Violin and Poker

My summers are so much more lazy than the school year I've noticed. Josh and I have found ourselves bored to tears on some nights in fact. While Jyllie was on vacation recently, there were a few days that Jada was also away and we both found ourselves home alone twiddling our thumbs. We decided to try playing free poker at a local bar/grill place. Both of us like to play for fun, so we headed over to this little place to join.

I think I like cards because my family plays a lot of card games. My mom and I use to play hands of gin rummy when I was younger. And during the holidays when my grandmother would come to visit, we would often have 8-10 people sitting around playing games of 31 or ‘dimes’. These are some of my favorite memories, including the way my German aunt Ernestine would always say “See, I'm on my honor now” and dust her hand over the table a few times, meaning she was out of money, but could play one more hand that way...(tee hee). When Josh and I got married and he was in the military, we frequently had groups of friends come over to play spades, euchre, or hearts. I have pictures of us all sitting on milk crates and fold up chairs at a table in front of windows with blankets tacked up to them (because we couldnt afford curtains). Good times, good times.

And then, of course when we moved to Texas, I naturally learned how to play Texas Hold ‘Em.

I think I’m pretty good at understanding strategy, bluffing, and odds. I know what it means to hit top pair on the flop and whether the guy next to me is placing a value bet or already has a made hand. I love bluffing a good player out of a big pot and I understand why it’s not always a good idea to chase a flush, particularly if your short stacked. I know how to calculate outs and odds, but I also feel like I’m pretty good at reading other players better than percentages. (some call it luck) At any rate, sometimes it all works…and sometimes it doesn’t. And it's no biggy if we win or lose.

But there is a downside to playing cards at the bar. I mean, it IS a bar…not church. People swear, they drink heavily, and the clothing is not always tasteful.
I wish I could find a Christian venue to play cards regularly.

I try to be a little salt and light though...
Sometimes I wear my “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” bracelet, and once a guy commented on it. We had a conversation right there over the poker table about which verse was his favorite. It was one from Hebrews he said, and he quoted it for me too. That was cool. Another guy asked me about the cross on my ring. It's easy for me to speak about Christ, if someone asks me. Not so easy if someone is using his name as a swear word though.

I once sat at a table with a Matthew and a Mark….I commented that all we need was a Luke and John to make the Gospels complete. (I’m not sure anyone got that…but o well.) But I’m not really sure how God feels about us being there. Would he rather we spend our time elsewhere? Is it really gambling, if you never pay any money, or win anything?? Is being in an environment like this…something that tarnishes our Christianity? What do you guys think?

And so, we’ve spent a few nights playing this summer, knowing that when school starts we wont be playing much more.

And, just so that I am well rounded in my hobbies, I’m also taking up violin lessons again.

I played violin when I was in Jr. High from about 6th grade to 8th. But because it was dorky to play in the Orchestra, and because it was a pain to drag my violin case to basketball practice, I quit after I entered highschool. Now that I’m older, I really wished I had continued playing and I mentioned this to Josh in passing.

So my nice husband bought me a violin on craigslist one afternoon. Unfortunately, it was a cheap one and not really able to be played, so I went ahead and rented one from a local dealer who usually specializes in students. Then I managed to find a friend from church who teaches professional lessons to students as well.

Now once a week I have a lesson and in between poker nights-- you can find me in our garage practicing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

Life is Good!

A Joshua Kind of Dad

My husband is a Joshua leader. Which is funny, because he also shares his name with Joshua from the Bible.

When I met Josh, he was not very versed in the Bible, and to be honest I was not either. But, I at least knew some basic Bible stories that my Josh did not. So when my husband dedicated his life to Jesus and began to serve more, he curiously asked me one night who the Joshua of the Bible was because he wanted to know the origins of his name. I still have the email I sent to him one day referencing this site. I told him that his name means "God Saves" and is related to the name Jesus (Yeshua-Joshua). But beyond that information, I still didnt really know what or who his name was a tribute to.

Funny, I have several things in my home that have this verse on them:

But as for me and my House, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15

This year, as I've mentioned before, I studied the life of Moses in BSF. And here's what I know now of Joshua. Joshua was a young man who had enormous faith at an early age. He demonstrated courage against the crowd during a moment of truth before the first attempt at entering the promiseland. And though in his life he made mistakes, God continued to work in him. Because of his great faith and trust, God appointed Joshua as leader to the Israelites after Moses died. Great faith in God first, earns great responsibility and the priveledge to do great works.

This past weekend was Father's Day and I recieved a devotional that talks about having a Joshua 24:15 dad. And as I read it, I realized what a coincidence and blessing that I am married to a "Joshua man".

I'm so blessed that my Josh lives out similar principals to the Joshua of the Bible. He gives up many things in his life to trust in the Lord. He is patient with me and the girls when we're not easy to lead. He makes mistakes, certainly. But his priorities are fixed on God first, and himself later.
He is a model of the Joshua 24:15 verse, placing service and attendance in our church above other things in our house. He has turned down careers that take away from his time in serving the church, and our daughters have heard, "You are expected to attend church on Sunday, no excuses" more than once. His leadership is both godly and compassionate and he's not afraid to go against the crowd when it comes to popularity.

I sent Josh a note thanking him for being this kind of leader in our home.Have you thanked the Fathers in your life for being great leaders this week?

My own dad has a stone plaque in his office that has remained with him as long as I can remember. It says "Any man can be a dad, but it takes a great man to be a Father" Semantics aside, the quote speaks to the fact that it takes more than just a physically able body- to be a great leader to a family. It takes a man led by God to Father a family the way our heavenly Father does.

I love you Josh Harris and I'll follow if you promise to lead.
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Disco

We had a kind of rough weekend, capped off with a totally sad morning today.
Poor doggie, I took her this morning to the vet to be put to sleep.

She had not eaten for the last week and has lost almost half her body weight. The last three days, she has barely been able to get up off the floor, and has thrown up almost every time she gets up. She was unable to even keep water down anymore the last two nights. So last night we put up some baracades to the kitchen to keep her in there because even though she is weak she still tries to come upstairs to lie by our bed at night. This time, she didn’t even lift her head up off the floor. Her poor bony ribs are sticking out, and you can see them, and she wont hardly look us in the face. So sad how quickly she progressed from pretty good, to downright debilitated.

So this morning, I got up and went downstairs (knowing we were going to take her) and I laid beside her on the floor and talked with her. (I know…like Marley and Me. ) I thought it was kind of silly, but I wanted to give her some love. Then I woke the girls up to talk with her before I took her at 8:30. They came down, sat with her. Jyllie made her a card and asked me to put it in her grave with her (at the dr. office, which I didnt have the heart to explain to her)
The card said.
Dear Disco, you are my favorite dog. I hope you are my only dog. You are #1 and there is no other dog like you. I hope you have a good time in heaven. Jesus is nice. I love you forever and ever. Love Jyllian.
And she drew a picture of her and Disco together.

I read it to the dog while the girls pet her, both of them crying.
Then Jada helped me carry her on a ‘stretcher’ to the car. They stayed home while I drove up there.

I’m not typically a gushy person. I love dogs, but I feel like they are …dogs and when the time comes, it’s time. I've even been a vet tech and helped put many dogs to sleep before. I'm very no nonsense about it, so I didnt think this would be so bad. I even kind of felt sad that I couldn’t muster up a tear on the way there.
But I did talk to her, and sang Jesus loves the Little Doggies (seriously) to her on the way. When we got there, I went inside and asked if one of the nurses would come help me.

When I went to open the tailgate to the car…and saw her, I BURST into tears sobbing away, and I didn’t stop until I left the office. I cried bringing her in, setting her on the floor of the office, holding her head as she slipped to sleep.
And I cried and cried all the way home.

I couldnt believe how sad I was about the whole thing. She had been our family pet for almost 15 years though. I picked her up at the airport, the first day she came to live with us, all cute and 6 months old. She sat on my lap for the 2 hour car ride home in North Carolina. We stayed up all night together eating, drinking and bounding around the living room. And here I was at the end with her, holding her head and rubbing her paw. It was difficult. I didnt want to leave her there.

When I finally got up to leave, I walked still sobbing into the lobby where God
did a really awesome thing for me. There was a friend of mine from BSF in the standing at the check in desk. When she saw me, she walked over and gave me a big hug. It felt good to have a fried hug me, and I cried even more. After I hugged her, I started to walk away, then came back and hugged her again and said “I’m so glad you were here” which made her cry I think.

She was a good dog.
Best dog I ever had.
Disco Dog.