Women of Faith

It's hard to believe it's been two weeks already since I spent the week-end with 10,000 sisters at the Women of Faith conference. It's taken me this long to process it and be ready to write. I wish I had a DVD of the whole event, so I could listen again to all the amazing speaking and singing.

My first experience with WOF was when Kristen had been home from her anorexia treatment for a few months. Remuda Ranch sent us complimentary tickets - I realized when we were there this time that it must have been one of the first years (about 15 years ago) that WOF was in existence. We had lousy seats, way up in the nose bleed section, but I remember going home saying I was on "inspiration overload."

I have been privileged to go several more times, sometimes with Kristen and/or Angie, once with baby Olivia. This year we had a large group, and we were there all day Friday and Saturday. We had a great time at P.F. Chang's in downtown Denver on Friday night. Good food and fellowship.

I was sad to learn that two of my favorites were not going to be there - Luci Swindoll and Sheila Walsh. I couldn't imagine how it could be as good as usual without them. The WOF staff has grown a lot since they began, and now they take turns so not everyone has to travel every week-end. I learned that they will be here next year.

Patsy Clairmont is a tiny little lady who has been on the circuit for years - she was agoraphobic, healed by God, and now speaking to tens of thousands of women each year. She has the uncanny ability to take a minute daily happening in her life and turn it into a life lesson. She has you laughing one minute and crying the next. I love Patsy.



Marilyn Meberg is brilliant and sophisticated. Her background is in teaching English and more recently as a counselor. She always leaves us with some humor and great things to think about.




Lisa Welchel was Blair on the sitcom, "Facts of Life" back in the 80s. I didn't really watch this show, but Kristen did. I probably wouldn't have watched it if it was in my age bracket, but that's neither here nor there. I think Lisa was on her first year of speaking two years ago when I heard her for the first time. I have to say she has matured in her communication and content since then. And her hair is much longer now. Believe it or not, she's at the empty nest stage of her life.




Brenda Warner - does that name ring a bell? Her husband is Kurt Warner, who was named MVP in the Super Bowl a few years ago. When his team made it to the Super Bowl, his story was front page and first story news - he was the ultimate "rags to riches" story, with a testimony of God's grace and care. Brenda says her only claim to fame is being able to do the splits at age 45 - which she demonstrated there on the stage - and it made me hurt to watch her! But her firstborn child is now 22 - a special needs son who was rendered blind and deaf when his birth father dropped him when he was an infant. Kurt has been an amazing dad to him and her other children.



Karen Kingsbury - I'm sure many of you have read her books. I haven't, but I may now. She also had a great message for us - and she read us her latest children's book, about "last things" we do with our kids (and others) that we have no idea are the "lasts." It was a tear jerker - I need to buy it.


It's highly unusual to think of a man speaking at a huge women's gathering, but Andy Andrews fit right in - what a character. He realizes in his adulthood that he was most likely ADHD as a kid - and he still is, probably. He begins his message as he paces across the stage, up and down the stairs - rather nerve-wracking at first. But when he settles in, his words are powerful. He was orphaned at age 19, and for some reason ended up homeless, sleeping under a boardwalk, and in garages. But God mightily uses him and his story is astounding. And he is so very entertaining as well.



The music - oh, my, the music. You know me and music. Sometimes, in other years, I didn't enjoy the music as much as this year. But the worship team chose such great songs this year for all of us to sing together. My favorite moment of all was when all 10,000 of us sang "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" with only minimal keyboard accompaniment.



Amy Grant was there - she is just as beautiful as ever, and seems to not have aged since I first knew who she was. I'll never forget taking Kristen and her best friend from high school to Denver for her concert at Fiddler's Green, an outdoor venue. We got a room in a nice hotel, and the plan was for the two of them to drive to the concert while I waited in the hotel. I didn't realize what a nail-biting experience that would be. It poured rain that afternoon,and we didn't know if the concert would even happen. But we headed over to the amphitheater to check out where they should park, etc. The weather miraculously cleared up, the sun came out, and I remember watching the girls from the 5th floor of the hotel, driving off for their adventure - in my car. I relaxed until 10, when I thought they should be back. It was after 11 before they arrived, and I was a wreck by then. Seems as though they forgot where they parked, after all. Oh, my heart.




Mandisa - remember her? I was watching "American Idol" the fifth season, when she was a contestant. She made it to the final 10, but was eliminated not long after that. But she made her mark. I remember how nasty Simon Cowell was to her, and found this in her biography on Wikipedia:

"Idol judge Simon Cowell made several comments about Mandisa's weight after her successful audition. He first quipped are we 'going to have a bigger stage this year'. Then, when Paula Abdul commented that Mandisa had a 'Frenchie' growl to her voice, Cowell responded that a more apt comparison would be to France itself. These were among comments that . . . would be one of the reasons Mandisa would entitle her 2007 album True Beauty.

When Mandisa presented herself to the judges prior to the final cut-down to the season's 24 semi-finalists, she told Cowell: 'What I want to say to you is that, yes, you hurt me and I cried and it was painful, it really was. But I want you to know that I've forgiven you and that you don't need someone to apologize in order to forgive somebody. I figure that if Jesus could die so that all of my wrongs could be forgiven, I can certainly extend that same grace to you.' Cowell told Mandisa that he was 'humbled' and apologized to her immediately." I remember that moment and wonder if Simon ever thinks about it.

Mandisa is beautiful, has lost a lot of her weight, and has a great life going for her.

Sandi Patty - there is no voice like hers in Christian music. She's 55 and has not lost any of her power. She's been through a lot, and has written a book that I am anxious to read. I missed some of her words that day because I had a phone call come in at that moment that I needed to take. She has also come back from morbid obesity.

Sandi was one of several young artists given their first public exposure as back-up singers for the Bill Gaither trio. I remember well the night we went to a Gaither concert in Denver when there were two young singers in the back-up group, who were given a chance to sing a duet - Sandi Patty and Steve Green singing "Oh How I Love Him, How I Adore Him" - I get the chills just thinking of the magnificence of that soprano/tenor duet. They got a standing ovation and Bill remarked (as I'm sure he did every night), "I'm not going to let them sing again!" Larnell Harris was another one of those young up-and-comers Bill gave his start.

My second favorite musical moment was when Sandi sang and signed "We Shall Behold Him." Chillingly beautiful.

While I was gone, Dwight had the kids much of the time because of Kristen's work schedule. He got them to bed both nights, took them to McDonald's for breakfast on Saturday, and they were at Wendy's eating dinner when I got back into town. They spent Saturday "camping" - not overnight, but experiencing the tent and cooking outside thing. What a great grandpa he is!

I'm off to try to visit my good friends - I have had barely two hours to myself this week, and I'm up late tonight trying to catch up. See you soon!

Water, Hair, and Autumn Fun

I'm quite sure I blogged this story almost 5 years when it happened - when Livi was about the age the twins are now. I came into the living room to find a pile of pretty blonde hair behind the big chair. Hayley did her thing on Livi's beautiful hair.




It took a long long time for the hair to grow back to any kind of length, by the time all of the pieces were evened out.

Take a good look --

Last night at the dinner table, Dwight had the strangest look on his face. When I zeroed in on what he was staring at, I saw this --



I asked her where her missing hair was, and Emma led me right to the study/playroom closet floor. Later, Katie took credit for the new 'do. When we went to the hair salon, Emma asked Katie as we were going in the door, "Are you going to get your hair fixed, too?" Katie answered, "My hair isn't broken!" As it turned out, she ended up getting hers to match her sissy's. I think they look adorable, and not one bit like a boy (which Grandpa said they do!)




A few weeks ago I wrote a post called When a Lake Isn't a Lake. I told you I'd be back to update you when the beauty came back. If you want the whole story, feel free to go back and see what it looked like when the crops over by Greeley needed the water more than we needed the beauty - and/or the geese, ducks, and pelicans needed a place to paddle around instead of hanging out on sand bars. It's back! Not as high as it was this summer, but beautifully sparkling in the autumn sun, and reflecting the autumn leaves.








On the way home from school today, after I took the pictures of the re-filled lake, we decided to spend a few minutes at the park. I told the girls that I would like to sit in the shade and read while they entertained each other. They had a great time.

Hayley was chillin out in the great new swings.



Livi was a great helper, swinging Katie. For some reason, Emma decided to be afraid of the swings - strange after all these months of loving to swing very high.







Emma finally warmed up to the swing, as long as she was snuggling with Hayley.




The slide kept them going for quite awhile - and I managed to get them to pose.

I have much I want to share about Women of Faith last week-end, but it is hard to put the feelings into words.

The Fifties/Sixties

Today is my birthday, and I am now 64 years old. Hardly seems possible, but I look at the jowls and realize it is so. I was born in 1947, and was just 3 at the advent of the Fifties. But I love the Fifties. I love the music especially. I happened upon a 50s special on PBS recently and enjoyed every minute (thankful that I could fast forward through the pleas for money - it was PBS, you know, and a fund raiser). I loved watching the audience shots of gray haired folks (or those who had colored away the gray), clapping, singing along, and even wiping a tear or two as memories washed over them.

There is such an innocence to the music of the 50s, at least that which has endured. Pat Boone and one of the McGuire Sisters hosted the evening. Pat never sang, which disappointed me. But the McGuires did - they look terrific and sound fabulous. All of the groups and solos were fantastic - their voices have stood the test of time in an amazing way. They looked wonderful, too. (I'm thinking nobody in this generation is going to be singing 60 years from now - their voices will be destroyed before they're 40 at the rate they're screaming!) I was amused at all the "Four" groups - The Four Aces, The Four Seasons, The Four Coins, and The Four Tops, to name a few.



I was only 13 when 1960 hit, but obviously the 50s music was still around, because I know so much of it by memory. And so much of it is timeless. The harmony is chillingly beautiful. The other day I was eating at Taco Bell - they've been playing 50s music the last few times I've been there - I don't know how their younger customers feel about it, but as I was bopping to my table, singing "Johnny Angel" along with Shelley Fabares, I caught the eyes of the 4 similarly-aged ladies at the next table. We had a great conversation about our faves of the 50s.

As I got older and closer to driving age, I decided I wanted one of these - I never got one, but I still love seeing them in their restored state on occasion.


Recently I discovered a couple of really retro t.v. stations and have been enjoying "Highway Patrol" and "Father Knows Best." I especially love it when the female criminal, which there seems to always be, runs from the law with 3 inch pointed toe heels on "Highway Patrol." (It's amazing how huge the steering wheels were in those 50s cars!) I enjoy the wisdom of the father who knows best - and the fact that the mom actually dresses in pants and a sweatshirt when she's doing serious housework. But when she goes anywhere out of the house, she wears a hat and gloves - usually with a veil covering her eyes, down to her nose - I don't know how they stood it. I tried to find out a bit about why we wore those white gloves back in those days - I can remember washing mine as if I were washing my hands, because they got dirty so quickly. Remember the little stretchy lace ones?






When I went to college, "Dawn Go Away, I'm No Good For You" was popular - it was 1965, but the song was still around, apparently, because the guys would all sing "Dawn, go away, you're no good for me!" Nice!

But not everything in the 50s was rosy. I lived in Arkansas from ages 5-10. I didn't know it then, but learned later that our sweet little Mayberry-esque town didn't allow a black truck driver to spend the night - he had to drive on through and find lodging elsewhere. My dad just told me a story last night that I never heard before. Dad was a bivocational pastor who worked at a grocery store (Piggly Wiggly, don't you love it?) There was a black man who delivered product to this store, but of course hurried out of town. One day Dad could tell he was uncomfortable, and deduced that he needed a rest room. Dad realized there were no facilities for him at the store, so he asked the man to come to our house to relieve himself. The black man was amazed and grateful, but laid down in the back seat of the car all the way to our house and back to his truck at the store. Dad asked him to come up and sit with him in the front seat, but he said he was hiding to protect Dad more than himself. So sad.

I have a strong memory of the integration issue in Little Rock in 1957, when I was 10 years old - in fact, when I was doing some research yesterday, to my amazement I discovered that it was on my 10th birthday (54 years ago today) that Central High School was integrated with the Little Rock Nine. The National Guard was called because Governor Faubus did not want to follow the new national law. But in my mind's eye, I see one lone girl climbing the tall steps to the school - maybe I'm mixing that up with a movie I've seen in later years.

The book The Help has brought up a lot of emotions that led to some of these memories. It was a time in our history that we cannot be proud of. But I hope it is used as a learning tool. We've come a long ways, but we still have a long ways to go.

In other related news, I graduated from high school in 1965. We're all going to be turning 65 in the next year. There were about 15 of us girls who had frequent slumber parties in those days of high school. We've decided to have an updated slumber party next September called "The Class of 65 Turns 65." Interestingly, when 3 of us got together recently, we did some figuring and discovered that each of us will be paying $65 for our rooms. It was meant to be! I'll be one of two (the other being my best friend and co/editor of the school newspaper) who won't be 65 yet that week-end, but soon thereafter.

Catching up With Random Stuff

The summer flew by. There weren't many posts here by me. Thanks to those of you who keep checking in with me and commenting. It seems like we've lost so many bloggers, and it's sad. I can't come up with many posts these days, it seems, but I refuse to quit entirely - I would miss you all too much.

So it's time to catch up a bit - where did the last three months go? They went very very fast, with the 4 girls here quite a bit of the time. Besides camp and the family reunion, Hayley had a great get-away with her Girl Scout troop, in the Colorado Springs area. I really like the posing of this picture in the Garden of the Gods.

They also visited Cave of the Winds.

Both Hayley and Livi got the teachers they hoped for. Livi's is the same wonderful teacher Hayley had in second grade. We're thankful for this blessing. I didn't make it over to their house on the first day of school for the traditional picture with their new outfits. That's a first for me. We'll have their school pictures soon - everything hit the ground running once school started.

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A bit of catch-up on the twinnies:

They are absolutely so wonderful - except when they're not. They do have their moments - usually about 30 moments when they get going. But they are growing up so much - they just got "kicked out" of the church nursery on Wednesday nights now, because they're too old. It seems to be going well for them. At least they still get to see their favorite "Sandy" on Tuesday mornings during a new Bible study I've joined. They get to play in the gym day care when I have them, and they enjoy that too. My greatest fun is listening to them as they play and don't know I'm listening. They have such great imaginations, and it is so great to have a built-in always playmate.

Potty training - the bane of our existence. They are way old, IMHO, to be this far behind on this process. But they are stubborn little characters. We got so excited a couple of weeks ago when Emma took it upon herself to go several times a day for several days. She was so proud and so excited. Katie would have no part of it. And so Emma quit, too. They love wearing their cute little unders, and don't wet or dirty them all day, which is not a good thing either. What to do? What to do??

Growing up is such an adventure - and watching them learn is such fun. They want to do everything by themselves, which is a very good thing - but it takes so much longer. They've mastered the art of buckling their car seat belts - but it's quite the laborious process. For some reason, the door isn't allowed to close until they are finished. Shoes and socks - grueling, but such a big step.

They were evaluated for preschool and qualified, but unfortunately they are on a long waiting list. This is paid for by the school district because of their financial situation, but it doesn't do much good when there are too many others in the same boat and they can't get in. I was looking forward to a couple of mornings of freedom each week, but we're keeping busy and doing what we have to do.

A couple of funny things - suddenly Emma has begun calling us Grandmaw and Grandpaw instead of Gramma and Grampa. It is so cute. Last night they were staying here, as they often do. I couldn't remember which twin had which pair of jammies on, so I said, "Are you Emma or Katie?" Katie answers, with a twinkle in her eye, "Emma!" Little monkey - pulling fast ones on me already.

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Last Sunday Grandpa Dwight took the girls up to Rocky Mountain National Park in the afternoon. They had the greatest time, and Grandpa is so happy to have new hiking partners for years to come. The promise was for an all day camping trip (not overnight, but involving tents and cook-outs) today (Saturday), but the weather didn't look very promising up there this morning, so they headed to Denver instead. The twins have talked about "going to the mountains" all week, so I hope they aren't disappointed with a more urban adventure.

They stopped in Estes Park on the way down the hill to have a cone at a shop named "Hayley's"




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The other night when they were here, Grandpa played human basketball goal - and Hayley had just scored.




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My sis and I had a great Girls Night Out last Thursday - we were privileged to spend the evening listening to one of our favorite novelists - Laura Lippman. She was a fun speaker, and it was interesting to hear the journey her writing has taken her on. Speaking of books, have you read The Help? I have to say, I RARELY watch a movie based on a book, because it frustrates me so much how they mess with the plot, but this is one movie that didn't ruin the book. Well done.

If you've made it this far, thanks for hanging in there with me on this very long, rambling essay! Have a great week!

The Swanson Gang Minus 15

It was over a month ago already that we gathered in the southern part of Colorado, at our church's campground in the mountains above Colorado Springs. We've looked forward to and planned (well, my sister did most of the planning) for over a year. There are 55 of us now, but 15 were unable to make it. We gathered with 22 adults and 18 kiddoes from age 10 months to 10 years. We came from all over the world - some of us were privileged to just hop in our cars and drive three hours down Interstate 25 to the turn-off to camp. We had others from Idaho; Washington; London and Manchester, England; and Peru. We missed those from Oklahoma, some more from Idaho, from Maine, and those in the Army in Georgia and possibly South Carolina at that time (I can't keep up with their training schedule!)




We were privileged to have this beautiful chalet with 10 bedrooms and two kitchens. This campground is one of my favorite places in the world. When I arrive there, a feeling of peace washes over me, and the blue skies, fresh pine scent, and mountain vistas take me away from the cares of the world.







I am certain that all family gatherings are like ours in many ways, especially in the amount of eating that goes on. Our tradition has worked well - each family unit is in charge of its own breakfast and lunch. Each family group then is responsible for one evening meal. Since neither of my kids was there, we joined with Mom and Dad for our spaghetti dinner. One of the most fun things for me was in the morning, when we got up early, as is our habit, and the young parents would be still sleeping when their little ones would wander out of their rooms. They'd end up at our breakfast time, asking for food. The parents were mortified when they got up and around and realized their kids had already eaten our food - but it was so much fun.

There were s'mores each night under the gorgeous starry sky.

There was lots of laughter, especially after getting the kids to bed - the young parents laughed so hard at this game that I was afraid all their kids were going to wake up and come join the fun again.

There were times of trying to find a bit of solitude from the noise.

There were times of just enjoying each other's company.

There was a gaggle of girls --

And a bevy of boys!

There was a gymnastics show --

And the American Girl Doll fashion show --







There was lots of water fun --

I brought along this bubble machine, and it turned out to be a very good idea - can you see the huge bubbles?

One of the highlights of the week-end was when we gathered for Sunday morning worship --

The kids led us in a rousing chorus -- and then my brother (in the background) led us in "Great Is thy Faithfulness."

Chad and Amanda shared with us about their mission work in Puno, Peru. (There was a reason for the Superman shirts - long story!)

Dr. Dwight shared scripture --



Luke, the youth pastor, shared a devotional challenge --

We celebrated Mom and Dad's 65th anniversary during this time -- the ones who started it all!

The "originals" minus one, posed on the deck just before departing --

What a blessing it was to be together. We missed those who weren't with us. It is difficult to get that many people together who are so far flung in distance apart. But we savored every moment and look forward to the next time.