The Red Bible: Part 2

She was giving her Bible to me. She turned to the front page where her maiden name was written in the upper right hand corner, a squiggly line through it, her married name written underneath.

"My parents gave this Bible to me when I left for Bible school and now I'm giving it to you."

Once I got to college and the assignments started pouring in I could turn those pages to my hearts content. I could even write in it. I added my name to the list on the front page. Three different names, three different seasons of life. We went to different colleges but I discovered we had one of the same teachers. I went to mark a passage in the margin as the professor was speaking and I noticed it was already marked. Next to the passage it read "Dr. Whitcomb" and I felt a little thrill in my heart as if that mark bonded us, my mother and I.



As I read through that Bible I discovered struggles my mother had gone through and the scriptures that encouraged her. An underlined passage read "Carl's funeral," a friend who had died while she was in college. My mom and I didn't talk growing up. We fought a lot. It was mostly my fault. I was filled with teenage angst and liked to keep my private thoughts private. I didn't ask her questions either because I didn't want to be in a conversation that involved any kind of sharing personal information. Having her Bible with all her notes was like having the most meaningful conversation we could have. I began to see verses as she saw them and I was able to understand her a little better.


A few years later I married and the first Sunday we returned to church I drew a line through my maiden name and wrote my married name underneath. Another name, another season. That red Bible was mine now. I used it for devotions, for church, on retreats. One Sunday, a few years into our marriage, in the rush of getting ready I grabbed a different Bible that fit in my purse a little better. After awhile that Bible became my "regular" whether it was out of convenience or out of laziness for not taking the time to look for the red one. I pushed the red Bible into the back of my mind, not really forgetting it but overlooking it.


Over time I started to miss the red Bible. I missed the surprises of finding my mother's handwriting next to a passage that moved my heart. I longed to turn a page and make a discovery and see that she also was moved. So, a few weeks or months after I'd picked up the new Bible I went to the shelf to find my old red one. But when I reached up and looked for it my heart dropped to my stomach. It was gone. I looked all over our tiny apartment and enlisted the help of my husband but our search was fruitless.


I had lost the red Bible.

The Red Bible: Part 1

Growing up in a churched family we all had our own Bibles. Mine was a pink New Testament with my name etched in gold on the cover. It fit perfectly clutched in my little hands and had a pretty pink ribbon bookmark that I could wrap around one of my fingers. My mother had written inside in cursive so it was years before I could read "We love you! Dad and Mom." I loved my little pink Bible- mostly because it was pink and had my name on it. In the early 80's you could find all sorts of trinkets with my name but almost all were spelled wrong. T-r-a-c-y looked so beautiful and right.

Every Sunday morning our family of four would go through our pre-church routine. We had only one bathroom and we stuck to the same rotation so we wouldn't all rush for the shower at the same time. Somehow we all managed to meet at the car at the same time each of us with a Bible, my mom with her purse. She would pass her and Dad's Bibles to the backseat for me to hold while she rummaged in her purse for mints.

I loved to hold her Bible. It was red leather. Good leather. The kind that gets softer with age. It was smooth to the touch. She wrote on her pages (something I was afraid to do as my schoolteachers repeatedly reminded us never to write in books). She has very distinct handwriting- neat, straight, with pretty tails on the appropriate letters. I didn't look inside often because the pages in Romans were loose and starting to fall out. I didn't want to be the one responsible for the final tug that would pull the chapters free. I know she kept a love note I'd written to her in the book of Matthew.

Once I outgrew my pink New Testament I got a plain black KJV from my Sunday School class. When I turned 13 I got a brand new NIV Student Bible. It was reddish leather and I was proud- almost like my mom's. But as I used that Bible and roughed it up a little the "leather" didn't soften. Instead it peeled and cracked revealing cardboard underneath. Someday I'd get a Bible like Mom's, I thought.

Graduation came and I began to plan, prepare, and pack to go off to Bible College. I must have packed and repacked 50 times that summer. The excitement of college and expectation of independence was mingled with the dread of leaving home. If only I could pack enough to bring "home" with me.

My mom came in my room on one of my packing days and watched.

"Do you think you have everything?" she asked.

"I guess..." I looked around the room, doubtful.

She glanced at my stack of books. "You'll probably need a different Bible."

She was right of course. The Student Bible was for teenagers and I was mature now- going away to school.

"Would you look to take mine?"

Good Links...

I am a penny pincher...a saver...a bargain shopper. I love a great deal and I really love a great tip. This month at MomAdvice Amy is doing a "Month of Savings". Each day she is posting money saving tips and the total amounts you can save. This website is full of great articles and blog entries. It's one of my favorites!

I know a lot of my readers come from The Homespun Heart but if you haven't been there yet you really need to stop by! Monica and her sister, Carrie from With All That I've Been Given, are doing a Sister Swap. I've never done a swap before and I'm really excited to join in the fun!

I'd love to hear about some fun links from the rest of you. Leave me a comment so I can stop by!

The Garden

I have never planted anything before. Ever. Once, I had a cactus and I never watered it because I thought that was the point- a cactus doesn't need water. I'm not good with plants.

However, there are many hobby farmers at our church and every year they drop off corn, beans, squash, tomatoes, zucchini, etc. I'm greatful and thankful but sometimes those things come in such a surplus I can't keep up with the canning and freezing and I end up wasting a lot of food. I decided this year that I would plant my own garden and give away my surplus so there wouldn't be any waste. Although, now that I'm typing that out the logic seems a little skewed.

But today I had my first harvest! And I am proud! First of all, let me tell you I was clueless on how much to plant. Here is the squash section of my garden. Clearly I have gotten carried away:

But, look! Here is what I found underneath my 6 squash plants:

Isn't it beautiful? I call it a star squash but if you google recipes it's best to call it a patty pan squash. I'm pretty excited to bake it up for dinner tonight. There is something about eating food I've grown myself that is especially pleasing.

Now if only those tomatoes would turn red!

Date Night

And, no, it wasn't with my husband. It was me and Charlie! We have this great small town movie theatre that shows one movie a week every night at 7pm. This week it's "Ratatouille" and we've been waiting patiently for it to arrive!

Here is what I love about boys- yesterday morning before I left for work I told Charlie we were going on a date to the movies after supper. You would have thought I just told him he was a superhero. The minute I got home from work he was on my heels ready to follow whatever instructions I gave him. He cleaned up, dressed up, put on his "church shoes", grabbed my hand and took me out the door.

We had to stop at the cell phone store because my new phone wasn't working properly. When we walked in he immediately told the lady behind the service counter,

"My mom's phone is broken and that's why we're here, and you're going to fix it and then we are going to THE MOVIES! Because I'm no a date with just me and my mom and we are going to THE MOVIES!" and on and on he went. He even showed her how to take pictures with my phone. She was so gracious to pretend like he had just taught her something new.

The movie was cute but the time we spent together was better. At the beginning of the movie I told him I had his drink if he needed it and he said,

"No thanks Mom. But I would like to snuggle." And he climbed into my lap.

Later he made his way back to his seat and there was a "kissing part" in the movie. I whispered, "yuck! kissing!" and he replied,

"I just like kissing you, Mom. Only you."

And I wish I could have frozen that moment forever.

Five Things

Carrie at With All That I've Been Given tagged me for this "Five Things I love about Jesus" meme a little while ago. I haven't forgotten about it - in fact, I've been overthinking it for the past few days. It's hard to narrow it down and hard to put into words. I've decided that if I tried to be too descriptive or wordy I'd just mess things up. So instead I thought I'd list the five verses that talk about Jesus that I love the most. I'll let the Word speak for me!

II Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

Luke 7:13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.

Hebrews 13:6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

Romans 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

Want to know why I picked a particular verse? Feel free to ask me in the comments. And I would love to hear some verses that you all love (and why)! Consider that my tag since all of you have already participated in this I think!

The Eyes

So, my little "eye" problem? Saturday morning was no better so I went to the walk-in clinic. They fixed me up, gave me a prescription and said...

"Throw away your make-up."

Ugh. I don't have a lot of makeup. One eyeshadow, one blush, one powder, one mascara...and truthfully, they should have been thrown out an embarrassingly long time ago. But now I have to start all over again. I'm clueless about colors and application and all that stuff.

A good friend from college called me last night and we were talking about how we forget we aren't in college anymore (and haven't been for years!!!). We mocked each other and how uncool we are now.

She said: I watch "10 years younger" on TV and think those people are so 80's. We're probably so 90's and have no idea.

Me: I'm so ordinary.

She said (laughing): At least you don't still wear clogs!

Me: What??? I have three pairs!!!!

See? I'm so uncool. So I've decided to go to a fancy make-up counter at the mall and have them fix me up nice. I probably shouldn't be wearing the same colors on my face that I wore in high school. In my case I should look "10 years OLDER." If you're lucky I'll post before and after pictures. Maybe.