Everyone Has Something Going On

Deo Volente has a touching video clip on her blog.
This man had his own very heavy heart, but he chose to focus on lightening someone else's burden, and took his mind off of his his own in the meantime.
Click here to see it (hope you have audio).

Scooby's World View

Scooby's world is basically the deck area at the back of the house. He has a leash long enough to run around a small part of the yard until we make a fenced in area for him. He often gets tangled around a bush or a post which prevents him from getting back up the steps until we go get him, so a fenced area will be nice for him and us.

He likes to try to look through the trees for the dogs that live on each side of us. They make little noises when they hear me let him out through the sliding doorwall.



Steve and Josh make paths in the yard to be able to walk around, get to the shed, and for Scooby to ---you know.

Scenery In Our Yard

Steve took these pretty photos

Snow, Snow, Snow

This being our first winter in an area that gets a lot of lake-effect snow, plus a winter with a heavier snowfall than usual, we've been amazed by how much we've had so far. So during this latest blizzard we took pictures.

I have to be careful how often I say how beautiful it is, because Steve and the kids have to keep it cleared, and drive in it every day. Steve's mom and I get to stay inside most of the time. I just help keep a path brushed off on the deck so Scooby can get through it.


When it's really cold like this I can use a cooler on the back deck for our freezer food over-flow.

We Had A Blizzard !

I thought I'd get some errands done before it started, but all stores are a 15 min drive from us and I got caught out in it. It was a white-out on the way home and I could barely see the tail lights of the car ahead of me, so everyone was going about 15 mph, which took me 3x as long to get home as the snow got deeper and deeper.
It continued through the next day also.




Here's what Stevie saw through his bedroom window.






































After a lot of work from Steve, Josh and Deliverance - a nice clean driveway.

35 Years With My Steve

A lot of "stuff" can happen over a period of 35 years, and the Lord has blessed me with a man to love me through all of it. He has been the closest person to share all the wonderful and disastrous times that comes with life.

I can no longer imagine living any part of my life without him living it with me. It never ceases to amaze me how much continuing grace our Heavenly Father has to decide to bless me as much as He does. I wish I could be perfect enough to never complain about anything again.

Happy Anniversary honey!!

Auld Lang Syne

I have to apologize to all those who keep stopping by to check my blog for new posts. I'm afraid I have to take a long break from blogging. My mother-in-law has become a semi-invalid and is now living with us so we can care for her. We really feel the Lord wants us to take care of disabled parents for as long as He makes it possible for us to do so. I realize there may come a time when we will no longer be able to, but for now it is possible.
I have enjoyed blogging and will get back to it when other priorities permit. I will still be peeking in on the blogs I have always enjoyed reading, now and then.
Please continue to visit Deliverance's blog. Since we live in the same house you might hear what's going on with all of us. (here's our black raspbery patch)

Our First Real Snow Fall

We've had little flakes come and go a couple of times, but this morning it actually stuck to the ground without disappearing. It was a steady dusting of powdered sugar for a while.

Scooby couldn't wait to go out and take a better look, but quickly came running to get out of the cold. He has short hair so it couldn't keep him warm for very long. Then in the evening it came down almost like a white blanket for a short time and made sure everything was covered, but I didn't take a picture of that.
It is so pretty, like a gift floating from heaven. I know that shortly we will look at it differently, forgetting how pleasing it is today. We'll get tired of it's coldness and trying to drive in it, and having it limit our time outdoors.

Does that remind you of how our attitudes change about the many new things and experiences that come into our life? Like maybe even our first desire to learn everything about the One who had just redeemed us. That hunger to study every word and dig as deep as you can go. That thirst to be what He wants you to be. That attitude of gratitude which kept Him in the forefront of every decision and emotion.

There are so many different things that can slow down our spiritual maturing process. We all probably know what our weaknesses are, it doesn't take very long for the devil to figure them out and use them against us. It takes an effort to make the decision to rejoice in the day that the Lord has made (Psalm 118:24), and to do what is necessary to grow my spiritual life and attitude. God says if I acknowledge (know, depend on) Him in all my ways He will direct my paths. Keeping that desire to become like Christ doesn't just come upon us with our physical maturity. He said I need to use His words as my guide in all matters. When I know Him more I will love Him more and will walk in His path.
So when our growth has been stunted, and spiritual attitudes are getting off track, God has graciously provided the way for us to continue being guided by Him in a new life as a new creature - Pro. 3:6.






Tuesday morning - after having fun jumping around in the beautiful new snowfall, Scooby is ready to get warmed up.

Recipients Of His Blessings

I promised some pictures and finally had time to take some and put in a couple that Steve took, too. The 2nd one is a view of our street. Most of the houses can't be seen until you come up to their yard. Getting our new house in order has been going very slowly. Since we no longer have a basement to "pack-rat" in (the kids have thier aparment on the lower level), I'm constantly deciding what I can live without. When I'm done, having less "stuff" in my life will be a good thing. But, right now it feels overwhelming and makes me want to ignore it. That's why I think this may take me several months.
One nice thing is, when I do want to escape for a while, there is plenty of yard to meander around and find a small project to get interested in. Like pruning some of our overgrown black raspberry thicket, that will be in another post.
Here are the views of our back yard that I get to look at every day, all day. The first one is from the entrance stairs of our bi-level (we have different chairs ordered). The living room picture window and the dining room doorwall are like large frames for the serene landscape. The next two are the view from our kitchen. We hope to see deer sometime.
I don't know why the Lord has blessed me with so many good things in my life. Like great family and friends, His protection time and time again, etc. . . and especially salvation!
Every time He heaps another one on me I think about how much I DON'T do for Him. He knows it will turn my thoughts to how gracious and merciful He is, that He would lavish so much on the undeserving. He knows, that being yet unperfected we will fall short of living the life He deserves from us.
It makes me remember songs like "Oh the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus" and others that praise His amazing grace.
1. O the deep, deep love of Jesus,vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!

2. O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread His praise from shore to shore!
How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore!
How He watches o’er His loved ones, died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth, watcheth o’er them from the throne!

3. O the deep, deep love of Jesus, Love of every love the best!
’Tis an ocean vast of blessing, ’tis a haven sweet of rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, ’tis a heaven of heavens to me;
And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!

Birthday Girl

Today I reflect on all the great characteristics that makes our little girl such a wonderful young woman. We love you Deliverance.

When It Rains . . .

As of yesterday, we have all our things moved over to our new house, but most of it is still in our new garage. Although the rooms here are a little bigger and the house is in perfect shape, we have less storage areas here and have to sort through more of what we can do without, and look through the home stores for organization ideas. But we are just going to relax and take things slow for a while because things have been too hectic for too long.

During the last week of our move, we consistently felt overwhelmed with how much we had to do. To save some money we hired a couple of moving men to move only our heaviest things. Well they never showed up and never returned my calls. (stress #1). But another company squeezed me in for the next day. They sent 2 very young men that seemed like they had very little practice at it and I was afraid for their safety when they struggled with our refrigerator. I was as unsure of them as they seemed to to be of themselves (stress #2).
One of Steve's friends let him borrow his truck so we could get a lot moved over ourselves in less trips, and while following him in the car I bumped into the back of it when Steve had to stop suddenly when someone cut him off. The trailer hitch of the truck poked a hole in the front of the car, but it was Steve's work car instead of our good car, and we were relieved it only left a small dent in his friend's bumper, but I felt horrible about it. (stress #3). Then when we were returning the truck, it was dark and a deer popped out of the woods and into the front side of the same car. Of course it shocked me since I didn't even see it come out of the woods, and for a split second I thought it might kill me. But it rolled onto the hood, and as I braked it rolled onto the road ahead of me. For a few seconds it tried frantically to get up, which broke my heart. Then suddenly managed to run back into the woods (stress #4 - and a cry, poor deer). Steve hadn't seen me hit the deer and didn't notice I was no longer following behind him, so when I started down the road again I called his cell phone. After a mile, I realized I should have waited there for the police and I pulled over at a cross road, out in the middle of nowhere (stress #5), until Steve came back to me and called the police. Well, the car is still in the shop, and since we still had stuff to move, we opted for our insurance to pay for a rental. They didn't have any cars, so they gave us a deal if we took a truck (which we really needed anyway) for $5 a day. I ended up finding out from our insurance claims person that we didn't need the extra insurance the rental guy persuaded us to buy, and I think the stresses had my nerves wearing thin, so I confronted him pretty firmly (for me) and insisted he take that charge off our bill for the 7 days we've had the rental so far (I even told him he lied to us, which shocked Steve). I know Steve was embarrassed but in the end he was glad the bill would be $85 cheaper now. So, I DID have to put up with a day of Steve calling me "Iron Lady", making me walk in front of him so I couldn't shove him around, and whenever I seemed agitated with something he asked me not to hit him.

Finally, with only a few days left to finish things up and needing about a week, Steve's mom's boyfriend died from a breathing problem. I took the funeral day off from moving to be with her and our family, and Steve ended up cutting his moving time short to help his mom with a problem. But we were glad to be with his them during their own stressful time.

For most people these interferences wouldn't seem like much, but I'm not used to having stress in my day, I usually avoid it quite well. I know things don't happen unexpectedly to my Heavenly Father. He knows what I'm going to have to deal with daily and that it will all be used to shape who I become. He is an umbrella, protecting me from more than He has prepared me for, and it's good to know He has the power to make things go the way He wants it to.

UGGGHH - Moving !!!

We are almost done with moving to our new house. We are doing it all ourselves, with Deliverance and Josh helping us get things into the garage and house. We only paid for movers to get the really heavy stuff like our fridge, stove, couch etc...
Now we are finishing up getting the smaller stuff, and then cleaning our old house so the landlord won't be too grossed out. It is a very dusty older home, so there is a lot to do in the cleaning department.
We have just now got our internet out here in the country, about a 30 minute drive from wher we used to live. But I won't be able to spend much time on the computer. It will probably take a year to get everything situated here.
I'll be sending some pictures later, whenever I can. Thanks for continuing to stop by.

Farwell, Lady Grey

One of Deliverance and Josh's rabbits, Lady Grey, died last week. I found her like that in the morning when I went to feed her and her sister Céilidh (Kaylee). Their hutch has been on our back porch until we all get moved over to our new house. We don't know what caused it. She had fulfilled her purpose, which was to purely be a pet. Letting those around her feel the rewards of giving love. Just as her sister continues to do. The Lord only knows why she wasn't allowed to stay a little longer.

Birthday Boy Josh

We are blessed with a wonderful son-in-law. Happy birthday Josh, we love you!
We're thankful that the Lord placed you in our family. He knows who we need in our life.

Wordless Wednesday

This summer, somebody's pet pigeon got lost near my parents house in Michigan so on the way home to Indiana we dropped it off with a veterinarian who loves pigeons. It was a sweetie that loved to cuddle.

Celebration and Repentance

Today is Yom T'ruah, or Rosh Hoshanna. You can Google it for yourself, but here are a couple of sites that I found with some explanations. This one is audio.

What I could understand is that it is a day to celebrate the next 10 days of reflecting on your spiritual condition to prepare for atonement. Whenever this horn was blown it was for specific reasons and everyone's attention given. Some info on the shofar horn said that it may have also sybolized God's own voice.
Since Jesus the Messiah became my attonement, I appreciate the need for times of remorse for my daily sinfulness, remembering my unworthiness, because it draws me closer to my Lord. But God doesn't want us to "dwell" on this because He deserves my joy and gratitude for redeeming me in spite of all my garbage. I'm often overwhelmed with the realization that He has actually made me His precious heir, and that He has very intricate plans for my life.