In Loving Memory...

Pastor Joseph's funeral was this afternoon. I felt like there was so much said about him, but it didn't even scratch the surface of who he was. He was truly a man of God. We grieve with and for the family he left behind, but there is great joy in knowing that he is now in the very presence of God.

There were so many people there who I haven't seen in ages. In fact, our little church was packed. 150 people, maybe more? People of all ages were there, from 21 months (Irene) up to 90-some years. He impacted so many lives, both inside and outside of our church. There were people he went to seminary with, people from other churches he pastored, people from the presbytery, people from our church, people formerly in our church, people from the area but not the church, and, of course, family.

First Prayer

Time for another baby story. This evening, I made Irene a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner. As always, I took her hands in mine and said "Let's pray." Before I could start, she bowed her head, closed her eyes, and said "Ow-Fadda-in-headin," then looked up at me and smiled. I think she's getting the idea!!

Marriage

What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility. -- Leo Tolstoy

This is so true. It really bothers me when people claim that they have to have to live together before marriage in order to find out if they are compatible. I firmly believe that compatibility isn't just some vague thing over which we have no control. In other words, I think that a married couple can become compatible if they are both committed to each other. Several friends have commented that they took "compatibility tests" when they were in pre-marital counselling which seemed to show that they weren't compatible at all. The years of happy marriage have since shown otherwise (or else have shown that they deal very well with incompatibility). A friend of mine made a comment that she wondered why Mark and I got married at the time, but now she sees how perfect we are for each other. I wonder: were we "perfect" for each other then (and she just didn't know us very well), or have we become so? Perfect does not mean sinless here.

I've been thinking a lot about marriage lately. This is partially because Pastor Joseph died last week. I mentioned in my last post that he is the one who married us. He gave an excellent short sermon on marriage at our wedding, which we do have on tape, but I haven't listened to it in ages. The main thing I remember that he said was "A good marriage is made up to two good forgivers." I really took that to heart, and no matter who was originally at fault, if I see that any fault lies with me, I ask for forgiveness. Mark is always very gracious to forgive me, and often asks my forgiveness as well. I have to be careful that getting him to confess is not my goal. I also often have to wrestle with God to get to the point where I'm willing to ask without any expectations save the hope of being forgiven. I am completely sensible of the fact that without God, I wouldn't be able to. He is the One who brings conviction of sin and the desire to repent.

The Comfort of a Child

Rev. Ray Joseph, my pastor for 15 years, passed away yesterday afternoon. He has gone on to Glory to meet his Maker and Lord. It is a glorious thing, yet very sad for those he leaves behind, especially his wife and children. He came to our church when I was 5 years old and he is the one who married my husband and I.

After I got the phone call saying he was gone, I cried on Mark's shoulder. Irene was on the couch with us, and was very concerned about me. She said "Mommy? Mommy?" and put her arm around me. When I looked at her, she had a big smile on her face that said It's ok, Mommy, I want you to smile with me. I love you. It was so sweet. Then I called an out-of-town member (Maggie) and nearly broke down on the phone with her. Irene must have heard the catch in my voice, because she came running to me and gave me a great big hug. I've heard that babies and young children will do everything they can to comfort when Mom is sad, but I've never experienced it before. It was so special!

Jedi

You ought to check out this awesome post. The coolest part of it is the link. That is sooooo what Irene does with light-sabers. See it for yourself.

Think you have bad traffic?

I found a list of cities with the worst traffic problems. My own city is in the top ten, and you know what? I sure believe it. Some of the cities on the list are legendary, like LA, Washington, D.C. and Chicago. All of which precede Detroit on the list... I was extremely surprised, though, that Boston did not even make the list. When we visited Boston last year, we didn't even rent a car because of the traffic problems. Mark used to live there, so he knew what it was like. As a result of this, I was under the impression that Boston was worse than Detroit. Weird.

Here is the list, copied from the article linked, but with one typo corrected:
1. Los Angeles, Long Beach, Santa Ana, Calif.
2. San Francisco, Oakland, Calif.
3. Washington, D.C.
4. Atlanta
5. Houston
6. Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Tex.
7. Chicago.
8. Detroit
9. Riverside, San Bernardino, Calif.
10. Orlando, Fla.
11. San Jose, Calif.
12. San Diego

Way to Go, Steelers!

THE STEELERS WON!!!!!!!!!!! IN DETROIT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, since the Lions weren't playing, I had to pick a team. So I chose the one that beat the Colts. The one that Mark's family loves (they're from Pittsburgh). We went to Orlando to escape the busyness of Detroit surrounding the Super Bowl, but we still managed to watch the last 30 seconds of the game. The weather was gorgeous there! Most of the time. It rained for a day and a half. Oh, and guess what else? We rented a CONVERTIBLE! First time I'd ever ridden in a convertible. Because it was only a two door, we had to switch Irene's car-seat around. There really isn't much of a way that we could have gotten her in and out if we had left it rear-facing. According to my scales at home, she IS 20 lbs. now. The weather was a little cool for convertible-driving, but we just wore our jackets when we drove anywhere.

Here's a little story for you: Irene has a cousin, Joel, who is 3. They have a toy where you put colored balls in colored holes then pound them with a mallet and they roll out. Well, Joel put a chess piece through one of the holes and reached his little hand in there to get it. Unfortunately, his hand with the chess piece in it didn't quite fit back through the hole. He didn't know how to get back out, so he started saying "Mommy, Mommy, I'm stuck!" My sister-in-law got him out and came back to her conversation with us. That's when Irene put her hand it the hole and said, "Mommy, duck! Duck! Duck!" Then she shook her hand to show that she really was stuck and it came right out.

Babies Are Special

Woah. I just realized that with this post, I will have posted three days in a row. This could be a record for me. Never fear, it won't continue long. I'm leaving for Florida tonight!!!

I also wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS, CAROLIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She had a baby boy eight days ago. I can't wait to meet him!