Under His Wings

FOR TODAY (October 13, 2008)...
Outside My Window...It is a cool rainy evening after a lovely, sunny fall day.
I am thinking...Ir's time to go and rouse my husband to get ready to go to work for the night.  I wish I could let him sleep, but I am glad that he has his job back.
I am thankful for...the Goodness and Faithfulness of God which I have seen over and over again in the last few months through my husband loosing his job and getting it back again; also through the situation we had of taking in a friend who has needs which we are not equipped to help her with.  God provided grace over and above what we could ask or imagine.
From the kitchen...I haven't had to make much in the kitchen lately.  We went to a surprise anniversary party on Saturday night and they sent us home with a huge tray of cut veggies which we have been putting on salads ever since.
I am wearing...the same capris I had on  in  August when I wrote this daybook and a red t-shirt.
I am creating..Just finished knitting an ipod cover. I was asked to make a pair of mittens for someone for a Christmas gift.
I am going...to get my bangs cut sometime this week, they are driving me crazy.
I am reading...the Torah portion, the "Messianic Moadim Devotional", and "Finding God" by Larry Crabb which is one of my daughter's textbooks in school
I am hoping...that the snow that I have heard is in Montana and Wyoming already will in no way hinder Hannah and Danny from coming home over their break at Christmas time.
I am hearing... Bill O'Reilly on television and Buck preparing his lunch for work
Around the house...I blew out the belt on my vacuum cleaner today.  I vacuumed up the nob to the air conditioner today and it severed  the belt in my vacuum cleaner.  While that happened there was not a little smoke that came out of the bottom of the cleaner which made for a very smelly.....oh about a half hour.  I had no idea that the nob of the air conditioner was on the floor.  Who would have ever thought that was where a nob would be?
One of my favorite things...was to be able to surprise my brother-in-law and his wife at their anniversary party.  We drove 3 1/2 hours to their party and they were so happy that we had come.

I also had the opportunity, this morning, to testify to the faithfulness of God and I love doing that.  There is nothing in me but His grace and I have seen it over and over again in these last few weeks.  I have seen it so clearly.  My He be blessed!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Tomorrow I will be going to the crisis pregnancy center to help with some of the final things that need to be done before our fundraising banquet on Saturday.  Then  Buck and I will be attending the banquet.  I am praying that those who attend will be blessed and that they will get a heart for the ministry of the center and want to bless the center in return.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...Actually, I have two today which I took last Friday during the high school Homecoming Parade.

You can read more of "The Simple Woman Daybook" from others here.

FOR TODAY (August 18th, 2008)...

Outside My Window...The sun is bright, the day is close, as my mother-in-law would say. It is definitely an August day.

I am thinking...of my daughter,Hannah, who left last evening on a long road trip to Spokane, WA where she and her boyfriend, Danny will be attending Moody Bible Institute for the next school year. We talked to them today about noontime and they had made it as far as Montana. My husband, son and I were all very teary yesterday when they left.

I am thankful for...wonderful, blessed friends who gave me a wonderful day celebrating my birthday today.  The ladies from my home fellowship group gave me a lovely breakfast tea on the enchanting sun room of one of the ladies.  It looked as if it came right out of a Country Living magazine.  They each took time to bless me and it was wonderful just to spend time together.  In the afternoon the ladies from the Bible study that I teach celebrated my birthday and it was a delightful time just to be with them also.  What a blessing to feel loved.

From the kitchen...My breakfast tea was served with scrambled eggs made with summer squash and parsley sprigs.  We also had a wonderful apple crunch made with oatmeal and granny smith apples.  Being gluten and sugar free makes for a trial when other people try to cook for you.

I am wearing...I am wearing a brand new pair of denim capris that are a size smaller than the ones I had on this morning.  They were on clearance at Fleet Farm.

 I am creating...strengthened relationships and a place of shalom for my family by the grace of God. Perhaps I will say more about this at another time.

I am going...to visit my mother on Thursday.  She will be having surgery on her back on Wednesday if all goes as planned.

I am reading..."The Committed Life" an inspiring book by Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis who talks about walking out the principles found in the Torah and how this applies to all of mankind.

I am hoping...

I am hearing...the women's gymnastic competition on television since I am finishing this post at a later time than I began it.  The Chinese girl just finished her uneven bar performance and there is a tie for first place.

Around the house...my dear husband is playing Risk on the other computer across the room and my son has gone to bed.  Since the last few days have been busy with getting Hannah packed and loaded to leave for school and then today was spent celebrating, my home is a mess and tomorrow will be spent doing laundry and trying to get things back in order.

One of my favorite things...is spending time with the ladies at my Bible study like I did today.  They are all older than I am being in their 70s and 80s.  After our Bible study, which is currently in the Book of Acts, they have to have their social time in which we always have coffee and some kind of dessert.  Then we sit over our coffee and solve the worlds problems.  We do a pretty good job, too, if only someone would listen to us, lol.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: after getting things back in order, I plan to spend sometime recharging my batteries, spending some extended time with the Lord and preparing for days ahead which I will write about in the future.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

This is a picture of Hannah and Danny that Hannah took when they had just bought a new point and shoot camera earlier this year.

This post is inspired by my blog friend, Beth. You can read Peggy's original Simple Woman's Daybook here.

For His Name's Sake.

There is reason for joy and celebration today. "Remember His wonders which He has done..." Psalm 105:5 25 years ago today my beloved and I were united as husband and wife. Here is a picture of me in my wedding dress.

We were married in the little church called the Lone Rock Congregational Church in Lone Rock, WI. So many memories and a wonderful man to share them with. The rabbis say that uniting two people in marriage is like parting the Red Sea. Well, God did that miracle once and He is doing that miracle again in us and we bless His Name. He has brought us through times of hardship and sickness, of the joy of new babies and the joy of just being the two of us alone together. We love laughing when no one gets the joke but us. We love talking about the Lord and reading His Word. We love blessing others in any way we can. I came across a saying once that said, "We may not have much, but together we have it all."

"The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." Psalm 126:3

For His Name's Sake.

We had a wonderful time with our Bible study on Saturday evening as we celebrated the Feast of Dedication, Hanukkah.   I will only take a few moments to share some pictures here and later today I will share some thoughts on the holiday.

This is a picture of the children in our home fellowship group.  They comprise roughly half of our group.  Aren't they a good looking bunch?!

We had some games for the children which included a treasure hunt.  Above you see the "Hebrews" team with the prize.  Unfortunately, they were not the first to find the prize this year.

The "Maccabees" were the first to find the prize!

During the week prior to our party, the children each made their own Hanukkiahs.  After a dinner of potato latkes, cheese, and donut holes the children watched a video of the story of the Maccabees while the adults watched a power point presentation of the history of Alexander the Great and the events surrounding Hanukkah.

Then we all gathered around the table with our Hanukkiahs, read the Scriptures about God bringing us from darkness into Light and lit our candles.

This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:5-7)

(My daughter took most of the photos.  I was holding the newest member of our group.  Little Matthew was born 6 weeks ago and is the sixth child born to our Bible study leader and his wife. )

We were able to keep our secret a secret and it worked out perfectly. Were did we go? We headed to the western side of the state to Praire du Chien, WI the home of Villa Louis, a Victorian mansion which I toured as a child, and Cabela's, the sporting goods company. Although Buck would love to sped a day at Cabela's that was not our destination this time. Our reason for going to Praire du Chien was to surprise a group of young people who are dear to our hearts.

Last year Buck and Hannah coached this team of Bible quizzers from the church we attended at the time. Josh was a Bible quizzer right along with them. Last weekend was their first quiz meet of the year and we went down to participate as quizmaster, scorekeepers and timekeeper. We arrived at the church 20 minutes before the team from our town arrived and we had managed to keep our participation in the event a secret. I am so glad that we did. The look on the faces of the teens was incredible. The young man on the far left of the picture at the top is my son's best friend. He had just been at our home on the previous Wednesday before the meet and we had talked about his participation in the quiz meet. We had not, however, let on that we would be there. He was totally surprised along with the others. Everyone gave us huge hugs and one girl started crying. It was so nice to be able to bless them in this way.

This is the novice team, all brand new quizzers. They won first place and the boy with the broken arm won first place individual. Well, I should also tell you that there were only two novice teams there so every team took home a trophy.

And this is the whole gang. The tall kid in the middle is my son, Josh, the smiling girl behind the trophy is my daughter, Hannah and the guy in the back with the beard is my husband, Buck. The weather was beautiful and the teams and coaches went to a corn maze on their way home to wind down from the competition of the day. Another quiz year is under way.

Last week I went to see this woman.  She is my 97 year old grandmother and her name is Dorothy which means, "Gift of God."  She truly has been a gift of God to me and to all the people in her life.  I learned some things last week about my grandmother's life that I didn't know before.  We talked about memories that I did know.  There are many things that she does not remember any more.   But, my memories of her are wonderful and I am truly blessed to have had a relationship with her and a heritage of having been her granddaughter.

My grandfather died 22 years ago.  We just put Grandma in the nursing home this spring.  One of the things that was found in going through her belongings was a Bible which Grandma had written in.  In that Bible she had written a description of what Heaven was going to be for her.  The most important part for her was going to be holding her husband's hand again.  They loved each other so much.  And they were an example to me of a wonderful married couple.

I lived with my grandparents for 2 1/2 years while I attended college and did an internship.  Grandma took care of Grandpa since he had had a severe car accident when I was young and several heart attacks after that.  Grandpa would peel the apples when Grandma made apple pies.  She didn't mind his snoring because then she knew he was beside her in bed.  He loved her "salt and pepper" graying hair.

When they first married Grandpa would sell mole's feet for a quarter so that they could go to a movie.  Grandma used to love to dance, but Grandpa didn't so he used to say that Grandma would, "Dance with the wolves, but go home with the sheep."   My Grandpa was a good man.  My Grandma loved to laugh.

Grandma did have pain in her life, but she would never talk about that.  I don't think I ever saw her complain or cry very much.  Last week I found out that she had an alcoholic father.  Because of his drinking they had to move around a lot when she was a child.  He's kind of stuck in her brain now and she talks about him whereas she never did before.    But, she points to the picture of Grandpa and says, "He was a good man."  I'm so glad she had him.

The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me. Psalm 16:6

Blessed are you Lord our God, King of the Universe, who desires to dwell with Your People.

My Bible study group recently had the opportunity to celebrate the Biblical Feast of Tabernacles together.  This is a picture of the booth that we made together.   Yes, it looks a lot like our sukkah from last year.   I love all of the Biblical Holidays, but this one has a special meaning.  Sukkot is a time of rejoicing and celebrating.  We are commanded to rejoice because God desires to dwell with His people.

The flimsy sukkah is a symbol of the tents in which the Israelites traveled in the wilderness.  It is also a symbol of our temporary dwellings here on earth.  Even though the world would clamor round about us, we can rest securely because through the open roof of the sukkah we can see the heavens and our God is there.  We are safe in His care.  We are His people.  He is in covenant with us.  He is a covenant keeping God.

"You have today declared the LORD to be your God, and that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice.        The LORD has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments; and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a consecrated people to the LORD your God, as He has spoken." Deut. 26:17-19

It is a covenant relationship.  He chose us and sent His Son to be the Saviour of the world.  We must choose to walk in His ways, to be set apart for Him.  He gives us the grace to do that.

For His Name's Sake.

(The pictures on this post were taken by my daughter.  You can see more of her pictures here. )

I couldn't exactly get the best angle for a picture last night.  Altogether we had 13 people at our table for dinner.  As you can see we had a handful of teens and a handful of younger children.  

This year on Wednesday afternoons my son's best friend comes while Josh is at jazz band and sits upstairs doing schoolwork for about an hour until Josh gets home.  We then feed the boys supper and they spend sometime together before Mark leaves for youth group.  Generally, Josh does not attend youth group any longer since we are no longer attending the church.  Last night we had extra guests for dinner.

Wednesday afternoons are also the days that Hannah spends with Toni, the young gal that she has mentored for the last four years.  Occasionally,  Toni brings a friend along to bring to youth group as was the case last evening.

Now for the extra six people.  Yesterday, my good friend, Lori called and asked if I would watch her five children while she went to the chiropractor and ran a couple of other errands.  Lori is expecting her sixth child at the end of Oct. and has been having back pain.  So they ended up staying with us for dinner.   So this was one hopping place again last night.  But, this was only the beginning of the excitement.

Immediately after dinner all the teenagers left.  It was bowling night at youth group so Josh went with Mark, Hannah dropped the girls off and then she had to go and play piano for the community theater practice which her roommate is the choral director for.  It's amazing how much quieter a house can get when there are only five children there.  Whoa!

Lori and I decided to take her children to a park in town that has gotten new playground equipment.  To get to this park we had to drive across town and over the bridge.  We also had to park on the far end of the park because of some construction that was being done to the road directly near the park.  As we drove over the bridge we noticed two small children, a brother and sister team, walking over the bridge alone.  Lori said aloud in the car, "Where is your Momma?"  And her youngest daughter replied, "Where is your Momma, " because the children didn't really know why Lori had said this.  Both Lori and I realized at the time that the children were obviously way ahead of their mother, but didn't think about stopping to check on them.

We got to the park about 6:45 p.m. and knew that we only had about half an hour before it got dark on us.  We kept the children within eyesight and chatted as we only get to see each other at Bible study.

It wasn't long before it started getting dark.  I'm not sure of the time it was when a boy about the age of 9 came up to us on a bicycle with the two children from the bridge and asked if we had a cell phone because these two children had left home to come to the park and didn't know how to get back home.   We learned that the girl, age 6, had fallen into the water and had somehow hurt her toe.  Besides being cold, she was frightened.  Her brother was 4.  Thankfully, the girl knew her phone number and we were able to call her mother who didn't even know that they were gone.  As far as she knew they had been outside playing and she was just about to go and call them into the house.

The sky grew more dark as we waited for her to come and it became difficult to see.  When she finally came and it was time to leave the little boy began to run off again.  My friend's five children all walked very close to her as they have been trained to do.

As we walked back to Lori's van I told her children that they had blessing in obeying their mother.   When they obey their mother they don't have to worry about getting lost,  possibly drowning, their mother not knowing where they are,  or being cold and afraid.  God in His mercy protected those children.  I don't know how that little girl got out of the water.  That park is on the Wisconsin River.  Surely it was His Hand.

For His Name's Sake.

Last night we had a little get together with some friends. We used to do this all the time. The last time was eight years ago. Wow, time flies. We would have a shared meal and then a game of volleyball. Now the small children belong to someone else and my children are the participants in the volleyball game right along with their dad.

The reason we were having this gathering on a Monday night is because some friends from California were in town. These friends had lived here several years ago so it was good to see them and spend some time with them catching up on what they were doing.

Hannah had the host's baby for a good portion of the evening.

Last week was a week of change and mixed emotions at this white house.  Our daughter, Hannah, moved into her own apartment.   While this is a good thing and it was time and she was ready, it is also a bittersweet thing.  When you have homeschooled your children from birth and they have been in your home practically 24/7 it is strange to have them gone.  I know it is commonplace for me to say, "It seems like just yesterday she was just a baby, " or "They grow up so fast, "  but it is really true.   I remember all those times when I thought the toddler days would never end, when I had a strong-willed daughter and a baby boy with ear infections.  I thought I would never make it through.  My, oh, my!  Where did the years go?

Here are a couple of pictures from the last couple of weeks.

I wanted to take pictures of Hannah's last day at home.  My children weren't too keen on the idea.

Contemplating a decision.

Josh on his new moped.

I bless the LORD for my children.  They are a work of HIS grace in my life.  In their lives.  People keep telling me that it is because I spent so much time with them and poured myself into them.  But, there are so many ways in which I fell short.  I still fall short.   I just keep pointing them to Him and telling my children that one day their dad and I will have to give an account for how we raised them.

For His Name's Sake.