On Eagle's Wings

On Eagle's Wings
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:29-31

Followers

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Looney Tunes

I DID IT!!!

It feels like I have been at work all morning.

Oh ... wait! I have.

Doing some miscellaneous chores in the office and decided I wanted to download Matt Redman's 10,000 Reasons CD to my computer to make a CD. Then I decided that it would be nice to just sync all the music I have on my laptop to my iPhone, which then became the IMPOSSIBLE task for me. I have never done that before. (please, no laughter).

All the while I am trying to do this, my Dear Heart is on the other computer behind me working on his FIRST OF THE YEAR FAVORITE job (and I'm not kidding)! He loves working on the taxes.

So, I am trying to concentrate on something extremely important and he is:

asking me questions
clicking his pen
talking out loud
talking on the phone
etc., etc.

Trying not to scream. Me, not him.

So, a couple of hours later, and after trying to figure all this out by myself, I discover (by Googling) that you must have iMatch turned on your phone and furthermore, you must have subscribed to it. All my efforts were in vain trying to sync my computer iTunes to my iPhone and somehow I think I managed to download what was in iTunes to my computer, so now there are DUPLICATES of all this music somewhere on my computer. Do you think I want to spend the rest of the day locating and deleting?????

NOT!!!

DH says I'm a drama queen! But trust me, you haven't seen ANYTHING until you've seen him frustrated at the computer!!!



Oh well!! It's funny. One thing we have observed over the years. It's a great blessing that when one of us is having a "Moment," the other is not!




None of you probably ever have any "moments" at your house!

Monday, January 28, 2013

It only takes a minute ...

The last stop today after running several errands was the grocery store. Being in a hurry, and ready to head for home, I hit the express lane (under 15 items) and went straight to work unloading everything onto the conveyor belt. As I hurriedly did this, it registered with me (no pun intended) that the checker had asked me a question that I hadn't heard. Apparently my lack of response either hurt her feelings or ticked her off. At any rate, her attitude as she slung my groceries (including my beautiful roast) over the glass scanner and into the sacks was very WHAT EVER!!! You know that attitude, right?



As I stood there watching her, it was clear that she had either a very sorry attitude or was simply a young girl just having a bad day and I now was part of it.

So I looked her straight in the eyes as she rang up the total and asked her. "Are you having a bad day?"

Her body language changed in that moment as she relaxed and answered yes, she was and asked me if it showed that much. Her name was Kim, and she began to confide in me what was going on in her life with an upcoming move and the uncertainties in the challenges she was facing.

I prayed for her and tears welled up in her eyes as she thanked me and said a few kind things. She put her hand out and wanted to know my name and said she hoped she would get to see me again at the store before she has to transfer.

All this happened in the space of probably five minutes. How glad I am that I didn't let the frustrations of my morning and my haste to get home interfere with an opportunity to show this young lady that somebody cared about her feelings.



Saturday, January 26, 2013

Big Things ... Little Things

January has been both restful and eventful.
The extremely frigid weather has kept us inside most of the time.
We even had a couple of snows.

Late December and early January were spent with our dear friends,
Alice and Fred, who were visiting from Florida.
So many wonderful times we had with them.
DH and Fred love working together outside on lots of different projects,
fixing things in the garage, working on the motorcycles,
making trips to Home Depot, guy kinds of things.
Fred is such a blessing because DH has ideas and
Fred gets the ideas up and running, so to speak.
Alice and I loooove just spending time together
catching up on our families, sharing what the Lord has done in our lives,
talking about the Lord, Bible studies, what He's saying to us.
You get the idea. And all of that over many cups of coffee.
We were sorry to bid them adieu as they left for their home
in Florida the first week of January.

Then DH and I spent lots of time at home recovering from
that nasty flu bug. Yuck. So thankful to say now the
key word is recovery. We have recovered and life has gotten back to normal.
"Normal" is going here and there, Bible studies,
getting to have the grandkids over, fellowship with our life group.
(The grands are FUN in ALL CAPS. ;-)
(One of DH's favorite things to do during the month of January
is make several daily trips to the mailbox
to see whether it holds any goodies for the tax return
that isn't due until April. It is one of the fun things he enjoys doing,
and boy, am I glad it is fun for him because it isn't for me.)

I've had my annual visit with the doctor, and while I'm in really good health,
was disappointed to hear that I have to begin medication for severe osteopenia.
I fell off the wagon in exercising and getting all the calcium needed to stave
that problem off a little longer.
My good news though from the optometrist was that
my mono vision is still working as it is supposed to work.
So I love it that there is no need for eyeglasses of any kind,
I can see to read, and great distances, as well.
That has been a huge blessing resulting from the decision
in 2000 to have lasik surgery.
All in all, I'm feeling very fortunate and
very thankful to be in good health in light
of some of the health issues other friends are currently experiencing.

Bible Study Fellowship (studying Genesis)
and Ladies of Grace (studying the Gospel of Mark) resumed on January 8,
and our Life Group is about to conclude the Tony Evans' study on Ephesians 6.
Whew!
Our Life Group also meets every two weeks on Friday nights
to discuss the Tony Evans' study -
we take turns hosting that.

And this week was the week that my sweet friend and "daughter" Liz,
whose story I have told before on this blog here,
got still yet another MIRACLE,
an answer to the prayer for her surgery!

Her life in the past seven years has been
an amazing testimony to everyone around her
of God's outstretched hand to bring his kids back
and love on them in many unexpected ways.
Two weeks ago, her 3 Moms had lunch
with her at Babe's Chicken House to celebrate her birthday
and the upcoming surgery.
I love this girl and her optimistic outlook and her great faith!
She may be confined to a wheelchair for these past six years,
but that isn't stopping her from running the race
and having faith to believe that yes, she will one day walk!


Liz had asked her Mom (her birth mom - haha)
to have all of our Ladies of Grace group
send Scripture to her for encouragement in the upcoming surgery.
One of the things I had the privilege to do was to present to Liz a blanket
upon which we all had written our favorite Bible verses.
She loved it!


Some of the funnies from our kids:
I ask Kate if she can speak up when I'm driving 70 mph and
she is in the back seat trying to tell me something.
She has the sweetest little voice.
One day she was very frustrated with me.
"Nonnie, I need --------------- and
voice fades out."
What?
"I need ------------ voice fades out."
"Nonnie, I'm trying to tell you -------"
After four times, I stopped the car to hear what
that sweetie is trying to tell me.
"Nonnie, I need my hood up."
LOL
(We're in the car with windows all up and she needs her hood up.)

So now, I have explained to her, Nonnie and Grandpa
don't hear very well.
We are going to have to work this one out because she now
talks to me as one would with a really deaf person.

 
Little Toot giving the Stink Eye
Fun times with Grandpa

 And Jack!

This is the little guy I love so much and who is usually so happy to see me.
My feelings were somewhat hurt the other day when I dropped in unexpectedly.
Jack came to the door with his Mama, very excited.
He then looks at me, looks past me out the door,
holds up his little hands and shrugs and says,
"Where Papa?"
What???
Then he goes over to the window to look outside and asks
again, "Where Papa?"
Well!!! As Jack Benny used to say!!
He friendlied up to me later, but still ...
(Grandpa loves this story, by the way.)


Brady and Noah.
They are so very funny.
We get to talk with them on Face Time and
they are quite the show-offs.

They play, laugh, wrestle, hit each other.
It gets a little scary.
Makes us tired watching them.
This has slowed down somewhat the last two FT calls
because Mama threatens they won't get to watch their movie
after the phone call if they get too rowdy.
They use their iPad to call us

The other night they called and had lots of
Knock-Knock jokes for us.

Brady is reading and writing very well now
and he has written several notes and thank you letters,
and to each Noah adds his Print-a-ture.

I'm not kidding you.
Brady, six years old has spelled every word in his note correctly,
which is more than I can say for many adults.



And Noah, four years old, here are a few of the things he said during
our last visit to their house at Christmas.
How I cherish these comments.

"I want to sleep with you, Nonnie. I love you."
(Part of the appeal here is that I sleep on an Airbed when we visit!)
 
"Are you staying two nights?"
"That's 48 hours because there's 24 hours in a day.
so yay, you're staying two nights."
 
When they hear we are coming for a visit, Mama tells us they are very excited and tell her things such as,
 "I can't wait for Nonnie and Papa to get here."
"I can't wait for Nonnie and Papa to see me open my present and see my hamster.
I know I'm getting a hamster for Christmas."
(He got so many other things he wanted, he didn't seem too disappointed
that there was no hamster waiting for him under the Christmas tree.)
 
 
(Sadness and frowns to hear we have to leave because they don't want us to go.)
 
"I wish you could live here with us.
I wish you could live in the house across the street and we could see you every day."
 
Big things ... little things.
They all add up to make life great!
It will be interesting to see what February brings.
 
 

Friday, January 25, 2013

Internet problems

Internet.

Off and on .. reading blogs as I am able.

Commenting is difficult due to the computer problems.

And now that the computer is up and running,

even if I had something to say,

I have no time to say it.

Whatever did we do before our computers and the Internet?
 
I know this is a common question.
 
 
That's all.

Have a fabulous Friday!
 
 

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Guns and ... boys?

Disclaimer:
This is not a political post for or against gun control.
The other day as Dear Heart and I turned the corner on our street,
we noticed two boys about 8 or 9 years old playing in the yard.
One had the other down and kind of pounding him.
But not really.
They were both laughing.
Our grandsons wrestle and play all the time.



 The following day, as I headed out I saw the same two boys.
One had a toy gun pointed at the other
who was down on the ground with his hands held out
and wearing a kerchief over his face.
You remember that scenario from the 50's?
Westerns, Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy,
the bad guy wearing a mask,
the good guy with his white hat and special gun?
The good guy always won out in the end.




We girls played with the boys' cap pistols, too.
It was fun to hear them pop
and pretend we were Annie Oakley.

Now, the games have become too real in life.
 
I felt greatly troubled as I saw the one boy
standing over the other with a pistol aimed at him.
 
Just sayin'.


Saturday, January 12, 2013

Flu

Dear Heart's escapades with windmills in the cold and windy rainy night,
and working outside in the frigid air with his buddy, Fred,
have resulted in his coming down with the flu.
(Duh, this is the first time I have ever really noticed the
connection of the brand name, Frigidaire!)

He is one sick puppy now. 
In light of his health issues over the past year,
did he pay any attention to the doctor admonishing him to get a flu shot?
(I didn't either)
Go to the doctor?
Take something for whatever was ailing him?

No, he's the MAN. He'll tough it out.
 
Now I have to watch him suffer. 
He did finally heed my request begging him
and went to the doctor.

My little trip to the drugstore to pick up prescriptions (for both of us)
was one of those "gotta do it right now" kind of errands.
So I quickly changed into something that would
do for driving in the car and headed to CVS.
Sorry. "The medicine won't be ready for at least another 15-20 minutes."
"Can you come back later today?"

No, thank you. 
I will drive over to Kroger, pick up a few things
and see you in 15 minutes.
Smart thinking, right?
It was a good idea ... until I remembered
my attire was suitable for driving ...
not shopping in the grocery store.

LOL.
I practically ran through the grocery store, I was so embarrassed
by the way I must look to others.
Uh, the lady over on Aisle 10,
yes, you wearing the shrunken, high-pocket, worn-out
dark pants speckled with white paint
that flap around your ankles and show off so wonderfully
those red fuzzy socks and low black tennis shoes with just a touch of purple.

Now, nobody actually said that,
that is just my shallow insecurities showing through the tacky dress.

Took this pic of my leg, but
don't think it really does justice
my overall appearance!
Praying that my prayers and those meds will kick in
And my DH will be well VERY soon. 

I want my DH back!



Friday, January 11, 2013

Wrapping It Up


2012

All the blessings of 2012
FAR AND AWAY
outweigh
the hard times.


I hope that you are able to say the same about 2012,

and look ahead to 2013 and smile.

 


(Uh-uh, it's taken me this long to figure out 
another way to upload photos on the blog.)