Tomorrow....

... is the beginning of Valentine's Day month.

It's 11:11 PM and I thought I was headed to bed, but there are words I need to get out of my head.  Thoughts in my heart that I must write down.

How appropriate that Don's sermon this morning was "The Greatest Love Story Ever."

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16  (NKJV)

The greatest love = For God SO loved the world.

The greatest gift = that He GAVE His only begotten Son.

The greatest faith = that whosoever believes in HIM.

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9

The greatest life = should not perish but have everlasting (and abundant) life.

To find myself in the midst of the promised abundant life is beyond anything I could imagine.  And all because I, in simple faith, accepted that gift of grace and forgiveness, redemption and salvation, made possible by God, my Father and Creator.  Because He caused me to understand my need for a Savior, I choice Him as my Lord and Master. 

What a gentle Master He is.

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
May my meditation be sweet to Him;
I will be glad in the Lord (Psalm 104:33-34).
For with You is the fountain of life;
In Your light we see light (Psalm 36:9).

Last Saturday in January, 2010

Already?!!  Where did January go?

It was another beautiful day.  We got out to walk and see John and Judy off.  On the way, Dennis's orange tree was begging to have it's picture taken.

Judy is walking to us to give us the gate remote control while John hooks up the "dolly" for their car.

We were visiting with Ray, who just had open heart surgery less than 10 days ago; had a pig valve installed.  He told us that when he got home from the hospital, he made phone calls to relatives to report his status.  That wore him out, so he went to bed, forgetting to take his pain medication.  He awoke about six o'clock the next morning, in dire pain.  For the record, it takes about 18-20 excruciating minutes for the pain meds to take effect.  About ten years ago, Ray had eight (8!) by-passes done.  He's a walking miracle, too.  That's Ray continuing his walking exercise.

We made it down the street in time to watch John prepare the dolly for Judy to drive Lil Red onto it.  Once in the past, when John told her to "give it a little gas," she did and drove off the dolly forward.  Ooops.  But today was a success.  Judy loves to drive the car on and off the dolly. 

Now, it's John's responsibility to secure the car to the dolly.  Judy says their next car will be one that can be hitched to a tow bar and all this will not be necessary.

The back of John's T-shirt shows where we met John and Judy.  We survived the workampers' survival.  Did that make sense?

John is lolly-gagging and Judy wanted to be in Tucson, their destination, by noon.  It's after 11:00 AM when these pics were taken.  They aren't going to make to Tucson by noon.  Judy rolls with the flow, however, and takes pics of us and we said our "so long for nows."

Bumper sticker on the back of John and Judy's wheel-estate.

Today was a beautiful day for all those people who like to jump out of perfectly good airplanes at 13,000 feet.  This plane is empty and going in for a landing, to reload.

God put us in this darkened world
To shine as sons of light;
So, help us, Lord, to spread Your Word
And keep our witness bright. —D. De Haan

(Ephesians 5:8)

RV There Yet.org

Yippee!!!!  I received an email from Nancy Reid, you know, Killer Reid, and she sent a website to me...   www.rvthereyet.org.   She also said, "You might see someone you know!"

Thanks, Nancy!!!  LOVED the pictures!!  Y'all did an awesome job at that project.  Steph, RV There Yet blog owner, wrote a great post, too!

Friday and free of rain

Friday dawned rain free after another night of more rain.

After choir practice, we went to CG and had lunch at McMashers.  Joel and Linda had told us that they make really good burgers and they were right.

It won't be long  before these sheep need to be sheared, again.

I met Heather today.  She and husband just purchased this site and Slim is helping them trim the dead palm limbs from their palm tree.  They are thrilled to get a site that backs up to the cactus garden.

Great job, y'all!  It looks really good now.

Judy prepared some snacks and she and John walked down to spend a little time with us before they leave in the morning, headed to Tucson to work on their next Nomads project for three weeks, then to Phoenix for another three project, and then Gore, Oklahoma to another three week project.  They stay very busy doing Nomads projects.  NOMADS stands for Nomads On Mission Active in Divine Service.  The NOMADS program offers persons with recreational vehicles the opportunity to share their time and skills in United Methodist projects, including churches, camps, mission agencies, disaster areas and local neighborhoods.

Received an email from Chaplain Bob Ruesch, CRM Field Operations Director:

In a recent survey taken on www.rvtravel.com the following question below was posted.  I am thinking we have work to do, but the opportunity to bring those to join Christ at work, is wonderful, we need to work on the “Not every week and the Seldom and especially the NEVER.”

Keep up the great work!

How often do you prefer to attend religious services?

With 232 responses thus far, here's how the voting is going:

More than once a week.

  9.48% (22)

Once a week.

  29.31% (68)

Not every week, but often.

  9.05% (21)

Seldom.

  22.41% (52)

Never.

  29.74% (69)

Who said...

... it doesn't rain in the desert???  Only ALL night and half the morning.  These are picture I took on our way to Thursday Couples' Bible Study.

The yellow truck is turning around, deciding not to drive through the "wash."  There's a "stupid" law out here.  If a person drives into water over the highway with a sign warning, "Do Not Enter When Flooded," and the emergency vehicles have to come get you out, you pay a $1000 (one thousand dollars) fine.

Here we go!!  And we made it.  Thank the Lord for our high truck!

Bible study at Cheryl and Gary's, couple on the left.  I took Wendy Brownies!

John and Judy Long went with us.  That's John next to Don.

After Bible study, we introduced John and Judy to The Creative Cafe.  This is what I got when I told them, "I'm going to take your picture, so act like you love each other."

Sunset today.  More rain is predicted tonight.

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified."
(Romans 8:28-30)

New additions to the Q

Judy and John Long, as you know, arrived last Sunday for a few days and the brought this beautiful wooden cross and dove to add to my collection of one... now we have two!

It looks really pretty over the picture by the door.  Now I can see this one from my chair and Don can see the other one from his chair.Thanks, John and Judy!  And we are loving having you here, even if it is just for a few days.

I'm very excited about the newest addition to the Q.  Can you pick it out?

Since moving my chair, I needed a table and I found a really good buy online.  It arrived today and entertained my husband by assembling it.  I could not find the directions and plastic bag with screws and knobs. (I seem to be loosing things, don't I?)  Anyway, with Don's help, I got it put together and it's just the perfect size.  I love it!

A drawer and a door for more storage.  The color is called "Espresso."  It's large enough to be functional, yet small enough to lay on the couch when we move the dining table and chairs back to this area for moving.  This area makes the Q feel even more like my "nest."

I have to report on the Ladies Bible Study, which was this morning.  The room was full!  I counted, roughly, 24 or 25 ladies and then two more came in.  We had a wonderful time of sharing and learning more about "the Lord who sanctifies, Jehovah Mekoddishkem."  I introduced our study for next week, "the Lord is Peace, Jehovah Shalom."  We're looking forward to our time together each week.

The mind grows by taking in, but the heart grows by giving out; and it is important to maintain a balanced life. - Warren Wiersbe

Absolutely Brilliant Household Tip

Always keep several get well cards on the mantle... So if unexpected guests arrive, they will think you've been sick and unable to clean.

[thanks, Mary!]

Skydivers five miles away

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my little Kodak Z1015IS camera?

Walking down the street today, I noticed the skydiving plane approaching the airport down the road from us.  The skydivers' chutes begin to open about the time the airplane gets back to the airport, so I start search the sky for skydivers.  See them?  two little dark specks on the left.

So I zoomed in as close as I could from over five miles away and there he/she is, dangling under the parachute.

And another one.

Same picture, cropped a little.

I love my camera! 

Clear, Clean Air

And there is still snow on the mountains past Coolidge.

The Casa Grande Ruins National Monument seems to have weathered the recent storms.

Don wanted to get out and Tuesday is our best day to do that, so we drove to Gilbert to look around.  I took a picture of the church beside this bell tower the other day.

Don thought this looked like Lightning McQueen, so I had to take a picture.

His mouth was drooling over this Camero.

We found ourselves at Joe's Real Barbeque where members of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Swat Team came for lunch, too.  Maricopa County is where the famous Joe Arpaio is Sheriff.... since 1993.  The media doesn't seem to care for him, but Maricopa County continues to elect him as their Sheriff.

It's seems that we parked next to some interesting vehicles today.

We stopped by Sam's Club Warehouse to look around and I saw another interesting vehicle.  The hidden sticker says, "If you died tonight, would you be in Heaven or Hell?"  ... hence, the license plate. Another addition to our license plate collection:

Another shot of the mountains with snow. 

The late afternoon clouds were beautiful.

I sure enjoyed my day out with my wonderful husband.... just the two of us.

We are so blessed.

DAILY VERSE
You do not have, because you do not ask God.-James 4:2

---

DAILY QUOTE
Prayer is the way and means God has appointed for the communication of the blessings of His goodness to His people.-Arthur W. Pink

---

DAILY THOUGHT

God blesses us every day with things we don’t necessarily ask for, things we might take for granted: a place to live, fresh air, the beauty of nature, friends and family. But for some blessings, He chooses to make us part of the process by encouraging us to ask for what we need and want. And the truth is that we experience life and blessings more fully when we look to God for all our wants and needs, either through expressing gratitude or petitioning Him for our needs.
If you’re hurting for something today, ask God for it. And if you’re not, thank Him for what you have. You’ll find your life more richly blessed—even if only from an improved attitude. Best yet, your whole being will be permeated with an awareness of God’s presence and goodness.
Lord, thank You for blessing me. Help me open my heart and needs to You today. Amen.

It may be a simple thing, but twice in the recent past, I have misplaced items in this little "house" of ours and could not, for the life of me, find them.  And then I remembered to ask God to help me, both times, and immediately, I remembered where I had placed the items.  Do I believe that God is with me and cares about me?  With every fiber of my being.  Thank You, Lord.