Treasure Test

This weekend we had a friend from Croatia eat dinner with us. On Saturday, we met a new friend from Asia. They have reminded us of our blessings here in America. We can read our Bibles; gather together with friends at home; we can buy discounted clothing; we reap from a spiritual harvest from generations long ago.

I am glad to be reminded of things that are easy for me to take for granted because I have always had them.

We also drove around and saw some of the devastation from the floods last weekend. Two different families from church came out of their homes with the clothes on their backs. That's it. As my daughter prayed that night with the woman's words: "Things are things. People are people." They had the most important thing: each other. They survived the flood with each other.

We work hard to have beautiful things around us that can be destroyed in a moment's flood.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21

May my treasure be in God Himself and His beautiful created people. May I enjoy the beauty that is around me and even work to make my home beautiful but not to the point of treasuring the things above the people that live here. When disaster strikes, we are reminded of the most important things -- which aren't things at all but people.

Thankful today for the gift of today and the people that surround me each day -- my children and my husband.

Have a joyful day,
Kathleen

Hand Sanitizer, Paper Plates and a Lack of Laundry

Azaleas in our front yard.

What do hand sanitizer, paper plates, and not doing laundry have in common? They are part of what I am doing to conserve water after the weekend's Historic Flooding in Middle Tennessee. At least one water treatment plant has been flooded and so they have asked us to use half our normal water usage. So I figure we can use hand sanitizer a bit to wash our hands and more paper plates for a few less dishes. And I have a great excuse to not do as much laundry! I was trying to get away with not doing any. But that doesn't work in a family of six that includes dancers and ball players and your general-wearers-of-clothes.

But actually it is really good to think about NOT wasting water and using as little as I can. I should do it all of the time. I think of a friend living overseas who has only a certain amount of water all of the time. It gets turned off and on at random times for her. How much precious water I waste on a regular basis! I am thankful to think about conserving.

After two days of solid rain over the weekend, the sun has been out shining ever since. It is beautiful around here (like the pretty flowers above). God has given (the rain) and taken it away (so much sunshine!). The waters are receding, and the mess cleanup continues. Have you seen the Downtown Nashville and Opryland Hotel flooding pictures? Less available water available and less tourism, and we'll be feeling the effects for quite some time. Of course, those with the most damaged homes will feel it even longer.

But it is always inspiring to me how much neighbors help neighbors in times of crisis. People coming together to lend a hand. Most folks I know wish they could help more than they have (including me). It is good to get us out working side-by-side, reminding us that we need each other.

I am so thankful for the sunshine after the storm, a message that storms do end.

"This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24

A Challenge of April --Blogging from A to Z

The day before April started, I saw a comment on Rachelle Gardner's blog about a blogging challenge. I linked over to Arlee Bird's blog who challenged folks to blog Monday-Saturday for the month of April which would include 26 days -- one for each letter of the alphabet. I had just been thinking that I needed to be more committed to this thing called a blog so in spite of a full calendar, I dived in to this everyday blogging challenge.

I began with the thought that I could do this even going out of town a couple of times. Write a few posts at a time and then merely make sure they post every day. Ha-ha! It could be said that I failed greatly since I entered 9 posts in the month of April. That falls quite short from the stated 26. BUT, I probably entered 9 more posts than I would have without the challenge.

I have learned how fun it is to have some new followers and followers that comment! Thank you Arlee, Ellie, Lisa, Melody, Deborah Ann,...and others. I know now how fun it is to make cyber friends. And thanks to all my In Real Life friends who have also commented (either here in the blog (Steve, Kristi, Steph & others) or have shot me an email -- like my dad)!!

I have also learned that I write better blog posts on a spiral bound notebook --- far away from computer land where distractions are too many to count.

It takes commitment to write--blogging or not. The writer's life requires a commitment to writing in the midst of baseball games, illness, historic flooding, missionary friends that we hadn't seen in five years, dance classes and homeschooling and being a wife and an aunt and a sister, family crisis 900 miles away where my heart is most of the time, ministry challenges in our church, teeth being lost (by normal growing children). It is easy to excuse NOT writing; it is much harder to be committed to writing and developing the gift in the midst of life.

These are the thoughts of a writer who could look like they failed but have NOT. For I am writing still and will continue...I press on.

Love, Kathleen

Everyday Eggs

This is a picture of my husband making the eggscellent everyday eggs for me. It started this fall when he began making two eggs instead of one for his breakfast each morning. I would stumble into the kitchen and see an egg and eat it. Wa-la -- how easy is that!?! It was great. After a few months, I got tired of eggs and asked him to stop. I wanted to eat other things for breakfast, too.

But then, I began being overwhelmed and grumpy and easy to snap at the children. When I would look at the clock, it would be 10 or 11 o'clock in the morning and I hadn't yet had a thing to eat. And so I have gone back to the everyday egg plan. It has been so helpful to have protein right away when I wake up.

It has also helped my attitude on what I am served to eat. I am more flexible and thankful for food in front of me that I didn't have to prepare. It is just one less decision to make. Hubby has made the mistake of occasionally asking me how I would like my egg if I am in the kitchen when I stumble in before he makes it. But I really just want him to decide. Another new discovery for the hubby & I. Just decide. The one with lots of preferences really does have the preference for someone else to decide -- sometimes.

Someone I am Not

Someone I am not. I am not a woman with straight hair. You can try but it doesn't last. A few months back some friends straightened my hair on a whim. As my children watched, one stared with big eyes, two cried, and one asked brightly, "Can they do that to my hair?"

I thought it would be fun for friends and family checking out the blog to glimpse what I would look like with straight hair. It lasted a few hours; sleeping on it curled it up. The shower finished the job (of curling it back up). I kind of liked it and kept running my fingers through my hair. But it is too much work to keep it this way. I am also not a woman who likes to spend much time on my hair -- so I have curly hair.

Well, here it is. Just a funny little post to brighten your day.

Love, Kathleen

Ode to Paper & Pens

By Kathleen T. Jaeger, copyright 2010

A fresh pad of paper
And bright blue ink
As blue as the sky
And the station wagon
We were in.

Armed with these,
No one could lock me out
Of the code I longed to know.
For here I was
The Master of the Message.

Sunshine,
Blue sky,
And the joy of
Fresh paper and ink.

Flowers From a Four-year Old

And other things that I am thankful for.

Today I am thankful for:
** Flowers from a four-year-old -- you know the kind, dandelions & violets and other varieties penetrating the front lawn.

** Clam-hunting in the Stones River. Water levels were low. I spontaneously took a turn after Bible study and went for a nature walk on the green way. My son who does not like to stay on the path (can anyone say like father, like son?) veered many times down the bank and so we were exploring rocks and clam-hunting. Great idea, Levi. I took a clam shell and have it on my desk to remember the wonderful day. All the children thanked me for going off the path and allowing them to wade in the river. (I'm also thankful for thankful children).

** Sunshine, glorious sunshine. We have had days and days and days of warm, hot sunshine. I have loved it!! Soaking it in after the many gray days of winter.

** People who are helping my sister Nancy, brother-in-law Barry and niece Ella. Folks who watch Ella sometimes overnight or for a play date, meals brought, hospice care given, visitors and food and thoughtful emails and cards for them. I am glad there are hands and feet doing what I wish I could do from 900 miles away.

** I am thankful for telephones and emails that help us keep in touch.

** I am thankful for parents who raised me to independence, to think for myself who modeled hard-work and enjoying life and being there for one another in times of need.

** I am thankful for everyday eggs from a husband who loves me.

** I am thankful for a God who loves me so much that He sent His son to die for me and that His son is risen from the dead.

** I am thankful for a sending-off party for friends tonight -- thankful that we've been friends (sad they are moving away) but thankful that there are ties that bind and that there is friendship that lasts across the miles.

** I am thankful for friends who ask how I am doing and really want to know the answer.

** I am thankful for a Bible study leader who has faithfully taught God's word to me for 15 years.

** I am thankful for the entry in Jesus Calling that reminded me to be thankful when I was already thinking of this post on thankfulness.

Love, Kathleen