I'm baacckk...

My body is weary. My dorm room is a complete and utter disaster. I have no idea what my final class schedule will look like this semester. I already have a million crazy thoughts about people and relationships and serving and growing flooding my brain.

But I have my fish. :)

Meet Chauncey.



All will straighten out. I'm looking forward to where the Lord leads me this semester. It will be a good journey.

PS I will post pictures of my room eventually, but NOT now. :D

PSS "Yakov, what does 'PS' mean?" "Why, it means, 'Please, Sweetheart.'" (Inspector General)

Three more nights

"Goodnight! Love you!"
"Goodnight! See you in the morning, Lord willing."

Those words are the equivalent of "Goodnight, John-boy" in our house.
And I only have three more nights of hearing them before I'll be back on Asbury Road, in Dubuque, Iowa, sleeping in my dorm room. Whoosh! What a summer! Where has it gone? I'm looking forward to being back in school, but I am already missing everyone here. It was sad to say goodbye to my little cousins on Sunday...





And little Deborah keeps coming into my room to hang around and tell me that she doesn't want me to leave. Boxes are starting to pile up in my room, and it is looking emptier. I have so much stuff. Why on earth? And every time I move, I give some more of it away. Soon I won't have anything. That is, after I move about 150 more times. :) For instance, I gave away two shirts today - one was one of my Hawaiian shirts. I have three and I only wear one of them. I offered one to Abby, and she took the one I always wear. That's a good thing, because then I'll actually wear the other two. :P It really is all just stuff. Most of it I could live without if I had to. But since I don't have to live without it and it makes life more pleasant, for the time being anyway, I keep it (except for what I give away). :)

I'll be heading up to Iowa on Friday morning, Lord willing. My next post will probably be from the land of never-ending cornfields. :D

Farewell, Kansas...I'll miss thee. :)

Not at all like August...

I'm sitting on the couch listening to my sister play the piano and a light cool, fall-smelling breeze wafts through the door. Sunday night it rained and yesterday it was cool all day even though we were canning applesauce - as a matter of fact, last night when I lay out in the Woodland Garden talking on the phone, I was actually cold! So yeah...this is a little unlike August...

Well, I'm home from camp, and it was a lovely two weeks, that's for sure.



First, the Lord gave me a wonderful week where I was able to teach 13 little girls about how faithful and trustworthy the Lord is. To be sure, it was more like the Lord teaching me, the other staff workers, and the 13 girls to boot, just using my mouth. :) Wow, I love teaching. And I love those girls. And I love Jesus. So...combine those three, and give me a week revolving around them all and it's just about perfect. :) Some evenings after I finished, I was on such a high I could hardly settle down. Two girls got saved! Praise the Lord! All of the girls were a huge encouragement to us on staff. It is such a blessing to see young women with a heart for the Lord. It was also a huge encouragement to see the Lord using the teenagers who were counseling. Two of the counselors, the director and I were in our twenties, but three of the counselors were only 15, and it was exciting to see their excited hearts for the Lord and see how He used them. We had a princess theme and it was so much fun to pretend we were a bunch of Cinderellas for the week.



Or, at least Prince Charmings...though I'm not sure where that one came from... :D

Then came family camp. Anyone remember Charlotte's Web when Wilbur is getting into the crate and the sheep says "That crate should say, 'Zukermann's Famous Pig...and two stowaways'"? Well, our white van should have had a sign that said "Tammy Skiles' family...and four stowaways." :) Brad, Karin, Grandma, and my friend Caiti came with us. Aunt Jen's family were there, too, so in all, our "group" totaled 19 people. It was a riot. :) Actually, we really had a lovely time. I just love my siblings and cousins and it was a huge blessing to be able to spend a week with them. We did lots together, tubing, swimming, paddleboating, singing...even managed a trip to the caves. So fun!



My three objectives were:
1. Time to rest
2. Time with my family
3. Time with the Lord

All three were accomplished very well. :) So refreshing. I had a nap every single day! That should be mandatory for every human being. Every morning I was able to read my Bible and pray down by the lake for an hour or more. Talk about refreshing! So lovely! What a good week.



Now I only have 10 days until I'll be back at school. Wowsers! Where did the summer go? Although while I say that, I look back and think, man, it's been a long one. :) Time is a funny thing.

Thanks all, for praying!

There has to be a reason....

...that I'm blogging at 1:00 a.m. Hmm, strange person I am. I guess it's because I've been rather busy all week and Sunday I'll be going to camp, and I have a to-do list the size of my family's Christmas lists put together to do tomorrow, so I'm neglecting sleep to blog again. This is becoming habitual (this blogging), I'm afraid. I'm afraid because I'll probably disappoint you all and just as you're getting used to seeing new updates, you won't be getting them because I'll be immersed in 19 hours of schoolwork again in exactly four weeks, Lord willing. I will try, though. I will try.

Soooo...speaking of camp, Lord willing, from July 27-August 1, I'll be speaking at girls' grade school week of camp at Kansas Bible Camp. I am SO excited about it! Preparing the messages this month has been such a huge blessing. I am learning so much. We will be talking about faith in the lives of Anna, Rebekah, Hannah, the Widow of Zarephath, the Widow of 2 Kings 4, with the oil jug, and Naaman's wife's maid (boy, it'd sure be easier if the Lord had just named these dear women!). I had an amazingly timely and challenging reminder from a friend the other night, though. We were talking about preparing messages, and he was telling me about his "unorthodox" way of going about it. His steps to message prepration (in his words) are to:
1. Pray
2. Pray
3. Pray
4. Pray
5. Pray
6. Pray
7. Prepare the message
8. Pray
9. Practice the message
10. Pray
I don't doubt it for a minute, either. I've never known a man of prayer like Caleb. If he prayed that there would be no rain in Japan (where he's working as a missionary) for 3 years, the Lord would probably answer that (like Elijah, you know). :) In any case, it was kind of a gentle prodding from the Lord - "Maybe you should be praying more steadily and consistent about these messages, Elizabeth." So I've been doing that. I really covet your prayers this coming week! I know the Lord can do mighty things through His word. I only want to be the vessel. I want to be like Ezekiel, whose mouth was opened and shut by the Lord's hand. :) Please pray 1 Cor. 2:1-5 for me and for Sherry, the other speaker. :) THANK YOU!

In between all the microbiology tests (which went well - thank you!) and the message studying, I've been doing lots of random summery and not-so-summery things. Like...

...visiting my precious new baby cousin, Chloe Grace Rudzitis



...taking fun Americanized pictures of baseballs, flags, and puppy dogs



...splashing in rain puddles with an umbrella in one hand and a camera in the other



...talking to one of my favorite boys on the phone


(do you have ANY idea how encouraging it is, after years of keeping in touch with kids, encouraging them, challenging them to live for the Lord, to have them call or contact you when you haven't contacted them in a while, just because they want to find out how you are doing so they can pray for you? I've had two of my boys do that in the past two weeks and it is such a sweet blessing. 3 John 4)

...and dreaming, mostly about Peru, and the people I love all over the world, but about everything in general, too



Dreaming is nice in a Kansas summer. I love that my Jesus knows my dreams and is teaching me to dream things that He loves, too.

So, summer is good. The Lord is good. And you all are good for reading and caring and praying. :) Gracias!

summer song

Summer warm and lazy
Lemon sun and hazy
Remember?
Popsicle red on my chin
Bikes and plastic army men
And no sign of September
Something in my seven years was telling me
To thank the Author of such a biography

CHORUS
Nonny Nonny Odle'ee
River washes over me
Up for air and carry me away
Nonny Nonny Odle'igh
Run the earth and watch the sky
Praying hard and waiting for the day
Nonny Nonny Odle'ay


My adolescent 70's
Reads just like the pevensies
Adventures
'Cause every perfect now and then
I cought a glimpise of Aslan's mane
And I longed for His treasure
Something in His mystery was drawing me
To love the Author of my own biography

CHORUS
Nonny Nonny Odle'ee
River washes over me
Up for air and carry me away
Nonny Nonny Odle'igh
Run the earth and watch the sky
Praying hard and waiting for the day
Nonny Nonny Odle'ay

All grown up and living fine
Biographies all intertwined
With billions
And soonHe turnsthe final page
We'll look the Author in the face
Then the book really begins
'Cause something tells me all these years of memories
Are only the first sentence of eternity

CHORUS
Nonny Nonny Odle'ee
River washes over me
Up for air and carry me away
Nonny Nonny Odle'igh
Run the earth and watch the sky
Praying hard and waiting for the day...
Nonny Nonny Odle'ay

- Chris Rice

whooossshh

It's been a long week, ya'll. And it's only Tuesday. And I have scads to do. Why am I blogging? I suppose because I'd really appreciate prayer. :)

(read this with a mental British accent)
Margaret Dashwood: Have you really been to the East Indies, Colonel? What's it like?

Sir John Middleton: Like? HOT!

Colonel Brandon(mysteriously): The air is full of spices.

OR

New freshmen at school next month: Do you really live in Kansas, Liz? What's it like?

Liz: Like? HOT!

This week I'm spending my time pouring over my Bible, notebook, and laptop, or my microbiology notes, by turn. I'm preparing for my lessons when I speak at KBC, Lord willing, next week at the girls grade school week. Refilling my cup with ice water and adjusting the fan to blow at me just right are priorities. Every now and then I take a random, crazy break to do something like mow a lawn in 100+ degree weather.

I have lots to do this week (and that's an understatement!), and that's what I'd appreciate prayer for!
Please pray:
~ That the Lord will help me get my things finished for camp next week
~ That the my final micro test will go well tomorrow afternoon
~ That the Lord will use the letter I'll be giving to my micro teacher tomorrow to turn his heart to the Lord

Thanks!

PS No amount of business stops me from enjoying fellowship...I drop things to talk on the phone...anytime. :)

A summer day

Ah, don't you all wish you were me? Today I have no appointments, no schedules, no rushing about to do the next thing on my list. Oh, that's not to say I don't have a list....here it is:

Bible study for my lessons at the girls' camp in a week and a half
Picking apples for my mom with my sister and two little brothers
Studying for a microbiology test

The sun is shining, the breeze is light, the Lord is good and life is beautiful. I woke up this morning to my brother's hearty laugh joining with my mom's. Whenever Dave is around everyone laughs. It's inevitable. Even if I don't hear him laughing when I wake up I know if he's here or not just by how everyone is jolly and noisy upstairs.

Ah, breakfast now...biscuits and gravy. Then some lovely quiet time with the Lord and my day will get rolling.

Enjoy what the Lord gives YOU to do today! Choose joy!