Three-Day Weekends Rock!

Like many of you, I spent the long Memorial Day weekend mixing home projects with relaxation and fun. My conclusion? Three-day weekends rock! What do you say we lobby for standard three-day weekends? Who's with me?!

Number One on my to-do list was weeding, trimming, and mulching the front yard landscape. Three summers ago we gutted the front yard bed -- which wasn't too difficult since all of the bushes were dead and practically walked themselves out of the dirt -- and hired our nephew to plant an ornamental tree, flowering perennials, and a few shrubs. I was told the plants would develop on a three-year cycle:

First Summer

I'd notice little to no growth and the plants would look the same at the end of the summer as they did when first planted. That's exactly what happened.

Second Summer

I'd see little improvement over the First Summer. In fact, I might wonder if my plants were permanently stunted. But not to worry! The Second Summer is when all my little green darlings would solidly establish themselves underground, girding themselves for a spectacular showing next year. Since I didn't have an underground window, I can't verify these activities took place, but I'm assuming they did because...

Third Summer

Ta da! As you can see, my daisies, hostas (even after a severe thinning), and their friends are healthy, robust, and heavy with buds. I bubble up with joy when pulling up to our suburban homestead and

seeing their flora faces.

                             Sunny, yellow flowers make me smile!

    

                              To quote Meg Ryan in  You've Got Mail,

                                  "Daisies are the friendliest flowers."

"Think on This..."

For 30 years, psychologist Dr. Diane Langberg has counseled trauma victims, especially childhood sexual abuse survivors. During last Monday's show (May 21), a caller shared her survivor story, including the ongoing sense of dirtiness that continues to haunt her. She obsessively cleans her home, but it's never enough to wash away the filth she feels. Dr. Langberg gave this helpful analogy. She said sometimes we dirty ourselves with our choices and actions. But there are times when others dump their dirt on us -- and we are not guilty, nor responsible for it! This dear caller's dirt wasn't hers, it was her abuser's. Amen!

Liven up a conversation with these facts:

1.  It's not the most appetizing info, but it's good to know. Germs like staph, strep, and E. Coli were found on 100% of the makeup testers sampled on weekends in department stores and drugstores in a study by Rowan University. "Anytime bacteria gets close to your eyes, nose, or mouth, you put yourself at risk for catching a cold, herpes, strep throat, a GI infection, or other viruses," says study author Dr. Elizabeth Brooks. Next time you want to sample makeup before buying it, test it on your wrist where there's no entry to your bloodstream. (Women's Health, June 2012)

2. News flash: watermelon seeds are edible. Toast them with a sprinkle of your favorite spices and nibble away for a healthy hit of fiber, protein, and magnesium. (Better Homes and Garden, June 2012)

3. Sunglasses that don't block 99% to 100% of UV light are worse than no glasses at all! Why? The dark lenses make your pupils dilate, allowing even more light in. Buy sunglasses that specify 99% to 100% UV protection. Take sunglasses you already own to an optician; most will check the level of protection for you, free of charge. (Health, June 2012)

Ephesians 3:7 is my food this week:

"By God's special favor and mighty power, I have been given the wonderful privilege of serving Him by spreading this Good News."

Let it fuel you, too, as you spread the Good News while living your life this week.

Finally, a New Normal

I'm celebrating a momentous anniversary this month -- though not my wedding anniversary, which will be 34 years this August (actually quite momentous, now that I think about it). May 29 marks my one year as the sole host of Mid-Morning. And what a year it's been!

Twelve months later and this new normal has finally settled in and made itself at home in my life. Can I get an amen? Counselor Dr. David Hawkins says it generally takes about 18 months for any dramatic change to feel normal. I credit my being ahead of the curve to an extra measure of God's kindness...and boy, am I grateful. I'll share more details about the eventful year on the May 29th Mid-Morning. I'll be praising and thanking God -- which pleases and blesses God -- for His many MM gifts and graces, and then opening the phones, e-mail and Facebook for you to do the same.

While reading through the April issues of the magazines I reference for show ideas and resources, I came across a website called The Daily Grommet. The site, created by Jules Pieri, is an online marketplace that, every day at noon, launches one inventive consumer product or service. We hope to feature Jules on an upcoming "Spots and Spotlights.

While checking out the site, I saw a shirt that I knew my soon-to-be nine-year-old nephew would love. It's from the Mouth Man line. In a sentence, the creatures featured on the shirts come alive when the wearer folds his arms. Dalton loved his! Check them out at The Daily Grommet.

Tuesday, fitness trainer Kerri Zurbuch and registered dietitian Zonya Foco shared tips for getting kids moving and eating to nourish their growing bodies. Both women have the degrees and experience to qualify them as experts, but what makes them even more believable is the fact they're moms themselves. Their advice is kid-tested, practical and do-able. They understand it can be challenging to get kids to put down their Game Boys and go outside or to choose fruit over chips (which, by the way, they believe kids can have both, with the chips being eaten in moderation). Catch their interview on the MM archive, and visit Zonya's website for lots of yummy, easy-to-make, and nutritious, free recipes.

Mother's Day is Sunday, May 13, so Friday's MM is all about moms. What's the best advice your mom ever gave you? Why do you admire her? What have you learned from her? Call, e-mail or Facebook us, May 11, beginning at 10. We'll draw one name from everyone who participates, and send the winner's mother a stunning Mother's Day bouquet. And if we draw your name and the mother you're honoring has passed away, we'll send the bouquet to you, so you can remember, cherish and celebrate your mom on Mother's Day 2012.

Carry Psalm 16:8 with you into the week:

I am ever mindful of the Lord's presence;
He is at my right hand;
I will never be shaken.

This is the truest reality, standing above whatever reality you experience.

Believe it and embrace it!

Back from Vacation But...

I returned from a week-long staycation to kick off Mid-Morning's "Party Palooza" contest. One of our best contests, ever. If you've not heard about it, head to the MM "Party Palooza" page right now and enter. Why is it such a fantastic contest? Well, you can have a party -- whatever type of party you want -- with up to fourteen friends at Country Kitchen Sweet Art (they provide the cake and sweet-treat activities for you and your friends). Bekah and I will deliver your meal from Chipotle Mexican Grill in Jefferson Pointe. Yummy fun for all.

On Friday's show, Master Gardener Ricky Kemery gave instructions for making "compost tea bags." You don't drink the nutritive tea, your flowers, veggies and plants do. 

The bags are simple to make.

1. Pour one cup of compost into the foot of a panty hose. Knee-highs are the most convenient option, but if you get a good deal on regular panty hose, go ahead buy them. You'll be making two compost tea bags per pair.

2. Tie a knot near the top of the "leg." Now you're ready to brew!

3. Fill a five-gallon bucket with water. Dip the compost tea bag several times into the water, then leave it in the water overnight. Repeat the next day and leave overnight. The tea is now ready for watering plants.


You can get two batches from each tea bag. Mix the used compost in your garden or stir it back into your compost pile.


Curious as to what a compost tea bag looks like? Here's my husband, Doug, holding one.

Ricky told me something after the show I think you'll want to know: a surefire, nontoxic way to get rid of ants, roaches, earwigs, silverfish and many other creepy crawlies. It's called Diatomaceous Earth (DE), a powder of finely crushed seashells. You can buy it at Lowes, online or from swimming pool supply stores. Pour some into a jar with a lid with holes in it. A spice jar works well. Sprinkle it where you have insect traffic. When a bug walk through it, the finely ground seashells act as razor blades, scratching a bug's shell through which it breathes. The bug is injured and suffocates.


Should I feel bad that the thought of using DE on this year's migration of ants in my kitchen has me smiling like Jack Nicholson in The Shining?

I think not.


If you're looking for flowers for your pots and planters, check out the Pinterest page for Friday's show, especially the instructions for making a faux stone planter that looks like belongs in the gardens of Versailles. Inexpensive and lightweight...you won't get a hernia trying to move it at the end of the summer.

I had a lengthy To-Do list to tackle during vacation, but the only thing I really wanted to accomplishment was painting our front door red. Do you know how many shades of red there are to choose from? Hundreds...literally. I narrowed my choices to nine, and then taped them to our pasty white door to see how their colors changed, depending on the time of day. I want a shade that looks beautiful from sunrise to sunset.

See, I wasn't exaggerating. Our door is pasty white.

Two weeks later I'm ready to make a decision. And the winner is...Eddie Bauer's "Crimson." It's the second paint square in the second row. Or is it the third paint square in the third row? Oh, nuts. Maybe I need to leave the squares up one more week in order to be certain.

It's been a 33-year journey to our getting a red front door. I'll tell you the story on this Friday's blog. This one's on my 1,000 Gifts List. Come back Friday and you'll understand why.

I'm still pinching myself!

On Vacation...Almost

It's 12:02 a.m. Monday. I'm on vacation...almost. There's one last thing to do before I'm officially off the clock: Write my Friday blog post, which is now three days late because Bekah and I hit the road immediately after Friday's Mid-Morning to attend the Jennifer Rothschild "Fresh Grounded Faith" conference in Lima.


What a refreshing, joyous, and Spirit-led event! More about that later in the blog.


We received an e-mail from a listening friend who was confused by the seemingly contradicting messages of two of last week's shows: David Murrow, author of Why Men Hate Going to Church (March 27) and Janet Davis, author of My Own Worst Enemy (March 29).

Here's what she wrote:


"I do appreciate the message and encouragement to women this morning. But, I am torn between the message from David Murrow earlier in the week and today's message. I felt David encouraging women to step back in order that men can step up. I felt quieted and stifled by him. Please address this paradox."

I think listening to both interviews with this question in mind is extremely helpful and enlightening:

What are we doing in the church that prevents or impedes someone from worshiping, serving or knowing God, and what do we do to change it?

What David helped me see -- especially because my own dear husband has, after 33 years, recently come back to Christ and is now attending church every Sunday (instead of just Christmas and Easter) -- is how our standard way of doing church only connects with a portion of Christ-followers, namely a majority of the women and a very small percentage of the men who are musical and verbal. What regular opportunities are there for men to use their natural gifts and abilities -- problem solving skills, trade and craft talents (mechanics, carpentry, electrical, contracting, computer), to name just two categories -- to serve and bless other people, while honoring, glorifying and blessing God? David raised this important question, and then offered some  practical ideas for making a place at the table for men, while not squeezing out women who've done most of the heavy lifting for years.

We obviously didn't emphasize this enough during the interview. It's not either/or but rather both/and. David addresses this clearly -- and with a beautiful, inclusive tone -- in his book.

Janet Davis's book My Own Worst Enemy isn't about women in ministry (though her insights can definitely be applied to the topic) but rather an exploration of how we allow voices, including our own, to prevent us from "shining" -- allowing the life of Christ to pour out of us.

We women can struggle with wholeheartedly and confidently shining because we confuse shining with pride, while we confuse hiding with humility. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Shining sometimes requires saying "no" to people in authority, our friends, the enemy of our souls, social norms, old patterns and other things. I think this is what felt contradictory to our e-mail friend. Yes, give men more of a voice in church (implying women would then have less of a voice) and women, you need to shine, which will require you to speak up but you can't do that if we want to make church more male-friendly. So how do you do both?

I go back to the question that I think helps guide us to those things that can make a way for men and women to bring not only their gender hard-wiring but their unique personalities as people made in the image of Christ to worshiping God and serving and loving others: What are we doing in the church that prevents or impedes someone from worshiping, serving or knowing God, and what do we do to change it?

What do you think?

Everything about the Fresh Grounded Faith conference was wonderful. From every moment spent with Bekah (the woman is craaaazy fun); talking with woman after woman about their lives and faith; enjoying food and fellowship with Jennifer Rothschild, Kathy Troccoli, Carl Herrgesell and the team who brought the event to Lima (thanks, Karlin); praying with new friends; hearing truth spoken and sung; and laughing, laughing, laughing -- it was a life-giving weekend.

 Jennifer disarms you with her honesty and humor, readying you to receive truth & wisdom.


Have you heard Kathy's song Take Me With You? I hadn't before the weekend -- where she sang it twice! --  but now it's on my iPhone, and I'm playing it nonstop. There is no video on You Tube, or I would have included it in the blog. When Jesus calls us to follow Him, the Greek tense means to follow again and again and again and again...or as Ken Wuest translates it, "Follow Me, and consider it a permanent appointment." Take Me With You is my committed request to Christ, your committed request to Christ, to take us wherever He is going, be it a dark valley, across the sea, or Home. We only want to be where He is.

Thank you, Kathy, for co-writing this song.

Kathy is NOT singing Take Me With You in this photo! She and Carl are having a little fun (the guy has stellar singing and playing the piano skills), which happened a lot during FGF.


It's now 1:30 a.m. My blog is finished and I'm ON VACATION! Lots of  home projects including painting our front door red, giving several clear glass containers a treatment to make them look like mercury glass (I'll let you know how that little project goes), and cleaning up the guest bedroom. My son and husband say I'm one box of stuff away from being officially labeled a hoarder.

Enjoy the week of best-of encores. I'll be back on the air April 9 when Bekah and I kick off Mid-Morning's "Party Palooza" Contest.

Blessings...

Words I Never Thought I'd Say: I Want to Live in a Barn!

I wouldn't mind being born in a barn if it was the barn-turned-home of Tammy and Brian Imel. Bekah, my great-niece, Kylie, and I visited the Markle homestead Wednesday in preparation for an upcoming "Spots and Spotlights interview with Tammy.

We went expecting a quick walk-through but were greeted and ushered inside by the gamine and utterly charming Tammy. Not only did she give us a room-by-room tour detailing how the couple converted the former dairy barn into their home and decorated it on a shoestring (she paid 50 cents for the creamer side table...boy, can she sniff out a bargain), the former elementary school teacher and decorating whiz also served us raspberry lemonade, strawberries with homemade whipped cream, and her scrumptious Aunt Ethel bars. Needless to say, the three of us volunteered to house it (or is it still technically a barn?) whenever the Imels want to go away.

Check out the former granary behind their house that's still in the process of being converted into a guest getaway.

After Wednesday's visit to Markle, I stopped by my nephew's house to see his family's newest pet, a pot-bellied pig named Mr. Pigglesworth. Amy Miller (she does the receipting and other money duties at WBCL) adores pigs, so I invited her for a nose-to-snout encounter with the Cheetos-loving porker. 

And while Amy quickly fell for the bristly squealer, potty-training tales and Mr. P.'s ear-splitting squeal convinced her that this season of her life makes owning a pig a no-go.

While Mr. P. looks calm, getting him into Amy's arms involved some chasing and swaddling. The blanket wrapped around him was very damp when Amy put him down.

Mr. P. is ready for his close-up...perhaps a little too close.

You can never have too many pig shots in your blog. This isn't his dish. It belongs to his four-legged roomie, Lola the bulldog, who's getting a tad frustrated with Mr. P. using her as a
surrogate mommy every time she lays down for a nap.

My "Fix Your Thoughts on This" for the week is from Dr. Edward Welch, author of What Do You Think About Me? Why Do I Care? The word repent means to turn in a different direction. When you turn away from sin, God is right there waiting for you.

The boundary line between you and God is only one step.

That's because He is always pursuing you, hemming you in, so that no matter which direction you turn to find Him, you always will.

Monday, Bekah and I open the phones to chat with you about any number of things. Check out the list on the Mid-Morning schedule page, and then call, e-mail or Facebook us beginning at 10:00 a.m. Everyone who calls gets one of our new Mid-Morning coffee sleeves.

Happy weekend!

 

 

What a Week!

It’s been quite a week.

Monday’s blog show has climbed to more than 1,000 listens, a new record for Mid-Morning shows on the archive. I thought I’d grasped the concept of a blog, but after co-interviewing our five bloggers, I now realize the real reason for blogging had totally escaped me. People blog to connect, plain and simple. We want to share ourselves, our ideas, our pain, our lives with others…to help them and to help ourselves. That reality now sits in the back of my mind as I continue my own blogging journey.

As you listened to SHARE Wrap-it-Up on Tuesday and Wednesday, were you swept up in the supernatural movement of God? We were, and I believe that our listening family was too. The WBCL staff watched the phones ignite, heard the stories of God’s special graces poured into lives through WBCL, and felt your heartfelt desire for us to reach the goal – and we did. We are grateful for God’s gifts, but love Him more than any good things He gives us.

As you can see, we didn’t tidy up immediately after Wrap-it-Up. That didn’t happen until Thursday. Sort of like what happens when you have a party at your own home.

Thursday, Jennifer Rothschild told a very funny story about her singing the national anthem at an Atlanta Braves game. I love this woman who is totally without pretense. Bekah and I will be at Jennifer’s “Fresh Grounded Faith” conference in Lima, March 30 and 31. Last year’s event included an incredible holy-healing moment. During the Q & A, Jennifer read aloud a question from a woman in the audience who’d had an abortion many years before. While she’d asked God for His forgiveness – over and over again – she’d never felt the freedom of forgiveness. This tortured woman wanted to know what she could do to finally receive God’s absolution. Jennifer spoke truth from God’s Word from I John and Romans: If we confess our sins, God forgives, plain and simple. And for God’s children, there is no condemnation, not anymore. Christ’s blood has made us clean. Then she told the woman (who submitted the question anonymously and was sitting somewhere in the audience), that on this day the old lie that has been playing in her head for years was going to be erased and replaced with the truth. Jennifer had all 1000+ women say in unison, “Daughter, your sins are forgiven!” It was powerful. If you only attend one women’s event in 2012, Jennifer Rothschild’s “Fresh Grounded Faith” Conference – with special guest Kathy Troccoli – is a fantastic choice.

Life can hum along in 4^th gear, which doesn’t leave much time for personal reflection about anything. Friday’s “Bucket, Leap and Livin’ List” show forced me to consider things I want to do before I die, in my current season of life, and in the immediate future. I’m grateful that what began as show preparation, ended up as an impetus for making some definite plans.

The books are sorted and ready to go for Monday’s “Spring Book Giveaway.” Check out the complete list, choose two or three favorites (you can only win one but it’s good to have back-ups in case your first choice is gone), and call in starting at 10:00.

Want to be jaw-droppingly amazed? Watch the Discovery Channel’s newest special “Frozen Planet.” I saw the producer and cinematographer interviewed on The Today Show this week, and was undone by the exhilarating glory of God’s creation. It airs Sunday night on The Discovery Channel.

Happy weekend!

The Week That Was

Ten books. That’s what we featured on this week’s Mid-Mornings. Three were children’s books and the rest covered a divergent group of topics, which is what (I think) makes Mid-Morning so appealing.

On Monday’s “Author! Author!” Robert J. Morgan, author of Then Sings My Soul, called hymns “little portable units of praise,” I treasure their power to lastingly imprint God-truths on my soul.

Come Thou Fount captures the pull to have my own way and my plea for God to mark me with His Spirit until I’m Home:

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Guide Me, O, Thou Great Jehovah, by its very title, paints a picture of an all-powerful God, whose muscular arm protects, defends, and provides spiritual food for His children. The last two lines are an ardent request and a praise!

Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land. 
I am weak, but thou art mighty;
Hold me with thy powerful hand. 
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven,
Feed me 'til I want no more;
Feed me 'til I want no more.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty never ceases to amaze me with its two-sentence explanation of God's will.

Praise to the Lord
Who o'er all things so wonderfully reigneth
Shelters thee under His wings
Yea, so gladly sustaineth
Hast thou not seen how thy desires e'er have been
Granted in what He ordaineth

My husband rarely forwards anything You Tube-ish to me, so when he sent me Wintley Phipps explanation of The Black Keys, I knew it would be worth watching. Trust me, it is.




Tuesday, Zonya Foco, the energizer bunny of nutrition, shared her cold oatmeal recipe, which she promises is delicious. It’s kid- and adult-tested (her 12-year-old son, his sleepover friends, and Zonya’s overnight guests gobble it up). I’ve never met an oatmeal that didn’t trigger my gag reflex, but I’m thinking about giving Zonya’s a try.

Did you catch Wednesday’s show with Dr. John Townsend? The good doctor suggested we do a little role playing. Role playing! Was he crazy? My initial thought was to pull the “I’m-the-host-and-I-don’t-role-play” card. My palms were a sweaty mess. My heart was pumping so hard even my always-cold feet were getting blood. I had to remind myself to breathe slowly so I wouldn’t hyperventilate. But then I did something counterintuitive: I kicked fear to the curb and said, “Yes!” The out-of-my-comfort-zone moment was yet another chance to act on what I know is true: God has given me the call to host Mid-Morning and has/is/will supply what I need to do the job – including ideas for a spontaneous interplay. Who knew my prayer before going on the air that morning, a prayer that included declaring to God, I am ever mindful of the Lord’s presence. He is at my right hand. I shall never be shaken, and I can do all things through God Who gives me strength, would actually be answered that hour?

The One Who knows everything.

If I ruled the world, every current and future mother- and daughter-in-law would be required to read
Why Her? by Becky Hunter and her three daughters-in-law. Thursday’s Mid-Morning was a gentle yet unwavering spotlight aimed at the heart, and the ugly things that can prevent mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law from loving, serving and celebrating each other and the man they both love: her son and his wife.

Check out their blog for more advice. In the meantime, enjoy a few memorable quotes from their book.

"When our sons marry, we should transition from hands-on to “hands up” and celebrate that God loves to meet their needs.”

"Tradition all too easily can switch from being an historical aspect of a family to being the hysterical requirement of a family. When it comes right down to it, you are going to have to decide if the traditions you cherish matter more to you than to the very family that they were meant to strengthen.”

"Is your desire to be a blessing greater than your need to be blessed?”

Who isn’t a bit nervous or uncertain when it comes to sharing Christ with a family member or close friend? Friday’s guest, Randy Newman, author of Bringing the Gospel Home, put things in their right perspective with this gentle, essential reminder: “…the process of witnessing to family needs to begin in our hearts. For us to have fruitful outreach to our family, we need a wellspring of grace flowing from within.”

Ruth Graham (wife of Billy) knew a thing or two about witnessing to family member and learned to stop worrying once she figured out what was her part and what was God’s part in saving those she loved (taken from Prodigals and Those Who Love Them).

My Part (the possible):

Express love
To pray intelligently, logically, urgently, without ceasing, in faith
Enjoy being a mother (father, sister, brother, grandmother…)

God’s Part (the impossible):

Conviction of sin
Creating a hunger and thirst for righteousness
Conversion
Bringing to the place of total commitment
Continually filling us with His Holy Spirit for our sanctification and His service

Thanks, Ruth, for putting things in perspective.

The week-end is beckoning. It’s always nice to kick it off with a good laugh. This should do it.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/U5Bo5xAOXrk"