Works of God Monday

There are many things for which I would like to praise the Lord today:

1. Last Monday Kris and I celebrated our anniversary--13 yrs! We had a wonderful time up in the mtns. We went to Lake Arrowhead for dinner. We enjoyed walking around the village afterward, taking in the beauty there. Our girls had a fun time at the Fox's house with Sue. We are so thankful for her willingness to watch them. She had them the last part of the week before while we were at a wonderful church planting conference in OH.

2. We went to Disneyland last week for our last day until August. Our annual passes are blocked out until mid-August now. It was my first big, full, LONG day since surgery doing something like that, and I made it fine. Praise the Lord! I sure did feel it on Wed. though and was reminded that I have some more to go in my getting back to normal. What a special family day we had though, and we met a sweet Christian couple at the end of the day that we enjoyed fellowship with while waiting for the parade.

3. The girls and I worked last week on completing our required school days for the year. Friday night was a time for celebration with a meal at a new favorite restaurant, Islands, and then home for ice cream. We are done! It was a great first year of homeschooling. Both girls did so well, and by God's grace, we completed Kindergarten and 3rd grade together.

4. On Friday afternoon I went to a BJU press solutions meeting and was able to order things for both girls that we will use next year. I know it will be a lot better going into the school year with curriculum purchased well in advance and having an understanding of what we will be doing. Last summer was crazy! We moved the end of July, decided on what we were going to purchase for each girl in Aug., and we started school on Sept. 2. It was a whirlwind!

5. I went to the pool for the first time with the girls in months on Thurs. I wasn't allowed to be in the pool for quite some time after surgery. We all went as a family on Sat. and then again on Sunday night. Refreshing--especially when it was over 100 degrees on Sunday! Kris was ready to jump in the water after doing over an hour of door hangers in that heat. Anyway, it has been really nice to get out and do things as a family and to get myself moving again. I was able to get on the elliptical machine this morning too, and tonight we went on a family bike ride after dinner. Woohoo! I hope this can continue on a regular basis and that I see the results I NEED from exercising!

6. God has been bringing new people across our path in recent weeks who we can minister to, and we are very excited about the opportunities. Kris has had lunch with two different guys who are looking for a church. One of those men has come the last two Sundays and brought a friend with him. This past Sunday his wife came as well. She is an unbeliever, and we are praying for God to do a work in her heart. We would love to see her saved and have opportunity for discipleship with her.

I know I could go on in thanking the Lord for how He is working in my life, our family's life, and in the ministry here. He is always good! I will end for now though. I pray that you are seeing God at work in your life. Have a wonderful week of loving Him and loving others! Matt. 22:36-40

Happy Father's Day

Well, I see that the last post I did was on Mother's Day. How funny! I've not spent a lot of time in the blog world as of late. The times this computer has been on has been mostly for homeschooling, email, facebook, and Webkinz. :o) I have sort of "come alive" the last couple of weeks though and am trying to be pretty much back to normal. Thankfully, that is going well!

Today was indeed a special Father's Day. I have the most wonderful husband in the world, and my girls are so privileged to have him as their father! We enjoyed going to church together today and praising our Heavenly Father with fellow believers. After church we went to Kris's favorite place for food--Buffalo Wild Wings. On the way there, I called my dad and wished him a happy day, wishing I could share it with him. We came home after lunch and gave Kris his present, which Emma did a great job picking out with me last weekend. He has a new outfit made up of choc. brown cargo shorts and a cool new plaid shirt to match--very CA! I haven't put the pics on the computer today though. We've been relaxing. I'm on the upstairs computer anyway, and we can only put the memory card in Kris's laptop downstairs. He's using that right now. I broke the spot on the camera that our cord connects to when I dropped the camera at Disneyland a while back. :-( Moving on. . . .

We are starting a new book in Sunday school next week. We are in between studies, so I was thankful for the "stand alone" lesson that Kris decided to do today. It was titled, "God, Our Father." He asked us to think about 3 things:

1. What Our Father is Like
2. What Our Father Does
3. How We should Act Toward Our Father

Under each point he listed Bible verse after Bible verse that we all took turns reading and then discussing. I was overwhelmed at the goodness of God to call me to be His child and give me a Heavenly inheritance. I was humbled to see His love in showing compassion, mercy, grace, discipline, hope, strength, and much more to and for me. I was convicted to love Him and pray to him more, honor and respect Him rightly, and by His grace to know and obey His precious word. My earthly father lives farther away from me than ever before. My husband's father chose to take himself from us. Kris and I are thankful for both of these men. God blessed us with loving, caring fathers. Though we may not be able to be near our dads for different reasons, we rejoice that God, our Father is never far way and will never leave us. He is the God of all comfort, and the source of our peace. We trust Him and His sovereign will for our lives. What a wonderful Heavenly Father we serve!