Last week was very long folks!
About midweek our van died, again! Paul thinks that this van must have been submerged under water at some point because we have basically had to have almost everything under the car replaced due to rust!
This week, we had the fan belt, fan belt pulley, water pump and radiator changed…to the tune of $900.00! OUCH!
I know that bad things happen to everyone….it’s just hard to swallow $700 and $900 bills all the time.
We also have been having terrible server problems. Our sites were all down until late last night when I realized apparently the problems they were having caused my web site to be reset to the beginning of last week meaning I have now lost a week’s worth of postings and information! (I was most depressed over having lost the work we had done to the hope chest section of the web site. We are going to see if we can restore this sometime today!)]
Saturday, was one of our annual cub scout recruiting events. That went very well! We were excited to have some new boys signed up for our cub scout group. Hopefully, it will be the start to an awesome cub scouting year!…but, I especially enjoyed running into old friends and even my aunt Cathy whom I rarely get to visit with, but always run into at this event! What a blessing!
On the lines of scouting…my boys and Paul have been going out in the evenings to sell popcorn…it’s fun to watch them come in and be so excited over their orders but mostly to see all the grins due to the fun they have had walking neighborhoods with their dad! Last night, I heard about them having run into an old scout leader and Jacob’s experience with some neighbor’s dogs. It sounded like they had been on quite an adventure and they are raising much needed funding for our pack to operate. Popcorn anyone?
Prayer Requests
It seems that the Beutow’s may have lost the new little life that they had learned of last week. Please pray for them.
David Blackwell’s Grandmother.
Our week to be uneventful in the area of car repairs or financial disasters! 🙂
A good response as I begin to call families who signed up for scouting on Saturday.
Paul is making a phone call today we hope will lead to a meeting tomorrow.
Today I’m Thankful For
New and growing cucumbers!
Large eggplant….we just realized we had two! One is the traditional variety I’m a little more used to and the second is a Japanese eggplant.
We’ve finished our new schedule and are taking it for a test drive today…so far, so good!
A good weekend with my family.
A good Bible study time this morning.
Tracy’s Task
I’m continuing on the holiday grand plan this week.
If you’ve not yet checked it out, it can be found at Holiday Grand Plan.
This is a web site fully devoted to helping you to plan ahead and have a stress-free holiday.
On the list this week is, printing out planner forms (I’ve created my own for my planner). and working on your porch. (Mine needs some overdue love….this is the “before” picture.
I love these plans because they are so detailed they make you think to work on areas you might not otherwise even consider…but it’s these things that can really make a house a home!
What I’m Learning
I’ve said it before, I *love* two-year-olds! They never lack for excitement and adventure!
Last night at 11:00, Benjamin came into the living room…I wished I had a picture of this. Apparently, he had not went to sleep in his bedroom and had been playing. One of his favorite things to do is change clothes (he loves his Bob the Builder shirts and p.j.’s and will change in and out of them frequently). Last night, he walked into the living room, completely covered…actually his head was stuffed into the sleeve of his shirt. He had tried to change clothes in the dark and this time, it didn’t quite work. He had gotten himself into some tight spot! I didn’t know a head could fit into a T-shirt sleeve! I can’t even tell you what he looked like walking into the living room…a tamale, maybe? Anyway, you could tell there was a reluctant stride…he was afraid of getting in trouble for not being in bed but he realized he had no choice but to seek help. Paul and I tried not to laugh as we freed our grateful son and scolded him for not being in bed on time.
Today’s Scripture Meditation
I have loved my study in II Peter…I was sad that my thoughts and recordings of this were erased with the server problems we had over the weekend.
This week, I’m moving onto I John.
One of the things that I like most are the greetings and closings of the letters written in the New Testament. Greetings such as:
I John 1:1-4
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched– this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.”
(NIV)
I’m also very much enjoying the “matter of fact” …”this is just the way it is” wording of these letters. They speak so much wisdom and explain so many things.
This is from I John 3:
I John 3:1-11
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.”
(NIV)
“how great is the love the Father has lavished on us……”
What a beautiful way to begin a new week! I hope for you to feel the lavished love of a Father!
Until tomorrow,
