Out of the Mouth of Babes

I went down to Fred Meyers this morning to do my weekly grocery shopping. I have a CD by Twila Paris that I like to listen to, so I popped it in and it began to play, "The Days of Elijah". Mary was sitting in the back in her car seat and soon as she heard it start she yelled, "Yeah!" and started clapping her hands. She clapped her little hands on and off during the song and yelled "Yeah!" at the end. She is only 22 months old and it blessed my heart to hear her little voice rejoice with this song. It brought tears to my eyes. I have included a video so you can hear the words and music. It is a wonderful song and touches my soul deeply every time I hear it!

For more favorite worship songs go to Brittany's blog.

Mary Mary Where Are You Goin' to?

note: Some of you may have already received this in an e-mail.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Secondhand Treasures

I found some secondhand treasures this weekend in our neighborhood. The house across the street was having a yard sale and I bought these dolls for Mary for $5. The little one was $2 and the bigger one was $3.

I purchased these pillows at anonther sale for $4.

My sister gave me this swag from a thrift store and I used it in a picture arrangement on our bedroom wall that I put up this morning.

Have a great day!

Blessed be the Tie that Binds ....

We have been attending a church for 3 years now. It's a great church and is just around the corner from our house which has been so convenient with the baby and all. Rich and I did not want to put Mary in the nursery, to keep her healthy and we wanted her to be with us during worship service and learn at an early age to be quiet in church and entertain herself with quiet toys. All the nursery does is allows the children to play and then when they get to be toddlers they start giving them little lessons, which we want her to have. Church attendance has always been important to me. I was raised in church and back then the churches had Sunday School classes first and then the families sat together during the service. My folks would sit in the back when we were little and keep us occupied and quiet because they did not have a nursery with attendants to take us to. My earliest memory is being in church. I was in the arms of my dad and I was about a year old. Church attendance and being in the fellowship of believers was woven deep in my heart from a little child and all of my siblings have not forsaken their faith and have attended church regularly. I want that for my daughter also. So, we have had Mary with us. The church we attend has a fellowship hall called the Oasis and they have a flat screen video monitor that you can sit at and watch the service and we have used that each Sunday so we can have Mary with us and not worry that she is disturbing someone if she makes small noises and jabbers a little. It is a fellowship area and there are people talking and moving around. We try and keep her noises to a minimum and we bring lots of books, soft toys and little snacks to keep her occupied and we don't let her get down and run around. She does really well. Now that she is approaching 2 years old and getting to the age where she would benefit from a Sunday School class we are thinking of changing churches. Like I said the church we are at is great but it is very large, so the classes are large and the teachers and classmates change all the time because there are 4 services and people don't always the attend the same service. We want Mary to have some consistency in her Sunday School environment so she can get to know her teacher and look forward to seeing the same kids each week. She is quite cautious about new things. Once she gets used to something she is as happy and bouncy as can be, but change is hard. So, we are thinking of going to an Assembly of God church across town. They only have one service and we have some friends that attend there that told us they have great classes for the kids and when Mary gets a little older they have a girls Christian club called Missionettes. I was raised in an Assembly of God church and I have very fond memories of Missionettes. We would appreciate your prayers for a smooth transition for us. We have been praying about this for a while and we want to have the best church environment for Mary so that she will enjoy being with other believers and develop bonds and friendships with people who will encourage her in her faith and walk with the Lord.

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

Psalm 133:1-3

Corners and Tigers and Grapes, Oh My!

Mary likes standing in the corner! She just talks to herself and entertains herself for quite a while. Rich and I were laughing and saying that when she gets older we will have to tell her to stay out of the corner as punishment!

Mary loves riding her tiger and watching T.V. Her second favorite show, Wow, Wow, Wubsy is on. Her all time favorite show is the Mickey Mouse Club House. She also loves all her Veggie Tales DVDs.

Our grape vine is loaded this year. I will be making juice soon!

Small Town Life

My town is not a tiny community but it is small compared to the cities that my husband and I lived in or near in Southern California. You know that urban sprawl causing one city after another to just run into each other. The only way you know you are in another town is the sign saying what city you are entering. We love living here and as I have mentioned we like that small town feeling of people being more friendly and more people are polite on the road because there is less stress and life is at a slower pace. That slower pace really rang home this weekend when I went to the have the oil changed in my car. It had been a year since I had the oil changed and I had not even reached the mileage recommendation of 3000 miles. I was about 900 miles short! But, it had been a year, so I took it in. They checked everything out, tires, fluid levels, etc and didn't come up with anything that needed attention. Even my air filter was barely dirty. And I got a free car wash out of my visit. So, the place was right next door and the car looked a little dirty around the edges, so I went over there and had it done. While I was going through I was glad I didn't have Mary with me because she would of been terrified! With all the loud noises from the water and brushes. She doesn't like rumbling noises. The vacuum and the blender always sends her into tears! When I drove out, the car looked really good and completely dry. As I drove home I got to thinking that I had not washed the car since Mary was born, in fact the more I thought I realized that I had not washed the car since we moved up here 3 years ago! We moved up here in late summer and it was a rainy winter so the car got washed from the rain and then we moved into this house and it has a nice attached double garage. Also Rich has a company truck, so I only use the car to run errands. It is 9 years old and has 78,000 miles on it. The other blessing is the high prices of gas hasn't impacted us very much. When Mary was tiny I only filled up every 3 months and now that I do more things with her, I only fill up once a month! We only have to drive a quarter mile to church and the store is only a few minutes away. Our longest trip is over to my in-laws house on Sunday and that takes maybe 10 minutes and that is almost all the way across town. So, I drove home happily on Saturday with a squeaky clean car and a fresh oil change and if things remain the same for us, it will be next year before I have to do that again:) In writing this post I was reminded of Psalm 23:1 & 2 which says, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the quiet waters."

This field is about a mile from my house.

Aloha

Mary loves picking the Cosmos flowers in my garden. So, I picked some for her to play with and put them in her hair. She had fun being a little flower nymph! LOL

Mary's First Ice Cream Cone!

As they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words!"

Fifty Eight Years Ago ...

Fifty eight years ago today my dad married my mom! Twenty years ago my mom died from liver failure and we have all missed her very much. She was a wonderful mom who loved the Lord and all of us treasured her love and her life of faith. I am so thankful that my dad asked my mom to marry him and that they provided a loving and godly home for all of us kids to grow up in!

Up, Up and Away!

Three years ago today my husband and I drove into my home town in Oregon to live. We were pulling a 16 foot flat bed trailer stacked 10 feet high with all our worldly possessions and covered with blue tarps. We felt like the Clampets! But, we were very happy and excited. To back up a little bit, we had come up a month earlier from Southern California on a camping and scouting trip. We were going to look for houses to rent. We had saved up $5000 to tide us over until we found jobs. Well, to our dismay this area is cautious in renting. Because there are a lot of local recessions, they required that you have a job before they will rent to you. Rich knew that he could get a job anywhere because his skills are in high demand and not a lot of men have as much skill and know how as he has gained over the years in his line of work. After a couple of days we hit a dead end. No one would rent to us. We went back to our campsite for dinner and I was worrying. After dinner we went back into town to watch Batman Returns at a theater. On the way there, Rich said that we were moving here even if we didn't have a place. We would put all our stuff in a local storage unit and rent a motel room, get jobs and then find a place to rent later. This was unnerving to me as I like all my ducks lined up. I couldn't enjoy the movie that night because my head was full of worry on what was going to happen to us! Then before I fell asleep that night I just left it in the Lord's hands and my husband's leadership. We traveled home and were back about a week, when I thought "Why didn't I contact Pam Kindell when we were up there? I had know her when I lived up there and I had her e-mail address that I had gotten a couple of years ago from a mutual friend. I thought she might know someone that she could direct us to. So, I sent her a letter asking if she knew of anyone that would be willing to rent to us and that we would be arriving in town on August 1st. I didn't hear from her and I didn't know her well enough to e-mail her again as I thought that would be pushy. Well, the next day I was checking our e-mail and I received an e-mail that I could not open. So I sent it to the trash. Then a little later, I thought about it and figured out how I could open it, so I went to the trash folder on the computer and opened it up. I found the e-mail I was looking for but I also noticed an unopened e-mail from Pam! I immediately opened it and she was telling me that they owned a condo and the tenants had just given them notice and it would be available August 1st! She said that they would be thrilled to rent to us and that they wouldn't even require a deposit. I was so excited and told Rich. He said that he had seen the e-mail but did not recognize the sending address, so he just dumped it! Well, we both knew it was the Lord. If we would of contacted Pam on our trip up there, she would of not had anything because her tenants had not given notice. So all things worked for good. We had a nice condo, with new carpet and flooring and new kitchen stove. What a blessing! (Thanks to Dan and Kristine for installing it!) So, for the first 6 months we had wonderful Christian landlords, Rich got a job with in 1 day of looking and I got a job the second day we were here. Rich got our whole apartment set up before he went looking for a job! I was so thankful that I left it in the Lord's hands and in my husband's leadership. Who knew that in 7 months I would be carrying our sweet baby and with the job that Rich got, I was able to stay home and rest during the last of my pregnancy and then be home with Mary and not have to put her in daycare. THE LORD IS GOOD! We are very happy here in Oregon. It is beautiful and home to Rich, Mary and I:)