Spirit Wind

Oh the irony...
We started school today and the topic is Wind.

While getting ready for school this year, my summer was spent re-organizing and cleaning nearly every inch of my home. While pulling things out of my closet, I discovered a handwritten phone number for a friend I lost recently. I did not get to talk to her before she passed, and this will always remain one of my greatest sources of sorrow. Her memory lives on in the name of my daughter, a decision made en route to her funeral while I was 7 months pregnant.

Her memory lives on, too, I've discovered, in many of the songs we sing in worship. I am a die-hard alto and automatic harmonizer. But in recent years I've had to fight that tendency and sing melody for church worship leading. There is a gift I am given now in a Spirit wind that only she and I can hear as my angel-friend sings in my ear now as I lead the music many times on Sundays. I can almost audibly hear her voice in my ear many times as I recall the many hours we spend singing together, and the ease with which things always fell together for she and I. We had a natural collaboration unlike anything I've ever experienced with anyone before or since.

Things began to ramp up for us. We had someone interested in recording our first CD. We had a guitar player and a drummer. We did a photo shoot for the album cover. We were singing in coffee houses, churches, and other events. After years of writing songs together and dreaming together, we were seeing things start to come together. Then the winds of change picked up.

She married quickly and unexpectedly one weekend shortly before her betrothed was shipped off to the warfront. She called me from her new home. She had moved several states away. We unwittingly lost touch as we began our families and dedicated our efforts to their raising and rearing. But we had an unspoken understanding that this was a higher calling than even our music had been.

At her funeral her father and I spoke of this high calling, and how despite the depth of the calling we both had in our younger years for our music, we both focused on our children and husbands with great joy and dedication. There was no shame in redirecting our previous musical efforts toward recording an album to the church bodies we served. Some might say we had 'settled' for lives as dowdy wives and mothers. Yet she and I would raise our coffee mugs to toast the highest calling we had come to know.

Though I miss your hugging arms, and sharing the laughter with you around campfires, I thank you for singing in my ear as the wind of the Holy Spirit moves through our worship. I look forward to harmonizing with you for ten thousand years above, angel-friend.

Viral wind, RVs, and tees

One of our dear children attracted a nice friendly little cold virus late last week and has blessed us all with its joys and wonders, sniff. Sorry we missed the blog earlier this week. Nuff sed.

We've got more Michiganian submits this week on the order of retro gaming: very fun flashbacks to childhood! Orders are trickling in and giving us hope for better tomorrows!

So what did you do on your summer vacation? Its time for back to school, and we all remember having to stand in front of class and report, or fill that line on our first writing assignments. Has anyone ever gone on an extended RV adventure? What was that like? Was it truly a bonding experience for the family? Where did you go, and what was your M.O.? What's the most amazing thing you've done as a family?

We visited Fall Creek Falls state park twice this summer and the kids loved sliding down the natural waterslides at the bottom of the falls and swimming in the pools, climbing the rocks, and looking out over the vast river basins. God's artwork is so far superior to our own.

Alas, it is time to sharpen the pencils, dig out the paper, scissors, glue, and crayons.

Heading out in the a.m. to get stocked up for my own crew. I am way more excited than my kids over what we get to learn about at "Vick Academy" this fall. But more than the subject matter, I am totally geeked at the thought of just spending bonding time with them, learning THEM! I hope that my enthusiasm will eventually work its way over to them. I hope that I can get over the humps with the "I don't want to's" and the "this is stupid's" and the occasional long faces over stinky writing assignments. I'm all about unschooling, but man, sometimes ya just gotta do it!!

Well, here's to hoping for creative juices to flow to motivate my kids, and maybe some artists out there who wouldn't mind seeing their own creations on a shirt or pair of jeans. It's kind of fun - I can say from personal experience! You should try it! Encourage the doodlers and aspiring artists in your life to submit art to www.westpoleclothiers.com.

I'll let you know what blows in on the Wind!