"Happy Birthday Kiddo!"

I have been celebrating birthdays with Larry since he was 15 years old! How exciting is that? That's a total of 31 birthdays so far! What to get him, what to get him...funny how our presents change thru out the years. This year we found this great deal on an almost new BBQ at a yard sale last Saturday...This thing was spotless! I think the people may have used it three times at the most. Finding a present we all can benefit from! It's a good thing! Happy Birthday to my best friend for life!

I will never look at the Grocery Store the same again!

Oh My....imagine what the store workers thought of these shoppers! You can see they didn't even need a shopping list. They knew exactly what they wanted! Silly boys! Gotta love em! These kids (my sons and nieces) took a mundane chore in life and made it fun! They found creativity in the most unlikely place! I want to do that more! I want to have more fun doing the everyday stuff in life! I think God wants us to do that too! He wants us to look for joy in the most unlikely places. It's not about the things on our grocery list it's about our attitude while we are putting them in our cart. Asking yourself questions like, "Lord who would you have me serve this week?" Who should we share a meal with? Thank you for providing so we can buy groceries. Thank you that I am able to drive myself to the grocery store and get out of the car by myself and push my own cart. Thank you that I can find the opportunity to smile at a stranger in the produce section. Thank you that I can talk to the clerk and ask them about their day. Lord, thank you for allowing me to see you in everything! By the way I need to go "Grocery shopping."

Three things that can cause us to lose our Spiritual Strength...

It's Thursday, July 30th and I still find myself thinking about Pastor Harley's message last Sunday July 26th. The title of his sermon was: "Don't Lose Your Spiritual Strength." He talked about how "you havn't run well if you didn't finish." He referenced Ephesians 6:10-11 where it says: Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil. Pastor Harley mentioned these things: satan has a stragegy for each one of us! Three things that can cause us to lose spiritual strength: 1. self indulgence - undisciplined 2. resentment - weakens your life, satan wants us to always be caught up in the past 3. carelessness - with our actions, words and time We are only as strong as our weakest link! How strong is your weakest link? Lord, May we recognize those things in our life that make us weak. Help us to realize each day that our strength comes from you! Help us to be disciplined, help us to forgive others so we don't build up resentment. Help us to be careful with our actions, words and how we use our time. Help us to run this race well and to FINISH STRONG! In your precious name, Amen

My two sons...

My boys are my pride and joy! I am so thankful they have their own personal relationship with the Lord. It is a rewarding thing to see them develop in their walk and it will be fun to see where the Lord takes them on their journey. When they were little I would often wonder what they would be like as young men. I am for sure seeing it now. They each have their unique gifts and will be used by the Lord in many different ways. Lord, I pray for Chase and Landon. Continually be their guide. Let them constantly be aware of your presence in their lives. Bless whatever they put their minds and hands to. Guard their hearts, keep them safe. I pray that they will reach many for your kingdom, In your precious name, Amen

Our niece Tabitha and our son Chase is back from Fiji...

Our niece Tabitha has been staying with us for the summer. She went on the same missions trip to Fiji as our son Chase did. Tabitha was on the medical team and Chase was on the ministry team. Tabitha graduated from Vanguard a couple of years ago. She is now working at a Christian High School in Orange County, California. She thought it would be fun to come hang with us and do life with us here in Rocklin, CA. We have loved having her! She jumped right in and helped out with the high school group and got involved in the "512" Young adult group. She is a blessing and we are very proud of her! Between her and our other niece Kaylee (who also lives with us) they have added a whole new dimension to our home! Laughter, shoes, did I mention shoes? I have loved having girls in the home. We stayed up late on several Mondays and watched the Bachelorette on TVO! God is good! How awesome of Him to bless us with those unplanned moments that turn out be our most memorable ones! Girl energy is amazing to have in the house!

Three for tea...

On Friday I had the pleasure of having two of my neighborhood friends over for tea. They happen to be sisters and they happen to be twins! Eight year olds who are on there way to being in the third grade. A while ago, actually Christmas time...they had given me an adorable cookie jar filled with packaged cookies. I mentioned that we would have to have a tea party sometime to enjoy the cookies. Here it is summer and I thought I better get on that. I arranged with my friends to come over so I could make good on that suggestion and celebrate with them the joy of taking time out for tea! Quite simple and easy. We had p&j's; egg salad sandwiches; sliced nectarines; cookies and cherry flavored suckers and mango fruit tea of course along with some strawberry/lemonade flavored mix. What is something you need to make good on? Those things we mention casually of doing someday. Make time to do those things! You will be glad you did!

Hike from Big Meadows to Dardanelles Lake

This weekend I accomplished a "first." First time hiking into the woods with a 35 lb. pack on my back. Four miles up and and four miles down. We stayed over night. Yes...I came home alive! There were some parts where I thought I can't do this! I just had to keep putting one foot in front of the other. The power of pressing on towards the goal! The flowers, the meadow, the lake, the scenery was beautiful! I never thought dehyrdrated food could taste so good! We had Teryiaki Beef with rice for dinner and Blueberry Cheesecake for dessert. This morning scrambled eggs with bacon and granola cereal w/powdered milk. I would encourage all of you to do this and possibly put it on your 1001 things to do before you die list. We went with two other couples. Steve and Parisa Holt and Bob and Rachel Silva. We had a great time experiencing this together. Crazy how the encouragement of "Good Job"; "Your doing great"; "We're almost there!" would help us to keep going! Team work for sure! My husband led the way. He loves the outdoors. Everything about it! He took good care of me while out in the wilderness. He even brought up a small/mini coffee perculator so we could have fresh hot coffee! I fall in love with him more each day!