Productivity and Coronavirus

I know this stay-at-home time due to the COVID-19 pandemic has been hard on people in many ways, so what I am going to say here certainly is not intended to lessen the difficulties caused by this, but I must say that these past 9 or 10 weeks have proven to be very helpful to Russ and myself for getting some projects done that we never seemed to have time to do when we had our regular schedules of activities.  In that regard, I almost hate to see this come to an end!  And I should warn you that this is a longer-than-usual and more-photos-than-usual post!

Let me see ... just what have we gotten done?

Household jobs ... new door handles on our outside doors

 and new knobs on all our kitchen and bathroom cabinets, PLUS I cleaned all those doors and drawers before we added the knobs.

Then there are all the cards I have made and mailed ... about 70 of them as of this writing.  I have tried new techniques and used up lots of my "stash" of supplies.  That is a good thing!

This next photo should actually have two of these in it ...

I got the manuscript for my book (actually it is mine and Russ' since some of his poetry is in it too).  I had been working on it for quite a while and have been able to finish it up and send it off to the publisher on April 29th, a red-letter day for us!!

The other disk is the slides I have digitized and just completed this morning!  3,107 photos spanning about 70 years!  Oh, my goodness!  I had not counted up the span of years until this very moment and I am stunned that we are old enough to have slides from that long ago!!  Yep, I guess we both were that young at one time!  As we have done those slides, Russ and I have laughed and cried and remembered all the ways God has blessed us with His blessing of peace and joy through the years, even in the hard times.

 Here is a sampling of Russ through the years...

When he was a college student, attending a summer training program with Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship.

That is him, that dot near the top of the antenna he helped rebuild as a missionary with West Indies Mission (now WorldTeam) in Haiti after a devastating hurricane destroyed the other one.  He had worked in Iowa building the antenna parts, then went with the parts to Haiti.

After the antenna was completed, Russ worked as an engineer and disc jockey for the radio station.  One of the programs he did was "slow English" in which he read books and the Bible slowly so people who were learning English could follow along.  That is what he is doing in this photo:

After being in Haiti for about 4 years, he came home to the US and married Joyce, and then along came Anna Marie.  They dedicated her in church in South Carolina.

In the meantime, I was in Lebanon, working with the church in Beirut and surrounding area. 

Here I am pictured with some members of the church I worked in.  My housemate in the 3rd from the left and I am at the far left.

When the civil war in Lebanon forced me out, I went to live in Madaba, Jordan, where I taught a wonderful group of ladies.  I have such fond memories of all those years!

The bottom line is that the past couple of months of self-isolation, albeit challenging, have been most productive and I am thankful for them.

Hay there

I am sooo tickled with the card I made yesterday afternoon!  It took more work than usual but the result made it worth while, IMHO. 

The card base is just a flat piece of yellow card stock to which I adhered a flap I cut in a fancy edge.  I attached the flap to the back of the card then added the stack of little farm animals, all with foam tape for some dimension.  The animals seemed a lttle plain, so I added a little blue bowtie to the pig and that was just what it needed!  I added a second medium sized chick to the side, peeking out from the message under the flap and I think he is so cute!  Glad I decided to do that.

Open the flap by following the directions there at the bottom to "lift here" and ...

The photo doesn't show it very well, but I colored a light green hill for the barn to sit on, plus the green grass across the bottom of the card to add a little bit of a "farm feel" to the final card.

And also the relatives

I Chronicles 13:40 And also their relatives … came bringing food on donkeys and on camels and on mules an don oxen, abundant provisions of flour, cakes of figs, clusters of raisins, and wine and oil, oxen and sheep …

Chapter 12 is full of information about David’s fighting men, their great soldiering abilities and readiness for battle.  Verse 2 tells us the “mighty men” were gifted ambidextrous warriors; verse 8 says they were experts with determination and strength even on their faces and that they were fast and sure-footed.  By the end of the chapter, I felt rather intimidated by the strength, bravery, and readiness of this great army around David.  I felt that way UNTIL I noticed who else is listed at the very end of the chapter.  Not everyone could be a strong and fearsome warrior in the fighting army.  Their supportive relatives had an equally vital role to play.  They are the ones who made it possible for the army to be battle-ready.  They came by the droves, by every means available, bringing food for these “might men” and the army.  Their role was as important as that of the mighty men and the rest of the army.  How encouraging to know that even if I am not a “mighty man” with special skills or abilities, I can have a supportive role in the accomplishments of those who are more actively engaged in the fight.

Encouragement during COVID-19

I cannot believe how many cards I have made and mailed during these weeks of "safe at home!"  It has been a great way and time to use up lots of supplies and bring some cheer to others at the same time.  I have made about 60 cards so far and enjoyed every one of them.  Each morning I have made a short list of people to whom I will send a card, then in the early afternoon, after my household chores are done, I go into the craft room and make cards specifically for those on the list.  I have made it a point to think about the person who will be getting the card and pray for them as I put the card together.

That is what I did on these two round cards I made yesterday. 

This first card is for a 101-year-old friend.

I used a flower stamp I have had since about 2010.  I heat embossed it with gold embossing powder, then colored the petals and leaves with watercolor pencils.  I wasn't sure how the colors would work because the card base is that dark brown, but low and behold, the colors show up and look really pretty, I think!  I die cut the hello sentiment from pale gold card stock and added some embossed gold on the edges.  I wanted it to look a little bit rustic so I left some of the excess such as you can see just to the right of the sentiment. 

I am going to submit this to the Retro Rubber Challenge Blog since the current challenge is "Anything Goes."

The second card was another brown circular card, but this time I covered it with paper and it completely changed the looks of the card.  See what I mean?

This little girl playing in the rain is so cute!  I had some tear drops I'd been waiting to use for "just the right situation" and this was definitely the time!  I propped her up on foam tape and she is so cute there on the front of that card!  I hope my friend who will get this card will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it for her.

This might of yours

Judges 6:14 And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”

God told Gideon to go rebel against the enemy and fight in “this might of yours,” "in this thy might."  He did not say, “Gather yourself together, train, get your supplies, and go.”  Instead, He told Gideon to go in his might.  What kind of “might” did Gideon have?  He was hiding his threshing job in a wine press.  He was timid and afraid, almost of his own shadow.  He was discouraged and disheartened by the oppression of the enemy.  He was from an unknown, just normal, household family.  He was afraid of even his neighbors (see 6:27) much less the powerful enemy.  In other words, Gideon’s “might” was almost nil!  God did not want him to go in any strength or power other than God’s power and strength.  If he trusted in that, Gideon could (and did) succeed.  So he DID go in his might and he DID trust God to add the extra “might” he needed and he DID succeed in defeating the oppressing power of the enemy.  All because he went in “his might.”

Year after year after year

I Samuel 1:7 So it went on year by year.

What is it that went on year by year?  There are several things that are either mentioned specifically or implied that happened regularly, yearly, for who knows how many years.  Elkanah, Samuel’s father, went to offer sacrifices year by year.  He cared about his family and was very sensitive to childless Hannah.  Year by year Hannah felt her pain of childlessness.  It was a pain that did not disappear in spite of her faithfulness along with Elkanah, year by year.  She was deeply distressed and weeping (see v. 10) year after year.  There was not an overnight answer to that distress.  It went on for many years, we don’t know how many.  The beauty of the story, however, lies in the fact that Elkanah and Hannah remained faithful to God through the pain of childless years and in God’s time, He answered Hannah’s prayer.  After Samuel was born, we read of another “year by year” when Hannah cam to see the child she gave back into God’s service, year by year.  She remained faithful through it all, year by year.  Sometimes we can see God in the mundane, the things that never seem to change even though we wish they would.  That's what Hannah learned.

My birth certificate

Psalm 87:6 The Lord records as he registers the people, “This one was born there.”

When I read this verse I immediately thought of my birth certificate.  When I was born, the certificate was filled out and signed by the doctor, recording the time and place I was born.  It has been my proof of citizenship for my entire life, even though I cannot personally remember the event.  

So it is with my relationship to God.  At the time of my salvation, the Lord recorded my “birth” and now He can look back, so to speak, and be reminded that on that specific date, at that specific time and in that specific location I gave my life to Him and was born again.  It is recorded and even though I cannot tell you the specifics, He knows, and that is what is important. 

I have my “birth certificate” and it is my proof that I am His child.