Happy 12th Birthday, Chase!

Chase's birthday was sort of a school holiday for us. We always have a school holiday on birthdays. However, Landon had to take the AP Calculus BC test that morning, so he didn't get a break. He was also scheduled to take the final in his World Civ II class that day, but the teacher opened it up (it's an online class) on Monday, so he took it early.

Chase always like to have her BFF Sarah over on her birthday. She lives pretty close to where Greg works, so she came home with him from work Tuesday afternoon and then went back with him to work on Thursday morning. It's never long enough for the two girls!

Chase requested my homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast. It's a bread machine recipe I got off the Money Saving Mom blog, and they are fabulous! She got clever and put candles in her cinnamon roll. :)




We picked up Landon from his test and headed to Ocala. Chase was getting her pictures taken at 1:00. Then we had lunch at Sam's and did our weekly grocery shopping there and at Aldi before heading to guitar lessons. After guitar, we headed home to have dinner at El Ranchito. We always have Mexican food on Chase's birthday since it is also Cinco de Mayo.





Chase, Sarah, and Carys spent most of their free time in the pool.

Chase got a $10 iTunes gift card...


a Tinkerbell watch...


a mini practice amp for her electric guitar...


a sweat jacket and a t-shirt both with birds on them...


a new outfit for Portia (her Build-a-Bear bear) and a new outfit for Liberty (her Gotz doll).


No matter whose birthday it is, Carys has to get involved in unwrapping the presents.

My Favorite Song at the Moment

Suffering

Almost 2 years ago, I read a book entitled The Shack by William P. Young. Now, there has been a lot of hoopla in the Christian world about this book (which, by the way, he wrote as a story for his children and not some doctrinal treatise), but it really touched me in a lot of ways. I've been reading his blog for awhile. And today he wrote something so touching about suffering. I'm quoting it below.

Some of the stupid things people say to those who are suffering:

1. If you had enough faith, then Suzie wouldn’t be sick.
2. The tongue has the power of life and death, so stop saying Suzie has a brain tumor.
3. If you believe enough and confess with your mouth that Suzie is healed, then she will be healed.
4. Have you tried…fill in the blank.
5. Do you think there might be un-confessed sin in your life?
6. Suzie is God’s gift and He can take her when he wants to.
7. This was God’s plan for Suzie.

Now, having been ‘stupid’ myself, I understand the intent and motivation that often lies behind saying these kinds of things. I wasn’t trying to be stupid; I was trying to help. I thought I was bringing to bear the wisdom of God in a certain situation. I truly thought what I was saying was going to be helpful and I thought what I was saying was true. It is so easy to have the ‘word of the Lord’ when it isn’t your child, isn’t your husband, when you haven’t had the experience of watching someone deteriorate right in front of you, scream in pain, look at you like you should be able to do something, when it is you that feels so helpless and lost. If you haven’t been there…keep your mouth SHUT. Listen, be present, pray but don’t be God’s gift to make other people feel worse and even push them into the impossibility of living perfectly enough to avoid suffering.

Look at these things people say. Give me a break. Let’s put it this way, “Since you know about Suzie, how about we put you in charge of having enough faith, and if she dies it’s your fault.” The whole premise of this ‘stupid’ statement is that faith is a ‘commodity’ that you can have ‘enough’ of it and once you have ‘enough’ (and nobody can tell you how much is enough) then you can do magic tricks. It is a formula and formula has nothing to do with relationship.

Sure there is power of life and death in the tongue…your tongue. Is what you are saying bringing and adding life to the situation, or are you speaking death? This verse is not about healing but about the power of what we say to each other.

God doesn’t punish us because there is sin in our lives; God took the punishment we poured out on Jesus because there is sin in our lives.

It is so easy to be self-righteous when no one is sick in our family, when no one close to us is dying of cancer, when we think that the absence of suffering in our lives is because we have somehow made the right choices and are now receiving the reward. Listen to me; everyone in this world is dying, right now. You are going to die. From the day you entered into this world you began dying. If ‘faith’ could keep you healthy, surely there would be someone who never died, one person who had enough ‘faith’ to keep from deaths open maw. God (Jesus) didn’t even escape it, but He did conquer it so much so that it was no longer called ‘death’ but ‘falling asleep’. Some of us fall asleep quickly and quietly, others in great pain but we know who will kiss us awake and that hope is sure and certain.

The world is shattered. We (humans) did that. We made a declaration of independence, taking on the power of playing god, and then wonder why independent cancer cells are wreaking havoc in our bodies. We bring to the cosmic table our communal sickness and demand that God fix it. We require God stop the pain and suffering but out of good and kind respect for his creation he often refuses. Does God do ‘anything’ that is not motivated by love? NO!!!

There is so much about suffering that I don’t understand, but I will tell you this, it stops us in our tracks, makes us re-examine our sense of control, drives us into community (if we allow it) and transforms us in its crucible. And then there is this mystery: we are somehow allowed to enter the holiest of places and share in the sufferings of Jesus, destroying evil by our presence in the midst of loss. Some things are simply too precious to reduce to words.

Oh, God, help me to keep my mouth shut in the face of someone else's suffering.

November Election

We went to a friend's house last night to listen to Jason Sager who is running for Congress in Florida's 5th Congressional district which includes most of Citrus County. He is running as a Republican against the incumbent, Ginny Brown-Waite. All I can say is wow! He is very well-educated about the Constitution and the limits on the federal government in the Constitution. If only we could get a bunch of men and women like him elected!

What You Will Get

Don't know what it's going to take for me to be consistent in blogging! This is supposed to be a family record. If I don't actually blog, then no record. I think the situation we're in right now makes it rather depressing to blog, so I don't make the effort. But I need to blog every day, just a little blurb about what we did that day if nothing else. There, I have admonished myself! :)

Went to Baskin Robbins last night for 31-cent scoop night. Fun!

I've been reading through Oswald Chamber's My Utmost for His Highest this year for probably the 4th time. I take the verse he uses and read the scripture portion it's found in to get the context. Then I read his comments.

April 28th was an entry entitled "What You Will Get". It convicted me on many fronts. Here's a part of it:

So many of us are caught up in exhibiting things for others to see, not showing off property and possessions, but our blessings. All these things that we so proudly show have to go. But there is something greater that can never go--the life that "is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3).

That statement really blew me away because I have been on both ends of it. I never realized it when I was the one "exhibiting" my blessings "for others to see. But I have noticed it since Greg was laid off when others say things that seem innocuous, thanking God that they're not in the same situation. When you're on my end of it, it seems like others have been blessed by God because they've deserved it, and I wonder what we've done that we don't deserve God's blessings. It brought to my mind a time when we were in a small group at church. I don't even remember what study we were doing or anything. But we were in the process of building this house, and I made some stupid comment about God blessing us with this house because we'd always been faithful tithers. A dear friend called me to task on that with the comment that others who've also faithfully tithed haven't received the same type of blessing. This happened YEARS ago, but God brought it to my mind.

Are you prepared to let God take you into total oneness with Himself, paying no more attention to what you call the great things in life? Are you prepared to surrender totally and let go?

I feel like the man you said to Jesus, "I do believe. Help my unbelief!" Except for me it's: I do surrender. Help my unsurrender! That doesn't make as much sense, but you get the picture. Lord, help me never again to boast about my blessings or even desire blessings from you, but to want only you, all of you.

Easter Sunday

We had to be at church slightly early on Easter Sunday since the choir was singing in both services. When we got home, the kids' Easter baskets had mysteriously appeared on the kitchen tables.


There was a lot of candy, of course. The kids do a good job of rationing it out a few pieces a day and making it last.


I got a fabulous deal on these dresses from Land's End, so I put those in the girls' baskets.


We haven't been at a church where anyone dressed up for several years, so I took this opportunity to take a picture of the girls.


I also can't remember the last time I cooked dinner on Easter (if ever). For years we went to a friend's house for dinner and an Easter Egg Hunt. His little boy isn't so little anymore, so they haven't had this event in a couple of years. Last year we went out to eat, but that wasn't in the budget this year. So...

we had ham...


and roasted vegetables, sweet potato casserole, rolls, and...

cheesecake.


This cheesecake looks good, but I didn't like it. It's a "light" cheesecake with no crust and a carton of ricotta in place of one of the blocks of cream cheese. It just wasn't creamy enough. I am a cheesecake experts and make many different kinds, so if I don't like one...

I'm thankful to Greg for doing most of the actual cooking that day. Although I plan the menus, write the shopping lists, do a lot of the prep work, etc., I have a pinched sciatic nerve and I can't spend a lot of time on my feet before I'm in agony. After singing in two services that day, I'd reached my limit. He's happy to help as long as he's not making the decisions of what to eat, etc. :)


We spent a lovely, relaxing afternoon and evening after the meal.

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Gran's 80th Birthday

Greg's mom, Gran, celebrated her 80th birthday on April 3, 2010. We had a small family celebration at our house with her children, grandchildren, and her sister and brother-in-law.

Carys tells Gran happy birthday!


Jeff smoked chicken, Kay made macaroni and cheese, and I made a bean dish and rolls. The meal was fabulous.

Here are the Meahl men in line for food (from L to R: Gerren, Jeff - Greg's brother, Greg, Landon, and AJ - Jeff's son)


My sister-in-law is a very talented cake decorator (she made our wedding cake), but she doesn't do it much anymore. She made a small cake for Gran's birthday.


AJ was trying to take a nap on the porch, but Carys wouldn't let him.


So, he gave up and played water table with her.


The boys were playing computer again, of course.


Rebekah tried to show the boys how to shoot their airsoft guns correctly. However, she doesn't really like shooting "fake" guns. She was a silver medalist two years in a row in the Junior Olympics in 2 different events (and I can't remember exactly what they were - sports pistol and something else).


We almost forgot to take a family picture. In fact, Aunt Peggy and Uncle Kline had already left. However, we remembered at the last minute.