White As Snow

Merry CHRISTmas everyone!!  I pray that you and yours are enjoying the Reason for the season......Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, our Wonderful Counselor, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father, the Great I AM!!  I praise Jesus that He came to this earth as a Baby, to give His life for me....that He came to make my heart.....whiter than snow.
I am looking forward to heading north to see our family........we leave tonight after service at church.  So far this winter, we have only had a dusting of snow, but up north.....it has been snowing....alot!  I am so excited to see the snow......and my family too :)!!  I have packed my oh so warm winter parka, my fur-lined winter boots and gloves.  I think that a snow-ball fight is in order......maybe a snow angel or two.
Why do I love the snow you ask?  Well, it makes the brown earth and the gray skies of winter a bit easier to  tolerate, that's why!  If I look outside my window and just see....blah....I get a bit down in the mouth.  But let it snow for a bit and everything changes to pure sparkly white!  The earth no longer looks so drab when it is covered in a quilt made of diamonds; and the gray skies now sparkle with frost as the snow flakes fall to the earth.  Yes, I know......snow is cold.....but snow warms this girl's heart.

The Snow (by Katniss Everdeen)

The Snow
See the snow
Its a blanket, soft and white
Falling slow
Covering the world, making it bright

Hear the snow
Crunching underneath feet
Children throw
The snow in the street

Smell the snow
The freshening scent
As the steady flow
Makes my heart content

Feel the snow
Powdery, it freezes your toes
As the blanket starts to grow
And the cold wind blows

Taste the snow
The way it makes the world look clean
Still cold though,
Makes the world, a beautiful scene

Love the snow
When I see it snowing all day
I just know
That everything is going to be okay

The Tide Has Turned

Well, the Christmas season has begun!!  My favorite time of the year.  I love Christmas for many reasons; spending time with family and friends, Christmas cookies and candies, the decorations, and the most wonderful reason of all, my Savior came to earth to be born a Man, destined to die for me!!
Last night at our church's 32 annual Women's Christmas celebration, the gals who led the music sang; Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel......but with a twist.  They added in another song between the verses....it was beautiful and very moving.  
This Is War by Dustin Kensrue. 
This is war like you ain't seen.
This winter's long, it's cold and mean.
With hangdog hearts we stood condemned,
But the tide turns now at Bethlehem.
This is war and born tonight,
The Word as flesh, the Lord of Light,
The Son of God, the low-born king;
Who demons fear, of whom angels sing.
This is war on sin and death;
The dark will take it's final breath.
It shakes the earth, confounds all plans;
The mystery of God as man.

I wish that all of you could have heard it.  It was a beautiful reminder of why I celebrate Christmas.  The lyrics to the above song say it all.  I was in darkness and now I am in the LIGHT!  I no longer have a "hang-dog" heart, and the winter is anything but cold and mean!!  Winter time now holds the celebration of the Light of the world coming to earth to save us from sin's condemnation and the curse of death.  I praise the God of heaven for His indescribable Gift.......my Jesus!!

Hello!

Happy Fall everyone!!  I love this time of the year.  It is getting quite busy around my house.......Christmas shopping, planning what I am going to bake in the way of Christmas goodies, wrapping gifts, and searching through my photos, trying to find the perfect one for our Christmas card.
I was reminded the other day that I need to be better at keeping in touch with friends and family.  No excuses here, just a confession of wanting to be better at it!! 
I hope this finds you happy in Jesus enjoying the start of the Christmas season.

California Dreamin'

Hello Everyone.......It has been awhile.......Here is what has been happening in my world.....
We spent a good part of March at our church's retreat center.  In April, I was in Spokane each week, helping Stephenie to move.  She contracted mono and needed her momma.  Of course, nothing pleased me more!  In May, we spent 10 days on vacation, which was wonderful. Our first stop was Carmel, California, where we spent 4 days visiting my sisters and their families, then we headed north on California's Highway 1 into southern Oregon. We went to many beautiful beaches, the Red Woods, we saw our first whale in the wild, we were able to be quite close to an area where sea lions were pupping, we ate some yummy foods, and then headed home from Oregon.  We totally enjoyed our time away, we both needed the break badly.
This past week found me in Spokane once again....helping Laura to move.  Todd had to travel for work all last week, and so I helped watch the grands while she packed. They are planning to be out of their house next Saturday, so Mitch and I will be going up to help them move.  We spent Memorial Day weekend, serving 250 people at our church's retreat center......it was FUN, but hard and tiring work.  The septic acted up, and so I brought home 12 HUGE bags of linens and towels to wash.  I have been washing ever since......
Whew......just typing all of this makes me tired!

Pics of Israel

Here are some more photos of our trip to Israel.  I love the one of Mitch on his phone!  These were taken at an ancient Roman city that we visited on our way to Gideon Springs.  There were beautiful mosaics all over the place.  I was just thinking that it has almost been one year since we were there!!  My how time flies........

True Love

"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."    (Romans 8:31-39)

Thanksgiving 2011

I just realized that I had not written anything about Thanksgiving........So, here we go!
In September of 2011, our church purchased a dude ranch in Oregon....yes, a dude ranch!  The Bar M Ranch has been in existence since the 1800s!  It has changed hands over the years, and you can find out the history of it on-line, and now it will be a retreat center for our church.  We have been hard at work fixing up the place, and it has been a lot of fun, and a lot of hard work.  I love the history of the original house, it was a stage coach stop for many years, and it is the oldest occupied building in Oregon state!  By the way, our daughter Laura took these photos, since my camera is acting up....I guess that's what happens when you drop them in the ocean!

This is where we and our family spent Thanksgiving.  We rented the Ranch house for 4 days, and enjoyed ourselves immensely.  We ate, and played games, swam in the hot-springs pool; some of us did anyway, it was COLD.  We made "some-mores" in the fireplace, and had many tourney's of ping-pong.  We went for walks along the river, and looked at the stars.  All of our grands loved it....the little ones played and watched movies, the older ones played games, and watched movies, the adults cooked and ate, and watched movies, and cleaned up after the kids  :) 

A Caananite City

Here are some more photos of our trip to Israel.  This site was the coolest....it is the actual city gate and a portion of the wall of a Canaanite City.....from before Abraham's time!!  As you can see, archeologist have to keep the area covered from the sunlight, they found that the wall would disintegrate as soon as they uncovered it.
I love seeing proofs that the Bible is true, and proof of the people who went before us!

!Happy New Year!

New-Having recently come into existence, and being other than the former or old. (From Webster's dictionary)

Don't you just love the word new! It is a word that means.....grace........to me. It is a word that invokes a sense of wonder and excitement. It is a word that can bring feelings of trepidation, and even a bit of fear. It is a word full of the promises of God.
This morning in my quiet time Psalm 25 came to mind:

Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day. Psalm 25:4-5

It is a new year, and I am looking forward to what the Lord has for me; for I know that it is an opportunity for me to walk closer with my God. When we walk with someone it means just that....that we are with them. Not running ahead, or lagging behind, but beside them. So, as I walk into the new year, I have a sense of anticipation of what is to come, as I walk with the God of my salvation. For it is here in this close communion that I will learn of God's truth, and it is here that I will know of His love for me.