You may remember that on Labor Day my purse was stollen. Well, today I’m tickled to report that part of it has been returned. Talk about a tangible answer to specific prayers!

On Monday I received a phone call from our credit union. Apparently a college student named Meng had called to report that he’d found my purse. They wisely didn’t give out my phone number, but gave me his. After a brief conversation we made arrangements for him to mail my purse to me.

Today my afternoon…ahem…nap…ahem…was interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell. It was my mailman with a box. However, the box was clearly too small to have my purse and all the contents that were crammed in it. The mailman was as excited as we all were. With all three kids peering over my shoulder and the postman in front of me, I tore into the box to discover one of the two wallets from my purse. The interesting thing is that someone had taken the time to transfer everything of significance and value from my purse to this one zippered wallet. My driver’s license, social security card, the kids’ ss cards, insurance card, and 2 checkbooks and registers were all in this wallet. None of these things were in it when it was stollen, but were in other containers. Hmmmmm. What a thoughtful thief.

I wish I had had a tiny camera in my purse to know what transpired from the time it was stolen until I got the wallet back. I did recover one baby tooth, but no pictures.

God is good all the time though and I am so thankful to the thief or whoever the person is who moved everything to this wallet. I appreciate that he/she dropped it on a city street an hour and half from my home. I am most thankful to Meng, who had the wisdom to pick it up, the determination to find me via the credit union, and the integrity to take it to the post office and mail it to me. May God bless him.

Do you remember that old Carpenter’s song? “They say that breaking up is hard to do…” A sad song about the end of a relationship…with a pickin’ tune that’s stuck in my head right now. (My daughter, Kadi, says the only cure for that is to hum “Baby Beluga in the Deep Blue Sea.” For the record, it’s not working this time.)

Anyway, tonight our family, along with another 100+ people, bid farewell to our dear friends and Associate Pastor, the Dave Genberg family. It wasn’t really “breaking up”, but it is the end of a relationship as we have known it for the last few years. In true fashion, we had a wonderful party complete with barbequed pork from the best little BBQ joint in town, worship and a rousing game of Family Feud with Genberg trivia questions. It was a blast…until we had to say good-bye.

Does anyone else out there not do “good-bye’s” so well? Please tell me I’m not alone in this. When I went to my class reunion last Friday, I was reminded that I’d lost touch with many of those friends after I said “good-bye” to them twenty years ago. That was probably my first experience with “good-byes”. Those good-byes were followed with farewells after college, after grad. school, after I left Texas. I’ve said good-byes to grandparents who have gone to their eternal homes with Jesus. This past spring our family said “good-bye” to our beloved dog, Shasta, whom I’d had for 14 years. “Good-byes”….blllleeecccchhh! Don’t like ‘em – never have, never will.

We are waiting to hear where our friends will end up. Right now it is between two churches and we all wait and pray – knowing that “God is not unjust; He will not forget their work and the love they have shown Him as they have helped His people and continue to help them.” Hebrews 6:10

In every “good-bye” I have discovered grace lessons. In my “Sweet Blessings” talk I tell people that some friends are friends of the road. They are in our lives for a stretch of the journey and then, for a variety of different reasons, we may no longer travel on the same road. I can delight in knowing that those friends (including the Genberg’s) who are also brothers and sisters in Christ, may take a different road, but we will all end up in the same place. I am eternally thankful for the opportunity I’ve had to serve with and learn from Dave and Pat in the last five years. Placing us on the same road for a time was a precious gift of grace from Jesus. My prayers will follow them where ever God calls them to serve next.

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Hang up your Synonym Finder and grab your apron. Fall is in the air, and I am gearing up to can and freeze my fruits and vegetables. Yes, in the midst of my kitchen madness, I expect that I will increase my vocabulary as I “thank?” my husband for the abundant garden he planted this year. That’s when my editing skills will come in handy, as I delete some of those words before they cause a problem.

On Friday afternoon I will be…
Freezing tomatoes, onions, peppers, and garlic
Canning apple pie filling…unless someone tells me how to freeze it instead, and
Making concord grape jelly and jalepeno jelly

Oh, joy. Can you tell I can hardly wait? I get as excited about canning and freezing as I would poking bamboo shoots under my fingernails. Grrr. I confess, however, that when I have the project complete and the goods are neatly stacked in my freezer and pantry, I feel pretty pickin’ proud of myself. Move over Ma Ingels, Vicki Crocker is on the loose.

I’m home from my class reunion. It was wonderful! Okay, for those of you who have said, “I’ll never go to a class reunion.”…GO! What a delight it was to see the faces of those whom I grew up with. No, I mean, LITERALLY grew up with. Some of these kids were in my elementary classes. After twenty years in the adult world, it was so much fun to learn about each others’ families and lives. High school cliques were a thing of the past and everyone talked to and hugged everyone else. Fun!

Before we left for our weekend, I learned that one of my stories/devotions will be published in a book called A Cup of Comfort for Mothers. I had to do a little editing on the story over the weekend, but it has been sent off already. That was a fun bit of news.

In the next two weeks I am speaking 5 times. That must be a record for me. I think I’m ready. Each engagement is a different message, so that adds a little challenge to the schedule. I certainly appreciate prayers for this busy time. Specifically, pray that I keep God and my family first, that I would remain healthy, and that God would be glorified in all I do.

This week I received a note from a group for whom I will be speaking in the spring. Becky wrote, “May Christ be found irresistable in all we say and do!” Amen, Becky!

Tomorrow is my…gulp…twentieth class reunion…gulp, gulp! How can that be possible? While I’m not fully accepting that it’s my 20th, we are loading up the mini-van and heading home to renew old acquaintances.

The last time I attended my reunion was ten years ago. My life was in the not-so-proverbial-toilet. I had an eight-month-old baby, was living with my parents, had no job, no place to live) of my own) and was in the middle of a messy divorce. To this day I don’t know what possessed me to attend that reunion. Imagine how great I was at carrying on a conversation in this situation. Ouch.

Fast forward ten years and add a bazillion Grace Lessons and a merciful Savior. Woah! I’ve been happily married for seven + years, have added two more children to the fold, homeschool all three, tutor five more, and work for Jesus as an author and motivational speaker. I can’t even imagine what He could do in the NEXT ten years!

In high school I was always on the fringe. You know, had a few close friends, but surfed the outer boundaries of the “in” crowd. My friends were often in that elite circle, but I was just “with” them. Funny how old insecurities can creep up and bite you in the bo-hiney, eh? I love a crowd and when I’m speaking somewhere, I’m in my element if I can work that crowd…make people laugh…be bold and fun. That’s not the Vicki Hibma that graduated from WHS though. Who will I be tomorrow night? Hmmm, I really don’t know. Like slipping on old familiar shoes, will I slide into the safety of the outer rim…or will I bounce around the room, greeting old friends and meeting new spouses?

As I drift off to sleep tonight, with “Thriller” pounding in my head and Ms. Pac-Man flitting across my brain, I’m going to be reminding myself of God’s promise;“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ; the old has gone, the new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17.

I’m taking that with me to the Worthington Country Club tomorrow night. I’ll let you know how it goes!

I just came back from an amazing weekend with my mom, after a frightful week last week. You may have noticed that there was only one blog. That’s because I was busy doing battle. Let’s just say I have a bloody spiritual sword.

A few weeks ago I shared that a senior acquisitions editor of a major Christian publishing house contacted me and said the publishing committee at his house was interested in Parenting on Your Knees if I would rework some things. I got right to it and we sent off the new chapters and updated proposal within a week. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that I received an email on Friday from this same editor. He said they were ready to offer me a contract. They went to the president of the publishing house…and he vetoed the proposal. The Sr. editor was very gracious and said that no matter what, he liked the book and hopes we find a publishing house. (I wonder if they tell everyone that?) Regardless, I’m holding his encouragement close to my heart.

I left for Worthington to pick up my mom only fifteen minutes after that disappoinment. I needed to be refreshed after the purse theft and two rejections in one week. I got it!

Mom and I attended the Beth Moore, Living Proof Conference in Sioux Falls, SD on Friday night and Saturday morning. It was fabulous! Beth opened it with a passage from Job. ( I have to admit, I found that pretty fitting!) I’m printing this scripture out and taping it on my bathroom mirror!

“He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.” Job 36:16

We spent several hours, in an arena filled with 6500 women, studying the “table”. How amazing it was to lay down my “stuff” …again…and come to the table with my King! He has set a table for 2 and is there waiting for me.

Today is the beginning of a new week. Praise God! His mercies are new every morning!

Tomorrow I have the fortune of speaking in Wisconson for a brand new MOPS group. I’m looking forward to that!

In the meantime, I’m going to sit back and be wooed to the table by Jesus. Is He wooing you too? I think so!

“Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”
Revelations 19:9

Do you remember the children’s story “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”? Yeah, well, the kid’s got nothing on me. This was one of those…

If you read this morning’s blog, you already know my purse was stolen yesterday. Hence, I spent the entire morning and most of the afternoon taking care of closing and replacing things. That alone would make this Mama crabby.

Add to that…my first rejection from a publisher. Grant it, my agent is going to resubmit the proposal and new chapters that were written last week for the other publishing house, but still…my first rejection and it hurts.

Top it off with some well place criticism for the novel…but ill-timed (no fault of theirs)…and, well, it’s been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

I scrubbed my kitchen and entry floor to within an inch of its life, on my hands and knees. That helped my mood – a little. Not because I like to clean the floor, quite the contrary. No, I just got a lot of tears and aggression out.

After a long soak in the tub, I am still not out of the slump. I have a couple of choices as I see it. I can wallow in self-pity and frustration for the rest of the night and drown my self in ice-cream. Or I can suck it up, put on my big girl panties, and deal with it. Ah, I think I see a grace lesson on the horizon. Before I sit down to contemplate what God’s trying to teach me, I think I’ll enjoy the ice cream first. I’ll let you know what grace lessons comes of this one. For now, I’ll settle for a sundae and a teachable spirit.

Well, Labor Day 2006 will go down in history for the Tiede family as memorable. Let’s look at the good news first…

1. Ben taught himself to ride his 2-wheeler! That was very exciting for all of us!!

2. Friends came over and helped us play Paul Bunyan. Together we tackled (okay, we didn’t really tackle it, we used a chain saw) the dead tree at the front of our house. We’ve already cleared it away and it looks great.

3. I made a quick trip to Sam’s Club, where I discovered I didn’t have check blanks. (Thank you, Jesus, for Discover!)

4. We introduced our tree-chopping-friends to letterboxing. We successfully found the only Rochester letterbox and had a grand time…until we returned to the car…

Now for the bad news…
Someone (Let’s call him the Bad Guy) broke out the passenger side front window and stole my purse which was under the driver’s seat. (Yes, I have learned a valuable lesson. Don’t even start with me. ) The Bad Guy apparently was only interested in the purse as he/she left Caleb’s Game Boy which was sitting 3 inches from the purse.

Bad News for the Bad Guy:
I only had $1 in my purse, no check blanks for our primary account, and everything else (including the cell phone) was closed/canceled within an hour of the theft. Ha ha! I’m most sad that he got away with my daughter’s 2 baby teeth. (She lost them in church and I had them stored in my coin purse.) Okay, so it’s no big deal about the teeth, but I still feel badly.

Good News for the Bad Guy:
I also had my ministry business cards in my purse. So, he/she could be reading this now. Consequently, the rest of this message is for the Bad Guy:

Dear Mr. or Ms. Bad Guy:
Thank you for teaching me a valuable lessons about leaving my purse in the car. I will be telling everyone I know not to follow my example, even if they are in a safe neighborhood with lots of people around. I hope you spent the $1 wisely. I would appreciate it if you’d mail me the photos, lipsticks, and baby teeth. You can keep the cards for scraping your windshield, they aren’t good for much else anymore. Please know that I forgive you, and if you ask Him, Jesus will too. I hope you will think twice before committing any more crimes, the next guy might not take it so well. I pray God leads you to a new profession and that you find peace in knowing Jesus.

Blessings to you~ Vicki (Whose identity is in Christ)

Yesterday we headed out on another Team Tiede Adventure. I’m not sure how we came up with this title for such events, but it happened a few years back and it stuck.

In the morning we piled the still sleepy kids in the car and drove to the Science Museum to enjoy the amazing Body World exhibit and the IMAX movie, “The Human Body.” Since we will study the human body in school this year, it seemed appropriate. Words can’t begin to describe how incredible and educational the Body World exhibit was. I know there are some who take issue with this exhibit for theological reasons. I for one was humming, “How Great is our God” for the entire hour and a half. Wow.

The movie was not met with enthusiasm by all members of Team Tiede. Ben (6) thought he was going to hurl when they showed bile squirting in the stomach and Caleb (4) asked druing the reproductive portion, “Is that soup?” Perhaps we don’t have any future Dr. Tiede’s in our midst.

Then we went letter boxing. For those of you who haven’t heard of this past time, I will include a couple of links. We have been enjoying letterboxing for three years now. It’s a cross between a hike, an adventure, and a treasure hunt. The kids sometimes have to solve riddles, stories with clues, and use a compass. http://www.letterboxing.org/“>http://www.letterboxing.org/

Yesterday we did a letterbox called “Peace, Love, and Harmony by the Mighty Mississippi.” We found three boxes hidden and left our marks in their books. It was a great hike for kids. We hiked a little over a mile out in total. Then bad shoes on Mike and boys who were ready for naps resulted in my hoofing it back to the van by myself and swinging by to pick them up.

We got back home in time to fix supper and watch “Hoodwinked” in our “moodie feeder.” (That’s movie theater in Caleb-ese.)