"I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13 (NIV)

I must confess I have been in a "mood" for the last couple days. The Lord and I had a talk and I need to get out of the pit! I could give you a list of the crazy things tossed at me this week, but that would be wallowing and I'm sure you have your own craziness going on in your life. So, I will just say I am thankful for the new day He gives us each morning! Lamentations 3:22-24
"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion, therefore I will wait for him."
Isn't that something to be thankful for?! Praise the Lord!
Not only are we given a new day, a fresh start but He will give me the strength to walk through the day! Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength". But in order to walk through this day in a manner that pleases the Lord, I need to look at Philippians 4:8 "Think on those things that are praise-worthy". That's where the trouble begins, with my thoughts! I've already had to give a bizillion thoughts over to the Lord and it is only 8:00................in the morning!
But, I'm ready..........ready for this new day!

Tennis shoes & froggy socks

What was I thinking or what mood was I in when I got dressed this morning! Let's start with the shoes, I am a flip flop girl pretty much the whole year round. There's even a picture of the kids on our front porch playing in snow that had piled up there and yep, those are my feet in flip flops!
Today I wore tennies and my froggy socks. I'm not sure why, just couldn't bear to wear the flip flops today. The froggy socks are my favorite. I wore a pair of capris that are 2 sizes too big with some sort of scarf belt that I have had for years and only worn a couple times. A sad side note on the capris; I was on the Atkins diet recently for a whole whopping 2 weeks. I felt like I had lost weight. One day I wore these capris and I was thrilled! I was swimming in these pants! I was so happy about it until I checked the label and the darn things are 2 sizes too big for me in the first place! Bummer!
When I realized how many fashion mistakes I was making this morning, I decided to wear one of my most favorite beaded bracelets just to bring the whole look together!
I've been having this thought more and more lately: "Hey, I'm 54 years old! I've earned these bad fashion days from time to time. I wanted to be extra comfy today!" If anybody wants to call "What not to wear" and give them my name, I'd be OK with that.

The Lord in nature

The Lord speaks to me in nature. My heart praises the Lord when I see the beauty that He has given for us to enjoy.
He has spoken to me in the flitting of yellow butterflies. He broke through my stubborn, angry mood one afternoon as I was backing out my driveway. Two butterflies were flitting around and just as sure as I know my name, I know the Lord was saying to me “I’m with you, I understand”. Now every time I see a butterfly , no matter what I’m feeling at the moment, my mind focuses back on the Lord and the fact that He is always with me.
He has spoken to me through blue wildflowers. Since I feel close to the Lord through nature, I was feeling very depressed about leaving our old house, one reason being I had beautiful views out every window, which I enjoyed looking out and thinking about and praising the Lord for the beauty that I saw. In spring the wildflowers were beautiful out our back windows, we had many different varieties except for one. There was a tiny blue wildflower that grew in a patch across the street, that’s the only place I had seen it growing in our vicinity. During my walks I would think to myself, “I wish I had that type of flower in our yard.” Well, the Lord blessed me with that particular wildflower at our new house! Isn’t that incredible! I knew they were from Him, just for me!
Lately the Lord has been blessing me with clouds! I love great big fluffy clouds against a blue sky, it’s just beautiful! I’ve been noticing lately these beautiful clouds and I’ll think, “Oh Lord, those are especially beautiful clouds today”. I’m driving up Highway 20 from Penn Valley on my way home and I will get just a peek of some incredibly fluffy white clouds. Like someone sprayed out a ton of shaving cream on a blue surface. Only a pre-school teacher would think in terms of shaving cream. As I drive further the clouds begin to move right in front of me, and soon….kaboom…there they are, a sky full of spectacular, fluffy white clouds. Absolutely beautiful, and I pause and I thank the Lord for the beauty he shows me. I have seen some gorgeous skies and it makes you wonder what heaven will be like. I am sure it will be breath-taking………..look what he has given us here on earth!

Hopefully we will celebrate Andrew's B'day tonight

I hope we are able to celebrate Andrew's B'day tonight. He started work on his B'day, July 19th. He's been working 12+ hours a day, he and Rob are even working today! He thinks he will be home by late afternoon so...........we just might be able to do it! He wants sushi for his B'day dinner and of course cake and ice cream!

A new look!

I've been working on this for hours. I am truly computer iliterate! I found where I could choose different designs so I searched and searched and I think I like this one best. I was trying to add a really cool sunflower picture I had found, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. So, I will stick with this design for now.
Let me know how you like it!

Thankfulness & Frustration

I am thankful this morning because Rob drove himself to work………this morning being Saturday morning. I’m sorry he has to work, but I don’t and I am thankful for the extra hours of sleep. Little did I know that what I am thankful for would later in the morning be a burden. You see, I am without a car……………my two boys are on a backpacking trip at Grouse Ridge with the Scouts. How do these two things come together at 10:30 this morning? Josh is feeling ill, our Scoutmaster is driving him towards home, calling us “could we please meet up so we can pick up Josh”. YES!! But, wait…………….I have no car. I can’t get hold of Rob because he has left the office for what seemed like an eternity!! Scoutmaster is loosing service………………still driving with Josh………..can’t get hold of Rob…………..we have no cell phone………….finally get hold of Rob………….he can’t get hold of Scoutmaster because he has most likely lost service. So, here I sit, thankful that Rob is now in charge of meeting up with Scoutmaster to get Josh but I haven’t heard another word (that’s a man for ya!) I’m wondering if Josh’s tummy ache is a legit sickness tummy ache or a “I’m missing home and uncomfortable” tummy ache. We shall see! Josh just walked in the door, apparently Rob met up with the Scoutmaster because he is the one who dropped Josh off at home. No details!! I like details, “when did you finally get hold of him, where did you meet up, how was Scoutmaster’s attitude, did you make sure you let Scoutmaster know we are so, so grateful”. I will have to get the details later. Josh says his tummy started hurting last night, he couldn’t get to sleep, he had pancakes this morning for breakfast but that made it worse. He is concerned if Sean can carry the tent, then he mentioned that Sean was trying to convince him to stay for one more night and Josh said something about carrying all that stuff up that hill for 5 miles! Hmmm……………gotta wonder!

Garbage Dilemna

Big families make lots of garbage! Except for a short period of time, Rob has taken our garbage to the dump. This is a bi-monthly outing all of its own! I'm sure each of my kids can tell stories about going to the dump with Dad. It was just recently that Andrew went to the dump with Dad and a man who has worked there forever said, "Hey, I remember you from when you were a little boy!" Rob took his Mom to the dump when she came out for a visit from Michigan. She thinks we have the most awesome view from their, especially when the mountains still have snow on them.
Well, the Furie Fam is truckless at the moment so we will not be able to make our bi-monthly trips to the dump. I had to call Waste Management today to see about starting garbage pick-up. We have 3-96 gallon cans, several big barrels and 1 "regular" size can. Waste Management will only pick up "regular" size cans or 96 gallon cans that have to be rented from them. So, even though I have 3 of my own, I will be renting a container from them. This will add $36.00/month to the Furie Fam budget.
I found myself checking out everyone's garbage cans on my way to town. "They only use 1 can, they've got 2-96 gallon cans, check out their recycling!"
We will begin some heavy duty recyclying of our own! We've got to get a weeks worth of garbage to fit in 1-96 gallon can!

Chunky Chips Ahoy!

Yes, it's true.............I just tip-toed into the kitchen, got the Chips Ahoy out of the top cupboard where I hid them and tip-toed back into the computer room. They're the chunky ones! Yum! Sean will be in here any minute, his eyes will light up and he'll say, "How many cookies do we get?" Because we are a large family, it is necessary at times to hide food to be eaten and enjoyed later. You've heard the saying "snooze, you loose"............well, that's how it is growing up in a big family....especially when it comes to food. Aha! Sean just walked in, sniffed and said, "what's that smell"?! Then he saw cookie crumbs on the desk, chocolate on my lip and finally caught sight of the package of cookies. Just like I said, his eyes lit up and he asked, how many cookies do I get?! I always start out my answering "2", this amount seems generous enough if I decideto stick to it, but a small enough that I can increase it by one or two if I am so inclined. Josh is in here now, but he hasn't spied the cookies yet!

Trial and Error

I am trying to get this looking nice, it is truly a work in progress! Those of you who know me well, know that I am computer iliterate.