Things That Are Discontinued

I get so frustrated when companies that make products that I have used for years, all of a sudden decide to stop making them! There have been several instances in the last few months, but the one that hit me the hardest was not being able to find my favorite lip gloss. I have been using it for years and whenever I try something else I never like it as well, and go back to this one. I usually keep several on hand and last week, I discovered that I only had one left. I headed to the store where I usually find them and discovered that they were no longer carrying that lip gloss. I didn't think that much about it, until I started looking for it at other stores. I've tried to locate it in 7 different stores and only found it in 2 of them. Both of the stores I found some in were Albertson stores and it looked like they were just selling the tubes of lipstick like this one until they sold out. I bought up all they had left, so I now have 8 tubes of it. I don't know how long they will last before I have to find a replacement. (I even checked on Amazon and they only had 2 tubes left and they were more expensive, so I didn't buy them.) I suppose the companies stop making things because they aren't selling very well, or they think they've come up with a better product, but it's still frustrating to me to have to find a new product to take the place of whatever it is.

My Answer and Question #2

It's interesting how no one but me wants to stay the same age if we could. The ones who responded to the question didn't want to go back and be a younger age again, which I heartily agree with. Those days are past and I have no desire to go back. But I am enjoying the age I am now and really have no desire, rather a dread of getting older. So, I would like to stay the age I am now or a couple of years younger, nothing major, just the way things are now, with my minor aches and pains, memory loss, etc. I know there is a reason for each season of life, I know God knows best, and obviously, I can't stop the clock, but it would be my choice if it was possible to stay the same age I am now.

My next question is for those of you with young children. Have you enjoyed your children being one age in particular more than another? I heard Kari tell someone that she enjoyed her kids at a certain age more than others and that made me wonder if others had a favorite age. I think I like my kids at the age they are now, since they have given me grandchildren. There were many ages throughout their lives that were fun also, but that's the best answer I have now that I've forgotten how old they were when we did certain things.

Question #1

Last Sunday afternoon our life group got together for a "Super Bowl" party. Everyone watched the game until halftime, which is the traditional time to stop eating just snacks and get down to the serious business of eating the rest of the food. After eating, I was able to persuade some of the other women to play a game with me instead of watching the rest of the Super Bowl. I had taken "The Poll Game" with us, so we played that during the second half. I'm not going to explain the whole game, but the main idea is to ask a "yes" or "no" question, decide how you will answer it and then predict how many will answer the question with a "yes". Some of the questions are quite thought provoking, while others are fun, not serious questions. One thought provoking question that was asked was, "If you could stay one age forever, would you do it?" I'm not going to tell you how I or the other women in the group answered it, until I see what some you think about the question. I'm thinking I might throw out some other questions like that from time to time, it depends on how good a reponse I get to this first question. I thought it would be fun to hear responses to some of these questions, to see what you are thinking and why you think that. Don't over think it, just give your first gut reaction to the question. Remember, it's just a "yes" or "no" question, although your reason why will be interesting.

Excitement and Celebrating

I think I was just having a down moment when I wrote my blog last Friday. I still don't think that it is really possible to have "exciting" things to do each day, unless you have a low definition of what is exciting. Life for the most part is not exciting, it's enjoyable, fun, boring, tedious, and once in awhile some excitement comes along. As I read the quote in my last blog again, I think it is just saying that you should be excited about your day and what it holds, whether it is cleaning house (blah) or going to Hawaii (yeah). I think looking for something special or exciting each day could add some fun to your day. With that thought in mind, as I drove to Marysville today I noticed the big fluffy clouds with the sun shining on them, (like the picture above). I love seeing those kinds of clouds because that is the type of clouds I like to imagine Jesus and his heavenly hosts coming back to earth in. Seeing the clouds was a great reminder of Jesus imminent return, something I don't think about very often, and was an encouragement to me today. I'm going to try to find something that is special (at least to me) each day to make my days more exciting.

On to the other subject of today, celebrating. The speaker we had in MOPS yesterday, spent some time talking about celebrating the little things in life. Things like: your child being potty trained, (a biggie for most Moms), the beginning and end of school, even something small, like your child helping pick up toys if that has been hard to get them to do. Any way you can give positive reinforcement is important. Our discussion group had some interesting ideas also for celebrating and giving positive reinforcement to their children. One woman said that she put a piece of paper, that the kids could easily break when running through it, across the door at the end of the school year. It was a simple way to celebrate the end of school and the kids loved it. I love the idea of finding things to celebrate, although it wouldn't need to be a daily thing, finding things to celebrate with your kids could be a lot of fun. Celebrating seems to be the word of the week for me, since the pastor on Sunday talked about it also and pointed out that God is a God of celebrating and referred us to Lev. 23 and all the Feasts of the Lord listed there.

Blog Bog Down

It's funny, when I first started doing a blog, I wondered if I would have enough things to say to make it worthwhile doing a blog. I think at first, since it was a new experience, I wanted to put down all sorts of things and was often surprised that I had so much to write about. Now, several months down the road, I've run out of things to say. (Unless I have spent time with the grandkids, gone on a trip, or had an adventure like last Sun.) I don't know if it's the time of year, January has usually been a kind of depressing month for me, with the letdown after the holidays and the weather usually being cold and rainy, with lots of gray skies and not much sunshine. Or if it's just that there is nothing to exciting going on, just the same old stuff, which I still enjoy doing, but it is the same old stuff and doesn't need to be written about again.

I read a quote this morning that has made me think about this issue. The quote was "Each and every one of us should have something we're chasing every single morning, to be excited about the day, and then go after it." I don't understand that statement. I don't think that the day to day things that we each have to do every day are exciting, they often times are pretty boring, but have to be done. Again, I want to state that I enjoy the different things I'm involved in, they just aren't exciting. To me, things that are exciting are things like going on a trip or doing something special, out of the ordinary, not the every day things. How do we make every day things exciting or should we even try to make them exciting?

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!

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.

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.

Why, God?

This week has been another time when I have wondered "Why is God doing this?" The reason this time is that my niece, Amy, who has the genetic mutation BRCA, and has been doing everything she can to keep from getting breast cancer, was discovered to have a lump in each of her breasts. It was discovered during her pre-surgery MRI. The surgery she is having, is to remove her breasts and have reconstruction done. It is less than 3 weeks until her surgery to prevent her from having breast cancer and now she probably has cancer. A biopsy will be done Wed. to find out for sure, but everyone seems pretty positive that she has cancer. What a blow to be so excited about having the risk of breast cancer eliminated to facing the fact that you have it. Why, God? Why now, 3 weeks before she would be clear? I trust God's wisdom and know there's a reason, but again I don't understand it. Trusting God's plan through all the awful things that take place in the world is not easy, especially when it hits so close to home. But, I have faith, that somehow, everything he allows to happen to us has a purpose that we just can't see or understand.

"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Rom. 8:38-39 Including cancer!

Trusting God - Chapters 2 & 3

The central idea in chapters 2&3, (which were combined in the study guide I'm using as I read the book, oh so slowly), is "God is in control. He has a purpose and a plan for you and He has the power to carry out that plan." Another key idea is that "God controls both the good and the bad, He has not looked the other way or been caught by surprise when adversity strikes us. He is in control of the adversity, directing it to His glory and our good." We have to believe that God is at work in whatever happens to us, even when we don't understand it. For example, I do believe that God was in control when my sister died. There is no way that I understand why He allowed that to happen and how it has been for our good. There may be some good that has come about that I am unaware of, but I mainly see what a hole it has left in the lives of her daughters and the rest of the family. Still, I trust God that there has been or will be some good for all of us in the family that we don't see or understand right now. We may not ever understand it while we are on this earth. Another quote I liked is,"We must learn to obey God one choice at a time; we must also learn to trust God one circumstance at a time. Trusting God is not a matter of my feelings but of my will." We need to learn to obey and learn to trust, it doesn't just happen.

Trusting God

A sermon at church recently ended with the question, "What is standing in the way of you fully trusting in God?" A one word answer for me, immediately jumped into my mind, fear. Mainly fear of what God might do to me or my loved ones in the future, or what I might be asked to go through to stand true to Him. I know in my head that God will help me through whatever happens and I know that whatever happens is to help me become the person God wants me to be, but I'm still afraid of it. I talked to Ken about it and he asked if the church library had the book by Jerry Bridges called "Trusting God" (at the bottom of the title in smaller print it says, "even when life hurts"). I checked the book out of the library and am going to see what it has to say. The first chapter, (which is all I've read so far) says that, "It is only from the scriptures, applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, that we recieve the grace to trust God in adversity". It also says that there are 3 truths we must believe if we are to trust Him in adversity. They are:
1. God is completely sovereign.
2. God is infinite in wisdom
3. God is perfect in love.
Or to put it another way, "God in His love always wills what is best for us. In His wisdom He always knows what is best, and in His sovereignty He has the power to bring it about." As I continue to read the book and find things that are meaningful to me, I'll post them on my blog. Who knows, maybe someone else has the same fears and questions that I do.

Busy Times

I find it interesting that even when things supposedly "slow down" due to some activities being over for the summer, that there is still not enough time to do the things you thought you would do if you had more time. I'm not totally sure what happens to those extra hours that were taken up by the activities that have been stopped for the summer. For me, some of those hours are spent working in the yard, but there are others that are unaccounted for. I think that when I don't have to rush off somewhere, I go at a much more relaxed pace. Having to be somewhere at a certain time keeps me moving and if I don't have to be somewhere I can waste time easily, especially in the morning, when I find I need to check e-mail, blogs, etc. It also seems that there is no such thing as "slowing down", there is always something else popping up to take up your time. Right now, the thing popping up that I've been spending a lot of time thinking and planning for, is my parents 60th anniversary/ 80th birthday (for my Dad) party being held on June 22. (More about that later.) That's another reason that the trip to San Carlos was so nice, we could actually slow down for awhile.

End of Activities

Yesterday was my last MOPS meeting for this school year. The ending day brunch is actually next Tues., but I will be gone and won't be able to attend it. Tonight is our last Breakout class until fall, so that is 2 activities that I'm involved in that are finshed for a few months. I always have mixed feelings about the end of these activities. On the one hand, it is always nice to take a break and have some extra time to get caught up with outside chores, etc. On the other hand, I miss the MOPS Moms and our Breakout kids when I don't see them each week. Some of them end up leaving the groups for one reason or another, so I don't ever see them again, and that makes me feel sad. I just pray the time I've had with them has been helpful in some way and has strengthened them in their walk with the Lord. I sometimes wonder if what I do or say in MOPS especially, helps anyone. Every once in awhile someone will give me some positive feedback, so that encourages me to keep plugging away. Are there people in my life that I don't give positive feedback to that could use an encouraging word? That sounds like something for me to work on.