Weekend

FINALLY.....we got to go to Redwood Creek! I love sitting in the creek in the summer...having campfires....bbq's....BUT, I sooo love the winter, snow/hail on the ground...the raging "creek" river, the chill in the air. And now (officially) Spring, there is new life everywhere.  It was so nice to get up there and check everything out.

A great day of fun at "The Creek" and a wonderful day at church hearing the testimonies of our Guatemala Mission Team's recent trip. I never cease to be amazed at God's provision in every step of our lives and listening to the team just showed even more of His abundant provision.
I am so thankful for all HE has blessed me with....thank YOU JESUS!!!
Have a blessed day!!

Homeschool Fun

So, when we decided I should homeschool the chickadees, I was quite nervous. I had tried it once before with my oldest and failed miserably, but we KNEW that the Lord wanted us to pull our kids, and homeschool. I have to be honest and say that part of me, the very selfish part of me, thought, "I don't want to give up my alone time during the day!!!" I really do covet a nice quiet home, time to focus on the Lord, time to focus on the housework, get my errands done (which ALWAYS goes faster when you are alone). So, I prayed. And I prayed. And I prayed. I knew I was being selfish, so I asked the Lord to change my heart, and oh how He did just that. I still covet my alone time, it just doesn't come as frequently, which makes that alone time so much sweeter. But the fun (yes I said fun) I am having with my chickadees is irreplacable!! We have our bumpy moments, but that's just life. Mostly, we have fun. I get to watch my kiddos face light up when the switch goes on while learning a new concept. I get to rejoice with them when they are soo excited about finally "getting it".  We get to have pajama day once a week, every week. We get to take breaks in the day and have some camera fun:

Really, I would not trade this life change for anything in the world. I thank God for our Homeschooling Family!! I thank God He has made it a fun time for us. I thank God for........my life!!

Have a wonderfully bessed day!!!

Again

Well, I have decided to try blogging again...it has been soooo long. Probably nothing elaborate at this point....such a busy schedule. Now a Army Mom, a Homeschool Mom, and very busy with other activities, sometimes it's hard to just get on the computer at all, at least not longer than to check my email and Husbands emails.
I will say this today though, I am learning, and hopefully living about true joy. I thought I knew, and in some sense, I did know, but now....now I am digging deeper into this Love relationship with my Lord. It is always exciting to me when the Lord takes you deeper into His truths...I am overflowing with awe right now, and I know there will be SOMETHING at SOMETIME that will try to steal my awe, but I have a Savior who can help me see the joy, even in those times. My journey has only just begun, I am sooo excited!!!

Have a fantastic day!!

Summer So Far

Well, summer has struck the great North Coast. Well, at least Blue Lake that is.  I love the weather we have here in Humboldt, again, at least here in Blue Lake. I have lived here the majority of  my life and still it never ceases to amaze me how just a couple of short miles inland (Blue Lake) completely changes the weather. It will be foggy in the next town over, but beautiful and sunny here, and even hotter just a few more short miles inland where we have some family property we get to enjoy whenever we want (schedule allowing). So, summer so far: Tom is gone (I know, I sound like a broken record, but you send your firstborn off into their adult life and see how you handle it :0) ). We are all adjusting pretty well. We all miss him a lot, and God has been so good to us to keep us busy and occupied. I never though I would call the business of our lives "good" but, all that business keeps us from being a bunch of whiners about being a man down around here. We are doing our best to take full advantage of our inland property while we can.  Kids playing in the creek, trying to catch lizards, trying to catch butterflies, campfires, more creek time...quality time with family and friends that does not require a TV or anything electronic. Just good old fashion fellowship in the great outdoors. Asides from a sunburn here or there, occasional scraped knees, tic checks at the end of each day, we have it pretty good around here. I feel so blessed that God loves me so much. I can't wait to share summer times at the creek with new friends, old friends and just some one on one family time. Summer so far, has been an amazing adventure for us, certainly nothing dull about this summer. Can't wait to see what the rest of summer has in store for us. Hope you are all having a wonderful summer as well!!! Blessings!!!

Life

It's amazing to me sometimes how life is, how God moves, how things change.  I just spent 10 days with my sister and her family and if felt more like 2 days. Sooo much activity, so many changes: baby's being born (WELCOME LEVI)  baby's growing up and shipping off to the Army, baby's learning that sometimes when you think you have it all together-you realize you have completely lost your focus. (That would be me :0) ) As I try to take a moment to focus in everything happening in our lives, I was stunned to hear the Lord say REMEMBER ME?? Not quite in question form. As a matter of fact, it was more in the form of a song, I think it's even called Remember Me by Mark Schultz: Remember Me, I remember you.  A gal sang that the Sunday I was at my sisters church, and I realized not that I had "forgotten" about the Lord, but I certainly was not devoting my time, my trust, my comfort or my concerns to Him. I was bundling them all up in a not so pretty package and laid it right on my heart so that all I could feel was chaos. Then in that one phrase "remember ME, cause I remember you", I was able to take a deep breath and cry a little at my shame of what I had allowed to overtake me, and cry a little more that I have such a loving Father that he literally told me to remember Him....REMEMBER ME....FOCUS ON ME.  So, I have had to resolve, and may need some reminding from time to time, that I will focus on God my Father, Jesus my Savior, and the Holy Spirit my Comforter, THREE IN ONE. I will focus on the joy that is my life, the joy that is my family, the joy that is my friends, the joy that is my learning more and more from the Lord each and every day and most of all the joy that is Jesus.
I hope you all have a joy filled day? no, a joy filled life!!

T Minus 20 and Counting....

Well, it's all becoming more official.  We are now officially in June, we are now officially on the countdown of many things: Toms first prom, my birthday, Toms graduation, Toms graduation BBQ at church (not just his, but he is part of the brood of graduates), me and the kids heading down to Stockton, somewhere in there my new little niece being born, and then the real official date: JUNE 21, the day I take Tom to the hotel and drop him off to be shipped to Georgia the next day. Somehow, I suspect the next three weeks are going to be a blur, which is sad to me because suddenly I feel the urge to cram all the would have should have could haves in, which of course will be impossible. But I plan to enjoy, to the best of my ability, the next three weeks. The pride of seeing him in his tux, with his beautiful (in every way) girl on his arm heading to prom. The joy of watching him walk the platform and receive his diploma. The fun of a long car ride with him and the other chickadees. And somehow try to enjoy the time of driving him up to Sacramento, checking him into his hotel, taking him to dinner: just him and I, and then dropping him back off at the hotel, and not see him again for at least three months. I love my children with every fiber of my being, but I am not really one of these mushy kind of moms...I envy those moms sometimes, but, that is just not who I am: or at least not who I thought I was, now that we are on a very short countdown, I am discovering I am MUCH more mushy that I originally thought.
If my son ever reads this, I hope he knows how VERY much I love him, how VERY honored I have been to raise him and call him son, and how VERY proud of him I am of how he has "turned out", the life choices he has made.
I know I am a rambler, but I just needed to ramble today. :0)

God of All Comfort

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort which we ourselves are comforted by God." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Merriam-Webster defines comfort as: 1) to give strength and hope to, and 2) to ease the grief or trouble of.
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia defines comfort as: to call along side of i.e. to summon for assistance....to cheer and encourage....it indicates the dispelling of grief by the impartation of strength.
God IS all of the above, and not only that, He wants US to be all of the above, but we can't be a comfort unless we let HIM be our comfort...."that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort which we ourselves are comforted by God". We can't give something we don't have...you have to have possession of something before you can give it to anyone....you can't give love, if you don't know what love is, or feels like, you can't forgive unless you know what forgiveness feels like...on and on...
We want to be a comfort to people we know and love and clearly need comforting, but I think sometimes we hesitate because maybe we don't know how to comfort, we are afraid comforting will require sacrifice (by the way, it does), we are afraid our attempt to comfort will be rejected...etc. etc. I think, clearly by scripture, we need to recognize how God comforts us...that is our pattern. 
How does God comfort ME? Well, as cliche and it may sound, the best most rewarding comfort comes from His word, I gain comfort from praise and worship, I gain comfort from the fellowship I have with my friends, and there are times, that I need His comfort so badly that when I cry out to Him (with groaning which cannot be uttered) I can practically feel His arms around me. So what does that mean for me comforting others? Well, I would say, most of the time, comfort comes in the form of "touch"....I mean, put your arms around that person and tell them you love them and you are there for them...pray for them, we by far underestimate the power of prayer...maybe send them a little card in the mail, add some comforting scripture....I would say, think about how you are comforted by the God of ALL comfort and use that as your pattern.
Have a truly blessed day!!