Wait Just a Little Bit Longer

Sometimes wouldn't we just love to stop time...for one more hour, one more minute, one more second.
Let me stay in the hot bubble bath just a little longer....
Let me hold my babies one more time....
Let me not erase the little notes my grandkids leave on my blackboard and let me remember them forever..
Let me sleep 5 more minutes in the morning.....
Don't let my coffee cup be empty....
I don't want my life to be half full.....I want it all.......

I want the slobbery kisses, I want the "I um u's, I want the soft kisses on the cheeks, I want the feeling of you falling asleep in my arms one more time...the smell of the stinky feet when I take off your shoes and socks after a long day of play.....I want to sit at my Mother's dining room table one more time and eat her roast, mashed potatoes and apple pie...I want to not have a care in the world for one day....someone else paying the bills......I want the feeling of someone always being there to take care of me no matter what happens...

We are always in a hurry....hurry to bed...hurry to get up....hurry to get this done, that done, and then we want to do this....and then that.....

I want to holler" STOP"..let me stay just a little bit longer....savor the moment....where does the time go???
Always waiting....for this....for that....
I am thankful....thankful for the days the Lord has given me, for the opportunities I have had for the times I have taken.....and regretful for the once that I have missed....but I can't go back....just forward...learning everyday from my mistakes and trying the next to do better and missing the goal once again...but go on and on and try and pray that today I do better...not always looking ahead..at what might be beyond me to to do..but cherish each moment....and thanking God for each day that He gives me...life is so fragile, and God is in control....of my time here on earth...but I am in control of how spend it....I really don't want to waste it...

Bethany and Kaity

This week our church had a concert presented by the Chamber Singers from Maranatha Baptist College and Seminary of Watertown Wi. We housed these two girls and what a delight and blessing they were.

We talked and shared testomonies and stories and as we learned of them we shared about us. We enjoyed their concert and loved having them into our home for a bit....Two more that I will someday meet up with in Heaven....

You Just Never Know

You just never know when you wake up in the morning what kind of day it will be. What will happen. Everett used to carry a card in his Bible that said " YOU may tie your shoes in the morning but by night the undertaker may untie them". How many times when we wake up do we think of something going wrong, or out of our plans. But how many times does it actually happen...I would say that if we kept track a lot...most of the time out of our control and sometimes it can be in our control.....

Yesterday at about 11:10 I had taken a bathroom break at work when one of the girls hammered on the door and said Everett is oln the phone and needs to talk to you right away, and I knew if he needed to talk to me right away something was not alright.She handed me the phone and said " It is Jack"...my heart started beating harder as I took the phone and Everett said that Jack had almost had the end of his finger cut off and it was just hanging there by threads...now what went through my mind was that maybe he had gotten a hold of the sissors or maybe a knife...but at any rate we didn't know how just knew they were in route to the ER and needed us to be there to help....as the story unfolded he had gotten his finger in the side of the door where the hinges are and his little sister being on the other side didn't know he was there with his little finger in the door and slammed the door shut and that was that......the poor little guy wound up going to Hutchinson hospital into surgery to have his tip of his right ring finger sewn back on...so far all is well...quite an ordeal for the little guy.....but he has been a trooper and it could have been a lot worse....for sure....

His injury yesterday led Everett to his note for the day for me...and now you , who read this blog....

" Don't shut the door on Jesus...if you do then you will let Him slip right through the tips of your fingers...."

Thought that was worth sharing....

Happy Anniversary March 3

27 years ago these two were married....Love you both and Randy we love you as our own son. You did great you two...have a GREAT day and many, many more years...May God Bless you forever......

What Makes a House a Home??

So many times we here say "oh have you seen the house down the street that is for sale?" or do you know that the boese's bought the jone's house and it is such a beautiful place. or did you know that the walker's are building a new house? But do we think about what it takes to make that house a home? A haven of rest when we are tired. A place to come back to when we have been on vacation and saying "oh man it is so good to be home." First and foremost our home should be a place where God is the center. My bible that I am showing here was my probably my great, great grandfather's I really am not sure I just remember it sitting on the top shelf  above the stairway of my parents home. I was so happy to get this. By the looks of this it has been read alot. now it sits on my parlor table I can hardly touch it because it is falling apart. I love this old Bible and wonder about the hands that use to hold it and read it and I wonder what kind of walk they had with God. Another thing that I think makes a house a home of course is LOVE but also homemade things. Things that family or friends have made for you, to take the time and think about something that you would like and then to make it. The pictures and art work above the black dresser here my Granddaughter Annie made for us. I love them. The cross on the board Everett made for me. With the thorns on top of the cross.

I have lots of homemade things in my home and just really think they give the home a cozy feeling. Another thing that I love and feel like brings warmth into the home are candles and I am forever burning candles. Also I love lamps. The soft lights of the lamps. I can not have to many lamps and I have a lot. The smell of coffee brewing, roast cooking in the oven, bacon frying are all fragrance's that remind me of home. There are a lot of different things we can think of but tonight these are just some that came to my mind. The comforts of home. Some say home is where the heart is I say home is where God is...

Neither Here Nor There

Last week we had one of the biggest snow storms that we have had in a very, very long time. It was a beautiful snow and aside from the fact that it was also bitterly cold I loved it. I loved snuggling in at night when I got home, getting stuck, plowing threw the first streets of the early morning, there is just something so pure about newly fallen snow. Just makes me wonder how each tiny snow flake can mount up to 17 inches of snow...

The pictures are my home last week with the snow storm that we had. The one is of our back yard and the other one is of my flower pots on the front porch. One is of our bird bath that Everett puts a heater in so the birds can have their water.

The other 2 pictures are of my house in the spring, summer. The front pot with flowers in and the back deck that is decorated and waiting for our Granddaughters wedding. Abby got married in our back yard. It was a beautiful wedding and I will cherish that day forever. It was so much fun getting ready for her wedding.

Ok now the freshly beautiful snow, so pure and so fresh...just as pretty as the flowers of spring. Each picture has a beauty all it's own.

The pure fallen snow can remind us of a young beautiful bride, all dressed in white, pure awaiting her soon to be husband..beautiful...that is what God intented.

The beautiful spring time...flowers blooming, like life, beginning with wonderful expectations, new home, getting to know one another, then children all fresh and new experience's. How exciting....

As life goes on, things happen, some not so great...our dreams and hopes can shatter, kinda like the snow when we start to trample in it, drive in it, it gets dirty, not so pretty anymore and we just want it to go away...life can get that way, sickness may set in, families may not get along, abuse, death...sometimes we just want it to go away....

Flowers fade, they die, they welt, they disappear, at the end of summer they just don't look so pretty anymore,and we await to pull them out and clean out our flower pots...

Again, in life we get older we fade, people don't listen to us as they once did...sometimes we can just disappear...not so pretty anymore...so again we await...

But then we know that Jesus came, and He came to clean us up, our dirty hearts, our dirty spirits, He comes in like the freshly fallen snow and washes our hearts that pure and white...like a bride awaiting her husband, to care, love her, to stand by her,to help her.. For that is what we are as Believers in Christ we are His Bride. That is what Christ wants to do for us...to care for us, to love us, protect us....Come to me all you that are heavy laden and I will give you rest...That is what HE says....

Above and Beyond our call of Duty

Can we go above and beyond our call of duty if we are a Christian. I would say not. I believe that if God lays something on our heart to do and we do not do it, it is sin. James 4:17 Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. That is what the Bible says. It doesn't say even if we think that person doesn't deserve it, or that person never does anything for me why should I help them or do something for them, the Bible calls us to serve.

Just as Jesus came to serve, how He washed His disciples dirty feet, we too, are called to do just that.

When God lays on our heart an act of kindness, a deed or maybe being a helping hand, phone call, card sent, a kind word and we ignore it, that is sin.

We must walk the extra mile, giving more then we receive...and God's blessings come forth.

The last couple of weeks I have had several that have walked that extra mile for me...went out of their way to serve, to be there and I am so thankful for them and want them to know how much I appreciate them. A meal was cooked by a busy mom....phone calls, to see how I was....prayers, many prayers, children's love and support and a hubby that stood by with kindness...girls at work that got everything done...took the responsibilty in my absence that I didn't have to worry about work. Even though what I had done was not major by a long shot, my friends and family were there and I pray that I would do the same.

Now having said that many, many times I have failed, and I have sinned by not doing what I ought to have done. Thoughts came in my head to do something and I didn't respond...who did I hurt....the one I could of helped...and me....but most of all God...His disappointment...in me to be obedient to him. MATT 25 Jesus talks about feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, giving drink to the thirsty, visiting those in prison and then replies when asked "I tell you the truth whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

What did I do for Him today? Somtimes my heart is heavy, because my answer is "not nearly enough".

What did Christ do for me.... He loved me so much...He died....so that I can live...