Category: Potpourri

The Welcome Home Blog
	for November 2003
	The kettle’s on… go get a cup and enjoy today’s blog!
	You can click on underlined links for topics referenced in the blog

Go ahead and get a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy today’s blog! Hug your children… love them today; today is all you have.

BACK UP YOUR FILES!  IF YOU’VE GOT A BUNCH OF IMPORTANT INFORMATION ON YOUR COMPUTER, MAKE A COPY (AND UPDATE IT FROM TIME TO TIME) AND STORE IT IN A SAFE-DEPOSIT BOX AND/OR AT A FRIEND’s OR RELATIVE’s HOME.  In light of the floods, fires, etc., it would be very good to make copies of your important papers, documents, policies and take them or the originals and file them in the safe-deposit box, too.  I have some other notes that our friend Laura sent me today that I’ll share tomorrow.  It’s too late for bloggin’ and my time is up!  😉 October 31, 2003    Happy Birthday, Laura!! Ahhhh… no bloggin’ yesterday!  Too many things to do around our home and too many people on this system 😉 I’ve been watching the news on the net regarding the California fires.  Our hearts go out to those who’re in desperate situations… all the uncertainties, the grief, fear and loss from the relentless fires.  We commend all the Firefighters, all the volunteers, Police & Rescue and the courageous citizens who’ve selflessly done whatever it takes to help others.  My mom sent me a neat link this morning—fire update—it’s quite something to see the far-reaching effects of this fire.  I was born in San Bernardino and raised in Redlands so I’ve been sort of tracking what’s been happening in those areas.  Our friend here told of a relatives devastating loss of their home.  My sister in law lives near Saddleback Mountain and called my mother-in-law last night to let the family know that they’re all “fine” but everything is covered with ash. As a result of the fires she’s been working “a ton of extra hours” because all the hospitals (one of which is where she works) in the area are full and busy.  Oh, how many lives are touched one way or another by the tragedies. I love to hear results of something I’ve written or links I’ve highlighted here… my friend wrote yesterday and shared her delight in finding links for her patterns of dishes and china.  I was thrilled to see the patterns—and amazed that her pattern of china is the same as our son & daughter-in-law’s china.   Now… when I’m at their home, and I see their china, I’ll be thinking of my friend.  I’ll continue to look at Replacements or on Ebay for dishes for our daughter.  I never see my pattern on Ebay, but you never know…  In the scheme of things, this is a very very low priority. I had another beautiful letter this morning from the owner of the Simply Graceful website where you may purchase beautifully modest dresses for little girls—“Handmade with care for Special little girls.”  You know what I was pleased to see… she’s offering a jumper for mama’s!  Go and see… I  love home industry! October 29, 2003 Now tonight I was looking at a wonderful needlework website! As a matter of fact, just today I was showing my daughters some stamped cotton-linen placemats that my grandmother was in the process of making.  I think I’ll ask my mom to finish them with our oldest daughter.  She’s been busily arranging her closet and looking over the things in her hope-chest and yesterday was looking through my mother’s china which is being stored in boxes for her.  I decided to take a look at Replacements to see what they have available in that pattern.  I was pleased to see all the different pieces they had!  Whew! The prices are high, though!  Then I decided to take a look on Ebay… there, I was not so successful!  I did, however, browse through the different sets and patterns of china and smiled as I saw all sorts of different sets of china and remembered different friends and family members as I saw ‘their china’ patterns. Dealing with loss… oh, the things I’ve remembered as the days have passed… things that were on this computer.  Much like an address book which I have on my desk, I had a nicely set up address book and personal info files that I’m regretful to have lost.  I have been sorry about this today.  But, as my friend wrote this morning… my loss was NOthing like the losses being faced and experienced in California (and, obviously elsewhere!).  Oh, the devastation of those fires.  My very small disruption is as nothing compared to the losses they face.  It’s a good thing to see things in proper perspective.  I’m so grateful to have been reminded of this! October 28, 2003  What a blessing to fellowship with other believers around the “‘net table” here!  I’m grateful for the opportunity the LORD’s given and His working in our lives.  It’s a blessing to have the good of the ‘net at our disposal—but we must be ever careful, ever vigilant to the downside or dangers of this great tool.  One thing about not having anything to work with over the last week, was the reality of the time grabber this machine is!  Actually, it’s both a time and attention siphon! I am more keenly aware that every moment I’m facing this box is a moment I’m not facing my children.  Likewise, every moment they’re using the machine, they’re not doing something else. So… perspective was gained by the loss of the files and use of this machine. Debbie G once wrote about the dangers of email lists… I’d sure echo that and add, the ‘net in general.  It’s a tool—and like all tools, in it’s proper place and purpose it’s marvelous—I pray we never lose sight of this or else our expensive lesson will have been just that: expensive.  October 27-8, 2003                             Good Good Morning!!  We’re up and running!  After losing all the files on my system, It is with great thanks to the LORD that this site was on a server and is restored.  I am grateful for the salvaging of these files as they are the only files I have of the 139,000 files lost when my computer crashed.  I am grateful to my husband and to our friend Sean for their patience and kindness… yes, and time and finances to get new components, programs and all that went into reinstalling them.  This was a very very expensive lesson for me… my prayer has been that in all of this the LORD would be glorified and I would be gracious and accept as of His Hand all that transpires. I’m sorry to have lost five years of files… sorrier that I never backed them up properly and now have lost thousands of important records, files, orders, etc. that I cannot replace.  Some of the more important lessons I’ve learned in life have come at great expense, but I’ve also seen the LORD bring rich and lasting fruit from the difficult plowing I’ve experienced.  I’m sorry to have lost beautiful letters of correspondence, marvelous articles I always intended to post on the site… pictures and chronologies through e-mail of events and phases family and friends have gone through.  I’m regretful that I don’t have addresses, and journals and letters to my children that I’ve been keeping over the last five years… because as you know, I’m a saver-of-quite-a-lot. One neat blessing that’s come of this loss is MORE ADVICE! In addition to my standard admonitions: Get right with the LORD. Brush and floss your teeth today so that you’ll have teeth to brush and floss tomorrow. Drink MORE Water. Try to cut down on BSF foods. Life is too long to fret about everything. And NOW… here’s my new mantra: BACK UP YOUR FILES TODAY Really. If you don’t know how… Don’t remain ignorant… find someone to teach you how. You may live to regret NOT doing it. October 16-17, 2003   Now HERE’s something f-u-n-n-y considering the negative report CBS on Homeschooling.  This spoof is as ridiculous as the CBS piece.  Don’t you wish you could invite the CBS crew in for a week and show them how a homeschooling family works?!?!   In addition to seeing how much teamwork goes into each day… they’d be treated respectfully, treated to beautiful music, great stories, tasty food, lots of story books, trips to the library, taste-testing new creations in the kitchen, prayer time and Bible study and lots and lots of questions and more stories… and maybe a little too much socializing.  It’s too bad they won’t be coming tomorrow… it’ll be another full day here in the life of a teaching home.  It’s sad what’s happened to some people—but to label it: the sinister side of Homeschooling… hundreds of prisons are packed with inmates who’ve committed heinous crimes, do we call this the sinister side of government education?  Will there be a sequel to the “Dark Side of Homeschooling” presentation?  Public Schooling Nightmares: A report, how children nationwide have been put in danger, even killed, while public schooling.  O, but then… by other names & descriptions, these reports fill newspapers every week, don’t they. We receive a bi-monthly newsletter called Pen & Sword, published by the Amy Foundation. This, from the Amy Foundation site: “The Amy Foundation, founded in 1976 by W. James Russell and his wife Phyllis, was named after their daughter. The Foundation is best known for its Amy Writing Awards, which is a call to present biblical truth reinforced with scripture in secular, non-religious publications. First prize is $10,000 with a total of $34,000 given annually. It is acclaimed as the most popular journalism contest in the nation.”  We so appreciate the timely and well written articles.   In fact, our children recently recalled that Daddy was reading one of the newsletter feature articles the night before our Ami was born.  At that time, there was no preparation for a girls-name, nor did the “amy” newsletter prompt her naming, it was simply a sweet coincidence.  [She’s named for a precious saint of the LORD, a woman named Amelia who’s been a spiritual mentor in our lives.]  You can take a look at theAmy Foundation Home Pageand read past article contributions. Looking for good eats????  I forget to suggest great cooking websites that we’ve really enjoyed—so here’s one for you today! This site has terrific recipes and a great search tool, plus you can set up a personal recipe box.  Try Epicurious today!!  Then, you might want to go to Our Favourite Cooking Websites page.  It’s loaded with links for you.     NEWS  Terri Schindler-Schiavo’s feeding tube has been removed. “The tube removal came just hours after Gov. Jeb Bush told Bob Schindler and his wife, Mary, that he was instructing his legal staff to find some means to block the court order allowing Michael Schiavo to end his wife’s life. “I am not a doctor, I am not a lawyer. But I know that if a person can be able to sustain life without life support, that should be tried,” the governor said, adding the “ultimate decision of this is in the courts.” The father of the woman said the family was heartened by the governor’s last-minute effort. “The family has not given up hope on Terri,” Bob Schindler Jr. said following the meeting with Bush.” [FoxNews]   October 15, 2003  I’m reading  The Family Meal Table and Hospitality by Nancy Campbell.  What a valuable manual it is!  It’s a blessing to me because I’ve allowed busy-ness to creep in and steal time and ‘tradition’ away from the gathering at the table for meals.  O, how much is lost when, as the family goes many directions, the mealtime is reduced to merely refueling.   So… I’ve just begun reading the book and will be quoting some of the rich truths and suggestions for the family meal table. In our ‘welcome page’ I have listed a request to pray for our friend Diana.  What a blessing it was to me to recently be able to see her and the miraculous way the LORD is using this illness to His glory.  She’s absolutely radiant—another testimony of the grace of God!  I’d still request prayer on her behalf as the road ahead is quite difficult and she daily faces challenges associated with her illness.  What a precious and courageous sister in the LORD she is! Do you have GRAMMAR questions? Need to know proper sentence structure or any other answer pertaining to grammar?  This site’s for you!! Don’t forget the case of Terri Schindler-Schiavo.  It’s such a sad situation that could’ve been improved in so many ways!   Worldnet Daily is also reporting the story. And it goes on…  HOMESCHOOLERS: SEND CBS NEWS BACK TO THE BOOKS! Click on the “Hot News” on the right side-bar. October 14, 2003   Oh, the media has a heyday with it’s twisting of stories and scandalous news, doesn’t it!  CBS aired a two-part program on “the dark side of homeschooling” last night, concluding tonight.  One thing I try to remember in all of this is to not get all hyped up or ruffled… that media thrive on sensational stories to get ratings and ratings—not complete stories or truth—are paramount in that industry. We don’t hear all the evils linked to government education, just as we’re not being told the truth on what really goes on in the schools today and the brainwashing of the humanist agenda.  Home educators, take heart… press on, study hard, learn all you can, serve all you can, be obedient to the Word (Deuteronomy 6) and teach well!  All this threatening news has temporarily cast a dark shadow on homeschooling… but we know the truth.  The enemy of our souls is at enmity with God and will never relent—but he is a defeated —defeated— foe.  On the other side of the coin, there’s a very interesting, great article regarding homeschoolers in World magazine.   This is HSLDA’s alert for today:   October 14, 2003 Dear HSLDA Members and friends: CBS National News ran a negative homeschooling report last night titled “The Dark Side of Homeschooling” and will run a further report this evening. The reports focus on a handful of child abuse cases during the past 5 to 10 years involving families claiming to be homeschoolers. Last night’s segment discussed the murder of Kyle, 13, and Marnie Warren, 19, by their brother Brandon, 14, and his subsequent suicide. The Warren family is from Johnston County North Carolina. To view the CBS story go to:  http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=1139 Missing from the CBS story was that: Social Services had contacted the family eleven times, were well aware of the condition of the home and had been working with the family. However, to any fair-minded reader the story leaves the impression that homeschooling equals child abuse. We are outraged that CBS would ignore the obvious facts and draw the erroneous conclusion that homeschoolers need to be strictly regulated. The story is a shameless attempt to smear an entire community of committed, dedicated parents. The real story is CBS’s bias against homeschooling and it is using this distorted story to encourage the regulation of homeschoolers. Please call Viacom (parent company of CBS) and CBS to express your opposition to the biased reporting and smear campaign against homeschooling. Highlight the fact that homeschooling was not the cause of the childrens’ deaths and that you expect CBS to have higher journalistic standards. Viacom President and CEO – Mel Karmazin P – 212-258-6000 CBS Evening News – LA Bureau P – (323) 575-2202 Sincerely, J. Michael Smith HSLDA President   October 13, 2003   Home from retreat… what a blessed time it was!  What inspiration, what affirmation for what we know and what the LORD has taught us through His Word.  It’s a blessing to be able to spend time under the teaching of a woman who’s walked with God—trusted in God and has a testimony of a pattern of good works.  I’d like to spend some time reflecting and then write a bit about it.  My initial thought is that I am so grateful to God that He didn’t allow my early [and erroneous] assessment of Nancy Campbell to remain but allowed me to see and hear the message behind the messenger.  O, we can be so critical sometimes—so quick to judge, so quick to misinterpret actions, words, inflections, manner or appearance of an individual and perhaps totally miss the great blessing God intended us to receive.  Oh, am I glad to have not missed the blessing of the Above Rubies retreat and all the marvelous affirmations of God’s Word—His precious and marvelous plan for wives and mothers… the utmost—really— was that I was able to share it all with my daughter; it was wonderful.  What a great and awe-inspiring God we serve and how gracious He is to provide these opportunities for us.  Oh, the great blessing of faith… the strength of faith.  I loved reading this story in the local paper… an inspiration to me… a church member who, early in her life, endured great dishonor: judged by the colour of her skin—not the content of her character— and yet she pressed on, she kept the faith—her church was a refuge. Now, while I was away, I had a letter in the email from a reader who was wondering the fate of the case of Terri Schindler-Schiavo—it’s a discouraging conclusion.  Worldnet Daily also reported on the story.  Now, why does this matter, or why should we care?  You see this is just as dreadful as abortion and yet another act of mocking God by the enemy–the sanctity of human life is at stake. Already, millions of babies are killed at the request of mothers to  whom these babies are inconvenient, unplanned, unwanted.  Now this decision to allow the starvation of Terri Schindler-Schiavo is yet another turn in the slide of degradation of life… who’s next? The elderly?  The disabled?  The no-longer-useful?  The inconvenient?  Who chooses life?  Is it ours to decide?  Is it any wonder that there is judgment on America—or other nations who forget God.  October 9-12, 2003   Retreating to Olympia… no time for bloggin’ so we’re off to listen and learn what the LORD has for us!    I’ll blog details when we return!!  Blessings! —ps But first, one more thing…… this story —-the case of Terri Schindler-Schiavo is unbelievable.  Even so, we cry, Come, LORD Jesus. October 8, 2003   Only a couple of days till the Olympia, Washington Above Rubies retreat!  There may still be some room… so if you want/need to attend, make plans right away—today!  Click on Above Rubies and go to the  “American Retreats & Seminars” link on the menu bar. From there, look at the info for the Olympia retreat set for this weekend! Well, so, Cal-eeee-fornia has a new governor—amazing.  His speech was gracious, and history will declare his genuine sincerity in his determination to make Cal-eee-fornia “again the greatest state of the greatest country in the world.  Thank you very much. Thank you. And God bless all of you. Thank you.”  What’ll his stand be on God’s place and role in our nation. The rally for preservation of the “Ten Commandments” continues; The ‘Spirit of Montgomery‘ caravan stopped at U.S. Supreme Court on Monday! It’s getting wet & chilly here!  And chilly means it gets dark earlier and that means the family is gathered inside earlier and that means we have more ‘sit-down’ meals t-o-g-e-t-h-e-r!  So when it comes to autumn, my mind turns to autumn recipes like soups and stews.  I decided on a few meals this week that I’ve not prepared in a while… meatball stew, baked chicken & rice and lasagňa!  Need some ideas or fall recipes?  Here you go! Some more on: The Open Church—I received an encouraging letter by email this morning and a caution regarding open church  getting ‘out of control’ (which I heartily agree could be/become a real problem but can be firmly addressed in the formation of the “open church” plan of the worship service—much like families have ‘boundaries’ or behavioral guidelines/suggestions for how different functions/events are handled—and the Bible is pretty clear on these).   Anyway, I thought it important to reflect on an aspect of the “open church” that may be misunderstood and that is the dissolving or doing away with a traditional Sunday worship service—and that’s *not* what’s desired or intended here (or in the book, The Open Church) at all.  What *is* desired is a plurality of messengers of the Word, a plurality of bringing fresh bread to the congregation.  What’s desired here is the liberation of pastors from the position they hold of being the only vessel in the bunch to share the Word *AND* running the church show, so to speak.  Most pastors are so involved with the day to day working of the ‘church’ that they don’t have genuine time in quiet study, prayer and meditation on the Word and so they succumb to following whatever trend they can follow in order to prosper the way driven churches are [seemingly!] prospering—but if lives are to truly be changed, set apart for the Master’s use, then a more biblical model of ‘church’ must be sought—for the worship of God, for the equipping of the body and edification of the saints—saints, being those who are chosen in Him from the foundation of the world.  Very little true equipping and truly very little edification’s going on in the ‘church today. October 7, 2003   Stuff in the old and new News…  What’s to become of the Episcopal church in America?  The Headline: Conservatives Rally as Episcopal Church Faces Possible Split   Another one; a bit older:   Marriage: the union between one man and one woman  A CNN poll  It’s dated 07/03   An article quoting Bush… on Marriage So, lots of contemplating “Open Church” and what it would be like in our local assembly.  It’s continually a grievous situation to me here and I suppose all over America—perhaps the world as the Sunday ride is taken by millions.  I imagine that church parking lots all over are as local “Park ‘n Ride’s” where each car pulls in, locates their usual parking space, nods at the others in theirs, goes in to the local church sanctuary [read: bus] and takes the weekly ride on the church bus.  O, for many it’s a thrill—what’ll it be this week? entertainment? new songs? slides? a tear jerker? a memorable day? O, for many it may be a combination of all these every week.  But for many, there’ll also be another common phenomena: one of the loneliest places in the world is a seat in the sanctuary of a church full of people.  Everyone on the bus knows they’re there to observe the ride: the Sunday Show, they know in their heart they’ve got fresh Bread: things they’re aching to contribute, prayer requests or answers(!) they’re aching to share—but they won’t, they don’t, they never will—it’s the Sunday show, you know.  So… dutifully, as if scripted to do so, the seats are taken, the ride is endured and afterward the proper exit, kind words spoken, and parting gestures are made before returning to the lot of the Park ‘n Ride with obligatory or customary waves and nods to the oh-so-familiar(?) faces before the departure and weekly journey homeward. Alone.    An interesting page from Open Church ministries: Start Now! On our son’s birthday… I love it when our sons come home and the kitchen if filled with family again! October 6, 2003   Another Monday, a new week… a new week with endless possibilities but clouded with memories of days gone by, memories of faces and tears, grief and sorrow over what was and what could have been. If someone you know has been visited with tragedy or sorrow, why not write them a note today; let them know that the God of all comfort, the God of all strength, the God of Peace and Hope will carry them, will guide them through the valley and that there is peace, there is joy, there is hope in Jesus. Nancy Campbell has been an inspiration to me and so I very much look forward to taking our oldest daughter to a retreat this coming weekend, where Nancy will be the main speaker and two of her daughters will contribute as well.  I’m always refreshed when spending time with like-minded women, women who’re seeking the LORD in their lives, desiring to know, understand and obey Him and live in accordance with His Word.  In this world there is such contradiction, such disobedience to the Word—to Christ; that when one would stand against the tide and proclaim His faithfulness, there is great anticipation and joy and great value—this isn’t a time to “get away” to hang out with girlfriends to avoid responsibility—rather, quite the opposite: it’s a time of anticipation of what the LORD will do and how He will direct through prayer, through the messages, through His Word and through conversations with sisters in Christ.  This retreat is well attended and is likely full already… It will be held at the Black Lake Conference Center in Olympia. For information contact: Robin LeClair, robinleclair@juno.com and for further information, see the Above Rubies site. I receive Nancy’s devotional newsletter… and maybe you or someone you know would be blessed by the encouragement of an older woman in the LORD and would like to receive her newsletters by email.  If you know others who would be blessed by these devotions, you are welcome to forward them or let them know they can subscribe by sending a blank email to subscribers-on@aboverubies.org   If your husband would like to receive the Bi-weekly Message to Men, (written Colin Campbell) they can send a blank email to menslist-on@aboverubies.org  Colin is currently writing a series called, WHERE ARE THE REAL MEN OF GOD? All men will be blessed and challenged by receiving this series. It’s time to think about the planting of the winter garden… it’s not too early to think about SPRING!!  Dutch Gardens has some beautiful tulips and many other flowers… so beautiful!  Costco has a wonderful selection of bulbs for the spring garden and the prices are really incredible.  I bought my husband different types for his birthday and in a few weeks I’ll plant them—but first I’ll remove all the geraniums in the ring around our front light.  I’m going to try a few new (to me) techniques for preserving and propagating the plants through the winter. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Titus 2.11-14 October 4, 2003      “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” Hebrews 3.12  October 3, 2003   Today our thoughts and prayers are for family friends who’re grieving the death of their son… a tragic loss… a seemingly senseless loss—but nothing is senseless with the LORD, and so we ask: LORD, what is the lesson here?  What are we to make of this?  This was a very very expensive lesson… Over the years we’ve collected and read books and materials for the encouragement and strengthening of marriage and family.  Many things we’ve collected are scattered throughout our site for the purpose of edification and instruction.   It was great to discover another neat site: Christian Marriage & Family Ministry.  A great marriage takes work and it’s worth it—it’s worth it for today and it’s worth it because of the legacy left to the children and to society… it’s never a 50-50 deal; it’s always 100%-100% on both sides… I wrote an article a number of years ago —a message that I continue to wish to convey to our children as well as to others.  It all began with a thought that one day all our children will have is memories… one day they’ll be married with lives and homes of their own… what am I going to leave them?  What are the heirlooms we’ll leave our children?  We don’t have a lot in terms of valuable “material” things to leave them—but what we DO have is faith… hope… and love… and we’re working on a someday an heirloom marriage… a legacy of faithful love for the LORD and each other. October 2, 2003    I’ve recently lost weight and am continuing to maintain and lose slowly by continuing to eliminate (as much as possible) BSF foods.  One of the hardest things, though, is to find alternatives to our “normal foods.”  I just made a special low carb page and I’ll try to fill it with good alternatives.  Probably the best or easiest thing to do though is to get some Atkins books or some Zone books as they are filled with recipes, the philosophy behind low-carbing and suggestions for alternatives and substitutions for foods you like.  I don’t know what’s best for everyone… I just know this has worked very well for me.  O, and another thing I know… my mom’s advice would simply be  Drink water—low carb your diet… eat less, move more and drink more water 😉  For one of my meals each day, or when I don’t know what to eat for a meal or when low carb isn’t available to me, I just have a cup of tea or coffee and an Atkins bar or Zone bar—this limits my time in the kitchen, limits my portion and solves out-of-control eating and satisfies my chocolate & chewing craving! a good-bye for now to the one leaving for the mission field next week October 1, 2003   The first day of the month… fresh and new stretched out before us… I’m partial to Susan Branch stuff—Cookbooks, Keepsake books, Calendars… stuff!  I just received an email update about her site… I think you’ll like it!   Her work reminds me of Karla Dornacher  whose work I so admire—probably much more because it’s inspirational! I receive a weekly newsletter from History’s Women It’s a “…magazine highlighting the extraordinary achievements of women throughout history and recognizing the obstacles they have had to overcome in order to reach their goals.” To SUBSCRIBE to this FREE weekly newsletter, email your request: historyswomen@pcpublications.org  or you can sign up at  http://pcpublications.org/subscribe.htm

Go ahead and get a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy today’s blog!
September 2003 

September 30, 2003  We’ve come to the close of another month.  I continue to mull over senseless tragedies.  And then I question—who am I to say a tragedy was senseless?  Do I know the mind of God and do I possess understanding of His ways?  He Who creates and sustains all life, Who hides the wind and knows every star by name, Who created the fountains of the deep and sits above the circle of the earth, Who is behind and before and is acquainted with all our ways and knows the number of our days before as yet there was one of them?  Senseless tragedies?  I suppose not—not in God’s economy.  So, what of tragedy?  What would be God’s way in tragedy?  To know Him? To seek His Face? To walk in His ways? To listen to His voice?  Yes—all these and more because His ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts than our thoughts.  Trusting that there *is* a plan and purpose for everything under heaven. 

This, I do know… there’s never a second chance to do the right thing first.

September 29, 2003   Today is our second son’s birthday.  Today he’s just a year older than the young man who, as a result of a car accident, died  early this morning.  As children, they played together;  and so my mind floods with memories today of days gone by… memories… sometimes flooding our soul with joy,  sometimes with sorrow.  We sat with the family last night as tears and life stories were flowing.   Many had come to offer support and encouragement, and console the family.  As the hours passed and the time of his passing drew near there came a sense of peace that the will of the LORD was being done.  As in most situations like this in life, rumors, stories and misinformation are circulating rapidly.  None of those things matter now, for today is a new day for that family.  A new day without that son.  A new day, for eternity, for that son!  We stayed behind in the waiting area while  my husband remained with Nolan; and after what seemed like an eternity, he returned and shared that as Nolan passed from this life, there was no struggle—no pain; for this the parents were thankful——we were grateful for the grace of God who mercifully took this young man home with no further suffering.  Such a tragedy…

No more bloggin today—nothing left to say.  All God’s ways are good.

September 28, 2003  My heart is heavy this morning as I think of the barely recognizable young man in critical condition following an auto accident.  We happened to see him the afternoon prior to his accident… healthy and strong.  And so… as my husband and I stood beside him last night, we prayed for him that the LORD would spare and restore him, that he would be brought to health and that the LORD would be glorified in this tragedy.  I called our sons as they were childhood friends with this young man—O, I asked them to please drive carefully and responsibly.  I so wish that all who think they’re invincible, all who enjoy the folly of joy-riding—could see the consequences of folly.  I know this young man would say the same thing.  So… we pray and watch and wait on the LORD on behalf of this young man and his dear mother—his dad and family.

  Join with other believers today, be a blessing wherever you go;  Remember those who are afflicted, those whose burden is heavy, those who are alone, those who suffer difficulty, those with wayward children, those with heartache, those who need to hear and receive the Good News of the Gospel: the LORD Jesus Christ.  May the LORD bless you today with His presence—His peace—His everlasting love.

1  Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands
2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.  (Psalm 100.1-4)

September 27, 2003  We’re reading an interesting book: The Open Church.  It’s a great book—straight talk.  Now I don’t mean that I have the abilities, qualifications, etc., etc. but I could’ve written that book—I mean what I read on that site and in the book are echoings of my sentiments—exactly.  Well… maybe not exactly, but as near a duplication as I can imagine.  For what it’s worth, it seems as though there are many and I dare say there’d be more who’d echo in response to the question/discontentedness with the local church.  I think it’s something we all feel… We all know and we’d all say if unconstrained by conscience and tradition: there’s got to be a better way.  There *is* a better way.  To me… and I’ve thought this a loooong time: what we call church is that period of time once a week where we all go to the Park ‘n Ride, get on the bus, go for the church ride which can be anticipated to last for 80 minutes tops and then when the bus winds around to the end of the ride we all get off the church bus and go home in our cars… still facing forward and aching for more.  There *is* a better way.  And it doesn’t mean *leave* the “church” and stay home.  There *is* a better way. Go ahead… take a look, order the book… pray and wait on the LORD.  We’re trusting *Him* to show the better way… there’re lots of people looking for it—and more who need to see.

Oh what tragedy comes of folly.  I just received an email concerning an old friend whose son was badly injured in an auto accident and is now in critical condition in Harbourview Medical Center.  I don’t know if there’s another place I’d rather be taken than Harbourview were I to be in critical condition with head and/or multiple injuries or with a very serious medical condition—but truly, I’d rather be left totally alone than be take there if I had any other problems.  The docs they’ve assembled are remarkable!

O the grief this mother must feel as she waits and prays.  This young man is quite intelligent—but nothing matters now… his relationship with the LORD is all that matters.  I exhort anyone to be sure, be very sure your anchor holds and grips the solid rock.  Jesus is that rock.  The only name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.  None of us knows the day or the hour the LORD will call us home—–our eternal home will be with Him or will be in outer darkness ever separated from Him.   Proverbs 14.9  “Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour.”    The Bible also says in Matthew 25.13 “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”

We never know when a joy ride may take our life or whether we’ll live to be a hundred and slip away in our sleep.  Watch therefore. Revelation 3.3 “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”  —all KJV

… and floss your teeth and drink water in the meantime.

September 26, 2003 

more interesting stuff…

Judges steeped in a liberal ideology and heady with power they have arrogated  to themselves are responding — with decisions bordering on judicial tyranny.  So writes Judge Robert Bork, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, in his latest book “Coercing Virtue: The Worldwide Rule of Judges.”

Focus has set up a page spotlighting Judicial Tyranny  featuring latest news and decisions that are affecting families, marriages and will affect & harm future generations.  Why the term Judicial Tyranny?    “Because activist courts are using powers they don’t have, powers not granted them in the Constitution, to overturn the will of the people and the legislatures of the states. The concept of judicial supremacy, that judges have the final say on the meaning of the law and the Constitution, is nowhere to be found in the thoughts of the Founders or the text of their founding documents.” [Focus site]

Dr. Dobson is urging Christians to contact O’Reilly and thank him for telling the truth about the threat judicial tyranny poses to America and the American family. As host of the most popular prime time talk show on cable, O’Reilly’s voice is an important one on this important issue.

You can contact O’Reilly by e-mail at Oreilly@foxnews.com or by calling the Fox News Channel at 212-301-3000

September 25, 2003  I’m considering attending an Above Rubies retreat in a couple of weeks.  Though my husband is encouraging us to go, I’m still not fully certain—but I’d like to grab any opportunity to spend time with our oldest daughter and this is surely a marvelous opportunity.  She’s more than a blessing to me and I’d like to encourage her in her walk with the LORD as she moves into adulthood, I’d like to affirm her, to strengthen her foundation and to let her see and understand that I’m walking beside her… knowing the time is short and perhaps one day she’ll be in my same place: seeking more and more how to be a godly wife whose price is far above rubies.  We’ve concentrated on this for her all the days of her life and have prayed the LORD’s hand would be with her, strengthening and guiding her.

  Though I’ve had friends reject the writings of this author, I still think the things I’ve learned about men from reading books by John Eldredge have been extremely helpful.  His book, Wild at Heart, has been used of the LORD to teach me a little more about my ‘boys who would be men’ and about my role in their lives and in my husband’s life.  Over the years I’ve observed ways of boys and because of this, things don’t surprise me like they used to… things don’t discourage me in the same way and things aren’t as hard for me as they used to be in raising boys.  I guess our trainer set really was the greatest blessing.  They know that’s an endearing term I have for them and they also know I adore them—but truly, still, they’re a trainer set and I’m still, in many ways a trainee mother.

  I recently wrote about cleaning out & closing my husband’s parents’ home/property.  Both our fathers died within a few months of each other ’99/2000. Now, my dad’s things were easy: my step brother rented a large moving truck and loaded it up and drove it away.  Weird.  But, Wes’s dad’s situation was as different as their homes/locations were!  Mine lived in a retirement community with no superfluous anything and my father-in-law had property–a ranch and a l-a-r-g-e shop & barn!  Ohmy, what a job this was… decades of accumulation.  Now, my mother in law has already moved out of state and is NOT a saver—by this, I mean that she keeps what’s important, what she’ll really need and what she’ll really and truly use.  She’s careful about everything and doesn’t fret over what she’ll have or not have.  I appreciate this about her.  Anyway… this process has really been impressing me to clean… order… not horde… not accumulate unnecessary things… not over indulge… etc., etc.  It’s also been teaching me the invaluable lesson that time is short, we don’t know the day of our death or His coming and so we must be ready.  Occupy till He comes, but be ready.  I’m thinking more and more… I want to Live like I have forever and love like I only have today.  I’m also thinking with dread that our children will one day be doing the same things we’ve been doing and so I’m also thinking: do I want to be a burden or a blessing when it’s all said and done.

In going through Dad’s things, [he was a missionary & pastor ] we came across hundreds of files, thousands of papers, pictures, books, etc. and in all of the files there were a number of ‘keepers’ that we set aside to give to different people.  I was happy to have the blessing of internet to locate some of his former classmates & fellow missionaries and I’ll be sending them some pictures of their younger days.  It was interesting to see what they’re up to now; though retired, they continue to work with aids victims, widows and orphans in Africa using among other things, their medical skills.

Interesting article by Dr. Falwell regarding the attack against actor/director Mel Gibson and the upcoming movie: The Passion.  This isn’t necessarily an all out endorsement of the Falwell site/activities, by the way, as I’m not a fan of purpose driven anything especially when it’s becoming purpose driven everything, purpose driven everywhere.

Family Research Council is a great resource filled with information, updates, etc., regarding the press, legislation, and current events impacting our society, and more importantly, the family.

Interesting:  State by state laws pertaining to legal marriage.  While the “institution of marriage” faces attack, it’s clear that the majority of Americans still hold to its traditional definition as the union of one man and one woman.  Marriage Protection Week: Oct 12 – 18, 2003!

September 24, 2003

Children’s children are the crown of old men;
and the glory of children are their fathers.
Proverbs 17.6

wes and most of our children…

September 23, 2003  Today would have been my fathers’ birthday and I’m grateful to the LORD today for the blessing he was in my life.  I’m thankful for what I learned from him and the joy memories of him bring. I’ve written about him directly or indirectly a number of times in welcome home messages.  Stories about him are ‘legendary’ and tall—just like he was.  Anniversaries of  difficult or poignant times are often melancholy days for me…  I often say about this and other such times:  it’s so over when it’s over.

No time for blogging yesterday—my dear husband’s birthday.  His favourite part of the day was having all the family here… he loves it when our older sons come back home, when my parents come over, when the grandchildren come over.  He loves having a large group in for celebrating—it doesn’t matter to him that it meant he’s a year older!!   He’s taking ‘aging’ very well—much better than I am.  I’m concerning myself with changes and limitations and he’s sort of taking it all in stride.  He’s always been this way, taking what comes: with joy and anticipation.  I, on the other hand, tend to look back too much, to scrutinize and analyze everything past and present.  This makes for regrets sometimes and in his mind, there’re too many bridges to cross to focus on those passed over already.  We’re pretty content with the combination of thought—as we talk about these things–these complementing differences a lot over the years.

We’re trying to complete projects around our home this week.  Here in the Pacific Northwest, there are only a few weeks of ‘summer’ weather left and then the days will be very short and chilly!  My husband and sons are doing the painting and repairing and I need to focus on the preserving of plants, fruits and vegetables.  I’ve bee taking a look at sites for information on preserving flowering plants, particularly fuchsias and geraniums  in the Pacific Northwest. There are lots of helps regarding over-wintering plants.  I have lots of geraniums so I’ll be trying a few methods of preservation. 

 
Wes… happy birthday… september 22nd

September 21, 2003 A break from normal blogging to simply encourage everyone to be in prayer… be in worship of the Saviour… be settled in such a way as to allow the Holy Spirit to have His will and way in your life.  O, the busyness of living day by day… the enemy’s great tool: busyness in the life of a Christian.  So busy there’s no time to walk… so busy there’s no time to listen… so busy there’s no time to be quiet.   Psalms 46.10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”  Be still.  Be still and KNOW.

September 20, 2003  Risky to take a stand on the Target/Marshall Field’s deal [a fragrance and clothing line aimed at teens] —but money talks and talk talks and when there’s negative feedback or negative number$ as far as $hoppers and dollar$ go, then there’ll be re$ult$.  The marketers are now counting on this negative feedback frenzy to *promote* the products among the teens.  It’s easy to see they counted on teens’ desire for shock value (and that stupidity of wanting to be “different” just like millions of clones), but now are exploiting them further by enticing them through further rebellion.  It’s astounding to me how backward and upside down our society is [getting] —the proliferation of vulgarity in media: movies, videos, music, newspapers, ads, etc., etc.  And then (!) the seeming surprise over how it’s affecting everything… abandoned children, diseases, divorce, rape and other crime, drugs & alcohol, family dysfunctions, etc.  I shake my head and wonder—this society, its glorification of media & movie stars and the utter shameful filth that’s produced… it’s incredibly ludicrous.  I’m thinking that the only thing Sodom and Gomorrah didn’t have was the Internet to flush sewage into homes faster, to spread it thicker and to make it ‘normal’ to emulate what’s seen and heard.  The lewdness is becoming ‘normal’ but ‘normal’ isn’t God’s paradigm, is it?  His ‘paradigm’ is righteousness—without which, NO ONE will see the LORD.

I think on this like I think on conversations with parents who are unwilling to discipline themselves to discipline disobedient little children and the little children become nearly intolerable to be around.  Just like parents must take a stand and draw a line of acceptable behavior and model propriety, so also, as consumers, we must take a stand and when sewage is offered to our young people we MUST take a stand to say it’s wrong—send letters, make phone calls, remove our dollars and encourage others to do the same.  My mom used to say that vulgarity was a sure sign of ignorance—that people who use foul or vulgar language do so out of ignorance and lack of education.  I’m thinking that that’s the case here with this line of perfume and clothing… a blatant mocking and dishonorable display of ignorance and surely a lack of wisdom and understanding.  But then… the Word says that the fool mocks God and mocks sin.

Are you willing to do for the Truth what the enemy is doing for a Lie?

September 19, 2003  An advertisement insert in a Sunday’s newspaper for Marshall Field’s dept. store for a cologne and a clothing line aimed at teenagers called “Fcuk” and their advertising slogan to go with it is “scent to bed”.  In the age of promiscuity, *deadly* sexually transmitted diseases, in addition to the gross immorality promoted in public schools across America and around the world… this is just another of the vulgarities we’re seeing in the market place.  My complaint and concern is that the TARGET is young people—impressionable young minds and bodies and the target is Target… where FAMILIES shop—well, not THIS family.

BOYCOTT    TARGET / MARSHALL FIELD’S
write letters, make calls, save your dollars
this is not a myth
Call Target’s toll-free number and curteously let them know their decision to sell
FCUK products through their Marshall Field’s stores is WRONG.
Their toll free number is 1-800-440-0680, extension 1.
You’ll be discouraged from leaving a message, stating that you’re calling “Target” —please leave a message anyway. More on this:
http://www.onemillionmoms.com/
or scroll down this blog http://god-blog.blogspot.com/
More on this another time.

September 18, 2003   Here’s a neat site to create custom crossword puzzles at home! I am looking for interesting ways to incorporate facts and spelling into each days’ schoolwork.

If you’re trying to lose weight… say NO to white food.  You can lose weight and lose it without all sorts of counting, weighing, measuring, etc.  Just try to eliminate B-S-F foods [butter-sugar-flour foods] or white foods for a week.  At the end of the week, see where you’re at on the scale and then if you need to press on… pray for strength and endurance to do this another week and so on until you’ve either got those foods under control or you’ve lost the weight you desire to lose.  I’ve been doing this and am so grateful to have lost weight and feel that if *I* can do this, ANYone can do this—really.  You can press on and you CAN lose weight.  Once I admitted I had an eating problem and not a weight problem, I addressed the eating problem by targeting the foods that pack on pounds… that’s where I came up with B-S-F foods.  Easy to remember and simple to eliminate.  Notice I didn’t say *easy* to eliminate!  This has not necessarily been *e-a-s-y* but it’s been simple.  Some days when I’ve tasted white foods, I’ve *decided* to taste them and then have *decided* to quit tasting—I say to myself… I’ve had lots of cookies, I’ve had lots of bread… lots of rolls… lots of crackers… lots of whatever… THAT’s why I need to say *no* to those things as much as possible.  So, I decide to remember what my plan is and why I have it: and stay the course.  No one can do this for me—I must do this and any day I don’t equals several days lost.  It’s ever so much easier to keep peddling on an incline with momentum built up and ever so much harder to press forward without it.

September 16, 2003   My sister-in-law’s birthday today!  This morning our daughter began teaching piano.  It’s been a goal of hers to do this one day and the day has come.  Her piano teacher has blessed us all  with this gift: teaching her to play beautiful music and now to pass the gift along to others.  My prayer has been that she will be used of the LORD to bless others and all along the way He’s been answering that prayer.  She loved her first day with her students!

I’m writing a Welcome Home message concerning the ways and days of daughters which has been inspired by the LORD and this daughter.  Sometimes I think our roles have been reversed for many years as for a number of years she has been my teacher, she has been my inspiration and my joy.  Many times when I’ve been discouraged or have failed to stay the course, she’s been used of the LORD to encourage me to press on in obedience to continue to run the race with patience.  I owe much to this daughter.

We’re continuing to plow through the mountain of laundry created by our recent camping trip.  Omy, am I ever thankful for our washer & drier.  I’m grateful for our running water and walls and floors.  I’m amazed at how we take all of these things for granted…

My mother in law just wrote concerning a book I’d given her: Karla Dornacher’s book:
Savor This Moment  and she shared that she’d been so blessed by the reminders and perspective of what’s most important in her life.  O, we all need these reminders.  Mothers do, Dads do, daughters and sons do—we all tend to get caught up in the web of the trivial or the busyness or the daily-ness of living that we forget what and who’s most significant or crucial to attend to and/or to meditate on those things the LORD’s revealed to us in His Word.

Many Karla Dornacher blessings at CBD!!! Lots of great prices for you… on her things and everyone else’s!!

September 15, 2003  Home from camping!  A fun time and happy memories for everyone!  I did think about home… our big tub, our bed, our table, our hot water, etc., etc.  BUT!  What we don’t have at home we had there… lots of uninterrupted time to talk with friends and to sing by the fire… to sit by the lake and see the stars… to drink lots of coffee and hear friends’ stories.  So… it’s a good thing we went away for a few days.  Our children were blessed and they were a blessing to me: helpful, kind and an inspiration to have fun and enjoy the time!  (I sure appreciated our own bed last night as our air mattress was just a flat piece of vinyl as soon as we lay down the first night—never did find the hole.)  But the flannel sheets and down comforter made for warm sleep—and we were assured of our FIRM foundation!!!   More tomorrow!

the camping gang… minus many friends!
September 10, 2003 We’re talking about Biblical eldership quite a bit around our home and interestingly, my husband received an email tonight with a quote from the book Biblical Eldership and I was prompted to take a look at an article I’d seen recently regarding the topic of eldership.  I like Piper—being a Calvinist there’s much wisdom I agree with in his writings.

Hey… are you a pessimist? Know someone who is?  Don’t despair… there’s help for you, but the site is not for the thin-skinned… and by the way… sourcing this site isn’t an endorsement of the whole site’s contents.

September 9, 2003   A couple of weeks ago I received my shoes from Zappo’s—what great service and fast delivery!  The best part was the savings!  I have a pair of shoes I  really like and what a blessing to have found them *on sale* with *free* shipping! The $30. savings, and the saving of time and ga$ was wonderful.  Maybe there’s a pair of shoes you’ve been looking for—-try Zappo’s!

things I’m thinking of…
 the tub… the faucet… the lamp… the coffee pot… the COMPUTER!!… the, uh, washer…
the phone… and the nice cozy-warm-dry-home… and C-A-M-P-I-N-G.

We’re planning a camping trip… yes, this is sort of a ‘spur-of-the-moment’ deal.  I think I need a camping trip to be spur of the moment so that I don’t give a whole lot of thought to the deal.  See, I don’t really like to go camping—but I love the way the children are so pleased and enthused about the eating, sleeping and playing outdoors—none are favourites with me!  When I was a young girl, sleeping outside in the backyard was the highlight of the week! My mom had cots for us to sleep on and we loved waking up outside in the early mornings… and yes, my memories are complete with the remembrance of the aroma of orange rolls hot from the oven—store bought refrigerator rolls that I never buy today but loved then!  I don’t remember my mom dreading the  laundry sleeping outdoors generated—-I’m trying to keep a joyful attitude about camping because I *know* everyone (including me when I get there) will have a wonderful time!

Here’s that incredible Bible study program… it’s expensive at first glance but when you take a look at what’s offered, it’s staggering to have hundreds of volumes at your fingertips.  It appears to be far better than Online Bible or Power Bible—but the price is prohibitive for many.

  September 8, 2003  We missed the Bush speech last night… read it this morning.  As always, there’s strong opposition to everything he says and does.  People are reacting to the speech, to the war, and are antsy over the passing of another anniversary of the 9-11-01 attack and the potential or possibility of a ‘repeat.  It’ll be an interesting week!

Time to get cracking on the school-work!  The summer days have come and gone for another year.  I’m especially glad this year to get back to a smooth-running routine.  O, that adage is so untrue: “All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy.”
Au contraire!  Too much play and not enough work makes dull minds!  So… here we go… time to sharpen our thinking, re-order our home and our days, learn new things… to make it a great TNT year (trying new things!) and to rejoice as this is the day the LORD has made!

Our son wrote an email wondering about the upcoming movie depicting the last hours of the life of the LORD Jesus: The Passion by Mel Gibson.  There’s an “unofficial website” about the movie and there are controversial stories in the news regarding the production of this movie.  It’s just interesting to read up on the world’s take on the most important facet of a Christian’s life.  For if Christ be not crucified, buried and risen, then our faith is in vain—–and to me, it’s accurate portrayal is crucial—though  man could never portray or fully comprehend what happened for humanity for all time on that day. And another man’s take on the making of this film.

  September 7, 2003   What a beautiful wedding and precious time of gathering together to celebrate marriage and the joining of two families.  What a blessing to see what the LORD has done in this family—At one point the photographer gathered the family of the (great-grand) parents and the whole platform was filled!  What a legacy.  Another marriage… another demonstration of the mystery of Christ and the church.  Another reminder to us all of the significance of the sacred vows and what it really means to commit one to another until death parts the union of the two.  O… how lightly this commitment is taken and the vows to treasure and maintain the unity are seemingly not revered by so many.  A good marriage takes sincere commitment and sincere effort.  Without the LORD, they that build the house labour in vain.
September 6, 2003    O, still too busy & tired for bloggin’!  But it’s a good busy-tired!  We have the privilege of doing this wedding reception for friends and Omy, so many things to take care of to make a day special!  We’ve attempted to do many things in advance so that the day is seamless as transitions are made from different areas of the church — between the wedding and the reception.  I pray it goes well… just as I’ve prayed for these families that this time will be a blessing and a treasure.

It’s time to think about schoolwork, music lessons and fall days ahead.  More on all these soon.  My prayer continues to be that many are encouraged, inspired and blessed by the articles, information and links we have here on the site… I know a number of years ago when all these pages were just ideas, I sure had a challenging time finding good and helpful articles for the different things we’re interested in (Christian family living, modesty, parenting, homemaking, etc.) —so, that was the springboard for this site and I pray it’ll continue to take shape and be a blessing to many to the glory of the LORD.

September 4, 2003   Back to bloggin—and yes… it’s a long one today… but it’ll be slim for the next few days… shopping and cooking for a wedding reception we’re doing on Saturday, and then the LORD‘s day, and preparing for a baby shower for the twins on Monday!  Whew!  I think we need another vacation—but we cannot go on vacation until we conquer Mount Laundry! 😉

I like to highlight different online family ventures and pray they do well—that the LORD blesses the work of their hearts and hands and that they’ll continue to provide things needful and useful to and for Christian families.  I think my favourite book has been, The Hope Chest: A Legacy of Love by Rebekah Wilson.  I’m so thankful to have this book, to visit the website and to glean what the LORD would have for us to do as parents of sons and daughters.
Simply Graceful is having a sale and has added some more jumpers in denim.  Also, concerning the Pure in Heart website… beginning October 1st, Pure in Heart will begin selling ready-made items only; they’ll continue to offer the same high-quality sewn jumpers and culottes, only without the wait! 
It’s good to be home & it’s good to get back into routine and back to bloggin’!  You know, one of the neat and yet difficult things about being away so much is the break from the dailies, a break from the normal schedule and time to take a good look at the pictures of our lives—to take a good look at how those pictures are taking shape, but more importantly, to stand back and see the gaps.  We thoroughly enjoyed our time at a Bible Conference in Deer Lake, just north of Spokane. Also, just before the conference, we were able to visit over breakfast with a woman who had been my husband’s Sunday School teacher over 35 years ago.  We ate at a the Old European Restaurant in Spokane that features authentic breakfast foods. Yum  Yes, I *did* taste a bite of Strawberry Crepés, Æbleskivers, Dutch babies, Swedish pancakes.  And NO, even *bites* of these foods are NOT on the Atkins diet(!) and over 5 days on our trip I did gain two pounds which seem impossible to lose these past few days—but I’m not bailing, I’m just facing the small set-back and am trying to stay on track.

  Now… about the Bible conference… We’ve come to very much appreciate the open meetings and to hear from the different men, missionaries and to listen and/or sing with the beautiful music brought by several of the people (many young!) there.  Many of the people who attend the conference have been doing so every year for many many years and yet there’s such a freshness each time.  Also, the majority home fellowship rather than meet weekly in a traditional “church.”  Many of the fellowship groups are quite large and one, in particular, has a three generation family group.  We so appreciate the teaching of the founder of the Shield of Faith, Dick York.  We also appreciated the strong admonition to be in the Word, to be obedient to listen to the Holy Spirit and to *do* the work.  We’re not to be hearers only, but *doers* of the work. We’re so grateful for the good fellowship–especially for our young people.  O, the importance of appropriate friends and the devastating results of wrong friends!

For the trip, my husband had made me a special sitting pad so that I could handle the ride without much pain.  I was uncomfortable but not nearly so much had I not had that pad… he made it out of dense foam with nothing at the back side so that my weight was just on my legs.  My coccyx pain seems (?) to be getting less—but I continue to take pain relievers.  I’ve continued to read about coccyx pain and solutions!

Our son & daughter-in-law celebrated their 5th anniversary!  They’ve surely been blessed in many ways—most especially with the two children the LORD‘s given them.

a fun stop on the way home… nine of our children!

  We had more good news when we returned home… our missionary friends in Papua New Guinea are infanticipating!  A new baby… number 10 in the spring!  Their family is such a blessing to many!  The LORD is gracious! 

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Go ahead, get a cup of coffee or tea & enjoy today’s blog!
August 

To close out the month I wanted to just post some verses about God’s commands, the keeping of those commands and the consequences for not doing so.  One of the things for which I am most grateful is God’s righteousness.  He cannot lie, He cannot sin, He cannot fail.  He is utterly trustworthy, for He is trust.  He is utterly faithful, for He is faith.  He is utterly gracious, for He is grace. He is all glory, all power, all dominion, all mercy, all justice.
He was, He is, He is to come.
May He be with you, upholding you with His righteous right hand.

Deuteronomy 8.11 Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:
Deuteronomy 8.19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
Job 8.13 So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish:
Psalms 9.17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
Psalms 10.12  Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.
Psalms 50.22  Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
Psalms 78.7  That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
Hosea 4.6  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
Hebrews 6.10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
Hebrews 13.16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

more bloggin’ in September!

August 27, 2003 
I sure appreciate what’s developed from this blog———you know, one of the main reasons for blogging (to me) is that others are helped or inspired by the things that have helped us or are encouraged by the blessings or things that have been an encouragement to us.  Some sisters have written to share that they look forward to reading because it puts them in touch with someone who’s going through similar things or who’s encouraging them to strive for obedience and godliness as wives, sisters, mothers… and to press on in motherhood, with the diet, or with taking care of the home or walking with the LORD, learning more of Him and His Word—some who don’t have likeminded fellowship and are seeking to find it.  So… there you go… that’s why I blog and that’s why I pray it’s a blessing to you each day.

IN THE NEWS:  The Ten Commandments Monument has been removed.  While I’m sure there are many who are mocking this… many who refuse to acknowledge God see this as a victory, many are grieving the ‘in-your-face’ assault on the real issue regarding the foundation of our country, our dependence on God our Father and Creator, and on the moral estate of our nation.  Alan Keyes shares an angle. I’m saddened that yet another blow has been dealt to the foundation of this country.  It’ll be very interesting to hear what the mockers say and do and what’s next on the docket. 

I received the most encouraging email from a woman who’s written before on another topic, but this time it was regarding yesterday’s blog about coccyx or ‘tailbone’ pain.  It was such a blessing to read her story and to follow some links.  She confirmed that I’d been viewing the best site for help with coccyx pain:  Coccyx.org—it’s what I suggested yesterday.  She gave helpful ideas for dealing with the pain—things I am trying to implement now.

  Its interesting if not sickening sometimes to watch what’s going on in the rest of the US and world.  I read or listen with concern because of the consequences or the importance of legal decisions being made.  And so it is with the state of California—read Col-eee-fornia.   Boy, it’s no wonder many are up in arms over Mr. Davis.  Each time I read of decisions he’s made or bills he’s signed, I’m amazed at the gross ignorance,  immorality and deliberate degradation of moral values.  The agenda of sodomites—yes this is critical—is repulsive.  The laws being passed have far-reaching effects.  Pray for those in authority. Pray for those standing to protect the family as God ordained it to be.  Pray for His will to be done—and His people to be wise, gracious and bold.  Some say as California goes, so goes the nation.

Neat new website set up for info and updates on President George W Bush’s re-election campaign.  It’s filled with photos and transcripts of speeches.

My daughters found such a beautiful site for Wedding dresses.  I’ve told you of the one who loves to draw gowns and dreams of lovely weddings… well, she sure loved seeing all the “Beautifully Modest”  bridal gowns yesterday.  So many times we see bridal and attendant’s gowns that are so immodest that we feel embarrassed for the bride, for the wedding party(!) and for the assembly of guests.  It’s sad that such a sacred event is cheapened by immodest apparel—seems like so many weddings are such a show—ignorant of the rich meaning, the reverence, the solemnity of the vows exchanged.  I recall several weddings where the bride’s gown (or the bridesmaid’s attire) was such a focal point or topic of conversation—and the chatter was whether the dress was going to slip down or not… or how was it held up or such statements became all that was remembered of the event.  I share this here as I shared with my daughters teaching them that their clothing must be carefully chosen and the importance of propriety or modesty.  We all need to exercise a bit of discipline to make certain that our clothing portrays an accurate representation of our LORD, of the great gift of salvation, to not mislead or defraud others by our appearance or behaviour, and to not draw undue or inappropriate attention to our appearance.  The wedding ceremony is surely no exception—in fact, perhaps even more attention should be given to the ceremony of presenting a pure bride to be joined to her husband in holy matrimony. No strong feelings or opinions here, eh?

August 26, 2003 

I fell last week and so am still dealing with coccyx or ‘tailbone’ pain.  I was hoping to find some suggestions for dealing with coccyx pain and ohmy, I sure did find lots of folks suffering with severe pain and lots of suggestions or solutions for the pain.  The site has too many links to look through right now, but I bookmarked it so that I can take a look later.  If you’ve ever dealt with bottom pain, OR are dealing with it now, then you know it’s really quite something!  These last few days I sure don’t want to tell everyone what I’m experiencing or how it happened!  I can’t imagine the sight it must’ve been: I was holding a branch back and somehow another one swung back and hit me in the nose and yes, okay, so it was bloody but I didn’t know it yet as I was falling backwards in the dirt and branches—on my bottom, feet in the air.  I was struck instantly that my backside was sure sore—but then noticed the workers were nearby on the backhoe and all I could think was how to get out of there!  It was then that I realized I had a bloody nose and had to run to get some tissue… but first: I had to get UP!  Ahhhh.  It is funny to me now… but laughing doesn’t make the pain go away! 

Focus on the Family broadcast
The battle for the Ten Commandments Panel
August 25, 2003 

 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11.28-30

One of the things about weight loss or losing weight over time is that people want to see results or to know how to get results.  Great results.  It’s interesting… we’re all pretty much alike in that when we look at a weight loss program, book or website, we immediately want to see the results!  It’s a “show me da money!” sort of deal.   We want to SEE results, and for most of us, we won’t believe it till we see it and even then, we still might not believe it.  Take “low-carb”  eating or “dieting” for example, you may not think it’s a wise way to go—you may think it’ll never be something you’d agree with—I know this, because this is the way I’ve thought, too!  I’ve thought that low-carbing is NOT natural OR healthy.  Even seeing great results may not persuade us.  Now, I STILL don’t totally follow the Atkins diet or the Zone diet but what I DO is similar or parallel to those diets.  It’s very easy:  BSF foods are very easy to spot and easy to avoid.  I haven’t avoided them *altogether* BUT, for the most part, I don’t eat Butter-Sugar-Flour foods.  If you’re interested, there are so many helps available!  Low-carb Websites are set up for the purpose of helping others lose weight the ‘low-carb’ way!  You don’t know how to go about this?  Don’t want to get involved with a d-i-e-t regimen?  Very simple: just start out avoiding BSF foods.  The results will amaze you!  If you’re used to easting ‘fast foods’ then go to McDonald’s and get their dietary facts… what you see about the nutrition/calorie content will shock you!   If you’re tired of being tired of being over weight, try ONE WEEK of eliminating BSF foods!  Then, if at the end of ONE WEEK, you’re STILL tired of being tired of being over weight then stay away from BSF foods the next week!  Do this till you’re NO LONGER over weight.  This may take you 2 weeks, it may take you 2  months, it may take you 2 years—but if you’re tired of being tired of being over weight then start today.  Don’t wait till tomorrow.  That tomorrow may never come.

Overweight no more, that’s my goal.  No more out of control eating, no more out of control living.  I pray, if this is you, too, then give the LORD your health, give Him your hopes, give Him your weight, give Him your poor habits, give Him your cravings, give Him your hurts, give Him your disappointments, give Him your gluttony, give Him your guilt, give Him your past, give Him your future, and put them all in His hands.

Go to the LORD—all you that labour and are heavy laden, and He will give you rest.

 August 23, 2003  These have been challenging days as we’ve been doing the last of the cleaning out of the shop and the property that belonged to my husband’s parents.  When Dad died a few years ago, I remember thinking it was so strange that he was gone and for quite some time I had the feeling or the hope that he’d come back—something I knew would never be but still couldn’t fully reconcile—and don’t, yet today. The land has been sold.  What was a home on a hill surrounded by an orchard, pasture and farmland will soon be a housing development.  Yesterday while we worked, in the background we heard the relentless din of the heavy equipment… dozers and dumptrucks and the constant moving and spreading of freshly churned earth.  Years of memories were flooding our minds as we sifted through what was left behind in the shop.  Yesterday I enjoyed the most delicious apples from Dad’s trees… today the trees are gone.  We dug up an old rose bush by the old barn… and none too soon: the barn is gone today.  The huge willow tree that provided yesterdays shade is gone today…

  

August 22, 2003 

If you haven’t yet signed the petition that will be submitted to Congress and the President in support of the Federal Marriage Amendment—you can do so today!!  . An amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress and a majority vote of three-fourths of the state legislatures (38 states) with no governors’ signatures required.  The proposed Amendment states: “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union between a man and a woman. Neither this constitution or the constitution of any state, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.“  You can sign the petition here! 

I regularly receive a product recall & safety alert by email. (You can receive it, too!)  Most days I don’t even recognize the products referenced, but sometimes I do and have made a note of the serial or stock number of the recall to check against the item/product we have to see if there’s a match.  Fortunately, only one time have we had a recalled item—Firestone tires!  Ah, yes, we should have gone to Les Schwab! 😉

The latest Dover sampler  has lots of books including wedding books.  We all love to read about weddings and one of my daughters enjoys collecting wedding ideas and drawing wedding and bridal gowns so bride books all look great to her!

My mom sent me another Martha link and it’s just in time, for our focus has been on *organizing* our home.  Now… the thing with Martha is that everything works out perfectly, fits precisely and is never cluttered.  That’s the ideal she presents—for me it’s the ideas—not the ideals.  Some would say Ideal would be no mess, no clutter, no loud noises and no superfluous stuff.  But you know what that ideal is *missing*?  Children—busy, happy, creative children.  So, for me to incorporate children into the ideals is to hook up with the ideas and concentrate on making ideas work with children in mind!  Children like order, they like stability, they like peacefulness—that’s what organization provides!  That’s what soothes Mama.

Oh… the Justice Moore case gets more interesting.  Here’s the latest on Foxnews I also read an interview on Foxnews done with Hannity and Colmes. 

O, ignorance and revisionist history.  All the demands by those who would forget God demonstrate such ignorance of what risks were taken and what faith the founders and defenders of this country possessed.  Isn’t it totally ironic that the US Supreme Court  refused to block the removal of the Ten Commandments—and yet the very same and more is present there in and on their building!?!??!  Incredible.   Just incredible.  The money in their pockets acknowledges God, the Flag [pledge] inherently acknowledges God.  The Declaration of Independence acknowledges God.  Our Constitution acknowledges God.   No matter what others say, think or do… the heavens declare the glory of God!  (read Psalms 19!)

Proverbs 14.34

August 21, 2003   In pondering the grievous direction of our society, it’s incredibly evident that God is longsuffering, patient, and gracious.   I often wonder: how long?   How long will the LORD tarry—for we know that He will not always tarry.  There will come a day of judgement.  That great and terrible day.  I’m reminded of a verse in Habakkuk… though it tarry, wait for it, for it will surely come and will not delay.  We may  grow complacent as we wait for that great and terrible day—but we mustn’t!  We must obey while we still have today—the LORD requires of us obedience—He showed by example this obedience, this doing not our own will, but the will of the Father.  “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” 1John 3.1     The world is at enmity with God—and therefore with us because we follow Christ.  One sure thing… if you’re not experiencing opposition in your life… ask, who’s on the throne of your heart? You or the LORD?  Who’s in the driver’s seat?  Who’s working the controls?  No heat means nothing’s cooking!

Marriage… what a blessing marriage is and what a veritable foundation of society it is.  Not to mention what God says of marriage in the Word.   The Word says marriage is a mystery—this mystery is how it is a living picture of Christ and the Church–His bride.  You may shrug and wonder if your marriage is such a picture or if you know of ANY marriage that is.  That’s one of the beauties and blessings of the Word and more, one of the hopes of any believer is that God lays out all that is needed for our good, for godliness, for peace and for joy—in our lives, in our homes, in our marriages.   No, this isn’t a come to Jesus, He’ll save your marriage, you’ll be happy and have lots of money type deals.  This is real—He is fully the answer to everything we need—“According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue:” -2Peter 1.3  It’s His doing… He’s done all the giving, all the providing through faith in Him.  What more glorious and virtuous than a man & woman married with Christ as the center of their marriage giving honour to Him as a picture of Christ and the church.  Sometime ago I wrote Someday and Heirloom Marriage and other messages in an attempt to plant seeds of encouragement to sisters.

More on marriage in the news

I’ve no idea the spiritual position of our neighbor… but one thing I’m thankful for last evening was his passing by and then stopping by the sunroom window to listen to one of our children play the piano… I’m grateful to God for the gift of music and that this one was playing “The Old Rugged Cross” to the delight of our neighbor.  Piano music is a marvel to me and the fact that our friend has given of herself to teach our children all of these years is a blessing and a gift  I’ll never be able to adequately thank her or the LORD for giving us all.  To worship the LORD in song is probably my favourite way to spend any moment. 

August 20, 2003 Interesting things going on in the news again this week!  There should actually be some more ‘monumental’ decisions in the days ahead.  The first being the case in the courts regarding Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and the 5,300 pound granite monument depicting the Ten Commandments which opponents say violates the Constitution’s ban on government promotion of religion.  There was a prayer vigil taking place in front of the Courthouse and apparently arrests have been made of those supporters who had knelt or stood at the monument inside the building rotunda and refused to leave.  Want another reason to NOT send your children to government schools?  Revisionist History.  This’ll end up there just like all the other references to God, to His providential care, provision, direction and foundation of this country.

O, should God lift one finger from this nation…

August 19, 2003
We received a call last night from our friends (our son is traveling with) that they’ve made it to Missoula, Montana.   That was after two lengthy visits with friends… missionary friends in Eastern Washington and an old friend who now lives in Idaho.  They’re having the best time!  I’m thinking that guys would think riding along in a camper would be about the greatest thing—and they do!  It’s prolonging the good-bye at the end of the trip, however, and that’s gotta be on their minds.

part of the gang… after one last volley ball game…

Waffles, Waffles, Waffles!  Our family really likes waffles but it’s a challenge to put out the number we need in a timely manner!  I found a neat waffle site and the waffle maker I’ve been looking for is sold there.  I did recently buy a couple (Belgian waffle makers) at a thrift store and was thrilled that they’re in great shape and make nice Belgian waffles.  But… perhaps in the future I’ll buy a couple of waffle makers from that site or at a kitchen outlet-store.  There are some great ideas and I’m glad they have recipes for Belgian as well as other waffles!

someday a groom. 
amy & timothy’s wedding

at the meadow wedding in spokane,
ooops, dad’s behind the camera… missing from the pics again!

August 18, 2003   So.. busy these last couple of days. A beautiful wedding in Spokane (across the state from us here), a special day celebrating our grandson’s 2nd birthday, a tearful farewell for a friend leaving for Bible school, a send off for a long road trip for one of our son’s and serving in the Soup Kitchen this afternoon.  These are the kind of days where timing is everything… and we do praise the LORD for His timing, His provision and His protection.  He is ever merciful.

I was giving some more thought to what I’d written on Friday regarding the verses in Romans and our reasonable service… according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.   Consider the word reasonable; it is reasonable that we be not conformed to this world.  It is sensible, it is realistic, it is practical, it is logical that we NOT be conformed to this world.  We are saved—we’re bought with a price—why would we NOT desire the renewal of our minds that we would be faithful representatives—proving Him to the watching world?!?!?  Interestingly, our pastor was talking about this passage yesterday—he was talking of our worship, saying that God is magnified when we cherish Him—thirsty and hungering after God above all things having our hearts fixed on Christ.

I’ve been mulling over this passage for a number of days because of some decisions I’ve been needing wisdom to make.  What is my reasonable service?  Seeing  that I am compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses… I must lay aside every weight and besetting sin and run with patience the race that is set before me. I’ve been attempting to write some Welcome Home messages and I’ve got a decision to make regarding our Titus2 meetings.  I’ve allowed past difficulties to govern my thoughts—something I always encourage other sisters to lay aside (that past baggage, those dead weights) —I’ve been gripped with negative thoughts and inadequacies.  But God.  But God who is rich in mercy, for the great love wherewith He loves us… me… you…   The chastening of the LORD is bittersweet.  Bitter for a time and sweet for the fellowship and the fruit.   So our reasonable service -it’s sensible, practical, logical, solid, genuine and according to Titus2.5 it is so that the Word of God be not blasphemed.  As Christians, our walk, our talk, the thoughts and intents of our hearts must be such that the Word of God be not blasphemed.  God can surely take care of His Word, His reputation, etc., we must not be deceived, God is not mocked.  Our profession of faith is cheapened when we attempt harmony with the world and display affinity for the ways, the things, the appearance and methods under which it operates.   With our attention, attitude, attire, achievements, amusements, all of these and more, we either exalt or deny our Saviour—we either magnify His name or blaspheme His Word.

August 17, 2003 

21 I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation.
22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.
23 This is the LORD’S doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
                                                                                                Psalms 118.21-24

August 16, 2003  

I was thinking that to close the week with more links to more articles on behaviour, modesty, marriage, family, etc., wouldn’t be necessarily wise; the better part of wisdom would be to go to the Word as it is our alpha and omega of every matter.  All the things going on in the world, in the church, in homes, in education and in relationships all boil down to this:

1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
3   For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.  Romans 12.1-3

Our reasonable service… according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.   We are commanded to NOT be conformed to this world—that through the grace of God we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.  O, the work and ruin that is wrought in the mind, yes?  But we are to be transformed—with a renewed mind that we may prove—give evidence of—verify—validate—show authenticity of:  that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  How do we do this?  Faith.  Every thing we do is measured by faith.  Our works prove this and all of our works are by grace through faith—they are not of ourselves—just as our salvation is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, lest any man should boast.  How can we possibly thank God for so great a salvation—we cannot—but through faith we can present our bodies, ourselves, as living sacrifices… this is our r-e-a-s-o-n-a-b-l-e   service!  O, how I needed this fresh bread today after spending time with friends last evening… talking over difficulties and ministry opportunities.  I know the answer for which I have been praying… I know it now and I knew it then… but the mind… O, the mind—it must be tamed as the tongue must be tamed and God is ever merciful to effectively transform both. 

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I received this funny email from my mom…

the caption to this pic… Finally a mouse suitable for women!

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August 15, 2003   Finally the day is near for us to attend the wedding of the daughter of precious friends.  O, the ways the LORD has worked through the years, blessing and directing this girl–this woman.  Our friends have been such an encouragement to us over the years and now to join them in this celebration is something we’re so looking forward to doing!  What a blessing when young people are walking after the LORD, all through their life… obeying and following in His ways.

  I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
3John 1.4

Here in America, Colorado Rep. Marilyn Musgrave’s Federal Marriage Amendment is rapidly gaining support. At this point the amendment has gained 76 co-sponsors—and that’s including six Democrats [maybe those guys aren’t all bad].  And tens of thousands of people have already signed the Petition of Support for the Federal Marriage Amendment.  You can make your vote count!   I know, I know, seems we’re all over da map this week… riding around on a lotta bandwagons, making a lot of noise:  Education!  Government schools!  Homosexuality!  Modesty! Marriage!  Interesting isn’t it… they’re all linked—they all matter and they’re ALL out of balance and there’s only One answer.

Our family had a wonderful time of getting reacquainting with different families we’ve met over the years out at Camp Gilead for family camp.  Amazingly, time seems irrelevant and in many ways it seemed like yesterday we talked over coffee with different ones there.  I had a time with a couple of dear friends—you know, friends you can count on, friends who matter, friends who have no agenda and the common denominator is Jesus — even though the phase of life for each isn’t necessarily equal.  God is good—merciful.  We didn’t/couldn’t do family camp this year, but felt like we really did want to at least visit the family friends one evening.  What a blessing to be there in time to hear the evening message, to be challenged with the Word and then enjoy the sweet fellowship.

August 14, 2003   My mom sent me a link this morning from Coldwater Creek and the specials their having.  Now, I must confess, that my purchases of Coldwater Creek dresses have been made at the thrift store and *not* at CC outlet or retail stores.  But, what I like to do is get ideas from their catalog which helps me decide what to sew sometimes or then sometimes I recognize the skirts/dresses at the thrift store.  One of my favourite retailers is Christopher & Banks where I have purchased a few dresses.  I sure didn’t like the selections at their website, but at their store (here—in the Northwest) there are beautiful dresses at great prices.

Looking through my mom’s Ikea catalog here at home… then went to Ikea online.  One of my daughters has been having quite a time with the kitchen planning tool (a simple download enables one to select components for a ‘dream kitchen’ or a total kitchen make-over using scaled measurements and their cabinets, etc.   I’d sure like to re-do some things in here… but where to start?  Worse, where would I be comfortable with it ending?  Better to just be content with such things as we have, changing the things we truly can and overlooking those things we cannot change, yes?

Walmart seems to have the best price on the Atkins Advantage bars.  I am finding that one in the morning with coffee or tea really sets the tone of the day for me… I can seemingly be totally content with that for a number of hours.  I am nearer to the goal now… with 10 or 15 left to lose.  I imagine when I hit the right weight I’ll know and then determine a ‘maintenance’ plan.  Weight loss used to be so easy for me bcz I didn’t used to gain much with babies and lost it easily.  But in the last ten years this has *not* been the case!!  Over 35 seems to bring on a new set of deals… new things to deal with.  One of them is a change in metabolism, which I am finally now deciding to learn to adjust to!!  [yep, better late than never]  Everyday I continue to teach myself… saying… what will you decide to eat?  I tell myself: Do not eat what you haven’t decided on purpose—in advance to eat.  I don’t follow the Atkins or the Zone regimen very well as I cannot [yet] seem to work it out and prepare foods for our whole family.  So… that’s why I share I am doing a modified Atkins— maybe closer to Zone program.  I have set things I have each day… I do still have that can of diet DP (Dr. Pepper) each noon!  I probably will have to leave off with the DP when the winter months come… they’re not a necessity ( well, not r-e-a-l-l-y ) and during the cold season… there are few pools to do so grocery shopping is done much more carefully then than now… my husband doesn’t mind this a bit… and so there you go—that’s the “diet update.”  If you’re dieting: Press on.  You will lose weight—walk, eat less, drink more water, STAY BUSY, you WILL lose it!!

 Interesting bits in the news… There seems to be more than just a little bit of support swelling up for Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Judge Roy Moore not to mention, the Foundation for Moral Law‘s gotten involved!  It’ll be interesting to see what happens with this case.  O, the moral decline… the decay of our society—so grievous.  The world is never going to be at peace with God.  This nation seems to be on the fast track spiraling into the black abyss.

I’m really into cutting up watermelon lately!  There’s
nothing to it and it’s so pretty when you serve the fruits!
(no, that big strawberry didn’t grow in our garden!!
Only the small ones and the raspberries!!  The rest of the fruits: melons,
grapes, cherries, pineapple, nectarines grew at the grocery store in town!)

August 13, 2003  Wonder if you have the worm?  MSBlast, also known as Lovsan, an Internet worm that exploits a known vulnerability in Windows 2000, NT, and XP.  Are you infected? Right click on the ‘task bar’ and select ‘Task Manager’. Click on the ‘Processes’ tab. If you can find a process called msblast.exe, then your system is infected.  You need the patch. First patch and then can get it removed.  If you have an online anti-virus, virus-scan system (Norton, McAfee, etc.) go there and follow their recommended steps, or, here’s one of the places you can go…  http://insight.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,39020463,39115651,00.htm  for a solution.

Now, you might think by the two topics on which I continue to focus that this is “Anti-Public Schools” and “Anti-immodest Dress” week! Uhh… I wouldn’t say …week.

The other evening in church one of our missionaries was talking of the mission field, their customs and behaviours and the need for missionaries to be sensitive to their culture and not be offensive (sounds like our… (It’s a very hot/humid climate) it cut me right to the heart when he said that his wife would have to be very careful what she wore… that she’d not be able to wear shorts or revealing clothing, that they were much more conservative and modest there than “we are here.”  Gulp.  Isn’t that sad!!  Sad that we (read: american Christian women are not considered/expected to be conservative or modest.)  Sad that this missionary would change personal behaviour because of THEIR customs not because of personal conviction of propriety and modesty.  So… here are yet more reasons why we ought to be very thoughtful when it comes to our behaviour/dress.  Does our faith give us freedom? Yes.  Freedom to be holy.  Freedom to be obedient.  Freedom to be filled with joy. Freedom to be careful.  Freedom to be representatives of Christ.  Not freedom to be lewd.  Not freedom to defraud.  Not freedom to entice. Not freedom to entice… to lure brothers into lust.  I ran across a couple more articles that really ‘speak well!’ to this matter of dress and behaviour of Christian women.  The first, Bare … Legs In Church  by Michael Fortner, and another on modesty by Dannah Gresh (yes, ironically the same author as was mentioned a couple of days ago).
On to school…  This is an older article relating the agenda of government or public schools.  Okay… so, you need more reasons why you should *not* send your child(ren) to public or government schools? Here’s a site  with a plethora of articles that’ll expose the epidemic of mind and behaviour control of the public school system.  And here’s another Apologetics site listing lots of things going on in the ‘world.’   There were several articles I read yesterday concerning the astounding homosexual teachings I cannot/will not link you here.

The practices being shared/taught IN SCHOOLS is so vulgar I could not read past the descriptions—and these descriptions were written up in public newspapers in Massachusetts and other states in the country.  Unbelievable!  You don’t think that it all could be going on in your neck of the woods? Ha… call up your school and ask their position on teaching—their stand on homosexual, heterosexual relations, behaviours, etc. And watch for buzz phrases and words like: totally inclusive, or inclusive, tolerant, kind and safe.  Inclusive? Safe?  O, not in my house and I pray not in yours.   O… that’s just *that* agenda… add that to considering the others… New Age meditations, Harry Potter (Scholastic’s bonus ‘rights acquisition’ —touting themselves as “the number 1 source” for classroom tools and resources) add those to Humanism and Evolution, anti-life… just to name some of the biggies.

hannah and ami

August 12, 2003  Happy day to you!  I trust that the LORD is continuing to bless, instruct and encourage you in the Word and in prayer.  Hope you day’s going well.  If it’s not, take some time alone in the Word and in prayer… then sing.  Sing praises.  There truly is joy in the valleys.

Circulating in email is a recent exposé on the great rip-off of generic drugs and the pharmacies’ huge mark-up on generics.  Astoundingly, as much as 3,000 percent—yes, that’s no typo—3,000 % mark-up on generics!  Wow.  Now, we don’t go to the doc much and consequently, it’s extremely rare for us to take anything other than over-the-counter meds so for now, these high prices haven’t been a specific dilemma for us.  But, it’ll sure make me think twice in the future when looking for the best price should we find ourselves in that position.  Interestingly, Costco reportedly sells the generics at just above their cost.  That’s some good news. This is just an FYI… beware… high prices.

It doesn’t take much reading of the paper or listening to the news to confirm our reasons for *not* sending our children to government schools.  The agenda of NEA is getting more blatant than ever in regards to homosexuality, anti-Christian bias and religious tolerance.  There’s great power in the subtle and not-so-subtle messages that are being projected to and/or indoctrinated in the minds of all young people in the government schools.  I would go so far as to take the stand that Christian parents should not be sending their children off to school—O, enemy is ruthless; “Your adversary, the devil,  as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” 1Peter 5.8   Don’t think it’s so serious what’s going on in the schools today?   Doug Wilson wrote a powerful letter to Dr. Dobson (clearly one of the most influential men in Christian media) and just a slice of what’s going on in schools.  Can’t imagine it?  Make an education search… talk about shock and awe… you’ll be amazed! 

By the way, Credenda has a lot more interesting articles and regular columns that’ll really be a blessing.
August 11, 2003  —Fall is right around the corner and that means planting for Spring!  My mom sent me the Dutch Garden link for some beautiful daffodils.  They’re some of my most favourite flowers that hold many significant memories for me!  I want to order some to plant in clusters in our flower beds.  We have lots that ring our old weeping willow tree and some clusters near other trees, but I’d like to plant some in other places as well.  It sure seems early to be thinking about the winter garden when we’re still picking flowers, peas and beans and raspberries!

I read an interesting article on modesty this morning after browsing through our CBD [Christian Book Distributors] catalog, noticing a new book they’re offering: Secret Keeper – the Delicate Power of Modesty by Dannah Gresh (She also wrote: And the Bride Wore White).  I’ve not ordered/read her book but I’d like to do so.  O, what a challenge it is to get the message to sisters in the Faith that dress (or lack thereof) sends a bold message: temptation or edification—a message we MUST instill in our daughters!  So, in light of that, I’m thankful that more books are being written, sharing the real truth about modesty.   When I’ve shared on this in the past, I’ve occasionally been told that man looks on the outward, but God looks on the heart—as if the outward is exempt.  Yes, it IS true—God DOES look on the heart—but the outward is [only] what man sees!  Is what men are seeing in/on/about Christian women appropriate for them to be seeing?  Shouldn’t what man sees be a reflection of what God is doing/has done in the heart of each woman??   It’s grievous that the world so deeply influences women of faith that there’s often no distinction in appearance.  More grievous is the manner of dress of some *in* church—dress you’d expect to see anywhere *but* the church.  More on that another day.

I received a letter this morning with an updated link to the Vessels of Mercy site (we recommend on our modesty page).  They offer modest clothing for women and girls, plus you can read articles of interest to women in the church.  You can also read about the Pilgrims Pathway Newsletter—very helpful for Christians on the path of life.

We’ve continued studying in Acts (we’re in 16 now!) and we were impressed this morning by the attitude of Paul and Silas—praising God in the midst of persecution.  Beaten and then bound in chains, they sang praises to God.  I was immediately convicted of the many times I’ve thought this or that situation was too difficult to bear or too tedious or hurtful or whatever… then to think: beaten for proclaiming the Gospel.  Would I take stripes for the sake of Christ?  Would I sing praises to Him afterward?  I pray, O God, please help even my feeble attempts to serve You.

August 9, 2003   It’s another special day here in our family—another birthday.  O, the birthdays we’ve celebrated.  It’s such a blessing to review the years, to rehearse the events of each little life… to praise the LORD for His works and ways in each life.   A couple of days ago when asked how old he’d be on his birthday, Andrew replied,  “Five or six…  ask mama, she knows!!”  Ahhh.

 

Website Note: Over the years I’ve received lots of requests by others to include a link to their site or to share their home biz or information on assorted topics of interest to women—families.  Much of the time, though, the links on our site are placed because of the great value we’ve seen in them for not only our family but for our readers’ families as well.  I’m sometimes reluctant to endorse a site and sometimes cannot endorse one because of what the *rest of the site* offers/displays or because of the “religious” affiliations of the site-owners.  While there is no way for us to know all the in’s and out’s of each site owner’s spiritual/doctrinal  position  (especially when these groups morph into something other than their original position), links on our site are placed with sincere care and with earnest desire to endorse sites that are like-minded (I note secular sites and advise caution regarding them and national news links) additionally, it’s intentional when specific and/or prominent groups/organizations are *not*  posted on our site.  There are national pastors, churches, organizations we do not endorse/support and the omission of comments, links, praise or support is intended.  Whatever the case, always be careful browsing the net and clicking on links.  Sometimes the initial site/article link is just fine but some of *their links* are not.

All that said, the links I share are meant for edification and blessing—when/if we find they’re otherwise, I remove them.  I’m a great fan of home ventures and free enterprise and when families work to provide instructional/godly family devotional or home-schooling materials we are pleased to share the links with you.  Similarly, when we hear of businesses offering modest clothing, we definitely want to pass those sites along to our readers!  Given the limited selection of modest and age-appropriate clothing, it’s a blessing to see the market expanding by way of family enterprise.  A family wrote the other day sharing their home-based business which I’d like to share with you.  She has a nice selection of modest dresses she sews for young girls.  The site is filled with nice dresses for little girls.

Too busy for bloggin’ these days…

August 7, 2003  My mom suggested this site to us this morning.  Rebecca Cole shows lots of interesting things, neat ways to be hospitable and create special ways & places around your home.  For me, the ideas spark creativity to use what we have in new ways—for that’s the sum of creativity… being content with such things as ye have!

I remember at each closing of the Bible Answerman’s program he’d say something like:  Are you willing to do for the Truth what the enemy is doing for a lie?  O, on every front Christianity, families, the church, marriage and the Bible are under attack.  One of the greatest hurdles we face is the hurdle if “fear of man.”  If I take this stand or that stand, what will my neighbors think?  If I reject the lies of society and refuse to conform to societal norms, I’ll not be too popular with them.  If I stand on the side of Truth, they might think I am rejecting *them* instead of rejecting the lies.  No man can serve two masters.    Galatians 6.7 says “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”  Are we willing to do for the Truth what the enemy is doing for a lie?

Job 28.28 “…Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”

Proverbs 29.25  “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.”

Ecclesiastes 12.13  “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

It you’re into the news you just might be thinking these days: how much worse is it going to get?  How much worse can it get?!?  Ugly.  Sin is ugly and the devil is sly—sly and slimy—apart from Jesus—obedience to and faith in Jesus and the finished work of the cross—apart from that there is no hope.  But God.  But God who is rich in mercy…

Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., has introduced the Federal Marriage Amendment (H.J. Res. 56) as a proposed constitutional amendment, which will remove the definition of marriage from the reach of all legislatures and courts permanently.
This amendment simply states:

“Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union between a man a woman. Neither this constitution or the constitution of any state, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups”

Please join Dr. Jerry Falwell, me and one million Americans in the
Petition of Support for the Federal Marriage Amendment.
Click on this link to join in this national effort: http://onemanonewoman.com

So, the news… it’s seemingly unreal—but it’s real.  The depravity deepens and the chasm is widening between the world and the Word.  I’m not thinking that the chasm is widening between some/much of the church and the world, though, because the church has this preoccupation with building itself and making itself palatable to the world.  It will never be.  Jesus said He will build His church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 18.16) 

But the enemy is fierce. “Your adversary, the devil,  as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” 1Peter 5.8  Just take a look at what’s going on in the world… amazing. These things are anything but gay—these abominations… they’re grievous at least.  And then judges display such lack of wisdom ignorance of the constitution, of law.

So, now… we have a monumental case in our nation’s history.  A pivotal case in regard to freedom, religious freedom and the intent of the Founding Fathers and the basis of the foundation of this country.
August 6, 2003  I’ve been drinking more flavoured teas lately… the one I tend to like the most lately is Celestial Seasonings’ Apple Cinnamon—and my friend Kelli brought me teas when she visited and among them was a box of “Perfectly Pear” White Tea! Yum!  Now, I saw on their site a flavour I’ll try soon: peach apricot honeybush.  I think peaches and apricots are my favourite fruits—along with raspberries and blueberries.  I’m thinking of trying this blueberry recipe from the Washington Times for my husband whose favourite is blueberry-anything!  BTW, my favourite was this line in the recipe: “You should have 4 biscuits left over. Wrap and freeze for another brunch.”   😐  We *n-e-v-e-r* have to wrap and freeze anything for another brunch—and I’m thinking I’m pretty sure we’ve never had left over biscuits.

O, in the news… pray the LORD‘s will be done—– grievous decisions being made in the “church” which just further demonstrate the depravity of man and careless and carnally blind handling of the Word.  2Timothy 3.17 “That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” As we seek to know, follow and obey the Word of God, we can clearly see the violations and ignorance of the Word—it’s directives, commands and teaching.  I grieve today over the misguided leadership in that church and in churches around the world.  God help them—God help us all.   Ephesians 4.30 “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”  Some will say we are critical—even judgmental—nay, not judgmental: zealous of the Word, faith, of the Gospel and of good works.
Hebrews 13.6 “So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”  I will continue to use the platforms the LORD gives me to declare and as a defender the faith.

August 5, 2003 

I needed a ‘pick-me-up’ for gardening because this time of year there are more weeds than flowers and more weed seeds taking root than vegetables coming up.  This gardener’s site gives some ideas—actually lots of ideas and lots more ways to spend money which I’m trying to avoid doing more of right now!

Many of our friends are preparing to send sons or daughters out from their homes… some newlyweds and some to school this month… my heart and prayers go out to/for them because of the bittersweet of change… life… maturity.  And that’s the way it should be—that’s what we’re working for.  We don’t raise ’em up to *keep* them; we raise ’em up to *send* them out.  O, the years and years spent running and running… pouring life and energy into everyday with those children… then: it’s over.  What a challenge it was to me five years ago when our two oldest left our home to begin their own homes/lives. What a blast to my consciousness and what an assault to my heart—my boys… I so loved my boys—it’s a different kind of loving now.  O, the prayers… our second boy sure taught us to pray… We then began a “new normal” with our family here in our home. Ohmy, it’s so over when it’s over—not to be morbid, but it’s sort of like death: it’s so over when it’s over.  No more chances to do things this or that way… no more late-night talks beside the bed; no more opportunities to sit at the breakfast or dinner table and plan the day or have devotions or order school materials or fold laundry for that one because it’s a neeeeew day… a neeeeew way.  it’s so over when it’s over. 

We really enjoy doing crafts or projects around the kitchen table… the dilemma is coming up with neat ideas we can afford or that will not be just another item for the wastebasket in a few days.  So, I’ve been looking around at craft ideas and have found some neat ones!  You’ll probably like some of them too… maybe there are some others you’ll enjoy.
Something caught my eye while browsing… my step-dad sure likes butterscotch cookies and so I’m thinking of making this gift-in-a-jar for him sometime.  We have other gifts in a jar recipes  and speaking of gifts… I’ve got pages of gifts that’ll give a bunch of ideas and some more ideas for gifts to give (updated!)

August 4, 2003 
Special guests at our church yesterday were the “Voices of Victory” from Pillsbury Baptist Bible College.   What a blessing they were both in the service and during our pot-bless lunch afterward.  We’re continuing to meet for lunch each Sunday while the ASL class is in session.  We’re using the Bravo ASL curriculum from Sign Enhancers.  Our teacher is such a dear, she’s deaf and attends the Emmanuel Deaf Fellowship that’s a part of our church.  She is married to a hearing man and so he helps encourage us as we learn as he, himself, is still learning the deaf culture.  We’re learning so much about communication, about foolish misconceptions and other things about the deaf culture.  Something that’s helping is that we’re seeing Naomi (our daughter who is deaf in her left ear) really take to this and it’s opening up a whole new world of communication.  One of the biggest advantages I’m seeing is the replacement of our poor home-signing with proper ASL signing.  It’s sort of like slang… when proper English (or whatever language) is introduced and understood and vocabulary is broadened, then slang is seen for how limiting it really is when compared to intelligent or proper speech/language.

So far, this is how much swimming I’m doing!

My mom receives catalogs for gardeners and woodworkers that are just packed with useful items for both!  I like looking through them and checked out their site —Lee Valley— and what great ideas they have!  Now, I found their site to be sort of difficult to navigate—might’ve been clicking too quickly—but I’ll try again later—anyway, there sure are some great tools for gardening that I’m thinking of ordering.  We need help clearing weeds as they seem to grow so much better and faster than the flowers and vegetables!!

August 3, 2003   We returned from a wedding Saturday evening.  We were reminded of the wedding at Cana… the place of the beginning of the miracles of Christ our LORD.  I thought on the sovereignty of God, the bringing together of souls that would become one flesh that together they would be better—more effective than were they to remain single.  I thought of ways my husband’s life is more effective because of me and mine because of him… and then I ask the LORD… LORD, are there ways in which I am hindering the effectiveness of my husband or oneness with him?  The stark reality is that I am created as a help meet for my husband—a help fitted to him—a help, not a hindrance.  As I think on these things, I mull over in my mind ways in which I might improve in order that I’m living in obedience to Christ—to the Word… because anything less brings dishonour to both.

August 2, 2003 

Home from the doctor… pleased with the results of the surgery and so grateful to God for the things He has done.   Kathryn now has the task of slowly trying to bear full weight on her feet—learning to walk with straight feet.   What a blessing it was to see the x-rays this morning.  X-rays tell the story.  The smile and the beautiful music tells the story of a heart yielded to the LORD.  There’s really nothing more to add today… my heart is overflowing with gratitude to our gracious LORD.

     
              
“…How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace,
and bring glad tidings of good things.”  Romans 10.15

August 1, 2003

—–Late 8-01-03 —–  As I type this, a pair of crutches leans against the wall at the foot of the stairs—a very familiar sight this year as Kathryn has spent two eight-week time periods using crutches to get around.  In the morning we’ll go to her doctor who’ll remove her cast… x-rays will reveal the results of the surgery and eight weeks of no weight bearing on that foot.  The familiar clicking of the crutches, the crawling up the stairs and all the other inconveniences will be things of the past.  These surgeries have been incredible answers to prayer… surgeries that have corrected her feet and will hopefully enable her to walk long distances or stand lengths of time without pain; to buy shoes in various styles—not limited to few and certain types.  Tomorrow she’ll wear ‘flip-flop’ sandals… something she’s doing for the first time in her life.  While not ashamed of the appearance of her feet previously, she has had numerous ‘most embarrassing moments’ when questioned about their appearance.  Even now, some will ask if her feet will ever be any better.  O, the poise she’s developed, the gracious attitude she has in answering the questions—I marvel at her maturity, it’s far beyond her years. 

A bright August day…   Joey – 8 years old

The first of August already!!  Considering this is the last full month of summer, and “vacation” time, we’re going to be spending the month reviewing and preparing for the upcoming “school-year” here at home.  I have been receiving catalogs from different Homeschool organizations and companies.  We’ve begun mapping our plan for the months ahead… seeing where each child needs to grow based on where they are now, etc.

One neat thing I received from my sister-on-law this morning: Growth of a Nation a ten minute presentation illustrating the growth of the United States from the original 13 colonies to the present—or rather, to 1950.  Thankfully, the decline of morality is not documented here.  We’ll be able to use this as a refresher and as a springboard to our studies in History for the year.  Two years ago we began a study of the United States… but didn’t do too many last year, so we’ll resume the study this year.  We made mini-books (a “book-package” for each state with interesting flaps and slots and pull-down features to highlight different aspects of each state’s history, geography and resources) based on The Book of Books by Dinah Zike.  I even joined the e-group list for a while that first year which was somewhat helpful for that time.

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Well, go ahead and get a cup of tea… it’s time for today’s blog!  Welcome home!

Thursday, July 31, 2003  I receive reminders of birthdays from Birthday Alarm—you just sign up and receive two reminders: a week and three days prior to the birthday dates you’ve selected.  It’s a neat way to be reminded to e-mail or send a card to someone. 

The children have been swimming all afternoon!  What a day this has been; nice and hot outside—perfect for cold water.  I used to love to swim in cold water—I thought I still would… today I changed my mind and decided that cold water is good for sailing, washing dark clothes, rinsing sand off walkways and *drinking!*  Every once in a while the children would lie down on the pavement to warm up before returning to the cold pool… it was worth it to them!!  That makes it all the better to me!

I was doing a little searching for a recipe and came across this neat site… yes, the ‘chocolate‘ did catch my eye.  Then I found the recipe for the cake I was looking for:  Triple Chocolate Celebration Cake… and I did find a source for the ‘transfer sheets‘ called for in the cake recipe!  (Hope you like it, Amy!)

Wednesday, July 30, 2003  It’s a warm one today!  But I’m having a delicious cup of Millstone coffee (Hazelnut de-caf, my husband’s favourite!!) with Land O’Lakes non-fat half ‘n half… and my Atkin’s Advantage Bar.  Somehow… this bar is okay to me during this diet.  Most other times, I’d tell you: no chocolate vitamins, please!  By the way, that Land O’Lakes site wasn’t meant to be a stumbling block…  mmmmm, great looking recipes, eh?  Oh, one thing that helps with butter calories is to mix well: 1 cup of butter with 1 cup of canola oil and put into a plastic box with lid… keep in the fridge and it’ll still spread on your toast.

We had a wonderful visit with friends over lunch today!  We’re still working on our projects outside but the very warm weather is slowing us down a bit!!  We’re setting up an above ground pool and it’s taking a bit longer than we’d hoped… but one thing I know for sure is that my husband is thorough and being a pool guy, he has lots of experience and so we’re with him—whatever he thinks we ought to do—even if what he does seems like many extra steps!  Pool pics another day. 

I was sharing with our friend that this will give us opportunity to try out different types of modest swimming clothes and see which one(s) we think work best for us.  It’s a real challenge—modesty and swimming!!  When once you begin seeing most styles of bathing suits as colourful underwear—and are they not!?!?—then you see the dilemma and seriously understand the need for alternatives to what is commonly sold as public swimming attire.   O, how I regret not knowing this as a younger person—O, the regrets over foolish behavior!   “What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are not ashamed?” —Romans 6.21

The challenge is to find something that’s comfortable and modest and appropriate for swimming.   Some swimming outfits draw such attention that the purpose is defeated.  Other times, we’ve thought something would be workable and have later found that the outcome was not good!
There’s a site that offers modest swimming clothes for you and your daughters. I did a search and found a few ideas… I’ll likely change them a bit, but the ideas are inspiring me to sew new swimming clothes.  I also came across an article that had some nuggets of truth about modesty… this is not for those who get hung up on the legalism tag—for if you do, you’ll miss the truth.

We’re looking forward to Saturday when Kathryn will have her cast removed.  I think the pool will enable her to exercise without pain… as she’ll need to ease into exercising and walking.  This is the last of the casts, though!  What remains is a minor surgery to remove the screws in her feet and the surgeon will also remover her scar at that time.  We’ve seen the amazing results a friend has had with this!  Kathryn’s scars are the length of her feet and will be greatly diminished after that surgery—which will be done in October and January.  How we continually praise the LORD for His provision here.  Also… we applaud Kathryn’s bravery and tenacity in undergoing this surgery and enduring the many months of healing.  She’s been such a blessing to us all.

Soon I post two muffin recipes you’ll really like for your family.  I did taste them both—oh, the temptation to eat a whole one of each! BUT I DIDN’T—yay-yay!!  Anyway—one is Amy’s and one is Lisa’s — first, though, I’ll have to ask them to send the recipe to me for our family —and you— to enjoy!

Tuesday, July 29, 2003  As I mentioned the other day, I’d have some pictures from last week… below are a few from the KlaHaYa Days backyard party.  We gather for food & fellowship and yard games… and more food and fellowship and volleyball late into the night!  Fireworks light up the sky after dark!  This is one of the features of KlaHaYa Days and maybe one of the neatest benefits living near the little airport where a lot of the activities take place—sky-divers, hot-air balloons, and more.
         
O, the blessing of friendship… we had a good time that evening.  Our friends from Colorado were able to be with us… to bring a good report and others shared of God’s blessing, work and provision over the last year.  One of my favourite sights and sweetest memories every year is the gathering of nursing mothers sitting in a group out on the porch or in our living-room in the house—and I’m always grateful that all the children play so well together as there were 30 or so little ones running around!  Everyone who played volleyball sure had a good time… after dark they hooked up the halogen lights and kept playing.  The pic of the one man is our friend who spent several months in Iraq.  We praise the LORD for His protection and our friend’s safe return.

Good news in an email regarding our friends in Papua New Guinea.  They’re improving tremendously from the terribly high fevers–malaria.  They’ve also gotten a washing machine which is a blessing as they’re now trying to rid the home of scabies. O, the enemy is working overtime attempting to thwart the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  He’s a defeated foe relentlessly fighting a lost battle.  In Jesus is the victory.

Pretty incredible the extent of the fighting in Iraq.  O, how grateful we are that our friends have returned, but, O,  how mindful we are that so many thousands remain and the fighting continues.  We continually pray God’s will be done.

Had a great time working outdoors yesterday.  Ran a couple of errands—had to go to Lowe’s (I went directly to the bricks and schedule 40 pvc sticks my husband asked me to get) and it would have been wonderful to take a look through their home decor section or paints and papers—more ideas don’tcha know, but I stuck to the plan.  Anyway… driving back… the heat felt wonderful!  I miss that marvelous feeling of hot sun on my face… I don’t mean sunning by a pool baking in the rays—just that feeling when standing outside and feeling the warmth of the sunshine… mmmmm.  The Northwest is my home and I don’t really desire to live elsewhere, but I do love heat and really dislike cold and gray… and for now, I do not miss the dripping, dripping, dripping rain… nor the cold.  The only thing I’m beginning to miss about wintertime is hot thick vegetable-beef or beef-barley soup and fresh-baked crusty bread—yummmm.  Oh… the gray days will soon be upon us.  I have a friend who absolutely loves the gray… says there are the most interesting shades of gray and white in the sky… hmmm, I hope to one day have that perspective for I do not have it at present.

For now, we’ve continued working in the yard… digging, digging, digging.  Wonderful to bathe and then rest after that sort of day… it was a wonderful ache, but it’s aching work, nonetheless.   Now… today… I’m not so sure about the wonderful part.  More about that later.

Interesting article regarding court protection from overzealous social workers or CPS.  We’ve often viewed CPS as some sort of American gestapo causing parents to live in fear of some CPS worker coming in and removing children from a home/family with seemingly no recourse on the part of the family.   Guilty—that’s it.  Children gone.  The accounts of such actions are often unpublicized but truly, the nightmares people have lived through at the hands of CPS are astounding.  One article is so bizarre, it seems unbelievable.  It’s incredible to me that in this country we must be on guard for such actions and false accusations!   I’ve been told many times by people on email lists to be careful what is written regarding child-training and correction.  It’s as if one’s being watched and tailed all the time.  Strange, isn’t it!?!

Monday, July 28, 2003   Yesterday was another blessed day of fellowshipping with friends at at church.  On Sundays (lately) we have stayed at the church all day… following morning worship and our “pot-bless” lunch, (I ended up making a big spinach salad, nachos & salsa, watermelon, and brownies—which everyone likes!)  we sat together talking while the children played outdoors and a bit later we had our sign-language class followed by our evening service which has lately been a time of viewing Kent Hovind‘s Creation Science videos with ice cream cones afterward!  By the way, they’re fascinating videos clearly showing the origins and creation of the world and the causes of the spectacular phenomena of such places as the grand canyon, fossils, huge bone & plant ‘graveyards’ at the poles, etc.  Incredibly simple and yet astonishingly complex are the presentations.  For every age there are solid explanations of God’s handiwork.  We’d like to purchase copies of these videos for our home. 

For those following the diet… if you’re in a situation like the one I described above… all you need to do is choose the foods that are non-BSF foods and you’ll do fine even  at pot-bless luncheons or out to dinner!  Remember, BSF foods are butter–sugar–flour foods… and WHITE foods!  Yeah,  I know… all the best tasting foods are a combination of these—white foods are sooooo tasty.  So, my resolve is strong… and if you’re trying to lose weight or ‘get healthy’ then I pray yours remains strong, too!

Our two older daughters spent a few days with my mom and had a wonderful time with her… crafting and visiting!  My mom really pampers them and they love it—and her!!  They made me a beautiful bouquet of flowers in my favourite colours—these flowers, maybe 2 dozen, are in a terracotta pot filled with rice… and they are each a pen!  The pot sits on my desk and looks so pretty!  My step-dad was away ‘star-gazing’ with fellow-astronomers at Table Mountain.  I wish that Kent Hovind’s videos were an integral part of the program so that every one of the astronomers (who don’t know the LORD) would have the clear opportunity to hear the gospel, understand the Creator of the vast universe, then see the great universe from His perspective!  The Word tells us in Psalms 19.1-7

Sunday, July 27, 2003  “This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” psalms 118.23

Friends Bringing a good report… This picture was taken in our  kitchen when friends were getting ready to leave… we’re all smiles… but soon after this there were tears.   That’s the bitter-sweet of friendship; the visiting is sweet and the parting brings sorrow.

July 26, 2003 Rapidly coming to the close of another month—it doesn’t seem possible that July is almost over!  I have some new newspapers listed in the News Pages — I like to read local papers when a national story is broadcast.  It seems that there’s a different angle presented in the local paper that’s missing or overlooked in the national news.  I add links when I’ve looked up a particular article.  Nah, you don’t need to become a news-junkie.   Glen Stewart often presents articles of interest on the site that hosts the Welcome Home/Good Things messages.  There are actually lots of interesting things on the site… articles, images, and lots of groups listed offering studies as well as discussion groups and newsletters.  Click the link—trust me—don’t type in the name yourself.

I’m trying to think of something creative to make for the pot-bless at church tomorrow afternoon.  You see, it’s pretty hard for me to be thinking along the lines of food when I need to be *out* of that kitchen.  So, I’m trying to think of a tasty uninvolved meal.  I know I need to make salad… there are some friends who just love salad and I love to please them… some of our friends don’t like everything I like to put in salads… I always smile when I think of them… as they call (berries-seeds-walnuts-craisins-parmesan, etc) the  added extras: ‘artifacts.’   (added note: these friends don’t like their foods touching each other, either.)

July 25, 2003  I’m back on track in the mind today… fully persuaded to press on with this diet.  It just dawned on me—the monthly cycle played an enormous part that I’d overlooked!  Irritability wasn’t food related it was cycle related and *food* wasn’t the answer!   So, I implore the LORD for His strengthening and His help!  If you’re having a tough go of it, just hang tight and pray the LORD will continually help you on the difficult trek of losing weight.  You may also come to realize you don’t have a weight problem after all… the problem’s not the weight, the problem’s the eating—the weight is a product or symptom of the problem.  That’s a hard image to face in the mirror—but then *truth* often is.  My friend wrote something yesterday that surely rang true with me.  She mentioned the attention losing weight brings.  O, that’s a struggle for me, too.  As much as I enjoy leading a group, as much as I enjoy orchestrating events or whatever, I can’t stand the attention—what a paradox this is!  I hate drawing attention even though I really want to be a blessing or to encourage or whatever!  So, when others ask if I’m losing weight, like my friend, I just want to hide.  This isn’t the reason for the dieting and I sure agree with her(!): it’d be wonderful to just go away and come back at a healthy weight.  Then… there’s also that terrible low self opinion… what? did I look so awful the other way?  O… it’s all tough.  Anyway… like I was telling my daughter in law… I desire to be fit for the grandchildren—she thought I meant her two (and I do!! really!) but I meant the ones who might come along in ten years or in 20-30 years and beyond.  I often think: I never see overweight old folks who are healthy—never.  So, should the LORD tarry, and should He choose that I have a long life—and so far as it depends on me, I’d like it to be a healthy one.  Fear of failure *AGAIN* is  the biggest battle of all as far as this particular fight goes.  Still pressing on…

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Kathryn has only ONE more week in a cast!  Next Saturday she’ll have her cast removed and be able
to begin walking after 8 weeks off her foot.  What a blessing the surgeries to correct her feet have been—
but talk about a long haul… she’s done remarkably well, and has been as cheerful as possible as
she’s daily worked through this. Sometime I’ll put up some “before and after” pictures.
She’s even asked me to print out some pictures of her feet before surgery so that she can share with people what God’s allowed through the hands of skilled physicians and the gift He’s give her.
It’s sure been an alone time for her as there’ve been so many things in which she couldn’t
take part and so many things she’s been longing to do—
walks to take and volleyball games to play, swimming at the lake or in the pool, etc.
This is how her spring and summer has gone…  with a smile…  in a chair.

We’ve been enjoying the BBQ so much this summer!  Seems like everyone in our family looks forward to enjoying the dinner meal outside.  Perhaps this is because so much of the year is spent indoors and it’s so often too chilly to eat outside in the evening!  I love it because in California (where I was raised) we had most of our meals outside year round.  Our patio was like a large dining room—my favourite part of that was the outdoor chandelier that held lots of candles—thus my love of candlelight today!

Flies!  O, these pesky flies!  We’ve tried lots of things… but we’ve always gone back to the tacky, pun intended, fly trap paper.  Now, in looking up their company, I discovered that flies are bugging lots of people bcz there are so many products on the market.  My personal favourite is still the trusty damp wash cloth which I use to whack them when they’re walking on my counters or desk here in the kitchen—very effective.

Here are some HOMESCHOOLING helps.   Are you thinking of Home-Schooling or need some fresh ideas for your home-school?  This list of books will help you in your decision making and the site will give you ideas.  For some other angles and more information, you really ought to also look at Vision Forum or their ministries site and Homeschool Today (they have a magazine ‘Homeschooling Today’ to which you may want to subscribe) also the old favourites Timberdoodle and Keepers of the Faith.
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One of the blessings of schooling at home is the flexibility my husband has in taking our older boys to work with him.  This pool was quite a difficult one to redo, but after the re-line, the filling and the new concrete, it looks beautiful.  And these guys don’t look so bad, either.
They love the opportunity to earn money during the summers!
We’re very blessed that the LORD has sent our boys in pairs with a dolly
in the middle of each pair every five years and one of each at the end…
No matter how He’d have done it, though, we know that All God’s ways are good.

My husband’s business is refurbishing swimming pools… relines, tile, coping concrete, equipment, etc.  His best, funniest, and most endearing co-workers are his sons…

July 24, 2003  O for email!  We had a letter this morning from missionary friends in Papua New Guinea.  The report and prayer request was troubling as four of their family members have malaria and are very sick.  I’d ask for prayer for our friends, the Sconce’s, and for their health and healing and that other family members will be spared.

So another day… you know this has been the hardest day for *the D-I-E-T* so far.  I have been sooooooo tempted all day to snack.  I *knew* this day was coming… I’m thinking that since I shared the progress report yesterday I am headed for a trial.  Well this isn’t the first trial of the trail, but it’s surely the strongest.  Even visiting or going out to dinner has not been this difficult.  I have some snacks on the counter for the family and I have dinner partially prepared—but I must be tired and so feel the *great need* 😉  to eat something—anything—now.  So I blog.  Then I walk.  Then I fold.  Then I go out to water the roses.

And so it goes…  More later…

July 23, 2003  I finally went with Kathryn to the Snohomish Library today!  What a wonderful new library it is!  We saw a friend there and I met one of the librarians who helps my children so much.  They all have a great sense of humor — even after Samuel placed holds for something like a hundred and twenty seven books one time.  They still tease him about checking out the [whole] library and having to call us because there was no room on the “holds shelf” for them to hold the books so they ended up personally calling us to come pick them up.  They’ve got a neat system whereby books can be reserved online and then an automated call is made to our home when the books are in.  This way we can easily scan the books before they’re checked out—also not as much time is needed at the actual library.  However, it is wonderful to spend time just browsing the books, so I make sure there’re lots of opportunities for that, too.

Kathryn is making garlic-chicken pizza and pepperoni pizza for our family tonight.  They’re going to love it that she’s doing this for them.  She and Hannah will be going to visit my mom for a couple of days so she wanted to do something special.  My husband and our older boys will be especially thankful as it’s been a long hot day for them out working on a pool.

One of my favourite catalogs to receive is from Country Curtains!  I love looking through the pages getting ideas for curtains for our home.  I can’t afford to buy them from them, but I sure think they appear to be high quality.  I always like to save these catalogs for future reference—same with Rue de France.  I have a lace curtain for our front door & side lights from that company; it’s so beautiful—I just need to shorten them by adjusting the tops—a project I’ve been meaning to do for a long time.

I had a very nice email from a woman in Canada today… and am (at her prompting) giving a diet update… so here, weighing in on weight loss, I am happy say I continue losing weight with a very modified Atkins plan.  I’m not following the plan to the letter—I find it’s difficult to so dramatically change the menu for the family and so I’ve just continued eating my plan and serving them a ‘normal’ diet.  Well, normal American, sometimes healthy—sometimes not-so-healthy, sometimes calorie laden—sometimes not, sometimes fat laden and sometimes trim: diet—normal American fare.   Okay, so I’ve lost 20 lbs. so far.   Thinking I had only 20 to lose (based on the weight registered on the other scale), my goal is more like 30 lbs. total to lose—maybe even 35.  So, over half way there, I continue the tough grind to eliminate weight from many years of many pregnancies.  Any of you who are trying to lose weight and can’t seem to get through it… can’t seem to break through that invisible barrier or (no pun intended) scale the 80 foot brick wall… here’s my tip:  Just totally eliminate WHITE FOOD.  Really.  White or light food is a problem (for me anyway).  Remember, like I hear they say at al-anon meetings… (though I’ve never been to one!!) I have to overcome this addiction… I’m a carbohydrate addict and I love all butter-sugar-flour foods.  Soooo eliminating all BSF foods and the things that go with BSF foods has been the goal.  Sugar is white.  Bread is white. Waffles are white.  Crisco is white.  Potatoes are white.  French fries are white.  Salt is white.  Cookies are white.  Ice cream is white (and that includes chocolate or any other ice cream).  Wedding cake is white.  Coolwhip is white…  and so on.

So… that’s kind of been my criteria (not completely (!!!) but for the most part) I’m not eating butter-sugar-Crisco-flour-chocolate foods.   Now… the biggest challenge initially was the elimination of the morning lattés and mochas.  Just eliminating those two shots of chocolate a day probably helped tremendously—now it’s been a month since I’ve had a mocha and I don’t miss them too much.  I did taste one this morning that I was making for our guest because I wasn’t sure my new espresso machine was brewing the coffee right and she likes her coffees pretty sweet.  But that taste was small and did not lead to another taste or a cupful.  That’s the other thing I tried NOT to do.   I do have one meal a day that’s an Atkins bar which is very satisfying to me with a cup of coffee or Apple-Cinnamon Tea.   So then,  I have consciously made decisions NOT to try to get around foods by pretending I’d just have a little taste or just this one bite… da da da da da.  I generally don’t eat substitutes for those foods either.  I’ve just had to continually stay on my plan and not try to “cheat” the plan.  There is no personal gain for me in that… and there’s no weight loss in that either.  And yes, that means no pizza tonight—but I’ve had pizza lots of times in the past—that’s why I must not have it tonight.  So, thanks, Sabine, for asking and prodding me along.  Blessings to you as you seek to eliminate the extra!!

July 22, 2003  Standing in the garden with my friend eating fresh vegetables and raspberries… it’s a summer picture I’ll savour a long while—that, and the picture of our children playing ‘duck duck: goose’ on the driveway before they drove off.

It’s a tearful moment when friends drive off after a sweet time of fellowship and children playing together.  What a blessing it was to have our friends with us over the last several days.  You’d never have known that there were 17 of us here in our old farmhouse!  It was a wonderful thing to have them come, to see the healing and blessing of the LORD in their lives.  When their daughter was in a tragic accident two year ago, there was a tremendous concern that she would lose not only her leg, but perhaps even her life.  The LORD did indeed answer prayer in sparing her life and her little leg—now very changed—still allows her to walk and play with the children.  Nothing dampens her spirit—she has a charming way about her and what joy she brings!  Though many surgeries have been performed, and though perhaps many more will be needed, the family is strongly determined to go on with God, to trust also in Him and never ever turn from that faithful walk with Him.  It was and will continually be a blessing to have been a part of their lives through that tough trial and now to have been here to receive the good report…  for that’s what I saw in their traveling all these miles… a trip to bring a good report—and they surely did bring us great joy.

I just received a Tea newsletter  from Sandy’s tea society.  I’ve enjoyed receiving this monthly letter… it’s given me some good ideas and encouragement to do more special things.  My deep regret in these last couple of years has been the inability to do all the things in the way I’d hoped to because of too many things on the plate, so to speak.  I’m seeing this as a recurring theme—one I’m not too happy about—and so I’m rethinking the order of the days ahead.  Maybe you have overloaded your schedule in some areas and you know what I mean.  Of course, this may all be a reaction to burning the candle at both ends lately. 

July 21, 2003  Hello again!  Too much gabbing for blogging!   We’ve been having some sweet fellowship with friends staying with us over the last few days.  We’ve enjoyed laughs and good talks, praises for what the LORD has been doing and prayers for His plans for the future.  It’s a blessing to have friends near and far!

Another wonderful evening celebrating friendship in the LORD with friends here for our annual KlaHaYa Days backyard party!  We sure have a good time each year… I’ll put up some pictures soon!  We do praise the LORD for all His ways, His blessings and provision in the past year.  We were privileged to have our friends here from Colorado, to see the evidence of answered prayer in the life of their little daughter who was severely injured in an accident two years ago.  What a marvel it is to see her… to experience her sweet spirit and the joy of her life.

I was so grateful for my husband’s safe return from driving his mom’s moving truck to Indiana last week.  I’ll add some to this later!  He had a wonderful trip—uneventful, praise the LORD!  He got off to a good start:

Oh, the woes of computers… for some very odd reason, we’ve had some major trouble with our computer here in the kitchen.  ‘Seems I must’ve downloaded a font that was a bad or “corrupted ” file.  Just the sound of it was bothersome to me—anyway, we solved the problem and are up and running!  My mom sent me a link to a flower company for bulbs that ‘rodents’ don’t go for!  That caught my attention since we have moles in our yard from time to time and they love to eat up the plants. I hate to have them eat up the tulips and daffodils!!  I’m thinking of ordering from them for fall planting.  Can you believe it’s time to order fall bulbs?!?!?

I just received an issue of Creativity E-letter by Vicki Blizzard… I think maybe some of you might go for this crafting & stitching hints and ideas subscription newsletter.

July 16-18, 2003  Hello sweet friends!!  Too busy for bloggin’ this week.  But I wanted to put up a couple of addresses that really have some neat ideas for cooking treats and decorating the home.  there are some neat ideas from Nestlēs.   I have many things to make and bake for this weekend!  In addition to our plans for friday, our friends will be arriving tomorrow for a several day visit!  This old farmhouse will be bursting at the seams… all filled up with lots of talking and laughing—-everything except a lot of sleep! 

I am still searching for carafes for my latté makers.  Can you believe that two have broken?!?  We’ll be making hot and iced mochas and probably lots of sweet tea, too!

Another site that’s a favourite of my oldest daughter is The Company Store.  She looks at different sites and through books and some magazines for ideas for serving, setting up the home and decorating… I’m often in awe of her tenacity and zest for learning and applying new things.

We’re getting ready for our annual KlaHaYa days yard party… what a blessing we have received from the sweet fellowship of friends over the years—we pray this year will be an especially sweet time as we gather for fellowship, food and volleyball…

July 15, 2003  Our friends are coming for a visit and in trying to give concise directions over the phone, I wished I could just pull up a map for her to look at.  Well, the next time you are looking for an address or need to map out your driving route, you’ll have a good place to look up the address.  

There is a carnival being set up near out home and ohmygoodness what an attraction it is.  We’ve been thankful over the years for this carnival… it’s been a tremendous teaching tool here.  Over the years the children have watched the bright lights, faintly smelled the ‘fair-food’ and vaguely heard the music.  The lights from the Ferris wheel, the cotton candy, thrill of the games… all the things in the world that seem so fun and attractive… but then reality—reality hits and a carnival is seen for what it is: temporary entertainment of the flesh… carn-i-val—carnal.  We used the opportunity to teach the children about amusement… about the great expense of going round and round on a carnival ride and then getting off having gone nowhere.  Is that what this life’s about?  The interesting thing is that on Sunday night when the sun goes down and the lights are dimmed, the oh-so-fun rides and other attractions will literally fold up and drive away funded by the hundreds who tossed money into the ring… and left behind will be half eaten corn dogs, empty cotton candy cones, plastic cups and other garbage… and the carnival will be only a memory.  We ask the children and we ask ourselves:  what will remain of our life?  Will we leave behind a life of amusement and wasted money—having feasted on ‘spiritual’ junk food, and a bunch of garbage strewn about through the years of our lives? 

July 14, 2003 

This has been a very busy day at our house!  My mother graciously took our four older children to the grand opening of the Snohomish library this morning.  They were absolutely thrilled to go this morning—they’re always happy to go to the library, but this day was unlike any other!  The space!  The tables & chairs!  The size! the thousands of new volumes!  They were all so pleased with all that had been done! It’s the big news in our home today!

We had the most enjoyable time walking through Flower World today with my mom. It’s truly astonishing—the plants!  Flowers… trees… hanging baskets… garden supplies of every kind… it’s just flower world!  We did buy some flowers and my son bought some cacti.  He bought a cactus yesterday and now he’s totally hooked (not literally) on cactus (or cacti) as the case may be.

July 13, 2003  This is the day the LORD has made… we are rejoicing and are glad in it.  God is good all the time.  Even when it *seems* that things are not going well—all God’s ways are good and He is only good.  We praise Him!

July 12, 2003 Our daughter got a call from the local newspaper reporter regarding the grand opening of the new Snohomish Library and what it’s been like to not have access to the library for the last month.  Kathryn was surprised what was put in the article and what was left out based on the interview with the reporter.  We go to the library at a minimum of 3 times per week… and sometimes go daily to pick up and drop off books because of the ability to use the internet to reserve books, check on status of books in transit, and probably, more accurately, because we have lots of readers with lots of different interests.  It’s been the most invaluable tool for homeschooling!   Many times when books were unavailable, our older ones would make a request for the book(s) and the library ordered them!   We are anxious for Monday and the grand opening of the wonderful new library!  My mom’s going to take the four older children for the big event!!  I think Kathryn as well as T, S, & Hme would like to live as close to the new Library as our friends live: one block… a short walk to all those books… heaven on earth!

You know that “Do Not Call” registry I was talking about last week?  Well, read on…

I was looking on the net for instructions on replacing exterior doors and doors frames… and I came across this neat page about remodeling old homes— I know *nothing* about the site owner… I just like the before & after pictures.

July 11, 2003  Our daughter just signed up to receive a Sonnet a Day… she’s determined to read Shakespeare’s sonnets which she’ll receive in her inbox each morning.  She is such an inspiration to me—I’m telling you, I never cease to be amazed at her!  She’s reading War and Peace and while she reads, she keeps an online dictionary  as well as a French/English dictionary open.  She’s an avid reader—always eager to learn new things!!   If you’re looking for a particular book, why not try online—she has a new interest in ‘classics’… you just might find a book you’ve been wanting to read!

We’re continuing our painting… and painting… and painting .
This morning my mother in law arrived—what a blessing to see her again.  She and her husband have just retired.  He has been a missionary in Taiwan for over 40 years and since their marriage two years ago (both their spouses died in the last four years) they have been there together for these last two years (Mom and Dad–before he died—were missionaries to the Philippines for two terms and he was a pastor in the States for over 40 years).  They’ll very much miss the ministry there and the dear friends they’ve left behind, but they have great plans for the future… as he is a writer and has two book projects.  I’m just sorry they’re not going to be retiring here and will be cross country from us.

One of my most helpful books is the Naturally Healthy Pregnancy by Shonda Parker.  It is packed with information and answers to most every question I had in pregnancies. I just received her e-newsletter this afternoon.  What a blessing her life is as she is such an incredible resource not only for pregnancy but general health as well.

July 10, 2003  Our dear friends gave my husband a copy of the book Wild at Heart on CD.  I think this is the first time I’ve listened to a whole audio book.  It was pretty interesting and intense listening and canning… canning and listening.  You see, just like there’s a wild at heart man in every man, there’s a bit of trying to understand that wild heart of men by every woman.  Now, some don’t like to get too caught up in psychology or psychobabble as some call it… but there’re some very interesting presuppositions presented by John Eldredge regarding the heart of a man.  I’m trying to understand… boys—men.  See, I *know* what they do… I just don’t always understand *why* they do it…  O, I’m not talking about the ‘never stopping to ask for directions’ or being able to go to the mall, hunt down the shirt (or whatever) shoot it, bag it, and get back in the truck in less than a half hour.  Or, chew a sandwich or a cookie into the shape of a pistol,  or always, beginning at age 8, attempt to jump and touch things higher than themselves—I know that’s what they do… but why do they do it?  So, that’s why I read books about men… I love the men in my life… the LORD’s given my husband and me seven sons to train up into men.  It’s sobering.

July 9, 2003 We’ve had a pretty busy day today… this painting continues… and continues… I imagine everything that can be painted *will* be painted in the days to come… perhaps even getting the whole job completed in a month or so!  ‘Problem with painting one’s home is that so many other things go by the wayside and don’t get done.  Then, the home’s a mess–regular chores not being done—and even the outside’s a mess… and so it goes.  We’ve done some more cleaning inside the underside, too… but not so’s ya’d knowit from looking on the outside.  The great treat will be the visit from my mother in law and her husband.  My husband’s father died 3.5 years ago and my dad died three months before that… so it’s sort of hard for me to yet think of calling her new husband ‘dad’.  O, how grateful I am, though, for her visit—it’s been a long time since the last and it’ll be a long time till the next!

My friend wrote to say blogs are all the rage… and listed another who has a blog… (doug phillips – vision forum) but I thought this was pretty funny on employee blogging—Microsoft, no less!

Since my husband’s been working such long hours, he treated us to dinner tonight and what a fun blessing it was.  Dinner was followed by a trip to Lowe’s.  We *love* to go to the hardware store!  I miss Eagle… but I’m beginning to like Lowe’s better.  At first, the little local hardware store called it Less Of What Eagle Sold… nyet, nyet, nyet. L-O-W-E-S.  Guess they were a tad intimidated by the new big boy in town.  Our little hardware store is still one of my favourite places to go, though!  They have lots of hard to find things for old houses.

July 8, 2003  As if this day of visiting wasn’t enough… I was just catching up on some news… Crown Financial Ministries’ Larry Burkett  has passed into glory.

Friends sent a card with the sweetest return address label—a family lined up and their address underneath.  So, I did a little looking and discovered the site and enjoyed looking at all the labels this company offers.  They don’t have ‘large’ family labels… ‘guess you could order a few sets of them or make a special request…or just make up some of your own on the computer!!

Our friends stopped by this evening to bring us some: CHERRIES!  We suggested that they take them to some other friend’s and surprise THEM!  So, they will… but they first stayed for tea and a visit.  She’s the one I keep Stash Licorice Tea on hand for… (No one here likes it ;-( but she sure does and likes it that we have it here for her!!)

Well… many of the cherries are canned now, and with much thanks to our Norpro cherry stoner!!  I’m wondering what in the world was I doing with the hand-killer-metal-looped-“punch”-pitter I’ve been using for over 20 years! Pitting and filling the jars was a breeze with the stoner.  One thing, though, it sort of leaves specks of cherry juice in its vicinity! But I don’t care! It’s speedy and so neat to use!  I was glad I had on an apron!!  Then I was glad for that Ready Mop!! (Uh, no, I’m not a rep!)

Make a cherry pie to freeze  or try this recipe:
My Cheery Cherry Pie
1 recipe(9 inch) double crust pie
5 cups fresh cherries; pitted
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/8  teaspoon *each*  cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons butter
Line a 9-inch pie pan with pastry. Combine cherries, lemon juice, sugar, flour, salt, spices and almond extract. Pour into unbaked pie shell, and dot with the butter. Cover with top crust, and seal edges. I like to poke an outline of a heart in the center to allow the steam to escape during baking.  Sprinkle with milk and sprinkle with sugar (about a tablespoon or two). ***Bake at 400º about an hour or until done. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream. ***To freeze, omit the baking step, wrap well and freeze.  When you’re ready to serve it, bake frozen pie at 400ºF  1 hour and 10 minutes or until done.

July 7, 2003
A friend stopped by to bring Kathryn a gift this morning.  What a blessing the visit was.  Her gift is so pretty.  You might make one and give to someone… and it is this: take a pretty teacup & saucer and make a bouquet of flowers in the cup.  The cup & flowers match K’s room and will look so pretty there.
Another friend stopped in to visit and we sure had a good time catching up on old times, and most importantly, we got to meet and hold her new baby.  O, what a blessing this baby is to her and her husband.  After many years, many tears, three losses, the LORD blessed them with this little one.

Now I’m on my way to pick up cases of cherries to can! Our daughters will help with the canning and we hope to get them all done tonight and tomorrow… but we’ll be sure and save out a box for snacking, though!!

I got an interesting email this morning telling of a man who is walking from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Washington, D.C. to: Raise awareness of alcohol-related illnesses and tragedies and to raise money for MADD and the Betty Ford Center and to create a scrapbook of persons adversely affected by alcohol. You can read a web log of the journey.  It’s interesting and there are beautiful. 

Again, as with other sites to which I refer you, many times the sites are not “Christian” but I’d *never* intentionally send you to a site that would be offensive—but I could never be sure of all *their* recommended or linked sites—so don’t wander around!!  Just beware when traveling the net—beware and be in prayer.  I always think it’s the greatest tool for good while streaming alongside the most damaging pipeline of sewage and carnage being pumped into homes all over the world.  Think I’m adamantly opposed to pornography?  Absolutely.

Our daughter in law built a workbench for his garage for his Father’s Day present—yes, she’s amazing!  She bought the plans for the bench—did all the work, which included dove tailed drawers and several other intricate features, and surprised him.  So when I talked with her about dad needing to make a cabinet for our kitchen (as opposed to buying a manufactured one) she suggested I just look for plans and so I’ve been looking around and came across a great site for woodworking projects for the kitchen.

July 6, 2003 This is the day which the LORD hath made;
we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalms 118.24

July 5, 2003
Every wise woman buildeth her house; but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands. Proverbs 14.1

We celebrated Independence Day two different places yesterday… Our friends always have a huge 4th of July party—BBQing, presentations, Root beer floats, fireworks and S’mores by the fire in the later evening  (We sadly 🙁 had to  miss a few of these things this year because of having to leave early).  We then spent the rest of the evening at our son & daughter-in-law’s home.  The had friends in from their church, BBQ, S’mores and volleyball.  Our daughter-in-law carved a watermelon whale…and filled the hollowed out melon with different types of fruit & melon balls.  [by the way… we were looking at that site and thought it would be neat to do a baby carriage for a shower sometime]

I just completed the registration form for the National Do Not Call Registry.  It took about ten minutes to complete the process of registering by entering the phone numbers on which we do not wish to receive solicitors’ calls.  It’ll take about three months before we’ll see a notable reduction in calls… the downside is that placing your number on the National Do Not Call Registry will stop most, but not all, telemarketing calls. You may still receive calls from political organizations, charities, telephone surveyors or companies with which you have an existing business relationship.

We have so many projects to work on around our home.  For years we’ve needed  to work on cabinets, walls, flooring, etc.  I noticed a neat site that shows step by step instructions and demos on how to do just about anything.  What I was looking at was flooring.

July 4, 2003 
May Americans turn to the LORD God as we celebrate Independence Day.  We thank the LORD for the privilege of living in America, and are grateful to the men and women who’ve laid down their lives in defense of freedom and offer thanks to their loved ones.
Independence Day… whatever happened to the signers of this document?
America the Beautiful  May God shed His grace on thee.
Another beautiful card to see… from sea to shining sea.

July 3, 2003I was sent an email with a link to Lady Liberty (which didn’t work) and so I typed it into Google… saw a bunch of links and came across this one dedicated to America.  It really is amazingly filled with articles and links… and a situation where someone is ‘threatening’ them (because of ‘copyright’ infringement) and so apparently the Lady Liberty story there has been removed.  It just shows what a terribly brash and arrogant world we live in today.  These people (site-owners) seem gracious and not wanting to cause any trouble.  Anyway… I continued searching and I think this is the Lady Liberty the email referenced—though it’s not the same link.

Oh, mothers… it’s a pretty tough go sometimes.  Some days are twice as long as we can bear the work and others are twice as short as we need to complete the work.  There really is no ‘getting back to normal’ and there’s no day coming soon when it’ll all be easy.  Every day’s a new normal and everyday is the last day it’ll ever be like that again and every tomorrow will be different than today and will be harder in some ways and easier in others.  One thing I know for sure… it’s all over real fast… and when little boys grow up, it’s so over.  One time I wrote Why am I a Mommy? to encourage mama’s of boys.  Oh it’s a pretty incredible experience to be given the gift of motherhood; and some days we just feel like nothing goes right and we “can’t do it” —however—like my friend just said, we can’t do it—but He can—and *will* as we trust and obey.

July 2, 2003 I was looking on the net today for ideas for Friday (4th of July) so I saw some “Patriotic” Desserts, and some more 4th of July ideas and so I just might make and take this Dilled-Artichoke potato salad to one picnic and then I’m sort of thinking of this Red, White and Blue Pie or Fruit Pizza (I sort of make a loose version of my sister-in-law Katherine’s Fruit Pizazz recipe) to take to our son & daughter in law’s in the evening.  To add to the celebratory mood of Independence Day,  I bought some little flags at the grocery store and some 4″ pots of petunias in red, white and blue (well, deep violet—it’s close!) and I planted them in some planters that already have ivy growing in them—looks nice.  Oh working in the garden… Weeds.  Sin.  Weeds. So I began writing a Welcome Home message…  Hopefully it’s completed this evening.  Our daughter is BBQ-ing tonight—something we’re doing a lot lately… thought this Honey-barbecued Chicken looked good and so will try it next time.  All this food is tempting… but I’m attempting to hold fast to my “no white food” deal till I lose this weight!

July 1, 2003  Twenty four years ago today our first child was born.  I had no idea that day what the doctor meant when he handed me my son and said… it’s time to start letting go of him right now.  Silly, I thought that was… he was just born!  I understand those words of wisdom today.

These are the longest [daylight] days of the year and here in the Northwest it means that even at 10pm the sky is light.  These are also the longest work days of the year for my husband (and sons).  There are some days that it seems he’s gone sun-up to sun-down.  We’re grateful to the LORD for lots of work this time of year; because of the seasonal nature of his business, winters are slow!  I need to work on his webpage… it sort of looks outdated and there are still too many “under construction!” pages.

We got a call from the library today and they said there had been a  reporter there asking about the ill-effects [on patrons] due to the closing of the old and the opening of the new library.  She then went on to share that she told the reporter that she *did* know a family in particular who’d probably been discouraged to not be able to use the library… yes… it was ours.  Our daughter talked at length with the reporter, and she thought she was quite nice.

The Welcome Home Blog for June 2003

June 30, 2003  The final day of June!  Amazingly the year is half over—already!!  Days are long and weeks fly by!!!
We’re looking at school sites today… looking for printable worksheets and we came across another valuable site for these.  It’s a secular site, so not all the subjects/subject areas will be pertinent to us. I’m sure it’s an invaluable site for teachers… hence the name: Sites for Teachers.  We are trying to get lots more schooling in during these days so that when we have ‘vacation days’ we can just totally relax knowing that we’ve attempted to do our best all the other days.  We find that schooling year around is best for our family because of all the different things we like to do year ’round.  We like to take drives, do canning, gardening, some go to work to with Daddy, some do sewing projects, computer projects, etc…  We try to learn new things everyday. Our biggest challenge lately is waiting for the new library to open!  It’s going to be a wonderful new library when it’s fully completed!  It seems that normally, most everyday our children reserve books online and we run over and pick them up.

June 27, 2003  Today’s been sort of a strange day!  All the things I intended to do haven’t gotten done yet and other things have!  I type the bulletin for our church and so I was gathering a few new fonts.  Our friends have a new baby boy so I had to find a special new font to announce this terrific news!!  (Psst: Luke Joshua was born to J & K this morning!  Now the Camp summer schedule’s complete!—and in talking to her this evening, she was rejoicing at the goodness of the LORD on her behalf!)

I went to the cleaners to pick up the shirts—yes, I know, I know—I could have ironed them all myself (and I really do like to iron!) but I can’t express to you how pleased I am to have this job totally out of the way.  Now, all I really need to do is press my husband’s daily work shirts and the closet job will be finished.  I used to have a rule that nothing was hung in the closet that wasn’t ready to wear! Ha——–I’d have a permanent avalanche in the ironing basket were that still the case today!  However!—I still attempt to hold to that rule!  Okay now—there was a point to the telling of the trip to the cleaners. I’d made a couple of stops and while pulling into the parking space at the cleaners, I ran over a sharp object (however—I did not know this!!) and when I got out of the van, I heard this terrific loud hissing sound and didn’t know where it was coming from—well, my Joey found the problem and while I called my husband—who was not working close by today 🙁 —a man asked if he could help me.  I thanked him and he quickly changed the tire! When I asked for his name and address (so that my husband could repay him) he said that’s okay… you’ll do something nice for someone else some day. I told him that the LORD always takes care of us, to which he replied, “and He does a good job of it, too.”  His name is Ed and I’m thankful he’d just taken a bike ride with his son and was there.  (I was equally glad that I had a spare tire that still had most of the air in it! and that the new heavy-duty jack and tools were in the back of the van.  I said “most of the air” because I heard some of it being released a few days ago… by the same boy who heard where the hissing was coming from today

My girls and I like to look at pretty things on the web… so today was wedding dresses and wedding… stuff   Oh… the petty things and more pretty things for the hope chest.  I know it seems we’re going overboard here.

You know it’s inspired by our precious Hope Chest book!  I tell you, you need to order this book—it’s the best—I needed this inspiration years ago!  I need so much to do more special things for our daughters.  This has inspired my mom to make some things for Kathryn… my mom does the prettiest and most precise embroidery!  Also, do you know that there are many things young men can do to prepare for marriage.  I know it sounds strange for a man to have a hope chest—but the ideas and suggestions in this book are wonderful.

Still reading in Acts (14) for our Bible study.  What boldness!  You know the thing that’s most impressive is the attitude of Paul and Barnabas—we tend to get so offended or touchy when people reject the message of the cross or the works of Jesus—but we have examples of literally near death experiences leading Paul and Barnabas to and prompting them to rejoicing and boldness of speech!

June 26, 2003   I received a nice letter from the owners of a Christian gift site.  My absolute favourite is the beautiful rose bouquet I think you’ll love it, too! O, the variegated pink-creme roses!  It was nice of them to write so I wanted y’all to know about their site and family biz.   Support brothers and sisters in business and ministry!

Received another nice letter from a woman who writes from time to time and is such a blessing to me.  Isn’t it interesting that we’ve got sisters all over the world that we’ll likely never meet this side of heaven who are such an inspiration to us when we hear from them or see their name on an e-list or something.  Well, Ruth wrote and encouraged me keep up my motivation for cleaning/organizing and to head for another room in the home! …and you know what?  I’ll do it.  I’m so inspired to keep cleaning and ordering things up! 

Joann Fabrics has some really neat specials—and great summer ideas!  It may not seem like the best time to be inside crafting or sewing but if you’re in the Northwest or another part of the world where summers aren’t always hot and sunny, it’s fun to have rainy day projects at the ready—you never know around here—warm and sunny one day, cold and rainy the next!

Part of my weight loss plan includes a loose Atkin’s Diet. I say ‘loose’ because I’m not totally no/low carbs… but I’m really seeking to avoid most all white food. I’m not totally sold on the now bread (I’m talking wholewheat) because of the known advantages there.  I just know I’ve needed a jolt to my system/habits.  Seems all foods are my favourites, but to my shame, I like many mochas and many shortbread cookies. I’m a carbohydrate addict.  Sounds like an AA meeting, doesn’t it; Hello, my name is pamela and I’m a carbohydrate addict.  Ugh.  Well, my attempt to lose weight is sincere—but more than that, I do desire to just not eat whatever I want whenever I want—I desire that as with other areas of life, I’ll do things in order and moderation!  So, for now, to train myself I really like my lunches of Atkins Advantage bars and Apple-cinnamon Tea!

My mom sends me lots of links over the course of a week.  Since she knows that I am trying to learn all I can about gardening, she sends me links for plants and gardening.  The thing I need to always remember is that the weeding must be done regularly… that’s my downfall—I weed the garden like crazy one day and then don’t weed for a week and the pesky critters have doubled it seems!  So… weeding! Onward!

June 25, 2003  No Internet yesterday… what a sad time! 😉  O, what would we do, what would we do???

I just finished the task of cleaning our bedroom and reordering it… since we share our room with our littlest child, it’s necessary to be ordered or it all gets chaotic rather quickly!  However, I like for it to be a romantic place so the dilemma has been to make it be both a nursery and a sweet sanctuary for rest at the same time.  I love doing this and this way I don’t resent having the little one’s share the space. I just had one of my boys get Kathryn’s baby-bed down from the shop so baby can still ‘fit’ in our room (we were just given a very nice toddler bed that is quite a bit longer that another *delighted* little one will use upstairs).  Attic bedrooms in an old farmhouse don’t lend themselves to much ‘space-making’ as the rooms themselves were the original space-making effort in this home. Little closet space and low ceilings prevent much storage or vertical wall space… but we always seek ways to make things work—and work better.

What a wonderful feeling to have that closet cleaned!  It isn’t cleaned to perfection as in not a single thing there that ought not be there… but totally clean and reordered with all the clothes ordered up, the shelves ordered and the no longer need/like/wear/fits stuff all cleaned out.  Now… the rest of the story: I put into a Rubbermaid bin all the sweet keepsakes, memorabilia, pictures, etc.!  Then I boxed up all the baby clothes and the maternity clothes. 🙁   For the first time in nearly 25 years…the need for maternity clothes seems to have come to an end.  So, I need not tell you that it was a bittersweet day.  Hand prints of my [24 year old (next week)] baby… pictures done by nearly all the children… baby clothes… photographs and birthday cards… teeth and hair clippings… lots of newspapers.  I save newspapers from special days in their lives, in history, or articles of significance to me or to my husband.   I sat on the floor of the closet today…tearfully reading the account of our precious midwife who died nearly seven years ago.  What a wonderful and fitting tribute that article was in the Herald newspaper .  I don’t really remember reading it—though I’m sure I did pour over it at the time at the time.  What a blessing it is today to be a saver-of-quite-a-lot. That will be my new title ~wink&smile~

Kathryn is getting around amazingly well in her wheel chair—I forgot all she did after her last surgery—she amazes me!  Since she can’t do a lot of other things, she’s really been doing an incredible amount of school work!  She’ll finish up this next year with the Far Above Rubies program.  I sure do like the program and the coverage.  We just wish we’d started several years ago so that she could have done every lesson/unit/suggestion earning credits in this remarkable program. Hannah will begin using it in the fall and Samuel will join Timothy in doing Blessed Is The Man—program which is comparable and they’ll share many of the same texts/textbooks/materials and will have many other activities that will be gender appropriate (as you can tell, we’re old-fashioned about men’s & women’s roles).  I’ve sure come to believe that young men really ought to have all their formal education done before age 16 and then move on to their vocational studies (if they’ve not already begun them well before age 16).  Boys becoming men need to be busy, hard at work and focused… and Mama can’t be the leader… Dad needs to be the leader, here—    yes, that’s in-my-not-so-humble-opinion….saver-of-quite-a-lot

June 24, 2003   I am finally cleaning our clothes/storage closet!  This is a major undertaking bcz of all the sweet memorabilia from all the years of raising up the children.  My inclination is to save everything…but this penchant has collided with reality and consequently, so I’ve had to face the truth that I mustn’t save EVERYthing.  So I am eliminating what I can and ordering (for now) into boxes and will decide at another time what I can actually part with—So… order, that’s the attempt, that’s the goal—it always is!  There’s so much help if you want it… there’re so many sites that will help you clean, order, organize… I haven’t listed them because several I perused had links or some wording that would be/might be offensive so I stopped my search.

Sometimes I sign up for recipes to be sent to my inbox each week.  Generally I don’t subscribe for very long but some I continue to enjoy.  One I just signed up for is the Lipton recipe newsletter —not necessarily for the Lipton products, but sort of like how I use (the magazines) Taste of Home or Quick Cooking, I really like the suggestions and so I just take a look around my kitchen to see what I might have that would make that or a comparable dish.

O, just last night I took a little browse through the Toys for a Lifetime site. It’s just filled with all types of toys and puzzles and music boxes and more… all the things I wish we’d invested in when we were a young family.  There are so many things I’ve learned along the way that I so wish were part of the foundation or fabric of our family.  Many things we didn’t learn until recent years… many things we’ve yet to learn or begin to understand.

Here in the Snohomish valley, there are so many farms, cottonwood trees—lots of trees, really and grasses, etc., and my o my, what havoc with allergies.  We’ve tried Claritin, and didn’t fare so well with Allegra and today I was looking at Alavert but it seems much like Allegra.  One of my boys really has a time with allergies and a few of us are bothered by the cottonwood and grasses this time of year.  I think this is the first week I’m not feeling like my brain itches!

June 23, 2003   My husband sent me a note of love with this link… and I clicked and clicked and clicked… reading all the things he thought for me which were all the things I thought for him.  I didn’t/couldn’t read all 2700 of them (nor did he) —but the specific links he sent me were the sweetest thoughts.  Ever wonder what to do while you’re sitting at your desk with the phone on hold or waiting to hear from someone?  You could click on ‘one liners’ these are about love and you could click to read hundreds of new thought on love or many other things… all from a site dedicated to —I guess, web apnea!  You could even *play hangman and from what little I saw, the *scrabble is pretty tough sometimes!!

Oh, an speaking of games, our son is in computers-networking-etc., and one of his clients was Cranium and so he got us a *Cranium game which the children love to play!  It’s actually been a fun game for the teens to play when friends come over. And for Joey’s birthday, a couple of weeks ago, he got the *Cadoo game. Anyway… there are some online games you can play.
*Remember, I’m just providing a note of caution—these are not specifically designed to be “Christian” games.

We’ve been doing online IQ tests the last few days.  Really interesting to see how you rank… try it,  you’ll do better than you think!

For Sunday, June 22, 2003 
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is;
but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
—Hebrews 10:25
June 21, 2003
I hold in my hands a treasure—really!  I just received my copy of the book The Hope Chest: A Legacy of Love  by Rebekah Wilson.  I so look forward to reading and re-reading this book… which is already so precious to me.  The woman who wrote it has an incredible story and website which you can enjoy, too.  This book is just such a treasured gift in that it thoroughly explains so many facets of the Hope Chest, the origins or traditions of items for the hope chest. It is the inspiration I’ve needed to begin collecting items for the hope chest we’re giving our daughter.  I’m learning through this book that there are many treasures that should go into a hope chest that would largely be overlooked… things like music, childhood toys or clothing, scrapbook and pictures… see, I would have been “forward thinking” rather than “backward thinking” as I prepare things for the hope chest.  That’s why I say Rebekah has opened my eyes—there is so much more to the future than my narrow vision saw… part of my daughter’s future is all of her past.  I know that… I knew that… but I never thought that it all belongs in the hope chest. I so wish I’d been gathering things along the way for my precious oldest daughter… but I’m firmly deciding to do what I can from here and to use this as a prompting to work on treasures for the other daughters as I seek to bless the oldest. So… my sincere thanks to the LORD and to Rebekah.
 
I must go prepare some things to bring to the pot-bless at church tomorrow.  Now, the reason it’s called pot-bless is because there is no place for “luck” in the life of a believer.  Isn’t it so easy to just say, “good luck!” to some one?  But really, we must change that thinking to: God Bless you…. or some such meaning.  Anyway… we’ve been laughing around here that the other reason we want it to be pot-bless is because of the number of times we’ve tasted pot-curse!  And that’s absolutely NOT what we want to prepare and bring to the party tomorrow!!  😉
      We went to our friend’s home last evening for the »«yellow ribbon»«  tying party!  This morning her husband will return home to see his entire yard decorated with hundreds of yellow ribbon tied on all the bushes, shrubs, trees, posts, fences, etc. A friend even painted a huge yellow ribbon on the large white garage door making it look like a large package fills the opening to the garage!  As we were talking, many were commenting on the origin of the yellow ribbon. 

I just received my CBD catalog and it’s filled with amazing discounted prices on books we’ve been thinking of buying.  On another site…I don’t know if the books are at a “phenomenally low price” but there may be a book or twenty you’ve been searching for.  Anyway, take a look at the list of Reformed and conservative evangelical Christian books from some pastors’ libraries.
June 20, 2003 Our friend’s finally coming home from spending 7 months in Kuwait/Iraq. We praise the LORD and thank him and the others who have served or are serving to preserve our freedom! At first I thought it was so…. so something… what?… that everyone was saying “We’ll never forget…” and yet, in a large measure, we’ve forgotten a lot of the pain and tragedy of September 11th. But the servicemen, the families… never forget and our friend’s absence has been a daily reminder of the heinous terrorist tragedy that began that day. I just read this quote: “It’s the soldier  not the poet who gives you the freedom of speech.” So, I’m thankful for the men who died… served.. and are serving today for the freedom we love as Americans. So we’re having a yellow-ribbon tying party!!

Another dreary day… so I am going to do some fun things around the house day… fun laundry, fun cupboard and closet cleaning and fun colouring pages for our little ones and some more for our older little ones!
Even though it’s raining and he’s somehow hurt his foot (!) my husband is trying to get some pools done… this time of year, the customers really want their pools done before the 4th of July!  He resurfaces pools… with different liners, coping stone, etc.  Oh, I know… I DO need for fix up the website.  It needs some pizzazz!
Guess I’ll have to set the blog aside 😉  for a day or two and get his pages fixed up!

O, here’s something I’ve been thinking about that I thought: I have to share it with you!  We have a friend who was traveling last fall and while using the ladies room at a rest stop, she’d hung her purse on the hook on the back of the door and suddenly seemingly out of nowhere a person reached over the top of the stall and grabbed her purse.  She instantly screamed and the would-be-thief dropped the purse and fled.  So I was reminded of this last night as I began to hang my purse on the hook on the back of the door at a restaurant—even though there were no other patrons present—I decided to be cautious.  There are so many ways we ladies must beware or guard against personal attacks or acts of violence—this warning is not to incite fear—just caution—remember we are to “be not afraid with any amazement” [[ 1Peter 3.6 Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.”]] so we live in the Fear of the LORD!  In Him is our safety, He is our shield and buckler.

Well, I really must go… I’ve just been informed that my son is outside sipping on a puddle… yes, with a straw.

June 19, 2003 Continuing our study in Acts today.  Still in chapter 13—I say still, because of how long it sometimes takes us to study through a book.   But, I was just thinking… there is nothing better to be ‘still’ doing than reading and studying the Word.  I cannot tell you how grateful I am for the husband I have—his discipline, diligence and dedication are inspirational to me.  His tenacity carries me—and I know it.  I’m humbled by the blessing he is.  Oh, it’s such a dreary looking day to me outside!  My friend loves these days because she loves all the shade of gray and white… So, I often try to see God’s handiwork of gray and white.
I did some touch up painting yesterday and will complete it (or at least attempt to) today!  I’m not as pleased with the Valspar paint as I am with the Columbia Masterpiecepaint.  It’s thin and Masterpiece paint isn’t so. I decided to paint our dining room wainscoting and china rail/cabinets a few years ago because they were soooo dark —you know that nearly black stain that was popular a hundred (literally) years ago!  Well… I’m extremely sensitive to “low-light” so I just has to do something about the walls in the dining room and living room. I need to paint the ceiling—but that’s going to be a project for another day.

I had a call from the Doctor about Naomi’s (ear/partial deafness) and he suggested we go to Children’s in Seattle.  I am looking forward to helping her—or rather seeing her receive help.  In the meantime, I’m waiting to talk to the audiologist to see what she suggests. Lots of waiting these days…
We just received the beautiful invitation to the August wedding I was talking about the other day.  They are so happy and are so looking forward to marriage! They’re registered at the wedding channel—there’s a neat feature for the bride and groom to set up a registry or a wedding website!

We rejoice with friends who just got fixed!  Yep… as private as that is, I want to share that there is help and restoration if a couple has broken God’s design for a man and there’s a doctor who’s being used of the LORD to restore a man through the reversal process.  We’ve heard great things about Dr. Leverett in Texas.  No matter the future outcome (children or no) they desire to give back to God His rightful place of opening and closing the womb and not preventing the possibility future blessings as it depends on them. 

June 18, 2003 Our farmhouse is surrounded by a field (hay) and from my kitchen window I see the runway of Harvey Air Field which provides an interesting year round view!  The field there looks like it’s just been plowed.  Right now it is tall… and I’m allergic to the grass I think!  (Claritin doesn’t help!!)   In our area, this is the busiest time of year with all the small planes taking off & landing, plus all the skydivers and hot-air balloons which we love watching from our yard—Sometimes I sort of feel sorry for the honeymooners or lovers celebrating special events who are sort of held hostage over our yard/home until they get enough lift to drift up and away.  Our children love to call to the people and wave to them over and over (waves and conversation the people always feel obligated to return!).  If it’s a particularly beautiful balloon, I like to take pictures looking straight up into the balloon above the basket. In addition to all that goes on at the airfield, traffic really becomes almost a nightmare as many people like to come to town to look at/for antiques or just to drive around the old town to see the buildings and old houses. In a month we’ll have our annual KlaHaYa Days backyard BBQ party.  This is a special time to visit old (and new) friends and share in the fun of watching the skydivers and hotair balloons. O, and there’s always some pretty good foods to share! 😉     O, that’s right—the DIET!  :-p

June 17, 2003  Today’s my mama’s birthday and so we had a sweet tea party for her at noon.  We didn’t do a tea like the one we did last year, as we sort of celebrated on Sunday.  In Bible study, reading through Acts sure has made me reconsider some more of the things we do by rote or tradition.  More on this another day.

I’m not sure if there’ll ever be books more precious to me than my new Karla Dornacher books, but I was just looking through Sandy’s tea site and she has a pretty book on teas and tea parties.  Just looking through her site alone will inspire you to do a tea or to invite someone in for a visit over a cup of tea.

Last night my husband bought me a scale!  Now, I’m not exactly thrilled and he did tell me that he was only trying to help me as I have been so discouraged about not losing much weight after the last baby who will be two at the end of the month!  This is no longer post partum weight or pregnancy weight—this is just plain overweight.  So he bought a
tanita scale and we brought it home… and got a rude awakening.  So, needless to say, I need to get serious about losing this extra 20 pounds which seems impossible to me today!  I did find some interesting sites to help me, maybe they’ll help you, too.  Oh, to learn to avoid tasting treats or breads in order to get back to my ‘ideal’ weight. I do still love my husband even though he bought me that hateful scale.  I was thankful it wasn’t equipped with an audio broadcast system which might have said, “One at a time, please!”

I just love our Ready Mop–in the just the short time I’ve had it, I’ve needed it so many times.  I’ve been a bit concerned about the expense of the pads so I’m considering some ideas to create my own washable pads.  I saw the sh-mop and after seeing the sh-mop, I decided that I just might sew some terrycloth covers for the Ready-Mop.  However, the instant cleaner and toss away pad has sure been convenient.  The other night while we had company in, I needed to quickly mop the kitchen floor after a spill.  The mop was hanging right by the back door all ready to go—thus the name: Ready Mop!

What a sweet and encouraging homemaking site I visited this morning—I received the nicest letter from Terri so I thought I’d share with you her neat site.  The home-schooling links are sure great—I love the Moore’s style of teaching children at home, so the philosophy of the owner of the site is so much like ours from what I can tell so far.
June 16, 2003 I think everyone should have a garden. Really. A garden in the yard, a garden on the patio, porch, kitchen window… somewhere, anywhere possible.  There’s something incredible about walking around the yard looking at flowering shrubs or roses or vegetables coming up in the garden. The garden is a wonderful place to have your devotions in the spring and summer.  But you know, I’m trying to write a WelcomeHome message about the garden because of weeds!  Weeds are like sin—yes, they’re mean and naughty as sin, but that’s not what I’m referring to here.  What I was thinking again this morning as I was walking through the garden is how many copy-cats there are.  Sin is a mocker.  Weeds are mockers.  They, like sin, look a lot like something sweet or good, but they’re a deception.  Our pole beans are coming along nicely and so are the copy-cat weeds… they are climbing right alongside with their copy-cat curly ends.  We like to plant  (and cook!) pole beans and we use some fencing material for the ‘trellis’ that they climb up. The squash are coming along and so are the weeds that look just like squash leaves.  You know that’s just how sin is… some things just seem so fine… *seem* like very little difference in appropriateness and yet, you know one thing is true and right and the alternative is not!  There are enough sweet things in the garden of life… the LORD has provided.  We have no need to look elsewhere!  Today  I was happily surprised to see the huge number of raspberries we’ll have this year!  So I looked for recipes and found lots of new ideas and recipes… actually lots and lots of them!!

I came in the other night—my husband & sons were looking at the computer… laughing until they were nearly crying!  So…here’s what had all the boys in hysterics!  The site is Despair.com and is not a “Christian site” and as such, the humor may not appeal to everyone.  Hope it’s not offensive to you.  It reminded me of how a friend of ours used to have a very large sign on top of his van which read: Work Hard – Millions on Welfare are Depending on You.  O, I always wondered if someone would take offence and attempt to hurt him because of the sign—none did, I guess.

I’ve been thinking of Father’s Day some more and the awesome responsibility husband’s and father’s have in guarding and guiding the family & home.  Then I got to thinking of how many ways we wives make the job difficult—even impossible with our expectations and  :-s  demands.  I am again reminded to meditate on the verse: Every wise woman…
I need to go  p-a-i-n-t!!

June 15, 2003  It’s Father’s Day! It’s been a sweet time here as we had a BBQ lunch and special time of visiting with family.  I’d gotten walkie talkies and a few other things for my husband which pleased him very much.  We celebrated Father’s Day and a couple of birthdays. Lingering sadness in the back of my mind were the bittersweet memories of my father and father-in-law who passed into heaven just three and a half years ago.  I’ll always miss them and I’ll always remember the sweet times. More tomorrow… I’m shot.

June 14, 2003  My husband bought  me another book by  Karla Dornacher!  This one is called The Blessing of Friendship.  O, it’s the most precious book and made me think of things about my special friends that I had forgotten or hadn’t thought about in a long while.   He’s always doing so many nice things for me.  And as tomorrow is Father’s Day, I am trying to think of new things to do to be a blessing to him. 

I sent out a Welcome Home message—the first in a long while.  It been so hard for me to send out messages because I feel so inadequate so much of the time and an recent confrontation really made me take a look at myself and confess insensitivity as sin and set about to be receptive to correction so that I’ll be fully yielded to Christ.  It is so difficult to accept criticism and willingly look in the mirror and determine to practice or live out what the Word instructs us to even when we feel so unable, so inferior—but it’s not inferior, really, it’s pride.  We don’t want people to think badly of us—we don’t want to be people whose actions cause others to have a negative reaction, rather we want others to think the best of us.  I have a great deal of respect for my friends and so I guess that’s why it’s so grievous to me to have been a disappointment.  Okay… enough already.

Sometimes I say,  LORD, stop blessing me so much!  Yesterday we had a surprise visit by some old friends… what a blessing old friends are!  We have a lot of history, lots of  treasured experiences and sweet memories between us.  Well… you can imagine the delight in seeing their car roll in the driveway—and then hearing  the news of their daughter’s upcoming wedding in August!  O,  this little girl—this capable woman—what an amazing transformation from a shy little one to a soon-to-be-bride!

I think the neatest part of the day was Kathryn’s post-op visit to the Doc.  He removed her partial cast and dressings revealing what we’ve prayed for for many years: now two straight feet. It was incredible to behold that sight.  Then Dr. Chesnutis put up the new x-rays of the right foot and  the corrected left foot and they looked identical.  Additionally, when he did an overlay of the two corrected feet, there was no visible difference.

June 13, 2003 Today is my Joey’s birthday.  He’s my most favourite child… I have 10 other most favourite children and two most favourite grandchildren. 😉  Anyway, this boy is charming and he makes me smile. A lot.
O, my… this boy was such a large baby at birth, weighing 11.4# and 24″ long.  O, that was some home birth–but what a most precious time that was… those early days are my very favourite times… I just drink in newborns, their sweet faces and those eyes… those precious eyes that seem to look right through me.  O, those days lying in bed holding the newborn and crying over the grace and goodness of the LORD. There’s something almost intoxicating about those times.  I feel a sort of melancholy sadness today as I recall the midwife who was such a gift to our family… she had such a way with babies, such an intuitive way in birth… we were continually amazed at her skill.  So, today I celebrate the birth of that day, and fondly remember Wendy, who passed into heaven, into the waiting arms of the LORD Jesus, seven years ago August 5th.

Tomorrow—Saturday—is Flag Day… You know it’s Flag Day, don’t you?  Actually, Flag Birthday.  The flag has an interesting history!  I want to Teach the children about the US flag!
And Father’s day is this Sunday—yes, ALREADY!!  I have some ideas for Father’s Day… maybe I’ll even re-send them in a Welcome Home message today!

 June 12, 2003 The morning of our daughter’s first day post op… so difficult, these early days after foot surgery.  We’ve found many helpful ideas and solutions from dilemmas we faced last time. The LORD is so merciful to guide us along, bringing things to remembrance.  Putting a bed in the living room was the best idea last time and we almost didn’t do it this time… but at the last minute decided to call the older children from the hospital to ask them to set it up and our son said, “no problem… the beautification committee will get right on it!” (and they did!!)  Kathryn will be in a wheelchair or on crutches for eight weeks… so I’ve thought about looking for new crutches since the ones she used previously were sometimes painful to use.  There sure are some interesting looking styles of crutches so I’ll be looking around.

Oh, by the way… you know it seem nuts, but I’m continually in search of the GREAT MOP!  So, I (he$itantly, at fir$t) purcha$ed the Clorox Ready Mop  and what a neat new deal! (For now, totally worth the dollar$ $pent!!)  It’s along the same line as my ‘make-shift’ system of attaching a cloth to an old wax mop—but with this method, the cloth continually slipped off. This was an improvement to hands ‘n knees mopping.  I thought of sewing elastic bands to the cloth to slip it over the edge of the mop-head… but never did that job!  So this one’s pretty terrific.  We bought ours at Costco so I’m sure the price we paid is le$$ than might be seen elsewhere.  With the mop hanging there, ‘cloth’ in place, cleaner in place: totally ready to use: mopping has been FUN! Really!  It just may be the PERFECT mop!!

So many needs out there… Women dealing with health issues, sick parents, wayward children. “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, an His ears are open to their cry.” (Psalm 34.15)  Pray for the needs of families, for those and their loved ones who’ve gone astray— suffering from the consequences of sin and rebellion.  The Word is true: the mother of a fool hath no joy (in that).  So difficult to watch the foolish choices destroy the life and yet the fool rages confidently.

By the way, there are lots of types of bunion surgeries… maybe you have a problem like some shown here… some pictures are not for the squeamish!

June 10-11, 2003 Last night we shared a barbecue dinner with a few friends so that our daughter could have the opportunity to visit a little and play a little volleyball before she goes for surgery this morning.  This is the same surgery she had on her left foot 3 months ago.  We feel for her as she’s ambivalent about going through with this surgery—we’re so blessed by the encouraging words and prayers of friends; the wisdom of their advice is carrying me this morning.  Seems when one falls into an ice cold lake it’s one thing, but when one *knows* about that experience, then, the jumping in the next time is the challenge—or the steepness of the climb the first time is surprising, but the next time it’s intimidating and the climb is daunting.  So… for now we hang on to the reality that she’s made this climb and can do it through the LORD who is her strength and shield.

A neat blessing was to have our friend Micah here for a visit.  It’s been over a month since the Abraham Lincoln returned to Everett so it’s been odd to not see or hear from him all this time.  We were all sure glad to see him and such timing of the LORD that we were already planning last evening with friends! I tried to be mindful that everyone wants a piece of the sailor and the sailor is running on empty and has nothing to give.  So we stayed up late talking about everything and nothing, sharing with him our year in pictures and hearing bits and snippets of his year.  One more tremendous blessing is that our friend Torchie’s husband is coming home for a brief visit this weekend!  This, after many months in Iraq—the LORD has so blessed and protected these men—we can only praise Him for His ways and His mercy.

Still don’t have complete results from Naomi’s MRI last week, so that sort of hangs in the back of my mind as Kathryn goes in today. You know, the ways of the LORD are perfect.
I am totally sold on the paint we bought for our home—and am getting used to the colour—it is such a dramatic change!  We’ve had some good suggestions for adding a third colour to the mix, so I am thinking about that.  Since the paint is such a dark blue-green colour and all the trim is white, we’re thinking of adding a dark cherry colour for some parts of the trim and doors.

One more thing… I want to share with you about a book I’m ordering.  Being blessed by the work and ministry of Nancy Campbell, I am so looking forward to this book written by her daughter—a cookbook, but it’s much more than a cookbook—  I understand it’s sort of a kitchen or home companion.  That’s what I’ve hoped and prayed our website would be for families… *that’s* why I look forward to receiving this cookbook.   To order it, you can send a check in to Above Rubies for $15.00 plus $1.80 shipping. The Above Rubies address is: ABOVE RUBIES, PO BOX 681687, FRANKLIN TN 37068-1687 ~Or~ you can go on to Above Rubies web page.

And something totally different… our son visits the Theology Web site fairly regularly—different… interesting—and I’m not just too sure what the base is (Cal. vs. Arm.)  😮

June 9, 2003 Incredible how quickly time has flown and is flying!  In Acts this morning, (this is where we are in our family Bible study) we were reading chapter 13.  In verse 2 it says: “As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.”    Separate for the work whereunto we are called.  Thinking on that, I know we all are called to a work *and* we are called to be separate.  I long to do the will and work of the Lord.

Kathryn had her “pre-op” appt. this morning.  It’s a familiar road and it sure is a lot more difficult one to travel, this.  I long to take her hurts, her challenges, to spare her the difficulties and yet I know it’s in the valley’s she’ll grow and by God’s grace and in His mercy, she needs these things, these difficulties to conform her into the image of Christ.

In painting our house, we’ve been dependent on good weather and so today I was doing some checking and looked at this weather site, Weather Underground.  So thankful for it!

June 7, 2003 If you haven’t read Colossians in awhile…  1.27:  “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you the hope of glory:”  Christ in you, the hope of glory.  The great exchange… the greatest hope… the great glory: Christ in you. Ever need to read the Word online?  I really like online Bibles/Bible commentary… but there’s nothing like the book—so living, it could fairly pick itself up off the table and walk.

A beautiful day for a Wedding today!  Sadly, as has happened on a few other occasions, there were two special events on this same day and so we needed to make that difficult decision of attending one and not the other!  It still lingers in my mind: the decision we did not make… and the reception we did not attend.  One great blessing to the choice we made was that a precious friend had made a surprise return trip home from school back east in order to be in attendance at the wedding.  What a thrill this was!

Timothy has been painting our home… what a job of scraping, priming and painting this 85 year old home.  I had a terrible time deciding to paint the house the colour I have been wanting to paint it for years—I knew what decision I wanted to make—I just didn’t want to be the one to make it!  Well, yesterday my husband took a paint sample to Columbia Paint and they had the paint ready this morning so he got it bright and early and Timothy went to work painting!  I think it’s beautiful!  It’s the most amazing paint as it requires much less paint to do a very thorough job!  It’s Columbia Masterpiece paint. The colour is pretty dark, but it’s so neat with the contrasting bright white trim all around… well, so I imagine… it’s a long way from being done. Church tomorrow… fellowship with friends and it looks like more sunshine which is just fine for us!!

June 6, 2003 Ephesians 5.33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.  That’s one of the verses we concentrated on in Titus2 this morning–that, and the topic of significance in Jesus vs. our “feelings” of “ordinariness” or insignificance.  In and of ourselves, that would be true, but in Jesus we find significance.
ASL, signing, deafness… all these things are amazingly surfacing in our life.  I am so appreciative of the letters I’ve received concerning hearing loss and solutions for communication.  We have no update on Naomi’s MRI except a preliminary assessment of the scan is that it is normal… (whatever THAT means). 😉
Kathryn will have surgery on the 11th.  This is for her right foot… the left one was done in March and she’s been out of that cast for 3 weeks. She’s my hero… and what a precious daughter she is!  This is her surgery story in pictures.

June 5, 2003Sound speech that cannot be condemned.  That’s what I am meditating on from Scripture today. (Titus 2.8) 

We got a call from the orthopædic surgeon’s office and Dr. Chesnutis will be able to operate on Kathryn’s foot  week after next!  We didn’t get a call from the otologist, or the ear doc, so we have no news regarding the results of Naomi’s MRI yesterday.  I’m sort of glad to not have to make another decision today.  You see, sometimes it seems that no news is good news and no call, for today at least, means no decision or appointment needs to be made—today.  I did, however, get the nicest email from a friend who encouraged me about the ASL.  She gave me two sites to look at  http://deafness.about.com/library/weekly/aa042798.htm   and http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/ .  So, now that’s part of the path I am going to pursue.  Since ASL or American Sign Language is a  “universal” language, I trust God’s leading for us to learn it.  In my searching, I came across a link and sure  like a sample page of a home-schooling family’s day.  I don’t know this family but am encouraged by their dedication to children at such a young age—the signing really inspired me!

Our daughter is painting… all the girls’ room. “sage shimmer” for the walls and “bright white” for the door, trim, window sills and dressers.  We have a hardware store in town that feels like an old fashioned hardware store http://mcd.doitbest.com/.  It’s the sort of store where you can run into old friends or at least see very familiar faces. That’s what I love about this old town.  We also had to go to the Library.  Sadly, it’s closing and will soon re-open in a new, much larger facility.  The old Snohomish library is a sentimental place and we’ll sure miss going there!  One of the neatest things about the library is the ability to reserve books on the net and just quickly pop in to pick them up when they’re in.

June 4, 2003   James 1.6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering… I’ve been thinking on this today.  I was praying and was amazed at how I was fretting over a situation and *stopped* and thought: LORD, I didn’t pray… I didn’t ask YOU about this.  Do you do this, too?  Amazing.  Then I think of all the many times I run ahead and don’t consult the LORD, don’t stop and seek His Face on a matter. There are so many things to bring before the LORD—Our children are such a precious gift… no decision should be made lightly and no activity is too insignificant to bring before the LORD.  There is nothing too great for Him, nothing too small for Him!

Well… this morning we took Naomi up to the hospital to have an MRI —this stands for magnetic resonance imaging—a type of x-ray. What an amazing machine—what an invention!  The strength of the magnetic field is incredible!  As I leaned near to the end of table that moves inside the ‘machine,’ the force lifted the 3 ‘bobbie-pins’ securing the bun on my head—and I wasn’t really that close to the core of the machine.  After that, I could surely see the necessity of much questioning about previous surgeries, if there were any metals present,  etc., etc.  I understand that ANYthing metal is pulled to the core.  All in all, it wasn’t frightening for her because we’d talked about it quite a bit and tried to prepare her for that and the line they’d insert in her vein to inject the dye.  I understand the most difficult thing for people to handle is the claustrophobia due to the design and size of the machine—that, and the noise!  I understand that MRI’s are superior to x-ray for detecting causes if back & joint pain—cancers, etc.   After the audiologist confirmed she is deaf in her left ear,  the MRI was to determine the extent or exact location of the hearing loss (which the doctor believes is in the cochlea or the auditory nerve).  He believes that she either was born with this or at some point in her life had some sort of virus which damaged her ear/hearing.  I’ve been going over and over in my mind about what could have caused this… but then I just go to the LORD—cannot carry this question.  As the surgeon said, it’s a matter of just going on from here because that’s all we can do.  It’s sort of like Kathryn’s feet.  There was no preventing her situation with turn out toes… but the surgery to correct them was the right decision.  So, now, we wait for the Doc to call with the  results and talk over where we go from here.  We’re also waiting for Dr. Chesnutis to call back to set Kathryn’s second foot surgery.

Since it’s another beautiful day, I’d like to go outside and water… so while the sun is warm I think I’ll get out there!

Decisions are being made in our legislature that’ll have profound effects on future Abortion laws/decisions.  Problem is, when liberals get to slicing and dicing legislation, what was a good and noble original intent becomes hardly recognizable.   And Omy, what a fix Martha is in!

June 3, 2003  James 1.5-8   If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.  But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.  For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.  A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

If you are dealing with trials you cannot bear, take them to the LORD in prayer.  He will be found by you and will hear your prayers… never let the enemy persuade you differently.

Another beautiful day here!  We took Kathryn to see the foot surgeon and to schedule surgery in the next couple of weeks.  What a thrill it is to see her foot corrected and straight!  He thought she was progressing nicely, but said that she’d have some limited mobility and perhaps some residual loss of feeling.  Any comment about the foot not looking totally normal was of no concern as she’s always had this situation with her feet and at times has felt awkward about their appearance and has dealt with tremendous foot pain.  What a blessing it is to have this doctor who has literally been used of the LORD in the process of changing her life where her feet are concerned.  We now pray that she will learn to walk straight and eventually without pain.  If you have problem feet or foot pain, there sure are solutions you can look into.  I have some links.

I went out and cut roses from the garden this morning and brought them in… the first bouquet of the year!  They smell so beautiful!  O, you really ought to plant roses if you haven’t done so already!
Now… about a book I am reading… or actually just looking through, so far: Love in Every Room by Karla Dornacher which my husband bought for me at Costco.  I decided to look her name up and voila! I found her site!  If I could paint, I’d paint pictures like the ones she paints!  They ‘feel just right’ to me!  Really… it’s sort of like how I feel about Susan Branch and her beautiful cookbooks and gifts.  I always think that if I were to ever create cookbooks, I love to create them just like hers!  You can actually write a letter using her stationery!  Really, just click and take a look!   Anyway…back to Karla D…. she’s a Christian who obviously loves the LORD Jesus and is passionate about home and family and it surely shows in her artwork and designs.

June 2, 2003   Welcome Home…
This is the first day I’ll post my journal online—thus the first web-log or “blog” to encourage you in your home… to take time for tea.

We worked outside today as it is warm and sunny (a rarity to have both on the same day!) and we got our inside chores and schoolwork done early.  You know, this morning I took the time to do something that’s been needing to be done for some time!  I ordered all the flash cards in the school boxes.  Now this may seem so trivial but when we do flashcards (math, english, words, addition, multiplication, etc., etc.) with the different aged children, there are always some in a different drawer or missing or whatever.  I use an Iris rolling carts of drawers for school supplies, one for stamping supplies, one for sewing, one for tools and crafts, etc.  I have a stack of 130 or so large flashcards that were just an eighth of an inch too wide for the drawer so I took the time to trim 1/16th of an inch off each side with my paper-cutter.  This makes them fit very nicely in the drawer.  See, all these little things help for neatness, ease of use and storage.  I am continually in the process of ‘refining’ how I do things so that each day is smoother and more pleasant here in our home.

I got the hanging planter ‘baskets’ planted and watered and just came in from hanging them on the hooks around the porch.  What a good feeling this is!  One more thing that signals summer!  You know, being from sunny, hot California and then moving to much less sunny, cooler Washington, I really do love the long warmer summer days!   I love watering the rose bushes! There are so many rosebuds, I couldn’t count them all. I prayed for God’s blessing on all our children… and as I watered the rosebush I planted for my mother-in-law, I thanked the LORD for all the ways she’s blessed my life and all she’s taught me.  I like planting things for other people in the family… They’re reminders to me… 

Kathryn is making Pizza for our dinner! Yum—yes, I know it’s not Friday… but she’s making it anyway.  (Friday is our family “party night” and she always makes pizza for it!).

One of the reasons I’ve decided to go out on a limb, so to speak, and do this blog is to have you in my kitchen when you have time for tea and to, hopefully, inspire you at home.  My friends are an inspiration to me… my mom is an inspiration to me… when they tell me of different things they’re doing, I’m inspired to press on even when I might not ‘feel’ like pressing on.  So, that’s it for today… join me… do something sweet for your family…
—ps