Comings and Goings

I woke up this morning worried about two things; both involving travel. (I have to admit that I’m much more of a worrier than I should be.) First, I was thinking about how grateful I am that we won’t be driving out of Mexico this year on furlough. It seems that Nuevo Larado and the border in general is becoming more and more of a war zone (drug wars). And it is so frightening passing through there with the family.

The other is the drive we’ll make in a couple of hours through Jocotan to be with our church in that neighborhood. It is a very poor neighborhood with all the stereo-type action… lots of drunks wandering around, lots of unattended kids playing in the streets. And to get to the family's home, we have to back down a dead-end street. I hate it! I’m always afraid a small kid is going to run, unseen, behind the car. This scares me for the child, but also for my own. If we were to hurt one of theirs, getting out ourselves wouldn’t be a certainty.

So this morning, God had this to share with me (from Psalms 121).

“I will keep you from all harm – I will watch over your life; I will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”

Again, I’m in awe that this all-powerful God, can communicate to us on even the most obscure level, speaking to fears that are ours TODAY.

TULSA!

This is what I’m looking forward to in Tulsa…

I love listening to my dad talk about what all happened during the day; the behind the scenes look. I love listening to Dusty talk about what he heard and what he thought about what he heard. (I have to admit, Dusty is about 5 years ahead of me, spiritually speaking. He tells me what he’s thinking and it takes me that long to understand/ come to terms with/ agree with what he said. He might be a prophet… or I might just be slow.)

I can’t wait to have breakfast with Angie Burns. I can’t wait for AIM-a-palooza at the Thornton’s on Friday night. I’m going ahead and planning on tearing up during the flag presentation on Friday evening. The standing ovation gets me every time.

I’m stealing Jay Jarboe, and Sherry too if she’ll come, for a cup of coffee at some point. Jealous?!

What about you? Favorite memory? What excites you?

New Favorite Quote

My new favorite quote comes from Leonard Sweet, talking about fundamentalism in The Three Hardest Words in the World to Get Right (p. 22):

“A yearning for yesteryear, a hankering after the palmy days of the past, a nostalgia for what never did happen, is at the heart of fundamentalism. The Bible challenges us to “remember the days of old,” to honor the “years of many generations,” but not to live in them. Alpha and Omega are yoked, but Alpha is not Omega.

Reminds me of something my brother mentioned 3 to 5 years ago. I can’t quote him, but the gist was this: the problem with the restoration movement is that Jesus never called us to move back… he calls us to move forward according to what the Spirit is telling us Today.

Tulsa Workshop

I made my tickets last week and I can’t wait! The workshop starts on Wednesday the 21st. Are you going? If you follow my dad’s link to the right, and go down to his post from Wednesday, February the 14th you can see a schedule.

To the ex-AIMers out there, you might be interested to see that our own Angie Burns will be speaking on Friday. And, not mentioned on the schedule, the first annual, AIM-a-pa-looza will be held after the Friday night session in the home of Jason and Heather Thornton. (Reunion for ex-AIMers.) Angie will be in charge of the stories. (Angie, do you think you can get Paige to come and help you out with that?) Stuart will be in charge of the door prizes. (Can someone let Stuart know?) And Jason will be in charge of the singing. I’ll be in charge of eating nachos. (Could someone bring nachos?)

Can’t wait to see you all there!

Allergies, Colds and Tulsa

Feels like forever since I’ve blogged. Pat Sheaffer came into town a week ago last Wednesday so I was pretty busy having a big time with Pat. After taking him to the airport on Monday, I decided on my way home that I might be coming down with something.

BUT, I had an appointment with the Allergy doctor on Monday so I couldn’t get sick yet. I don’t know why I’ve waited 34 years to make this appointment. He gave me the little scratch test, and surprise, I’m allergic to everything. I’m not just saying that… there was nothing that didn’t swell up. In fact, there are still some red spots on my arms 6 days later. Is this normal? I somehow felt vindicated. (Like when you get hit real hard but don’t bruise and you think, hey I wish I had something to show for the pain… I watched my arms swell up and I was so glad.) Now, it’s time to get well. I started the shots on Tuesday but they may take 2 to 3 months before they start making a difference. I can’t wait!

My cold that started on Monday took its sweet time migrating into my chest, where it has stayed. Gotta love it. But the great thing about Mexico is the self-medication. Today I finally started some antibiotics.

I’ll post more on this later, but is everyone making plans to attend the Tulsa Workshop in March? Just a month away! There’s still time to make it work.

Cline Paden

I received the following letter today and thought many of you who read this blog might be interested to know how Cline is doing. What a great man!

Dear brethren,

I am sending this email out widely and asking you to forward it to those on your email list, if you feel that it is appropriate.

As many of you know, Cline R. Paden has been very ill in the advanced stages of Parkinson's disease for quite awhile. Recently he has taken a turn for the worse and has apparently been near death on a couple of occasions. In the last couple of days he has rallied a bit but this may be temporary.

We want to open a channel of communication with as many as possible, since Cline is such a beloved brotherhood figure and since he has influenced so many across the years. Here is what we are asking:

Check our website at www.sibi.cc. You will see a picture of Cline and can click on it to get a current report on his condition.

Send an encouraging email to Cline. You may want to share some story of his influence in your life or just share a scripture, prayer or some comforting message. I will take a stack of emails when I visit Cline and read them to him. This will mean more to him than you can know. Send your emails, addressed to Cline, to tadair@sibi.cc or just respond on the website update page.

Share the news of the website update with others and be prepared to forward the notice of Cline's VICTORY, when that time comes. Selfishly we hope that is a long time coming, but many of the medical signs indicate that it may be near.

Thanks for your interest and concern and your prayers for Cline and the whole Paden family.

In Christ,
Truitt Adair

8 Years!

On Sunday, as we drove to our friends’ house to watch the Super Bowl, Kim and Quincy were squealing with delight over the beautiful rainbows along the way. At one point, when I thought they were done, Kim got a fresh glimpse and shouted so suddenly that I thought we were about to get hit by a car. After I let her know we almost drove into oncoming traffic, she told me to lighten up. “After all, that’s why you love me.” …referring to her getting excited over simple things like rainbows.

So today, in honor of our 8th year anniversary, I thought I’d share a few more reasons why I love Kimberly Gwin Rush.

*The other day Quincy asked her to sing a song for him, so she does… in Russian! After finishing she looks at me and says, “Huh, I didn’t know I knew that song.”
*I love that she gets excited that Clark might be left handed (like her).
*I love that she can’t watch a movie at night without falling asleep.
*that she reads the Daily Bible to the kids at breakfast.

*that she’ll take batting practice with the rest of us.
*that movies like Meet the Parents stress her out.
*that Karsyn is a miniature version of her.
*that she’d rather eat veggies than chips but doesn’t give me a dirty look when I have one more piece of pizza.

*that when she’s pregnant she craves Long John Silver’s
*that she’s not pregnant!
*that she is SOOO Beautiful.
*that she can do more than one chin-up.
*that she adores my family. (Sure, who wouldn’t like Mom, Chris, Wendy and Crystal… but Dad and Dusty too?!)
*that I tried to sneak down stairs this morning without waking her at 6:30 and there she was reading her Bible on the couch.

*that she would ever date me, much less marry me.
*that she played in the Baseball Rapido League with me… and was good!
* have you heard her sing? She’s definitely not a Rush.
*that to her, playing scrabble in a coffee shop is romantic and my running and playing with the kids is attractive.
*that she’s smarter than me but doesn’t make an issue out of it. (She was valedictorian of her class at LCU.)

Resolutions and Christmas

So it’s one month and five days since resolutions were made. How are you doing?

I’m not getting any skinnier, but besides that one, I’m doing ok with the resolutions. And I’m re-upping to try again this month to loose a few pounds. (I’d tell you what my other two resolutions are, but over a cup of coffee. I feel better about people laughing in my face as opposed to laughing at their screen.)

And how are we doing with our Christmas presents? Still loving them or are they hiding away in the closet?

We always make fun of my dad for getting us presents he always wanted when he was a kid. But now I understand. I don’t even get my kids presents I wanted. I get them stuff I WANT!

Thus Clark got a batting tee this year and Quincy, Clark and I each got puffy balls that we can whale on in the house without breaking anything. Thus, can you tell in the pictures who’s having the most fun?

Some families read together at bed time. Ours takes batting practice.