Archives for June 2009

Face to Face…with T. Suzanne Eller and a Girl Named Flea

June 10, 2009 by 10 Comments

Who would think that when I started visiting and interacting on the Boomer Babes Rock blog (which is no longer operating) that I might one day meet one of the blogger/authors and a fellow commenter? Well, last night it happened!

Author, speaker, and columnist T. Suzanne Eller (known by friends as Suzie) stood side by side with two of the gals she’s become acquainted with online — me and Flea! That’s right — Flea! :)

And what brought the three of us together? My writers group, Fellowship of Christian Writers, celebrated its 30th anniversary Tuesday night, and Suzie, one of its past presidents, was our special speaker. We considered ourselves lucky, as she regularly teaches at writers conferences nationwide and is the author of six books and over 700 articles. Flea, a member of another writers group, attended ours last night especially to meet Suzie. Meeting me was a bonus :) We had more or less lost track of each other when the Boomer Babes site shut down.

Suzie, Flea, and I had more than writing on our minds yesterday evening, though. We were busy celebrating our friendship. Getting to see each other face to face thrilled each of us, and we took advantage of the time by sitting together at supper, taking some photos (thanks for the pics, Flea!), and grabbing hugs before we headed off to our own corners of the world again.

In one short evening, what had been friendly online relationships turned into real people, in-the-flesh friendships. I’ve experienced this a couple of other times with Renae and Cec as well, and no matter how you look at it, it’s good stuff :)

Are you longing for a face to face with someone? I hope to meet many of you other online friends someday, but the real face to face I’m longing for is the one with Jesus, my Savior and friend of over 45 years.

Now, I’m not trying to hurry my time on earth. I’m just looking forward to the day when my faith will be made sight, when I will see Him face to face. I’m looking forward to heaven. Anyone else?

“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12

Filed Under: blessing, blogs, fellowship, Friend, heaven, writing

Summer Season — A Change of Pace

June 7, 2009 by 9 Comments

Ah, June! Don’t want to let too much of the month get away without celebrating the start of the summer season. With one week already behind us, I can’t resist mentioning one of my favorite summer song titles. Sing it with me now! C’mon, just the title — June Is Bustin’ Out All Over! Now, didn’t that feel good? :)

I don’t know about you all, but June has certainly been bustin’ out all over around here. We attended a beautiful June wedding yesterday (congrats to Blaire and Andy!), kids are out of school and keeping the local pool in business, ball parks are beehives, our church sent a group on a mission trip last week, and our own grown-up kids have already enjoyed mini-summer adventures. Yes, June is in full swing.

Other signs of June in our family include birthdays for Kristin and Shawn and summer school for Don. Birthdays equal fun, but summer school? Not so much.

Poor Don. He teaches two 5-hr. lab courses during the month of June. For those of you not familiar with college lab classes, that means he’s in the classroom the entire day and must do all his clean-up and prep for the next day before he comes home at night. This past week, he didn’t get home on Monday and Tuesday until around 9. Thursday night was the earliest at 7, but he didn’t roll in until after midnight on Wednesday and Friday nights. Crazy ridiculous, huh?

If Don can just make it through his marathon month of June, come July he’ll be rewarded with a serious change of pace. Oh, he’ll have at least a week’s worth of work just to get his office back into some semblance of order and then will need another week to prepare for the fall semester starting in mid-August, but at least the pace can be more relaxed. We’re even planning a week’s vacation — knock on wood! Certainly don’t want to jinx it by saying it out loud :)

The summer season holds a lot, doesn’t it? Not only celebrations and all manner of recreation, but work and lots of it — whether the 9 to 5, work around the house, or volunteer responsibilities. In the midst of all the “stuff” crammed into the disappear-if-you-blink days of summer, we would be wise to schedule some time for rest as well.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 in the Word of God tells us, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” Well, the summer season is upon us, with all its work and fun. How about carving out a season of rest within its days, too? Then, even if we can’t say it in June, we’ll be able to say at some point, “Ahhh, summer…”

**Just for fun, tell me what you most enjoy about summer or something you’re looking forward to doing this summer season!

Flickr photo by Sophia Brightsea

Filed Under: family, rest, signs, summer

Tweet, Tweet…

June 3, 2009 by 11 Comments

Birds are not the only ones tweeting nowadays. Twitter lovers tweet several times a day, sometimes several times an hour. It’s the newest craze in social media — unless something else has popped up that I’m not clued into yet. By the way, that’s totally possible :)

I’m not going to try to explain twitter because I’m not a tweeter yet. I haven’t even investigated it beyond looking up the site to provide the link above. That may have to change one day, though, since writers are being strongly encouraged to network and stay up-to-date on industry news through twittering and tweeting, but for now I’ve decided to stay Twitter-free. (In fact, the Twitter debate has been the topic of conversation the past few days on The Christian Writers View 2.)

Why Twitter-free? I’m not sure I could keep up with it right now — my own tweets plus scanning everyone else’s. And since I’m technologically challenged :), it would be just one more thing for me to try to figure out. Also, I can sometimes get so sidetracked by the things I’m doing to try to have a web presence that it interferes with actual writing time. So for now, I’ve decided to hold off on Twitter. My blogging along with Facebook will have to suffice.

I realize I may have to succumb someday, but until then, I’ll be getting my tweets the old-fashioned way. Birds! That’s right — birds. I love poking my head out the door each morning to listen to them sing. It’s pure music for the soul.

If you haven’t discovered the joy of listening daily to the songs of the birds and other sounds of the morning, I challenge you to give it a try. It takes no longer than 30 seconds — 60 if you really indulge. The beauty and refreshment God has provided right outside the doors of our own homes can minister to our souls if we’ll only take the time to drink them in.

So let’s step away from the computer and put our cell phones away. Let’s not miss the best tweets of all!

“Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary…” Psalm 150:1a

Flickr photo by me’nthedogs

Filed Under: joy, nature, new thing, writing
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