A New View

A few years ago I enjoyed a women's study on the Psalms. During this study we talked about what in nature speaks to us of God and His presence in our lives. I really identified with that thought - the study reaffirmed to me how much God speaks to us thru his wonderful creation.

Psalm 125:1 & 2, "Those who trust in the Lord are like

Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures

forever, As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the

Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore."

The above verse is one of my favorite "comfort" verses - a verse I have turned to in the past to remind me that God is there and surrounding us with His love. I read it over and over the summer of 1999 when it felt our lives were being shattered. Then again, this past year it has come to my mind and lips a thousand times. It words have truly been a comfort to me.

Seeing the created beauty in Oregon, my verse kept coming to mind and I felt a gentle reminder that God surrounds me by His love and presence in my life. This past week in Oregon, I began to view these words not just as a source of comfort, but I also came to see them as a promise for what lies ahead. I know God holds wonderful plans for our future and I can barely wait as those plans unfold.

The House Is Under Contract

Someone has put in an offer (which we accepted after a counter offer and another counter offer) on the house, so now it is under contract! Praise God - He has blessed us these last few weeks. His Spirit gave us both such a sense of peace over our decision to lower the price of the house and we knew in our hearts that we could leave this matter in God's loving hands. The price was lowered about 5 minutes when the buyer's realtor called ours to set up a time to view the house. The buyer has come by several times, plus he had his folks come by to see it. Each viewing left Brian and I both with a good feeling. He is a first time home buyer, so he is taking advantage of a Arizona program to help with his down. The sale becoming final is contigent upon that working out, but we are leaving it in God's hands. The buyer doesn't want to take posssession until the end of August - perfect timing for us as Brian's retirement date is August 31st. God is good and he is keeping his hands on our lives! I praise Him for seeing the big picture and taking care of our needs and timing!

Grandbaby II is on the Way!

We have a grandbaby on the way! Brian and I received an early morning phone call a couple of weeks ago. "Mom and Daddy, we are pregnant - we're having another baby!" We were instructed it was a secret until Amanda had her first appointment but I admit, I did tell a few people here and my best friend Joyce. Oh the bliss of the news! Another Grandbaby to love! I think of how much we love Casen and then I try to grasp the thought of that love multiplied by two - what a thought! I can barely wait!

Yesterday we received this phone picture:

We were so excited - the big news was out. This morning, I remembered, "I can now post the big news on Facebook, my blog, and I can talk about it with our Moms and the rest of the family - yeah!!!

Proverbs again comes to my mind, "Children's children are a crown to the aged . . ." It is true! What a wonderful blessing we receive here on this earth - Grandbabies!

Our Home

I have been thinking about us selling our house and I realized that I have been calling it our "house" not our home. Hmm . . . it got me to thinking. I love this house - it was the first place Brian and I have owned as just the two of us. We have tried with God's help, to make it a welcoming place, a place where our friends and family would find love, joy, comfort and peace.

As our Home these walls have:

seen us at our best and at our worst,

been a place of refuge, comfort

and peace for Brian and I,

heard our prayers to God -

both our petitions and our praise,

welcomed our friends with

warm meals and a soft bed,

been a safe, fun place for children to come,

welcomed a few strangers

and saw them become friends,

enjoyed Casen's first Christmas,

been a temporary home for both of our Moms,

welcomed our children and their families,

been filled with the laughter of reminiscing

each time our siblings came to visit,

heard a few heart to heart talks,

seen tears fall -

some of joy and some of heartache,

and been filled with love - always.

These wall have held a lot of living and I believe that is why we have called it home. God has blessed Brian and I through this home - with good friends, loving family and lots of memories. I think placing it on the market has made me begin to tuck away all the memories and start looking ahead to our next home and the blessings God will provide to Brian and I there.

Psalm 127:1a, "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain."

Trusting It To God

We signed papers yesterday morning to list our house for sale. I was feeling excited, a little sad and just a bit nervous while waiting for our realtor to bring over the papers. During this time, I re-read our son-in-law's post on his blog about selling their home (http://www.map-vs-territory.blogspot.com/ the entry entitled: Buying a House.....A Spiritual Journey). I then prayed some more. The Spirit let His peace fill my heart. Although this next year or so is going to be bringing some changes into our lives, I know God will bring blessings from these changes.

In times past I have struggled with listening to God's timing and I have struggled many times with keeping my hands off that which I have given to God. Please pray that I will keep the sale of this house, the timing, any obstacles and the blessings in God's very capable and loving hands. I want to enjoy the changes that are coming. I know He sees the BIG PICTURE and I want to trust it to Him.

Psalm 46:10a, "Be still and know that I am God . . ."

One Favorite Part of Moving

One of my favorite parts of moving is the packing, I know that probably sounds strange, but hear me out. When I start packing, I savor it. I feel like I am on a treasure hunt. The treasure is the memories I will eventually run across - some stuffed in a box that hasn't seen the light of day since the last move, some are in "photo safe storage" boxes - still waiting to make it into a scrapbook and some are just randomly stuck in-between books, etc.

Some of Today's Treasures

The patches of my husband's old uniform - the ones from

when he first entered the Border Patrol and to go

with those, I found the pictures from the day he

was promoted to a supervisor.

A too sweet picture of Mandie holding newborn
Jordan in the hospital with me looking on smiling nervously.


The packet of pictures that still brings a lump to my throat. The ones capturing my last days with my Dad. Along with those, I found a story I started several years ago. It is about my Dad - a story to acquaint my grandchildren with this special man that they won't have the gift of meeting here on earth. It isn't going back into the stash I found it in, I think I want to pick up with it where I left off. I have a grandbaby now and I would like to have it for him to read some day.





A funny picture of our children and a hairy little "boy" named Thad. I still laugh when I see this photo - the kids really enjoyed having a dog, especially one that would let them dress him up in Jordan's old clothes.



A picture of my Mom and Brian's folks in Oatman, Arizona. We
took fresh carrots and were trying to not feed them all to the same couple of greedy donkeys. We tried hiding the carrots in Dad's wheelchair (I still don't know why we thought that would keep the
donkeys from finding them), but the donkeys didn't take long to sniff them out!

And finally a picture I didn't know I had. I can't say I remember this day, but I'm glad I have a photo of baby me and our dog Trixie.

She was our faithful dog for a lot of years. When my brother went into the army, Trixie started sleeping at the foot of my bed.

Memories.

Do you see why packing is one of my favorite parts of moving?

Angels' Spring Training

While in Ajo, I bought tickets to take Brian to an Angel's Spring Training Game in Tempe. He is always up for a baseball game and since he is a Die-Hard fan of the Angels, I knew the tickets would be a double in his eyes. We had a fun day . . . slathering on sunblock, watching the game, cheering for the Angels, eating peanuts and nachos, passing beer and soda down the line and watching people.