2012 Olympics

The London 2012 Summer Olympics begin today! I am excited to watch the opening ceremonies and wonder how it will compare to those of Beijing. Somehow, I don’t think the Brits will be outdone, nor will they have the embarrassment of having an attractive person lip-sync a song for the opening because the person whose voice is being used isn’t quite attractive enough. …just sayin’!

I hope, I pray these Olympics have no similarity to those of the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany. I remember sitting and watching with Baby Girl in my lap. She was but a toddler and I remember the feeling of helplessness and fear as to what this world held in store for my child or any child of that era.

The years have passed and we have seen many more horrific acts of terrorism in our world. May we never become unfeeling or unemotional when we see human life being terrorized to its core.

I have come to believe that being a Christian is a lot like being an athlete. Athletes go through grilling practices for whatever their specialty is. Then, they compete against others who are performing the very same specialty. Sometimes they win and sometimes they don't. The key is to finish the race; to finish the course, the event.

That reminds me of an Olympic event a number of years ago. His name was Derrick Redman. He was a runner for Great Britain in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. He tried to make it in the 1988 summer Olympics but he was injured and he had to make a decision, “Do I go through all the work for four more years to get to the 92 Olympics?” He made a decision to run again to honor his father who had supported him all of his life.

Derek qualified for the 1992 Olympics which was an amazing feat since he had undergone twenty-two surgeries on his Achilles’ tendon. He qualified to be in the semi finals of the men’s 440 meter race. He was in one of the center lanes, the gun fired and he shot out of the blocks leading the pack. 140 meters down the track he was in a strong position when his hamstring gave way. He collapsed to the ground in a ball of pain and tears. Medics ran out to assist him but Redman waved them away. He was determined to finish the race, even if he couldn’t win it. And so he crawled and hobbled his way along the track.

There was a commotion in the crowd and a man ran down from the grandstands. He pushed his way through the security guards and ran on to the track towards his son. It was Jim Redman, Derrick’s father. He placed an arm around Derek. “You don’t have to do this” Jim told his son. “Yes I do” Derek replied. “Well then” said Jim, “we’re going to finish this together”. Just before they reached the finish line, with the crowd screaming in support, Jim Redmond let his son go, so that he could cross the line on his own.

After the race Derrick Redman was interviewed and he said “My father was the only person who could have helped me, because he understood everything that I had been through.” I so remember watching this event and I'm still moved to tears when I think about it or read a reference to it. I believe this act on the part of the Redman Father and Son is an encouragement for us to finish the race, or the event.

Tomorrow I head home to the land of AZ! This will be an all day event of approximately 7 hours and 20 minutes give or take with weather conditions.

Yesterday was filled with storms and warnings and potential flooding. I loved being in the rain and listening to the thunder. Storms are like cocooning for me and I find something so comforting that calls and speaks to my heart. Perhaps there is a little tempest in my Spirit? Whenever we were out, my Baby Girl ran through the rain to escape it. Living in the desert as I do, I raised my hands in Praise and slowly walked to our destination relishing the blessed moisture.

Blessings,

~Tamara

XOXO


P.S. I have seen something else under the sun:
       The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
       nor does food come to the wise
       or wealth to the brilliant
       or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 (NIV)

Love & Prayer Through the Generations

3 - Generations

UPDATE 07/26/2012: Baby Girl received a call from the surgeon with an "ALL CLEAR" on the pathology report. She also had her follow up appointment today and received good news about the healing process. She will have a return visit in 3 months and can return to work on Monday!

God is good!

~Tamara

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The thyroid surgery on Monday for Baby Girl was successful. It was set back three hours and then took an additional three hours so emotions and nerves were tense. The outcome was good but we're still awaiting the pathology report.

I won't be posting much while in Ohio, your prayers for her recovery would be most welcomed. We now also wait while they do blood testing to see what medication levels will be required.

Blessing to all,
Tamara
XOXO

p.s.  enjoy the pix - it's the roller derby grrlz! Baby Girl is this year's League President.

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

Things are busy here. We have our four year old grandson for the week and I'm preparing for my trip eastward. Add to that trying to get all the lose ends at work caught up and I will probably need a' pre' and 'post' vacation respite!

Zachary and his Gam'Pa have a very special relationship. I love watching the two of them together. I believe Zachary is his Gam'Pa's shadow. Last evening Gam'Pa was mowing the lawn. This is Arizona, remember? Our 'lawn' is a grassy patch that Hubs had to have to remind him of land in the east... and water bills in the west... And he's allergic to grass! We use an electric mower that we've had for years. It is so quiet and the only drawback is having to move the extension cord when you move. Of course Zachary wanted to help. So Gam'Pa allowed him to push the mower and to pull it back with minimal help.

I know Gam'Pa could have had the area mowed in much less time, however it was an opportunity for learning, for sharing responsibility, and bonding for Zachary and Gam'Pa.

Later in the evening, while bathing and getting ready for bed, Zachary and I got into the famous "I love you, Zachary!" to which he replies, "I love you more" and I respond, "No, I love YOU more!" and on and on we go. Hugging, laughing, winding down the day with a grandparent ritual to prepare for bed.

Afterward, I watched a PBS documentary on Mr. Rogers. My own children grew up with Mr. Rogers in their lives. It was much, much different than Sesame Street. Not as 'busy' and vibrant, but more comforting with Mr. Rogers who seemed to peer intently into the very soul of the child who was watching. He spoke TO the child and not AT the child.

Mr. Rogers was ordained a minister in the Presbyterian Church. I believe his church was the stage of television as provided by PBS and what a congregation he nurtured.

According to the program, he was speaking with a friend on the very day of the massacre at Columbine High School. He said if only the children today could find something beautiful, something noble and something sacred in their lives as well in the lives of others, then perhaps a tragedy of this nature could be avoided. That struck me as something so very profound as well as very simplistic. 

That is my challenge for you today - find

something beautiful  something noble  something sacred 

Then let me know what you found!

For anyone not familiar with Mister Rogers' Neighborhood just click on the hyperlink and be transported to the wonderful world of Wikipedia!

Blessings,TamaraXOXO

 P.S.  They serve at a sacred tent. But it is only a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. Hebrews 8:5 NIRV

Silent Sunday

Reluctant Pilgrim

Patient God,

instill in me a desire for honesty and authenticity in my walk with you. Open my eyes to watch you as you slip through corners in the boxes I foolishly create for you.

Thus begins chapter one of Reluctant Pilgrim, by Enuma Okono (you can find her blog here).This was a devotional I read in the Upper Room on April 20th of this year. I knew I had to purchase this book. I’ve not been sorry.

She touches upon feelings… emotions… topics that I ‘feel’ but generally don’t dare talk about with church family. You know them, don’t you? Those feelings of ‘all this must apply to everyone but me’. The feeling of being in the midst of a crowd yet still feeling totally and utterly alone and not understood? Of going to a Women’s Seminar and seeing the joy in everyone else… but feeling hollow and empty inside? This is Enuma’s story and of her walk with God and of her 'calling'.

Ironically, I had spoken with a younger woman at church about these very feelings earlier this spring and she brought them up to me! I admitted to having those feelings and shared with her that even though I have them on occasion, that does not mean I am not God’s and that I am not called by Him. What it means is that I struggle with my humanity. I struggle with grace, marvelous grace and the progression (and sometimes the digression) of becoming a sanctified and Godly woman. (Will this ever happen in this realm of my walk?) When I've completed this book (a short read by the way of merely 181 pages) I believe I will give it to her to read and then to share with someone else.

I am leaving a week from Friday for a trip to Ohio. My daughter is having surgery on Monday the 16th and I want to be there for her and to 'mommy' her. She has already given me a list of foods to fix for her recovery! She is having thyroid surgery for a rather fast growing goiter. The radioactive scan showed it was malignant. The second opinion included a biopsy of each lobe. One was benign and the other was 'suspicious'. So we won't know a thing until it is removed and pathology gets their hands on it. Please pray for Shannon.

What are you currently reading? 

Will you share your book with someone else? 

Do you have an electronic reader?

I haven't been able to 'do' an electronic reader yet. I just like the feel and smell of a book and the fact that I can put it on my chest while I ponder something I've just read or even jot something in my journal from the book.

 Blessings,

Tamara

XOXO

P.S. …casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 

1 Peter 5:7

Happy Birthday!

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

(in part)

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

Happy Birthday U.S.A.! You are a mere 236 years old on this, your natal day. Your history is rich, defiant, and often laced with an attitude of manifest destiny, whereby expansion of this great nation was at the expense of those who were deemed ‘lesser than’. Slowly, over the years you have opened your eyes wider and begun to include versus exclude those to who to you felt superior.

I am grateful to be ‘made in America’ – One Hundred Percent melting pot Americana consisting of the French, the Scot, the Irish and the Cherokee Nation. At least that is what I am told by family.

The mother of my birth had remarkable Native American features. She had dark brown hair (bleached blond in later years), brown eyes and predominate cheek bones that heralded her native blood. I, on the other hand inherited the European coloring, blond with hazel eyes. Of all the biological siblings, four of five have the European coloring and only one, the middle child inherited the native coloring. His children and his grandchildren have also inherited this genetic marker. He has one grandson who looks so remarkably like him, I call them “Me and Mini-Me”.

What are your Fourth of July holiday plans?

A family get together?

Attending a community parade?

Have a BBQ?

Homemade Ice Cream?

Camping?

Swimming, boating, skiing?

Whatever it is you do, be safe. And don’t forget to thank God for the freedoms we enjoy in this nation.

Blessings,

Tamara

XOXO

P.S.  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  ~ Romans 8:28

Silent Sunday

Thank you Martha N. for allowing me to use this photo!