Works of God Monday

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend celebrating Independence Day. Kris started the day off around the breakfast table with the girls, asking them what they could be thankful for that day. Emma said, "That's Thanksgiving, Dad. This is the 4th of July!" Ha ha We are still working as parents and hope our kids will live in daily thanksgiving for so many things. Kris shared with the girls about the Declaration of Independence, and Olivia informed me later, when being quizzed about her morning "lesson" that the "Decoration of Pendence" was signed over 200 yrs. ago. Hee hee She still says those cute little things that make us crack up. She is growing up though, so her words and phrases are right most of the time now. That makes me sad sometimes.

Well, I am so thankful that I live in America. As crazy as things are in this country, and as concerned about several things as I am, I love my country. Peace comes to my heart when I remember that God is sovereign over what is going on around us. It is a privilege to stand for Truth and make our voices still heard as Christians in this land, but I know in the frustrations of things that ultimately God is in control, and I trust Him (Prov. 21:1). He is so loving and merciful. It is an awesome privilege to be free! For the past year I have been reading a devotional book by Beth Moore that is basically a compilation of missionaries all over the world sharing testimonies after each Scripture reading for the day. What a great reminder of all we have to be thankful for in America, specifically the freedom to own Bibles and worship when, where, and how we believe!

We have never had a 4th of July in CA, so we weren't sure what we were going to do. We did find out it would be very different in that it is illegal to do any kind of fireworks, even sparklers because of the fire danger here. That was a real bummer. We always do fireworks for the kids. There aren't big shows like we've been used to either. Oh well! It's still a great place to live. :-) Anyway, the few families in our church all had plans to be out of town on the 4th. We ended up going to Menifee and having a wonderful dinner with the Trues. They are going to plant a church in Rancho next fall. They are currently working with the Lovegroves. The Trues live just barely over a half an hr. from us, so it was great to enjoy fellowship with them and have fun together. We are allowed to do those "pop its" that the kids can throw, and my girls brought some bubbles in Patriotic containers that someone gave them, so they and the Trues' boys had fun with that outside. They enjoyed playing with the Wii for quite a while too. I will try to get my pics off the camera and on the computer soon. Anyway, they knew of some fireworks not too far away from them, so we went up on a ridge and looked across the valley at the fireworks from there. The mtns. were so clear that day, and before the sun went down, the views were just gorgeous. Kris and I laughed on the way home that the fireworks were done before 9:30 PM. They don't even start until 10 PM in MI, and they last a pretty long time. We still really enjoyed seeing them here, and overall it was just great to get together with new friends and have a fun evening.

Well, a new week has begun. I hope you have a great one! I am looking forward to having another post-op this Wed. Please pray it goes well for me. I have a couple of minor concerns, but mostly I am doing very well. Praise the Lord!