Kites colored the sky above Doc Stewart Park Saturday and captivated the crowd below at Cannon Air Force Base’s fourth annual Kite Karnival. “At a good kite festival, you want color on the ground and in the air,” Bruce DeFoor, 52, of Ruidoso explained as he corrected terminology for an air-filled ground toy. “It’s not a kite,” the former Clovis resident said of balloon-like Spike the Blowfish, which bopped along the ground. A no-show at last year’s festival, the guest of honor breezed through nicely with wind speeds attendees estimated at 10 to 15 mph. “It makes all the difference,” DeFoor said of the wind. “It’s really great. It’s out of the world.” DeFoor had what likely was the largest kite — an 88-foot-long lime-green octopus named Ollie. He bought it from a man in England who sold it after its maiden flight because it dragged him down, DeFoor explained. “I got a good deal,” said DeFoor, who had the kite tethered to his truck to help control it. A member of the American Kitefliers Association, DeFoor is considered to be a professional and was one of about a half-dozen kite aficionados invited to the event. “I have been doing this for 25 years,” he said, noting the smallest kite in his collection “that actually flies” is just 2 inches. Christening kites and ground toys or ground bouncers is common among the pros. Walt Mitchell of Lubbock explained, “They’re like a member of my family.” Another AKA member, Mitchell maneuvered a 40-foot-long, 10-foot-tall ground toy caterpillar named Charlie, the only one in the United States, he said. Favorable winds enabled novices as well as pros to succeed in getting their kites airborne. “This is my first time flying a kite,” said Senior Airman Lasondra Hawkins, a ladybug lofting above her. One of the youngest fliers was Anthony Carter, 2, whose father, Senior Airman Greg Carter, watched as the youngster stood firmly on the ground, holding the string at the right tension to keep his kite aloft. “I helped him get it up,” the senior Carter confessed. Anthony was one of the many participants flying kites donated by High Plains Federal Credit Union. While organizers estimated between 500 and 600 people attended the event, there weren’t enough participants to break the Guinness record for most kites flown. Only 150 people signed up to make the attempt, they said, far short of the 675 needed. “We had a phenomenal turnout for families,” said Cat Noll, director of the community center at Cannon Air Force Base. “I was so optimistic,” she said about the record-breaking attempt. “They had a good time and that’s what it’s all about. The main event is celebrating kites.”

Scalloped Potatoes and What Women Want

This entry is dedicated to my very precious son-in-law, Rusty, one of the four awesome men in my life. I tell him often how wonderful I think he is but his latest feat is, in my book, above and beyond..... Read on:

This past week was his wife, my daughter's, birthday. O.K. let me back up and say that he lives under a lot of stress, especially during this time of year. His work moves to a crescendo in May each year and he is right in the count down. Secondly, he is working on his MBA, is an attentive husband, father and landlord, not to mention actively involved in church ministries AND has been quite sick in the past couple weeks.

Back to Lesli's birthday. He decided he would engage their three-year old twins in helping him make a birthday dinner for her. The menu would be steak, asparagus, salad and "scalloped potatoes, Granny Teakell style. Granny Teakell is famous in the family for her wonderful scalloped potatoes. The rest of us don't even try to copy them. Well, I tried once, years ago and they were a disaster so I decided to leave the scalloped potato making to Granny.

Lesli loves Granny's potatoes so in an effort to surprise and delight Lesli, Rusty decided to seek instruction from Granny and make some. Ahem, with the help of the twins! Although, the potatoes, were good, leaving room for perfecting the technique, the meal turned out great. But what was even better was the extra effort by Rusty that showed how much thought he put in to showing Lesli how much he cared about making her birthday special. Now that's what woment want! Rusty deserves the "Husband of the Year" medal of Courage

And check out that photo! What a hunk!

Yesterday was a WILD day for us! Phil began the day at his 6:45 a.m. Kiwanis breakfast followed by his weekly Emmaus "homeboys" Reunion group. Meanwhile, back at the farm, I served breakfast to our "surprise" but "Oh so welcome" houseguest, Bruce! He will be joined by Beth, his wife, tonight and they will be our guests until Sunday! We are delighted to have them, and it's not just because it gave us an excuse not to drive to Albuquerque for a meeting today!


More about the above picture of Bruce with Phil and friend, later!

At lunch we participated in an FCA luncheon at CHS. Several hundred students participated. There was grilled hotdogs, the back of a pick-up filled with crushed ice with canned pop buried in it and a "remote" from a local radio station.
This girl just happened to be wearing one of the 800 t-shirts we designed and distributed last year! Go figure! I don't even know her name.

After lunch we visited Bella Vista Arts Academy where friend, and legendary artist, Bruce is guiding a group of students in a mosaic project.





After our visit with these kids I had just enough time for a weight workout at the CCC gym before picking up pizzas and cokes and heading to THS for a training/meeting with my girls over there.


You'd think that would have been enough activity for one day well...... I arrived home just about in time for Phil and I to head to Lincoln Jackson for a forum on African American tobacco issues! We had six state reps from Albuq come in to join with leaders from the black community locally. The two-hour session ended up going over three hours but the best part was "soul food!" Fortunately, I did not have to run, nor was I in charge of that meeting! Whew!!!!!

"Just 'cuz it's there"

One of the sessions I teach in DWI school is one entitled, "Why Do I Drink?" The session begins with the class members contributing reasons why people drink while I list them on the board. (Of course, all the while I'm thinking, the real reason most of these people drink is because they have a whole in their heart only God can fill). Anyway one time I got this response from a student, "Just 'cuz its there." My inward reaction was "now that's really a stupid reason." Then I began to think of how often I put food (empty calorie type) in my mouth not because I'm hungry or even because I crave that particular food but for the mere reason, "it's there!" One good example is when showing up to some morning event after having a perfectly satisfying breakfast and then eating an available donut "just 'cuz it's there." That's why I don't keep ice cream in my frig....... (well, normally I don't but right now I have some butter pecan because I served some to my guests Sunday night on yellow cake with chocholate fudge frosting, if you must know.) Now I have the "just cuz it's there" urges to eat ice cream to contend with!

What has this got to do with anything? I was just sniching some bites of "just 'cuz it's there ice cream" moments ago and the thought occurred to me that we so very often fill our minds with "just 'cuz it's there" empty calories too, as in watching some not so uplifting show on t.v. "just 'cuz it's there". Unfortunately, the "just cuz it's there" stuff -food or entertainment fills us up leaving us little room to crave the real good stuff that's there too, when we seek it out. Just like we have a God given physical hunger, we have a spiritual hunger only God can truly fill. Furthermore, we only have so much time and space in a day to take in mental and spirtual calories. Sometime, when I'm trying to take off a few pounds, I can be overly conscience of every bite I put in my mouth. It would sure be good to be able to become that aware of how many empty mental and spiritual calories I allow in my mind and spirit. I want to be aware of how many "just 'cuz it's there" stuff I am consuming that crowd out the real meal!

Some really great kids!

These good looking young athletes are members of CHS Fellowship of Christian Athletes and volunteered to become "peer educators" to 7th and 8th grade boys who attended a boys summit this morning. They gave brief presentations to the boys on the affects of spit tobacco.

Johnny, Arthur and Izzy "telling the truth about tobacco". Each of the boys received a t-shirt after the presentation from the peer educators.

Miles Ware and Blake Hicks giving the "no spit speel" to two awestuck 7th grade boys.

After doing the peer education, we treated the guys to breakfast for a "debriefing session." I was the lucky lady to have breakfast with eight hunky guys!!

Not just another Sunday.......

What a great day in the Lord we've had!

We started out our day with a two mile walk with the dogs. It was a beautiful morning!

Our church service was once again a Blessed Blast! A handful of the men, including Phil were tremendously pumped from spending 48 hours with 1300 other "advancing men" at Glorietta. He said it was awesome! Our pastor keeps out doing himself with sermons that are just full of new insight and anointing. His message centered around the children of Israel following the fire when it moved. He said one of the problems with the church is they don't want to move when God moves. They want to stay where they have established camp - their comfort zone. It was a tremendous message and so much more to it than I explained! We are so blessed to sit under his ministry!

In the afternoon Phil attended the Royal Rangers session at the church.

Then in the evening we gave a barbecue for the five college students from ENMU who are going to one of the Eastern Asian cities Phil visited in November. We showed slides and REALLY enjoyed getting to know these outstanding young adults. We are so excited about the prospects of praying for them while they are there!

A Week in the Life - In case anyone is interested!

Monday: Gruen vonBehrens to Grady by 8:15 and then all over town, ending in dinner at Red Lobster - for no teeth the Man CAN eat! - and FCA in the Evening. He's a great guy! All he can talk about is Sarah, his Sweetheart, and their new baby girl, Kaitlyn! He is collaborating with me on some posters, thus the picture. I told him NOT to smile but I guess it's impossible. His face is in a permanent smile! I'm not sure if it is because surgery has made it that way or because of the wonderful blessings God has given him in Sarah and Kaitlyn, life and a new life in Christ he also loves to talk about! In any case, wouldn't it be convenient for some of us to have "permanent smiles"? If I read the Word correctly, we should! Gruen, I hope you read this blog entry and know we truly enjoyed your visit!

Tuesday: Prayer at noon at church, lunch at Mom's, Tobacco presentation at Drug court by Phil

Wednesday: Give luncheon (6 pizzas, devoured) at CHS to 12 "creme' de la creme'" FCA guys and a spit tobacco training. They great kids are going to be peer educators at a junior high boys' summit we are helping sponsor on Monday.

Thursday: Home by 11:00 p.m. Had coffee with Patricia at Java Loft at 8:30 am before getting a pedicure and working out! (Hey, got to take care of me!) Took Gruen back to Lubbock, dinner at Olive Garden including dessert (this job does have its perks!) Phil gave a presentation at his 6:45 a.m. Kiwanis Club and met with his Emmaus homeboys before leaving on a bus load of men to the Men's Advance at Glorietta and will be back Sat afternoon. I pray it's a great time. He called to say there were 1300 men there.

Friday: Stay home and clean! Fixed mom lunch. We had a salad I picked out of the garden from an assortment of lettuce, ridicio, and other mysterious greens,(mom was suspecious and not very adventurous) topped with pine nuts and served with a "Huckleberry Vinigrette" brought from Montana! Then I picked an awesome handful of herbs out of Phil's garden which I used to season the white sauce for the angel hair pasta. Among the conglomeration was rosemary, hot oregeno, parsley, garlic greens. The salmon I broiled was topped with fresh dill! We had peas and Texas garlic toast, too!

I am pleased that I still made time to swim twice at the college, lift weights once there and work out on my treadmill and weights at home once! I am going to lift again today. I missed my workout on Tuesday but, ahem, that was Phil's fault! I will lift again today when I go to town to shop.

Tomorrow we will be entertaining five students from ENMU who will be going as a FOCUS team this summer to one of the cities Phil visited. He will be sharing his insights with them as well has his pictures. I will also pick up 160 t-shirts I helped design and will distribute on Monday....

Next week isn't any less diverse. Things will be WILD until at least the middle of June. We will be going to Albuquerque three out of the next four weeks.

By the way, we had 280 in our church service on Easter Sunday! And last week was just awesome. The sermon was about the metaphorical language of God. Fastinating! It opens up a whole new dimension in understanding scripture. Why was I never taught this stuff? I have finished the book on hospitality written by the monk and am well into my second one as well as read 1-1/2 other books on relationships this past week and a half! I am thankful for these resources and the tremendous insights I am receiving!

Tooodle Ooo!

Fame & Shame

Here are some great kids that accompnaied us to Albuquerque to the Fame and Shame event at the KiMo (No pun intended! That's the name!) Theater in downtown. The event included Tobacco prevention youth organizations from all over the state and was a mock "Academy Awards" event. Shamie awards went to the actors and actress who used tobacco most often in the movies this past year. Fame awards went to outstanding student tobacco prevention advocates throughout the state. We traveled in a snowstorm on Friday night and spent the night at the Windham Hotel next to the airport. We even got in a couple hours of mal shopping on Saturday afternoon!




Sunday Phil and I picked up Gruen vonBehrens who is speaking to students throughout our area. I will take him back to the airport on Thursday. Busy week!

He is Risen!

He is risen, indeed!

We had an amazing Resurrection Day! Even though it was cold and dreary, the warmth of light shone through. It snowed on Friday and has been biter cold all weekend. Last night the temperature dipped to 25 degrees of wet cold. The dampness made it colder for us since we are used to dry cold.

Our church was packed! There were lots of visitors. The worship service was wonderful. Our minister of music and a friend of his gave a dramatization of his life, how God got a hold of his heart and transformed him out of a life of deprivation and despair. It was powerful! There was such as anointing. At the end of the message an invitation was given. Probably about twenty to thirty came forward, nearly all of them men. It was a wonderful day, indeed!

In the evening a new couple came to our house. Our pastor's sister and her husband recently moved here from San Antonio. I happened to have a dresser and some chairs I was not needing anymore and gave them to them. Phil and I made chocolate pie which we served topped with pecans!

"O perfect Lamb of Passover,

Let me not quickly run,

Recount to me the blessed plot,

Tell how the plan was spun.

That I, a slave of Egypt's lust,

A prisoner of dark dread,

Could be condemned unto a cross

And find you nailed instead!"

(Beth Moore: Jesus the One and Only)

Radical Hospitality

I am beginning this entry full of joy and with tears in my eyes! I just checked each of my children's blogs. Each family has a new entry! I just love blogs! First I see my precious, adorable granddaughter, Kaylee and read how Jana, so exhausted, and at the end of her strength, prayed the Lord would allow her to have a good night's rest and Kaylee slept through the night (7 hours) for the first time! Then I see Pat making biscuits for a young man they have taken into their home for a period of time until he can get a job there in Alaska. Hospitality!

Finally, and this is the one that brought tears, I read of Lesli's special communion blessing (click the link and read for yourself). I know about "Jim" so I can totally visualize the scene. This is so in keeping with what I AM READING ABOUT HOSPITALITY! What an extraordinary blessing to have children living out a life of faith!!!!

I have purchased three books on Biblical hospitality. One is pretty shallow and not at all what I anticipated but the other two: "Radical Hospitality - Benedict's Way of Love" and "Making Room - Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition". Both of these are deepening my appreciation of the fact that Christian hospitality is one of the most fundamental ways God intends for us to build His Kingdom. Lesli's experience underscores this type of experience. True hospitality is about receiving others; opening up yourself to them, taking a risk, getting messy and getting involved in being Christ to the world.

Incidentally, reading a book written by a monk and written about monastic tradition isn't something I would have ever imagined I'd do! It certainly has demolished my concept of monastery life! Stop yawning!

Sunday we decided to invite a few people over for lunch and "practice hospitality". We had no idea who it was going to be when we went to church. We ended up with a an interesting group. One was a man visiting from out of town who was here to assist a relative clean up after the tornado. He was a widower with an eleven year old (ADD) son. Another was a godly, elderly man who attends our church whom we have grown to love. When you first see him, you figure he must be homeless or something. He wears overalls every Sunday, has a scruffy, unkempt beard and no front teeth. He has a very interesting look about him! I seldom see anyone visiting with him. He was a faithful attendee to the Monday evening Football fellowship Phil established. He is a man of prayer and faith. He is always immaculately clean. Cristy was also there and brought Brian, one of our other singles. It was an interesting group. Cristy gulped twice when she saw the boy whom she said drove her nuts in children's church. We both figured God was trying to teach her something! Who knows why God led us to these people. We had invited another single man who had recently got custody of him one-year old son. He happily accepted but did not show up.

I am trying hard to change my ways about hospitality, making it more about the people and less about what I serve, how I serve it and how prepared my home is for company! This is a struggle for me! We grilled hamburgers instead of making a big Sunday dinner. I purchased potato salad, opened a can of baked beans and filled a pie shell with a can of pie filling (Phil wasn't impressed with that!). The hamburgers were delicious!

I believe the elderly gentlemen was truly blessed as was the father and son. After lunch everyone played catch with a softball for about an hour but I got a nap. I was so tired! When the boy left Phil overhead him saying to his dad, "That was a fun visit, dad, huh?" You just never know...

In "Radical Hospitality" there are numerous profound statements about hospitality. Here are a few:

"Hospitality is not about what you do, it is about who you are becoming."

"We are accustomed to easy answers. Hospitality is not an easy answer. It requires that we take a chance and we change. It requires us to grow. The moment we engage with another person everything gets messy. Our time becomes not quite our own, we can count on others interrupting us. We become subject to a whole hoard of emotional dangers. ... Because hospitality always involves giving something of ourselves to others, it is a spiritual practice. Spirituality is about relationship.

"What we want in spirituality today is comfort. It's about wanting a Jesus that tastes good, gives you the comforts of sweets and fast food, and makes you feel good inside.....Genuine spirituality is not cozy, and seldom makes you comfortable. It challenges, disturbs, unsettles, and leaves you feeling like someone is at the center of your existence on a major remodeling mission. Spiritually is meant to change you. If it doesn't, it is something less than spirituality. This tendency of ours to seek our comfort should tell us something about ourselves. We lack. We need but what we need is not a "chocolate Jesus and Chicken Soup. They won't help the problem. We need stronger medicine for our sickly souls. We need a transforming, shake-you-to-the-soles-of-your-feet kind of remedy. We need transforming Love!"

These comments, which I just read this week were quite timely for us. You see, most people we fellowship with at our church have quite complicated lives. Many have a history of substance abuse and/or jail OR have a relative in jail or recently out of jail and/or living with them or have a drug problem and are sucking them dry, holding them hostage to their needs. When you open yourself up to embrace these kinds of people, it truly is messy and requires a lot. Many of you know about a couple who were saved in our home. God has given these people to us to transform us! It is not easy. Their lives go from one major, and I mean MAJOR crisis to another! The words from these books spoke directly to the lamentation heard in our household over the latest crisis and how in the world we could possibly help and what was it going to cost us! One thing I had to remind myself of was that we are not responsible or required to solve peoples problems. We only required to offer them love and help as God directs. Jesus is Jesus for such a time as this! And oh, how we need Him!