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.

Love Never Fails

My plan for today is to get cards and a letter in the mail........I didn't have the time to do so before Christmas, and so......we will be sending out "Happy New Year!" greetings. As I was getting ready to type up the letter, and thinking over the past year, I was reminded once again of God's loving care of me, and of mine. God is such a loving and giving Father........not like anyone on earth......ever!
Is it as hard for you, as it is for me, to not "see" God as we do people? I have a tendency to think, and act like God is going to quit taking care of me, that He is going to get sick of me and my sin, that this will be the "last straw," and that He will be done with me. So often I attribute to God, what humans can do to me.........they give up when they have had enough, and I can't count on them to always be forgiving and loving and gracious,and some do not remain faithful. Of course, not all people are this way. And, if I am honest with myself, I will see that there are times when even I have been less than loving and faithful.
So often I think that God's love for me, is just a better kind of human love. But that isn't the case at all! God's love for me is a never ending, always reaching out, always wanting the best for me kind of love. He loves me totally and completely, never expecting anything in return.
So, as I get ready for the New Year, there is a sweet anticipation of what is to come.........A fresher awareness of the Father's love for me. There will be, I am sure of it, times of doubt ahead, times of sorrow, and of pain.......and there will be many times-more times than I would like, that I will need forgiveness and healing........but......Jesus is the same today, and tomorrow, and for always.........this I can count on.........for His love never fails!