Morning

Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
Psa. 143:8

Morning

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,


Even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me.

Ps. 139:9-10

Spring storms

Who covers



the heavens with clouds,



Who prepares



rain for the earth,



Who makes grass



to grow on the mountains.


Psalm 147:8

Sunrise today

My voice You shall hear in the morning,
O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You,
and I will look up.
Ps. 5:3

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isa. 9:6



Make your own animation @ SpaceFaith.com

Random thoughts and New Life Church

I am heartsick.

Not a church that we belonged to, but a church a few miles away from our house in Colorado Springs. The kids attended an amazing homeschool co-op there 1-2 times a week for the past two years. It's a large church, over 10,000 members, we've attended a few functions there, and we knew a lot of people there.

I cried today when telling my kids. I didn't want to tell them; but neither did I want them to hear or see of it somewhere else first.

It is so difficult, impossible, to understand how this can happen. At church. Sisters. At Christmas, as we eagerly anticipate celebrating the birth of our Savior.

Two staff members at a missionary center.

How can any family find comfort in that?

And what about the family of the gunman?

As I try to explain to my kids, I want to offer them any kind of comfort, any kind of reassurance . . . and I cannot. The places that regular, NORMAL people see as safe, schools, churches . . . evil takes as opportunity.

We grieve again with a church which has already undergone so much heartbreak, so much public scrutiny. And they've shown they can truly walk in the Spirit. They'll continue too, I have no doubt.

The security guard, armed, female. Holly and I discussed the irony this morning. Two days ago, it would have been shocking to hear of an armed guard at church. And this woman saved untold lives. Rob and I saw her interviewed on tv tonight. She's amazing. She clearly sees God's plan for her part in this.

Trevor said tonight that he was very glad it was the same gunman at Youth With a Mission and New Life. He said he worried that if there were two, the one that got away would come here.

I know it comes back to celebrating our Savior. Christmas. Resurrection. As adults, it's hard enough to try to make sense of this . . .

* * * *

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:10

My pink orange morning

"Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord rises upon you."
Isaiah 60:1

Today's verse

Considering my Sunday post about "home," today's sidebar verse is interesting:

Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?”
For it is not wise to ask such questions.
Ecc. 7:10

I don't think the old days were better, they were just different. This is a new season, to be treasured for different reasons.

:)

Book Review - Ever Day Deserves a Chance by Max Lucado

I am definitely a Max Lucado fan, and this book lived up to my expectations. And, just as when I read Facing Your Giants, Robert grabbed this book away from me and read it first.

Max motivates with his typical uplifting and engaging style, encouraging us to give EVERY day our best: "Saturate your day in Jesus's grace; entrust your day to His oversight; accept His direction."

With all of the stuff that's been swirling around us for the past year, it continues to amaze me that we very clearly see how blessed we are. It wasn't as if I needed to read this--but I'm thankful for the continued encouragement. :)

Definitely recommended.

* * *

This is the day the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24

A new day, a fun link

Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each day.
Lam. 3:23 NLT

* * * *

This anagram generator is a blast. If you don't like your first try, add/remove your middle name for a variation. I didn't care for my first and last name together, so I added my middle/maiden name. Now I'm someone right out of a bad history book, "Woman to Tricksome King," lol.

NOT the best day

Our house inspection was Tuesday, and we knew we'd hear back today. Robert and I both had dreams about it, and they weren't good dreams.

He flipped when we received the report today. No need to go into details, but we're talking probably $3K worth of demands as written. I feel my blood pressure rise just thinking about it.

Holly had her riding lesson, which was cut short because she wasn't feeling well.

We still can't get that stupid GPS to work.

A moving company came and gave an estimate. While it was a LOT less than what I was dreading, it was significantly more than Robert was hoping.

Meanwhile, he's had a rough week. He's been feeling horrible.

I've been cranky and tense.

Through all of this over the past 8 months, he's been amazingly upbeat. So strong for me. My hero.

* * *

I am thankful that we have a contract. Some requests were reasonable (albeit expensive). We can negotiate.

I am thankful that Holly felt better after she ate.

I (think I) am glad to be returning the GPS tomorrow.

I am thankful that we have another moving company coming to give a quote tomorrow. A friend of a friend is in some higher position there, and he's already told us, "Don't worry, I'll see this through and take care of you."

I am thankful that Robert HAS been a rock. He never complains.

Today just seemed to be one thing after another. I am thankful that days like this are the exception, not the norm.

* * *

Matt 6:34: Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

* * *

Hey, I'm typing this after midnight, so tomorrow is already here. I'm quite sure it can only improve.

Pictures from the week

We didn't have a busy week, so much as something going on each day. Trevor had karate on Monday and Wednesday, and on Wednesday he passed a his first stripe test on his yellow belt. Tuesday night was stormy, and he went to a friend's birthday party at an indoor amusement park. We've never been there before, and with the weather and some schools still in session, the place was almost empty. What a treat! The boys played several games of laser tag, raced go carts, and enjoyed other activities.


We watched the Thunderbirds on Wednesday. Holly had a riding lesson on Thursday.


The weather's been nice, and we've spent a lot of time sitting on the back patio, eating breakfast and lunch, and just watching the birds and squirrels in the backyard. We went on several walks, and Trevor played with his boat in the nearby park.


We took Holly up to Littleton to spend a few days with her best-friend-since-birth (well, since Mackenzie's birth anyway). Trevor made instant friends with Farley, who was also visiting at our friends'.


After dropping Holly off, we visited our favorite restaurant, Romano's, and stopped at the "new" Rocky Mountain Harley store. I was surprised that it's a LOT smaller than the store we have here in town.


Rob, Trevor and I went out shopping yesterday and got caught in a great rainstorm. It hailed for ten minutes and left standing water all over the roads. I like storms like this since I have a wonderful husband who will run out to the car and come pick me up at the door!

Trevor and I went for another long walk this morning. These look like "California freeway flowers," but they're bright and pretty while they last!

Because of our frequent spring storms, everything is green. (Bridget from SHS used to live on a street along this path.)


The views are gorgeous! It's still morning, but the clouds again roll in.


We forged a path through a giant field.


Back at home, my favorite flowers, columbine, are in full bloom. I'm thinking these will grow well in Virginia . . .


Update on the house(s): It's been a horribly slow week for showings. On the plus side, we have a signed contract !!!!!!! on the Virginia house. Yippee!!!!! So we wait to sell our house . . .

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven.
Ecc. 3:1

Memorial Day

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13

Our wedding anniversary

Today was our 14th wedding anniversary.

A few days before our anniversary each year, one of us will tentatively ask the other, "Did you buy me anything?" It's a question to dance around. "Well, did YOU buy ME anything?" "How about a card? Did you get me a card?" (You can be sure that the person asking this question is wondering if THEY should run out and buy a card.) It's always a bit of relief when one of us finally cautiously asks, "Uh, no . . . should I?" It's taken awhile, but we eventually settled into this routine of no surprises.

Besides, I always tell Robert that every day of being married to him is a gift.

(Awwwwwww.)

I hadn't even considered "the day" when I planned my dinner menus for the week. BLTs were the plan tonight, but we ended up taking Holly's suggestion of cheeseburgers. (Hey, at least they were homemade.)

So it wasn't overly exciting. We did a little grocery shopping and were kicked out of the house for an hour this afternoon for a showing. But from the very beginning, we've never needed much outside excitement. I'm far too private to get mushy here, but I wouldn't trade one single day. :) "[Love] burns like blazing fire."

Fourteen years ago.

Ten days ago (we really need to get a few decent pics of us together).

* * * * *

Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.
Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot wash it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of his house for love,
it would be utterly scorned.

Songs 8:6-7

Trip pics

This was a quick trip, definitely a "turn and burn." It was a great treat that Holly was able to come. I found a great plane fare ($200 RT), and she was okay with missing the last day of co-op. We also wanted her to have the opportunity to see Virginia ahead of time. We left the house at 5:20 a.m. Tuesday and caught a plane to Atlanta. Holly and I agreed it would not top the list of pretty airports (not that we've seen many.)


Thanks to the Sea Bands, the plane didn't really look like this. But it was a really cool photo and I had to include it somewhere. I turned the flash off (as I do with virtually every picture) and rocked the camera back and forth as I snapped.

We had a two hour layover and began our diet of lousy travel food.


From Atlanta, it was a nice hour-plus flight up to Roanoke.


Living on the Eastern Slope in Colorado, directions are easy. From anywhere here, you know the mountains are on the west. Hills surround Roanoke, and I had a hard time even guessing where I was. It was also confusing that most of the streets are referred to by highway numbers instead of their actual street names.

The Roanoke airport was like a dream. There are a total of six gates. The rental car counters are literally 15 feet from the two or three baggage claim areas. Robert says it's smaller than our Sam's Club. I don't mind that one bit! The city's population is just under 100,000, and we went from the airport to the hotel at the other side of the city in about 15 minutes.

It was a good trip for me. I am so very used to and spoiled by Robert taking care of every little detail. I had to figure out all of the plane info, get the bags, take car of the rental car and check into the hotel. It was beneficial for Holly to see me doing this too.


We headed out to the property that was the real basis for our trip. My Mapquest directions were horrible and led me down a 10 mile, two lane, twisty, horrid little country road. We found the property easily though and looked around briefly. I knew there was another road back to Roanoke. Even without a map (or worse, without cell phone coverage), I was determined to find it--and I did, without making any wrong turns! I'm still pretty pleased about that! Over the last few months, I've pored over information, maps, and more online, and it definitely paid off. We headed up the much nicer four lane highway and got back to Roanoke in no time at all, settling in to watch American Idol and eating more travel type food. (Ugh.)

We met up with our realtor the next day and looked at a few properties, including our main interest. This is seriously smack in the "Moonshine Capital of the World." Seriously. The house is under construction and we chatted a bit with the workmen, poked around the house, and walked what we could of the property down to the line.


We drove around a bit more. Holly was a trooper, and she was also assigned videographer duties, so I didn't have to take as many photos as I would have otherwise. She was wiped out by the time we were done, but when we got back to Roanoke, I dragged her up to Mill Mountain.


It's near the center of town and is home to the largest standing man made illuminated star in the world. (How cool is that?) It's typically lit in red, white and blue, but is currently all white as a memorial to the students and faculty who died at Virginia Tech last month.


There are also incredible views of the city. My whole motivation for going to the mountain was to take photos. This is a panorama, going from left to right.


Back at the hotel, we again watched American Idol. We were up "late," 11:30 east coast time. This wasn't so great since we were up before 6 a.m. to get back to the airport and make our way home.


Robert and Trev picked us up from the airport. After showing them the video and photos at home, I took a nap. Holly, who loves to sleep, didn't even go to bed early. Robert made dinner for us, yippee, real food again!

It was definitely a great trip, fun for Holly and me to do something like this together, and fun for us to poke around Roanoke and Franklin County. She has warmed up a little more to the idea of moving. We continue to love the house we saw and are planning to write a contract on it. We'll have to see what happens with that, and we're waiting for something to happen on this house. We've had three more showings this past week, with one more scheduled for tomorrow.

I'm still pretty tired, trying to catch up. At least school is DONE!!!!!!! and I don't feel rushed to do much of anything for the next several days. :)

* * *

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jer. 29:11

Beautiful Feet

And, no, I'm certainly NOT talking about mine!!

The verse in the sidebar today says:

How can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" (Rom. 10:15)

Beautiful Feet is a history curriculum. Holly and I have dabbled very casually with their History of the Horse lesson plan. What that really means is that together we read one of the books, Marguerite Henry's King of the Wind. We even forgot about the accompanying lessons. She asked about it last week, and it will be something fun to follow over the summer.

I think I'm going to choose BF's Medieval Study Guide this for Holly's history next year. History has long been her favorite subject, but my efforts to continue this year what we've done in the past has not been terrifically successful. She already reads a ton, last year about 36,000 pages. I don't think that loading up on oodles of more history reading can be of much benefit. I'd rather cut down her required history reading, instead expanding a little more into a literature specific study, and freeing up more time to read books just for pleasure.

Additionally, I like that BF does not follow much of a schedule. That's not worked for me in the past, and it will help me keep her on track with what Trevor's history study is. The advantage of this is that we often study art, music, science and math in the context of our history period, so I want to keep them together topic-wise.

I like the questions that accompany the study guides. I can't keep up with everything she's reading, and this will give me some guidance. When we move, I'll no longer have The Greatest Library Ever, so a scaled down required reading list will come in handy--if I choose, I can realistically purchase those books. I can also add in extra books like I've always done, based on what selection I have. The price is great too, just $15 for the guide, easy to absorb.

Planning is always fun for me, I enjoy looking at and weighing all the options, evaluating and re-evaluating, making changes when the time has come.

* * *

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Isa. 52:7

He is Risen!

"I am the resurrection and the life.
He who believes in Me, though he may die,
he shall live."

John 11:25

Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord.

Each morning I bring my requests to you
and wait expectantly. Psa 5:3 NLT

Comment to ponder

I was talking on the phone with an old friend today. She mentioned she's been specifically praying for me. It was surprising because, for one, she's not the praying type. Second, she thinks that my life is perfect. (I guess I have someone fooled, lol.)

I often pray for her. I don't know her heart, but she goes to church because that's where AA meetings are held--when she makes those. In the past couple of years, I have often wanted to end our friendship that began over 25 years ago. But I keep hearing that whisper to maintain contact, to listen to her, to continue being her friend. And so I pray.

But why is she praying for ME? It was definitely unusual enough for me to ask. She reluctantly told me that she's not sure if I have a lot of "emotional support." She was careful about it, as if she worried I might be offended. It was an interesting comment, and I'm not sure what I think about it.

What kind of "emotional support" does she mean? (Remember, she thinks I have a perfect life.) I don't feel I'm lacking any emotional support at all. I depend on and have complete faith in Jesus. My relationship with my dh could not be better. I have family on whom I believe support me in all things, and I have a loopy bunch of friends to further support me.

Maybe she means girlfriends? I don't have a best-friend girl-friend, but honestly, I don't have the time, energy, or desire to invest in a relationship like this right now, not during this season of my life.

Our conversation took a different turn, and I didn't get a chance to ask further. I have no doubt that she was led to pray for me, but I wish I knew why she thinks I might not have "emotional support." I'm not saying she's wrong, it could easily be something I don't see.

It's something for me to ponder.

* * * * *

The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. Matt. 7:25

My favorite socks

This was a blog challenge posted on our hs list a week or so ago, and I'm finally getting around to it. I don't wear shoes in my house very often. In fact, we wear shoes so infrequently that most people take their shoes off too when they come over. That's embarrassing to me, only because it's not a "rule" at my house or anything. I'm not concerned about my floors; I just don't like to wear shoes.

But I like my socks. I wear them all the time in the winter. I wear them around the house during the day, and I wear them to bed at night. (Fortunately, I have several pairs!) I'm very particular about them. I've worn the same kind for years. My dad is responsible, but it was so long ago that I don't remember why. Did he tell me about them? Buy me my first pair? I've only found them at REI, they are a specific style, and they cost a lot more than what I think is reasonable. But they're worth it. I'm worth it.


My feet are almost always cold, even when I'm wearing my favorite socks. When I'm cold, I wear my socks with a pair of slippers. You can tell I wear these quite a bit. I got them for Christmas, and in my mind, they're almost brand new. In reality, they're falling apart. It's a good thing Robert and the kids bought me two pairs, because I'm saving the other pair for summer.

Make level paths for your feet

and take only ways that are firm.
Pro. 4:26