Sing Like You Mean It!

Singing is something that I love to do, although I will be the first to admit that it is not a talent I possess. I was in college choir my senior year hoping that it would help, but alas, all I learned was that meeting at 7:30 in the morning and trying to sing was pointless, my voice needed a couple hours to warm up! So, I graduated college and what did I decide to do? Join the church choir!

In church choir, we are always being told by the director to, "Sing like you mean it!" and "Think about what you are singing and show it through your face!" It is something that now I find my self doing more without needing reminded; it is something that I should have been doing my whole life. Growing up in a Christian family, attending church three times a week, and going to a Christian Academy and College, I have several instances where I find myself singing, whether it was in church, or chapel, a special, or just an opening exercise for a class.

This past weekend, I, along with other college girls and my sisters, was visiting some elderly folk in the Nursing Home. Our last visit was to a godly woman by the name of Peggy. Peggy has been in the nursing home as far back as I can remember and if she couldn't make it out to my Dad's Saturday service then we would be sure to go down to her room and visit her. We would always find her sitting in a chair with her Bible in her lap. Sometimes she would read to us, sometimes she would ask us to pray for her, but we always ended with a song or two.

This past weekend when we went into her room, we found her altered. She was lying in bed, her room not as tidied as I was accustom to seeing it, and her body looked so frail and little. She had her eyes shut, but I knew she would want us to wake her. She was too weak to carry on a conversation so we decided to just sing her some songs. I chose the first one that came to mind...a familiar one to many of the elderly.

There is coming a day,

When no heart aches shall come,

No more clouds in the sky,

No more tears to dim the eye,

All is peace forever more,

On that happy golden shore

What a day, glorious day that will be.

What a day that will be,

When my Jesus I shall see,

When I look upon His face,

The One who saved me by His grace;

When He takes me by the hand,

And leads me through the Promised Land,

What a day, glorious day that will be.

As I sang I began to think about the words and this elderly woman, this song that I had sang countless number of times began to take on a new meaning. As she lay there mouthing the words with us, I realized that here was a woman that was truly "singing" it like she meant it. Tears began to blur my vision and I had to inhale quickly to keep from crying, I fought back the tears, put a smile on my face and began to sing out with more meaning,

There'll be no sorrow there,

No more burdens to bear,

No more sickness, no pain,

No more parting over there;

And forever I will be,

With the One who died for me,

What a day, glorious day that will be.

What a day that will be,

When my Jesus I shall see,

When I look upon His face,

The One who saved me by His grace;

When He takes me by the hand,

And leads me through the Promised Land,

What a day, glorious day that will be.

Conversings with and among children

Working full time at a Pre-school, I find myself quite entertained by children. The conversations I find myself having with them never cease to amaze me, nor do the conversations I overhear among the kids...

Here's one I found myself having today:

I was coloring at a table with Sarah B. when I looked up to see her staring back at me with her big mischievous brown eyes. She leaned in close within inches of my face and whispered, "What are afraid of Miss Nickel?"

"I have this phobia about water and I don't like snakes..." I replied, wondering where this was leading to.

"Well," she whispered, "Are you afraid of vampires?!"

"Sarah, what are vampires?"

She looked back at me as if I was totally not up on current events and said, "They are creatures of the night...and I am one!"

I couldn't help but laugh aloud, "No, Sarah you are not a vampire, there is no such thing."

"Oh, yeah...then explain these," she said as she bared her teeth and opened her eyes wide.

I chose not to argue any further with her...

Conversation #2:

"So, Troy do you have any brothers or sisters?" I asked.

"Ya...a little sister, Ella, she's two and ugh..." he said as he rolled his eyes, "she is the most annoying creature on the whole earth!"

"Creature...your sister is a creature?!"

"Uh huh, she is like always following me wherever I go and always wants whatever I have; she is always trying to give me hugs!" he moaned.

"Well, Troy, that's because she loves you and looks up to you...you are her big brother. You make sure you are nice to her."

"I know..." he said maturely, "I try, it's just so hard. I try to get away from her but she is always right behind me. School is the only place I can escape her!"

Kids, you got to love them...

Conversation #3 (this is one I overheard two children having)

"Did you just lie to me? I can't believe you would lie to me..." A little girl told another who must have just stretched the truth.

"Don't you know that there is a God in heaven who made you and that He is looking down on you right this very minute!"

The "lying" child looked back at her guiltily, and let out a big sigh.

The little reprimander continued, "If I were you, I would be so very scared..."

"Why?" the other asked.

"Why? Because, number one: God just saw what you did, and number two: who knows what He might do to you!" She looked up and caught my eye, gave a half smile then discontinued her mini sermon.

I was rather disappointed: she was just getting warmed up and I was anxious to hear point number three.

The Rest of my Trip

I've been wanting to post some pictures from Texas trip...These pictures were all taken at my

Grandparent's. They live in Luling, Texas, which is a small town located about an hour south

from Austin, and an hour north from San Antonio. Grandpa owns several head of cattle and

plenty of acreage for them to roam. It really is a whole other world out there on the ranch.

Temperatures were in the 100's every day and the evening cool would get down to a low of 80 degrees. Nights were my favorite, you could stand outside and strain to hear traffic noises, such as semis, sirens, or speeding vehicles, and you would hear nothing except for the chirping of crickets and the gentle breeze in the trees. It was so very peaceful; no city lights or headlights going by. The only thing that lighted the outdoors was the bright beatiful stars in the Texas sky. Yes, I know it is the same sky as in Indiana, but something was different; it was so open and

for lack of a better word...big. Grandma and I would sit out under the stars in their hot tub in the evening and not say a word; both of us being content to sit in silence and listen to nature and appreciate God's creation. I am definitely not a country girl, but being there always makes me

think that I'd be able to adjust to no Walmart for 60 miles in exchange for the big Texas sky at nights!

Grandpa took me out back one afternoon and showed

me how to shoot. I shot a 17 HMR (pictured), a 9mm, and

a 357 magnum revolver. It was so awesome, and Grandpa

told me I was a great shot! :)

Uncle Jerry lives in an addition that was built on the

ranch about a year ago. I was glad I was able to visit

him every day while I was there.

Grandma and me!

Hanging out with the cows!

Besides relaxing on the ranch, I was able see many sights and do many enjoyable things in Texas. Our activities included: going to a museum in Austin, celebrating Aunt Stephanie's 40th birthday by being moral support as she tandem jumped from an airplane, swimming, shopping, getting pedicures, going to a Mexican market and my favorite-the Riverwalk!

The Bob Bullock Texas State Museum in Austin

Aunt Steph's big jump!

My favorite place to eat in Texas...

Luling Market, which includes brisket,

sausage, and ribs...yum, yum, yummy!

da plane, da plane!

So, it has been forever since I last updated my blog, but things have been very busy. First off, my week vacation. I was able to visit my Grandparents in Texas; I had a great time with them. My trip was filled with much excitement, beginning with the airplane ride...Let me start there...

I arrived at the airport approximately 70 minutes before take-off. I found the Southwest entrance and proceeded to baggage check. I could see that the lines were very long, so I hurriedly clutched my luggage and picked up my pace. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed airport personnel eyeing me.

"What's her deal?" I thought.

No sooner had I walked one step past her did she spin around and suspiciously say, "Excuse me, miss...how old are you?"

"Right...you've got to be kidding me, " I thought. I calmly turned around and very sweetly (and might I add without hardly any faces...) replied, "Um....uh...twenty-two..." I tried not to let the annoyance drip from my voice.

I mean seriously, how young do I look? I certainly hope I look older than 14, or whatever the age is that a minor cannot travel unaccompanied...So went my first incident at the airport, which really was just as funny as it was annoying.

I boarded the plane and found a window seat about the center of the plane. I quickly realized as a steady stream of people poured down the aisles that I probably would not be sitting alone. I wondered whose presence I would be graced with. A teenager around the age of 18 sat in my row, a seat in between us. People were still standing in the aisle and I knew that sooner or later one of them would have to pick the empty seat right next me...Sure enough, someone did. No, it wasn't some nice young woman that I could converse with, nor was it even a business man who would keep to himself, no I ended up with a punk rocker. A young man whose face I would not be able to identify in a line up because it was hidden by blond stringy hair, the strange piercings in his lips and ears and his weird aroma sent warning bells off in my mind.

We had been in the air no more than 5 minutes when he pulled out his sketch pad and pencils and began to draw. I peered over his shoulder and shuddered at his gory drawings. I pulled out my book and decided I would probably not be engaging in any intellectual conversations with this teenager. He and the girl next to him did find topics to talk about such as, their dysfunctional families, how they hated Texas, and whether or not they could carry tobacco on the plane and if they could pull it out now????

Finally my two "plane-mates" ceased their pointless chatter and dozed off. I found myself somewhat disappointed...they had been quite entertaining.

But then the real excitement began. The captain spoke over the speaker and told all passengers to shut off electronic devices and stay seated and secured because we were entering some slight turbulence. I tried closing my eyes and pretending that I was in a car driving in pot holes but it didn't quite work. We were swaying from side to side and it felt as if rocks were being hurled at the plane. My stomach began to churn and I felt a wave of nauseousness come over me.

"Breathe in. Breathe out." I told myself.

I took a deep inhale and remembered all too late that an Indian family was sitting in front of me eating who knows what. Two rows in front of me a little girl was crying, then suddenly, she stopped and began making strange gurgling noises. Ah, yes I recognized that noise... The flight attendants didn't quite make it to her with the barf bag in time...

While I was telling myself now, "Do not inhale, do not inhale, do not inhale" the punk rocker beside me was just getting comfy and began to nod off onto my shoulder. "Very nice," I thought, "Next time, forget the non-stop flight, I'm driving!"

Remember when...

"Friendship is like standing on wet cement.

The longer you stay, the harder it's to leave,

and you can never go

without leaving your footprints behind."

Yesterday, one of my dearest and closet friends, whom I call EJ, moved 468 miles away. I had known the day would be coming for well over 4 months, yet I still was not prepared to say goodbye.

I pulled in her driveway at 6:15am, and sat a couple of minutes...thinking of oh-so-many memories we had made together.

The first memory I have of EJ goes back to when we were four years old and I would go to her house and have play dates. I don't remember what exactly we would do, but I do recall anticipating those days.

Fast forward through the years to 4th grade, and there you would find us sitting in the back row of class where we could get away with it all! ;)

In 5th and 6th grade, we began to realize that all boys did not have germs, and thus started all those pointless crushes. It was also this time, that after school, we would make a mad dash to the bathroom where we would flush those unwanted sandwiches down the toilet... yes, don't worry we've already confessed that one to our mothers!

Junior High brought our silly infatuation with Winnie the Pooh paraphernalia and our fun get togethers at Lady and the Stamp where we would make cards and bookmarks. It was also this time that I "introduced" her to my best friend, Tab, and she "introduced" me to hers, Theresa. We become known as the "foursome" and became quite the motley crew.

When we got to highschool, we thought we had arrived. Gone was the Pooh stuff, now we were wearing makeup and into shopping. I remember one day walking Chesterton (which really doesn't take that long), eating a kid's meal at Dairy Queen and finding great deals at the new resale shop in town! Not only did we have so much fun together, but we also got in trouble together. I recall an incident in 10th grade where we wrote a note on the chalkboard for the Sunday School teacher who wasn't too happy with the way we were cleaning the room on Fridays. Let's just say that our little note was not very respectful and quite a bit mouthy, but we didn't fear because we signed the note, not with our names, but with the whole Sophomore class!

Before we knew it we had passed Sweet 16 and were approaching 18...what did this mean? We were getting Senior pictures, planning open houses and a senior trip, and dreading college. Graduation came and went, it was everything we had ever dreamed of, plus more.

College orientation came and the foursome still stuck together, both scared and excited. Our freshman year we were able to take several classes together. I remember countless days skipping lunch and going up to the library where we would pour over Old Testament Survey notes in hopes of passing Doc's quizzes and tests.

Sophomore year came all too quickly and no longer were we "fresh meat", we had a whole year under our belt and knew exactly what we were doing! I was dating seriously and our friendship wasn't as strong as it once had been. However the summer before our junior year, there was a heartbreak, and who was there? My friends. I remember in particular receiving the sweetest letter from EJ, she always has had such a way with words...

Our junior year came and went, once again, way too quickly. We made many memories however, whether at Christmas Lights, the fall hayride, or Turkey run. When summer came, we couldn't believe that our senior year was already upon us. We came to teacher orientation so excited about student teaching and taking some final credits. While student teaching we listened to each other's woes, whether it be my 9th grade boys who wanted to be doing anything rather than typing, or her 1st and 2nd graders who insisted on asking pointless questions. At the end of our student teaching, we both did come to the conclusion that teaching is so very rewarding. We realized that when it came down to our last day of teaching we were so sad to leave; for not only had we been able to affect them, they had also made an impression on us.

In March, when EJ told me of her job offer (teaching 1st grade in Missouri), I was so excited for her. When she accepted, I tried not to think about her actually leaving.

Once college graduation was over, we realized that the months were passing very quickly and before we knew it she would be moving. So...we held a pow wow at my house along with Tab and Liz. We planned a weekly outing, something to do together and make our last summer together memorable.

This summer has went fast, but whether getting pedicures, beading, setting up a blog, eating at Dairy Queen (several times), using up her snack shop bucks after church, or having a crazy good time in Orland Park on our last hurrah, we have made more memories.

Amazingly I managed not to break down when I had to say the final goodbye and give her one last hug. It will be several months before we see each other again, but I know that despite the long distance we will remain friends forever, for "The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately with out growing apart."

Trust

1. reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.
2. confident expectation of something; hope.
3. confidence in the certainty of future payment for property or goods received; credit: to sell merchandise on trust.
4. a person on whom or thing on which one relies

What do all these define? One simple, five letter word...T R U S T.

Such a small word, but its meaning contains so much. Trust is such an easy thing for a child to do. I've seen it so many times at work. Yet it seems as we get older it becomes harder and harder to do. We have to know why...or see results in order to trust. In the Christian walk, trust is such a basic principle, but it's one that I find myself struggling with at times. Trust God, such an easy thing to do, yet so often I want to see more than just one step at a time, I want to see the whole road and around that bend as well. Once again, the Lord spoke to me in my devotions and seemed to say, "Nicole, why do you think I put you through hard times, why do you think I only show you one step at a time?" "So that you will depend on me, so that you will run to me, rely on me, and cling to me..."

If we could see beyond today

As God can see;

If all the clouds should roll away,

The shadows flee;

O'er present griefs we would not fret.

Each sorrow we would soon forget,

For many joys are waiting yet

For you and me.

If we could know beyond today

As God doth know,

Why dearest treasures pass away

And tears must flow;

And why the darkness leads to light,

Why dreary paths will soon grow bright;

Some day life's wrongs will be made right,

Faith tells us so.

"If we could see, if we could know,"

We often say,

But God in love a veil doth throw

Across our way;

We cannot see what lies before,

And so we cling to Him the more,

He leads us till this life is o'er

Trust and obey.

Friendship...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them." Elizabeth, Tabitha, Liz and I have known each other since childhood and as of recent have grown even more close. Tab and Elizabeth will be leaving their childhood roots and going to Missouri and South Carolina to use their college education and teach elementary. Since college graduation we have been trying to get together as much as possible. We had my little sister come with us to Chellberg Farm and be our photographer. We ended up taking some 75 plus pictures and had a blast being "stupid" together! I will miss them immensely, but I will have some great memories to remember them by...