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

Friday, June 24, 2016

Pink Saturday and Epilogue

I promise this is the end of the wallet saga. But I couldn't let go. A good investigator hangs in there because he can't rest until he knows what, when, why, etc. 

It has finally come to light what really happened with the missing wallet. Part of my guessing was correct, but not completely. 

Because I wanted to thank the kind person who returned DH's wallet I called the police department to see if they could and would tell me who returned it. Yes, he would. So I tried the phone number. It was a little difficult communicating with her because of her accent, but she definitely understood I wanted to reward her in some way and she would not hear of it nor would she confirm the address I had found for her. I finally accepted that and told her I prayed that God would bless her since we reap what we sow. She said, "I Christian, too." Then Friday morning she texted me and told me that she owns a donut shop and gave me the address. I made a card, purchased a lovely calla lily plant and took it to her. 

When I presented the plant to her, she explained to me that my DH had come in, bought donuts, sat down and left his wallet on the table when he left. 


Ta-da! End of mystery of his whereabouts that morning. Still, the mystery remains as to how he ever came to be there because he was nowhere near the usual places he meets his buddies for breakfast. 

My friend Kay's birthday celebration was nice. Low keyed. We had a chance to visit, but, as it always happens to be, the ministry does not stop too long for celebrations and there was work to be done. I hope she has a wonderful day of celebration with people dropping in and showing her the love she deserves. I know I'm glad I went. 

Can you believe this lady is 70??
She was running around the office like a 25 year old!
And she's going to China next month.

Here's an interesting piece of trivia I learned today.  The young man in the background of this picture is my friend Kay's son. He lived in China for two years as a representative of Christ. Today, in speaking with him, I relayed to him the story of the Chinese lady above who owns the donut shop. He explained to me that the Chinese, when offered a gift or reward of some kind will not accept it. They will decline it three times, and after that, it will be acceptable to accept what is offered. And that is exactly what occurred. After declining my offer three times to send something to her, she then texted me and gave me her address, which I took to mean I could gift her. Truth is, I prefer to believe it had nothing to do with her culture. I believe it had more to do with the fact that she expected no reward for doing the right thing and going the extra mile.








Friday Foto Friends

We visited Hawaii many years ago and all my pics are in photo albums somewhere, so rather than share from my album today, this works for me for Friday Foto Friends! My nephew, Chase and his wife Julie, are finally getting a honeymoon after two years of marriage. I am sharing some of the pics from their trip. 




Looks as though they are having a fantastic time!

Meanwhile, back in our little world, yesterday was a wonderful day. We had visitors who lately came from South Korea and now will be residing again in the states. So happy to see them. They came to Texas to collect their car that had been shipped back to the states and then they came to visit us. Uncle Jay and Aunt Connie!!

 This is an older pic from last year. 
Our other nephew, Billy, with his family. 

Okay. she isn't crying because she was coming to see us. She was pretty happy here yesterday. I had put out toys, books, and a tea set for her to play with.

She went for the tea set first thing.

The fridge toys were fun

She loved this bear

and the rocking chair


the water bucket was especially appealing!!!

I taught her to water the plants, however, this is a heavy water bucket, so she watered the patio instead. She watered it real good!!! So good in fact, that Mommy said that's enough for now and no more watering. Uh-oh! 
Could anybody ever believe this sweet thing
could throw a little fit??? 

We went to Cheddar's for lunch, hung out at our house for a while, just visiting and enjoying their company.

Later, after seeing them off, our friends, Fred and Alice, came for burgers and beans. It was a pretty good meal and afterwards, Fred took it on himself to begin some clean-up in our backyard of the hydroponics and aquaponic gardening that has been sitting dormant for the past couple of years. So very thankful for these dear people. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord for friends who care about us.


Today, I am going to be joining many others in blessing an old friend who is turning the big 70 and will be off to China in August to visit her "China son". Kay's own son was on a mission there for two years and when Kay went to visit him, she and this young man Ben bonded and she was like a mom to him. The surprise party will also celebrate her 30th anniversary with the ministry of Hope for the Heart. I worked with Kay for ten years and learned a lot from her about being a servant and having a heart of humility. She is a great friend and so she will be very surprised today by the outpouring of love.

This is the little crew that worked together so well
for so many years with our dear boss, June.
Kay is on the left, then Jeanne, me and Judy.
We had some good, fun, crazy times there all those years.



Thursday, June 23, 2016

Thankful Thursday

Wow! What a week it has been and filled with good things ... some not so good things ... some amazing things!

Wallet ... Talk to me!!

Where have you been?

About three months ago, DH lost his wallet and I told about it here. We spent a couple of crazy days re-tracing his steps ... or, that is, attempting to retrace his steps because he really had no idea of where he might have lost it. After a week of wondering and waiting and thinking it would be found or returned, we finally gave it up and began that tedious process of replacing everything in the wallet. I left it in God's hands, trusting that nothing would come of it such as stolen identity, charges on the cards, etc. Praying that if it fell into the wrong hands, they would just take the cash, toss the wallet and the wallet could live happily ever after in a dumpster somewhere.

Miracle of miracles and praise to God! Yesterday we received a call from our son reporting to us that he had received a call from a captain at the fire station where DH had worked. The FD captain said he had heard from our local police department trying to find the owner of the wallet. The captain at the fire department didn't know how to reach my DH, but he did know how to reach our son. 

WHAT? HOW? 

So we immediately dashed over to the police department and retrieved that wallet completely intact with every single credit card, ID cards, debit card, Medicare card, insurance cards, EVERYTHING including cash! 

The police officer said the wallet had been found by the owner of a Chinese restaurant in a nearby town! That is quite bizarre since the wallet was lost early in the morning. Soooooooo, it would be interesting to know the trail the wallet traveled before being found. The police officer also said more than likely the wallet had been in the restaurant's safe all this time before the owner decided to bring it to the police department here. 

Now here's what I think happened. That morning my husband couldn't remember, he never made it to where he was supposed to be, but instead entered the Chinese restaurant next to the breakfast place to meet his buddies. He has a habit of taking his wallet out and putting it on a table. Maybe it fell out of his pocket. For whatever reason, when his buddies didn't show up at this place, he decided to leave and come home, which he did, telling me his friends weren't at the restaurant. (By a short way of explanation, I will mention here that he is having memory loss problems ;-((.) The Chinese restaurant owner or manager placed his wallet in their safe to wait for someone to retrieve it, but, of course, that never happened because DH didn't recall his ever being there. It is a mystery too because he never used his credit card there. I don't know. I give up trying to know! The good thing is it was found.

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?
Thanks be to God for His protection of us and I pray He pours out a special blessing on the person who turned it in. 

Thanks to the person who turned it in.

Thanks to the diligence of the police department. 

Now, in my post back in April telling about this little bump in life, I said, 



Whether good ...
or bad ...
or in-between ...
the circumstances don't change the truth of God's goodness.
Give thanks to the Lord!

And other happenings this week.

Thankful to know that my brother and sis-in-law returned safely from their exciting trip to Napa Valley and my niece Robyn returned safely from her Caribbean cruise on Sunday.

On Monday I had a belated birthday lunch with my dear friend, Connie. We had such a wonderful and relaxing time together just catching up with everything in our lives. She is a woman of wisdom and thoughtfulness. Thank God for friends like her and other very dear friends.

We were up early on Tuesday to meet Amy at the dentist. Kate is beginning the process of extensive dental work to prepare for braces. Bless her heart. So I met with them to take Jack for the day. We had a good time at the mall. He played and then we shopped. First stop was Build a Bear and he quickly picked out a couple of the Avengers for himself and a large Pokemon thing for Kate. What? I tried to discourage that, but he convinced me that Kate had one which had been lost and he wanted her to have another one.


Moving right along to Dippin' Dots and I really don't think that boy gets enough chocolate! LOL. Big thanks to my sweet friends Alice and Fred, Jack and I had a couple hours of fun in their swimming pool. What fun to watch that boy so full of energy doing his cannonballs, can openers, twists, flips and dives! Does he ever get tired? Well, yes. He zoned out in the car on the way home. One minute you hear him talking to his animals and singing, the next minute there is silence. He's out!

Yesterday, I joined DH and his Wednesday buddies to meet with one of the wives who has been going through some major health issues. It was so good to see her again and have a chance to catch up. She talked and talked. One of the other husbands suggested that his wife might like to join us some Wednesday, so it looks like we may be starting a new Wednesday morning ladies breakfast trend while the men have theirs. 

Today we will be having a visit from our nephew Billy and his family. So excited. Can't wait.



So thankful to report these good things on Thankful Thursday.

And continuing to pray for my dear sister and my niece who've been going through some trying times these past few weeks. I am so sorry about that and hopeful that they will have the peace that passes all understanding in Christ, the strength of God through the trials they are experiencing and know His goodness even in the times we just don't understand.







Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Mom and Dad


Conley and Betty were united together as one on this date in 1948.

This dear couple left this world way too young. The legacy of their love, faithfulness and sacrifices for their children will always be held tenderly and deeply in my heart.

Monday, June 20, 2016

Father's Day 2016





Grandpa with his kids.


It's always nice to get a surprise delivery from Fed Ex

A new shirt for Grandpa from Brady and Noah,
Sara and Barrett



A toast to Father's Day with his buddy Lloyd
in the church parking lot on Saturday evening!
(A candy bar in one hand and root beer in the other
is not my cup of tea!)

Our church traditionally hands out candy bars on Mother's Day and Father's Day. This past weekend, they added a new touch for Dads. Beer!!! LOL!! ROOT BEER, that is! 





And what we are all looking at?





Kids having a blast, of course!!


Driving to and from our house to theirs, I am just amazed at all the corn fields! They are beautiful!




The end of another beautiful, blessed and memorable day!





Lots of blue today and linking up with Jeanne at Backyard Neighbor for Blue Monday. Her blues today are quite amazing.

Friday, June 17, 2016

A Father's Day Friday Foto Friends




My Dad with my sister, brother
and me


My DH with his sweet kids

Jason with Kate and Jack




Barrett with Brady and Noah





My brother with his sons

My brother-in-law Don with my sis
and his daughters

So proud to honor each of these Dads for unique qualities, character, abilities 

and the love of a father to his children. 









Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Thursday Tales

Do you ever have a week like this?

So this week so far has been one of those "be flexible" kind of weeks. You make a plan, it gets changed, then the changed plan is changed, then there is no plan, then there is a plan! But, all in all, everything has worked out just fine. 

On Monday I had a great phone conversation with Sara, got to hear Noah recite verses he still remembers from a few weeks ago ...

Jack got to go visit Nana ...

Jack with his Nana and cousin Maddie

Kate is so very sick that Mommy didn't get to go to work. My haircut is put off, we got DH in to the cardiologist, and it just kinda goes on like that. Our buddy Fred didn't make it back from Florida in time for his birthday, but the rest of us managed to get together for our regular Monday evening anyway, and yesterday DH and I got some business taken care of. I also bought the quilt I've had my eye on for the past few months for the boys' room. (I guess I can now take the tags off.)



Sunday and Monday we had some amazing storms here. Lots of rain, thunder, lightning and wind. This is the second time a storm has rushed in just as the lawn guys were here to mow. Those guys were all running like the wind behind those mowers as the rain poured down on them. 


DH was just soaking up the storm!
When I say soaking up, that is exactly
what was happening. 
The winds were blowing the rain all under the deck.
.
I resumed my Blue Apron subscription this week and groceries were delivered Tuesday. Here are pics of the pizza I made that evening. I was really surprised at how easy the dough was to work with and that in baking the crust rose up around the pizza so beautifully. It was excellent! Potatoes, spinach, mushroom pizza! Who would have thought?

Every ingredient you need.

Ready for the oven

Delicious pizza

Today I had a surprise visit from my friends, Victoria, Liz and their sweet baby, Erin. It's difficult for them to get out much unless they are going somewhere that is handicap accessible. We thought maybe she could get her motorized chair into my house, but it just wouldn't work. So we went over to Zoe's kitchen for lunch and that was fun. 



And, before I forget, I need to make mention that Liz is very crafty in spite of her challenges. She makes greeting cards. Here are some I purchased. Aren't they nice?


I'm still working on putting photos in chronological order for the new photo albums. Methinks maybe I really don't have time for this.

Tomorrow Trudy is going for a grooming, and on Friday I'm going for a grooming! Until then, will see what the rest of the week brings.

Dinner tonight? Peruvian Roast Chicken.



Yesterday was Flag Day and I forgot to mention it. It was sad that for Flag Day all the flags were flying at half-mast reminding us of the weekend events.


And I'm off now to buy cookies for preschoolers tonight.