Tag: little things

• a 1000 years

  Posted at 10:41 am by missannsays, on July 12, 2013

  

  1000 years what have you seen, who has walked through your doors – rich, poor, male, female, child, adult, believer or not? Have they come to find peace, comfort, out of curiosity, for photo ops, or for history lessons? Have they stopped to pray, to reflect, to wonder or not? Do they ponder the past, the present or the future? Do they know life has happened here? Oh, if your walls could talk? What would they say? Would your stories remind us that all through time people have laughed and cried here? Been baptized and buried. Would your past reveal that times change but people don’t? Would your walls tell of young and old sleeping instead of listening? Or marveling and understanding?Would the worries of their days block the power of the message? Has the truth been taught? Has the one you were built to honor been glorified in your midst? I think He has. Those who built you knew they may not live to see the building finished but they built you anyway. Oh, what a lesson is taught by the fact you still stand and His word still is spoken.

  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged little things, respect, travel thoughts

• that’s life…

  Posted at 6:37 pm by missannsays, on June 30, 2013

  Sometimes you realize that the good, the bad, the unexpected, the pleasant surprise are what makes life, life. We can’t control all that happens and from personal experience I can say “we don’t want to see it all laid out before us.” But I do know that each event or experience offers more than one way to react or better yet to act. The other day as I was leaving the hotel in Indianapolis the shopping bag I was carrying ripped. There was no way I was going to be able to maneuver my two pieces of luggage, my purse and a torn shopping bag. The hotel staff graciously found a hotel laundry bag and I removed the items that were in the shopping bag to the laundry bag. For a moment I thought and almost sarcastically said “great way to start my day.” But I thought I don’t have to look it that way. I don’t have to let a torn shopping bag ruin my attitude and/or my day. So I made a conscious choice to not let it ruin my day. Now some times that is easier to do that others but I have a choice how I react. I am trying to learn to take a breath and act upon the situation instead of react to it. My day included a delayed flight as well but I think because I had chosen to have a good day I saw my day through different glasses. They weren’t rose-colored but they weren’t dark either. 🙂

  “If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds… If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”

  Posted in daily life, faith | 1 Comment | Tagged following Jesus, little things, travel thoughts

• Travel Tuesdays – S1E12 – airport observations

  Posted at 9:11 am by missannsays, on June 19, 2013

  Travel Tuesdays is a day late due to no “free” internet in room.

  Today I flew from Newark (EWR) to Indianapolis, IN (IND). A few observations:

  1.Those budget cuts you hear about on the radio are real. There was one TSA agent checking boarding passes and id’s at the security checkpoint in terminal A. One?!?

  2.The lady in line behind me, who was so worried about the slow moving line, did nothing to help the line move faster. Case in point. She was carrying an open bottle of water and she didn’t have her boarding pass or identification out. Oh and some way or the other, she ended up in front of me. The TSA agent did call her forward when she stated she was going to miss her flight but she wasn’t ready. In case you were wondering, everyone else in line was rolling their eyes and shaking their heads but in the friendliest way.

  3.For some reason unbeknownst to me, I am the person who gets either the full body scan and/or the hand swap. Today it was both.

  4.Parents traveling with multiple children will do anything to keep them quiet at the airport. I saw a family of five with the 3 children being under the age of 8. Mom and dad were eating sandwiches and each child had a giant double chocolate muffin. The kids seemed to love their muffins, parents had a few moments of sanity and many wipes were available for the clean up after “lunch”. These were obviously seasoned traveler parents.

  5. I wanted to be super organized for this trip. Ten days in a long time to be away and I didn’t want a big suitcase. So, I had my list of clothing. Colored coded two tops per one bottom. I limited my shoes. I decided to think of this trip as a test run for Japan. Only problem was when I got to the airport, I didn’t have my passport. I always travel with my passport as my form of identification. No worries for this trip, my driver’s license would work as id but that won’t fly for Japan. Oh, the best laid plans.

  6. The flight from EWR to IND is the perfect length – under 2 hours. By the time you are wondering how much longer will it be, it is time to land. 🙂

  Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment | Tagged little things, travel thoughts

• an unexpected Father’s Day gift

  Posted at 5:24 pm by missannsays, on June 16, 2013

  Yesterday, I received an FB message that stated ” Mrs. Van Hine, My name is RH and I am a State Trooper with the Texas Highway Patrol. I currently am serving as a K9 Handler for my Department. The reason I am trying to contact you is not to bother or annoy you, but to tell you about my K9 partner. He is a 3-year-old Yellow Lab who is trained in narcotic detection. I went through 3 months of training with him and trained him from start to end. We have been partners and friends for almost 10 months now. He was bred and raised by the TSA K9 program and adopted by my department. Their program named all of these animals after the American Heroes who gave the ultimate sacrifice on 9/11/01. My K9 partner is named after your husband, “Van Hine”. After learning about the origin of his name, I began to research his namesake, your husband. I just want to say it is an honor to have him named after your husband and to have it written on the side of my patrol car for everyone to see. Everyday I get someone who asks why that name is on the side of my patrol car and I tell them the importance of it and try to explain the story that I have read to show the true American Hero who gave everything to save others…”

  Bruce would smile about this. He loved dogs especially big dogs. He would say he wasn’t a hero. He was just doing his job. On Father’s Day, I would like to say thank you to all those men who have done and are doing their “jobs” to be fathers to their sons and/or daughters.  I know I was blessed to be the daughter of James R Clark Jr. and the wife of Bruce Van Hine.  And thank you RH for letting me know about Van Hine.
  Posted in faith, September 11 | 2 Comments | Tagged little things, September 11

• heard recently

  Posted at 8:41 pm by missannsays, on June 10, 2013

  While having lunch with my mother in law at her assisted living residence:

  “Are those new residents?” “No, that is Hannah and a guest” – said of me and my mother in law.

  “Wow, she is tall. She must be 6 feet.” said of me when I stood up to leave the dining room.

  While attending a performance at the American Music Theater:

  Me to Meghan – “I think you are the youngest person here.” Meghan to me – “I think we both are the youngest people here.” side note – the show was very good and this was my Mother’s Day gift from my daughters.

  Text from my sister:

  “Mum killed her phone today! She dropped it in water. Long story!”

  A quote in a thank  you note I received:

  “Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.” J.R.R. Tolkien

  At Collyde Conference at Princeton Alliance Church:

  “We use imagination towards fear not love. Being terrified is about what might happen instead of imagining what God can do”  Makoto Fujimura

  “You are more able than you know and people are more ready than you expect.” Jonathan Golden

  “Only today is real, tomorrow doesn’t exist” Margaret Feinberg

  “One day, some day are safe words.” Margaret Feinberg

  “You can’t intentionally touch Jesus and not have something happen” Bonnie Gay

  “My calling is not tied to the things I do.” Joan Ball

  “Am I going to put my faith in God’s identity or in God’s activity?” Pete Wilson

  “If God doesn’t give us one more thing, we still owe him everything.” Pete Wilson

  on telephone with IRS after receiving a notice, being on hold for 27 minutes and explaining that they have cashed the check but maybe I owe penalties (long story):

  “The records show there is no balance due.” – IRS   “but you sent me a notice” – me   “call back at the end of week maybe you will owe something then.” – IRS    all righty then

  at Book club:

  ” In the summer there is more time to read so let’s read Anna Karenina.” not said by me – good news, I got it for 99 cents for my nook, bad news I needed to start reading yesterday….

  Posted in books, daily life, relationships | 0 Comments | Tagged following Jesus, little things

• Travel Tuesdays – S1E10 – summer travel plans

  Posted at 5:33 pm by missannsays, on June 4, 2013

  I am a planner.  I make lists. I make lists on my iPhone and I write them on paper. So summer vacations are thought about, researched and planned. This coming summer is shaping up to be busy. One summer event has been on my calendar for over a year. A second summer trip has been spoken about for a few years and is finally planned and  happening. And a third summer trip was a total surprise.

  Over a year ago I was elected to be a delegate to General Assembly for the Church of the Nazarene  in Indianapolis, Indiana. I also have the opportunity of attending General Convention due to my District position as Children’s Ministries Director. I have had the privilege of attending General Convention in San Antonio, TX in 1997, Indianapolis, IN in 2001 and 2005 and Orlando, FL in 2009. I was also a delegate to General Assembly in 2005 and 2009. I thoroughly enjoy both events. I love learning new things at the workshops, and exchanging ideas.  I love listening to the discussion about issues and voting on policy. I love volunteering with World Quiz registration and making connections with people. But my favorite thing about General Assembly and General Convention is the worship services. There is something about worshipping in a service with thousands of people from all over the world.  It is an amazing experience.

  I will sleep in my own bed for 5 nights and then it is family vacation – yeah!!! My girls and their guys are joining me in Edinburgh, Scotland for a week. Meghan and I had spent a long weekend in Edinburgh a few years ago and we just loved it. We had decided we needed to do that trip for family vacation. Edinburgh is full of old buildings, gardens, cobble stone streets, little pubs and shops. We are renting an apartment for the week so we can cook some of our meals and also have room to spread out. Plus renting a place feels more like you are living there and I love that feeling of becoming part of a city or town. My girls and their guys will spend a couple of days doing their own thing before they travel back home. I will spend a week in Oxford, England exploring the city I was born in and then will travel to stay with family for another week before heading back to the USA.

  I will sleep 7 nights in my own bed and then travel to Japan as a representative of the Tribute Center. Unbelievable!!!  I am humbled to have been invited to travel to Japan with some of my fellow docents. As stated by Lee Ilepi:

  “Finally after waiting to hear confirmation from American Airlines, we can announce that there will be a second trip to Japan that will take place in August.  The purpose of this second outreach trip is to provide support to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami of 3/11, and revisit communities that were visited by the first group back in October, showing our ongoing commitment to the people who experienced loss.  Our experience as a community has grown over the past 7 years, and we feel grateful that we are now able to provide support to others who have experienced disasters.  Our trip to Japan is the first major outreach that we have undertaken and we hope that we can reach out to people in other places in the future as well.”

  I have purchased an iPad mini so I can write about my experiences and I hope to share some of them with you. My Facebook friends have read about the “free camera” which will come in very handy. I am ever amazed at the opportunities that I have been given.  I am so blest. Proverbs 3:4-5  states ” Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

  Posted in daily life, faith, September 11, Uncategorized | 2 Comments | Tagged following Jesus, little things, September 11, telling the next generation, travel thoughts

• big horses, beer and a train

  Posted at 10:51 pm by missannsays, on June 3, 2013

  This post shows how random I truly am. While driving into the city today, I heard that Senator Frank Lautenberg had died.  My sister  was an intern for Senator Lautenberg one summer.  Hearing of his passing reminded  me of a trip I had taken to visit her while she was in  Washington DC. That same summer Bruce had wanted to attend a Firefighter Convention in Baltimore . So we decided to include the Firefighter Convention, the Washington DC trip and a trip to Kansas in our summer vacation plans. We would stay at hotels in Baltimore and Washington then tent camp in St Louis and continue onto Bruce’s sister’s home in Kansas.

  There are a couple of funny antidotes from that trip that still make me smile or is it cringe?!? Emily wondering “where the seatbelts were on the train?” Meghan being folded into the new umbrella stroller as we crossed the street. But the thing I always remember was when we returned from this adventure and people asked my kids “so what did you do on your big trip?” My girls responded “we saw the big horses at the place they make beer!” Did I mention they had been to the Baltimore Aquarium, ridden the train from Baltimore to Washington DC, had a private tour via my sister of the Capitol and even gone in the Senate chambers when it was in session. And we visited the Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian, driven by all the Memorials at night, swam in the hotel’s rooftop pool, seen the Arch in St Louis and visited the St Louis Zoo. And the *Anheuser Busch tour was the thing they liked best. Oh, I did I mention they were 4 and 7 years old. And people especially church people give you funny looks when your kids talk about “the place they make beer.” Still makes me laugh.

  The other note worthy story  happened on the journey home. When we left Kansas, we drove back to St Louis for our first stop.  It was later than we had planned and it was raining. As Bruce got out of the truck to  register us, I said “see if one of the cabins is available.”  When he returned, he informed me “there were no cabins and the train runs right by here.” I didn’t really pay attention to the train comment. Setting up a tent and fixing dinner in the rain with two young children was not my idea of fun but “we” muddled through. The girls sat in the pickup truck as we set up the tent and some way or the other I made dinner. We cleaned up and crawled into our sleeping bags.  I looked at Bruce and said “this is the last tent camping trip I am doing.” And then in the middle of the night,  the ground  started rumbling and the train rolled by. In the Midwest the trains are long, very long and the ground shakes, really shakes.  And  I thought this is how the Native Americans felt when the white man came. In the morning the sun was shining and I could see that the train tracks were very close. Years later Bruce would “confess” that he didn’t ask about a cabin. He figured we had the tent so why not sleep in it. Oh, my!

  *As I wrote this, I originally wrote Budweiser then I realized that was wrong. Obviously I wasn’t the beer drinker in the family. And my girls were right  Clydesdales were cool. 🙂

  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged little things, travel thoughts

• Travel Tuesdays – S1E9 – one poem & a few quotes.

  Posted at 10:39 pm by missannsays, on May 28, 2013

  The Road Not Taken

  Written by: Robert Frost

  TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, 
  And sorry I could not travel both 
  And be one traveler, long I stood 
  And looked down one as far as I could 
  To where it bent in the undergrowth; 
  
  Then took the other, as just as fair, 
  And having perhaps the better claim 
  Because it was grassy and wanted wear; 
  Though as for that, the passing there 
  Had worn them really about the same, 
  
  And both that morning equally lay 
  In leaves no step had trodden black. 
  Oh, I marked the first for another day! 
  Yet knowing how way leads on to way 
  I doubted if I should ever come back. 
  
  I shall be telling this with a sigh 
  Somewhere ages and ages hence: 
  Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, 
  I took the one less traveled by, 
  And that has made all the difference.

  1. “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain

  2. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St.  Augustine

  3. “There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

  4. “The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead  of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.” – Samuel Johnson

  Read more at http://matadornetwork.com/bnt/50-most-inspiring-travel-quotes-of-all-time/#iuMBpI4AzYDuz0Ui.99

  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged little things, travel thoughts

• Travel Tuesdays – S1E8 – Oklahoma

  Posted at 9:47 pm by missannsays, on May 21, 2013

  I was born in Oxford, England but from age 2 – 5 years I lived in Norman, OK. My dad had met my mom while he was stationed in England during the Korean War. They would marry. I would be born and then we would move to Norman, Oklahoma so my dad could finish his education at the University of Oklahoma. My brother and sister were born in Norman, Oklahoma. My grandparents lived there until their deaths. Whenever I spell Oklahoma, the song “O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A, Oklahoma” runs through my mind. My earliest childhood memory is being lowered into a tornado shelter. I remember being held in my dad’s arms and being passed to someone else standing lower down. I can almost feel their hands around my rib cage. I remember people sitting on benches around the edge of the “room.” Some years later when I described that memory to my folks, they confirmed that what I was remembering was being passed into a tornado shelter.

  My heart aches for the people of Oklahoma who were affected by the recent tornados. My prayers have been for their safety and their recovery. My friend and pastor shared a prayer on his Facebook page from a Jewish believer. It is a beautiful prayer that rings so true with my heart that I wanted to share it with you.

  “A Prayer for Oklahoma…May 20, 2013
  By Abby Jacobson, Emanuel Synagogue, Oklahoma City, OK

  Lord our God, we stood before You just a week ago to receive the Ten Statements of Your Torah. We stood, as though with our ancestors, and listened to the Torah reader chant descriptions of the smoking mountain, the thunderous rumbling, and the long-awaited voice of God.

  This afternoon, the people of central Oklahoma did not stand to hear the voice of God. We sat, we paced, and we huddled. We listened to the voice of the meteorologists and watched as dark clouds swirled together over a cone of destruction. The rain fell upward, not down, and the thunderous roar of the swirling winds carried, and we saw the awesome power of God. This was not Shavuot—the Feast of Weeks that marked our days of freedom. This was minutes that seemed like years and trapped us into watching the same images of destruction.

  Merciful God, a great and powerful windstorm has passed, and it has torn apart the buildings and shattered the rocks before You. You told Elijah, the prophet, that You were not in the windstorm. Please, then, be in the still, small voices of the children crying out to be found. Be in the voices of the rescuers calling out for survivors. Be in the cries of those who are lost and of those who have lost.

  May it be Your will that those who are missing be found alive and be cared for well, and may the people of central Oklahoma find strength in You and in one another as we rebuild what we can.”

  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged little things, prayer

• Travel Tuesdays – S1E7

  Posted at 11:01 pm by missannsays, on May 14, 2013

  Today for the first time in a very long time I picked someone up at the international arrivals area of Newark Airport. To be honest I don’t think I ever picked someone up there before. When we had family visit from Great Britain when I was a kid, they flew into JFK. I was trying to remember when was the last time I ventured into the international arrival area of any airport. As I pondered that I realized it was a few years ago at JFK when my daughter Meghan returned from Ireland – I think. Meghan was my world traveler. During her high school and college days, she took full advantage of the travel/study aboard concept. She visited Italy (twice), France, Germany, Ghana, Ireland (twice), England and Scotland as well as a couple of trips to St Thomas. A few years ago when there were no trips scheduled outside of the continental United States, she had commented “this is the first time since 2002 that I haven’t left the US!” So I have a vague memory of watching and waiting to see Meghan at JFK but I can’t tell you where she had been. I do know it is always good when your child has traveled safely home and you are hugging them and waiting to hear all the details of the trip.

  Today I was at Newark Airport to pick up my aunt and uncle. I found my way to the international arrivals area but I wasn’t really sure if I was in the right place. I wasn’t sure this was the only place my aunt and uncle would be able to exit immigration and customs. An occasional flight attendant or pilot would walk out of the customs area, wheeling their suitcase, looking very professional. But there weren’t very many travelers exiting. I decided to take a seat and wait. I am grateful there were rows of bench type chairs. As I headed to a chair, a man was heading to the same chair. There was a funny moment as we realized we were both “aiming for the same place”. I changed my direction to seat a row ahead of my original destination and said “I won’t fight you for it. I will just sit here instead.” We both chuckled and sat down and I asked “Do you know if this is the only exit?”. He was hoping it was because he had been waiting for over an hour for his friend/family from Amsterdam. He inquired where was the flight I was waiting for from and I said “Manchester, England.” This lead to him sharing the story of being in England in 1955 as a young service man. I shared the story of my folks meeting in England just a few years before. He told the story of an English woman who was so very kind to him and his friend. He said she was about 25 years older than he was. He was just 19 years old and his English wasn’t good because he is from Puerto Rico. The woman’s name was Molly and she watched out for him and his friend. She took them to church. He laughed as he said she tried to “keep us out of trouble.” He would travel back to England through the years to see her. She would leave her house to him and his friend when she died because she had no family. It was an amazing story. After awhile I would see my aunt and uncle approaching, I said “take care.”. He extended his hand to shake mine and said “My name is Walter.” I said “My name is Ann. It was lovely talking to you.” Walter said “God bless you”. What a delightful encounter.

  Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment | Tagged friendship, little things, travel thoughts

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