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The Results Are In . . .

4/25/2020

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Hello, everyone. Thank you for participating in my little “Show and Tell.” I feel a bit guilty for focusing on our diversions when the physical and economic tolls continue to increase, and I don’t want to minimize what is happening to those around us, for there is a lot of hardship, frustration, uncertainty, fear, and desperation.

But I do hope that taking just a moment to grab hold of some of the little things that we are doing to bring a sense of joy and normalcy to our lives will help––if only in the short run. So here goes.

First, thank you Elaine for sending in those adorable pictures of your new family additions: one mama cat and 4 one-month-old kittens! Wonderful, but they all look the same? How are you telling them apart?

Lynn, thanks for introducing me to Rumikub (which I have never heard of before and is pictured below). Question: So how long does a game last, and how many days have you been playing if you are now into tournaments? Also, thanks for reminding us all that “God has this!”

Joni, I hope you were finally able to complete that puzzle that doesn’t have a box cover to guide you. Have you resorted to reshaping the pieces with a knife to make them fit, or have you created a new version of the picture by bringing in the hammer to help the pieces along?

Then kudos to Pam (who is so much more ambitious than I am) who is not only working from home and taking online classes, but has also joined a book club! (Okay I joined  two book clubs but only on some days and at certain hours will you see me looking like I am working. No online classes. None. Nada.)

My teacher friends have entered a whole new world of online and digital teaching, and depending on their age are embracing or trying to embrace technology.

Other readers have been walking, working in gardens, holding virtual dinner parties or game nights, reading, and doing lots of Zooming and even more eating.

I will say that there was a lot of interest in my mother’s haircut and wondered why if she commented that I had done such a great job, she wasn’t willing to share a picture. Excellent point. Mothers lie. I rest my case.

Raelene, I love your response when your husband, Rich, asked you to cut his hair. I quote you now, “It’s time to embrace [your] 70s’ look again.” Classic.

I do hope that you and those you love are safe and financially okay during this time. The decisions that our leaders must now make as to when and how to open our communities and states are daunting. I don’t wish for their job. Continue to pray for them, pray for all of those working on the front lines, pray for our communities and families, and help those in need in whatever way you can. God Bless.

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Timing . . .

4/18/2020

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The hopes and expectations I had that 2020 would be a better year than 2019 didn’t materialize . . . at least not yet. Instead they seem to have imploded. However, as my family has talked about what is happening and what has happened, we still know that God is in control and has not abandoned us (any of us). We personally have felt his hand of protection because of some recent timing of events. My brother was the one who brought these to our attention.

1) Dad passed on January 20. The first case of coronavirus in the US was on January 21.

2) To help my mother through this time, my brother invited her to travel with my niece and join up with him and my sister-in-law in Milan, Italy, for a weeklong trip north. They were to leave March 23. In God’s grace not only did he close that door early, he took all guess work out of it completely, by naming the one city they were to fly into! 

3) Prior to Italy, my brother, sister-in-law, and another other niece, her husband, and their six children were going to travel through Israel. That door was shut just a few days later.

As a family we have looked at the grace of God’s timing in all of these situations. How difficult it would have been to deal with dad’s condition with these added stresses. How we had time between Dad's passing and the "shelter in place" order to get all of Mom's financial and legal concerns taken care of. How awful it would have been had the family already been traveling when the outbreak occurred. 

We know there are still some uncertain times ahead, and every family will feel the effects of this sinister virus in one way or another, that there will still be hardships and heartbreaks, but we also know that God is good. Satan isn’t, and he is wreaking havoc right now and trying to pin it on God, but God’s light, and grace, and protection, and love  are still shining through.

And though we don’t know what the future holds, we do know that God will be with us through it all, for he promised to He will "never leave [us] or forsake [us]."  So it is at times like this, when we do feel his protection that we should take a moment where we are, and remember God's providence and protection at this point as Samuel did when he memorialized God’s intervention on behalf of the Israelites against an overwhelming Philistinian attack. He placed a stone of remembrance and said: "Thus far the LORD has helped us” (I Samuel 7:12). And then let that "stone" be a constant reminder that He is still near.

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Show and Tell . . .

4/11/2020

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For most of us, today marks the end of the fourth week of isolation, and I think we need a bit of positive right now. So I am reverting back to one of my favorite activities in kindergarten––Show and Tell. Now I don’t remember if I liked the “showing and telling” or the “seeing and listening” better. Can’t remember if I was an introvert or extrovert at that age, but I do remember enjoying it.




I have already shown you one of my new activities (my golf net), but will only tell you about another. You will understand why in a moment.

My mother is staying with me during this time and desperately wanted a haircut. But . . . alas no salons and no desire to go to one. . . HOWEVER . . . there were YouTube videos! So I watched ONE. Then pulled out my scissors and gave it a go. An admirable try . . . said those who saw the finished result, but I might have to watch that video again. Anyway, Mom did not want her picture posted.

So now it’s your turn. What “new” things have you been doing, making, learning, watching, reading, etc. etc. etc. (to quote The King and I. Anyone else binging on old movies?)

A comment posted below will take care of the telling, but if you want to show us something, then just send me a picture this week to jody@jesolinski.com with a brief description and I will do my best to post it in two weeks time (April 25). Would love to hear and see what all of you are doing.

Until then, stay safe.

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For Such a Time as This . . .

4/4/2020

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No doubt Ben Sliney was looking forward to the first day of his new job. After all, not only was it a promotion, but it also carried with it a lot of prestige . . . and, of course, responsibility. Little did he know how much responsibility . . .

Sliney’s first day as the Operations Manager for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was September 11, 2001. His first day expectations exploded in the wake of the Twin Towers attack, but his coolheadedness and expertise brought over 4,200 planes in US airspace down in 2 1/2 hours.

Likewise, Steven Adams took over the helm of the Strategic National Stockpile in January of 2020 before COVID-19 reached American shores (if I have all my facts right) and inherited the task of providing medical supplies to what could be one of the worst pandemics in human history if not checked. (Currently it ranks 10th).

Many would consider this a stroke of bad luck for each of these men, but if you truly believe that God is in control, then their move to leadership was exactly at the right time, for we have seen God position others (both the righteous and the unrighteous) throughout history—e.g. Esther, Cyrus, Moses, Noah, Pharoah––for His ultimate glory.

I have no doubt that the current world researchers, medical professionals, first responders (from EMTs to grocery clerks), financial gurus, and, yes, even the politicians on both sides of the aisles are the ones God meant to be there, for reasons and purposes only He knows.  “For there is no power but from God; the powers that be are ordained by God” (Romans 13:1).

Unfortunately that doesn’t take away the danger, the heartache, the exhaustion, or any of the other host of emotions these individuals might experience. They didn’t ask for it, but they inherited it.

We, too, have a job. We are tasked to follow government guidelines. “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities” (Romans 13:1a).

​But we play a greater role too. We should support whomever we can in whatever way we can. We should not be the armchair financial and medical expert casting criticisms from the safety of our own home. This morning Bill Gates commented that (and I paraphrase) in a year from now we can look back and do the postmortem. We have more important things to do now.


But above all we should pray . . . for those individuals who are tasked with the job of leading, discovering, planning, healing, and serving. In those moments of fear . . . pray for them. In those moments of boredom . . . pray for them. In those moments of frustration and critical thought . . . pray for them. Pray.

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    Author

    Jody Eileen Solinski spent her career teaching in the California public school system where she enjoyed helping young adults take their place in society. A native Californian, she enjoys the outdoors and so loves living in Northern California where she can enjoy the beauty of God’s creation up close.

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