Martin Luther King, Jr. Luncheon

 One of the opportunities Tim had this week was performing what the Army calls an invocation at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Luncheon conducted by his brigade, the 525th BFSB.  Tim has been acting-brigade chaplain for 2 months now, and this invocation is part of what the brigade chaplain would noramlly do.  So, he had the privelege of reading a passage of Scripture and saying a prayer over the luncheon.  He did a FABULOUS job!  As I listened to the different speakers who performed readings from some of the writings of King's family and intimate friends, I was struck by how deeply spiritual a man he was.  He was a minister, found himself constantly in prayer, and quoted the Bible daily.  His overarching message was "We will overcome", yes, but also "We will overcome without violence."  It was a wonderful time of reflection and rememberance.

Him

Because I never seem to say enough about him, here is an entire blog post dedicated entirely to that man of mine.  My husband is fantastically one of a kind.  God truly broke the mold after making him.  Having spent the last 2 weeks with him (day in and day out) I am reminded of just how blessed I am to have him in my life.  He has the brain of a genius, the brawn of a athelete, and the behavior of a REALLY nice guy. Everywhere, everyday I see evidences of just how wonderfully God made him. There is almost always alot of thought and effort that goes into his actions (whether or not I can see it at the time!).  And if I can't figure something out, you can bet your sweet bottom that HE can!  He has the amazing ability to think of things that, even if given a month, I would never think of.  During our deployment I grew to miss his ingenuity and get-it-done-ness all the more.  And it has been SO nice to be able to say to myself, "Don't stress about it.  Tim can fix it!" I have often called him my "Renaissance Man" because he knows something about just about everything.  From rugby to computers, from cars to astronomy, from conservatism to physics, he is such a smart dude!  Just today we were at the store together doing the mundane task of shopping for groceries (I love doing the mundane things of life with him...makes it so much more exciting!) when lo-and-behold he brings up quantum networking and tries to make an analogy between that and the neural pathways of the human body.  I'm tellin' y'all, he's SMART!!  And to boot, he is KING of coming in solid at crunch time; he rocks the 11th hour stuff!  Me?  Not so much...

But for all his brilliance, he also has the uncanny ability to slow me down, to decompress me, to make me "stop and smell the roses".  I have a tendency to run, run, run until I drop and he keeps me balanced by encouraging me to take time for myself, to sit a little while, to relax.  He endulges me in the things that are not "mission critical" to the home front but are entertaining and of interest to me alone.  On this the 4th anniversary of my blog, I thought it fitting to write about the guy who seldom gets the credit but so often deserves it.  I love you, Tim Raburn.  Thank you for making me yours :-)

Christmas happenings

Merry Christmas!!  The following is a picture/video storytelling of the"December happenings" of the Raburns. Starting with Jordan's preschool Christmas production...

This front row is Jordan and all her boy-friends...you see, she is the only girl in her preschool class.  8 boys, 1 girl!!

Santa had just entered the Sanctuary as a result of the kids singing Jingle Bells.  Ms. Jodi looks surprised as well!

Dylan and I posing for a picture by the tree.  Yup, you guessed it...Jordan wouldn't sit still long enough to join us!

Some really cute footage.  In true preschool performance fashion, she didn't sing but a few words and she mostly hammed it up and checked on her "friends" the whole time.  Priceless!  (Her teacher Ms. Nakisha -- or Ms. Sha-sha as Jordan calls her -- is on the left).  The best part of the evening?  DADDY WAS HERE!

Next, we had a "Happy Birthday Jesus" party for the kids in our neighborhood. We wished more kids could have made it, but we had a great time with the ones who came.

Kids gathered round to hear the Christmas story from the Bible.

Party guests enjoying a little playtime.

Playing "put baby Jesus in the manger" (in the fashion of "pin the tail on the donkey")

A round of Christmas carols led by the kids.

 Chaplain reading the Christmas story.

 Time for birthday cupcakes!

Happy Birthday Jesus!!

Dylan's school also put on a holiday performance.  His Christmas Cantata was a showcase of various Christmas songs and Scripture readings.  Each class took their turn on the stage doing their numbers.

What a bunch of hams!! 

All in a week's work

What a week it's been!  In the past 8 or 9 days alot has been happening on the homefront.  For starters, I went into the garage one day to find a light brownish substance leaking from the front of my SUV toward the door of our garage.  Yikes.  Long story made shorter: the culprit ended up being the water pump.  But thanks to our power train warranty (and the fact that we bought the vehicle new), we were only $20 out of pocket -- and that was just for the assessment estimate.  We were so thankful to God that was all we had to pay, because the estimate came back with a total of more than $500 worth of work and parts! 

Fastforward to 3 days later. A call to my husband to let him know I was on my way home went something like this: "Hey honey.  How are you?"  "I'm fine.  I'M doing okay."  "Okay, I'm almost home."  "Okay, yeah.  I'M alright, but my motorcycle's not..."  Yeah, not the conversation that a wife wants to hear...EVER.  Long story made shorter, again: A car pulled out in front of my husband leaving him little time to stop.  He DID manage to stop, but not without laying his bike down.  He walked away with little more than some road rash.  Again, THANK GOD!  The guy who pulled out in front of him did stop to check on him and assess the damages.  And he's willing to pay for whatever it costs to fix the bike, since he knows he caused the accident.

Fastforward to the next day.  A drive in my husband's car to a Christmas party left me scratching my head in regards to a noise I could hear coming from under the hood.  When I pulled back into his parking space, I could see a puddle where his car had been leaking.  Long story short: Power steering pump hose gone bad.  Not bad for a vehicle with 150k+ miles on it.  Again, we were given a $500 estimate.  But again, God provided a cheaper way.  A friend of a coworker has repaired it and we ended up paying less than half of the estimate.

In addition to this, our big girl moved into her big girl bed.  This went surprisingly smooth in comparison to Dylan's transition.  She LOVES her new bed and tries to show it to any visitors that come over. 

Throw in a couple of Christmas parties and a preschool Christmas program and all of this adds up to a VERY busy week.  However, the busyness is dying down and we are slowing down to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas.  Last night we read "God Gave Us Christmas" around our tree and sang some Christmas carols.  The kids thought that was alot of fun and recreated the event this morning upon awakening.

Something else cool happened this week.  I accomplished what I never would have thought possible.  I have been running alot this year, so much so that I am going to break the 200 mile mark before the year is out.  But a 5k was about as far as I could go at any given time.  However this week I slowed down my speed a bit and pushed myself distance-wise.  I ended up running two 6.5-mile jaunts around Pope Army Airfield on two separate days.  A total equaling a half-marathon!!  It was pretty exciting to see what this thirty-something body is still capable of!

Stationery card

Rejoice In Him Religious Christmas Card

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The Thanksgiving trail

Our family recently enjoyed a Thanksgiving road trip to the great state of Alabama.  It was our first lengthy road trip since Daddy’s return and BOY did we have a car full!  The two of us plus two kids and two dogs…Whew...Equals one packed car!  Before we left, we enjoyed a mock-Thanksgiving meal in our own home complete with fine china and candlelight.  D thought it was really something special.  He took one look at the table and said, “Oh, Momma!  Thank you so much for doing this!”  His heart of gratitude made me smile in satisfaction, for our family began a new tradition this year: 30 days of Thanksgiving.  Using a piece of paper from the kids’ giant art tablet, we began to list out daily one thing we were thankful for.  Each of us took turns writing, even D.  It became something to look forward to daily.

My dad had recently undergone knee surgery to replace his left knee.  So things were a little different than normal at my parent’s house.  Dad had a rough go of things following surgery, so we were very anxious to see him for this holiday.  He improved by leaps and bounds right before our very eyes while we were visiting!  He went from barely ambulating to walking the house with a cane in a matter of days.  The kids weren’t sure what to think of their “Poppy” in his condition.  D kept asking how his knee was doing and J wanted to check on his “boo-boo”.  My mom was doing a wonderful job of running the house (of a sorts) and keeping up with Thanksgiving traditions.  Thankful for their 35 years together!

One of our stops along the way was to visit Tim’s widowed grandmother, affectionately known as “Granny”.  Our kids had a wonderful time at her house.  It is an old Alabama country home, but it is so much more than that to my husband.  As a missionary kid, it was one of the few “constants” in his life.  The place is full of things to do and tinker with.  Stuff of a boy’s childhood dreams.  And now Tim is getting the chance to share it with his son.  On our visit they explored the upstairs of the “apartment”, shot 2 kinds of BB guns, went to the wood’s edge, and told tales of nearly-legendary motorcycle jumps.  D’s fascination grew until he was hooked.  He cried when it was time for us to leave.  J, too, had fun living vicariously through her brother’s adventures, though most of his exploring was done during her nap.  As I laid her down to sleep in Granny’s room gently warmed by an antique gas heater, I too rested my head for a bit on the king-sized bed.  For a moment, all was quiet and it gave me pause to think.  My heart felt grateful for the chance to be so full of things to be thankful for, for holidays, and silence, and family.  For old houses and deep memories.  For things that change and things that do not.  For a sleeping baby and an adventure-some boy.  For the man whose Army medals hung across the bedroom on the wall.  For his service in Korea to our country.  For the life he lived and the love he shared.  For the time my son had to know him.  For the soldier we welcomed home this year and his selfless service too.

It was on our travels that I really took time to notice what great playmates our two little arrows have become.  They prefer each other’s company and the number of fights I have to break up is beginning to decrease.  They seek each other out for play and she can do JUST about anything he can.  At three and a half years apart he is old enough to look out for her but still young enough to play her kinds of games.  My prayer is for a life of peace and friendship between them.

As I blog, our family is making its way back to our Army homestead, traveling this long stretch of rainy highway.  This week will no doubt be filled with decorating for the great December celebration.  I love that Thanksgiving (which our family DOES celebrate as a separate holiday-entity unto itself!) ushers in the Christmas season each year.  What more perfect way to ready our homes and our lives for the greatest, most needed gift to humanity than with thankful hearts?!  Finally I can say it…Merry Christmas to all!

thankFUL

Another week is digested down and the calm pause of the weekend is upon us.  Time for reflection.  Time to breathe.  This the first weekend of November also brings with it thoughts of the season: the season of thanksgiving.  Our family has begun a list, adding to it each day as we take turns putting to paper what our hearts are most grateful for.  And, oh, the things that kids can come up with to give thanks for!  An attitude of gratitude is what we are after.

A good friend (who also yields the pen well) recommended a book to me entitled "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp.  I, who am a painfully slow reader, have been gnawing away at this book since late summer.  It is not a speed read.  It is a book to nibble on, to mentally savor, to let marinade over on the heart for a while before coming back for more.  The premise of the book is that every day is filled with blessings and joy, it's just up to us to find them and purpose to be grateful for what God has graciously given us, in all things.  On a good day, most of us would agree with that premise if it weren't for the last phrase, '...in ALL things."  And it is that phrase which Voskamp works so diligently at bringing to light.

Less than halfway through this read I find myself, as the providence of God would have it, in the pages about giving thanks during, when else, but the SEASON of giving thanks.  (I love how He watches over us in even the smallest of ways.  His attention to detail, so intimate.)  A look into the New Testament reveals a couple of instances when Jesus Himself gave thanks.  Jesus, the God-man, gave thanks?  Must be an important cause, this cause of giving thanks.  It was round the table with His dearest of worldly friends close by, them not fully understanding the symbolic feast that was before them, that He uttered the words.  "He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them..." (Luke 22:19) This bread, the symbolism of his body soon to be broken, caused Him to give thanks.  What was He thankful for?  The pain?  The physical agony?  The separation to come between He and the Father?  All of it.  For through all of it would come the redemption of mankind, the purpose for which He entered our sphere.  Jesus' work wasn't complete until He himself showed gratitude for the hard thing that God would bring about.

Earlier in the Scripture Jesus was again with those men-friends in the midst of a large crowd.  The crowd was hungry for truth and food.  The Savior had just finished feeding their souls and was ready to feed their stomachs.  What was He given?  Five loaves of bread and two fish.  Only enough food for a small boy.  How did he handle such an offering?  By saying, "Take it back, boy.  It is but a drop in the bucket"?  No.  "Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted." (John 6:11)  As Voskamp says:

"Jesus embraces His not enough...He gives thanks...And there is more than enough.  More than enough!  Eucharisteo (giving of thanks) always, always precedes the miracle."

Twice Jesus shows us how to give thanks in the midst of hard things, the too-tough and the too-little.  Recently a conversation with friends reminded me of the "hard eucharisteo" (to use Voskamp's terminology) Corrie Ten Boom encountered. The lice and fleas were so thick in their concentration camp barracks that the German guards refused to enter, thus allowing those Jews to escape certain abuse and torture.  Corrie encouraged the other Jewish women to give thanks for the lice and fleas.  Thanks for lice and fleas?  When God is Sovereign over all, yes, thanks for lice and fleas.

In this season of Thanksgiving, remember to give thanks IN ALL THINGS.  You never know what miracle is around the corner...and up His sleeve.  Ephesians 5:20 - "Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ"