Change My Heart, O God: Life in the Swirl of Lexington, Kentucky

"Change and loss, it must be realized, are two different things. Loss takes something away from life. Change adds something to it." Joan D. Chittister

We had experienced so much loss in the last ten years. Now, during our first three years in Lexington, 1985-1988, we experienced so much change, so much was added in. Life was full of treasured people, and challenging experiences.

Our much-loved kids were growing and changing so quickly during their teen years.They did normal stuff like take gymnastic classes and do camps during the summer. Jenny did a drama camp one summer. We still joke and call her our "drama queen." We even caught them studying sometimes! Both were and continue to be very creative individuals.

We bought a home near my sister Nancy and family, our friends for life Mary Fleming and Dow and Lois Robinson. All our houses were no more than a block or two from each other! We left our ten acres of land and got acres of blessings instead -- more than we could imagine. Plus we still had our cute toy poodle Muffy, here in the arms of Mary Fleming.

And we discovered that it snowed more in Lexington than in Norman. Fun for all! One thing that wasn't much fun was working to find a fix for Jenny's orthodontic challenges, But she was a trooper with whatever came her way.

When it wasn't snowing, Bill enjoyed making a huge garden in our back yard. We all enjoyed the produce it gave us--so did all our friends and neighbors!

Jonathan graduated from our church's school, NCA, New Covenant Academy, in 1987. He was the only senior guy along with 7 beautiful young ladies. Both kids were excellent students and had moved ahead one grade over the course of several years, so graduated a year early. Jonathan decided after graduation he would begin his college career at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, receiving a scholarship to help out. We helped him move in to his dorm, went home and found our nest half empty. Jenny continued to be a joy and big help in many ways.

I continued teaching the amazing kids I told you about. Meanwhile the Lord was changing me and teaching me to "speak words more boldly to the children and teach them from the Spirit, not the curriculum." This is something I follow to this day. During these years, God blessed my life and the lives of the children as we all learned to listen to and follow Him. He also let me teach more and more teachers from around the country and world, something I loved.

When our third year wrapped up, I also had finished my masters program in literacy. During the last year, I was invited to move on to a doctoral program at UK and was offered a job as a graduate assistant. This was a VERY hard decision, to leave the kids I so loved, but God's instructions were very clear. It was with tears I told the kids about the new plans (I had taught some of them for at least three grades, 1st-3rd grades). We cried together. I still remember sitting on my teaching stool with tears running down my face.

These years at the school were full of blessing for me, and challenges. How much I needed God to change my heart to meet the swirl that happened. The principal's job and leadership kept changing every year. After the first year, Tim Mitchell, a wise and loving principal, left for another calling in life. After our second year, the principal was not an educator and not rehired. Instead of a principal, the next year Mary Fleming and I got to work as co-Master Teachers to train children and teachers. She had responsibility for working with grades 7-12 and I with K-6. It was an amazing partnership. We prayed together every morning before school. The school board served as principal with Harold Hodgkins as administrator. However, after three years, the school board decided that the school would close down and all 200 kids would need to find new school homes the next year. This was a shock for all.

By the time the school was permanently closed, Jonathan had already finished his freshman year of college, but Jenny was only a junior and would need a new school for her senior year. She chose to complete her last year of high school studies at a magnet school in Lexington public schools that focused on Japanese. She went to Henry Clay in the morning and transferred to Bryan Station in the afternoon for the magnet school. She studied Japanese and International Studies and is still in touch with some of her classmates on Facebook.

Meanwhile, Bill was working hard. While back in Norman he had started working for SAS Institute, a company that makes data analytics software, as a contract instructor. This continued in Lexington and took him around the country. As that began to taper off he took a short-term position with the University of Kentucky Research Foundation to provide a tracking system for animal subject experiments. When that was complete the Foundation wanted him to come on full time but Bill was reluctant and declined. Shortly thereafter a position came open for a federal contractor, CDSI, that was providing support to the federal Office of Surface Mines and the state counterpart. Bill was hired on and in a few months was managing the office. When the 3-year contract came to an end, it was extended with other contractors taking over for short periods. The nice thing was that each contractor wanted to retain staff so by the time a new contract was awarded salaries had gone up markedly.

30 years ago this August I wrote, "How grateful I am for a loving husband, though Sunday he had a word in his heart that his greatest work of service would be his death and the way in which he dies. I trust the Lord for many years together before that!" And so he has given us many years. Our lives are in His hands.

Our church family was amazing, creative and lively! Many great talent nights were enjoyed. Here you see Nancy Kennedy, Claire Sawyer and Lois Robinson all on the trampoline singing their hearts out. They called themselves the Happy Heartbeats. Bill had his singing debut during this event. He dressed up as Kenny Rogers to sing a Dolly Parton song. Now Bill has three notes and they're all off-key. Barb Munz, a voice with dulcet tones, was his partner as Dolly. Together they sang a variation on Islands in the Stream:

Here we go traveling from place to place
Looking for church where they speak of grace
Don't want to hear about tithing or law words or nothin', uh uh!

Islands in the stream
That is what we are
No one in between
How can we be wrong
Sail away with me
To another world
And we rely on each other, ah ha
And we rely on each other, ah ha

(As a footnote, Bill and Barb practiced so much that he eventually started singing on key. This was bad. Really bad. But by performance time he was back to his off-key voice and all was well.)




Vacations often included Grandma and Grandpa Leal. We loved spending Christmas with Grandma, Grandpa and Bill's sister Mary Ellen and their growing family in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And sometimes we got to spend it with my sister and family too.



Summer vacations usually included renting a cabin near a lake, or driving to see important places, like Kentucky's caves or Abraham Lincoln's birthplace. You can see three of us in front of his log cabin birthplace. I think I told you in an early blog that he is my great, great, great.....uncle.

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There are lots of beautiful places in Kentucky and nearby Tennessee. We tried to visit as many as we could. Goofing off at home with Paul and Ana Hills was also fun.



We love our family, still do, and give thanks for each other and our two amazing kids!

The GRE vs. "Go and I Will Be With You!"

In early spring of 1985 a threefold word came together. I wrote, “In the last two weeks it is coming into focus that I need to go back to school for a graduate program and degree. Bill (husband), Dow (pastor) and Tim (principal) all came to me independently and told me they thought graduate school was next for me.” Part of my heart was full of fear that I’d never pass the GRE exam to get in to University of Kentucky (after all, I was was almost 40 years old!), but the other part believed I needed to enlarge my understanding of reading as an area God wanted to give me more revelation on. And the Lord told me, “Go and I will be with you. If you aren’t to be there, you will know; and if you are, you will ‘feel my pleasure as you run.’ Let that be your clue and your assurance. I will be with you. You are not going alone.”

So I took the GRE and wrote that it was “devastating. It was hard and I blanked out. The questions didn’t make sense except for math, which is the opposite of what I expected. Sunday in worship the Lord made me aware that the deposit in me and His gifting is not dependent on the GRE or any tests, Just His Spirit. Not by might, or by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord.”


I cried for half an hour after the tests, sure I had not passed. But pass I did and was invited to join the graduate program in reading in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky. My first advisor was Dr. Mary Shake, a wonderful mentor, taking a newbie like me and helping integrate me into the academic world.

After being accepted at UK, I was offered a graduate assistant job, but I wrote that “I can’t do this if I teach, which is where I need to be for now.” So I continued teaching for another two years while completing my master’s degree in reading education.

During this time I was also invited to come teach on reading at a Christian education conference being held in Lexington. It was an awesome time and God blessed my sharing with teachers I’d never met before. It was a confirmation that I was to go on and learn more. I also began to get invitations from around the country, and even to England and Canada, to come teach their teachers. God was opening up more doors than I ever imagined.


But grad school was tough. I had always loved writing, but writing for academia is another whole ball game. Learning to write this way was not easy. Friend Dawn Kotapish said recently what I felt and why I'm writing this blog: I was "one fated to digest life slowly, only by writing about it first." But grad school wouldn't let that be the only writing I would do.

Another unexpected word from the Lord came that I didn’t understand. Remember, we had just moved from Oklahoma a year or two ago? The word came in a dream, “Your next move will be to Mobile.” There was no explanation and no apprehension in the word and even excitement I didn’t understand. Little did I know how that word would come to pass over five years later. “We shared the word with Dow and Lois and they didn’t laugh, but seriously received it. It is God who moves us on in His purposes and time.”


While God was bringing people in to the church, He was also sending others out. Paul Petrie, pastor of the church, announced his call to Europe and Africa and how they planned to move from Lexington to Brussels, Belgium. While it was a time of celebration in God’s call on him and Rebecca and the kids, it was also about to be a huge change for the church. I would lose fellow teacher and dear friend Judy McCullough, Rebecca's sister, who would be moving to Europe with them. Below are a couple pics I took of Paul, Rebecca, with John Meadows, and this sending-out event.

Lexington School Kids and God's Presence in the Classroom

I got caught in the echos of His Love. Our move to Lexington was continually marked by the Presence of God. I loved it when His Presence showed up while teaching children. As I taught, He gave me Biblical analogies to teach that were relational and family oriented. Father Alphabet had 26 kids, you know (and I still have the puppet)! Then during one surprising time I wrote, “In class yesterday, the Lord directed me to lay hands on each child (there were 25 of them) and pray for each. And the presence of the Lord was strong, more than I’ve ever known in the classroom and I wondered what was next. What we prayed for that day got answered that day—including the sale of one child’s house. It was truly exciting to all of us. They are such a special group of kids.” One thing we did a lot of was memorize Scripture and contextualize the passage. In the corner of the room, you can see the the kids' drawing of Jesus from Revelation 1, in the corner from ceiling to floor, that the kids drew as we talked about Him.

That brings me to another favorite thing the kids did. Each child chose a research project for the year and when they were ready they presented it to the whole class. Their families came and we all learned a lot. Many of those kids are reading this blog today and now have kids of their own. I would love for them to add their memories of this time. I love hearing how Father has unfolded life according to His eternal purposes in their individual callings and gifts.

I'm going to post a bunch of pics of these presentations. Benjamin Monroe is doing his in  the pic of Revelation 1. I have a photo of each of the 25 presentations, so if you're reading this and don't see yours, let me know and I'll find it!

That fall we continued to experience His Presence showing up. I wrote, “God has been pouring Himself out on my class and brought 10 kids to give their hearts to Jesus. As we were praying and thanking Him, the Spirit kept moving and half a dozen kids began speaking in tongues. It was joy to watch God move on them so powerfully. And His Presence has continued on us. He then continued doing the same in other classrooms, moving throughout the school, including the high school kids, with revival, repentance and healing. It was a week of few classes, and much prayer and rejoicing. It was beautiful.”

During these years, I was given the gift of an assistant teacher with Vickie Mitchell, Sarah’s mom. Her willingness to come in daily, serve and learn, was a huge blessing to me and the whole class. Later Janis Burnam, Habb’s mom, came in too, and gave her time in doing art projects with the kids. Connie Jirak, Jack's mom, and Bettie Ann Monroe, Benjamin's mom, were also a key players in the lives of these kids. These ladies were mainstays in my life as the school went through many changes. Interestingly, the Lord took both Vickie and Janis, young God loving women, servants of His, home with Him through cancer and illness. I’m sure their reward is great, and their children know that blessing today. I wrote, “They have been gifts from the Lord to me. I shall forever be grateful.”

I also had some more prophetic dreams, though I knew not how they would come to pass, or when. “In one dream we were experiencing a year of great joy and blessing and then were sent out into the darkness, with others, bearing lights. In another dream we were in a car touring a beautiful countryside, then the ride ended and it was dark and our car lights were the only lights as we went further on, leaving the place of blessing and light.” When I told grandson Ethan these dreams, this is the picture he drew.

At the end of the year, they all came to our home and I presented them with framed plaques recognizing the character qualities I saw in each one. Here are a few other memory photos of fun times we had together.

Then they surprised me with gifts, and the special gift of a quilt with each of their hand prints and signatures. That quilt, with its 25 hand prints and 25 names, sits on my computer chair every day, or keeps me warm in the winter, so I am reminded of each one.

Meanwhile Dow began teaching classes on Jesus’ heart attitudes, motives, and life style that many attended. These classes were rigorous and good practice for what was coming next--grad school.