It's still quiet...can you say, "halleluiah"??!

Here is a chronicle of my day. Get yourself a snickers bar and a cup of tea if you care to listen to all the details. Larry and I wanted to sleep in on this, our day off, and the final moments before our children arrived home from youth camp. So we did.

After completely savoring this whole morning in bed, I woke up to read the article on our women's ministries in the St. Pete Times, which ran today. It's good except in the actual print edition (not the online version) there is a huge picture of my face and I truly wish instead of that, they would have gotten a wide angle shot of the princess luncheon. They did add a photo of the guys serving, and that was good. Not that I'm saying they couldn't have included a pic of me, I'm just saying...I'm so much prouder of what the ladies have accomplished and all it takes to put that outreach on and would have loved to have seen a shot of a bunch of them or the room so everyone could see the work they did. The photographer was there for at least two hours and took so many...I was hoping for more than a humongo pic of my face. There were also a few little things that weren't an exact quote from me - where I'm not sure the reporter truly got the gist of what I said or such but nothing earth shattering. All in all it was a great piece, so I'm pleased. A few weeks ago the Tribune featured us (click here to read article) , and then yesterday the A/G Women's Ministries Unlimited did a feature on us as well. (Click here to see it. ) So all in all it's been an extremely media friendly month! With three publications calling in one month and saying, "we've heard good things are going on at your place and want to do a feature on you..." I'm thankful for God's favor.

Back to the quiet... we savored it. Spent the morning in bed. Then the only area of the house that still needed to have a weekly cleaning was our room/bathroom so we did that (I wanted it out of the way before tomorrow - I would like to have one Saturday devoid of cleaning since that hasn't happened for so long.) I can't remember the last time... so we got that out of the way and then Larry went to pick the boys up from the church. They were so exhausted. They walked in the door, gave me a hug, told me camp was wonderful, and went straight to bed. Where they remained the entire day/night. It's almost midnight and they are still asleep. I don't expect them to wake up. You know how sleep deprived kids get at camp. I am grateful they went right to bed because in years past they haven't always or we have had a family event or something when they got home and they were so cranky.

So when they got home they hit the sack. I filled my big tub...and sunk in for a bubble bath. Yep, I was savoring this all the way. Then I still had time to relax (it was a completely quiet house, remember?) so Larry watched sports and I went in and laid on my bed again and proceeded to read the ENTIRE (yes, I said entire) book, "If I did it...here's how..." by O.J. Simpson. How did I get this? Well as most of the world knows by now, it was illegally leaked on the internet by TMZ and by the time a judge ordered TMZ to turn it over and take it off the internet, some people had already copied it and circulated it on the internet. So I researched it until I tracked a copy down, and read it on my computer in it's entirety. Probably took me about an hour and a half, if that. I read very fast, usually several books a week in addition to the Bible, my devotional books, and the Tampa Tribune each day. So...

Some of you might think, "why in the world would you read that? Isn't it supporting OJ and his sick, twisted actions?" No, not anymore. When he was the recipient of royalties from the book, yes. However now the Goldman's get everything from it and have renamed it. I watched the OJ trial every single day. I watched his low speed chase live. Then followed the trial each day. I taped it. Then when the final day with the verdict, I was at a district meeting when the verdict was read, but stopped and watched it mid meeting. I was very interested in the case, just as I was also interested in the Scott Peterson trial. I don't do this with every trial out there, but in these type of cases I am very interested for one reason - as a women's pastor, my heart breaks for abused women. I hate it, hate it, hate it. (this is one reason we have a support group at our church for such...my heart is very broken for this). I can't stand the fact that a majority of men get away with this, at least here on earth. I literally pray about these cases. In OJ's case I was devastated. I was only consoled by the fact that he has not had his eternal reward yet. My only consolation was that hell is still real. Upon hearing the verdict, I was crushed.

A friend of mine lives in Miami (where he lives) and has seen him at restaurants. He evidently has the nerve to go up to some patrons and ask if they want his autograph. (Don't celebs usually wait until someone asks them? Just an example of the cockiness...) Anyway, he approached a table of women she was sitting at and said, "Would you like my autograph?" And she said, "Absolutely not, I think you're a jerk." I think personally I would have picked up my knife I was eating with and said, "here, why don't you autograph this - it's appropriate for the circumstances..."

Poor Nicole and Ron. Many people are upset that the book is being downloaded by people and now they won't buy it since it's free on the internet, and it will affect sales and Ron's parents getting the money from it that they have been awarded in their civil suit. I will still buy the book just to support them because I feel for them. And I read on the internet today that many other people have pledged to read it after buying it too. But I honestly didn't want to wait til' it comes out, as I have read every book written about the case (took them all out of the library over time) and I didn't want to wait to read this one. I believe OJ wrote it as an outlet because of the guilt he carries though I feel not one bit sorry for him. Basically it's a full confession of how he committed the crime. He says, "keep in mind this is hypothetical" but that is his only disclaimer. He says nothing else about not doing it, in fact to the contrary. It's really a play by play confession. Instead of "if I did it here's how" the Goldman's won the rights to the book and will now release it and call it, "Confessions of a Double Murderer." I think that is great - they deserve every bit of whatever they can get out of that man.

As a side note, when the Peterson verdict was read I was in a women's ministries meeting at the district office. I interrupted the meeting and asked our director if we could stop a second while it was read so that Larry could tell me on the cell phone what the verdict was an I could tell all the women there. Everyone else wanted to hear it too so nobody minded the interruption. When I said, "guilty!" we were all totally psyched. Finally one of these wife abusers got what was coming to him not only in the afterlife but here on earth. Can you tell I'm a little sensitive about this? I really can't stand wife abusers...

After reading the OJ book and taking a nice long bubble bath, I got dressed and ready and headed out to get gifts for a couple in our church that just had a baby, and also for a briday shower I had to go to tonight for Liane. I shopped for a while then came home to wrap things and spent some time talking with Larry, did a load of laundry and left for the shower. It was really lovely. Judy and Sharon did a wonderful job. Just beautiful. Liane got so many nice things and probably about 10 beautiful lingerie outfits. (I got her three of them myself and put on the card, "Remember what's most important! This gift will help you do that...") She chuckled at that. But seriously, here's the way I feel. You go to these showers and people give the bride blenders, toasters, coffee pots, and whatever. But having been married myself for 20 years I'll tell you - just wear the sexy clothes and keep it going on in the bedroom and your husband will buy you ten bazillion blenders or whatever else you want! Just keep the sex going strong and the man will worship the ground you walk on. There's not much I want that if it is within Larry's power to do so, he won't do for me right away. The only time he ever hasn't is when it was or is, literally impossible for him to do so. I really believe, as long as a man has food to eat and plenty of sex, if they are normal and not some kind of psychopath like OJ or Scott Peterson, they will do whatever is in their power to make you happy.

I might have stayed a little longer at the shower and talked a bit more but we only have one car now and I needed to get home to Larry so he could go to the store. He had to buy everything for men's breakfast and some other stuff, so I had to get home to him. And guess what - I still have my quiet house. It's thunderstorming here right now outside, but I sat in my rocker in my room and had devotions.

I finished I & II Timothy and then read a chapter from Secrets of the Secret Place that was on "tears". Appropo for this week. I really hardly ever cry. I'm an emotional person, as in a wide range of emotions. But I don't cry for nothing. Something really has to be wrong - I don't just tear up all the time. It's interesting that I would read this chapter this week because I cried every day and sometimes for a long time. I have just had some things I've been genuinely sad about. Bob Sorge says that weeping and tears have always gained the Lord's attention. David said in Psalm 56 that the Lord puts all our tears in a bottle. After this week, I've probably overflowed the bottle and now there's a lake in heaven with my name on it! :-) When I was growing up there was a song by the Gaithers called, "Tears are a Language God Understands." I am so glad for that. Sometimes there's no one that understands what is in your heart but the Lord and at times you can't even verbally express it yourself, but by your tears He knows your heart.

My housework is done for the weekend - all I have to do tomorrow are three or so things to put the finishing touches on Sunday and get our clothes laid out, pressed and ready. (Yes, I dress Larry - it's been my job for 20 years.) :-) Other than that I am looking forward to what might possibly be another quiet day of writing depending on whether Savanna comes home (she's still at her "other family's house" - the Harts) and whether the boys still need more sleep.

It has been SO good to have a week where we didn't go out of town, and where we had QUIET. It has been eons since my week was not broken up by a trip somewhere or 20 initiatives in a day. When Larry comes home from the store tonight it's kind of like we still have the house to ourselves, and the night is not over. God is good. I enjoyed documenting everything about my day...if anyone actually read this whole thing, God bless you.