What do you do when you find yourself in a nice but rather uninteresting hotel room for several hours?  I was annoyed with myself for not grabbing my laptop since there was free Wi-Fi of which I couldn’t even take advantage. 

        I did have my cell phone but I only had four or so audio books loaded and each of those I had listened to multiple times…

I started at the beginning of my contacts list and figured maybe I’d clean things up a bit.  Almost without thinking one of the names caught my attention and I began praying for this person whom I hadn’t seen or talked to in months.

        The downward scrolling slowly continued with frequent pauses and prayers as names kept coming up and petitions and praises poured out.

My emotions ran the gamut from sorrow to elation.  I found myself to be alternately blessed and distressed as different names brought to mind the uniqueness particular to their character and station in life.

        I found the names of folks I had known since I was young and others whose acquaintance I had made only in the recent past.  Some names were people I hadn’t thought about for a long while and then there was the name of my friend who had just had surgery and I had the pleasure of preparing supper for her and her family just this week.

        My eyes misted a bit as I came to a name that needed to be deleted and someone for whom my prayers were nil.  Cancer took our “flying” friend, Buddy, earlier this year.

        Later I laughed out loud as I struggled to make out whose name the robotic MobileSpeak voice was pronouncing.  The laughing happened after my frustration had peaked and I entered the “first name” edit field and read each letter at a time.  Hmmm, I wonder if the E.A.A. would like me to pray for them?

        Before I knew it the phone in my hand was ringing and that same robotic voice was saying, “Old Hat”!  I answered and soon had arrangements for lunch finalized.  Joel picked me up at the hotel and we headed to the agreed upon spot for the “xangans meet!” rendezvous.

        The lunch hour was over all too quickly but it definitely scored as the highlight of my day!  To sit around a table and chat with people who had previously only been blog acquaintances was a gratifying experience.  Mrs. Hat’s name doesn’t happen to appear on my contact list but I have prayed often for her in the past year when Mr. Hat blogged about her health struggles.  She was a walking testimony to the power of those many petitions sent up by many people.

        As I already stated, the lunch hour flew by!  “Old Hat” is just as entertaining in person as his blog suggests. I had nearly decided that I wouldn’t join Joel on this business trip since my week looked fairly full and I felt I could definitely be more productive at home than staring at four walls in the Best Western.  However when I discovered that the job was very near Old hat’s stomping grounds I couldn’t resist the chance to see one of my favorite xangans in person.  I was not disappointed!

        So…if you get the chance to go meet someone you’ve never seen in person –do it!  Currently there are four different xangans whom I learned to know online before meeting them in person-none were bad experiences!  Also, if you find yourself stuck in a hotel room with several hours to burn try praying through your contacts list.  The morning vanished before I got anywhere near going through all 600+ entries in my phone.

NEWS FLASH!

        What’s new and exciting at the Graber household?  Well, the little peanut swimming around on the screen of the ultrasound machine yesterday was waving frantically and anxious to make his/her presence known in this world.  If time continues we hope to be holding the little person sometime the first part of March.

        As of yesterday I had some semi-serious bleeding and was diagnosed with a subchorionic hematoma/hemorrhage and was put on bedrest for 2-3 weeks.  Already the spiders are jeering at me from the corners as I recline in my chair helpless to retaliate.  If you are so inclined you may pray that I heal quickly and additionally that Joel and I are given wisdom in raising a child for the Lord.

        Maybe I will improve on updating and keeping updated with my xanga circle of family and friends during this take-it-easy time.  I do have several good audio books waiting on me as well so I’ll be entertained for a while.—Kris, three of the four are Binchy’s I got today from Talking Books.  I’m giving her another chance. J

    I was running over to my sister-in-law’s house today to take her a sample dress.  She is doing some sewing for me and needed to see another dress that was already completed.  I realize that running isn’t highly recommended for people whose vision is 20/800 at best but I was doing it anyway.  However, the route to her house is across our grass runway which is open and flat as runways are supposed to be.  The biggest thing I have to think of tripping on is an ant hill.

    The problem started when I apparently angled west too quickly and found myself in the corn patch.  Now understand that there is a corn patch on the north AND south sides of our runway.  Well when I figured out that I had run into the corn patch I made an abrupt 90 degree turn thinking that I was in the patch on the south side of the runway and this was the quickest way for me to get back on the runway where I could …well…run of course!

    As I parted the stalks of corn that were as tall as I was I started wondering just how in the world I had run so far into the corn before noticing that I was in it.  I glanced around for the big white smear that I knew to be our hangar and the direction I should be heading to get out of this itchy mess.  For some reason there were just more and more rows of corn where I knew there should only be two or so to the edge of the field.  At this point I was totally disoriented so I just looked up and located the trusty sun and headed west, also at this point it finally sank into my foggy cranium that I had been in the north patch so I started crossing rows again this time to the south and was soon back on familiar ground.  Brushing the corn pollen out of my hair I jogged across the landing strip and began squinting at the treeline in order to catch the silhouette of the edge of my brother-in-law’s shop.  I lined myself up with the eastmost end and aimed for the light gap between those two big dark blotches(cedar trees).  I could hear the A/C compressor running at their house so I knew I was headed the right way.  As usual I ran smack into the little pine tree that is growing in the side yard, disentangled myself, backed up and tried a new heading of 10 degrees to the west and went about twenty more feet where I stepped carefully over the railroad tie I knew was there and then angled sharply to the southeast while looking up to find the peak of the roof against the sky.  I know if I get about straight in front of that peak I will feel the metal links of the mat for scraping Mississippi mud off one’s shoes and then I have only to go up the two steps and open the door.

    If you feel lost in the world today-just stop and look up to the Son!  He’ll help you out every time!