Happy 83rd Birthday, Dad!

. My father provided countless wonderful memories by reserving Sunday afternoons just for his family. In good weather we explored backroads, hiked & had picnics. Perhaps my love of the mountains & hiking stems from those days. In bad weather we popped popcorn or made smores over the gas range & sang to the accompaniment of Dad's harmonica. I remember that God's children are His treasure/jewels to this day, because we often sang "When He Cometh" based on Malachi 3:17. "And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him."
In more recent years I have taught a week-end women's retreat on God's children being His gems. Just before Christmas, I did a word study on Strong's #5459 - a Hebrew word transliterated into English as "s'gulah" - so I could include it in the neighborhood Bible Study as we studied Exodus 19:5. "If you listen diligently to My voice & keep My covenant, then you will be to Me a "s'gulah" (treasure) from among all peoples." "S'gulah" is a feminine, passive word from a root word meaning "shut up" or "wealth". It's translated as "jewel, peculiar treasure, special, precious." Eccl. 2:8 uses this word re. the peculiar treasure of kings. Deut. 7:6, 14:2, 26:18&19 speaks of Israel being God's peculiar or special people. I Peter 2:9 uses this same phrasing for believers. The sense of Isaiah 33:5-6 is that even as God is our stability in uncertain & treacherous times, the "fear of the Lord" (Strong's #214 - transliterated "owtsar") is the "treasure house".
Our nation has definitely lost this "fear of the Lord". We, God's children, dare not lose it. It is God's treasure house for His jewels. This is a precious theme & word study. I hope you can get the sense of it from my quick summary here.

. My father sat through a two hour assembly at Montana State University my sophomore year. I had tried to persuade him not to come. It would be agony for him. He had undergone hemorrhoidal surgery only the day before. When I was called from the crowd as the one sophomore woman to receive a special award for grades & other factors, I understood why my father wouldn't stay home. This is only one of a million or so times my father proved his great love for me. Much like my Heavenly Father.

. My father often showed his love through gifts. Yet the gift I remember the most, was the packing material he sent other gifts in on my first Christmas away from home. Understanding my homesickness, he cut off a few of the lower branches of the pine trees in our yard. He packed the more tender & less pokey ends of the limbs in a large box around a couple smaller wrapped gifts. To this day, I can not recall what those other small gifts were. I only remember the wonderful evergreen fragrance that filled my dorm room all through the holidays.

Gifts from AWANAS nursery - hugs & viruses

Ryan, who nearly died as a baby from severe food allergies, just turned two. He loves to copy the "big boys", who are also two. This is Lt. Eric Oberg's son.

Luke ( in the blue) & Alex are a couple of the "big boys", who love to play with their magnetic fishing poles. They are "posing" here.

Luke & Andrew enjoy the 5-minute lesson, coloring, pasting, music & snack in the middle of the AWANAS session. Behind Luke is his newborn sister, Katie.

January gifts have been unlike those in December. My bonding with the youngsters in the AWANAS nursery for two plus hours every Wednesday night, has brought its rewards of spontaneous hugs whenever we meet...in the the parking lot, during the church service when we shake hands with others, etc. Having to catch nasal drips with a kleenex every other sentence as I blog today, attests to the other "gifts" these dear ones pass on. So far it's just a head cold with a bit of diarrhea & stomach cramps that were short term.

New Beginnings in 2009...

Erik made the front page of our local paper, The Missoulian.


Quilt patterns on the snow in our yard.

Now that the holidays are past, I'm back into the weekly schedule of leading the Neighborhood Women's Bible Study, teaching the puggles in the AWANA's nursery, continuing my support of Louis's ministry in Beth Tephila, taking pilates classes to strengthen my core & keep the sciatica away, caring for our mini-farm & paying bills, etc.

The New Year has brought some fresh beginnings:

. One of the sons of our Asst. Pastor, Lt. Erik Oberg, left Tuesday the 6th of January with 120 soldiers of the Montana Army National Guard for a year long tour of duty in Iraq. Erik is the father of three. His youngest son, Ryan, is one of the puggles I teach. Erik is the detachment commander of the 639th Quartermaster Supply with around 50 of those 120 soldiers under his command. He showed his godly leadership at Christmas. He & his wife decorated a small Christmas tree with tags of all the names of the soldiers under him. Each tag also held some minimal facts about that specific soldier. They placed the tree at the back of our church, where folks from our church family could choose a young soldier to "adopt" for the year by taking his tag. In taking a tag, we were pledging to pray daily for that particular soldier. We can also write or even send care packages to that soldier as the Lord moves us. However, it is the prayer commitment that Erik & Sabrina were seeking to share with us. I chose a SPC Andrew A., who is single, 21 years old & from Helena - my hometown from the age of 3 until I was in 9th grade. I have asked the Holy Spirit to help me be faithful in my prayer pledge for Andrew. I plan to pray daily for Erik & the entire detachment, as well. One new responsibility before the Lord for 2009!

. The evening before Erik & his unit left Montana, my beloved Hebrew/Greek teacher, Chuck N., left this life for eternity with the Lord. You saw Julie, Chuck's wife, in one of my October entries about my trip to Spokane. The day after Julie & I ate lunch together at that Spokane diner, she & Chuck drove to Missoula to visit friends at Grizzley Peak - where they had lived several years & where I went for my Hebrew & Greek lessons. Chuck experienced seizure symptoms & spoke gibberish during that drive, so they drove directly to St. Patrick Hospital. Chuck had a grand mal seizure during his diagnostic work-up leading to a shoulder injury. He was diagnosed with four primary glial tumor sites in his brain with a terminal prognosis of weeks to months. Chuck suffered through surgeries, radiation & chemo. treatments and all the symptoms that his condition gave him with the faith of a mature & godly man. Julie has been with him & supporting him 24/7. He told us shortly after his diagnosis was made that his body was the Lord's & whatever the Lord wanted to do with that body was "ok" with him. His & Julie's sterling witness continued during his hospitalizations in Missoula & later in Spokane.

Although gibberish came out more often than not, Chuck was able to say clearly, "The Lord be with you," the day before he left the hospital to be driven back to Spokane. It was our last time to see him in this life. I look forward to reuniting sometime soon.

Chuck's passion for decades, next to his love for the Lord & Julie, was studying the Word in its original languages. He passed that passion on to several of his students. Whenever someone speaks negatively or with gossip, I often mentally compare them to Chuck who frequently replied to such behavior with, "I resemble that". How he surprised me the first time he said that, as I thought at first that he was going to say, "I resent that". It's amazing how Chuck's character was on display through comments like that & through his compassion for others. We will miss him & uphold Julie in prayer. She still has an elderly mother with senile dementia & other health problems to care for. I am praying for my dear friend, Julie, even as I have been since mid-October. I take this responsibility seriously.


. During the current warfare in Gaza & elsewhere in Israel, we have begun to receive "hate" phone calls. Our home phone number is the listed phone number for Beth Tephila in both the phone book & local paper. We count it a privilege to be identified with God & His people.


. Our snow alternated with rain mix has created interesting quilted patterns in the yard & on the roofs. Now the continued rain has created some treacherous ice fields in our driveway & the paths leading to our horse & sheep feeding troughs and to the chickenhouse. The flooding in the Seattle area & tons of snow in Spokane, make us appreciate our ice more than we would normally.