What????

This is really disturbing:
http://http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,522637,00.html .

Things are Growing!!!!

Yes, it's been a very long time. Anyone (I know there are a couple of you) who ever read this blog probably gave up checking a long time ago. But, today I am so excited by the "miracle of life" as my daughter so aptly puts it (http://www.elaineinnewplaces.blogspot.com/ewplaces.blogspot.com/) that I had to share some pictures of my own. Today we had the joy of eating the first fruits of our vegetable garden - a lovely little cucumber!

I have never claimed to have anything resembling a green thumb, but the garden I inherited when we bought this house has inspired me. We have planted our own little vegetable garden, decorated our patio living area with beautiful flowering baskets, filled the spaces in our fountain garden,and added to our kitchen herb garden.

And yes, I do feel like a proud parent as I watch my vegetables, herbs, and flowers grow, bloom, and produce! It was so fun this past weekend when the guests we entertained from our small group at church asked what I had seasoned the salmon with and I got to say: "fresh herbs from my garden"!

And we have been thoroughly enjoying the bursts of color in the plantings so graciously placed and left behind by the previous owners of our home. Late last summer I even had someone from the local garden center come and tell me what I have growing in my yard, so I could even manage to impress you by naming all the plants in my yard.

We really do enjoy spending time outside in our yard, and this time of year the evenings are delightful. There are a few more mosquitos than I remember when we first got here last July, but even a few more is still a lot less than the hoards of them that used to great me within 5 minutes of sitting on my deck in Marietta. So, while I'm still not sure this feels like home, it's getting a little closer! We are blessed!

The Blizzard that Wasn't

Earlier this month I signed up to get weather alerts text messaged to me on my cell phone. Since it was the beginning of Tornado season, I thought it was a good idea. So, Thursday afternoon at about 4:00 I 'm driving to a small town east of Wichita when the alert notification sounds on my cell phone. It said: "A Blizzard Warning has been issued for Wichita, KS". What? Well, I must admit, the weather reports had been talking about a significant amount of snow coming to our area on Friday and Saturday, but I didn't really believe it. I mean, after all, it was 75 on Sunday and the signs of spring are apparent everywhere! A blizzard! Let's get real! But the weather forcasters were insistant! I even recieved 6 more text message alerts over the next 36 hours. The weather was supposed to begin Friday morning with some wintry mix, changing over to blowing, heavy snow (otherwise known as a blizzard) by Friday evening and continuing well into the day on Saturday. I had an appointment on Friday morning and by the time I got home it was indeed beginning to sleet, and by late morning we were convinced we were experiencing the beginnings of a big, bad spring blizzard. There was even some talk of "thunder snow" (that would be a new experience!) The weather forecasters were predicting anywhere from 9-16 inches of the white stuff and the early quick accumulation of sleet had us pretty well convinced that the meteorologists may even be underestimating this thing! But then it slowed to almost a stop, and then it began to rain. By the time we went to bed last night, the total accumulation was little more than it had been at 1:00 in the afternoon! The rain was freezing so there was a fairly thick coating of ice accumulating on the branches and surfaces, but we had been anticipating the white stuff! And although we were concerned about what a blizzard could mean, anticipating a larger accumulation of snow then this family had witnessed in over 10 years was kind of exciting. An ice storm was definitely a dissappointment! When we woke up this morning, there was just more ice. It had obviously rained a good bit overnight - our pool cover was quite full. We were all shaking our heads at how wrong the weather forcast had been for us (there were parts of Kansas west of Wichita that did get almost 2 feet of snow). Then at about 8:00 this morning, it finally began to snow! And it snowed pretty hard until a little after noon (not a blizzard, but a decent amount of snow). There was enough wind to cause some drifting, but still not even close to blizzard conditions. So, Steve's mom is getting to spend a couple of extra days here - she was supposed to go home this morning, but the ice and snow was enough to cancel flights out of town. And we are having some fun playing in the snow today. It won't last long, spring will be back in a day or two. And we'll be back into Tornado season again. Hey, I wonder if there is such a thing as a snownado?

Tornado Season

Tornado season has arrived in Kansas. Yesterday we prepared our "safe" room (the room in our basement that is 3 sides concrete) with the necessities of spending time there when necessary: water, granola bars and mandarin oranges (in easy open plastic packages), a mattress and some sleeping bags, shoes (thanks Cindy!), flashlights, batteries, radio. The first potential for severe weather was forcast to arrive yesterday evening, and sure enough, the tornado sirens did go off at about 8:15 last evening. One thing we have noticed about severe weather forcasts here in Kansas - they know exactly what they are looking for and they keep the public well informed. So, while the tornado sirens were alarming and we could hear them well, we went to our basement but not the safe room. Why would we not go in the safe room if the tornado sirens were sounding? We were informed by the television weather broadcasters that the sirens are activated on a county wide basis, and the storm trackers (both in the weather station and out in the weather) keep you well informed of exactly where the trouble spot is. And, thanks to our wonderful flat terrain and straight road grid system, not only can a funnel cloud be easily spotted, you can tell exactly how far you are away from it just by counting the grid blocks that the roads create! So, it was quite easy for the weather forecasters to pinpoint exactly where the trouble spot was and using the storm direction and speed, tell you exactly how long you had to seek shelter. They were able to tell us and show us that although the western edge of our county was in the path of the storm, we were about 20 miles away and the storm was tracking to the north and west of our little grid point. So, we hung out in the basement for about an hour, switching channels on the TV back and forth between a silly movie and the storm trackers, until it was apparent that the storm was loosing intensity and the warning was lifted - thankful that we have a safe room, but even more thankful that we didn't need it - this time. We do wish they made a weather radio available that would alert you only of tornado warnings ( not all severe thunderstorm warnings and flash flood warnings, etc.) and only in our area of the county instead of county wide - the alarm on those things can lift you right off the bed when you are in the midst of a sound sleep! (We learned that a little later last night, but gratefully went right back to sleep when we learned it was "only" a severe thunderstorm warning in a different area of the county.) So, hopefully the rest of the season will be as uneventful as last night was. Oh, by the way - the shoes are in case when you open the door of the safe room you are greeted by broken glass or other hazards. Like I said, hopefully the rest of the season will be as uneventful as last night!

An Update

Well, i guess a few more people read this thing than I thought; I've had a few comments and emails about my lack of updates, so here goes!

I have been kind of busy lately - added a half day at work and have had projects to get done that have kept me busy in the evening. My brain has been very busy - I took and passed my 3 certification tests (wound, ostomy, and continence) a few weeks ago - so I'm good for another 5 years!! I've also been putting together some teaching modules for work. And, I've been contemplating my faith, a lot (in a really good, wrestle with the truth kind of way).

We started doing "The Truth Project" in a small group from church in early January - if you have the opportunity I highly recommend this journey! It has really, really been good to look at the foundations of my faith and to begin to understand the lies of the world and how I have been affected by them. It has been really, really good to look closely at God and His Truth and to solidify my trust in Him and His Word. It has been amazing to understand, perhaps for the 1st time, God's purpose for my life: to know Him fully. To understand that my relationships, my gifts and talents, my passions, have all been carefully designed by God so that I might know Him better. I thought my purpose was my calling to be a nurse and to be a wife and mother, but I am beginning to understand that He has gifted me and given me these passions and these relationships so that I might know Him. And the amazing thing is that He gets firey jealous of anything that keeps me from knowing Him - imagine that, the Creator of the Universe jealous of anything that keeps little ole me from Him! Looking at my life from this angle has had some interesting consequences - like this morning when my first patient was talking on her cell phone and complaining about how long this was taking the whole time I was trying to draw her blood - I think normally that would have put a bad enough twist on the start of my day that I would have grumbled and stewed for a while - but this morning I was really able to look at the situation and say "OK Lord, I know you are trying to teach me something - let me be open to whatever it is." I didn't get any instant revelations, but I had a really calm, peaceful day despite the fact that it was pretty hectic in the clinic this morning.

And God is being so faithful in showing us His Hand and His Presence as we continue to find our place here in Wichita. In the small group that we are in at church, we have connected with one person whose mother grew up in the same small town area of South Jersey as my father did, and also another who I made an amazing connection with when I discovered that I was her brother's wound care nurse in Atlanta. It was a special revelation to both of us of God's loving care.

And Kim is excitedly preparing to enter Colorado Christian University in the fall - this is a dream come true for her! In fact, when she was trying to decide where to go to college when she was still in high school, she fell in love with Colorado Christian but in the end decided it was just too far away. She joked with us, knowing that Koch is headquartered in Wichita - that "maybe Dad should get transferred to Wichita so I can be closer to Colorado Christian." So here we are! And there she goes!!

So, I can't really say that Wichita feels like home yet - but we are certain that God's hand is on us and He is using this journey to grow us in knowledge of Him. So we continue to trust Him and continue to be excited about where He is leading us.