Snocones

Deer Park has the best snocone stand ever.  I can tell by the cars parked around it.  These people will retire as millionaires one day.  Just wait and see!

Molly

Addie

Levi

Double Trouble

More blackmail material.

Ricky and TJ, brothers and buddies

(I spared you a picture of my purple tongue.)  

These days will pass by much too quickly for me.  Thank you Lord, for summer!!

Circus

Our daughter Jana and her family are here on vacation.  It has been busy at our house with cousins joining in at every opportunity.  We went to the Circus on Friday and I just wanted to share some of our fun with you. Enjoy!

TJ, Levi, Luke, Ivy, Ricky, Bella, Emma, Addie

Bella and Ricky, bestest cousins.  They told me so.

Levi and Luke, inseparable

TJ (Thomas James) and Grampy

Ricky

Future blackmail material

Matt and 'Teej'

Grampy and Ivy

My Hubby.

We are a pair, aren't we?

Life is good and the Lord has blessed us.  We are grateful for our family.

Crucifying Flesh

Galatians 5:19-26   Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. 

I am no theologian. I do strive however, to have my theology straight so that my living might glorify Him.
We recently finished a week of Vacation Bible School and Galatians 5:22 was one of our verses.  After reading the verse that followed, the words jumped off the page at me.  And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  "...HAVE crucified.."  Past tense.  If I am Christ's, then I HAVE crucified my flesh's passions and desires.  That means:
1.  My desire to have my world in perfect order - according to me.
2.  My passion for anything that I think I can't live without...yielded.
3.  My desire to have all beings in my life act the way I want them to...changed to loving them as they are.
4.  My expectations....gone.
5.  My passions....take second place..or third...better yet...CRUCIFIED.  Dead.

Oh, Lord.  Thank You for teaching me to live freely.  To love freely.  Take my passions and desires and crucify them.  This is Your very best for me.

Are You Like Me?

I was never the brightest penny in the bank, sharpest pencil in the box, and my ducks are seldom in a row (those rascals.)  Many times I miss the point. It sails right over my head without me ever knowing it.
I don't think God is looking for those who have it together all the time.  At least I hope not.  I think He is looking for willingness. Yielded hearts will bring Him glory.  He is all about glory...and that's okay because He is the only One worthy of glory.
I think most people are like me...a little broken and inept at times.  Be thankful that God equips us for every task He puts before us. Besides - if you find yourself in a box full of pencils, only one can be the sharpest.  The rest of us just keep him company...and once he gets used, someone else becomes the sharpest.
There is a message in there somewhere, surely.

1 Corinthians 1:26 - 31   For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."  

Keep pressing on.

Vacation Bible School 2014

We closed our VBS tonight with hot dogs and ice cream sundaes...but that was not the highlight of the week. Andy Johnson shared Christ in stories, songs, and verses...but that was not what amazed me most.  What I believe brought God the most glory was our young people planning, organizing, and executing a Vacation Bible School from beginning to end, loving children every step of the way.  They gave their time and energy to them...and they did it with joy.
We had about 65 attending - not counting helpers - and they gave $478.00 to the Swanepoels, missionaries to Kenya.  Praise God!
Enjoy the pictures.

And that wraps it up.

Our Friend, George

Tommy and I have a friend named George.  He is a longtime-never-been-married bachelor and seems happy to be so.  He is also a deacon in our church.  He prepares the Lord's Supper for us each month on the first Sunday.
George knows I love New England.  Tommy and I first went there on our 25th anniversary.  He told me he would take me anywhere I wanted to go and I wisely chose Maine.  If you have never been in the Fall...go.
Anyway, George is from New Hampshire and subscribes to a magazine called "Yankee."  He saves his copies for me.  This week he gave me two and as I thumbed through them, gathering recipes and reading articles about a faraway land called New England, I thanked the Lord for a George like him in my life.
He loves garage sales and I have several silver candleholders thanks to him.  He called us on Wednesday of this week to tell us to go outside and look at the rainbow over Deer Park.  I would have missed that if it weren't for George.  He is also a Fire Marshall and informs us of all things 'Deer Park.'  I knew there would be a Baskin Robbins here before anyone else knew.  Not that that is important, but hey...it's my favorite.
A few years ago, George broke his leg riding a motorcycle.  He was on crutches for months.  During that time, I did his shopping which included bananas and a mango drink.  When Deer Park made everyone evacuate because of Hurricane Rita - which never came here - we picked up George in his cast, and several others and headed to my friend's house in Tomball.  I don't know exactly how many we cared for while we were there, but George was one of them and we remember how much fun we all had escaping Rita.
During Hurricane Ike, George brought us ice every day, along with water and those army meals the city handed out.  My mom and brother were staying with us as power was out everywhere....but we had George.
I think George is in his seventies now.  He is a faithful church member and example of a worker bee.  He loves the most misbehaved children in the church.  Someone needs to...besides me, of course.
We are thankful for George and others like him who make life interesting, pleasant, and easier in the hard times.  May the Lord bless them all.