Friday, May 18th, 2012
Yesterday Brad and I finished reading the book of Jeremiah together—–all 52 chapters reading one chapter a day. Jeremiah preached his heart out for 40 years the message God had given him that if the children of Israel did not turn away from their evil ways and turn back to Him they would be taken into captivity by the Babylonians for 70 years. They did not listen and God did what He said and His chosen people, the apple of His eye, were indeed taken away for 70 years.
Brad and I both thought it would be good to read Daniel next. So today was Daniel 1. Daniel was 16 when he was deported to Babylon and lived his whole life there being God’s mouth piece. A few things struck me from the lives of these two men.
First and foremost, they listened to God and did what He said to do.
Second, Daniel did not want to defile himself eating the king’s delicacies (food) and asked to eat only vegetables and water for 10 days. He was given permission to do that and showed that eating that kind of food (God food) he looked healthier and better nourished than all the other young men who ate the king’s food. Last night I watched a show on a woman of 29 who weighed 800 plus pounds eating “the king’s delicacies” or the world’s food and tried to get help but too late and she died. This morning I was just crying out to God that we would listen to this message before it is too late and we suffer health issues because we don’t do what we know is right. The Lord sooooo blesses us when we take a step toward Him. I think this in on my mind too because of having these gorgeous vegetables growing in our garden. I was thanking and praising the Lord that He can make things grow from what looks like nothing—–dirt. Our son, Neal, has SUCH A PASSION for people to get healthier in every way. If you ask him a health and nutrition question, he is like an erupting volcano he is so full of information and passion. Have a look at his website www.DunamisFitness.com and see what he does and shoot him an email if you have questions. My heart is impassioned also because I know good nutrition and regular exercise and much healing prayer (as well as God’s great grace and mercy) is much of the reason why I’m still here today feeling well in the midst of Rheumatoid Arthritis.
The second thing about Daniel’s life is God had given him among other things wisdom and understanding. The king found him 10 times better in WISDOM and UNDERSTANDING than all his astrologers and magicians. For a couple of years now my favorite prayer nearly everyday has been from Ephesians 1:16-19. God gave it to Daniel and Paul prayed for it for the Ephesians and we can ask God for it too—-a spirit of WISDOM and revelation in the knowledge of Him and that the eyes of our UNDERSTANDING be enlightened with several things.(you can read those in Ephesians 1). I have just been listening to Mike Bickle from International House of Prayer (www.mikebicle.org) preach on those verses and he confirms that praying for wisdom and understanding for ourselves, our family, the unsaved, the saved, even our enemies, is one of the best to ask God for. So go for it with me. I have to say God has been answering those prayers for me and I am knowing Him and me better.
Along with Jeremiah and Paul, that’s my preaching for this day!! May we not be hearers of the Word only but doers also!! Amen!!
Love to hear from you.
Ginny
Thursday, May 17th, 2012
Picking Lettuce from Neal Caldwell on Vimeo.
What a difference a year and better information makes. Our little vege patch was an utter disaster last year and this year is just the opposite. What a joy to go outide and see the plants going nuts. Our spacing is not good as the zuchinni and summer squash are growing on top of each other. We also planted way TOO MANY lettuce plants. We need problably only 2 and I think we have 6!!! enough for the neighbors and friends!!
The yellow flowers on the zuchinni plants are gorgeous and huge. I go out to the patch and tell them how beautiful they are very day!! We are looking forward to our harvest and praising God for another chance to watch Him work.
We’ll keep you posted. Love to hear your vegetable gardening stories.
Ginny
Friday, May 4th, 2012
Since Brad and I got home from being gone for almost 5 weeks to GA, FL and WA, it has been hard for me to get going again. The first week home, I just “flopped” and last week was a “lost one” with having a lovely colonoscopy and the preparation before hand and then you have to wait three days before you can exercise again so it was a quiet week. So I’m trying to get myself in gear by writing to you.
In my mom’s thank you letter to Brad and me after we got home from Ga, it seems she was feeling the same “Fullness of Joy” that I wrote about in my last posting. She wrote about all the things we had done and I wanted to share with you the beginning of her letter. She wrote, “When I think about your recent visit, my heart gets feeling like it is so happy with love and praise and thanks. From the time you called to tell me of your plans to come, I felt as though you had honored me with a wonderful shot in the arm to give me a boost. That continued until you got here and continued all the days. IF YOU COULD WEIGH LOVE, THIS LETTER WOULD NOT GO THROUGH THE MAIL.”——- WOW!!——Would you just take a minute to absorb the beauty of that sweet message from mother to daughter. That is a Holy Spirit driven sentence in a letter to keep for the generations.
When I would sit in Melanie’s kitchen on her French loveseat and look out her window and see the weathered fence that holds her rambling red rose vines and trellis that has pink rambling roses, I would think how I would really love to paint that. But I’d never tried to paint a fence so when Rex, my painting teacher, and I started on the house painting, I asked him to show me how to paint a fence. That was in September of last year. I started out on my practice paper to see what I could do. The whole thing is thick with paint where I have started over many times!! (gives dimension to the roses!!) But you are looking at the finished product above in the spring flower cards. It’s the first thing I’ve done that I thought of the idea myself and carried it out with only critiques from Rex to help me. The top part is Mel’s back garden and the bottom part is my front garden two years ago when it was at it’s blooming best. I finished Mel’s painting on canvas and gave it to her on our visit. Mine on paper I just finished this week and it is now framed and hanging in my living room where I pass it 100 times a day!! I am very proud of me and it.
Mel had a 50th birthday celebration for John while we were visitng. The party was in an upstairs room of a local pub—lots of atmosphere and good food. I thought maybe you’d enjoy the part where Mel is singing a birthday song to John. Just click on the video below. Jagur was passed around to all the guests all night and never gave a squawk. He wasn’t even fussy the next day!! John was given “permission” to stay out with his friends after we left and he enjoyed more time with them and ate LOTS of his yummy choclate cake.
I knew right away what I wanted Brad and me to give John for his birthday, a one cup coffee maker. He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES coffee and likes the process of grinding the beans and had even made his own coffee filter from the wire of an old greased catcher. He is clever!! He loves having part of the grounds in the coffee too so it is a whole production and he loves the process as I said. However, we were impressed with the Kuerig one cup maker that our brother-in-law uses and thought maybe John would like one. So, we bought it and gave it to him with the stipulation that he had to tell us if he wouldn’t use it ( because he loves his own production) and we would not be offended and would take it back no problem. We told him to tell us his answer in the morning. John loves to playing the guessing game as to what the gift is too so we spent a good 20 minutes with him feeling the box, guessing.Then we finally had to give a clue and Mel got it. It is fun to have someone be so interested in your gift. So the next morning he told us thank you for the most thoughtful gift he ever got that he wasn’t going to keep. It was all good!!
On Easter Sunday we went to a church that is pastored by one of John’s dear friends. It also meets in a pub so lots of “atmosphere” there too! Pastor Bob asked if John and Mel would like to have Jagur dedicated along with two other families. Although this was not planned they said “yes.” Prompted by the Holy Spirit I’m sure, I put my camera and video camera in my purse before we left the house. (Actually, I take them everywhere because I try to take pictures of what’s going on for my mom who misses out on so much now.) So I took still pictures while Brad video taped. John says he’s not very quick on his feet but you’d never know it by the tale he told.(Smile!!) Pastor Bob asked how Jagur got his name. John said when they saw the last ultra sound picture of Jagur, he looked to have large lips———–thus the name Jagur for the infamous Mick Jagger!! NOT!!! John said he didn’t think he wanted Jagur to have a heritage of “sex, drugs and rock and roll!!” Actually Mel liked the name and found it in the Bible as a town in Judah meaning “restful place.” Then the question was what hopes and dreams do you have for Jagur? John looked over at Mel and said “since we have so much athleticism on her side of the family”———-Mel got a laugh out of that. Just ask her sometime about her semester of running?!! track in highschool!!!. So he said “Yeah, whether he likes basketball (John is 6’6″ and Mel 5’11″) or is a 6’8″ 260 pound cellist(music talent runs in John’s family) is up to him.” As John began to say what he is interrested in for his son, he got choked up and had to pause to get his composure. (Very precious moment) He went on to say “what I am interested in is that Jagur know truth and Jesus Christ is Truth and I want him to know and follow Jesus. I want Jagur to be a man of integrity.” What a blessed moment we got to share with our first grandchild and his parents. All praise to God.
Just one other sweet moment I wanted to share with you. John and Mel have an ancient oil furnace that decided to die during our time there. It was perfect Pacific Northwest weather, cold and rainy and not the time to have the heater die!!! So John curtained off the dining room archway with a sheet and we had a space heater and kept a roaring fire going. We were warm and toasty. One of the mornings I was up very early and I opened the door to the living room and there was Daddy John sitting in his chair reading his Bible and his little charge in his jumper chair bouncing and gurgling in front of the fire. Everyone all cozy and warm. Touched my heart so much. It was such a picture of family love. I am privileged to carry that picture in my heart.
Thanks for spending this much time with me and enjoying it all with me. Let me hear from you when you can.
Ginny
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
Hi Everyone, Aren’t the Spring flowers outdoing themselves this year?! All the flowers are so beautiful. As my friend, Karin, said, “I stand in awe in my garden.” Indeed God has given us much beauty to enjoy!!
Mother’s day is soon and many of you are having Spring parties and planning for summer ones. Maybe you have a loved one or friend who needs a pretty card and note from you. So here are some recent flower pictures for you to view and purchase. One of them is a “painted garden” rather than a photograph. There are also all my flower cards to choose from on this website also. Just click on the flower pictures to view them. The large cards are $3.50 each or 6 for $17.50. The smaller thank you note size are $2.25 each or 6 for $13.25. The photos that are vertical can also be done as a bookmark with a flower saying on them. They are $2.00 each. Just let me know which of the cards or/and bookmarks you’d like and how many. I will be happy to drop them off to you for those who live in my area. Please call or email me with orders or questions at 949-770-0406 or email at bncaldwell@cox.net. Looking forward to hearing from you. The new note cards are below for you to view.
Ginny
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012
The day before we left for our trip to GA and FL to see relatives, My Bible study shared with each other an area of life that was not “glistening with hope” right now. Then we took a moment to laugh at the lies of Satan we had believed in this area.(We are commanded to do this in the Bible). Then we declared the truth to each othe and prayed over each other. For me each time we go out of town I have to battle thoughts of “will I feel good, will my body work like it’s supposed to, fear, fear, fear. We all had a good laugh over the lie that God would not be faithful. I had to declare the truth that over the last 45 years of traveling to GA and other places God has shown Himself faithful indeed. One woman declared that I go with “Fullness of Joy.” Psalm 16:11 says “In Your Presence is fullness of joy; at Your right Hand are pleasures forever more.” That phrase really resonated with my spirit. So when we left the next morning I took “fullness of joy” with me and repeated it thru the day.
The first blessing we had was on the plane. As we waited to take off, I found out my young seat mate was a Christian. As we were taxing down the runway, she asked if I’d like to pray?! “Well, yes!” So we held hands and she prayed for our safety as we flew. Wow, that was a new one on me. Fullness of Joy
Our week with my mom was one blessing after another. After calling all those she wanted to see that week on Monday and getting not one of them home, one of the ladies took it upon herself to organize lunch the next day. We had 16 of us at a real down home cooking place everyone loves. It was loud and it was fun. Mama can’t hear much, but she revels in the joy of being with treasured friends. We got to meet with other family and friends thru the week too. Fullness of Joy.
We had gorgeous weather the whole time we were in GA. We three were able to enjoy the big outside patio at Mom’s nursing home nearly everday. This was indeed a special treat for Mama as she won’t ask any of the workers to take her out for fear she can’t get to the bathroom when she needs it. We all have our little fears that are big to us, don’t we?!
Mama gave Brad and me a special blessing that was hard for her, She gave up dinners with us in order for us to get back to our hotel 30 minutes away at a decent hour and not be so tired the next day. She is 941/2 and needs her rest too. Fullness of Joy!
Keeping up with personal items in a nursing home is difficult with so many workers around. Mama can’t get to her closet so the worker of the day picks out her clothes and helps her dress. Mama is a very neat and fastidious person and so is her closet and it drives her crazy that the workers will NOT hang the pants together, blouses together etc. She knew she was missing some clothing because she would ask for them and no one could find them in her teeny weeny closet!! We were discussing what was missing with one of the staff people when I walked over to her closet, which Brad and I had spent all moning arranging,—again—- and low and behold there was one of the outfits hanging there big as life!! Oh the Fullness of Joy!!
God had caused our week to be peaceful, unstressfull, and full of joyful treasures from Him!!!
After we left my mom, Brad and I traveled on down to Ocala, FL to visit Brad’s sister and husband in their new home in Ocala. Oh are they happy to be out of the Iowa cold and we are so happy to have them only 4 hours by car from my mom. They are in one of several retirement communities in Ocala and are throughly enjoying fixing up their new home and finding out about their new surroundings. We ate at some great restaurants. At one of them I had a 14oz. pork chop!!!!! It was delicious and I had it for 3 meals. I had the salad put in a to go box and it probably weighed 5 lbs!! We split it 4 ways the next night at dinner!!
Our favorite room was the sun room or Florida room. It has many windows that let in the warm breezes and is just the best spot in the house. Mike told me that one morning recently (they have been there only 6 weeks) he was in the sun room early in the morning with his coffee and his dog, Morgan, at his feet and he said I was just “giddy” with the joy of being in that spot and that things were turning out as he had envisioned them. That was a precious moment.
We had planned a day to visit a little phosphate mining town in central FL where my dad grew up and I spent many happy hours as a child. My mom wanted me to visit the grave site where our relatives are buried but she had no idea where the cemetary was after not being there for 30 years. My cousin who I was having lunch with that next day knew a site called “findagrave.com”. She also knew the name of one of the 4 cemetaries there and gave us the name. When Brad and Mike typed that in, up popped not only the names of my family but a picture of the grave markers also!!! All we had to do was walk the cemetary and find the markers. We found them easily. I had some moments of reflection thinking about my grandparents and how I loved them both and how much fun my brother and I had at their house. Oh it was Fullness of Joy!!
We were also able to finally find an old street that had some similar old mill houses like my grandparents lived in but all the town landmarks were gone that I remember. It was good to be there and remember good times.
I got to visit my cousin who is 92 and in a nursing home. I haven’t seen her in 50+ years but I still could see her pretty face. I so remember what a handsome couple they were and how much fun my parents had with her and her husband back in the day. We also got to visit with her daughter and have lunch with her and get to know each other. We LOVED her screened in porch. You can see it in the video. The woman who owned the restaurant where we ate took a liking to me for whatever reason. She had on a T-shirt after my own heart. It had drawings and writings on it that read “Satan is bad and Jesus is good!! I told her we loved Jesus too and she hugged me and said I knew I loved you!! Oh the Fullness of Joy!!
As we were on the ride home, I ws just so happy that a day that I had envisioned came to be with alot of help from the Lord, our family and the locals. I wanted very much to do this for my mom who so loved her FL family. I had fun telling her about it all.
Girls, you will enjoy this: Nancy loves Fresh Produce Clothing so we found their store in Ocala only to find out the line was being discontinued and everything left was $10 and that day was the last day of the sale. Nancy did not find anything for herself which was a bummer but Daytona is only 45 minutes away so she’ll have fun in the beach store. For me they had several things I loved and bought and saved $136 according to the saleslady. I went back to get some earrings the next day and they were having a promotion if you bought $25 worth, you could have a free set of beautiful earrings. So I was able to treat Nancy to the earrings and that was fun for me.
Believe it or not, I did not think of the phrase “fullness of joy” after that first day. I was lying in bed on the last day thinking what a God-kissed trip we’d had and that phrase came to mind again for the first time in 12 days. I just said, “Lord, I have lived Fullness of Joy for 13 days. Thank You. No one can out give You!!
On my first morning home in my quiet time, God gave me Psalm 36:7-9 that says “How precious is Your loving kindness, O God! Therefore we Your children put our trust under the shadow of Your wings. We are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house. And You give us drink from thr river of Your pleasures. For with You is the fountain of life… How abundantly the Lord satisfied us from the fullness of His house.
Thanks for going on this trip with me. I have loved sharing it with you.
Saturday, March 3rd, 2012
My #68 started out early with time with the Lord and then phone calls from Neal and my brother, Bill, my roommate from college, Carole and my mom. Mel and John and Jagur sent a short fun video singing Happy Birthday,” Great start!! I was also hearing the “bings” of the emails going off and knew that would be birthday wishes on Facebook so that was something to look forward to later in the day.
Mama asked me had the years gone quickly?—YES!! Where did they go?! Since studying the Bible books of Revelation and Joel, it has been on my mind to want to make each day count for more, to say something redemptive to people I come in contact with, to pray more over family, friends, the world, to take my authority given me thru Jesus Christ and use it for good. Mile markers always seem to make us more contemplative, don’t they?
Brad and I had an interesting hour in LA at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising looking at the costumes that had been Oscar nominated. The workmanship on the clothes and costumes was so beautiful. Fun to look at warrior costumes and robot ones and the beautiful ones that were beaded and sparkled and the period ones like from Jane Eyre. My least favorite was from “The Help.” Loved the book and movie, not the clothes!! That was my era and I didn’t like the clothes then and I still don’t. Lime green and neon yellow are not my colors!!! My favorite was a suit Wallace Simpson wore in the movie about her and the king who abdicated the throne of England. It had a navy blue long A-line skirt with fitted jacket. Around the neck and down the front of the jacket there was beautiful cut work in white swirls about 11/2 inches wide. Very handsome. I think you would feel very stately and ladylike in it. We learned FIDM is only 4 classrooms when I thought it was a huge building and that it is only a 2 year school that costs $60,000. WOW!! You better learn some stuff!! We noticed several of the costume designers for the nominated movies were FIDM graduates.
Since it was a gorgeous day, we drove back to Seal Beach to have lunch at Hennesey’s. Good food there. We loved our waitress whose first question to us was how long we had been married and when she heard nearly 45 years she asked what was our secret. Brad said right away that we have not considered the word “divorce.” I had to think a minute. When she came back I was ready with my answer. That is first of all we are Christians. Aso that what women want to be loved and men want to be repected. Well. I win in all departments. Brad truly loves on me all day with hugs, kisses, words and actions. I am a blessed woman. He is also a man of high moral character and integrity and so he is easy to repect. I always say I am so thankful God let me be married to him long enough to come to really appreciate who he is. The waitress took it all in and told us she and her boyfriend have an hour’s drive between homes and she’s doing all the going to his place and she wants him to hold up his end. Sounded like maybe he wasn’t the one. It was fun talking with her and enjoying good food. You saw how spectacular the view was on the pier there.
We traveled on to a favorite store on Balboa Island, Crush, which Melanie told me about a number of years ago. Crush is mostly a younger woman’s store but us oldies can find cute stuff too if we’re choicy. They are especially great at jewelry and scarves. The prices are really reasonable and the sales people so helpful and as you can see on the video, the owner, Diane, is personable and helpful and a great buyer!! Even my mom has some favorite things from there and she is 94!!! Have a go and say “Ginny sent me!!
In our conversations with our lunch waitress and the sales girl, Genesis, (great name!!) at Crush, we found out they both are in fashion design school at Long Beach so we had fun conversations with them about designs schools and our just having been at FIDM. Who but the good Lord can make a day go together so personally.
What a great birthday getting to finally pick up my framed house painting and hanging it in our family room!! I get to see it all day everyday!!
We ended our beautiful day having dinner with Neal at Houston’s. So good!!
I started out my day wiritng a paraphrase and meditating on Psalm 1. That was our 40 Days in the Word assignment. It says that I am a blessed woman if I delight in and meditate on God’s Word day and night. I will be like a tree planted by rivers of waters and I will bear fruit in its season and my leaves won’t wither and whatever I do prospers. That sounds like a wonderful prayer for my 68th year. So if you think of me that’s what you can pray for. Picture me sitting under a green tree on the riverbank with the water flowing by and me meditating on what God is saying to me in His Word. Thank you in advance for those prayers!!
Thanks for traveling with me today into my new year!!
Ginny
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012
Monday, February 20th, 2012
Just go with me through this past week and see the mercy of God on my family. It all started with a finger cuticle that would not get well with me doctoring on it myself for several weeks. I finally went to the family doc and he said it was an infected cuticle and put me on an antibiotic. By the end of the first day of it, I had a raging headache, chills, aches and pains everywhere. I did not feel good!! So I talked to the doc again and he said to get off it and keep on with the Epsom salts baths for the hands. My son, the nutritionist, said why didn’t I try coconot oil too since it is so healing. So I did that for a few days and my finger was looking better but I knew I needed more help. As I was asking God which way to go with it, I immediately had the thought to see our dermatologist who is just a genius. Oh thank You, Lord, for answering so quickly. I am now doing 2 kinds of healing cream and one anti-fungal gel. So I have been at this a few days now.
So here comes Mel and John and Jagur on Saturday to spend a week with us. Fun!! They came the day of all my antibiotic symptoms. Oh great!! Help, Lord!!
Thru a dot of blood in the urine, Brad had to see an urologist and found out he had an enlarged prostate but thankfully his PSA numbers were normal. Brad’s dad had had Prostate cancer back in the 70′s so Brad has always been checked out yearly. Thank You, Lord, for that dot of blood!! So last week with our company here and me not feeling the best, Brad had a biopsy on the Prostate—-14 of them in that little gland last Tuesday. On the scan of the week before, two small nodules showed up on his lung and the doc wanted him to have another closer scan to check it out as Brad had been a smoker back in the day. So, on Wednesday he had the scan.
On Thursday the urologist called back to say the biopsies were all clear. On Thursday also, the chest scan came back clear. Oh the mercy of God. The whole week I thought it was interesting that our whole family was going to be together and go thru this together. We had lots of prayer going on!! I didn’t know if we would be crying or celebrating?! I vascillated all week between fear and peace!! I knew that God is with us and would get us thru whatever the outcomes. We celebrated all the good news at Mel’s So. Cal. favorite In and Out Burger!! They were soooo good.
In the midst of all these appointments we had the joy of Jagur John being here. What a love he is. We just enjoyed and oohed and ahhed over his every move!! He’s laughing outloud now and that is so fun to see and hear. Mel and John had had their own comedy—NOT—on the plane down here. As they were getting on the plane Jagur had two huge bm’s—–the kind that go up the back and down the legs and gets all over the child and mom!! The flight attendant is wanting to close the door to the plane for take-off and Mel is in the bathroom with Jagur madly trying to clean him up and herself too while feeling really pressured to get done fast. So all three of them smelled of poop for the two hours till getting here. Jagur went immediately to the kitchen sink to be bathed and put in clean clothes!! Mel went rght after hiim—but not in the sink!! (smile) Going home things went more smoothly and she even flew without John for the first time.
For Valentines, John had smuggled in Mel’s favorite chocolates but wanted to get flowers before going out to dinner. Mel was off seeing friends in the car and we have only one car. SO—he became the Valentine Hero as he WALKED to the supermarket to get a bouquet.
For those of you who live here, you know there are big hills to climb to go anywhere walking. That walk was good because they enjoyed a dinner from appetizers to fabulous chocolate dessert. They were taking advantage of Neal’s Christmas gift to them to babysit while they had dinner on him at CA Pizza Kitchen. They had a wonderful evening. Jagur slept thru it all. He tried to wake up once and I got to pat his little hinny and sing Amazing Grace and other tunes to him. I was very privileged!!
My Valentine of nealy 45 years!! gave me the most spectacular bouquet I’ve ever had!! I even have a new card for my note card business from it. It is full of Stargazers so the house smells devine. I was going to make us all a special Valentine dinner of Cranberry Chciken as Mel and John had been out for their special dinner the night before. Mel said no to my cooking again so we hope Jagur would be up from his nap and we could all go to Outback. NOPE, the boy had put himself to bed at 4:30 pm and didn’t wake till 11 pm!! Now that was a nap!!
Neal doesn’t have a Valentine yet, but He did give him a heart’s desire of another kind. He wants to teach at the college and was given the opportunity to get his feet wet Valentine evening at Cal State Fullerton. He taught in his field of exercise and nutrition and had a really great time. Good questions from the students and from his teacher professor friend whose class he did encouraged him with leading questiions. He hopes that wll be a part of his life soon. He SURELY would like to have a Valentine to share it with!!
Melanie is VERY protective of the Jag man so after I got put on the anti-fungal meds, Mel said, Mom, will you put your gloves on when you hold Jagur!! Very cute–but more protective these big yellow gloves!!! Better safe than sorry!!
It’s taken many days to get over one day of antibiotics but I’m getting there and I’m doctoring on my fingers several times a day. Brad is healing from all the biopsies and getting over a week of two antibiotics which caused him to complain all week of not feeling good. Know that one.
We made it thru the week on the wings of prayer and God’s mercy on all of us. We ate great food and had wonderful family time with Neal coming over often loving on his nephew.
Thank you for letting me talk your ear off with my blessed week of God’s mercy with you. I’m sure you have many stories of God’s great grace in your family. If you want to share any, I’d love to hear.
Ginny
Monday, February 13th, 2012
What fun for me to share Valentine cookie decorating fun with my two neighbor friends, Ascilla and Lala. This was our first time to play together and I hope we have many more times. I thought maybe they would think using the decorating bags would be too hard. NOT!! Both girls went for those right away. Both made their cookies for their mom and dad and their grandmother who lives with them. Then they decorated one for themselves. The icing was about an inch high on each one so everybody was going to get a sugar high for sure!! It was interesting to see their personalities come out with all Ascilla’s cookies being sparkly and pink and Lala’s cookies all being red. They are darling, very respectful young girls and their parents I know are proud of them. Me too.
I was making my cookies for Mel and John’s visit. John is a true cookie monster so he’s fun to cook for!! He’s already making a huge dent in the stash. The cookies are a love gift from me to them.
Brad gave me my Valentine flowers a day early and they are GORGEOUS and smell devine. I am a blessed woman to be loved all the other 364 days of the year too. I am blessed to have a Valentine who shows his affection toward me many times a day and tells me too.
Our pastor challenged us to write a note to the godly men we know so I am doing that for my husband, son and son-in-law for my Valentine gift. These 3 men have the characteristics that Pastor Rick talked about: a godly man is caring, a godly man is dependable, a godly man is cooperative, a godly man is considerate and a godly man is courageous. These characteristics are from the scripture passage Philipains 2:19-20. Do you have someone you could honor?
Even if you have no special guy in your life, may you feel and know deep in your heart the love of the Father for you. He made you special and unique. So remember that today.
HAPPY VALENTINE’S EVERYONE.
Ginny
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