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I get more encouragement from those I know!

My daughters are exciting! Jamie is in love and Jessi is digging in to help her Amy and to advance the career. I wish I talked more to my daughter-in-laws but alas they are busy with kinder and such stuff. I thank God for blogs and my space to keep my finger on their pulse a bit. My grandkids are a kick and oh how I miss the ones afar off. Some days they all seem afar off believe me... My sons are being men and that takes most of their energy. Earning a living and relating to their wife and kids is full time work so I make every effort to be thankful when they reach out. I have friends but lately they all seem very preoccupied with survival or their passions. I applaud and move on to the daily life I live. It holds some promise of good days to come. Those promises are what I stand on...

My daughter in law has asked for a few of my fav's

I am thinking about celebrities I really enjoy on this particular Friday. My life is upside down right now and I am glad to think of other things...
I like Meg Ryan because she always looks great and love her funky hair and great facial expressions and I never hated a movie with her in it...
Meg reminds me of the reality of the unsophisticated me inside the whimsical me but of course she is eons younger than me...sigh.

I also like Goldie Hawn. She has been in some classic funny movies and I adore comedy as I think my whole life is a comedy series with small sections of pathos. She is so blonde in nature but has that irreverent edge to her.


Who else do I like? Oh I think Sandra Bullock is wonderful. She also waited for the right rock star to marry. What a woman!


Cruella D'evil comes to mind ...Glenn Close is it? Fantastic! What a woman!


Sophia Loren was my childhood idol and she was always a beauty with some sizzle that I adore.

Golly Miss Molly

The snow date for Amberly's shower came and few attended. We did have fun however in the small group. Jenna and I spent our time and energy creating a wonderful atmosphere for celebrating Amberly and baby Christian to come.
Since that date she had had many contractions and rough moments but no arrival yet. I am sure she would like to hurry this boychild out into the real world. She has many fears and thoughts coming to her but when that boy is in her arms she will perhaps see God's design clearly. Jimmy is doing a pretty good job of encouraging her so Kudos to Jimmy!
This week held the best and worst of things. Mike and Jessica came Sunday with Eliana of course and we had a splendid 2 days due to the freezing rain that fell. The blow-up bed made it possible and I did get pretty good at recliner sleeping this past year so I took a night in my chair. It was fine! I was so tickled to hear Eliana crying herself to sleep "I want to sleep with my gramma!" but it only took a couple times and a few tears til she was in dreamland. It was a fun time. See the pictures! We all went to church for the first start up of the 2X per month evening alternative service. Jessica and Eliana were in the nursery watching Nemo and some other movie and I joined them at half-time. There were about 26 people attending and the coffeehouse atmosphere was kinda different.
I am trying to build a resume and think about what kind of job I really want. I may have to take what I can get but still I want to find what will work for me! I do want a job to be pleasant. I have had fun jobs and then again some were so boring and dull. I like to have a sense of purpose and fill a spot that keeps me thinking and involved. We shall see...I never had to have a resume before. I am old and have had this job for 10+ years. Whew! God is in charge but I am watching and listening so I don't miss the best and end up taking 2nd best.
Jack turned 78 on Friday but I had to come down to work in Madtown so we celebrated on Thursday night. Jenna and I took him to Perkins and after dinner he had Lemon Pie. He thinks it was free because they put a candle in it but no it still cost 2.95. I don't care but he was overheard telling one of the kids that on the phone. I just let it go as it seemed to tickle him so. He didn't get presents as we have a money crunch but dinner was good and we got him some butterscotch hard candies later.
Today Jenna brought him down for the day but he was bored and wanted to go home by evening. He misses his familiar things even though they bore him a bit too. Getting a balance is hard in our situation but we try. After they left Karah, Metrie and I had an art project and we went online and found an artist to copy. It was a kick!
They are now in bed. The house is nearly clean and only a few dishes await. My eyes are drooping. We had an afternoon hairdying session with highlights for myself, Suzanne and Karah. She is probably the only kid her age in school with highlights...and they look sweet! My hair is bad right now but I need a cut and cannot spring for it until I get money for the bills. No one will hire me until I look good so when the resume is done with cover letter then I will count change until I can afford the hairdo for job interviews. Wish me well!

Looks like it is done.

It was sometimes good. Mostly it was what I felt I was supposed to be doing, managing the church office and praying for and with people, helping those who needed it when it was possible and supporting the pastor and his family. Well... it has unraveled and I truly do not know why. I don't want to give too much weight to the enemy or his curses so I come back to maybe God is letting this happen. Yes the enemy wants to squelch the church and drive it to nothing. I look at all those who have left. Are they better off? No. Absolutely not and what is now going to happen to me? It is a real dilemma. I wait to hear from God and He gives me Psalm 11. I am righteous in Christ. I love God and want to serve Him. I am so less than rather than more than but I keep on and never really quit. It is my shining quality I guess. I have compassion and forgive the things others cannot seem to. I recall the covenants I have signed. I am so less than but I have hung on. Now He may take me out to work somewhere else or not. I could get something I like maybe. I have had other jobs that were okay. Maybe a summer job somewhere in the Dells...maybe anything but my heart is not ready for this. I will bounce back. I always do. I have begged and pleaded for God to direct me and He gives me Psalm 11. I cannot fly like a bird to His mountain when my enemies surround me with their bows aiming arrow at me. Which way to go? Which thing to pursue? God help me find my way. This is not just pragmatic, business as usual for me. This is my life and pleasing God matters most. I want to love what He loves and hate what He hates. I want to do the right thing. What is right?
Those that left have abandoned ship. Is is truly sinking or does it need a new crew? Tell me Lord. How do we spread the gospel and touch the hurting with healing. This is America but people here will die and go to hell. It takes 85 people to get one saved...stats so to get Reedsburg saved...the 80% that are not is like 7000 times 85. So much for statistics. I have been so wrapped up in church that I do not know the hurt and dying. I need a lesson in anti christianeze and just get out there and do it. Where do you want me to go Lord? I want to get out of debt and stay healthy too. I want to lose the weight that drags me down and hurts me. I want to find the way for me to go, the way that is best and that Holy Spirit guides me down. Help Lord.

Come steal away with me...

These days my "fun" is mostly in my head and in small moments caught. A "cuppa" here perhaps with a friend or a magazine or a "story" I can sink into for a chapter there or even once in awhile a DVD that I know will transport me to a place I can find something special to experience. I find that reading blogs with the pretties often presented and the words that accompany someones thoughts and form pictures in the readers head. Sigh! I have been transported for a good part of the weekend here with my babies to watch and dishes to wash. I do these things with joy but still the moments I steal when they are busy or asleep before I throw myself into a bit of housekeeping for another, these moments are precious and what an adventure! Visit some on my list and find whimsey or beauty or a new thought to stroke... Have a cuppa with me from a distance and we can share the moments somehow.

Swamp walking...

I am an elder. I have survived my 61 years with God's help and am in the fray as a seasoned veteran of getting through the maze of things designed to take me out. Do you not see the maze?
The medical community though indeed may be individually pristeen and above board but as a whole is a swamp of critters designed to make the industry money and the peons who support it addicted and sickly. The world view is there to tell us God is gone or stupid or vain or out of touch with the new reality. The push is to get us in debt beyond our means then addicted and divided from anything that could save us. I have not escaped wounding. I have a debt that will take me years to bring down without a miracle or some sort. I did not pay attention to the forerunners of the natural heath movement and alternative medicine. I played outside the gate and ran every risk but then at the last moment would hear the siren going off in my head and go for the security of avoiding the status quo, the planned demise of whatever was good or healthy of full of life. So now I spend what money I can on supplements and organic foods and I try to avoid the pitfalls in the murky swamp of heading out of the valley and up the mountain of freedom. Can I ever be truly free? Yes, I can even as free as those prisoners of war who were at the mercy of their captors but never lost the freedom of their mind and their spirit. They could be killed but they couldn't be broken. So that is my mantra to come out of the 60's of my life better than I went in. Watch me try.

Reflections on another loss...

This week we at the church received two letters of resignation from members who felt God is moving them on. Here we are in a fight against the devil to keep the church going and to perhaps keep me employed to do the work that needs done but the fact is the church has suffered from a divisive spirit for a long time. Is this divisive or is this God? Good question and I do not for sure have the answer. It seems like a blow at first but maybe it is totally okay in the grand scheme of things. God knows I don't!
One of the families who left were particularly dear to me as I mentored the wife for years. Looking back on this last year I see her dissatisfaction and their growing need for something else, an unwillingness to do anything at all that required some energy or time or money. So the division spread perhaps to her. I guess she was bitten by the same snake that bit others. Or maybe it just wasn't a good fit anymore for her and her family. Do I have great insight? Maybe not, maybe so...
I saw her since then and was able to look at her and accept that they are gone and still love her dearly. I, however, have no time to regret or grieve as I must just go forward. Basically this is my life. Take it on the chin, allow yourself to feel the pain then regroup and go forward to the best of your ability. I am doing that in my marriage, my home, with my kids, in the church which is by the way my social structure as well as my place of work and where I worship and serve God. Does this loss just plain stink? Yes.... it does but do I have time to sulk? No. Upward and onward to the high calling of God.
What is next? I hope signs and wonders and miracles with many salvations. I hope new energy levels for me and a way to make a living that works and will help me pay down my debt and have some to give away. Continued divine appointments with the Holy Spirit guiding me...lives rebuilt and hearts changed and made new by the power of Jesus Christ. Do I miss those who got tired and wanted their needs filled? Yes, a bit of course. I love them but I release them to God's design and plan and I turn from the window as they walk away and go about the calling on my life. Let each of us work out our salvation with fear and trembling. I want to love what God loves and hate what God hates and keep on growing and serving on the way to becoming an overcomer. Thats all folks!

My Other Blogs

I have discontinued Christmas delights and dilemmas until next season but my "Rainy Days in Wisconsin" is ongoing so pop on my profile and journey into another blog with me.

8 Reasons it is good to be "Moi"!

I read Brenda's blog at Coffee Tea Books and Me and was officially tagged by reading it. So here goes:

1.) I have been a Christian for 33 years (nearly) and my life has never been dull or without purpose and meaning since that time. It still has all the ups and downs of life but with the addition of Jesus Christ as King, Lord, Friend, Savior, Provider, Protector, Healer, and the one who loves me most. Can't beat that!
2.) I have a husband of 33 years and 4 great kids who are now adults. Two of the kids are married and provided me with two smart and loveable daughter-in-laws and then I was graced with 3 precious grandkids who are smart and adorable and I am captivated by them.
3.)God blessed me by stretching the stakes of my tent and I have two adult added kids by virtue of his blessing, Brandy and Anthony. I also have 4 grafted in grandkids...Josh, Lizzie, Micah and Isaac...my pastor's kids. I have also Tisha, Karah, Jordan and Lewcie...my "Godkids" and Metrie who is a foster that I want to bless. My quiver is full but God keeps adding!
4.) I have some good and precious lifelong friends...Jeanne, Bonnie, Pam, Sue, Pastor are just a few of them and some in the making now...some will be for a season but some are eternal friends. Making friends is like a weaving project where one is the warp and one the waft...God weaves us together...
5.)I am whimsical and love quirky things. I don't have to go far to find reasons to be happy. I even like myself now that sin doesn't rule me any longer!
6.) I know that I am called to where I am and what I am doing despite the hardships that come with this call. I have been used to help people find freedom from Bondage. It rocks to see them free!
7.) I love music and writing and reading and tea and cooking and entertaining and serving others through hospitality and I find meaning in all this activity even though my identity is in the quiet times with Jesus who fuels my service to others. I love life even in the times where there is no relief from the pain.
8.) I have two dogs who I live with and I really like dogs as they are so forgiving and loyal. I would have more if I could justify it...
Anyone who reads this please leave a comment with a blogsite address and then consider yourself tagged!