do that later.

2003-08-03T15:20:00.000-05:00

Lord's Day
I drove to Pittsburgh this morning again to worship at Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church. The sermon was on Revelations 1:9-20, and once again I was moved to tears by the application of it by the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ speaks to me so clearly at this church as I diligently attend to the preaching of His Word. I cannot describe in words the profound effect that it has on me every Lord's day. What affected me the most deeply this morning was the emphasis on the glory and majesty of the resurrected Christ, in the midst of His church.

The sermon was entitled "The Son of Man in the Midst of His Church". I will share the sermon outline that the pastor set forth, since my own notes are a bit scattered and nearly illegible.

John's Commission, verses 9-11
John greets his audience with the humility of an equal and speaks modestly of his own sufferings. The tribulation, the kingdom and the patience of Jesus Christ is the threefold cord that binds him to all other true believers. John's exile was most likely under the persecution of Caesar Domitian in the last decade of the first century. His banishment to the tiny island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea was because of his testimony for Christ, but as always the sovereign Lord brings good out of the tribulation of His people. He was "in the Spirit on the Lord's Day," that is, he was worshipping in Spirit and in truth on the New Covenant Sabbath, his harsh conditions not deterring him from his chief end. His visions of the consummation could not have been given on a more appropriate day, as the Lord's Day anticipates the Day of the Lord.

The Vision of the Son of Man, verses 12-17
The risen Christ appears to John in his overwhelming majesty, no longer under the veil of servanthood (see also Philippians 2:5-11). He is called by His familiar title, "Son of Man" (Daniel 7:13, 14; Psalm 80:17), which emphasizes his true humanity - now glorified but no less real. This vision of Christ emphasizes His overall appearance of great majesty, but some details have specific meaning. His pure white hair (vs. 14) is a symbol of eternal authority and equality with the Father (Daniel 7:9). The sword from His mouth (vs. 16) symbolizes the power and justice of His Word (Isaiah 49:2; Revelations 19:15). The sight of the glorified Savior humbled John near to the point of death, but with His right hand and comforting words the Savior assures His humbled servant to have no fear (vs. 17). We are reminded that Christ is far more glorious than we can conceive and that we are far less worthy than we think.

Christ in the Midst of His Church, verses 18-20
Because He Himself defeated death, Christ has the power over death (vs. 18). The "keys of Hades" is the power to kill and make alive, to save and to judge. John's commission is to write down his visions, which will symbolize things in the great span of time from the past, present and future (vs. 19). The seven stars and seven lampstands are now explained. The stars are the "messengers" of the churches, most likely those who labor in the word and doctrine. The seven lampstands continue the imagery of the seven-armed candlestick in the temple, by which the perfect light of God was symbolized. Here the seven lampstands represent the entire true church giving light to the world (Matthew 5:14, 15), with Christ in the midst of the church exercising authority and giving grace (Matthew 28:20).

A few of the practical applications that I jotted down:
Faithfully worship the Lord in spirit and in truth on the Lord's day and in all of life.
Strive for a greater awe and reverence for our Savior.
Be more diligent in spiritual duties.
To show forth His glory and glorify Him must be our passion.
In His presence, we must conduct ourselves with sanctity, sincerity, and holy reverence with fear and faith, awe and love.

After the sermon, we sang Psalm 80. This is one of my favorite psalms. It is the cry of my heart for reformation in the church. Oh that we would repent of our backsliding and turn to strive more faithfully to diligently heed the Lord's commands and walk in His ways!

Hear, O hear us, Israel's Shepherd, Who drives forth Joseph like a flock!
From the cherubim O shine forth! Rise in valor that we be saved!
So arise in sight of Ephraim, and Manasseh and Benjamin!
God, we pray, O turn us! Bring us back!
Make Your face shine, and we are saved!

O how long, LORD God of Armies, burns Your wrath at Your people's prayer!
With the bread of tears You feed them, and full measure of tears they drink!
Strife You make us to our neighbors, and our foes laugh at us in scorn!
God of Armies, turn us! Bring us back!
Make Your face shine, and we are saved!

You brought forth a vine from Egypt, and to plant it drove nations out.
You made room to root it deeply, and it flourished and filled the land.
Then its shadow wrapped the mountains, and its boughs hid the cedars tall!
To the sea it thrust great branches forth.
And young shoots to the mighty stream!

Why have You torn down its fences? It is plucked by each passing hand!
Forest boars have gnawed upon it, and wild creatures have pastured there!
Turn again, O God of Armies! Look from heav'n! Visit this Your vine!
So uphold what your right hand did plant,
And the son You raised up in strength.

It is burned and hewn in pieces - by Your frown will they be destroyed!
Lay Your hand on him You favored, Son of man that You raised in strength!
Then from You we will not wander; make us live! We will call Your name!
O LORD God of Armies, turn us back!
Make Your face shine, and we are saved!

2003-08-02T20:17:00.000-05:00

This is my first post. I'm just playing around for now to see how this works.