Shower .... of blessings !!

When little Lucy was 

still just a wee girl,

we had a shower for 

her at the chapel.

Samantha lovingly 

wrapped all those 


letters in yarn.



This cute cake is made

from a base of diapers.  

There were 60 some diapers

in it and enough toys

to keep a baby happy for months!







We enjoyed soup and

Olive Garden bread sticks together.


And

yummy fall desserts like

Apple Crisp and Pumpkin Bars.

Elaine and Linh were 

super fast at 

dressing the baby!

Lucy slept peacefully through

most of the evening.










I shared from 

my heart to Julia's heart

some thoughts on

what "mothering" is.








Julia expresses her 

thanks to all

who came and

shared in the special evening.

Here we are ...

FOUR

GENERATIONS !! 



And here are ...

 Jeshanah,

Julia,

JoAnna 

and

Lucy.









So thankful

for the memories of

the evening and


for all those

who shared

them with us.

 

Finding joy today ...

Ringing the Salvation Army Bell

with Anna, Elly and Gramma!

Those two little smiling faces get

a lot of attention from people!

Never ... Never ... Never

Given through Moses to the children of Israel:

Deuteronomy 31:6

"Be strong and courageous. 

Do not fear or be in dread of them,

for it is the LORD your God 

who goes with you.

He will not leave you or forsake you."

Given to Joshua:

Deuteronomy 31:8

".... He will be with you; 

He will not leave you or forsake you. 

 Do not fear or be dismayed."

Joshua 1:5

"I will not leave you or forsake you."

To Jacob:

Genesis 28:15

"Behold, I am with you and will keep you

wherever you go ... for I will not leave you until 

I have done what I have promised you."

David passes on the promise to Solomon:

1 Chronicles 28:20

" ... He will not leave you or forsake you,

 until all the work for the service of the house is finished"

To faithful Israelites:

Isaiah 41:17

"I the God of Israel will not forsake them."

To believers in the LORD Jesus Christ:

Hebrews 13:5-6

"I will never leave you nor forsake you."

This last verse actually has 5 negatives in the Greek language.

It could be read something like this:

I will never, never leave the,

and never, never, never forsake thee."

Now if that's not an exceeding 

GREAT and PRECIOUS

promise .... I don't know what is !! 

Happy Birthday Carly and Nolan

Tonight we celebrated

Carly and Nolan's

birthdays!

We celebrated at

Mangoes ....

a new fav place with some of the 

BEST authentic

Mexican food.

Several of us ordered

"Molcajetes",

which are like

 fajitas ...  brought

to the table in a 

very thick,

very hot bowl or

 molcajeta like this.


We all enjoyed a

very good time ...

in a room all of our own ...

which was soooo nice

with all of the kiddos!

I pray for 

Carly and Nolan ....

that they would each

come to understand their sin and 

the price paid for their sin and that they

would believe in the LORD Jesus Christ.

This ole world is getting to be 

more and more godless ...

a political party with such

intolerance for religious freedom ...

and that is a source of 

sadness for me.

But it has given me a greater

burden to pray for my grand kiddos

 and their parents.

1. If we want our country to take

Christian truth seriously

we must take a stand for it.

It could be costly ...

especially for those who are 

so young now.  

And so I pray.  To an amazing God.

For His amazing grace. 

 For now ...

 for the future.

Until He comes ! !

I love you Carly and Nolan!!

Abraham ... believed God

This genealogy chart has been very helpful
to me as I'm working my way through 
the book of Genesis and trying to 
wrap my mind around 
all the ancient history this fascinating book provides.

It's a cool and amazing fact that 
Noah lived until Abraham was 58 years old!

Noah died at 950 years of age!!!
Shem lived until Jacob was 48!

And another fact often forgotten - 
Sarai was Abraham's half sister.
(Justified in his own mind his lying, I guess)

Keeping track of the

Biblical patriarchs messes with my mind!

At times it reads like a modern day

soap opera .... or romantic novel.

Abraham, father of the patriarchs, 

was the son of Terah who was

about 10 generations from Noah and
comes from the line of Shem.

Jewish tradition refers to Terah 

as an idol maker, one who 
worshiped many gods, a polytheist.

The city of Ur, (now Southeastern Iraq)
where Terah  lived with his family
was very modern and very rich "head city"
but it was also a very evil, pagan and 

 idolatrous city where

MANY gods were worshiped.

Abraham's family,
 led by his father Terah
had moved to Haran.
Joshua 24 tells us 
that Terah,
 Abraham's father served 
other gods. 
Abraham's relatives 
were polytheists.

When Abraham was 75 years old 

God called him to 

"Go from your country and your
kindred and your
father's house 
to the land
that I will show you. And I will make of you
 a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, 
so that you will be a blessing.
  I will bless those who bless you, 
and him who dishonors you I will curse,
 and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
Genesis 12:1-3

Abram and  Sarai
called by God to leave
their country and go
where He says

So  Abram went, as the LORD had told him, 
and Lot went with him ... and Abram took Sarai his wife
 and Lot his brother's son and all their possessions
 that they had gathered and the people 
that they had acquired in Haran, 
and they set out to go
 to the land of Canaan ....

...and there he built an altar to the LORD 
and called upon the name of the LORD ..."
Genesis 12:4-9

Abram heard the voice of God and obeyed. 
He did not question God or confuse the voice
of God with the idols or false god's his father worshiped.

Hebrews 1:8 says, "By faith Abraham obeyed
when he was called to go out to a place
 that he was to receive as an inheritance. 
And he went out, not knowing where he was going...."

EXERCISE ....

....... your 

right, 

privilege and 

responsibility as an

American citizen.

VOTE  TODAY !!

and if you are interested in reading
a good blog post about our attitude
toward voting, national leaders etc
you can go here  ... its a good read.

Ready ... Set ... Go!

Sandy's Doughnuts,

(one of our fav stopping places!)

sponsored a 5K and 10K run today.

Leanna and Jeshanah thought

the small fee for the run

was worth the TWO free 

doughnuts and the 

Sandy's T shirt they would get.

They had a bit of a 

shall we say 'rough start'

but once they were on 

the right track ...

they did great!!

Here they are,

just before the race began.

It was a pretty

cold morning today,

so the run 

was invigorating!

Shirley and I walked

while the race was on....

patiently waiting

for them to cross

the finish line!

They both did great ...

and

were 

rewarded

at 

the 

end

by none other than a

Sandy's Doughnut!

I got to eat Jeshanah's

because she didn't feel 

like a doughnut.

Jeshanah and I went 

Thrift Store shopping 

after the race ...

where I spied this T-shirt

which says it all .....

especially if the doughnuts

are Sandy's!!

I also found and bought this

sweet piano bench which 

Julia needs.

Jeshanah has a plan for

a sweet cover for the seat

that she found on Pintrest!

Happy Birthday Jill!

Jill is always up for something new....

so for her birthday supper she 

wanted to go to a place we have

never gone before.....

We were all a bit nervous as it was

one of those kinda 

"hole in the wall" restaurants.

But it came with high recommendations

from the 'amigos'.

And everybody knows

the amigos KNOW good Mexican food!!

We headed to Mangos

2901 Main Ave, Fargo

And we were NOT DISAPPOINTED!!

Several of us ordered this "pot of stuff"

which was like a fajita only MUCH BETTER.

I think we found a place that we will

return to again.

We had a great evening together!!

Thanks Jill .... for being the 

"always trying something new kinda gal"!

And thanks for being not only an 

amazing and perfect wife for my son and a

great mom to some of my grandkiddos .... 

but truly a friend.  I love you!