In Awe

     I've always loved to look up at the night sky, so clear and crisp and unfathomable. The moon with its predictable pattern, and, so amazingly, even the unending stars stretching out over the universe are set in their places, as they have been for thousands of years. Amazing! What an awesome God to have made this! But even more amazing is that in the midst of all this he reaches down to me, and to you, with such individual love.

Linking with Scribble Picnic. Fly "Across the Universe" here to see how others have been inspired by this week's topic.

Psalm 8 New International Version (NIV)

1 Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
    in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
    you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
    to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?

5 You have made them a little lower than the angels
    and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
    you put everything under their feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
    and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
    and the fish in the sea,
    all that swim the paths of the seas.

9 Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Trunk or Treat

Have done trunk or treat at our church's fall fest for three years now.

2014

That's Brittany helping out.

2015
"It's a zoo in here! How many of the creatures God made can you find?"

There's a mirror at the back so they can count themselves as made by God too.

2016

"Don't be an Angry Bird"

Bible verses about anger and forgiveness.

July of 2014

July of 2014.  That's as far as I got previously with posting events going on in my life.

July of 2014.  That's when my life changed.  Not in a way that doesn't happen to people every day, but still a change that no one wants to go through.

Mom took a tumble in her living room, broke a vertebra in her neck, and was hospitalized not quite two weeks.  We always worried about her falling and breaking something, because of extreme osteoporosis.  That hospital time is not something I want to dwell on.  Just suffice it to say that it was awful for all of us watching her be so miserable because of getting very little much-needed sleep and from the hallucinating effects of pain medicine.  Rant: Hospitals--let your patients sleep if they're asleep!  It was a hot, hot, July day when Mom left the hospital and was transferred to a care home.  So many little things added up to more frustration, but we were glad to have her closer to her own home. That night brought swift-moving pneumonia.  It was just a week before Mom's 90th birthday. So grateful to have been able to be with Mom.  So grateful for loving and supportive family and friends.  So grateful for God's love and never failing promises.

July of 2014.  That's when Mom left this world and moved on to the glory of her eternal home in heaven.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God,who is to come into the world.”

John 11:25-27

Note to Self

Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

I Thessalonians 5:16-18

Signs of Promise

No blooms yet like Wanda has in California, but we do have hope of spring!

I know Martha in New York really doesn't care much for these particular birds, but seeing them here headed north is a good sign for us.

The season we began yesterday is another sign of promise for us.

Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

Hebrews 10:22-24 (NIV)

Simply Superb!

Wanda assigned me the letter "S" for listing 10 things that I love.

In no particular order....

1. Sunshine
2. Siamese cats--Tang, Ting, Ling, Zing, and currently Ka-Ching!
3. Scotcheroos, Sopapilla cream cheese dessert, and other Sweets!
   
4. Singing to my Savior--"I will sing to the LORD as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God while I have being." Psalm 104:33
   
5. Sleep/Sweet Dreams--"In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for thou alone, O LORD, makest me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:8
6. Snowflakes--especially ones that are big, fat, and slow to float to the ground
7. Starry Skies, Sunrises, Sunsets--"When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast established, what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou dost care for him?" Psalm 8:3-4
   
8. Sweetie, Son, and Sisters (That's B, M, K and T in case you couldn't guess!)
9. Silliness--there's nothing like getting those endorphins going with a can't stop, can't get my breath, here come the tears round of the giggles!
   
10. Sarah Sisters--That would be the ladies of the Sarah Circle I belong to at church. We are known to Study Seriously, as well as engage in much Silliness at our meetings.
    

If anyone else would like to make a list, just leave a comment and I will be glad to assign a random letter for you.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Go to the ant...

Just for the record, the grumpiness is not so severe now. :-)
The list of stuff needing done is just as big as ever, but that's life.

We have snow!

Some blogger friends and I are reading through Proverbs this month. Verses 6-11 (in the Revised Standard Version) from today's chapter have been favorites of mine for a long time. "Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways and be wise." Prov. 6:6