Summer time on the coast

Glad that there are so many people from out of town as that really adds to our local economy.  Not so glad that they drive a little crazy and tend to think that they are the only people needing servicee when they come into a business.  Just sayin'.....

My dad always had a saying: "I have two speeds: if you don't like this one, you sure won't like the other one."  Sometimes, I just have to remind myself that I am one person trying to make a living and can only do so much before it becomes too much.  Everyone has a breaking point...and I almost, yes almost, found mine recently.  Assisting 8 people and then person number 9 says, "Excuse me....is there anyone else that can take my order?" Mind you, the other person at work was already assisting 4 other people and we had stated several times that we were the only people in the store and that orders were backing up and may take a bit longer than normal.  Now if there WAS someone else there, wouldn't it benefit the customers as well as benefit me to go get them and have them help the next 4-5 people in line?  Not sure why people sometimes think as they do, but this is a lesson in reacting in a Godly fashion rather than coming back with a negative sure to be rebutted with yet another negative.  Everyone got their orders and left happy.....and it all had a lot to do with a small but very valuable word: attitude.  With the right attitude, much can be accomplished. :)

When in a business, I always try to be extremely patient with the clerk.  They too are trying to making a living. :)  Patience is a practiced art.  It is something that can be learned, but it usually painful to learn in the beginning and gets easier as you practice it.  Now that I have said that, the next "test" is sure to come.  Just hopefully, it will be after the Memorial Day extended weekend.  Phew!!!

Rhoddies, Roots and Replanting

Today I purchased some Rhododendrons for my year from a local grower.  As I was planting one in my yard, I was reminded of just how tough it is to break through the turf and soil to get a hole dug that is big enough to accommodate the plant.  I have several of these plants around my yard and try to get one or two more additions every other year or so.  The beautiful blooms are a wonderful addition to my yard and the pop of color is awesome!  


Sometimes in my life, my heart is much like the ground I was working with today.  The moss and grass was tough to break through and then the root of some of the adjacent trees were fighting to stay in place.  Isn't that a lot like a human heart?  Something beautiful is ready to be planted, but oh how the roots of my sinful nature cling to the soil and fight to stay in place!  With a little persistence, my shovel was able to take out what was needing to be taken out to form a whole that something beautiful was soon to fill. 


As I placed the Rhoddy into the hole I had dug, I then began to push the dirt back into the void.  Now, since it has been raining off and on recently, the ground was moist and the dirt was stuck to the root ball of the grass and moss.  As I shook the dirt loose, I was reminded of a time in my life in which the Lord wanted to plant something beautiful in my heart by having me prayerfully look at each aspect of what was in there, sort it out, get rid of what is not needed and replace what is necessary along with the new "thing" He wanted to grow in me.  I pushed the dirt back around the plant and filled in the remaining areas of the hole I had planted it in.  As I stood back and looked at the Rhododendron in its new home, I was picturing a what it will look like in a few years when it grows and begins to flower.  The purplish-blue flowers are going to look awesome when blooming next to the yellow flowers of the adjacent Rhoddy.  


After planting my first Rhoddy today, I began to dig a whole for the second of the three I pick out today.  As I jumped on my rusty shovel, I heard a loud "snap!" and must now purchase a new one in order to dig the two remaining holes.  Below is a picture of the type of plant I purchased today.  Mind you, mine is much smaller at this point in time and has no flowers. :)  BUT, some day, in about 10 years it will look a lot like this. 

Making Up Our Own, I Tell Ya!

So my brother and I carpool to our jobs almost each day.  (Hard sometimes for me to believe that I survived growing up sharing the same room with this boy!)  Anyway......normally, I listen to K-love on my commutes, but my brother likes '70's and '80's rock music.  Since I don't mind that sort of music, and he can only handle so much positive and encouraging music, we have recently changed the station to a local rock station.  All of our lives, it seems, we have made up our own words to the tune of whatever song is playing.  It is always on the fly, while the song is playing.  One of us will start to sing using different words and the other one soon is joining in....usually for the chorus (if predictable as to where the song is headed) or for verse two.  My brother always gets the guitar solos (I am the one driving) and I will sometime join in on the drumming end of things by tapping my steering wheel (safely of course).   I must say, today was an exceptionally creative day.   It began with, "We don't want to work today...NO!...we don't want to work today!  We don't want to work today, we want to play!" (From the song "We're not Gonna Take It".  We ended with, "Don't Stop Believin" that went a little something like this. Me: "I'm just a small town girl, drivin' on this lonely road, I'd take the midnight train but there aren't any here."  My brother (the fisherman): "I'm just a small town boy, never been to south Detroit, I take the midnight ship going way out there." Chorus: "Don't stop......sneezin'...Because it is the season....Allergies and pollen.....oh-oh-ohhhhhh".

Ok, I'll stop now....I'll stop.

A Little Four-letter Word....

....L-o-v-e!  Been thinking a lot about this one.  Seems that from time to time the Lord will give me a word to ponder and with each passing day for at-that-point-yet-to-be-determined length of time, He uses that word in many different ways to speak new Truth, new Life and new Hope into my heart.  Lately, that word has been "love".  Not in the sense of "I love chocolate", or "I love my husband" or not even, "I love when that happens!"  He has been teaching me through many different ways and situations lately that He wants me to love as He loves.  Now, for those of you who have gone to church for more than a few Sundays in your life, I am sure that you have heard a sermon or two on love.  I have been reading and re-reading the "Love Chapter" as it is affectionately called.  That is 1 Corinthians chapter 13.  I have posted it here below in The Message translation, as I read it in this version for the first time last night and was able to collect a little more knowledge about what it means to love as He loves.  Really puts it into a proper perspective as to how God feels we should strive to love others.  I especially love the was this translation shares His thoughts on love in verses 8-10.  Wow!

Then in verse 12.....I had read this and then traveled to work the next morning in an Oregon coast fog.  Coincident that I was driving in a fog just a few short hours after reading this chapter again yesterday morning?  I know Him well enough to know that things like this are never a "coincident".  Enjoy, and please share if you gather any new insights from this chapter. :)  BTW....I know that with any lesson comes a challenge.....a test if you will..... so I wonder who it is that He is preparing for me to show His kind of love to.  Ok, now I am a bit frightened to push the "post" button on this one!  LOL!  Nope, no fear for those who trust in Him!  Whoot!

1 Corinthians 13

The Way of Love

 ¹ If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. ²If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. ^3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. 

   Love never gives up. 
   Love cares more for others than for self. 
   Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. 
   Love doesn't strut, 
   Doesn't have a swelled head, 
   Doesn't force itself on others, 
   Isn't always "me first," 
   Doesn't fly off the handle, 
   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, 
   Doesn't revel when others grovel, 
   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, 
   Puts up with anything, 
   Trusts God always, 
   Always looks for the best, 
   Never looks back, 
   But keeps going to the end.

 ^8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

 ¹¹When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

 ¹²We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

 ¹³But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

Best Made Plans....

.....are not always His plans.  This past weekend I was at a local Home and Garden show in the Sherwin-Williams booth.  By the time I arrived back home around 10 each evening, I did not have the energy to log on and post a daily blog.  Ugh!  While I had plans, He had other plans for me.  Hummm....like that has never happened before in my life......right!

Is't that usually the case?  The best "God-moments" happen when we have made plans to do something else and He shakes it up a bot for us.  So thankful that He has been helping me to become a person who embraces change rather than pushing through and doing what I want to do.  It is much easier, I have found, to go His route from the get-go rather than jumping on board half-way through.  Love that about Him!!

Brings Back the Memories

I love the way a certain smell can take me back to a certain moment in my life.  Like lilacs.  They remind me of our first home in Utah.  We had a large amount of purple, lavender and white lilacs just outside the window in our kitchen and one day as I was doing dishes, Zach came into the kitchen and stated, "Mom, I know why you like to do dishes....because you get to smell the lilacs!".  Love that smell!  Or the smell of a corn cob pipe with cherry tobacco in it and how that reminds me of the time my dad let me try it when I was 8 years old and thought is smelled so good only to find out that it didn't quite taste like it smelled.  And laundry in the dryer: this smell still does and forever will remind me of the time the Lord spoke to my heart about praying for those in my family as I folded their laundry items (rather than inwardly complaining about doing the laundry).  And roses will always remind me of my maternal grandmother and Charlie perfume will always remind me of my paternal grandmother.  Honestly, I have more "smell memories" than I do "visual memories".

What smell do you recall that can conjure up specific moments in your life?

Veggie Medley

So recently I was in a restaurant and ordered a meal that came with Sauteed Veggie Medley.  The veggies were sauteed in butter with a little garlic and white wine.  Yum!  So when my plate arrived, little did I know that this morning, God would use that veggie medley to teach me a life lesson.

While driving to pick up my brother for work this morning (we carpool to the nearby town we both work in), I was thinking about life and how sometimes it isn't all that we wanted....not at all what we ordered during our prayer time.  God reminded me of my veggie medley and how life is much like that plate of sauteed veggies that I was served just a few short days before.  See, when the plate arrived, I was ready to dig in and began to look a bit closer to the contents of my veggie medley.  Cauliflower, broccoli, mushroom, onions, yellow squash, and....garbanzo beans?  Really?  I do not like garbanzo beans, so I began to pick out the thinks that I did not want to ingest.  Isn't that how it is as a Christian?  We are asked to pick off our plate anything that is not "eatable" for our souls.  Just like that veggie medley, I can choose to just dig in and eat whatever is presented by the cook.  To take it ALL in no matter what it is!  On the other hand, I easily can view the plate and decide what I do and do not want to ingest.

As I was driving along this morning, He gently reminded me that just as I am selective in what I will put into my physical body, His desire is that I would be selective and aware of what it is that I so easily accept into my spiritual body.  Oh what hardships I have faced in the past for not being selective in what I partake of in my spiritual life.

In Daniel chapter 1, we read about Daniel's refusal to partake of the choice foods offered by the king.  He refused to eat of this food because the king had blessed it using the names of idols and false Gods.  Although we read that they changed Daniel's name, they couldn't change the fact that God....yes, THE God, was on his side.  Daniel was blessed many times over for his faithful to not partake of all that was placed before him.  This is much the same as being cautious as to what I"eat" in the spiritual sense of the word.

I am thankful today for this simple reminder to partake of only what He places before me....nothing more, nothing less.  For in doing so, i too will be blessed!

Daniel 1

New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

Daniel’s Training in Babylon

1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. ² And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia^[a] and put in the treasure house of his god.
³ Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility — ⁴ young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.^[b] 5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.
⁶ Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. ⁷ The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.
⁸ But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. ⁹ Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, ¹⁰ but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your^[c] food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”
¹¹ Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,¹² “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³ Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” ¹⁴ So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
¹⁵ At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. ¹⁶ So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
¹⁷ To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
¹⁸ At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. ¹⁹ The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. ²⁰ In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.
²¹ And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.

"Hello" and "Goodbye"

I've noticed something.  Saying "hello" or some other such greeting at the beginning of a professional phone conversation is still the norm.  However, I have also noticed that saying "goodbye" at the end of the same  conversation seems to be something of the past.  At my work, I answer the phone an average of 25 times a day.  I have become aware of a very strange trend over the past 6 months or so.  It started out with phone conversations with folks working at other store locations.  At the end of the conversation, I would say "goodbye", "Ok thanks", "Bye",  "bye-bye" or something to signal that my end of the conversation was complete, only to discover that the other person had already hung up!  Seriously, I chalked it up to the idea that they were working in a larger volume store in the "big city" and that they were, for lack of a better word,....rude.  Nope.  Now approximately six months after I initially became aware of this trend, I find myself being hung up on almost 1/2 of the time when the conversation has ended.  Not just by other employees in other stores and not just by those living in the "big city".  This is a trend that I personally do not like.  It leaves me hanging....guessing really.  Did the cell phone loose reception?  I get left with so many questions!

Here is an example of what I am talking about.  My manager was on the phone today when another call came in for him on the other line.  Here is the gist of the conversation I had with the person on the other end:
Me: "Thank you for calling Sherwin-Williams, Yvette speaking"
Customer: "Hey, this is _________, is Mike there?"
Me: "Oh hi, _______, Mike is here but he is currently on the other line.  Is there something I can help you with?"
Customer: "No, I need to talk with Mike."
Me: "Can I take a message and have him call you back or would you like to hold?"
Customer:" I'll hold."
Me: "Ok, thanks." (place customer on hold and after about a minute when I see that Mike is still on the other line, I get back on the phone...as to not waste the customer's cell minutes and say) "_________, Mike is still on the other line.  May I have him call you back?"
Customer: "Sure.  Do you need my cell number?"
Me:" I am not sure he has it, so let me jot it down real quick." (Customer gives me his cell number and I repeat it back.)  "Ok so I will have Mike call you as soon as he is off the other line."
Customer: "Ok, thanks." (phone clicks as he hangs up

Now it might seem strange to some, but I find it offensive to hang up without saying goodbye!  Maybe I am just one of those people who need closure, but it seems so rude to me to just hang up.  Is there anyone else with me on this one?  Just hoping I am not alone in my thinking.  Oh and before I close...."Have a great day and goodbye."

Beauty In The Simple Things

There are many things that get my attention on any given day.  Lately though, it seems that the simple things are what it calling to me the most.  A phone call from my son, a hug from my daughter, a smile from my hubby, a "thank you" from my customer, a laugh with my mom, a letter from a friend, a phone call from a friend "just because".  These are the things that have been demanding my attention lately.

It is the simple things that mean the most.  Thank you Lord for the simple things.

Mom. Mamma. Mother, Ma, Mum....

.....whatever you call your Mom, let her know today how very much you love her and appreciate her.

My mom and I have always had a great relationship.  She is one of the first people I call when I have a good day, a bad day, an exciting thing happen or a sad thing take place in my life.  I love that she was always truthful with me and loved me enough to tell the truth....even if at first it hurt to hear it.  Thanks, Ma, for all you are and for all you have been to me throughout my life.  I would be doing well if I were half the mom to my kids that you have been to me. :)

Love you Ma!! <3

Spiritual Shower

Just like a daily physical shower, I feel I need a daily spiritual shower as well.  Something to wash away the internal cruse of the day, clean my soul and refresh me for what is ahead. Only the Lord can provide such a shower.....and boy oh boy...there are days when I need to have more than one!  I want to be in a continue soul-shower!  Allowing Him to cleanse me from ALL unrighousness as He changes me from the inside out.  Ahhhh......

Are You a Wrestler?

Often times, actually many more than I would care to admit, I have been known to be a God wrestler.  Yes, I will be honest, I have attempted to wrestle with the Champion....and every single time, of course He wins.  I have learned though that this is due to the fact that He has already won!  He won before the struggle even before it began.  I love that about Him.  That although He has already won,  He loves me enough to see me through the struggle to once again see that He is ever for me....not at all against me!

So let's "talk" about this for a minute.  Have you ever wrestled with God only to find that at the end of the struggle, the winner is not only Him but it is also you?  We are made stronger when we face times of trial (or should I say trial and error?).  He loves us enough to never force us to change our ways.  He is a gentle wrestler, that is for sure.  He could totally at any given moment slam me to the mat!  However, this is not at all His way.  He gentle tugs at my heart to pull me ever closer to Him....if I but allow Him to do so.

At times of my deepest struggling is when I have found Him to be the closest to me....if I would be put aside my own thoughts, my own ways, my own feelings.....and look at it from His point of view.  And while I can pray and ask for Him to reveal to me the things that only He knows, it is for my own good that He so often doesn't allow me to view all that He sees.  This is why it is called faith, I guess.

In closing, I want to share with you the words painted on a plaque that I have in my dining room.  It reads: "Without faith, nothing is possible.  With it nothing is impossible.  Love this truth!

What Am I So Afraid Of?

While screaming today because I saw a spider, I stopped to ask myself: "What am I so afraid of?"  I mean really, it's a spider and technically is about, what, 100,000th the size of me?  This of course got me thinking about the bigger picture.  Like what are some other things I am afraid of?  I have had moments in my life of being afraid of heights (still am to some extent), spiders (still am for sure!), failure, faults, not measuring up, being judged, being viewed as "strange" or "weird".  While I have pretty much always been a person that doesn't care what others think about me, I still from time to time had to struggle with the feelings I had about myself.  Dale once told me that I am my own worst attacker and it was time for me to put down the stick that I kept using to beat myself up.  Wise man I married, for sure.

So now for the hard part: what is it today that holds me back from being all that He has called me to be.  One word: FEAR!  One word that has really no business being in my life.  As a Christian, when I am focused on Him and His plan....really, what is there to fear?  Afterall, if God is for me, who can be against me.  Simple answer: NO one!  I am though still "leary" of spiders and heights....LOL!

Proud Mom

Today, my son posted a Youtube video of him and a few friends singing a Decemberists song called "Mariner's Revenge".  He is the cute kid playing the piano and singing. :)  Although the song is a little out of my normal taste for music, it is a funny catchy little tune to say the least.  So proud of Zach for following his passion for music and trying things he wouldn't have tried just a few years ago.  Whoot!

Don't take my word for it though.....check it out for yourself by clicking on the link below!  :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UdGJShkESVI

Life's Little Snapshots

Recently while looking for something else, I came across a pile of old photos.  I was soon distracted by the images of the past.  As I flipped through photo after photo I was taken back to small little snapshots of moments in my life.  There was pictures of a little blonde girl in a green flower dress on her first day of school...a picture I received in the mail when I had moved to Oregon while my family was still living in Utah.  A picture of a one year old boy in a baby blue sweatsuit sitting at a piano with his pointer finger on middle C as it should be....a picture taken by my mother-in-law as Zach played piano at her home.  A smiling boy in a Mickey Mouse shirt on "the best day ever!".....a picture of Zach at 6 months old that I snapped in my livingroom after he woke up in a super happy mood after a little afternoon nap.  Another one of a three year old girl with a big red bow in her hair and her face plastered into one of my favorite flowers (Shasta daisy) will her hand was delicately holding the stem...taken at the home of Dale's Aunt Lee one sunny afternoon while she watched Alyssa for a few hours.  Moment after moment, captured on film to be looked at years later and allowing me to be taken back to that exact time of my life.

This of course got me thinking about how the Lord must look at my life.  How He looks through the moments in my life and smiles at the memory.  Looking back at the moment when I first decided to follow Him.  The day I baptized.  The day I walked down the aisle to marry Dale, a man of God with a face that always carries a smile.  How I  turned to Him in the roughest night of my life and poured out the deepest corners of my heart to Him knowing that He understood when no one else, including me, could.  Those moments when I looked around at His creation in awe, as He looked down on me and smiled.

Snapshots of my life....viewed by me that allowed me to see how He views snapshots of my past.  It warns my heart to know that He loves me and that He is ever for me.

Just Like Riding A Bike....

.....once you learn to mow the lawn, you never forget how.  Proved that tonight.  Got me thinking about other things I do that I seem to never forget how to do.  Things like speak before I think.  (Big one for me.)  Forget my "personal filter".....you know, I say something that I should have thought twice about saying before I actually say it.  Mmmmmm......

Lately, my prayers have been less about what I think I need and more about asking Him to guide my prayers.  Have you ever done that?  Here lately, I start my prayers with, "Father, show me today what it is that You desire for me.  Who it is that You desire for me to impact today?  Where it is that You want me to go?  Then, Father, help me to ask You for the help I need to do all that You ask of me each day...this day."  It is amazing how my perception has changed since asking Him for what it is that is important for him to bring to pass in my life.  Not my will for my life, but His will at work in and through me.  It is freeing and refreshing to say the least to be in His perfect will on a moment by moment basis.  Why then do I sometimes go back to trying to do it my way?  Or do things on my own, outside of His covering?"  Oh yes, that's right......He is God and i am a mere human.

'Thank you Father for loving me enough to not leave me where I am today.  To love me beyond this moment and to love me clear into eternity! Amen"

Coming Home

Zach came to see me!  Well, I am pretty sure that he came to visit with many people this weekend, but I like to think that he comes home to see me.  This time he brought his dog, Maddox.  She is a caramel colored Dingo and she loves to come to the beach.  On Friday night, we heard the familiar sound of Zach's little VW pull into our driveway.  The door comes flying open (no knock required as my dad always did whenever I came to visit) and I hear Zach say, "Hallllllloooooooooooooo?!"  Then in one fell swoop, I hear the scratching of dog feet on my hardwood as Maddox heads into the house, cutting past Zach and almost knocking Alyssa over when she sticks her head out of her room to greet her brother.  Maddox is SUPER excited to be here.  As the evening progresses, it is nice to see that even though this is no longer where Zach lives, in a sense it is his home.....and always will be.  

Since I go to bed before everyone else in my family and get up before anyone else, I was laying in bed last night listening to the hustle and bustle of our home at times like these.  Zach and Dale are laughing and making Alyssa say, "Hey....that's not fair!" for whatever reason or another and everything seems at it should be.  It got me thinking today about how this is not my home.  I live here on this planet (as we all do) but the Word tells us that He has gone ahead a prepared a place for us.  We live here, but our home is in heaven......just as Zach lives in Eugene but his home will always be here.......comforting thought, to know that we are a bit closer to home with each passing day, each passing moment.  Ahhhh.....

John 14:1-3 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God^[a]; trust also in me. ² In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

I've Got Your Back

Often, I have thought about the fact that we are all in desperate need of a Savior.  On the other hand, we do not really want the Savior we need.  Isn't that ironic?  We need Him but don't want Him....He doesn't need us but rather He wants us.  It never ceases to amaze me how simple it is to approach Him...to approach and come into fellowship with the God that created all that my eyes can behold.  The simple act of turning toward Him and accepting His free gift of salvation is something that boggles my mind almost on a daily basis.  The Bible then tells us that if God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)  He brings new meaning to the term "I've got your back!"

Things I Wonder About

Here are a few things I wonder about from time to time:


~What do parents really mean when two kids are fighting in another room and the parent shouts out, "Do I need to come in there?!"  So they think there is a kid on the planet who will say, "Yes!  You need to come in!"


~How can you look around at all of creation and think that it just "happened"?


~Why do people with no children always have the most amount of advice on what I should do in a particular situation with my children?


~Should mother really know best?  Because if so, I think I messed that up a few times here and there along the way! :/


~What is really meant by the phrase, "This is going to hurt you more than it hurts me!"


~I always seem to get this one wrong....are men from Venus or from Mars?


~Why are men's shoes and women's shoes different?  Why is a size 6 not always a size 6?


~Speaking of sizes.....why are clothes sometimes listed as "One Size Fits Most"?


~When you tell me, "I could care less!" is it wrong of me to ask, "I don't know....could you?"


~Why do people think yellow is a friendly?


~Why do older women like mint green?


~Why is the mechanics car always the last one to run well?  Or look good?


~Why do dogs have the attitude that "it's all about you".....while cats have the attitude that it is "all about me"?


~Why the platypus?


~Why do twins have to dress the same as small children only to rebel against it in their teens?


That's all for now....dinner is ready and Zach is here for the weekend.  I should go spend some time with my family now.  Until tomorrow......

Patience...Still. I'm Learning This One!

Are you patient?  I cannot say that I am.  It is at times when I am in the biggest hurry that I feel the Lord calling me to patience.  Coincidence?  Don't think so!!

For example, yesterday was a day off for me.  A friend of mine needed a ride to Newport, so my mom, my friend and I went together in my car.  My mom needed to check her mail and I needed to send off a package for my hubby.  We went into the post office, did our respective business, and headed back to the car.  There was a woman backing out of the parking stall next to me as we were heading toward my car.  She back up, got directly behind my car and then proceeded to place the car in park and read her mail!  I signed as I prayed quietly, "Lord, really?"  Not sure if He understood my "request" as I sat there for a few more minutes.  Finally, she looked up, saw my reverse lights were on and waved (while smiling) and pulled away.  Ugh!  I proceeded to back out of the parking stall only to have a very old man crossing the parking lot...in front of me....diagonally....headed for the exit....the one I was heading toward....SLOWLY.....painstakingly slowly.....without a thought toward anyone other than himself and where he was headed.  Slowly, slowly, slowly....he exists the parking lot (directly dead center down the middle mind you) and then heads across the street to the bank.....yes, my next destination.  In the meantime, another old man was in his car coming from my left.  He had his blinker on and was coming SLOWLY toward the exit driveway I was in.  The driveway is a one way only; out.  He put his blinker on indicating he wanted to come "in" the "out" and proceeded to give me a mean look while waving me out of the driveway so he could enter the wrong way.  Ugh!

When I saw Mr. Walking-Slow, crossing the street toward the bank, I quickly changed plans and went to pay my cable bill before heading to the bank's ATM for my mom.  After paying my cable bill (uneventful) I headed back to the bank through the ATM as my mom needed me to.  There he was again.  This time, passing in front of me again....diagonally across the parking lot BACK toward the post office.  Ugh!

Why do I get so impatient?  Do I think that I will never do this when I am older?  Afterall, I know myself and if I was in my late 80's and I was aware that this annoyed another person in such a profound way, I know that I might find the humor in it.  Watching an inpatient 45 year old woman while I crossed the street at my own pace....I can see how that might be rewarding on some level.

Lord, I pray that you teach me patience in the little moments of life.  Those times when it would be easier to get frustrated that to extend a little grace toward another.  Praying I am not going to be that little old lady Ms. How-You-Like-Those-Apples, Missy!!  Lord, teach me patience and grace for today; a kind a gracious heart for the future.

Friendships

Blog a Day for the Month of May- May 2nd Edition

Today I would like to speak a bit about friendship.  Friendship is an investment of time, feelings, emotions, trust, and love for another.  In a society so wrapped up in social networking sites, we have lost sight of true social interaction.  I love those times in my life when I can grab a cup of coffee with a dear friend, or go to lunch with a new friend.  It is these connections that keep us sane, I feel.  A true friend is one that sees you through thick and thin, through good times and bad......and you are there for her in the same way.  I have found that a true friends are few and far between.  Throughout my life, I have had a handful of true, dear, close friends.  Some of these friendships span decades.  I am grateful for each friend that God has placed in my life.  Of course, as a Christian woman, I know that there is a Friend that knows all about me and has known me since before the foundations of the earth were established.  To think that the God of the Universe calls me His friend....amazing!

In closing, I want to say that I appreciate my true friends who know me and love me anyway. :)  ....you know who you are!

Proverbs 18: 24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, 
   but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Blog a Day for the Month of May

While driving home the other night, I was thinking about the fact that it was soon to be May.  Also, recently, while attending a women's gathering, I was once again inspired and encouraged to share some of the things God has placed on my heart to share with the women within my "circle of influence".  With these things being said, I have decided to write a blog a day for the entire month of May.  


Now if you know anything about my life and know the crazy schedule I keep, you may be saying to yourself, "What is that girl doing?  Is she crazy?"  Don't worry, you are not alone in that thinking......I too have questioned this idea of posting a blog every day for 31 days.  After much prayer and asking the Lord to guide me, I really do feel that this is something that He has planned for me for this time in my life.


Finding a few moments to carve out of my day to create a blog post will be a challenge.  But my personal experience is that He never asks us to do something that does not require some sort of sacrifice.  I guess "finding Big Foot" and "The Voice" will have to wait.....I am blogging!  LOL!


It will be interesting to see where He would lead me with this idea.  So, without further delay, here is my first of 31 daily blogs.  Please be praying as I seek to do what it is that I feel He is asking me to do here. :)


May 1st
Ever wonder why your life took a particular, unexpected turn?  Dale and I were talking about this the other night.   But, before you read any further, I do want to share this:  this subject can sometime cause disputes among women....the subject of  being a "Stay At Home" mom and a "Working Mom".  I personally do not like these terms, as they seem to immediately draw a line between women, and we think we have nothing in common and should "stick with our own kind", so to speak.  With that being said, I have walked in both sets of shoes and have enjoyed aspects of both "roles" and have disliked aspects of both as well.

When I was a SAH mom, I hated the question, "What do you do?" (meaning "What is your line of work/your job etc).  I would usually reply, "Everything!  I don't have a "job"....but I DO work!"  Then when I became a "Working Mom", I would get asked, "Oh, well, don't you feel like you have neglected your children?"  Seriously, people, are you really that insensitive?  Or my favorite, "What do you do?", then I reply and they would ask, "Well, doesn't your husband support you?"  My reply has not changed throughout the years, "We work together to make ends meet."

Now that I have established that I am not seeking an argument of otherwise want to create an atmosphere of  upsetting anyone, or offending anyone, I would like to share my personal experience in this area of being a mom.

When we were first married, I did not have a job outside of our home.  Almost four years later, when Zach came along, I was a SAH mom for the first four years of his life.  It was when I was two weeks away from delivering our daughter, Alyssa, that a turn took place in our lives that would change the road in which I was traveling along.   Dale lost his $30/hour job (great wage today...let alone a great wage in 1993) and we were faced with some very rough decisions.  He was working at a facility that manufactured missile and Space Shuttle parts.  He was the Leadman of a 26 person crew and they all worked in the "Mix Room"....a large warehouse where they made all of the adhesives for the various gaskets that they use in creating such items and were they painted all of the parts and shells for the items they made.  As part of the "Separation Package" the company offered when they laid him off, they offered to send him to a trade school so he could be better able to find work elsewhere.  This schooling was free, but would take two years to complete.  He had always had an interest in cars and loved to work on them from as far back as anyone can remember, so after much prayer and lots of confirmation, he attended a trade school and became an ASE Certified Mechanic/Auto Body Technician.  In order to make ends meet, I took a job as a cashier at the local K-Mart when Alyssa was just two weeks old.  It was soon after starting that there was an opening in the Electronic/Home Improvement department, so I was promoted to that area.  It was here that I first learned to mix paint. :)

After about 6 months of working there, I heard of a fulltime position available at a local hardware/lumber store for a cashier.  I applied and was hired that day....working both jobs for two weeks before going fulltime at the lumber store.  This job allowed us to have some benefits, something we did not have as Dale was still attending school and working a part-time job installing windshields.  I continued to get promoted within my company and within 3 years, I was promoted to Retail Manager and was the leader of over 20 other employees.  I was one of two women within our company that held ANY position at all that was not a secretary.

While at work one day, I received a letter that was addressed to me (still not sure how that happened) and it was inviting managers to join a company called Copeland Lumber with locations throughout Oregon.  My parents had moved to Oregon and I loved to visit the ocean and all that IS the Oregon coast.  We began to pray that if this was something for us, that God would make a way for us to move to Oregon.  That was in May of 1998.  In Sept of that same year, we came to Oregon once again on vacation and I was interviewed by three Copeland Lumber stores (one in Newport, one in Waldport and one in Seaside).  I was offered a job at two of them and took the one in Newport.....as a counter clerk.   I moved to Oregon two weeks later, and then Dale, Zach and Alyssa moved in February once our house in Utah sold.  I worked at Copeland's for 1 year when one day my manager sent my to a new Sherwin-Williams store to purchase some paint to repaint a lumber sign outside of our building.....another unexpected turn.  I was asked to come in later that day  for an interview and a month later, I was working part-time at Sherwin-Williams and part-time at a local coffee shop...once again, to assist with making ends meet.  In the meantime, Dale had opened his shop and was restoring and maintaining old Volkswagen's at his shop Old Volks Restoration.  After 1-1/2 years as a part-time employee, I applied for an accepted the position of Assistant Manager.  At that time, I was one of three women in our District (approx 20 stores) who actually worked in the store (rather than at a credit office or District office).  We recently had a District wide meeting for all of the women in our District and there were 22 women in attendance!  I was shocked!  In July, I will celebrate 13 years of working at the same store location in Newport.  I love my job and cannot imagine my life any other way, but it is so interesting to me to think of all of the turns that my life took in order to get me to this place.  If you would have told me almost 19 years ago that I would be where I am today doing what I am doing, I would have thought you were crazy!

Sometimes (well...honestly, oftentimes), God has a plan and it is different that what I visualize for my life and for my family.  Being a SAH mom had huge blessings for all of us......but my having a job outside of our home had some unexpected blessings.  The biggest blessing being that it allowed Dale to have time with our kids that he otherwise wouldn't have had since owning his own business allows him a bit more freedom that a "regular job".  

Now that I have shared my journey from "SAH Mom" to "Working mom", I would like to close with this thought.  Which ever way is right for you and your family, may the Lord bless you. May you never experience the hurtful words of another mom who is on the "opposite side of the fence" and may you do what is best for you and your family.  Blessing to each one of you moms out there....working in or out of the home, you each have a juggling act to perform each day.  And to you gals who aren't moms or who don't want to ever be a mom (I know that you exist as my sister is "one of you"), know that you are valued and loved beyond words!  Ladies, to each of you I want to add.......What you "do" matters....no matter what it is that you "do"!