Random Ramblings #3

We serve a wonderful God. That goes without saying, but must be said at times. I am in awe of the prayer warriors I have met the past months out there in blogland. It has been a wonderful gift. My last post was filled with sad stories, which all seemed to bombard my senses at once. I know many of you prayed.

The pastor who used to be in Colorado, whom I have not seen since he left here years ago, is improving miraculously. I know it is because of prayer - yours and those of hundreds around the country whose lives he has blessed. This picture is proof of the miracle - he is already doing physical therapy. He is not a small man - the P.T. is 6 ft. 4 " tall!

Rachel, my DC's second cousin, came very close to death, from what we have heard. The blood thinning to prevent clots backfired, obviously. They did a second surgery to remove blood from her abdomen. Another answer to prayer - her count was a 4, needs to be 12, she's back to 11. What a mighty God we serve! We trust that this experience will guide her and her family into personal relationships with the God who saved her life.

DC is back up and running. The two antibiotic shots were powerful. When they ran the tests on the urine, they discovered the ecoli bacteria. Who would have ever thought?? I thank God that he went to the doctor as quickly as he did, and that they were able to treat him with something so powerful. He is on meds for another week or so. Thank you for praying for my husband.

I don't have a late update on Daryel, the young man in California. I don't know how the family of the 58 year old woman who died is coping. I trust God is speaking comfort to conviction to their hearts.

I have been listening to our Christmas cantata the last two mornings on the way to and from work. I have missed two practices, so have some catching up to do. The message is seeping into my spirit and blessing me. One of the songs states that Christmas is Hope. You often hear the phrase that where there is life, there is still hope. I read yesterday a different thought - where there is hope, there is life. Another of the songs is "Be Not Afraid." We certainly need that thought at this time in the history of our world.

Speaking of Christmas, I haven't begun any shopping yet. I really do not enjoy shopping at any time of the year. I tend to prefer shopping by catalog. Because of that, I am inundated at this time of year with any catalog (numerous versions of each) that I have ever ordered from. And many that I have not. At this moment, the floor of my little study is littered with open catalogs and those with dog-ears on numerous pages. I need to sit down and list everything that I'm interested in, along with cost, to see how far out of left field I have gone.

I am on the last book of the Zion Covenant series by Bodie Thoene, Warsaw Requiem. It is taking me longer than normal to finish this book. A paragraph particularly caught my attention and I cannot get away from it. The context is Samuel Orde leaving Israel, against his will, to return to England. His days as a British soldier are over. He reflects, "I do not understand, and yet I trust in you, Lord. . . Tonight . . . for the first time he understood that the biggest battle was not fought against Muslim terrorists on the slopes of Zion, but against the doubt and despair that threatened to destroy true faith in God's love. . . . Orde bowed his head and said, 'Not my will, but yours be done." And I say Amen!

Kev is going to school as a guest student right now, and will be a regular admitted student in January. He has had some difficulty with his transfer credits from other schools, one of which was in Africa. He learned that he was going to have to take a prerequisite before he could even take an English comp class. More time and money to be spent on low level courses. Yesterday we looked at the web site for this African university. My word, have they come into the technological world since he and Angie were there! They had every course description on line. I printed it off, he went over to the English department, and they not only erased the need of a prerequisite, but took the African course as the comp class he needed. Transfer Evaluation had counted it as literature without even asking. Go figure! Praise the Lord for a small miracle. He has struggled with math this semester - has never "gotten" math! He was so happy yesterday that he aced his last test. There's hope for a decent semester grade now! I'd sure hate to see him ruin the 3.75 he came in with this year because of a 100 level math class! God is good.

I was a bit behind in my reading of My Utmost for His Highest, but got caught up this morning. I hate to miss any of Oswald Chambers' thoughts. This one about Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac really struck me: "Abraham did not choose the sacrifice. Always guard against self-chosen service for God; self-sacrifice may be a disease. If God has made your cup sweet, drink it with grace; if He has made it bitter, drink it in communion with Him. If the providential order of God for you is a hard time of difficulty, go through with it, but never choose the scene of your martyrdom. God chose the crucible for Abraham, and Abraham made no demur; he went steadily through. If you are not living in touch with Him, it is easy to pass a crude verdict on God. You must go through the crucible before you have any right to pronounce a verdict, because in the crucible you learn to know God better. God is working for His highest ends until His purpose and man's purpose become one."

On a lighter note, and to get my day off to a good start, I have to give you some quotable quotes from Care Bear and Feisty. I have a great one from Anakin, but forgot write it down and it hasn't resurfaced on my brain yet. Hopefully it will.

Last night Feisty was having a really rough time with her mommy and daddy being gone to Praise Band practice. The other night she said, "I don't like Praise Band!" She picked up an armload of things that belonged to them and headed for the door, "going home." To get her mind off her troubles, I snuck her out of the house without Care Bear knowing that we were going to her favorite Walgreen's. Feisty and I cruised the aisles of Walgreen's looking for the bargains that I had seen in the paper. I couldn't find most of them, but we had a great time looking at all of the Christmas stuff and all the stuff in general. She wanted everything she saw, but she's much easier to distract than her big sister. She saw a huge Dora doll on a high shelf and of course wanted to hold it. I told her it was too high to get down. She said, "We could get a ladder!" Of course, what logic! The rest of the time she was making up a song about getting a ladder. So cute.
Care Bear: "Grandma, when are you going to have kids?"
Me: "I did have kids, Care Bear. Your mommy was my kid and Uncle Kevin was my kid. Now your mommy had you, so you are my grandkid."
CB: "But when are you going to have little kids?"
Me: "I can't have any more little kids, because I'm too old. That's why I have you now to have fun with."
CB: "But, Grandma, you have fun at work with big people, too!"

Hmm. How does she know that?

Care Bear and Feisty had a sleep-over with us Friday night. Early Saturday morning we were snuggling in bed, face to face.
CB: "Grandma, did you sleep with your mouth open?"
Me: "I don't know, CB, because I was asleep! Why?"
CB: "Because your breath smells bad - we need to go brush our teeth."
From the mouths of babes!

Last summer, as you may recall, we took a road trip in our minivan with CB, Feisty, Anakin, Kristen, DC, and me (their daddy couldn't off work) for a family reunion 800 miles away. To say the least, the van was packed to the gills. CB is thinking ahead:

CB: "Next year I think we should go to North Dakota for vacation."
Me: "Why North Dakota?"
CB: "Because I've never been there and I want to look around."
Me: "Any other reasons?"
CB: "Well, I want to visit Grandma P. I've never seen her house and I want to see what it looks like. But we should fly!"

Smart kids!

Have a terrific Tuesday!