God undertakes once again

I wrote about our trip to the Northwest….we flew on our frequent flying miles, thanks Delta!!  But didn’t have the money for all of the extras along the way….like the rental cars, motels, etc but somehow felt like God wanted us to GET on the airplane and trust HIM!!     We have been in mission work for over 40 years and have had to just rely on HIM  over and over again for all of our needs but for some reason this time I wondered how in the world were we going to make it financially, we definately didn’t want to go in debt and wondered how God  was going to provide???

After all the economy isn’t the best at this time, so many people are out of work, our monthly support has been lower the last few months, some of our faithful supporters have had to drop their support altough our GOD has NOT changed  sometimes have wondered how is HE going to provide??

B UT we got on the plane and just trusted HIM to undertake…we arrived in Sacramento, saw the kids for a couple of days, picked up the rental car and  drove up to WA   Dale’s brother had arranged for us to have a service in  a small church on a Wednsday night and had a wonderful time with old friends and making new ones.  At the end of the service GOD started providing for us….the pastor decided to take a love offering for us and in that one service we were given almost enough for our rental car…..WOW!!  God did IT….time and time again as we traveled HE provided.  We were away from home for 6 weeks visiting prayer partners, churches and family and once again we were amazed at HIS faithfulness.

So even though the economy is bad, people are out of work, we don’t know when things are going to turn around but we do know ONE thing GOD is still in CONTROL and HE answered our prayers as we met others and told them about our ministry, what a blessing!!    I was once gain reminded that HE does undertake and does answer prayer!!

What an awesome trip!!!

Spending time with my sis, Donna

Time with our California grandkids, Shane & Braden

Our new president

Since I was born of the 4th of July ….I am very patriotic!!!  Just ask my kids and they would tell you that I am a little NUTS!!  My house is all decorated with American things…..Eagles, Flags, more eagles, just about anything imaginable with the colors of america…I have it, thanks to family and friends!!

We have also been overseas for quite a few years so have missed inaguration day, fourth of July and all kinds of holidays so I feel I can YELL and HOLLER when we have a very patriotic day like today!!

I didn’t vote for our new president but I am going to pray for him and for his sweet family.  Those little girls are so beautiful and seem so well behaved.  They all do need our prayers and so does America!!  God bless America and also our new president!!

After being overseas for so many years in Papua New Guinea and Brazil ….I count it a HUGE blessing to be born in the USA and to be able to worship in a free country.  We have countless blessing and need to remember all that GOD has done for our country and also for each of us!! 

God is good and HE can continue to undertake for all of us!!

Don’t you just love the way thousands and thousands of people are in Washington DC today.  It looks like a sea of people and when all of them started waving their flags….I wanted to wave my flag and ….oh I want to be there too.  We were in DC in the fall of 2007 and how I loved being there for just a few hours!!   My sweet hubby served in the army and in Oct.  some of his army buddies want to have a reunion in DC…..and we DO want to GO!!  I think it will be a wonderful time for all of those guys (OLE army buddies) to be together in DC…..after all they had a small part in protecting the USA!!  I am proud of my sweet hubby!!

Let’s PRAY for our new president and let’s pray for America!!  God BLESS the USA!!!

Frustration & Peace

I’m not sure what I am going to call this page but I felt like writing….so here goes!!  My daughter inspires me to keep writing as she likes to read my rattlings!!!  Bless her!!!  Isn’t it great to have a daughter like her???

I am trying to eat healthier and do more exercise…..whew…..that isn’t the easiest thing to do but I do need to stay on track!!!   The last few weeks haven’t been the easiest as I went back to the Dr. and he asked what my daily blood sugar was……WHAT???  NO one told me to check my blood sugar!!!  He couldn’t believe it and I couldn’t believe that he hadn’t said anything to me.  After all I have been going to him for over a year.  NOW if he thought checking my sugar was such an important aspect of my health WHY hadn’t he asked me that question before?? 

I ended up in tears and he then said,”Oh. I am a trained phychiatrist what is the problem?? ” Grrrrrrrrrrr…….so he had me go to a nurse practioner and had her show me how to check my blood.  YOU see….they say I have diabetis 2…..I use to be hyperglycemic and my AC1  count was above 6.7 then it got up to 7.4 and now is back down to 6.7.  I don’t want to take more and more medication so have been frustrated with  the addition of medication which HASN’T made me feel any better. 

So I trying to eat healthier and after a week of poking myself I have peace about the whole thing.  God will undertake and HE will help me and show us how to take care of my sugar.  My sweet daughter has given me a couple of books….the sugar solution and also a book on exercise…8 minutes a day.  NOW if I can just apply all of that information I will be on my way.  Our son told us the other day that cinnammon is also good for sugar!! 

I better quit and find something good to eat!! Celery anyone????

Our 2002 Van then & NOW

We bought our van on Ebay in January of 2006 and were SO excited as it was an answer to prayer and it we won it for a great price…..so off we went to Orlando to pick it up.  Our daughter was more than willing to take us down there as we suggested a couple of days at Disney while we picked up the van.  We all loaded up in her van and off we went…..we had a marvelous time and loved the 2002 Dodge Caravan EX…it was perfect.

We headed home and were up on a straight stretch on HWY 10 when my sweet hubby called me on the cell phone and said that something was wrong with the van……..he called back in a few minutes and said that the van was REALLY having trouble so he was turning off at the next exit.  Believe me we were OUT in the boonies at that point but he did find a old gas station.  The van made it and once we stopped it wouldn’t go forward or backward!!!  You guessed it……the transmission was GONE. 

My daughter says that I am a little INSANE and I must agree cause when everything goes wrong I have a tendency to laugh and cry at the same time.  So I went into peals of laughter which made the kids and everyone else laugh but when I saw the van up on the tow truck…the tears started in the middle of the laughter!!  Craziness…..God has a sense of humour and somehow I KNEW that HE was going to make everything straight!!  HE always does….he even sent along a humourous tow truck driver which made me smile and even laugh harder!! 

Anyway off went our NEW van and we once again all loaded up in our daughters van and headed home. We got home around 2 AM.  The next day my sweet hubby and our son drove back over (125 miles from home) and got the van fixed.  The friendly tow truck driver had taken it to a Dodge dealer….thanks Gieco!!!

It got fixed to a nice price of $2500 and we figured it should last years and years, right???  So we thought…..well God sent us off to Brazil this year for the summer with a team…(guess I will have to write about them too)   so we decided to drive our trustworthy van down to Orlando so we could stop by and see our daughter and her special family!!

So off we went….we arrived in Fairhope, Al and spent time with the kids.  Our daughter had sprained her ankle so had been HOME for a month so this mom decided to take her shopping.  What fun….well it was fun until the van didn’t want to back up…..it sounded like something was in the middle of the road but then it caught and we made it back to her place.  YEAH!!   MY Sweet hubby checked it out and it worked fine for him so we decided that it was probably O.K. 

So off we went to Orlando for a few days of rest, Disney before we took off for Brazil.  See my other blogs about our wonderful time at Animal Kingdom,,,,,the van acted up on the way down to Orlando but then ran fine again.  My sweet hubby decided to have the Dodge dealer down in Orlando check the van out….so we called him and he was willing to look at it on Monday.  Over the weekend it worked fine so we decided to try to keep going with it until we got home.

SO…..off we went to Brazil and God gave us an awesome time down there with a great group of team members and Brazilians.  We got back after almost a month and our “trustworthy” van was there waiting for us.  We decided to stop along the way as I wanted to see a little of Savannah and the beach.  The van choked and coughed a few times at a few stop signs but kept going. We even went out to Tybee Island (ah….that place is so pretty and as I love the beach I could just go on and on about the trip out there and the Island…but guess I better get back to the van!!  We didn’t have any trouble and headed home the next day.

We stopped for lunch about 45 miles from home, stopped for gas, rest area etc and it kept going although once in awhile when we would slow down or stop it choked and coughed a little bit but always went forward or backward.

Our youngest son and his two angels (7 & 5) were here at our house waiting for Nana & Popo and were SO happy to have us back.  We spent about 1/2 hour visiting with them and then decided to go over to their house to see the 3 month old and the 22 month old.  After all I was sure they had grown 3 feet while I was gone.   Vin went off ahead of us and we all piled into the van…………and guess what???  The van wouldn’t go forward or backward it just choked and coughed and sounded AWFUL!!  I, of course started laughing and laughing as it was so AMAZING to me to realize that GOD kept that van going for all of those miles and miles.  You know, it could have stopped on the beach, at the rest stop, in Orlando, while we were in Brazil, at our daughters, restaurant, shopping or countless other places but GOD kept it going until we were safely HOME!!  Goodness I wonder how many angels kept us going on that trip??  GOD does do miracles for us daily and at times we don’t even see them but this time it was SO evident!!  He kept me going in Brazil and HE kept that van going until we got home!!  Wow!!  I was also able to tell those little grandkids how GOD undertook once again and answered their prayers as well as ours.  You see, they were praying for us on our trip and prayed the van would keep going!!  HILARIOUS really and I still smile when I think about it…….I just have to keep smiling when I think of the $1800 it will cost for another transmission!!!  Sigh…..mom said that maybe a Toyota or Honda would be better but meanwhile the van is in the shop and should be out soon!!

God is good ALL the time!!!  We are UNDER HIS WINGS!!!

Brazil & back

We just returned from Brazil and had a wonderful time down there.  Now I am trying to ADJUST to being back home.  WHEW…after being spoiled for the last month by the Brazilians I am having a HUGE adjustment. 

Where is Dulce ???  The sweet lady runs the kitchen at the Bible School.  She was GREAT to work with and basically spoiled me rotten for almost a month.  She made the most delicious Brazilian food for us and let me show her how to make meatloaf, tacos, build a mountain, American Pizza and even our whaky chocolate cake!!

She was always smiling and had such a cheerful attitude and I miss her great servant attitude.  Oh….if I could only be a little bit like her!!  She is the main cook but lets the students do most of the cooking while she watches them and encourages them.  She even teaches the men how to cook!!

Where is Sonya??  She wanted to wash our clothes so every day she would take our clothes….wash them, hang them on the line and iron the tee shirts and everything else.  By the end of the day we would have a little pile of clean clothes.  She LOVED to serve and wanted to even do more for us. 

Where is Jose Marcos and Valeria?  He is the president of the Bible school and Valeria is his wife.  They made sure that we were well taken care of and wanted each of the team members to feel totally comfortable.  They would take us to town on  a minutes notice and were always willing to help us in any possible way.  They also were servants!!

Where is our team??  They were a blessing and were really workers.  The 15 year olds were able to keep up with the older ones.  Even if they had blisters, felt lousy or just didn’t feel good they still kept going and going!!

Where is the bus??  That mission bus took us to church various times, took us to a couple of cool cities, to a mall, to Sao Paulo and then to the airport.  It was also a blessing and the drivers were always willing to go wherever we wanted without complaining!!

Where is Roque & Alba??  Friends we have known for the past 4 years….he keeps me smiling with his antics and he is always one step ahead of everyone!!  Alba is like my little sister and even had me meet her mom this year.  They are always servants and willing to do anything for us!!

GOD was there and GOD still is here……..now I just NEED to refocus and get busy taking care of my sweet hubby, washing his clothes and making him his favorite meals!!  The meatloaf, potatoes, beets and corn are almost done so I better go and get busy…as I don’t think anyone is here to serve me…..but   WAIT my  SWEET hubby is over in the kitchen and is bringing my supper to me!!  Guess no matter where I am ….I am still being spoiled!!!   God is good and HE does take care of us and meets our daily needs!!  Oh….I will have to blog about our dear ole van!!!  It isn’t that old but somehow……..I better leave that one to another blog!!

I am truly BLESSED!!!

Amazing how God take care of the little things

The past couple of days I have been reminded once again how GOD cares about even the little things in our life.  He orchestrates it all in so many marvelous ways.

We have friends down here in Orlando and wanted to visit them but weren’t sure where they lived nor where they worked.  We usually meet them at DISNEY……fun, fun!!   Anyway I am a scrounger as far as looking for the best price on hotels and usually use priceline when I book a place.  Priceline has great prices and I think it is fun to bid on a place and then see where we end up.  I have become convinced that somehow GOD has control of that detail in our lives too.  I  know it is run by human beings who are out to make a dollar or two but anyway………………..God somehow pushes the right bottom.

He has had us in the perfect location more than once as I have bid on different areas.  Everytime I close my eyes when I see that they have accepted my bid and say a little prayer as I am SO afraid that I will end up in some little hick hotel.  BUT everytime HE has given us a really nice place.

So about 5 weeks ago I put in a bid for the Orlando area.  At first my bid wasn’t accepted so I added another area which was the Kississimmee area and raised my bid by $2.  A few minutes my big was accepted and once again I shut my eyes as I scrolled down the page to see where we ended up.  You see on priceline you don’t get to choose the hotel you stay in although you do get to choose how many stars you want to stay you want for your hotel.  This time we ended up at a Holiday Inn in Kississimmee.

We enjoyed a couple of days of doing nothing and then called our friends only to find out that Bonnie works less than 5 minutes from us at Celebration in one of the Disney offices…..and we are close to their house……well not really close as they live in Poinciana but at least God put us on a section of Orlando area that is the closest to their house.  Isn’t that just amazing!!

Today as I thought about the above I was in AWE once again how God cares and undertakes for even the tiniest details of our lives.  He knew that we would want to be close to where Bonnie works and also knew where we needed to be located.  Isn’t that such a blessing….I don’t know about you but i LOVE how HE cares for us.

Little things God sends my way

God is so cool and I think HE loves to send little things my way….like a rainbow after a storm!! 

This evening that is exactly what GOD did for me……we went over to a friends house for supper and as we were leaving there was this gorgeous rainbow just peering down at us!!  I told my sweet hubby….God is going to take care of me!!

You see….the past few days this momma, nana, wife has NOT felt the best and have had alot of swelling in my legs.  I think it is due to the heat…standing too long in one place, or just from having that knee replacement!!!  I know it has been over a year and a half since I had that surgery but once in awhile it still swells up and decides that it needs some PITY!!! 

Anyway…..I know that GOD knew that I needed a reminder that HE was still there and in control….you see we leave for Brazil in two days.  The team comes in tomorrow and we will be busy getting to know them, having orientation and packing our last minute things.  2 are coming from California and 2 from Idaho and the rest of the team is from this area.  It  will be fun getting to know each of them!!

But…..as I was saying God cares for little things and HE knows about every little area of my life.  Last week HE had us stay in a motel that was less than a mile from where our dear friend, Bonnie works.

He somehow had the ones at Priceline book us into the motel that was super close to her…..isn’t that just amazing.   I go to www. priceline.com quite a bit to book motels and everytime GOD gives us so good deals.  Whenever I win the bid I close my eyes say a little prayer and peek at where I will be located.  You see when you bid on priceline you never know what type of hotel you will be in nor do you know the exact location.  But this time GOD knew where we should be and HE put us in the exact location.

So for today I need to be reminded that GOD knows about these sore legs and HE will put me in the right location.  On the plane, bus or wherever because HE cares about the little things in my life!!

Disney- Animal Kingdom

We always LOVE going to any of the Disney parks here at Disney World.  I must admit that this is one of my favorite places in the world!!  You can basically slip away from anything for a few hours and DREAM away.  I not only love the parks but I LOVE WATCHING all of the families interact with each other, smile at each other and laugh together.  I am sure by the end of the day they do have a few CRABBY children and parents but during the day it is such a delight to watch faces loving their time together. 

Another cool thing is hearing languages from around the world and to me that is totally awesome!!  People who GOD loves and people who need HIM!!  Yesterday we were at a store and one of the clerks jokingly asked the other cashier….Hey, does anyone other than your husband say, I love you to you??  She said NO and he then said, well….I love you!!  I then said to her, you mean your mom or dad don’t say I love you to you???  She said, No…never…they just tell me all the things I do wrong!!  Isn’t that just the saddest thing!!  I should have stopped right then and said, Oh but God loves YOU!!

Oh where was I ???  I think I was talking about going to Animal Kingdom today, wasn’t 1??  We have a dear friend who works for Disney and she graciously took her lunch break to let us into the park for FREE!!  Isn’t that just a blessing!!

It was super HOT today here but we had so much fun!!  We went on the safari ride which so reminds us of the roads in PNG.  On the safari you ride in an old truck and can see all kinds of exotic animals from Africa.  They are all out in the open and are SO amazing!!!   We saw some animals that we have never seen before…God made so many neat things and all of the animals showed HIS creativity!!  WOW!! 

We then went to the Lion King Show which I totally loved.  Once again it was amazing to see all of the acrobatics that the group performed.  Another WOW!!

Of course we had to ride on a few rides and got soaked on the water raft ride which cooled us down.  Right before the park closed we went on it again with two other couples and that was fun as they were going on it over and over again.  SO we joined them….we laughed at each other as the water would dump on us.  After three trips on that ride we were drenched!!!  

A really fun ride was the roller coaster that is fairly new.  It doesn’t turn you totally upside down, nor does it twist you around but is a cool, cool ride.  You go up, up, up and then fall only to get to the end of the track so then you plunge backward!!  It is really fun…..I do love roller coasters but haven’t wanted to go on many lately but I am SO glad my hubby thought I would love it….as I did.  By the end of the day the lines were really short so we were able to go on it another time.  That time we had a group in front of us and they made the whole ride FUN for all of us.   It was an awesome day!!

My little corner of the world- NC

Somehow I wrote a long lengthy blog about North Carolina but when  I published it I somehow LOST it.  How very SAD….so now I have to start all over again!!  Sigh!!   So here goes….I just might get this blog thing figured out one of these days.  I tried to post a picture on this too but I need my daughter’s help.  She is the one that has encouraged me to write and has her own blog, she is the greatest!! 

Anyway………………what can I say about my little corner of the world??  We moved from our daughter’s corner up there to where our son lives.  It has been an incredible spring…..we had daffodils, then lillies and at the same time a Japanese Pink Tree and a Red Dogwood tree blooming, it was SO beautiful.  Everytime I went outside or drove into our driveway I was reminded of God’s creation and how much HE must love various colors.  The colors of the trees have also been amazing and things are still blooming all over NC.

We are 45 minutes from the Blue Ridge Parkway and as I tell our 6 year old, “the mountains are calling, can you hear them???”  We listen for awhile and then I always say…”I hear them…they are saying come, come, come!!”   So off we go with a picnic in hand that always has “oreos” in it.  For some reason, if we go out in the canoe, beach, mountains or a picnic we NEED “Oreos.” 

Where was I, oh, the Blue Ridge Parkway…..the Parkway goes through various States and NC has a long stretch of it.  It is SO beautiful up there and so peaceful.  We like to take our picnic and chairs and then find a perfect spot to put our chairs to see ridge after ridge after ridge of mountains that are changing as we watch them.  They remind us of our time in Papua New Guinea and also remind us of God’s faithfulness to us!!  You can go on hiking trails, camp, go canoeing or just sit and relax in the various parks and turnouts on the road.  It is SO beautiful.  We always stop at “the apple man” on the way down or up.  He has apples from his orchard, baskets, fresh jelly and all kinds of goodies.  They are open year round and in the winter I wonder how they even can be there as it does get cold up there. 

The drive up there is also awesome and right before you get to the parkway you will find the little town of “Blowing Rock”.  My daughter in law LOVES that little town and could probably tell you all about the ice cream store, cozy places to stay and the best little shops but when we are driving through there my hubby says, do you want to stop?   My response is usually NO…I want to go to the Parkway!!  For some reason the fantastic views up there are what bring me JOY!!! 

Today was our grandson’s 5th birthday and he wanted to go up to the mountains and to Grandfather Mountain…..so we went with them with our “oreos of course….maybe I should do a commercial on Oreo cookies…)  Anyway we drove up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, followed it for miles and then turned off to Grandfather Mountain.  It is one of the highest points in the Parkway and has a mile high swinging bridge.  You do have to pay to get in up there but it is worth it as the sights are incredible.  They have hiking trails all over too.  I stayed at the bottom……well………not really at the bottom as I was WAY up there but just didn’t climb the 51 steps up to the swinging bridge.  We had a 3 week old number #10 grandson with us and I opted to STAY with him.  Off went the birthday boy, the 6 year old that is missing teeth, the 20 month old who can stare you down, her mommy, our son and my dear hubby.  Soon I could see them walking across this swinging bridge….it looked so SCARRY up there. 

Then our son put that grandbaby on his shoulders and proceeded past the bridge to the highest point.  He looked like a little dot up there…I then noticed that my hubby was out there too with the birthday boy.  I started praying that God would keep them safe and thought that they were INSANE taking those grandbabies out so far….I could hear my daughter in law saying, What are you doing??  It isn’t safe out there, come back!!  I just kept clicking pictures and was in awe just seeing the DOTS of our son, grandbabies and my hubby up there.  GOD did take care of them and they looked so, so small in the grandeur of HIS creation that surrounded them.  GOD created all of this for us to enjoy and we did enjoy a perfect day in our little corner of the world. 

 

       

Another beautiful day

I know it has been a beautiful day but for some reason I haven’t FELT like it was beautiful!!  Sigh…the day started out COLD but ended up almost 70 and the sky was a gorgeous blue.  I love the sky when it has puffy clouds and totally blue.  You know I never really looked up today to see if those puffy clouds were up there or not!!

Waking up feeling OH so tired didn’t help much and I wanted to sit and hold that new grandbaby for hours but didn’t go over as I wanted G to have all of the time she wanted as she will leave this next weekend.  SO what did I do???

I went out to lunch with my sweet hubby and then we went swimming which was just what I needed!!   On the board at the pool someone wrote out one of my favorite verses, Phil 4:20  ”Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, with THANKSGIVING , let your request be known onto God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds  through Christ Jesus.”   It was cool to see that somehow God knew I needed to be reminded of that verse that He wants us to not be anxious.   I have been anxious about our trip this summer, bills, etc…..so it was a good reminder to me.  Did I remember that verse later in the day??  Not really but GOD reminded me again of this verse this evening as I have been writing. 

 I KNOW that HE will undertake and  tomorrow I will feel better which should make tomorrow  fantastic…..God has made all things beautiful even when we don’t feel the best!!   He can make the crooked places in our life straight and can undertake in ways we don’t even know!!    Guess life in always a roller coaster as we have our good and bad days.  But Praise HE always is the same!!