God's Valentine to Us

It's finally February! January is kind of a dismal month with the holidays all behind us and the winter before us here in our neck of the woods. But, we have short winters here and with February comes the promise of warmer temps, more sunshine-filled days, and the promise of Spring sure to arrive. And then there is that fun day in February when we center in on our feelings of love. Valentine's Day is a sweet day for lovers everywhere ~~ married and those contemplating marriage and for those who are in a dating relationship. And we remember our family and loved ones on Valentine's Day. May we most of all remember how much God loves us and how far-reaching His love is for us. His love sent His Only Begotten Son to Calvary's Cross on our behalf. May we as Christians shine His love abroad from our hearts onto those around us each and every day. Happy Valentine's Day!

When It Snowed "Back Home" in Bama....

Isaiah 55:10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:


A couple of weeks ago, they had a forecast for a significant snow event back in our home state. Now living in the Sunshine State, we miss the excitement of expected snow so I just got excited for my family and friends back home regarding their frozen precip possibilities. I emailed and asked folks to share their snow pics with me. Though the snowfall wasn't of the magnitude that had been forecasted, it still made for some pretty pics. Here are some that were shared with me:

This is my friend Diane's granddaughter, Alyssa, in her first snow ever... and it occurred the day of her 8th birthday. What a fun birthday for Alyssa~~ playing in the snow:

Tim's, Yvonne's and Emily's back yard:



Beau, Michelle, and their children Sara Grace and Jaeden enjoying the snow:



Terry's and Nita's front yard:



And a week or two earlier it snowed in Georgia.... David B. sent me this picture of Adam, Erika, and Caleb in their snow:




Thanks to all for sharing your snow-flake fun with me!

Ministry over lunch today!

It is a blessing to be called upon to be an assistant to the director of our Missionary Conference dinners for this year's Missions Conference. Our church brings in many missionaries for the conference, and it is our place of ministry to feed them at dinnertime on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night. The conference will be held in mid-February so we are having a planning meeting today. Ann P. is the director of dinners and Peggy P. and I will be her assistants. In order to do some heavy-duty planning, we three are going to Norma's on the Bay for lunch today. Might as well mix pleasure with business. These girls are dear friends of mine so it will be a lovely time of working together in this vital function of the Missions Conference as we seek to be a blessing to our missionaries and their families.

Campus Daughters Over on Saturday to Kick Off This Semester of School

Psalm 136:25 Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Nine of our ten campus daughters came over on Saturday evening for our first get-together of the semester. They helped cook dinner: homemade chicken parmesan, spaghetti, green beans, Caesar salad, tossed salad, and garlic bread. It was fun to work with them in the kitchen and they seemed to enjoy the fruits of their labors when we sat down to dinner.

We celebrated Candiace's birthday with cake, cards, and the "Happy Birthday" song. Otherwise, several of them brought laundry to do (at my invitation), studied, visited, and just hung out.

They are a wonderful bunch of girls (6 freshmen, 2 sophomores, and one senior) whom I have grown to dearly love. Here are a couple of pics made on Saturday night.

Two videos of our evening were made expressly for sharing with their parents. They are posted on my Godtube page if anyone cares to view them:

http://www.godtube.com/uvideos.php?UID=252926&type=public

We Booked Our Airline Tickets Today!

Another big step taken toward our 2-week trip to Alaska.... the purchase of our airline tickets this afternoon. On "D" (departure) day, we will fly out of here at 9:20 a.m. and arrive in Anchorage at 7:40 p.m. ~~ a 12-hour day of flying north, but we'll be so excited that we won't even feel our tiredness. HA!!

When our two-week trip is completed and we disembark the Princess ship, we will spend 3 days touring Washington State before flying back home. We are counting down the days for our big trip!!

WE HAD A REAL BLAST TONIGHT! (Josh on Godtube.com)

Psalm 139:14~~ I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made

Those of you who know our 8-year-old grandson, Josh, know he is very special in many ways. Josh was adopted from Ukraine at age 26 months and captured our hearts immediately when Brian and Amy returned from their adoption trip in June 2001. Josh is smart, loving, inquisitive, and determined. His determination is God-given and comes in handy for Josh was born with a "special" right hand. He has no bone below his wrist and has no fingers ~~ just a floppy thumb and the palm of his hand. As a third-grader, Josh is eligible to join the beginner band at school this semester and had a desire to do so. With his hand situation, there had to be some prayer and thought put into the instrument he might could play. Well, his dad played the trumpet in school and still has his trumpet, so Josh decided to go with the trumpet. His Dad took the trumpet to an expert who re-configured the trumpet for Josh to be able to play with his left hand. Tonight we were at their house for dinner and afterwards, Josh brought out his trumpet to try to blow it for the first time. What fun it was to hear Josh make a real good sound on his first try. His Grandpa and I are thinking that he has a wonderful natural talent and pray Josh will make the most of it and use to bring Glory to Christ. Richard ran home and got the camera so we could capture the moment on video.... You can view it onGodTube at the following URL by copying and pasting into your favorite browser:

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=0789578d9e7bd7333efb

FAMILY DEVOTIONS

Ephesians 6:4~~ And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

We had dinner with Brian, Amy, and our four grandkids this evening. After dinner and Josh's trumpet debut, Brian and amy invited Grandpa Richard and me to stay for their time of family devotion. We did and were so blessed by what transpired. Apparently, Brian is taking his family through the book of Matthew since the first of January and tonight they studied the first section of chapter 14. Each of the older children read a portion of the passage and then Amy finished up. Brian did a wonderful job of explaining the verses and how it is so easy but so dangerous to hide sin in our hearts instead of taking care of it as it occurs in our lives. After the Bible lesson, Amy brought out the basket of Christmas cards they had received during the holidays. Each family member was given a Christmas card and during the family prayer time, the people who had sent the cards were remembered in prayer. I had never seen that done before, and it touched my heart to pray tonight for a lady my age who is one of Amy's teachers at the Academy and is a widow. To hear my 4 grandkids pray for others was such a blessing. Richard and I came back home rejoicing ~~ knowing that our son-in-law and daughter are striving to lead their four children in the ways of the Lord Jesus and in His Word.

AND GOD SAID....

Genesis 1:9 ¶ And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

My favorite pastime is enjoying my four grandchildren. Of course the older three (Jarrett~~14 1/12, Belle~~ 12-1/2, and Josh~~ 8-1/2) are very busy during the school year so I don't see them much during the week. I do pick them up from school at 3:00 on Mondays and bring them to my house for the afternoon while I cook dinner for the family. That is our one set-aside time to spend together that we count on together. Jaden, the 3-year-old, is enrolled at nursery school but Brian and Amy are gracious to let me keep Jaden at home with me at least once a week since his attendance there is not crucial.

He stayed with me yesterday, and it warmed up enough that we were able to go outside and play for an hour before lunchtime. I tucked my camera in my pocket just in case I might need it. Jaden is "all boy" and loves to play in the dirt. When he began to play, I thought I would video him as I hadn't made any "outdoor play video with sound" since getting my new digital camera for Christmas. I turned it on as he began to dig, and we had a sweet conversation about God. It is posted on GodTube if you would like to view it. Just copy and paste the URL into your favorite browser:

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=1ee723a2862c38ace3ac

Jaden's Blessing

Yesterday was my first Wednesday to keep Jaden in a while because of the wonderful Christmas holiday. What a joy it was to have him for the entire day. Jaden loves to pray so I asked him to ask our lunchtime blessing... not realizing he would have an interruption from my bird clock which he has heard hundreds of times. Out of the mouths of babes.....

Kinfolk!

Lamentations 3:20 My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.

Growing up in Alabama with parents who were from distant parts of the country (Dad from the Mid-West and Mom from the Northwest), it wasn't like we were blessed with an extended family of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins around us. My mother's parents died long before I was born and my Dad's father died long before I was born. I did know my one paternal grandmother but she lived one thousand miles away from us, so I didn't see her very many times. But I can tell you this... I loved her dearly. It was a blessing as a child when Dad's one brother and his family relocated to our town after his stint in the U.S. Navy. Otherwise we had to travel long distances to visit our "kinfolk."

It was Dad's sister's family (my Aunt Blanche) who was so much fun to visit in the mid-west. They lived on a farm, and that was always an exciting trip and a special place to spend a few days. I guess I was there only 2 or three times. I can recall two times~~ once as a child and then once as a young mother with a 5-month-old Amy in tow. That trip was made with Dad, Mom, Nonie, Amy and me. One thousand miles each way by car with an active 5-month-old. I don't remember much about it so guess it went okay. I do remember that I was away from Richard on my first Mother's Day and how much that bothered me.

Back to the farm...... When we visited Aunt Blanche and Uncle Alvin, we also got to see my one and only cousin from that branch.... Donald... and his wife, Helen. I would guess that they are about 18 years my senior so they probably didn't pay much attention to me, but I remember how much I looked up to them. It has been 32 years since I have seen them and had just about lost contact with them in the past 20 years but the wonderful world of internet has brought us back into contact. What a joy that is. Uncle Alvin and Aunt Blanche are no longer on this earth but it is nice to hear from Don and Helen... to hear about their boys and their families. This year, I received a nice collage picture of them by email. I asked permission to share as I just don't have much extended family to share about on my blog. So, here are Don and Helen and their sons Larry and Mark and their families:

Picture ID:

Sue and Larry on lower left
Mark and Mary on lower right;
Helen and Donald on middle left,
Chris and Brooke ~~ Sue's two children on middle right along with the three younger granddaughters on middle right


I hope that someday Richard and I can make a trip to visit these dear kinfolk!