Absent from body....Present with LORD

A dear friend of ours has breathed his last on this old earth and entered his Eternal Home! Frank Brown went to be with the Savior he loved this morning. What a joy it was to be able to say good by to him last night. We sang, we prayed, we read the Word, we cried.....and looking beyond our sadness of loosing Frank, we rejoice as he is now in the presence of the One whom he loved and served so faithfully.

It is an amazingly peaceful thing to know that whatever we go through in our lives...be it flood, fire, death....our great God is there to lead us through. My husband read to Frank last night, some verses from John 10. "And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him; for they know His voice." Our LORD so gently lead Frank all of his Christian life and then through the valley of death.....and it was only a momentary shadow.....for the instant his mortal body failed he was with his Savior. I thought of the song "God Leads His Dear Children Along". And am so thankful for the Gentle Shepherd's leading, all the way to the finish, in Frank's life.

May Frank's life continue to be a challenge and encouragement to us all to press on, be faithful to the finish, and finish the race with joy......................all the way to the end!

In shady, green pastures, so rich and so sweet,
God leads His dear children along;
Where the water’s cool flow bathes the weary one’s feet,
God leads His dear children along.

Refrain:
Some through the waters, some through the flood,
Some through the fire, but all through the blood;
Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song,
In the night season and all the day long.

Sometimes on the mount where the sun shines so bright,
God leads His dear children along;
Sometimes in the valley, in darkest of night,
God leads His dear children along.

Though sorrows befall us and evils oppose,
God leads His dear children along;
Through grace we can conquer, defeat all our foes,
God leads His dear children along.

Away from the mire, and away from the clay,
God leads His dear children along;
Away up in glory, eternity’s day,
God leads His dear children along.

Winter Wonder Land . . . in March !

This morning we woke up to this.



Out the back door.









And out the front door.




And we are expecting about 4-6 more inches of snow.













I'm not sure if you can see them or not....but in this picture there are about 5 robins sitting in the tree. They are likely thinking that either they slept through the spring/summer or they veered off course on their way North!


As our river creeps slowly up to the crest, we work and we wait.

You can see a web cam of our river and you can take a 'fly over' of the flooded areas here.

Fighing the Flood .... can be fun ! !

There are tons of things to do to be useful during the flood. Some build dikes with tractors and bobcats. Some fill sandbags, some form a chain the get the bags from the font driveway to the backyard. Some make cookies and bring them around with big jugs of Starbucks coffee. Some lay in hospital beds and pray for the rest of us. Some lovingly watch their children while husbands work their normal jobs and then volunteer to help others 'after hours'. It takes many hands and hearts...and each is a special blessing.

Whatever our part....may we do it with joy! I hope to post some pictures tomorrow....but one needs to be careful about taking pictures around here.

Purim Party

Yesterday, at our house, we had all (meaning all who are no longer in diapers) the g'kids over for a "Purim Party." I love to connect with them in a 'spiritual' way and this just does not happen without being intentional about it. We have had an "Attributes" party, "Books of the Bible" Party, and of course my all time favorite....a "Creation Party" which I am sure we will do again and again. I got the idea of the Purim Party while studying the book of Esther a couple of months ago. What a marvelous thing to be sure of.....that if the LORD God calls you to something ... anything ..... HE will also give you the strength to carry it thru.....all the way to the end. The Jews celebrate the Feast of Purim simply to remember (and be thankful) for their deliverance, thru Esther, from the plot of wicked Hamen to destroy all the Jews. Because Esther was willing to be brave, very brave, and trust in her God a whole nation was saved from annihilation.


We learned about Esther, Mordecai, King Xerxes and _ _ _ _ _. We learned that the Jews will not even pronounce his name. In fact each year at the Feast of Purim when they read thru the book of Esther.....they hiss and boo and stomp their feet and make all kinds of noise to be sure that they blot out any thing that could resemble his name. We made noise makers, and believe me the kids used them!! We made queen crowns & king crowns and scepters. We colored pictures of Esther, Mordecai, King Xerxes, and _ _ _ _ _. We watched the Veggie Tale movie about Esther and another Esther movie. We acted out the book of Esther, and we talked about how faithful the LORD God is to each one that has taken Him as their Savior. We talked about people in other places of the world who have to hide their Bibles and meet together as a church in secret. We prayed together that each one of us would be faithful and trust the LORD no matter what kind of difficulties might come into our lives. HE IS FAITHFUL and I want more than anything for each of the kids to know, trust and experience that!
Here are the Kings & Queens

Back row L to R: Briann, Samuel, Alyssa, Lindsey
Front row L to R: Cody, Chloe, Carly

Has the 'Stranger' Affected your House?

I read this today about a stranger we may have in our homes ......

...... thinking about it

...... and how the 'stranger' is/could be affecting our family.

... thankful for the challenge!


ps. the first click/article is on me.....what you read after that -- you're on your own!