Thoughts from my time with the Lord this morning.

Once again I was reminded of the importance of spending time in the Lord's Word. Below are my reflections from this morning.

Reflections from my Advent readings:

Mark 11:24 "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

Lord, I have sought healing for my headaches in prayer and the prayers of many others. Lord my desire is for my headaches to disappear but Lord maybe that is not your will. Maybe you want me to learn to live with them just as Paul learned to live with and deal with "the thorn in his side." Lord, help me to keep my focus on you not on the pain of these headaches. Help me to turn to you not only each day but each hour of every day, to trust you that I can do the things required of me and to do them with a joyous and loving heart.

Romans 10:17 "So faith comes from what is heard and what is heard come through the words of Christ."

I need to keep my mind filled on God's words to keep the thoughts that Satan puts in my mind at bay. Lately those thoughts have been thoughts of defeat and despair.

~~Keeping a hold of my own faith in God is what gives me my purpose for living - to serve God in all things I do, as a woman, wife, mother, grandmother, friend, family and church family member, and co-worker. As long as I keep my focus on God and his words I won't fall into the traps of Satan.~~

Philipians 4:7

I need to continually seek "the peace that passes all understanding" for God's peace is one of the strengths that God gives me each day.

Hebrews 11:1 "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

God is the wisdom, strength, peace and healer in my life. I just need to continually put my faith and belief in Him. Not looking towards others for answers but believing God will give me the answers and reassurances through his word and those who are in my life who also believe in him. I know this sounds like a double message BUT I need to first seek God's counsel and he will guide me through his words, those who believe in him who he sends into my life. Sorry if this does not make sense - he does to me.

~~ With God all things are possible!~~

From "Our Daily Bread" daily devotion for 12/10/08

John 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me (Jesus)."

Matthew 1:18-25 "The masterpiece of God's creation, marred by turning away from Him, can be restored when we give our heart to Christ."

Jesus was born and came to earth to fulfill God's promises and to repair our sin damaged lives. A life that can be restored by my faith and trust in God the Father, Jesus Christ his son, and following where the Holy Spirit leads.

~~Isn't that what it all boils down to - trusting and believing God and his word, seeking his truths every day and following his plans for me.~~

Thoughts about the Advent and Christmas Season.

I have been busy working at the church today. It is such a busy time of the year.

So much is happening in the next few weeks with our church family and our community. Tomorrow we are decorating the church in the morning, someone is renting the church for the afternoon for a wedding and then we have services on Sunday. Sunday is the 2nd Sunday of Advent. The sermon is titled "Make Every Effort." The focal passage is one of the liturgical scriptures for this Sunday found in the third chapter of Second Peter, verses 8-15. In our time of preparing to celebrate the first coming of Christ, we should also look forward to the second. Peter calls for us to make every effort to live now in view of his return. And with the lighting of the Advent Wreath it makes for a special service.

And then in two weeks we have the busiest weekend of all:

The Living Nativity is on Friday, 12/19 from 6 - 8 p.m. We are having children of the congregation representing Mary & Joseph, plus the animals, the reading of the Christmas story, along with the music team leading Christmas carols, the bonfire and the hayride with caroling. It is a time for the community come and share in the Christmas story, listen to wonderful Christmas carols, eating lots of homemade goodies and just having a wonderful evening with family and friends. A busy night yet loads of fun. If your in the area we would love to have you come and be a part of this wonderful night.

On December 20th Ron and I celebrate our 33rd wedding anniversary! As of right now I don't think we have any plans - we may need the day to rest between the Living Nativity and services on Sunday. I am thinking it might be fun to just spend the day together, maybe going for a walk along the beach and thinking about the many adventures we have had together over all those years. There's so many that to tell about them now would make this blog probably the longest one in history. I will save the romp down memory lane for another blog.

The children are busy getting ready for their program which will be on the 21st. It is always such a wonderful treat to have them sing and recite scripture and be with family and friends. And of course, the wonderful potluck and fellowship following the service is always a delight.

On the evening of the 21st Ron and I will be going to our friends, Jerry & Lynda's for their annual Christmas gathering. It is a wonderful time to visit and be with friends, catching up with those that we only get to see once or twice a year and just having a relaxing evening among all the other activities.

We are also once again getting ready for the annual Christmas Dinner Boxes - this will be the third year that we will be putting the boxes together and distributing them. It is a fun time with carols playing in the background, lots of people packing the boxes and knowing that many families will have a wonderfully delicious holiday dinner. We will be putting the boxes together and handing them out on 12/22 & 23. I believe we are doing 200 boxes for families in our community. If you would like to help, give me a call or drop me an email and I can fill you in on the specifics.

We end all the hustle and bustle with the Christmas Eve Communion Service. That is one of my most favorite events of the whole season. I love the intimacy of the group and the ambiance in the sanctuary with the lights from the Christmas tree and around the windows, the candles on the altar and in the foyer. Sitting with friends and recollecting the Christmas story, sharing of scripture, singing of Christmas carols and celebrating communion together.

As I have been writing I have been getting more and more excited about the next few weeks. I know it is a busy time yet keeping the focus on the meaning of Christmas and thinking about being with family and friends in many different venues is exciting.

Well, Ron has gone off to bed after a busy day with two plumbing jobs and then joining a group of men from our church putting the finishing touches on the molding in the foyer and the hallway. I think I will follow him as tomorrow is another busy day. I will be at the church for the advent decorating, finishing up the bulletin, the handouts and I am sure a couple of other things. In the evening the Blaine boys basketball team has a game against Ferndale and since I keep the book that is where you will find us. Wishing you all a good week and a wonderful time during this Advent Season.

Tidbits

Thought I would pass on a few pictures of the grandkids (I need a recent one of Max, hint, hint) so here is Opal at Grandma's. It is hard to believe she is 9 1/2 months. She is rolling from front to back, loves to jump and has the biggest smile. We so enjoy our time with her. Opal, Jamie and Suzanne joined us for Thanksgiving dinner - we were a little tight in the motor home but we enjoyed being together.






Here is a picture of Christopher taken a few weeks ago. He is busy eating breakfast while Mommy, Daddy and Max get ready for school and work. Just the night before he got his hair cut! He looks like such a big boy with his new doo!


I don't have any recent pictures of Max but will be sure to post one as soon as it arrives, hint! hint!:)

Here is a picture of our Christmas tree. Its place of honor is in the passenger seat of the motor home. Just the right size for our cozy home. Not much room for presents so I guess I don't have to buy very many:)

Anyway, just wanted to drop in and say hello.

Jamie's Car

So you all know that when I had Jamie's car I was hit by a car backing out of the post office. Well...Suzanne took his car to work on Monday. While working there was an overhead page for the owner of a black, Honda Del Sol to come to the customer service counter. Suzanne went to find out what was wrong. A man had backed into it in the parking space!

The car is so darn SMALL, that it is often hard to see that it is in the spot and this guy pulled into it - denting the front end all up!!

So now Jamie has to get the front end and the right rear panel/bumper repaired! He told his Dad that "NO woman will ever drive his car again!"

I feel so bad for Jamie, but then again, we rejoice - no one was injured in either accident and the car can be repaired. It is just a big inconvenience to get it to the shop, get a rental car......

Alice's Headache Woes

As many of you know I have been dealing with some pretty strong migraines since the middle of September.

I think I went about 2 weeks without a major headache and then this past Sunday, 11/30 I woke around 1:00 a.m. with a horrific headache - definitely a 10 on the pain chart! I tried to go to church and did get Communion set up with the help of Edith - thanks Edith and the bulletins stuffed. By then I thought I was going to get sick! So back home I went.

I spent all of Sunday and most of Monday in the bed or on the couch. I woke this morning with the pain 3/4. I went to the church to get the bulletins ready to mail, went to the post office and came home. By the time I got home the headache was back up to about a 6! I called Fred Meyer and the prescription for 12 pills is ONLY $304.50! Whippee! Yeah! don't know anyone who can afford that type of cost for a prescription that may or may not knock out the headache. So being the resourceful person that I am ~ I searched the internet, found a voucher for 3 free pills (Maxalt) but can't get the darn thing to print!!!! I did get a coupon for $20 off so now I only need $284.50...wonder how long that will take to find.

I think you get the jest of this writing...I have a horrific headache and am feeling frustrated that the drug manufacturers charge so darn much for a medication. How do they expect to sell the medication when it costs almost as much as the moon.

So now I am off to lay down on the couch and pray that my headache goes away. Ron and I have our first basketball game of the season tonight in Blaine. Boys tonight and girls on Saturday.

Talk to you all soon.

Followers

Just wanted to let you know I have added a new gadget on my blog. It is to the right of the blogs and called Followers. I think if you say you want to follow this blog you will get notification each time I write a new post - sign-up and let's see if it works.

Quick Update

Greetings on this rare but sunny day in Blaine.

Just thought I would drop a quick note to say we are still here:) Jamie, Suzanne and Opal spent the evening of Thanksgiving with us and we ate the traditional turkey dinner.

How the turkey got cooked...Ron kept saying we could cook a 10-12 lb turkey in our little oven in our motor-home but alas the 12 lb bird we bought was just too big. So...in collaboration with Kathryn Brehmer (she was staying at the Alesse's (The C Shop) along with her brother, sister-in-law and niece, Emma and nephew, Tom) her cooking was done around 3:15 and then our turkey went in. Cooked for 3 hours and was done, so we had a late dinner beginning around 6:30. All the food was delicious, Suzanne brought a cherry chiffon and a black-cherry chiffon and the only mishap was while Ron and I were cleaning up the dishes I realized the oven was still on. I opened it to find some very overcooked sweetpotatoes and very brown marshmallows! I tried to eat them the next day and they were quite discusting:(.

All is well with us and hope the same is true for you.