71derful Years!

(Mom and I at Kiki’s Surprise 50th Birthday Party in 2009)

Happy Birthday to my wonderful mother who turns 71 today! I’m glad you got to go to Wisconsin, mom to be with the other August birthday grandchildren, but count on some birthday spankings from me when you return. Hee hee. I love you so much, and I thank God that He blessed me with a wonderful mother like you. I hope you enjoy your special day.

Love,

your favorite child

 

Reunion

This poem is dedicated to my dear friend, May.

Time and distance can cause

some relationships to

decay, but

that has not been the case

with you,

old friend.

When I heard your voice

again, you sounded exactly

the same, and suddenly,

I was transported back to

our teen years.

Remembering the little things;

Your ankles cracking

every morning when

you got out of bed.

Filling your closet space

with…………………

those dreaded banana peels,

and other scenarios

too numerous to mention.

But we are not kids

anymore, and some painful

blows have come your way.

I see you still

fighting the fight,

and I am reminded that

not everything which

is crushed goes

in the discard pile.

Tear the delicate petal

of a rose in

tiny pieces and,

there is still sweet fragrance

to enjoy.

And so friend,

Let’s march on.

Will I see you

in your state?

Or will you visit

in my state?

I do not know.

But

there is a

City that awaits us!

7-19-10

 

Getting Closer

The teenage girl marveled at the testimonies of the elders in her church. Several times she had heard different ones stand up and thank the Lord that He had saved them and kept them for 40+ years. Life hadn’t always been easy, but God had been with them every step of the way. “Wow, what a testimony to be able to serve God all those years! I hope that will be my testimony some day,” thought the teenage girl. At the age of 16, she had repented of her sins, been baptized in the name of Jesus and gloriously filled with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. Although she enjoyed her new found faith in God, she often found herself fighting against the voice of discouragement that roared in her head. It seemed she was bombarded with negative thoughts of not being able to live for the Lord and really please Him. However there were a couple of things that really helped her. The first was her pastor who taught her the importance of casting down those negative voices of doubt and despair and replacing them with the good Word of God. The second was a quote that she read in a book.

“The mighty oak was once a little nut that stood its ground.”

A short time after reading the quote, the young lady found a little acorn and decided to keep it as a reminder of the quote that had encouraged her. For a while, she kept the acorn where she could see it. After moving a few times, the acorn wasn’t in plain sight anymore and was largely forgotten. Through the grace of God that teenage girl grew older, married a godly man and eventually became a mother. Every so often, she would think about the acorn and the elder saints from her first church that had encouraged her so with their testimonies. Time was going on, and she was still living for God! It seemed like before she knew it, she had been living for God for 30 years. It dawned on her that she was getting closer to the testimony that she wanted to have. In a couple of days it will be 31 years that the Lord has kept her.

Actually, I should say that it will be 31 years that the Lord has kept me, for the teenage girl that I mentioned was/is yours truly. On June 16, 1979, I came to God in repentance, was baptized in the lovely name of Jesus and received the Holy Ghost. I am so thankful that God is not only a Saviour, but He is a Keeper as well, and has kept me all these years. Back in my younger years, the devil really tried to convince me that I could not live for God and that I should go back to my old way of life. 31 years later, I would just like to say, IN YOUR FACE, DEVIL!

I’m getting closer to being able to have the testimony I always wanted to have, and if the Lord tarries long enough, and I don’t go by way of the grave, I look forward to the day when I can say…………………………………………….

“God’s been so good to me! 40 years ago He saved me and He has kept me. It hasn’t always been easy, but it has been worth it. He can save you and keep you too!”

 

Forever 21

A few days ago, I accompanied my daughter on a little shopping trip. One of the stores that she wanted to go to was Forever 21. As she was walking around looking at clothing and hair accessories, I began to do a little wandering around the store and some thinking too. My thoughts turned to the name of the store, Forever 21. Why would someone want to be 21 forever? It seems in our country that 21 is an important age. For one thing, you can legally drink liquor. (not that that was a milestone I was looking forward to – I’ve never been a drinker.) 21 is a youthful age. You are not a kid anymore, but an adult. Most ladies at this age look pretty good and physically speaking, probably feel pretty good too. I can look back and think of the energy I had at that age. I sure don’t have it now! There is a sense too of having your whole life before you, which can be an exciting thing. But to be 21 forever? When I turned 21, I hadn’t even been married a year. I was in good shape, looking forward to the future and felt like I had a good head on my shoulders. However, there are so many things I would miss out on by staying this age forever. I would never know the joys and struggles of having children, the grace of God to make it through life’s trials, new friendships and relationships and hopefully wisdom gained through my mistakes and experiences. Now, I am 46. Would I want to stay this age forever? Not really. Although I can look back and see how I’ve grown mentally, spiritually and physically(that unfortunate middle-aged spread), I know this is not the ultimate for me. In fact there is really no age in which I will “have arrived”.  There will be things I like and dislike about every year that God allows me on this earth. True satisfaction, I believe for every Christian can’t be found in any age, because there is no perfect age or perfect circumstances for our life.

 

I thought of this verse in the book of Psalms.

 

Psalm 17:15  As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

 

The perfect forever,

 

Forever in the presence of Jesus Christ!

 

How The Devil Lies About Time

Last night in our church, our visiting minister, Brother Joe Savala talked about what we do with our dash. Our dash refers to that little line on the tombstone between our day of birth and our day of death. When it comes to living for God, the devil often lies to people about their time on earth in the following ways.

When You’re Young – Hey, you have got lots of time. You have your whole life ahead of you. You don’t need to consecrate your life to God right now. Go out and do what you want to do. Live it up. Have some fun. You’ll have time later to be saved, to really give your life to God, to tell other people about the Lord, etc. etc.

When You’re Middle Aged – You know, you are a real busy person. You have a family to take care of. You need to work a lot to pay those bills. The kids need you to take them to soccer practice, piano lessons and karate. With all you have to do, you don’t have time to go to church every week, to teach home Bible studies, to really give your life to God, to sing in the choir, etc. etc.

When You Are Old – Wow! Where have the years gone? You could have gone to church and really lived for God. You could have taught Bible studies and helped in the church, but now you’re old. What can you really do? It’s too late. You wasted your time.

What does the Bible have to say about time.

2Corinthians 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

    

Jam 4:14Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

 

Heb 3:15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

  

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 Whatever age or stage we are at in life, may God help us to hear His voice today and respond wisely. None of us have the promise of tomorrow.

 

Happy Birthday to My Favorite 50 Year Old!

Today is the birthday of my wonderful husband. He has only 1 or 2 strands of gray hair, making it harder to believe that he is 50. Most people guess him to be in his early to mid forties, and some have even thought he was in his late 30′s. Anyhow, he is a well preserved creature, and I’m thankful to have  been a part of his life for a little over 26 years. On Saturday, we had a surprise party for him at my sister Karen’s house.  My sister tried to pull the wool over his eyes by saying she wanted us over for a barbecue to celebrate with  her son Jeremy and his wife Molly who found out a couple of weeks ago that they will become parents in January. I even went out and bought them a card and a little gift to make it look more convincing. My husband’s best friend called him that morning too and invited him and our family to come and have some of these Texas roadhouse dinners that their church was selling as a fundraiser. He was trying to throw him off, but my husband was still a little suspicious that something might be going on. Well, we still had a great time, and I’ll post a few pictures below. To see more pictures, click here.

Happy Birthday, Pete! God could not have blessed me with a better husband. You are a man of character and conviction, and I love you!

The birthday boy – Okay, the glasses do make him look a little older, but he only wears them for reading. His distance vision is great.

A few of us in my sister’s beautiful backyard.

Opening gifts. That beautiful gray headed lady is Carole Kerr. She has a great sense of humor and was cracking jokes left and right.  If she could be bottled, she would make great medicine! LOL

 

Roots and Wings

This past Sunday, we had a missionary in service with us. Later on, when he was visiting with us at our home, he shared the following quote.

There are two lasting bequests we can give our children: One is roots, the other is wings.” Hodding Carter

I’ve been thinking about this quote a lot, and I believe it’s wise and true. Since we had children, my husband and I have tried all their lives to give them roots. We want their roots to go deep in God and desire them to have memories from their childhood years that they can look back on with fondness.

The day before this missionary came, I was reminded once again of a project that I had started on which will be a gift to my children.

I received this book as a gift a couple of years ago from our church. This book is broken down into months, and in each month there are questions to which I must write my answers. These are questions about my life and how I view things. Looking once again through the book, I saw that I had gotten half way through it before I left off writing. I am working on it again and aim to finish it in a month or so.  It’s not only a part in giving my children roots, but it will be a nice keepsake for them to look back on from time to time.

Now as far as giving them wings……………………………………that will be a little more difficult. There is pleasure in seeing them fly, but I know the day is coming when they will not return to the nest. Ouch! I think I’ll enjoy them while they are still here. 

 

The Big Surprise

Do you enjoy surprises? Someone in our family is going to receive a big surprise today, and that’s all I can say until later. 

 

Okay, it’s Sunday evening, and it’s all over. We went to a surprise 50th birthday party for my wonderful brother-in-law, Mike. Everybody did a great job keeping this a secret. When him and his wife came to the door of their son Jeremy’s house, and everybody yelled “Surprise!”, Mike was stunned. Probably the neatest thing about this birthday was that Mike’s mom, who is in her 70′s was able to fly out from Chicago to be there for the shindig. She was hiding back in one of the bedrooms when he first came, and from a cell phone, she called him on the house phone there. His mom asked him if he was surprised and how the party was going. She told him that she wished she could be there. He said, “Are you sure you’re not already here? I’m going to look for you. You’re probably in the hallway.” What was really funny was as he said that, his mom was actually coming down the hallway. Mike was heading toward the hallway, and that is where they met. He was just joking about the possibility of her being there.

Mike and his mom.

 

It was a wonderful party with a fine mix of family and friends totaling around 40. We ate some delicious grub, participated in an Older Than Dirt Quiz (yipee! I wasn’t the high scorer), played a little game to see how much we knew about Mike(my brother Tom beat me by one point) and watched Mike open his gifts. Mike’s son Jeremy put together a very nice slide show presentation about Mike’s life. Probably the most touching thing of all was when the floor was opened up to any who wanted to share what Mike has meant to them or how he has influenced them. Over the years, my brother-in-law has been a home Bible study teacher, care pastor, musician and a great friend, and it was very special to hear of the godly influence that he has had in many lives that were represented there. I’d like to share a little in my next post on how Mike was instrumental in bringing the gospel to our family. For now, here are a few more pictures of his party.

Mike with long time friend, co-worker and brother in Christ, Calvin.

Mike’s cake – One of his hobbies is golfing.

Special “over the hill” hat

Mike and his new “over the hill” autograph dog, complete with reading glasses.

My sister Ann and I!

 

My Favorite 49er!

Kiki with niece Abby on Christmas Day 2008

 

On Sunday, my wonderful elder sister, Karen(affectionately known as “Kiki”)celebrated her 49th birthday.  I am blessed and honored to have her as my biological sister, friend, confidante and sister in Christ.  She’s a great lady, and I’m glad that she’s a part of my life.  I have many precious memories of my sister from childhood to the present.  One thing that I’ll never forget from our childhood was the time we were playing “doctor” in our basement in Chicago. Karen, who was the doctor, decided that her patient(me) needed some medicine.  She had me open up my mouth,tilt my head back, and she began pouring a cup of medicine(some grape juice) down my throat using a funnel.  For some reason, I thought this was funny, and I started laughing. Suddenly, I wasn’t laughing anymore, because I started choking. When Karen saw that I was choking and had a terrified look on my face, she grabbed my hand and started dragging me up the stairs to take me to mom.  Fortunately, about half way up the stairs, I caught my breathe and the panic passed.  A more recent funny memory is the “Holy Smoke” stuffing she made for Thanksgiving in 2007. She had made her stuffing at her house on the stovetop before bringing it over to my place. She knew she had burnt the stuffing but thought it had only affected the bottom of the pot.  This was not the case, and after we had asked the blessing upon our food, one by one we began to discover that the stuffing was horrible. Then the jokes started, and it was probably the most hilarious Thanksgiving we ever had.  I could go on, but that would make for a very long post.

I am thankful though for the good and not so good times we have shared together. Keek, I hope your 49th year is the best ever.  Happy Birthday, and I love you bunches!

 

Happy Birthday, Jeremy!

This handsome fellow, known for his amazing ability to arch his eyebrow, is my nephew Jeremy. Today is his birthday, and I feel like an old aunt having a nephew that is 27. I’ve been blessed to be around Jeremy for a good portion of his growing up years. When my husband and I moved out to California, Jeremy was only 7. One of my favorite memories of Jeremy is at his higschool graduation. In the speech that he made, he was giving honor to God for some blessings in his life. I’ll never forgot him thanking God for the five wooden spoons that his mother broke over his bottom. The audience was filled with laughter over that one.  My two kids have always enjoyed being around “cousin Jer” and for my son he’s been a snowboarding and RC mentor along with being a wonderful example of a godly young person.  He is still serving God today, along with his new wife Molly. I’m so happy for them and the direction in which God is taking them. Jeremy, I love you and wish you a year filled with God’s rich blessings.  Happy Birthday!