I usually begin this with saying Today is Show and Tell with CanadaGirl. But it is not , I am a day late! Somehow Yesterday got away from me. I am sure it was because Tirzah was Flying to my sister's and Talia got her ears pierced. But whatever it was I am here today. I want to thank you all for praying for Tirzah, she loved her flight, even saw dolphins as she flew over the ocean. They let her dad go to the Gate with her where he over heard a couple talking about their Bible Study. Being the Pastor/Dad he is he asked them if Tirzah could sit with them. SO she was well cared for and got safely to my sister.Thanks so much. Today will be an all day training affair with her team.

SO one to Show and Tell. I still have a LOT of Anniversary pictures to share with you. Today I want  to share with you one of my Favorite places. It is called Glass Beach.

Glass Beach is a beautiful, rugged beach west of Fort Bragg, with cliffs and crashing waves. There's little sand, but nevertheless, Glass Beach is one of California's most interesting beaches. he Fort Bragg city dump once stood here. It closed in the 1960s, but broken glass remained. Over the years it's been ground and polished. It so reminded me of the Lord. He takes all our garbage and through the tumbling crashing of our lives in His care they become treasures of beauty.

It is hard to believe that this was once a dump and is reclaimed not by man's efforts but by God's Hand.

Keri has shared over the years her love for Sea Glass. Oh how she would love this place.

How easy is it to find Sea Glass here? This is a random handful.

One of my favorite things is the Sea glass in the water. It looked like Ice Cubes in a glass in so many hues of green, browns, and clear.

The coastline is so beautiful and although hoodies are required, it was a wonderful day at the beach.

Not everyone comes for the glass, these scuba divers were hunting abalone!

It really is an amazing place. I hope you enjoyed your visit. There are many more places to see so head on over to CanadaGirl's blog and see what everyone else is doing.

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Since it is time for us to begin to teach our children about the importance of living in a country where you have a voice in who will be the next President, and since they are also hearing the criticism, I thought I would share this little bit of information.

Presidents and their Political Experience or Lack there of....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Presidents_by_previous_executive_experience

Above all seek the Lord, Lean not on your on understanding and VOTE it is your RESPONSIBILTY not smply a Right you can ignore.

Posted in Tirzah hsp missions

I have decided as Tirzah's Mission Trip gets closer and CLOSER, that I would spend Tuesdays (as long as I remember) sharing with you what God is doing.

Last week she sent out her Support Letter. If you would like to read it, it is here. It is hard to believe that the dates are coming up so quickly. If you would like to be her prayer partner please leave a comment on her blog or if you would like to help sponsor her, there is a donation button on her blog as well.

It is about the Prayer part I would like to write today. You see Tirzah is flying to Southern California ALL BY HERSELF, on Friday. She will be spending a week getting to know her team, discovering how to work together and seeking her place among them. Africa she is ready for, flying by herself has her a bit let's say freaked! So she really needs prayers for Peace. Her daddy could use them too. Like Tirzah, he was good with Rwanda, but Orange County, not so much.

Please pray for Traveling mercies for her.

Pray she connects easily with her Great Aunt Christy

Ask God to fill her heart and then her mouth with His Words

Pray God would remind her HE alone has called her

Pray that she would be a blessing to her team and they to her

Pray that they walk in the Spirit and not the flesh.

Ask God to fill her/them with HIS vision for Rwandans

Pray for her family as they prepare her to Go into all the World

Tirzah will be gone from The 5th to the 13th of Sept beginning to take the steps that will lead her on a Mission she has been preparing for all year. Can by can, bottle by bottle, gift by gift she is trusting God to bring her to Rwanda and to the AIDS Orphans she loves.

Thank you for joining us in prayer.

Many of you are starting your first day of school today, many others have begun weeks ago. For that reason, I decided not to wait until Weblink Wednesday (Tomorrow) to share this link with you. So I will just sign up a day early. Socalval hosts Weblink Wednesday, so if you want a link to anything anywhere, she will have it.

http://www.operationworld.org/country/nigr/overvw04.html

This is an online version of Operation World which gives you  a daily devotional filled with facts about a different country every day for which you and your children can pray.

Now if you want something more hands on that you can take with you pn your nature walks, or trips tp  stuffmart...

http://www.ywampublishing.com/p-420-a-call-to-prayer-for-the-children-teens-young-adults-of-the-1040-window.aspx

This one is not the whole world and you will have to pay for it, But hey, it's on sale!

Remember as you bring together the math, reading etc, praying with your children and establishing a habit of devotions is what they will carry throughout thier lives.

Because of Jesus, Bobbie 

http://www.ywampublishing.com/p-420-a-call-to-prayer-for-the-children-teens-young-adults-of-the-1040-window.aspx

Ezekial 33 ~ Do you here the Horn blowing?

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Today is show and tell with Canada girl and although I had planned a different show and tell, With the anniversary of Hurricane Andrew and with Hurricane Gustav heading toward the mainland, this seemed the right thing to do. So here is the TELL and for the SHOW you will have to click the Link below.Head over to CanadaGirl's blog for an amazing list of awesome Show and Tells. Now that I think of it, This could even fall under the Home School Memoirs Meme! Hee hee!

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I have events in my life that document absolute changes in my life. I am certain you do as well. The biggest for me is of course Before Christ and after Christ. Before Christ you could find me in the pages of Liz Curtis Higgs' REALLY Bad Girls of the Bible. After Christ I became a Homeschooling mom married to a pastor. Trust me, if I ever made it to a High School Reunion, They would never believe it!

Another time was 16 years ago this week, actually August 26 , 1992, the Day Hurricane Andrew found its way to Homestead Fl. This is the day we woke up at 5:00am in the house of a stranger that God urged them to open their vacation home so we had a place to spend the night. We turned on the TV and heard " Homestead does not EXIST!" Can you imagine what that is like? Unfortunately many do. I knew where my home was and I was just there yesterday, It must exist. But it did not.

Now not all change is bad. Christ was a very good change. And watching Jesus care for us during this hurricane was a very good change. It was one the Holy Spirit had prepared us for before hand. I tease my beloved often that He is why Hurricane Andrew hit Homestead. The week before the sermon had been on the Rich Young Ruler. Mike came out of Church saying " I could do that, I could give up everything and follow Christ!" Have you ever noticed that the trial you are going through really wasn't your trial at all, you just happen to be married to it???

Hurricane Andrew taught me God provides, Adonai Yireh! He provides laughter in the tears. He provides shelter is the storm, He provides food for the hungry. God is faithful.Change can be very good.

God does not expect us to be foolish. He set Watchmen on the Walls to warn of danger in Israel. He gave us weathermen to tell us the storm is coming and Leaders to tell us to leave. Wisemen heed the sounds of danger coming.

That is why I am writing this Nook Note. I want to ask you to take heed. I want you to be Wise, I want you to listen. If you are told to leave, PLEASE leave. There is absolutely nothing worth staying for when danger is coming.

We learned this again during our fire season this summer. When we were told to leave, we left. This is another moment when I learned Hurricane Andrew Changed me. Apart from a few clothes and some food, we took nothing. We knew God would replace what we have just like He did for Job. I know this is true because there is a lot of stuff in my house and 16 years ago I didn't have any stuff at all, just a husband, two kids and a hyundai! This is still all I need in all the world. We left, but this time we returned to our home. The key is WE LEFT!

When we left our home, we expected to return. When we left our home many others stayed. When we left our home we prayed Psalm 91 and knew God was our Shelter. We shut the door and drove away.

Right now a hurricane is once again headed to Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and maybe Texas because that is the definition of Summer in Hurricane Alley. Now is the time to prepare. Now is the time to consider the next step if you live in any of these states. Watch. Listen, Obey. Nothing more than we expect our children to do.

I am sure you have a list of what to bring, check the list. As Homeschoolers, add curricula so you can continue learning along the way. Pack underwear it is expensive to replace them, the thrift stores will have anything else you may need. Update your Cell Phone Numbers and charge your phone. People will want to know you are safe. Take your address book and your computer tower or laptop. Communication is the key. And Gas up your vehicle today do not wait til it is time to go.

And if it is alright with you, I have a free e-book download that I want to give you about our experiences with Hurricane Andrew and build your faith in the process, taking away any of your fear. This is a time to Trust in The Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

To get this FREE E-Book go HEREAll you have to do is Click When the Wind Blows on that page and it is yours.

And please if you are told you are in the path of trouble leave. One gift we gave our children by leaving is the gift of a peaceful nights sleep. They did not have nightmares of rushing wind, breaking boards and windows or rising flood waters. They slumber in peace. Leaving gives that gift to your children. If you return home and it is still there, Praise God, if you return and it is not, do the same. Praise the Lord God Almighty for He is worthy of All praise.

Again,To get this FREE E-Book go HEREAll you have to do is Click When the Wind Blows on that page and it is yours.

And please know if you are in any of the danger areas, please know you are in our prayers.

I wanted to be purple. I have wanted to be purple for a long time. I caught a glimpse of purple when 9-11 happened. No longer was I red or blue, I was purple and so was everybody else.

I have always hated hyphens. We are a colorbook  world and I love that we are all different, but hyphens remind me of the dividers in the crayon box that keep the yellows far away from the purples. They are all crayons. I mean, magenta and forest green can be great combinations.

What does this all mean? I love being an American. Like most Americans the hyphens that would go before the word American are many. It is the melting pot effect. I am proud of my roots, all of them. But the name that holds them all together is American. I do not like being a divided America, filled with divided Americans. For awhile 9-11 took away the hyphens and we were all Americans, period.

So when Obama began his campaign of CHANGE and said there is no red America and no blue America just the The United States of America I loved his words. I thought could we all become PURPLE? Could this be the blending of Reagan Republicans and Roosevelt Democrats? Could Red and Blue actually make purple?

So I have waited and prayed. I have watched and listened. I held on to hope for our country, Not the Candidate,the ideal: the Ideal of Purple. The Lord knows the issues that seal my heart, but when neither candidate really holds on to them I trust the Lord to reveal what I need to see. This translates in me listening to Obama and Rick Warren and turning to my husband every other answer and saying "Darn, I wish I didn't like him so much. "

And then today happened! And all of a sudden I not only saw the cardboard dividers go back up, I think we are being moved to different boxes completely. The purple candidate picked royal blue as his running mate. Back to the old guard he fled, chosing to court the old blue pantsuit crowd over the hopeful red violet clan. There is no purple here, there is NO CHANGE. It is the same old blue. He lost the vision.

Maybe McCain will capitalize on this loss of vision and seek the scarlet and the violet and the few blues that actually believe in REAL Change. And maybe in the process find the candidate that completes him rather than defines him.

Maybe this all comes from my mama singing to me, "He was a one eyed one horned flying purple people eater."Such a sight to see.

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PRAISE THE LORD I HAVE HOPE AGAIN!

I have a candidate I believe in!

A Candidate that holds true to MY Values, Morals and Beliefs

"And maybe in the process find the candidate that completes him rather than defines him" AND McCain did!

I have hope in Sarah Palin. Maybe the closest I will ever get to Purple is Red Violet. But it is a purple and she is a change!

The funniest challenges I have heard....

She has no foreign Policy experience.  ROFL! Are they really that geographically challenged? Do they not know that her neighbors ARE Foreign Nations and one would like to attack us all the time? Canada and Russia are not like Biden's neighbors New Jersey and Maryland! What a joke!

She has no experience... So what you are sayingis I can choose a President with 143 actual days of Senate experience or a Governor of two years as a VICE President that will get OJT from the President??? hmmm????

And lastly.... The party of NOW Feminism says and I quote " She has five children, how can she do her job as VP?" My word! Isn't that what they havebeen shouting about for forty years? And woman CAN do the Job of a man and still be a mother!!!

It doesn't matter that her children are mostly grown, that her husband quit his job to support her Governorship. AGAIN isn't that what they ALWAYS wanted? That he is a qualified Father and can care for their children just as well as she coud?

If they really are afraid of anything, it is her "CHOICE" to carry her beautiful baby to term. When they challenge that, it will really hit the fan!

Sarah Palin welcome to the Ballot! You are the reason I am supporting McCain. YOU absolutely complete the ticket!

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We had an amazing anniversary week and I can hardly wait to show you all of the pictures. I am trying to figure out how best to share them. We did so many things and saw so much beauty!

I think I will share all teh photos of Mike and I first since this is about us and our anniversary. We have been amazingly in love with each other for 35 years and these are the photos that will show you what love looks like after 35 years.

These will be in no particular order, but this is absolute love not only did I walk a mile to stand here but he did it in the mist and the fog. We have NEVER in 35 years bought matching anything..The weather gave us matching fleeces!

In the midst of the Heather garden a man who truly loves you will sit on a damp bench and let you take his picture as the rain chills him to the bones. Why? Because his sweetheart asked him to.

I had no  idea Heather could grow this tall. Obviously the damp rainy weather does the miraculous!

Love is....just around the corner.

Love is.... Hiding among the rhododendrons!

Love is.... waiting for you in the secret places.

Love can.... unlock any gate.

Love will... go out on a ledge for you. (and sit on a cold wet bench to prove it)

Love ...searches far and wide in every crag and crevice.

Love... invites you to wade on in and leaves its mark.

Love... looks to the future.

Love is... full of surprises.

Love Always...writes just the right thing to make your heart skip a beat.

Love ...lights the way

Love ...shines brighter than a beacon.

Love ...climbs mountains ( or many stairs) to reach its goal.

Love is.......HERE to stay.

Love.... grows and grows and grows.

Love has deep roots that last for all generations!

I am so glad you came over to be apart of our Love-fest! I still have so much to share . You prayers and praises have blessed us so much. Canadagirl has a lot of love to share with you and all of blogland, so please come over and check out all the show and tells!

Posted in Tirzah hsp missions

Today is Show and Tell with Canada Girl and I almost forgot it! I have been a bit "Off" this week living in the Kalidescope world of Vertigo. I have so much to share with you This Friday and I know a lot of other people do too , so head on Over to CanadaGirl's Blog for all of Today's Show and Tells.

Most of you that read my blog regularly know that my eldest granddaughter Tirzah is heading off to Rwanda on a mission trip in Novemeber to minister to AIDS Orphans. Some of you may know that she is raising her money by donations ( Thank you so much) and by recycling. 

I haven't shared any pictures of this task, so I thought today I would.

We have learned a lot as we have been recycling. First we learned that a whole can is better than a crushed can. If the can is whole we get the CRV California recycling tax back, a whole 5 cents. If is it crushed, it is weighed and that is only pennies a pound! The same is true for plastic. If the bottle has its scanner code, it is five cents if it does not, it is weighed and worth very little.

These are her best helpers and sisters, Kezziah and Zemeira. They love coming and feeding the machine.They also like getting to ride in Pa's truck and stopping for ice cream on the way home!

All of that has lead to this, Tirzah's Passport has arrived! She is so excited to have this precious Passport in her hands. This is her ticket to the world and the world of Missions. I am so proud of her heart for the hurting of the world.

There was another first this week as well, Zemeira lost her first tooth this week! No little girl has ever waited so long for the tooth fairy to notice her as her brothers and sisters found quarter after quarter under their pillows. She was so excited to finally have her moment of sparkly glitter covered fairy money in her hot little hand!

So that is our week so far. School has not yet begun, but the joy of buying school supplies has. My Beloved and I are off to Ft Bragg for our 35th Anniversary this weekend and I promise you some awesome pictures next week for show and tell. Until then, head over to Canadagirls' blog and see what everyone else is doing.

I have decided that i would share with you today what I have been doing in my After Care. After Care is the most amazing concept ever! After all the doctor mandated Physical therapy and learning how to use all the equipment, you get to come in when ever you want and keep exercising, like a gym. So this is what I did today without pictures...Mike's cell isn't working right now in that area. So no pictures.

The first thing I do is ride the Bicycle. It has all these little buttons and whistles that tell me how long I ride How far I go and how fast I am getting to no place in particular. I ride at level 7 and that means I actually now have some bit of resistance. I rode for ten minutes at roughly 16 mph and went 3.3 miles. As I do this I look out on our town park. Today my prayers were for the Olympians safety. I am old enough to remember the Munich Olympics so my prayers are for all of them not just the US Team. I pray for the perscuted Christians in China, the victims in Darfur, the one child forced abortion policy in China, the war in Russia and Georgia and our military around the world. Those are the fastest 10 minutes of my workout.

I usually go from here to the elliptical which I love, but we switched it up because of my vertigo. I went to the parallel bars and did 60 lunges off this rubber spaceship thing. Really it looks like the moonbounce ball Heatherlee used to jump on when she was little sliced in half. I push off of it and that causes me to use more muscles. Did any of you ave a moon bounce ball?

After that it gets fun, I sit on a doctor's type stool with wheels,  no I did not spin myself dizzy. Actually my inner ear is doing that for me right now as I am having a horrid bout of vertigo. But back to the stool... The first time Tim asked me if I had sat on the stoll and walked across the floor I laughed, Are you serious? he was and it was not easy. That day I barely went across the floor and back. He laughed and said "Oh yeah we are keeping that one. Now I go across and back three times or six laps. After that I have to put a rubberband around my ankles and walk sideways across the floor, again 3 times up and back again six laps.

Back at the parallel bar I do what they refer to as wall push-ups. I can't lay on the ground and do push ups, I would not get back up, but if I angle myself to one of the bars I can do push-ups off of it. 40 of them. There is a set of rings next to the bars and I hold on to them angle myself backwards and do pullups! The first time Tim suggested I do that I said no way. I was scared I could not hold my weight and pull myself up. As I leaned backwards I tought "This is it all this work, all this surgery I am gonna go straight down!" And I was a bit shakey, but I did it. Now I do 40 pull ups and head over the the rowing machine.

When we put together my plan Tim asked if I wanted to just work on my legs or on upper body strength as well. After  walking with that walker, I realized I really need upper body strength since I will be doing this all over again. Getting on to the rower is the hardest part for me. Putting my feet in the straps to hold them in place and getting so low to the seat, both of those things make me nervous. But once I start it is a race in the Olympics. I can her the voice in the megaphone shouting Pull pull Pull. And I do. I was told when I started last month to work to 500 meters. Today I rowed 741 meters in 4 minutes, about .8 of a mile.

I do not know what the next machine is called, but I sit in a chair and lift up a padded bar withmy legs 30 times lifting 35 lbs and pushing down 35lbs 30 times. Since I did all of these things without getting dizzy, I put in 3 minutes on the elliptical, not wanting to push it and then I finish with 30 Sit to stands which is exactly that. I sit and stand up 30 times.

So I may not be ready now but who knows, maybe by 2010 in Vancouver I wil be! And Tores thinks she's old!!!

Tomorrow I have water aerobics and I have that for three more weeks than the pool closes for the rest of the year until June!

Now you know what I have been doing lately...working my hiney off! Someone asked me at church yesterday why I was still "basically" doing Physical Therapy. I told her "God has blessed me so much withthis new knee and with how amazing my recovery has been; if I didn't I would feel like I was robbing God of His glory!"