What Am I Doing?

My friend is writing a book.
I am helping her.
I know nothing about writing a book.

What am I doing? 

Basically, I am her editor/proofreader right now. She is writing a testimony of the amazing miracles God has performed in the life of her family over the past 10 years, to which I have had a "front row seat", so to speak.  She wrote the first draft, and now I am going through it and not only correcting grammar and phrasing mistakes, but also cleaning it up, taking out parts, rewriting sections, etc.

I'm feeling a bit over my head, but my friend called today and said she and her whole family were really excited by the changes I made in the Introduction and first chapter. So I'm feeling that at least I'm going in the right direction with it.  Whew.
There is a bit of a time crunch to get this done as soon as possible and to the publisher so that she can have it ready for a conference she is speaking at in a couple of months.
Gulp!

I will fill in more details later, but if you happen to think of it, I'd appreciate your prayers.

Welcome 2012!

We rang in 2012 at the annual New Years Eve festivities at our friends, the Nemitzes.
The parents played Family Feud and Catch Phrase while the kids played games upstairs - then we all gathered in the living room and kitchen for the big Countdown! 

Everyone toasted with New Year with sparkling grape juice - even the Campbells, who joined us via Skype from Vancouver, BC!

 

The kids finished off the night with sparklers out on the lawn.  

Good night everyone!  I wish you all extraordinary blessings in 2012.

From the Recliner

I keep coming here and thinking that I really need to update the blog, and wonder what I should write about, but I just haven't had the energy or motivation to come up with anything wonderful... or meaningful.... or even interesting.  Well, I've had a few ideas that might have been.. but just couldn't get them written down.  So....

I've spent most of the last week in the recliner chair in my living room.  Recuperating from knee surgery for a torn miniscus. It is slightly depressing that it wasn't an injury, per se, but a "getting older, wear-and-tear" type of thing.  Over the past year or maybe two, I've had pain in my left knee that started as being occasional and slightly irritating, to being more and more frequent and more and more severe, to the point of being somewhat debilitating.  Finally, a couple of visits to the orthopedist, an x-ray, and an MRI got us to the diagnosis of arthritis and a torn miniscus. So a week ago last Friday, I went in for arthroscopic out-patient surgery. Not a big deal.  I went in at 8:30am to prep, was taken back to the OR at 11:00am, and was home by 4:00 pm. 
My wonderful friends have been bringing meals for my family, and Amanda has taken Jason to his classes/practices all week.  So I took my pain meds and sat in the recliner with my leg up most of the week, getting up occasionally to hobble around on crutches, and after a few days, to venture out without them.  Still some soreness, stiffness....  I go back to the doc for my post-surgery follow-up appointment tomorrow, and hopefully will set up some times to meet with the physical therapists to get this leg on the road to strength and flexibility again!

thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you to everyone who prayed, brought a meal, sent a note, or just stayed out of my hair last week!    :-)

As I've been sitting in my recliner, I've taken the opportunity to read a book for pleasure - usually I read for a purpose, for information, for preparation for something.  But this time I read The Help, by Kathryn Stockett.  I saw the movie a few weeks ago with my daughter and some friends.  Great movie! Wonderful book!


Yesterday afternoon we mourned with some dear friends who lost their baby boy at 6 months gestation.  He was child number 6,  son number 3, grandchild number 12.  His parents and siblings were so excited as the date of his arrival was getting closer, and preparations were underway ... the crib came down from the attic, other baby items were being recollected from various friends and family, anticipation over having a baby in the house again after 4 years was building.  Every single life -  even when a breath has not yet been taken - is precious and so full of expectation and possiblity.  There was a small memorial service at the funeral home, and friends and family joined together in sorrow, but also in hope and a shared assurance that this child was in heaven and there will someday be a reunion with those who live him so much in the here and now.

Sistas!

This is one of those things that gets passed around and around, and was sent to me by my mom.


A young wife sat on a sofa one hot, humid day, sipping iced tea and visiting with her mother. As they talked about life, about marriage, about the responsibilities of life and the obligations of adulthood, the mother clinked the ice cubes in her glass thoughtfully and turned a clear, sober glance upon her daughter.

"Don't forget your sisters," she advised, swirling the tea leaves to the bottom of her glass. "They'll be more important as you get older. No matter how much you love your husband, no matter how much you love the children you may have, you are still going to need sisters. Remember to go places with them now and then; do things with them. Remember that 'sisters' means ALL the women in your life .... your girlfriends, your daughters, and all your other women relatives too. You'll need other women. Women always do."

"What a funny piece of advice!" the young woman thought. "Haven't I just gotten married? Haven't I just joined the couple-world? I'm now a married woman, for goodness sake! A grownup!  Surely my husband and the family we may start with be all I need to make my life worthwhile!"

But she listened to her mother. She kept contact with her sisters and made more women friends each year. As the years tumbled by, one after the other, she gradually came to undertand that her mother really knew what she was talking about. As time and nature work their changes and their mysteries upon a woman, sisters are the mainstay of her life.

After more than 50 years of living in this world, here is what I've learned:

Time passes.
Life happens.
Distance separates.
Children grow up.
Jobs come and go.
Love waxes and wanes.
Men don't do what they're supposed to do.
Hearts break.
Parents die.
Colleagues forget favors.
Careers end.

BUT...

Sisters are there, no matter how much time and how many miles are between you. A girlfriend is never farther away than needing her can reach. When you have to walk that lonesome valley and you have to walk it by yourself, the women in your life will be on the valley's rim, cheering you on, praying for you, pulling for you, intervening on your behalf, and waiting with open arms at the valley's end.
Sometimes they will even break the rules and walk beside you..... or come in and carry you out!  Girlfriends, daughters, granddaughters, daughters-in-law, sisters, sisters-in-law,  mothers, grandmothers, aunts, nieces, cousins, extended family...all bless our life!
My world wouldn't be the same without the women in it. When we began this adventure called womanhood, we had no idea of the incredible joys or sorrows that lay ahead. Nor did we know how much we would need each other.

Every day we need each other still. Pass this on to the women who help make your life meaningful.

Nothing Good...

It is 12:15 AM.

My 2 daughters, age 22 and 17,  and my "adopted daughter", age 21, just left to go "kidnap" another friend and go to WalMart to buy HAIR DYE. 

Nothing good can come of this....

ABC 11 News Report on Solomon's Arrival

Welcome, Solomon!

As Christians, we can go along our day-to-day life believing that God is present and working in the world around us, but never really SEEING him.  It could be because we are too busy to notice, or too skeptical to accept.  Have you ever said, "I wish God would put up a big, flashing billboard!" ?  Not a real billboard  - but something we just couldn't miss!  Well, Solomon's story is one of those big, flashing billboards!  God is here, God is at work! He has orchestrated details and situations too amazing to be coincidental.   The whole Mestas story for the past 7 years, since their first adoption, has been that way. And Eileen & Jerry  have been shouting, "Do you SEE GOD?"  Read Eileen's blog  and see for yourself.

Solomon arrived in Raleigh yesterday afternoon to a sea of balloons, signs, and new friends!

James 1:27   Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. 

Ephesians 1:4-6  For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

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