Prophetic eruption?

It’s official. I’m a college girl again!


I enrolled yesterday at NWOSU in Alva. If all goes as planned, I should be able to finish the Adult Education master’s program within two years, and if I have the strength, I will continue on for my doctorate.

My classes the first semester will be Leadership Adult Education Venues, Institutional Management, a Graduate Study Seminar (one day) and English Usage. Sounds exhilarating, huh?

I finally am settling into my position as mom, wife and chief financial officer. Simply put, Jeromy goes to work, and I handle things at home. I LOVE IT!!!

I spent Wednesday cleaning my kitchen like it has never been cleaned before – top to bottom, side to side. I washed, mopped, waxed, wiped, scoured and tossed out things I had not used in years. It was liberating. I even did something that, with shame, I admit to NEVER having done before IN MY LIFE – I cleaned the oven. OK, I flipped the auto clean button and wiped it out five hours later. Why did I put such a simple task off for so long? After wiping, I lined the bottom with aluminum foil, just like my mother always told me to do, but I refused to listen because I wouldn’t want to do anything my mother told me to do. ;)

Today, I hope to clean bathrooms and dust. Thrilling. However, I am looking forward to it. These simple chores are ones I almost literally have been unable to do for four years. I have sporadically cleaned for appearance sake, but it’s been a while since I got down and dirty in the bath tub. I can’t wait to have it sparkling clean.

To give you a little insight as to how much I’ve neglected my mom and wife duties during the last four years, here is Joseph’s first reaction when I told him I was closing the newspaper: “Yes! Our house will be clean again!”

Now, it’s pretty bad when your teenage son notices something like that. I’m ashamed and embarrassed.

I hope to spend the summer cleaning and painting and de-cluttering and enjoying the kids. We don’t have a lot of “clutter,” but I’m sure I can fill a few trash sacks. And if you know anyone who wants an antique Kimball piano, please let me know. It’s old and beautiful and needs tuning and a couple three strings. We love it, but none of us plays the piano, and we really just need to get rid of it. As much as I would like the girls to have piano lessons … probably not happening. :(

This morning in my Bible study, I misread a scripture, which turned out to be weird and ironic. Revelation 19:3 said, “ … The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.”

The passage was about the fall of Babylon, but when I read that line, I envisioned a volcano. I thought, “Was Babylon a volcano?” I had to go back and reread that line two or three times before I realized it wasn’t saying that a volcano erupted but rather that Babylon went up in flames – fierce, consuming flames that will burn forever.

After I reread it, I thought, “How on earth could I have thought this was talking about a volcano?” I considered the fact that it was 6 a.m. and my brain doesn’t exactly function properly, well, any time, really, but especially not at 6 a.m.

Then, I turned on the news. The lead story? A violent volcano eruption in Iceland. Wow. Crazy. I haven’t thought about a volcano in years. I don’t know what significance this story has for today, but it was strange and somehow God-breathed, and my ears certainly perked up.

I’m going to concentrate on just listening to God today. I think He’s trying to tell me something.

Readings for the last few days:

Mark 1:21-34
1 Corinthians 2
Psalm 74
Joshua 6, 7

Mark 1:35-45
1 Corinthians 3
Psalm 75
Joshua 8, 9

Mark 2:1-12
1 Corinthians 4
Psalm 76
Joshua 10-12

Mark 2:13-17
1 Corinthians 5
Psalm 77
Joshua 13, 14

Mark 2:18-28
1 Corinthians 6:1-11
Psalm 78:1-39
Joshua 15-17

Mark 3:1-19
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Psalm 78:40-72
Joshua 18, 19

Mark 3:20-35
1 Corinthians 7:1-16
Psalm 79
Joshua 20, 21