Oh what a difference a year makes

As I was looking at photos yesterday I found last years Fair pictures....




Oh what a difference a year makes! Just one more reminder to cherish every moment! hmmm a new word art? Maybe!

Our fun week-end!

I kept Cassie out of school today... so she had a 3 1/2 day weekend as I took her out early Friday so we could go to our friends and celebrate the Jewish new year with them... the first one we ever observed... and it was a BLAST!!! But today we did something fun too!!!! After we took my 2nd oldest to her Doctor's appt ( she is pregnant and due in March) we spent the day at the fair together... Shana, Hayley (my SGD), Cassie and I... We had soooo much fun but was pooped by the time we left (at about 9pm)... these are only a few of the pics I took.

I just LOVED the look here!!!!

and here!!!

I can barely tell this is Cassie... LOL... but she wore her flip flops...
notice the bare feet! No, She didn't lose em... I was holding them for her.

The 2nd to last ride of the night. I was tired and cold and didn't take any pics of the actual last ride they took together.Now it is back to the grind... school for her... lol.

pain .... Memories

Here is another LO I did of pics I took during that ocean trip... I still pray that she will learn that she doesn't have to hold on to the pain to hold on to the memories.
I can't remember the font I used for the word art but it is a quote I will be re-doing for the yahoo group.
If you came to see the quote share I sent thru already scroll down to the last post.

My daughter's eyes

I took this picture at Ocean Shores a few eeks after Cassie's Daddy went to Heaven... It was a very difficult time... It really still is especially for her... I finally got insurance and found a counselor for her... I met with him yesterday and she meets with him next Thursday... She has really been hurting the last few weeks and in tears a lot... his death anniversary (august 21) and his birthday just past on the 8th of September.

Credits:
Color Vision Page set by Mona Minnie
Word Art by me.

Oh Taste and See That The Lord Is GOOD

I have to do an update here about the lesson learned from the wood. How ONLY The Father can take one devotional and one small act of obedience to bring more blessings.

My blessing was the wood itself.

After I got all the wood I kept looking at all the pressed board and asked the Lord how I was going to get rid of it... I had someone who said he could take it to the recycle place but I also knew, from experience, that could be a lonnnnnggggg time before it got taken away.

He told me to call my friends across the street to see if they could use it for anything. Her husband is in Cali right now so she said she would get back to me.
After awhile she told me that that wood was EXACTLY the kind of wood her husband had wanted to get to re-do something (she didn't know for sure) So they are taking all of it except the scrap pieces that are too small for anything! They were blessed from my blessing!

As I was sorting and stacking the wood it was almost overwhelming...I had been working on it all day and the day before.... so I was flat out getting tired but I wanted to get it done so if he brought some more then I would be ready..... I ask the Lord for the grace to do it and He gave it to me.... I then asked Him to send someone to help me stack it. He told me to call my son-in-law and offer to pay him to help. It wasn't very much but I couldn't think of how I could pay him... the Lord showed me how so I called him.

They couldn't be here until almost an hour by that time I had it completely sorted and as I looked at the pile I thought "I can do this myself, why did I even call him?" But I was impressed to just let them come and him help me. So I did. Come to find out my daughter had made a mistake when she added up the bills and they really needed the little bit of extra money but she wouldn't have just asked me for it, she is not like that... So...If I didn't have the wood then they wouldn't have that little bit of money.



To sum it up....

The wonderful man who gave me the wood doesn't have to pay to dump it (or have to use the gas to haul it 20 miles)
I have wood to last me about a month,
My friends have the wood to do what they wanted to do,
and my daughter and son-in-law have a little gas money,
One act of obedience, though totally ONLY THROUGH HIM ( I WOULD NOT HAVE LISTENED HAD HE NOT GIVEN ME THE GRACE), brought multiple blessings!!!!!

BTW... The pile was/ is Taken care of except a tiny bit of little pieces I need to find a container for...and a little pile that my neighbor is going to burn in his burn pit... it only took about 30 minutes after they go here.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is GOOD!!!!

because you prayed, He came with deliverance; because you prayed, He came with provision.

The other day I received an email with a teaching type thing in it... It read in part

"....So many times, we keep crying to God to open the gates of Heaven and send blessings, when we could simply open the gates we have and gather the blessings God's "already" caused to be left at our gates--when we prayed! But this takes action--we need to act, open the gates, step out in faith and believe God!

Nothing will happen that you do not pray for; but many times the blessings you prayed for are already at your gates. Because you prayed, they were sent to you; because you prayed, blessings were stored at your front door; because you prayed, He came with deliverance; because you prayed, He came with provision.

God will never answer a prayer that has not been made. But then again, God will never answer your prayers by sending quail flying into your camp already roasted! ( I LOVED THAT PART!!!!)

Be blessed and be a blessing!

Conrad Lampan
Revival Highway
Email: connect@revivalhighway.org

You can read all of the word given at this place.. It is REALLY GOOD and I saw alot I had never saw before!

http://www.elijahlist.com/words/html/textonly-090207-Lampan.html

Ok... so to get to my point... every winter that I have lived here (this will be my 9th I think) I have stressed over getting wood to burn as I only heat by my wood stove.. long story but the heaters are NOT good... anyway.... I many times have to chose between food etc and wood to keep us warm...
I didn't want to spend another winter living here and going through the stress... I just wanted to move... but without the funds I am facing another winter in this big, old and drafty house.
Yesterday I had to take my daughter to the store... as I was coming home I saw a huge trailer filled with scrap wood in someones yard. The Holy Spirit told me to stop and ask them if they were throwing it away and if I could have some... uuummmm yeah... NOT!!! I argued with Him... knowing I hardly ever ask for help because I have learned many times that if I do then I am either told no or made to feel like 2 inches tall for even asking... or I ask and they say yes but then don't follow through...
anyway... I came home... kept thing about it... but then I pushed it out of my mind... How could the Lord ask me to do something that was totally against everything in me. When I woke up Monday morning The Holy Spirit was at me again... telling me to go to that house... I again argued with Him.... He finally won... I got in the blazer... prayed all the way... said "If that is you Lord You need to give me the grace because I can't just go to some strangers house and ask them for their wood" He said that if I didn't listen I would miss my blessing... then He reminded me of the part of the word I read that
"we could simply open the gates we have and gather the blessings God's "already" caused to be left at our gates--when we prayed! But this takes action--we need to act, open the gates, step out in faith and believe God! "
That really got my attention... Knocking on their door WAS OPENING THE GATE.
After driving past their house a few times I pulled into the driveway... almost trembling, I knocked on the door... A little old lady came to the door... I asked and she said I could take what ever I wanted (her son is a contractor and it was all going to get dumped at a wood recycle place... he had to pay to dump it) ... I could only reach a little but her husband came to me and told me I could have some branches that he had cut up... I took the lumber I had loaded home... then went back for the branches...
The Lord told me to give them my name and address and tell them to tell their son that he could dump it at my house if he wanted... that I could use as much as was there and whatever I couldn't burn I would dispose of... like pressed board...
At any rate... their son came and dumped it my yard today (Tuesday) see pics...He also told me that he gets a trailer full like that about once a week...Of course I told him he could dump a few more here!!!
... After looking at the pile I knew there would be lots of work to do... sorting stacking cutting... I thought about all the work BUT I was NOT about to complain even though the dread started to come over me... Then The Holy Spirit reminded me of another part of the word I read...
"God will never answer a prayer that has not been made. But then again, God will never answer your prayers by sending quail flying into your camp already roasted!"

REMEMBER...
because you prayed, He came with deliverance;(He delivered me, at that moment, from the fear of asking strangers for something.. I may struggle again but for that moment anyway I was delivered) because you prayed, He came with provision. (He provided the wood for me to burn!!!)

I was thankful for the "quail" He had send me... and I am NOT about to complain about having to roast it!!!! HE IS SOOOOOO GOOD!!!!


If You made it this far... Thank you!!!