Just Enough Light (re-post)

**Reposted From October 15, 2007

Today marks the five year anniversary of this here blog. I thought I would re-post my very first post. This explains the reason for the name Just Enough Light.

If there is one thing I am learning in life as a Christian, it is that often God gives me just enough light for the step I'm on.

Trust.

Why do I lack trust when God has yet to fail me? I pray as I move on in my life, I remember God's faithfulness to me and my loved ones as we have faced difficult times. It seems the more difficult thing is waiting on God's timing. But His timing is always perfect. Just think how we'd mess things up if we rushed ahead. I am so guilty of wanting to do that.

Just Enough Light
Sometimes only the step I'm on,
or the very next one ahead,
is all that is illuminated for me.
God gives just the amount of light I need
for the exact moment I need it.
At those times I walk in surrender to faith,
unable to see the future
and not fully comprehending the past.
And because it is God who has given me
what light I have,
I know I must reject the fear and
doubt that threaten to overtake me.
I must determine to be content where
I am, and allow God to get me where
I need to go.
I walk forward,
one step at a time,
fully trusting that
the light God sheds
is absolutely sufficient.

-Stormie Omartian

Crazy Excited

Tomorrow morning I am heading up to the Big Cities to meet up with someone I haven't seen for almost 10 years. I get to spend a day and a half with my college roommate! Carol and I lived together for two years. I married an engineer and have followed him all over the world. Carol married a farmer and has lived in Ohio on a farm ever since. We've had different lives, but I have a feeling we still have tons in common. I told Carol last night on Facebook chat that sometimes when I think about seeing her I almost cry because I am so incredibly excited.

I'll end this with a lovely picture that Carol posted on Facebook this morning. Please keep in mind this is 28 years ago.

I made that dress for Carol for her senior recital. (The buttons were supposed to be off-set.) I noticed that the necklace I have one is from Hubby. He gave it to me the first Valentine's Day we were dating even though we said we wouldn't exchange gifts. I accepted it, of course. (I never did or will turn down a gift of jewelry!)

1981 Summer Memories

The summer of 1981 was an important summer for me. I was 20 years old. I wasn't dating anyone. (But I did know the guy I'd marry, although if you would have told me that summer I'd marry him in three years, I would have told you you were nuts. I knew him, but at that point we were barely more than acquaintances.) 

I spent the whole summer of 1981 in Colorado. (Hmmm.... there seems to be a theme here and where I went in the summer time...)

I  spent the first month of the Summer of 1981 at Bear Trap Ranch. It's a camp that InterVarsity Christian Fellowship owns and runs about 8 miles up in the mountains from Colorado Springs. And by up in the mountains, I mean 9,100 feet up. (This is the same place we went as a family to Family Camp.)

I learned a lot in those four weeks at Bear Trap. One thing that really sticks out in my mind is a visual about how God and our relationship with Him needs to be at the center of our lives where all the other area of our lives are affected by it. We should not just have Him be a part all by itself. That was a new way of thinking for me at the time.

There were lots of other things learned and friendships made, overnight hiking trips that led to some of the nastiest blisters I've ever had on my feet, square dancing, Bible reading (1st and 2nd Samuel), hot tea drinking (to warm up my cold hands on those chilly Colorado mornings), letter reading and writing to friends from college, and then there was the really unfortunate choice I made of having my bangs cut. Yuck. I think they look hideous when I look at pictures of me from back then. Sigh. I was young, what can I say?

Here's proof that I did go repelling. It's not quite as high as my loved ones did twenty years later, but I still did it! (Ick.. you can see those nasty bangs poking out from under the helmet...)

The next two months were spent in Breckenridge, Colorado. Sigh. Beauty, pure beauty.

The time in Breckenridge was also with InterVarsity. There was a group of us (15-20 college students along with several staff people and their families) there on an Evangelism Project. We took jobs in the community and worked on living out our faith. I worked in this building at an ice cream parlor. When I washed dishes I looked out the back window at the ski mountain. So pretty! I also did some sewing and babysitting.

Sometimes I wish I could go back and learn some of the important spiritual things all over again. At least be able to look at them through more mature eyes. I'm sure I missed so much because I was only 20 years old.

Here's some of us at a cook-out. I'm the classy one in the white jacket and the ugly, unfortunate bangs. :)

I, sadly, have few pictures of my own from this summer. I remember somehow messing up the roll of film I took and ended up exposing much of the film. Some of my friends sent me copies of their pictures.

I did end up dating one of the guys in our group in Breckenridge. I learned a lot about relationships through him. About being open and honest in everything. I remember one conversation we had about how God sees us without blemish, holy and blameless. Still a hard concept for me to grasp since I see the ugliness in my heart.

Although at the time I thought that guy was "the one", looking back I see God's hand in guiding me to The One He had made for me. Because of my long distance relationship (after the summer was over) I was able to become friends with some guys back at college. My mom said told me then they were likely willing to be friends with me because I was "safe". They didn't have to worry about me wanting to date them and could just be my friend because I was dating someone else (who lived in another state). By the next summer my long-distance relationship had ended and one of those guys from college? He was my best friend. And today? He is still my Best Friend. He's my hubby! He's the guys I married three years later. See how God works?

That Hubby of mine is such a wonderful earthly example of God's love for me. He sees me without blemish even though he knows some pretty yucky things about me.

Case in point:

A few nights ago when Hubby got home from work, I was frustrated and angry about some things and basically yelled at him for a while. What did he do? He hugged me, talked to me a little and loved me and took me out to dinner. I sure don't deserve the kind of love he has for me. Reminds me of God's love. Majorly, totally unconditional. Full of mercy. Hubby sure didn't respond in a way I deserved, but responded in grace and mercy. How lucky am I to have this earthly example of God's love right here in front of my face?

Anyway... I may have seemed to get a little off track here from my summer of 1981, but like I said at the beginning, it was an important summer for me.

(And by the way, this coming Thursday, Mr. The One, my hubby and I will celebrate 27 years of marriage!!!)

1986 Summer Memories

Just a couple more posts in my Summer Memories Series. (Don't act so relieved...)

The summer of 1986 found us living in Wichita, Kansas and celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary. I sometimes wish I could go back and view some of those early days. It gets a little harder to remember things like how it felt to be so young and how my hair was that color all by itself with no extra help. ;) I made Hubby (who's always a good sport and is thankful for whatever gift I give him) a cute, but cheesy cross-stitch that says "Happiness is Being Married to Your Best Friend." After close to 27 years, I still agree with that.

I didn't see a lot of pictures from this summer in our photo albums. I do remember it was an exciting summer because that was when we found out we were going to have our first baby!

Hubby made a business trip to Chicago that summer of 1986 and brought me back a teddy bear we named Bradford. Bradford was a source of comfort to our kids in the years to come when they were sick or sad or trying to recover from a broken heart.

A lack of funds and not very much vacation time meant the vacation time Hubby did have was spent visiting the family. This is my in-laws and me out for a walk. Pretty sure my mother-in-law was looking for some birds with those binoculars.

1991 Summer Memories

I still have a few more posts to go in my Summer Memories Series. I have had so much fun looking through the photo albums.

(I should add in here how proud I am of myself. I figured out a very simple way to get the scanned photos to my laptop. My laptop is not connected to the printer. I can print things wirelessly, but the scanned photos go to the computer it's hooked up to. So as I was starting to scan, I noticed some, what do you call them? Holes? Slots? Anyway, I noticed some places you could put a jump drive or a memory card. So I got a memory card and stuck it in there, scanned away, and transferred them to my computer! Simple!)

The summer of 1991 was busy with two little ones. Caleb was 4 1/2 and Megan was 18 months. We celebrated the 4th of July with Hubby's aunt and uncle and family in Kansas. (Who knew Caleb would get married in that town on July 4th 18 years later?!) Caleb wanted to know what the 4th of July was and when I told him it is our country's birthday he wanted a birthday cake. Hubby's aunt stuck a couple of birthday candles in the watermelon. How cute is that?

Speaking of cute! I just cannot get over how adorable this little sweetie was in her red, white and blue!
(Just look at that little belly sticking out!) I just want to squeeze that little one again!

We spent the rest of the summer doing fun things like feeding, (or was it chase?), some ducks.

Caleb gave Megan some rides around the basement in his trusty red laundry basket. Weee!

There was also some serious sunbathing that took place. Playing in a 8" deep plastic pool in the back yard is tiring business! Love, love, love Megan's bathing suit and her little bum sticking up in the air. :)

Me and my girl all ready for church. I'm loving my BIG read earrings here. I was the queen of matching earrings. The flowers in the background? Pretty sure Hubby gave them to me for our 7th anniversary. I carried yellow roses in our wedding.

 

It was a busy summer. Sleeping with her favorite baby named Amy was a necessity. She always tucked it under her arm like that.

Sometimes I wish I had jammies that snapped the top and bottom together. :) 

Fun, fun sweet memories.

1996 Summer Memories

The summer of 1996 found us in Colorado again. (Well, since I'm going backwards with this whole Walk Down Memory Lane thing, I should say this is the first time we went to Colorado as a family.)

I remember we had a great time in the car on the way out reading books, listening to Adventures in Odyssey, listening to Bill Cosby, stopping to get ice cream, running off energy at rest areas.

This was the first summer we attended Family Camp at Bear Trap Ranch. It's in the mountains near Colorado Springs. The grown-ups get lots of great Biblical teaching and the kids have a great program geared towards them and towards teaching them about God.

Oh be still my heart. These two are adorable at ages 6 and 9. They had the best week at Bear Trap. (Caleb ended up working at Bear Trap the summer of 2008 as part of the kitchen crew. He was sooo lucky to live here and work here.)

We visited Whit's End in Colorado. Anybody else listen to Adventures in Odyssey?  (If you look close, that adorable little girl is missing a front tooth! So cute!)

After our week at Family Camp we went camping. Oh yes we did! Here's proof.... That's our van and I can see the back of me. We still own the tent, but it hasn't been used in a very long time. We sold the van to some friends before we moved overseas and I recently heard that they are still driving it! (I think it's 17 years old!)

What amazing kids to so cheerfully wash the dishes. Oh fun memories.

We enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Colorado. This is the Continental Divide. (Helpful travel hint: Don't eat a bag of Fritos before driving up to 10,000 plus feet altitude. Your stomach won't like it.)

We just love the majesty of Colorado!

How lucky am I to still be married to this wonderful, handsome man?

2001 Summer Memories

The summer of 2001was a momentous one for this family. We moved back to the USA after spending three years living in Singapore. It was a big adjustment for all of us. We moved from an Asian city/country of over 4 million people to an Upper Mid-West town of 15,000. Quite the change.

Here's a picture of my babies on their last day of school in Singapore. They went to an American school there and had the privilege of wearing uniforms. Aren't they adorable? Megan was 11 and Caleb was a cool 14, spiked hair and all. :)

 Before we left the country, we made sure to eat at all our favorites restaurants. This was our favorite seafood place.

Look at those prawns.... Yummmm!!

Before we headed back to our home country, we flew around the world the opposite way we had done before and stopped in Europe for a week's vacation.

We spent time in Paris:

Belgium and Holland

(Oh, I remember those days when my babies were shorter than me! How time just flies by...)

When we got to the USA, we spent a week in a hotel and were in our house for 5 weeks with only a smattering of rental furniture. Finally, our container that was shipped over the Pacific arrived. Just check out all the leftover packing material filling up the drive way:

Because we were just too tired of unpacking boxes, we headed out west to our  favorite family camp in Colorado and my loved ones decided to hang themselves off the side of a mountain.

Why didn't I go rappelling? Well, someone needed to take the pictures! And I wanted to make sure everyone else had a chance to rappel. Wasn't that nice of me? I went when I was in college, so check out the picture of me when I post about Summer Memories 1981.

2006 Summer Memories

We've had a pretty quiet summer so far. So much so, it's been sending me back down memory lane to what we had been up to in the past summers. I thought it would be fun to venture down those roads on this old blog. In a few weeks we will have been married for 27 years. No, I won't review all 27 years. Let's just go with every 5 years, okay?

The summer of 2006 found us out West in Montana and Wyoming. This was our second to last family vacation.  Caleb had finished his freshman year at college and Megan was 16.

It was a great time with these two almost grown kids. We had to stop at this sign for a wonderfully, predictable photo-op.

Then those almost grown kids had to run through this meadow and frolic. Yes, that's my babies. :) They are awesome.

In Yellowstone, we had a fun picnic in the woods. It was beautiful. And evidently my kids were saying something really funny based on my face and how I am obviously laughing. Oh, I miss those times of laughing with my kids. We still laugh together, but just not often enough.

We came across some of these big fellows in Yellowstone. It was pretty cool to be so close (AND to be in the car). Buffalo are BIG!

Later in the week back in Montana my babies went rafting down this river. (Ever heard of the movie "A River Runs Through It"? Well, this is that river.)

Aren't they having fun? (I wonder what Caleb is yelling...)

More Memory Lane Running

Last weekend my sweet hubby agreed to go hang out in the town (Iowa City) I lived in when I was in elementary school. I hadn't been there in a very long time. It was fun to drive around and dust off the old memory files.

And yes, there was drive-by shootings involved. And yes, we almost got into trouble. Yikes.

First.. the house all six of us lived in.

This is where we almost got into trouble. The people who live in this house started looking out the window at us taking pictures. Yep. We drove away and avoided any more drive-by stalking. :) I just wish I had the nerve to ring the doorbell and ask if we could look around the house. Oh well. I have my memories.

Next we went by the grade school I attended from Kindergarten to Grade 5. Here's a shot of the creek that we crossed on the way to school. I may or may not have stopped to play in it once and ended up very late to school. :) It's quite overgrown and was hard to get a good picture.

 

A shot of the HUGE hill I had to walk up to get to the school. It actually has shrunk a bit over the years. :)  I distinctly remember walking up that hill on the first day of spring. In the Snow. I was so annoyed that it was snowing on the first day of spring.

The front entrance. Does anyone know who Robert Lucas was?  Anyone??

 He was the first Governor of the Territory of Iowa. You're welcome.

 The Kindergarten room. I remember having nap-time, milk in cardboard cartons that wouldn't always open easily and singing songs while my teacher played the piano. All in a half-day!

We walked to school and even walked home for lunch every day. I thought it was a looong ways. Hubby discovered it was only 3 tenths of a mile. I think it was something like 4 blocks. I laughed so hard when I realized that.

After we stalked around the old neighborhood, we headed to downtown Iowa City. I just had to take a picture of the Rec Center. I hung out there a bunch when I was a kid. I also got the scar that is smack in the middle of my forehead there.

Did you know Iowa City was the first capital of Iowa? Yep. (Hey, this is quite an educational blog today.)

This was over the door on the Old Capital building. It amused me. IOWA. Love the period on the end!

A beautiful tree.

The next day we drove to hang out in a nearby Amish community.

And there were animals out in the countryside...

 

We then headed to the great small town where my hubby went to high school. ("Great" is sarcastic. It's not a very nice town, and he didn't like that he had to move there, but I am thankful hubby did because if he didn't, I would have never met him.) The house his parents lived in.

It was a very fun weekend with my hubby. I am thankful for all his driving and his patience with me.