I Am Thankful For... (Part 4)

As I have thought about the things I am thankful for, the list is huge! I'm listing just a few of the many things I am thankful for in these 4 blogs before Thanksgiving, as they come to mind and they are in no particular order, but just things that God has brought to mind. I read this quote once and it has stuck with me, "Suppose for a moment, that God began taking from us the many things for which we have failed to give thanks. What would be left?" There are a lot of things that I don't think about giving thanks for, but that I am so grateful for. I'm going to include a few things like that in this list along with some of the usual things.

• God's promises - there are to many to list, but I love that He promises to never leave us or forsake us and that everything works for our good
• Our home - warm and secure, with indoor plumbing and water available at any time
• Medical knowledge - that can help prevent illnesses, treat lots of diseases better than ever before, treatments such as Amy's surgery to help prolong life, etc.
• Cars & airplanes - so that we can go visit family members that live in other parts of the state or country. I am thinking of the pioneer days, when they knew they would probably never see the families they left behind again, I'm thankful we can see one another whenever we want to.
• Food - working at a food bank makes me grateful that I don't have to stand in a line in the cold and rain to get some food
• Books - as most of you know, I love to read and am thankful that there is such a great selection of Christian fiction available
• Friends - some old, some new, but all definately worth remembering

I think I'll leave it at that, although I know as soon as I publish this blog, I'll think of something else that I should have said. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Arlington Food Bank

We are definately seeing the results of the economic problems in our country at the food bank right now. The day I work and help with the food distribution is Fridays and we have been having twice the number of clients come to get food the last few weeks. Before things got bad economically, we would have around 35 families come each week. (They are allowed to come twice a month.) We considered a day busy if we had more than 40 families. Last Friday we had 71 families come for food and yesterday we had 72 families. This means several things: we are giving out more food, so our supply of food is getting low, also we are having to stay open for a longer period of time to take care of everyone. Our posted hours for food distribution on Friday is 1pm -2pm. We were giving out food until 3:30 the last 2 weeks. I do realize that part of the reason for that is that we are signing people up for their Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets as they get to the desk, which takes extra time. I'm going to be interested to see if things go faster once the holidays are over. It also seems like everyone who has ever been to the food bank, thinks that they need a holiday basket, even if they haven't been to the food bank since last year at this time. So maybe the number of people will go down now that people are signed up for their baskets, but since I keep seeing notices in the newspaper of layoffs taking place, I doubt it will let up much. We have been getting new families coming each each week. Food banks are definately in dire need of more donations and can use any thing they can get. I want to encourage everyone who has plenty on their tables to make a donation to your local food banks.

I Am Thankful For... (Part 3)

Ken Voelker

• my husband of 35 years
• my best friend, that I love to do things with
• my supporter and encourager, when I feel like I can't do something, he encourages me to try
• a great Dad/Grandpa that loves to spend time with his children and grandchildren
• a wonderful provider, that allows me to do all my volunteer activities
• a good cook and he is willing to help out in the kitchen with both preparation and cleaning up
• a hard worker at his job and at home
• a spiritual leader at home and church
• the one who calms me in the storms of life
• the one I bounce ideas off and helps me see what would work and wouldn't work
• the organizer of our trips, nothing left to chance with Ken in charge!
• a computer guru that can't say "No" to anyone who needs help
• patient with me even when I can't get "the stupid computer" to do what he showed me
• generous with everything he has
• a perfect compliment to me
  

I Am Thankful For... (Part 2)

1. Growing up in a Christian family with parents who were active in the church and made sure we knew that we needed to make our own decision for Christ and follow Him in baptism.

2. My extended family - parents, brother, cousins, nieces and nephews, etc., how we have stayed pretty close to each other and support one another through any difficulties that come our way. Also, that most of them are Christians and are working on growing in their spiritual lives.
3. My sister - who was my friend and companion throughout most of my life, and who I have so many great memories of. I still miss her and am glad that she was a part of my life.
4. Large grocery stores with lots to choose from - After getting groceries this week, the small groceries stores that I have gone to in different countires came to my mind. Since the stores in Mexico were the ones we went to most recently, I thought of them, but I have been to small stores in other countries, also. Until you've been in one, you don't appreciate the quantity and quality of what is in our stores. The produce departments of our stores are about as big as the whole store in some towns and they don't have the wonderful choices that we do.

5. Photographs - I love to look at and take pictures. I especially enjoy looking at older pictures and seeing what we looked like at a young age, and remembering what times were like when we were growing up. I also love taking pictures and enjoy our digital camera, where we don't have to worry about how many pictures we are taking and can see right away if the picture turned out good or not.

Rain Report

We didn't even come close to the amount of rain that was forecast. Maybe it was the mountains or foothills that were supposed to get that much rain. The rivers have been high and there has been some flooding in different areas, so somewhere a lot of rain must have come down, but it wasn't here. As a matter of fact, there were a bunch of sand bags by the door of the food bank, which is situated close to the river, yesterday when I arrived. But by the time I left, they had been taken away, so I guess that meant any danger was over. Anyway, the grand total of rain that I recorded was, (drum roll, please) 1 1/2 inches. What a let down, but at least I didn't have to deal with any potential rain induced problems while Ken was out of town. Thank you, Lord.

I Am Thankful For... (Part 1)

1. Grandkids! They are so fun, say such interesting things, and make me laugh. Annika cracked me up with her babbling yesterday.

2. Being able to go spend time with them each week. Included in that, is that they don't live to far away and the traffic isn't a problem. (I'm worried about the traffic when I go to see T&B's baby.)

3. Good-bye and hello hugs from Saben and Annika. I got wonderful ones yesterday!

4. Saben saying that he wanted to go camping with Papa and Grandma again. (He doesn't want Mommy, Daddy or Annika to go, just him and us. He does want Lara, Melia and Kiera to be there though, just like it was a year ago when Annika was born.)

5. Having a good relationship with both of our kids and their spouses. We had a good visit with T&B on Saturday and it's nice to see Kari on Mondays along with her kids.

When It Rains, It Pours!

Remember that 4 7/10 inches of rain that we got last week? Apparently, that will be just a drop in the bucket compared to this week! The headline on our paper this morning says, "Storms could dump 18 inches of rain". There are apparently 2 storms coming in, the first will give us 4 inches and the second one will give us 8 to 14 inches. I'm not even sure I'll be able to get an accurate reading of what we actually get since my rain gauge only goes up to 5 inches and I'm not getting up in the middle of the night to check it and empty it if need be. Of course, this is the forecast, so it probably won't get near as bad as they are saying. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Rainy, Dreary Week

The first week after going off daylight savings time always feels so dreary to me. It seems like all of a sudden the days are so much shorter with it getting dark so early. Add to that a lot of rain (4 and 7/10 inches, just this week! We had a total of 4 inches for the whole month of October.) and it makes for a very rainy, dreary week. On top of that it was a regular, nothing special going on week and it was easy to get a little down. I didn't even get to spend time with my grandkids Monday because I wasn't feeling very good, and of course the Dr. couldn't find anything wrong. Saben did call me Monday night and said that he missed me, so that lifted my spirits alot. The thankful blogs of my daughter and niece have also helped me cheer up and I have to remember to give thanks in all things, and I do have so much to be thankful for. I think I'll do a thankful blog next, a good reminder of all God's blessings on me and my family.

New Discovery

I discovered a new, at least to me, product one day a few months ago. I have really dry skin, but I usually don't take the time to put lotion on my legs or arms. I do better with my hands because I carry lotion in my purse and can put it on when I think of it or when my hands feel so bad that they start bugging me, but you can't really put lotion on your arms and legs in public, unless you pretend it's suntan lotion. But that doesn't really work at this time of the year.

I especially like the "in-shower Body Lotion". You are supposed to put it on after using the body wash, then rinse it off and pat dry with your towel. It says it works with the warmth and humidity of your shower. I was sceptical at first, but decided to give it a try, and it worked. I just put it on my arms and legs and it has really helped keep them from being so dry. If you have a dry skin probelm, you should give it a try.

Book Quote - #2

Another quote I liked. This was said by a mother after the funeral of her son who died in WW2, in the fictional book, "A Woman's Place" by Lynn Austin.

"Trust in God doesn't mean that He won't ever let anything bad happen," Ma told her. "It means that if we know Him, no matter what happens we can still trust His love."

"I belive that God has the power to protect my children from all harm. I have faith that He hears my prayers when I pray. But when He doesn't answer them the way I'd like, I still have faith in God's love. He knows far more than I ever will and I can trust His purposes, even though I can't understand them. Jesus had more faith than any man or woman who ever lived, but His prayer 'Let this cup pass from me,' wasn't answered. He was God's own Son, yet He died a horrible death. But Jesus' death had a purpose that no one could have foreseen at the time, even those closest to Him. I have faith in God's love. He knows how it feels to lose a beloved Son.

"When tragedies like this happen," Ma said, "we can either draw closer to Jesus, who was 'a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.' or we can turn away from Him and stop loving so we'll never be hurt again.

Halloween Fun

I join Kari and the kids each year for the trick or treating in downtown Bellingham during the afternoon. This year before doing that, which didn't start until 3pm, Saben had a party at pre-school. He was very proud of his rocket costume and kept telling everyone that he was a rocket, both at school and downtown.

Annika made a very cute Wonder Woman!

The Haul! And more to come after going out around the neighborhood after dinner. We had a few come this year, I can't remember how many came last year, but we had 18 come this year, which seemed like more than we had last year. It's still a far cry from the 100 plus kids we had when we first moved out here 21 years ago yesterday.