Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Saying goodbye to a friend

The day before Thanksgiving, I received a phone call from my mother-in-law. One of the elders of our church passed away in his sleep. He was not an old man and he wasn't even sick, so we were all shocked and saddened by this sudden loss of our dear friend.

I knew this man from the church, but also saw him elsewhere upon occasion. I would have a hard time finding a better man or more faithful Christian. He and his wife had a son, who is only a year older than my own, so often times when I would run into Al, our discussions would lead to the greatest source of his pride - his son, Alex. That man just beamed when he spoke of his only child, who is in an honors program at a local university. We used to chat about the trials and tribulations of raising boys, and I have to admit I was a bit jealous over the fact that I seemed to have a few more trials in that area then he did.

The other thing I remembered most about Al was his teaching from the pulpit on the Book of Revelation. This part of the Bible is one which I also take a keen interest in and is most likely why I enjoyed The Left Behind series by Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye so much. Al always ended his teaching with the same message and it will forever be part of my memories of him. He told us not to wait to accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour. We know we are living in the end times, but none of us knows when Jesus will come again. It could be today; it could be tomorrow. But whatever we did with our faith, Al hoped we wouldn't wait so long that it was too late to stand with Christ.

I shared my memories of Al at his memorial service yesterday. I feel so blessed to have known him. My life has forever been changed through his words of wisdom, and I know I will see him again one day - and for that I am truly thankful.

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Thursday, November 16, 2006

A NaNoing we will go

Finally, after a very slow start to NaNo I have gotten to the point where it is chugging along. While I should be at the halfway point by now - 25,000 words - I left off at 11,969 words last night before stumbling into bed. And I do mean stumbling; I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

I knew the early years of Obed's life were going to be a challenge, but it really bugged me I had such a hard time churning out words. Now that I am at the most interesting point - the beginning of Jesus' ministry - I think the word count will move along smoothly. The only reason I stopped yesterday was because my eyes were closing as I typed.

I already popped in a few more words this morning. I am off to my daughter's school later to help the Kindegarten children make yarn dolls. They will pretend they are cornhusk dolls, which they are taking on the maiden voyage of the Mayflower. I got the idea from a newsletter I received from the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society in De Smet, SD. But more about my Laura Ingalls Wilder fixation later.

Here's hoping I enter week three of NaNo with some stupendous word counts.

Cheryl

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