BACK IN TIME PART 3

It is an absolutely beautiful day in California and I think spring is finally here. We have had several days of COLD rainy weather, and I for one am glad to see the sun finally come out. Jeff and I (OK, I was actually watching from the window most of the time as it was soo cold) potted a few plants for the front porch last week-end and dug out the spring/summer wreath for the door. It's looking good. We are supposed to be getting a couple of pigmy palms planted today in our little front planter, though I have not seen them (the gardeners) yet and it is nearing 4 o'clock. Hope they are still coming. Sat. they will lay the sod and it will all be complete so I am waiting until then to take pictures. I am excited to see the final results. I took my mom to lunch today and we did a little shopping. I got just the cutest little Easter chicks and a runner for the dining room table AND some new candles. Haven't bought gear for the house in MONTHS and it was pretty fun. AGAIN, I will take some pics on Sat. when I get everything set out. Next week-end will be a busy one as my oldest son Joe and his family is moving on Sat. and we will help out. Actually, again Jeff will help out and I will entertain kids and give tips on how to set up furniture, haha. And then on Sun we will head down to San Diego for the whole day as James will give the Sunday morning message at the new church, and then Sun. evening there is to be a guest speaker at the old one...Sarah Hill. Don't know if any of you have ever heard of her. She is a missionary in Hawaii and originally from Maranatha. She was instrumental in the life of Bethany Hamilton who is the surfer girl who got her arm bitten off by a shark. There is a movie coming out about this on April 8th and Carrie Underwood is playing the part of Sarah Hill. I am excited to both hear this testimony, but also to see this movie; how I LOVE Carrie Underwood. It should be good. Melly will be here a week from tomorrow...YAY!! That is really all that is new around here. I've decided I might as well continue the story of the looking back on my life. I know you are all on the tips of your seat.


OK, let's see....I think we were ready to move to the first home my parents bought in California. It was a brand new house and in Garden Grove. I was 6 years old. I remember MANY things about this house and this time period in my life. For one, my sister Diane and I went to Catholic school. St. Polycarp. We got to ride the bus to school which I considered a GIANT bonus, haha. How old I felt. My mother taped my bus pass to the front of my lunch pail (obviously quite smart) which I just HATED. It not only covered up my flowers on the lunch pail, but it was the first time I became aware of what the "cool" kids did, and those who weren't, haha. The "cool" kids kept their passes in the front pockets of their blouse or shirt (depending of course on rather they were girls or boys) and whipped them in and out in a cool fashion upon entering the bus. How I wanted to whip mine in and out!! My mom of course told me it was ridiculous, as of course I would only lose it. As I think back on it now, WHY did they even have bus passes?? The bus driver knew who all her stops were etc.; seems kind of dumb. But anyway, I had those passes, BIG!! Going to Catholic school meant uniforms of course, but we could wear any kind of shoe we wanted. When it is ALL you've got to make yourself somewhat unique, trust me, SHOES were also big. Again, my mother went with the very practical dark brown leather Mary Janes. And those “cool" kids?? They were sporting PLAIN white tennis shoes. Now obviously, this WAS stupid, but how I longed for those white tennis shoes, haha. As I got older she did FINALLY let me get tennis shoes, but only in BLACK, lol. I remember school being VERY difficult. There was a lot of homework, and the nuns were VERY strict. I got sent to the principal’s office once in the first grade for (now get this!) talking in the girls restroom!! Can you honestly imagine? First of all I was one of MANY little girls chatting away in there, but I must have had the loudest voice, as I was singled out. It traumatized me for years....The house we lived in was small but very nice. I shared a room with my sister Diane. It had hardwood floors and we had fluffy pink throw rugs on the floor, sheer white ruffled curtains on the window, and a soft white bedspread with BIG pink roses on it. I LOVED it. Diane and I were sick A LOT in that house. We had the two weeks measles, the German measles, the mumps, Chicken pox, and various different colds and stomach flu's. And everything we got at school, we brought home to the "little ones" and my mom at home. I remember once my mom was soo sick herself (and she was pregnant again with her 5th child) that she was unable to care for all of us who were sick with one thing or another and we were all in bed. They had to hire a nurse to come in during the day for a few days to take care of us all! My poor mom...The nurse was VERY mean as I recall, and I was glad when she was gone. My mom always made such an event of it when we were sick. She would roll in the little portable black and white TV (no color ones yet) and would serve us our meals on a tray with straws for our drinks. Such pampering; you could almost enjoy it if you weren't soo sick! Good thing kids can get vaccinations for all of those things now. I'll just tell you about one more thing before I end this for today as it is getting long. Diane and I had MANY games we played. But some of the best were played after we were sent to bed. Why on earth we were soo naughty when it only brought about a harsh scolding or even spankings, I can't be sure. Maybe they were just that fun, lol. One of them was house boat. We would collect EVERY doll and every stuffed animal either of us owned, and would somehow get them all into bed with us. This usually required our dragging our little wooden bunk beds for our dolls over to the bed and tying it to the headboard with a ribbon, and several of the "older" ones would ride on this attached boat, haha. We snuck in food (usually grapes) and would then have to make sure everyone was feed. I can close my eyes and remember our conversations as we played, the jammies we had on, and the fun we had. I can also remember the crackling of the newspaper and the creak of the rocking chair which told us our dad was on the way down the hall to see what we were up to. Those were some fun days.

I have a few more stories about this house and time era, but I will continue this later. Hope you are all enjoying the beginnings of spring. 

 

TUESDAY'S THOUGHTS

I decided I would try and write a quick "update" at the happenings over here. We have been having quite the storm these last couple of days, complete with lightening, thunder, hail and LOTS of rain...pretty cold too...especially for California in March. And as gloomy and dreary as it has been I am not complaining as I know soon enough the warm weather will set in and STAY for quite a while. I have half of my front planter complete, and we should have the rest completed in the next couple of weeks. The flowers are blooming and it is looking good. I read the blog posts of my farmer's wife's friends, and some of you other gals who plant gardens etc., and feel like I know NOTHING about the earth, and planting, and gardens etc., and sometimes it makes me feel like I have missed soo much. I love reading about their happenings, and seeing their gardens in progress etc. I DO love the taste of home grown veggies, fruit, and herbs, and I know how I like my flowers and planters and things to "look", but have such little knowledge as to how to get them to look that way or how to go about "working" a garden. And I guess (as my mother pointed out ~ you can always count on your mother to be honest with you can't you?) little desire to DO the actual work either, haha. I feel like I "should" want to, but I really don't....Does anyone know what I mean? I was thinking about that the other day. How many things I want to know how to do still and wondering how I have gotten to be the age I am and don't know how. Maybe they are things that I "think" I should be doing, but really just don't have enough interest. I soo admire the people who do these things; like quilting,or painting, or knitting, or crocheting....Sooo many creative people out there. Sooo many people with MAJOR careers. Soo many who are always on some project or another. Just feels like I should have done more....Maybe I shouldn't wait for MORE interest, and just DO it. I know this is all pretty random, haha. But it is just where my head has been this morning.

We had another wonderful week-end. Guess that is what I like to do, haha. On Sat. morning we picked up my grandson Jeffie who I hadn't seen in a few weeks and I was soo missing him. We visited for a while first with my DIL and Cody and then got on our way. We went to another one of my nephews baseball games. How I enjoy this as well. My hubby and I coached a little in our day (actually he did the coaching part, I did the organizing and keeping track of who played where, the lineup, etc. part) and I actually REALLY miss it. I think I could do it to this day if I was physically able. I am not sure which part I like the best about the whole thing. The sitting outside in the warm sunshine, the smell of the snack bar (I do avoid eating the food anymore, but I used to LOVE that too, lol), the little ones and their faces as they learn the game, the pride of their parents and grandparents as they play, or even the game itself. Simple pleasure really. After the game we went over to my sister's house for a while so her son Blake and my grandson could play for a while, and the adults could chat and visit. They get along really well, and just seem to click. Jeffie was impressed with the whole baseball adventure and is excited to get started with it all next year. Grandma is excited for him to begin too. We stopped for dinner on the way back to his house, and Jeffie learned to work his chopsticks really well. : ) Sunday we went to service, lunch and then headed down to San Diego for more visits with another set of grandkids. They are just sooo sweet and bless me so much. Sunday evening we headed over to hear James do the Sunday evening service and Bible study. He is teaching in first Cor. and it was good as usual. We did almost get washed away on the drive home as it was raining sooo hard. I was glad to get home and in my warm, dry house.

Melly is coming on April 6th and staying for a whole week! I am soo excited. Already the schedule of things she wants to do and people she wants to see is filling up. She is still battling the morning sickness and so I am praying she is doing better by then. She will be 13 weeks, so should be over the worst of it, but you never know. We are going to get an ultra sound done while she is here as she can get one done for 25 dollars. It is mainly just so us grandma's (Mike's mom will join us for this) can get to see and experience the whole thing with her. There is a GOOD chance we will be able to SEE the sex at this, as this is what they specialize in, and they can usually always tell at 13 weeks at this place anyway. Sooo, if the little one cooperates, we "might" find out the rather it is to be a boy or a girl as well. I am thinking "girl" but don't know what I am basing that on other than just a "gut" instinct, haha....No one really cares one way or another. A healthy baby is what is important, but it is STILL exciting to know.

It is looking like James is to be the senior pastor of this church. We are all very excited about it. The details all still have to be worked out so it is not definite yet, but VERY close. We are soo happy about this and excited to see what the Lord is going to do.

One last thing...My oldest granddaughter Annabel (14) had to have an emergency surgery last week as she had a cycst on her ovary that was ready to burst.  Sooo scary for her.  She is home and doing well, but can't go to school for a couple of weeks.  I sure would appreciate a prayer or two for her speedy recovery.  How I LOVE that girl!

I am sitting here soaking in the smell of my CLEAN house as George and his crew just left. What a blessing this has been to me, and how grateful I am that they do such a good job. I am going to head out and do a little necessary shopping with my mom now, so hope you all have a wonderful week....

TOTALLY RANDOM

This is probably going to be somewhat of a "random" post as I have soo many different things on my mind.  I am not even really sure where to start.  First of all, I wondered if anyone has as much trouble sometimes as I do keeping up with my blogs?!!  Sometimes I feel like it is easy and I just follow all the posts from the blog roll on the side of my post.  I catch all the new ones that way and follow along pretty easily.  But then other times I find myself WAY behind and it is an effort to get around to all of them and still have time to write anything of my own.  Maybe I am too wordy or spend too much time doing mine (I am quite slow at this sometimes) or maybe I have too many I try to follow.  I am not sure.  But it is starting to stress me some.  Now don't get me wrong...I LOVE the blogs I follow.  I think that is the problem.  I find myself "involved" do you know what I mean??  I can't bear to miss anything.  And I don't want anyone to ever think I am snubbing them or have lost interest or anything....(though I don't really think any of you would REALLY think that, but I will admit it does kind of concern me sometimes) I also sometimes spend too much time probably worrying about "WHAT" I am blogging about.  Soooo many of yours are sooo interesting, or have such great spiritual insights, WONDERFUL recipes, all the exciting "projects" you are working on, or soo much to just say etc.,  that sometimes I think maybe I should just FOLLOW blogs and not write anything of my own.  But then I think, but I want to have this as an account of my life for my kids and grandkids, and then again sometimes I wonder if they will even be interested anyway....sigh.....Told you, my head is kind of all over the place today.  I "think" I will just continue to do the best I can, write when and IF I want to and not stress about this as it is DEFINITELY a silly thing to stress on. 
Soooo, having said all that, I want to tell you about a book I read last week-end.  You have probably heard of it, though I hadn't.  My hubby heard about it on a Christian program he listens to on the radio while he is driving for work.  He ordered it and began telling me about it, so I "borrowed" it from him last Sun. afternoon and read the whole thing in about 4 hours.  It was sooo captivating.  It is called...."Heaven is for Real" and it is the true story of a 4 year old boy who almost died and went to heaven and met Jesus.  It is written by his father and is one of the most convincing books on this subject I have ever read.  Children have such an innocence about them that just can't be faked.  The things that are said and told in this book also line up REALLY well (perfectly actually) with scripture as well which is another reason I found it so believable.  Rather or not it is all totally true is not what is important to me.  What was important was how REAL heaven really is and should be to all of us, and how comforting I found it to be described in this book through the eyes of an innocent child.  If you get the chance, get this book and read it, I don't think you will regret it.

I also wanted to tell you that my oldest step grandson Evan, (he is almost 16) fell yesterday afternoon and broke his arm in 6 places!!  Poor Evan....He was skating boarding downhill (which he does daily and has for years btw) and got distracted for a minute and fell.   He is in A LOT of pain and is not even in a cast yet as they are waiting for some of the swelling to go down.  If you get the chance, I am sure he would appreciate a prayer or two. 

Mel is doing a "little" better.  At least she is no longer sick ALL DAY EVERY DAY anyway, haha.  She is still working the morning sickness and some tiredness, but I have soo appreciated your prayers for her.  She is 10 weeks today.  She is coming out in 2 more weeks so will be close to being done with her first trimester by then and should be feeling pretty good hopefully.  I am soo anxious to see her and we have lots of things planned.  Soo much to do in a short time, when a short time is all you get.  I am NOT complaining btw, I am VERY grateful she gets to come at all.

Still don't have answers on either my hubby's job, or James's church.  We are still doing the "waiting" thing but things are progressing on both, so guess we will soon see.  Should have answers soon.

I have lost a total of 18 pounds....Sounds good when I type it out, but it seems soo slow to me.  It has taken a little over two months to do that and I have sooo much more to go.  But I am happy to have made a start, and now here is the BIG news....I was able to get my biggest ZIP UP THE FRONT jeans on today, haha.  I hate always having to wear the elastic waisted granny jeans, (even though I AM a granny!) but it is all I have been able to wear all winter.  I guess I am grateful I still had some old ones or I would have had to buy some which would have REALLY been annoying.  Now these jeans I wore today are still kind of snug, and by the end of last winter I was having to roll them twice to even get them to stay on, but I am still pleased, haha.

And finally, I just wanted to tell you that my family and I have an American Idol post where we go on and write posts about our feelings on the show.  It is pretty fun.  I soo enjoy the show.  If any of you would like to read our opinions and join in on comments, please feel free.  You can get there from HERE, and I will post a link to it in my blog roll on the side of my blog as well.

I guess that's all for now.  Told you my head was everywhere.  I tried to do this in a hurry, so I am sorry if there is typo's or downright misspelled words, poor grammar, etc.  It is going to rain here this week-end, sigh, but I am still looking forward to it.  Hope you all have a good one!

BACK IN TIME PART 2

Well it's Friday again and I have been somewhat neglecting my blog. I have visited most of you, but have found myself with I guess not much "new" to say, haha...Here are some quick highlights of my week. A long nice visit with my mom on Tues., lots of GOOD conversations with all of my kids. Having 4 children and 4 in-law children and 8 grandkids takes a lot of keeping up on, haha. We have been getting some estimates on having our kitchen counter replaced. I am very excited about this as the counter was NOT in real good condition when we moved in, NOT something I would have ever picked out, NOT the granite I came to love in my old house, and really looked bad in a couple of spots after our fire on Thanksgiving...you can check that story out HERE if you are interested. I have kept the worst of the burns covered with various different items, but can still be seen a little no matter what I do. The insurance company is going to cover this, but so far what they are willing to pay doesn't even come close to the estimates we are getting, so this could be a LONG process. But to just even be beginning it has got me excited. Once we come to some decisions I will take a "before" pic and you can get excited with me. I've been doing a small amount of spring cleaning and re-organizing and that about finished up my week. Unless I mention the fact that I almost knocked myself out this morning as I was bending over to pick up a feather on the floor (a LONG, better left untold story) and hit my head on the cupboard in the utility room coming up. WOW....sooo not good. My husband (literally as I type this) is at his second interview for the opportunity that has come up, and we are both VERY excited and have prayed about it quite a bit this week. Who knows, maybe I will know next week at this time of the outcome of that. Anyway, as you can see, a pretty ordinary, run of the mill week. I have decided at this point to continue with my back in time story.


Let's see....I think I left off with moving to California at the age of 4. All I really remember about the trip was it was my first (and last so far ~ another LONG story) airplane ride. My older sister got to pass out gum with the airline attendant and I was sooo jealous...She was only 5 to my 4 so I think (to this very day I might add) that they should have let both of us do this don't you?? Anyway, we moved into a small rental house in Lakewood where we lived until I was just finishing up kindergarten. I remember a few random things about this time period in my life. My mother had another baby, a mere 17 months after the birth of my brother David. Another girl...Danae. I don't remember much about her as a baby at all. I think it was because I was in KG, and was soo totally engrossed in that. I LOVED school. It was soo hard for me when Diane had got to go off to school and I had to stay behind. I guess if I am being honest I spent a GREAT deal of my childhood watching Diane get to do things before me, and wanting to do everything she did. KG back in the days that I went, was a very different place then it is today. We didn't do much of anything but play, finger paint (soo fun) sing, and have books read to us. Much like pre-school is today I think. I did learn to write my name, but that's about it as I recall. We lived just down the street from the school so I got to walk back and forth by myself, something that could never be done in today's times at 5 years old, down the street or not. I remember feeling sooo old. I don't remember who my girlfriends were, but I DO remember having a crush on a little boy named Eric, haha....I also remember him kissing me on the cheek one day as we walked home from school too! How wild as I think about it now, haha. I also remember this as a time period where Diane and I were ALWAYS playing "house". And as part of our house game we would play going to church. Now here is another instance where having an older sister calling the shots came into play. We had obviously two "little" brother/sister's to be our "babies" which worked well...Now Danae of course was actually a little baby that was easy to carry around and fun to "pretend" with, so naturally Diane was ALWAYS her mother. I had to mother David who was only 3 years younger than I was and who was really pretty big. My carrying him around was difficult at best (and remember, I had already dropped him on his head once) and he seldom wanted to cooperate with our games anyway. I remember spending most of the time complaining to Diane that I wanted to be Danae's mother and her totally ignoring me, haha...Looking back on it now this had to be a hard time for my mom. She had 4 little kids under 6 and a very small house. I think it is where Diane and I began to be referred to as "the big kids" and the other two as "the little ones". This went on for years and years. Funny when you are one of the "big" ones at 5. My dad worked for a newspaper almost the entire time we were growing up. I honestly don't remember much about him at all during this time of my life except for the fact that he let me keep the light on in my bedroom ALL NIGHT (much to Diane's horror ~ I spent the first 10 years of my life sharing a room with her) for at least a week after I had a dream about a witch. It was when Snow White and 7 Dwarfs had first come out I think, and I had been traumatized I guess. I remember the terror well. Well, I think I will stop here with the story as we were about to move to the first home my parents bought in California.

The weather is STILL beautiful in California and I am looking forward to getting out and about in it this week-end. Hope you all have a wonderful one!

A WONDERFUL WEEK-END

What a glorious week-end we had in Southern California....Just soo pretty. The weather just couldn't be beat; clear, warm, and slightly breezy. On Sat. Jeff & I sat around and had our coffee and tea and chatted the morning away. How I love that time. After that we headed out to Market Broiler and had a REALLY good lunch. I always enjoy Sushi there, which isn't actually Jenny Craig of course, but is really pretty healthy and low cal. Then, we headed down to see my youngest sister's son play a game of little league baseball. Now he is only 7 so there were LOTS of wild pitches, missed catches and soo much "just learning" going on, but how I enjoyed myself. I love watching kids play sports. Always have. Their cute little excited faces as they do something they have been trying to do just can't be beat. It really brought me back to days gone by when Jeff & I seemed to live at the ball field. I've missed it. I am glad Blake lives close enough now that we can enjoy his games once in a while, and am really looking forward to my own grandkids getting started at sports. I could write a WHOLE post on why I think sports and kids go together, but I will spare you for now, haha...Blake, I might add, is a SUPER little athlete (really he is!) and belted a hit towards the end of the game that was truly quite spectacular. After the game, Jeff I headed down to the beach. We got there about 5 thirty, just as the sun was setting on the water. It was GORGEOUS!! There were soo many people down there it was really almost funny. One would think it was the dead of summer instead of the tail end of winter. We sat for a while and just watched the people go by (one of my favorite things to do ~ such a people watcher I am) and the kids enjoying their kites etc. I could have set there for hours. What a beautiful world the Lord has really given us. I am not sure what I enjoyed the most....Could have been the water as the waves crashed upon the shore and the setting sun made it glisten…or maybe all the kids running around flying their kites or playing in the sand. It might have been watching the birds flying overhead and swooping down occasionally to get something to eat. It could have been just talking with Jeff and enjoying our time together. But whatever it was, I loved it. Then we had fish at one of our old favorite little places down there and headed over to my parents to play cards. They only live a few minutes from the beach, which makes the weather by them always pretty nice. The girls won this week...YAY...so that made the game just that much more fun. On Sunday morning we headed down to San Diego for church. Now we go down the 5 freeway which swirls along the coast and just makes for a gorgeous drive. Truly, it is just soo pretty…miles and miles of beaches and crashing waves and palm trees swaying in the breeze. It makes the hour and fifteen minutes it takes us to get there soo pleasant. We sip our coffee and chat and enjoy our drive. Service was just another REALLY good message. REALLY good. In fact, I might say it was one of the best I have ever heard....not just that I have heard my son give....just the best I have ever heard. Maybe it was just my frame of mind or the state of my heart that it so ministered to me, but it just did. After church my husband and I kind of "worked" the kids for a while so my son and my dil could mingle in the crowd, and then we all got lunch together and went over to their house to spend some time. After we had been there for a while, Larissa and I left to go and get JD some new shoes. Grandma had decided she wanted to get him some, and once he got there, haha, JD thought it was a pretty good idea too. We got him both some new sneakers and some new sandals. He has SUCH big feet for a 4 year old. But then he is such a BIG boy. If this all keeps up the way it has been going, I am guessing he will be a good 6 foot 5 or so some day... After that we headed home, stopping on the way to get some groceries. What a wonderful week-end....As I layed in bed last time before I went to sleep I just thought about how much the Lord has blessed me with, and how grateful I am...how undeserving I am...and how much I want to give back to Him.

Melody had another ultra sound today and she got SUCH good news I couldn't wait to update you on it. EVERYTHING just looks wonderful!! The doc is really not anticipating ANY problems whatsoever. Now he is still going to consider her high risk and follow the pregnancy MUCH more closely than usual, but he doesn't even really think it is going to be necessary...but rather safe than sorry. She doesn't have to go back for a month this time, though he will do another ultra sound then. She is coming out here in a couple of weeks (though NO date yet ~ hint hint Mel) and I am soo excited to see her. I guess you would have to be me, or someone who has a similar situation, to really understand, but it is such a weird thing sometimes. I just want to "see" her. She went to a baby shower of a close friend this week-end and another friend of theirs posted pictures of it on facebook. I found myself carefully going through the pics just to see if she might be in any of the pictures. She was in a few of them. I was soo giddy. Isn't that ridiculous??? She looks soo good. How I miss her. Haven't seen that face since the day after Christmas. How grateful I am that we live in the times we do. Phone calls, texts, and FACEBOOK, haha...which makes me be able to see the pics of some girl I don't even know so I can see a pic of my girl. Oh, I go on Mel's account btw so I can see her friend’s pictures. She lets me of course, haha. Jeff interviewed this morning for the new opportunity, and all went REALLY well. He will talk to them again on Friday so I guess we just continue to wait. How I appreciate all the prayers about these things. If I can pray for any of you about anything in specific, please let me know. Hope you all enjoy your week.







 

WAITING ON THE LORD

Lam 3:25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him.


I know I say this alot, but I honestly can't believe how fast these weeks whip by. It is Friday again already! I have had a good week, but nothing really out of the ordinary in many ways that I can post about. There is A LOT going on, but they are stories without endings yet, so guess I should wait for the outcome before I post about it. I never have been a very patient person, and easily get excited and swooped along on a new possibility of some sort, so this "waiting" is not something I do very well. And yet in scripture we are taught the importance of "waiting" on the Lord.

Isa 30:18 Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him.

Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you: We often wonder why the LORD waits to do things in our lives. I know I do anyway. Isaiah tells us plainly here that it is so He may be gracious to you. How wonderful is that?? Whenever the LORD waits or seems to delay, it always has a loving purpose behind it. We can trust that even when we don’t understand it. And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on us: When God has mercy on us, it exalts Him. Mercy does nothing to exalt the person who receives it; mercy recognizes the guilt of the one who deserves the punishment. But mercy exalts the goodness of the person who gives it. It shows them to be loving, generous, and full of mercy. For the Lord is a God of justice: On the surface, mercy and justice seem to oppose each other. If a guilty criminal stands before a judge, he has the choice to show either mercy or justice. But God is so great, He can show both at the same time. Because on the cross, Jesus took the punishment we deserve, God’s justice is satisfied. And yet at the same time, He shows mercy by extending the work of Jesus to us as payment for our sins. Only God can reconcile mercy and justice, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Blessed are all those who wait for Him: Because God is so great, there is a built-in blessing for those who wait for Him. Isaiah doesn’t mean wait just in the sense of passing time, but in the sense of patiently waiting for and trusting God’s promise, KNOWING He will fulfill it in His perfect timing and way.

We are still waiting on God's decision on James becoming the senior pastor of the church down in San Diego. As much as we would all like an answer for this as soon as possible (like yesterday Lord!) we do wait on the Lord to work out all the details in ways we never could. This has been a LONG story, full of many twists and turns and unexpected happenings, but one that I have personally enjoyed watching the Lord work... up close and personal. Irregardless of what ends up happening, and who serves as the senior pastor for this church, I am confident that the Lord is protecting HIS church and these people, and look forward to seeing just what the Lord has in mind. And in the meantime, I am pleased that James seems to be so open to the leading of the Lord, and willing to serve Him wherever he is placed. He will do the Sunday morning service there this week, so I am also happy to be able to travel down there again this week and be blessed!

We are also waiting on a job possibility that has come up recently from my husband as well. It was not one that he went seeking for, but rather one that came looking for him. It seems to be a wonderful opportunity, and it is hard for me not to push and shove and MAKE it happen, haha. I feel soo strongly that my hubby has worked HARD through his career and soo deserves this possibility. How I admire his work ethics and abilities, and respect soo much the job he has done to provide for his family the way he has over the years. I wish I had told him this more often.

We wait as the Lord forms this new grandbaby deep within my daughter's womb, and pray and trust Him to keep it all in His very capable hands. The pregnancy continues to go well, but she continues to be sick. She is learning to listen to her mama (I have had 4 pregnancy's afterall Mel, lol) and is keeping something in her tummy no matter what, and keeping up and busy. The tendency with first pregnancies is to "nurse" the morning sickness by staying in bed I think, if that is possible. And since Mel doesn't have to work outside of the home (she is still substitute teaching ~ another long story) and has no other little ones to care for yet, this seemed like a good idea at first. But she quickly learned it doesn't work well anyway, and she is way to active to keep down for very long as well. So she moves along really well I think, in spite of the fact she has little energy and a VERY queasy tummy...WAIT Mel, for this too shall pass, haha....

There are other things we wait on as well, but this is getting long so I will end it with one of my all time favorite verses. How it blesses me and brings joy and hope to my heart.

Isa 40: 31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

Notice the order, because it does seem strange... First we mount up with wings like eagles. Then we run. Finally we walk. Does it seem out of order? Not at all. First, we recognize that we soar up into heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). Then we set ourselves on the course to run the race (Hebrews 12:1). Then we are in the good place to walk the walk (Colossians 2:6). How wonderful is this?

Hope you all have a GREAT week-end.

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