Wednesday, May 16, 2007

It's All About MeMeMe Today

I want to thank you all for your wonderful, touching comments to me and to Kevin about this latest, most intense chapter in our journey to deliverance. Someone mentioned not knowing how I survived this time. I believe it was a combination of several things:

1. Ignorance - in the very beginning, we didn't know.
2. Denial - we couldn't believe it was really happening, and still didn't really know. There's a lot of hiding and lying and manipulation going on in this kind of situation.
3. HOPE - I remember the day that hope entered the picture. I don't remember when or why - maybe it was during a sermon or a Sunday School lesson, or a devotional time, but I remember that it arrived. HOPE is a wonderful thing. It was the only thing for quite awhile. Job talks a lot about HOPE - what better role model would we have for hanging onto HOPE??

HOPE is defined in the Random House College Dictionary as "the feeling that what is desired is also possible, or that events may turn out for the best." We were at the point of HOPE AGAINST HOPE, which is defined as "to continue to hope, although the situation does not warrant it." There's not much faith in that last definition, but that was the other piece of the puzzle:

4. Faith. What would we do without faith? Faith that God hears. Faith that God cares. Faith that we haven't been forgotten. Faith that He understands what we need and how we feel. Faith that He can work the miracle we needed to see.

So many people have been playing tag this week that it reminds me of elementary school recess! I have been tagged by c.h. green at Beneath the Ivy Wreath for 8 random facts about myself, and by Kim at Can You Hear Me Now? for 7. Since I could not possibly come up with 15 interesting things about myself, I am opting for 8, which will cover both. Now if I can only think of 8! I feel like I've shared so much already in the past 11 months that I will be repeating myself. So be it. Here goes:

1. I type in my head when I am thinking, or reading, or someone is talking to me. It's annoying, it slows my reading speed, but it sure keeps my typing speed up! I also add and subtract in my head - such as adding the numbers on license plates ahead of me at a stop light or sign - after I have typed them! When I was in college, the typing was getting in the way of my studying, because it was slowing down my reading. I went to a speed reading specialist on campus, who was also a psychologist. When I told him about my problem with typing while I read, he asked me to become his secretary. The irony of that situation blew me away!

2. When I was in second grade in Arkansas, the first cool morning of fall, I came into the kitchen to tell my mom something and automatically sat on the space heater we had been using as a chair all summer. OUCH!!

3. I'll never forget that it was that same week of the burned legs that Mom and Dad told me they had bought me a piano so that I could begin lessons. I was so excited that it helped ease the pain of the burns.

4. I began playing the piano for church at age 8, with my legs swinging from the bench. My dad gave the piano teacher the songs for Sunday and they were part of my lesson. She got me a little offertory book for little fingers.

5. I have double jointed toes, which partially explains my very large shoe size. It also explains the problems I have finding comfortable shoes. It also explains why I didn't wear sandals until I got to the point in my life that I didn't care who saw my ugly toes.

6. I'm the oldest of five and have the least gray hair. That really irritates my younger siblings.

7. I met Richard Nixon when I was in high school, and still plan to write about that experience one of these days.

8. I read while I walk and while I exercise at the gym. I have scars from several falls, and mended bones, but none of those falls has happened while I was walking. Go figure!

Now that I'm finished, I will probably think of many more interesting and/or weird things than the ones I listed.

As I said above, there's been so much tag being played recently that I doubt there's anyone left to be "it", so I'll just call it good.

Part 9 coming soon, I hope, since Kev will be gone for 2 weeks - one week on a work trip for the university in West Virginia, and one for an actual well-deserved, much-needed vacation with his wife - the first in a very long time.


19 comments:

Looney Mom™ said...

Praise God for His faithfulness and giving us strength to endure these trials with our children. It does remind me of how we behave.

Oooohhh... OUCH on sitting on the heater for sure! Poor thing.

Linda said...

Hi Dawn!! You did a great job with the meme. I'm jealous of the gray hair thing too. I started to gray in my early thirties. I've been fighting it ever since.
I understand what you've said about making it through that time. I really believe that when we are going through those times God gives us grace. It is all those things you wrote about and His grace.
We are still walking through those things. One of these days I'll write to you about it all.
Have a blessed day.

Linda said...

Oh - and I meant to tell you how much I admire your musical gift. I can just picture you as a little girl playing for church. It is just amazing. I am struggling to make just a bit of progress with my piano lessons. I suppose it's just my old age :)(that and the fact that I am not gifted as you surely are).

Susie said...

I envy your non graying hair as well. After coloring mine for twenty years, I gave in to the gray.
Now how on earth do you see where you're going when you read and walk at the same time?
Inquiring minds (that also walk daily) want to know!!!
xo

Diane@Diane's Place said...

I'm a compulsive reader, too. I can't just sit and do nothing. Even if I'm just eating a bowl of cereal, I have to read the box. Even if I've already read it so often I have it memorized. I often reread the same book 2 or 3 times in a year.

I can sing almost anything and always wanted to play the piano, but it never came to pass. Jessica is self-taught and does a great job, though.

I just came from visiting Jessica and Emmy. My heart is just overflowing! This grandma stuff is great! ;D

someone else said...

I've never heard of double jointed toes! I've seen double jointed thumbs, though.

Barb said...

Oh I'm so glad Kevin and Sema are getting away for a vacation. What with the dental and physical issues, they had kind of a rough time this winter.

Your toes are too funny. My whole family makes fun of my feet. It's not my toes. It's my toenails. I think I could hang from trees. LOL

I'm so proud of myself. I've tested Cameron's blood twice and given him two insulin shots so far today. He's so good about it, it makes it easier for me but my heart still races a little. He and I are both going to be old pros at this whole diabetes thing before you know it!

Nancy said...

A very neat meme... I loved finding out more about you. I do that typing thing in my head too, it drives me crazy. Do you play the piano in your head, when you are singing words to a song if the music is in front of you? You are a talented lady!

Carole Burant said...

Wow, are you weird! hehe Just teasing you! xox Loved reading those 8 facts about you...I remember reading while stirring a pot while cooking but never while walking! lol I look forward to hearing about you meeting Richard Nixon!! xoxo

Linds said...

My Mum is 81 and has hardly got a grey hair. Me???? Hah! Plenty. That is why I like highlights! What an interesting list, Dawn.
I am really looking forward to the next part of your story.

Rita Loca said...

I read the last installment. Crying.
I am curious , what denomination are you? I might can fill you in on your missionaries. So far, only those of us in the jungle have had our Visas denied.

BehavenPaPa said...

Interesting meme - well done!
Not to many preach on HOPE. Many people will tell others not to get their HOPE up. Well HOPE is vital in our walk of Faith. Heb 11.1 describes that Faith has to have something to go into and that is where HOPE comes into play. I like to look at HOPE as the blueprint or the mould that Faith being the "Substance" is put into. Without HOPE their is no mould to hold the Faith. The 3rd ingredient VItal is LOVE. The motive has to be LOVE. So all three need wach other to be fruitful. FAITH - HOPE - LOVE
Blessings

kpjara said...

I love your random things! I do that typing thing too...all the time, even as I'm thinking in bed and trying to go to sleep. THankfully I type pretty quickly so it doesn't slow me down too much. It does tend to slow down my conversations because I'm typing them and it makes it hard to enjoy some fast songs, because I'm typing away. I even backspace over errors!

I so wish I could play the piano. What a good idea to have the teacher guide you through Sunday Hymns!

Now I've got to go read part 9. I'll try to hold the tears in check.

Sue Seibert said...

Sitting on the heater...reminds me of falling on the floor furnace...trouble is, I was running for my daddy because I had misbehaved (nothing unusual in that for me) and he intended a spanking...which I got anyway. But I still have the scar on my hand!

Have a good rest of the week, Dawn. Oh, I hope you write about Nixon soon!

groovyoldlady said...

God is so good. Just last week my husband looked at me with tears in his eyes and said (of our son), "I feel completely hopeless. He's a fool and he's never going to change!"

Then, that evening, he did his usual Bible time with our girlies before bed. The Scripture? 1 Corinthians 13. The part that grabbed him?

"Love never gives up,
never loses faith,
is always hopeful,
and endures through every circumstance."

He's been a different man/Dad ever since!

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing so much about yourself with us.
I'm in awe that you can read while walking and exercising!

Rita Loca said...

I have some dear Nazerene friends here. They run a camp we often use. They are in the states right now. As far as I know, the Nazarene missionaries are fine as they had no works among the tribes.

Tammy said...

Great job with the random things!
I would love to hear about your meeting Nixon..wow. And I am so impressed that you played the piano for church at such a young age. I can just picture you- the same age as one of my girls now- swinging your legs on the bench...such a sweet image!

To answer your question about when I had mentioned that my Sis in law married into the Egyptian family, I only touched on that towards the end of Part 1. And really, I only touched on it again in Part 2, since I still know so little about them and haven't yet gotten to know any of them personally...
The wedding and even most of the reception was very American, but the food, the shawl she wore to keep warm outside, and some of the music played was Egyptian...which was kind of a neat exposure for most of us! :)

Diane Viere said...

WOW! You bring a new light to "multitasking!"

I love getting to know you better via this meme! Thanks for sharing.

Diane