Settled

Forever, O LORD

Your word is settled in heaven.

Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations;

You established the earth, and it stands.

Psalm 119: 89,90

As the rain and the snow

come down from heaven,

and do not return to it

without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

11so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire

and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55: 10,11

I was well loved on my birthday. =)

Buoyant

It's my last evening of 48.

Such a nice, sensible, even number.

I haven't minded it at all but I was not looking forward to 49 for several reasons.

Thankfully my housemate redeemed my upcoming age by telling me it is full of seven 7's!

So much perfection and completion by God's standard's so I'm looking forward.

By faith.

Which was encouraged and fanned into flame tonight through a sweet reunion with friends who had come over to share a dream that is becoming reality in their lives. In South Africa!!

Better than anything I could have even come up with for them!

God's ways are just like that.

Over and above.

And I was terribly excited to find out that it is quite accessible - hardly any stairs anywhere on the whole property. There are even monkeys.

This only served to increase my faith, and my excitement for them was bubbling up on the inside.

Which makes me happy.

I love learning to rejoice with others who are rejoicing even if it's not my season right now for seeing visions birthed or fulfilled.

So I will enter 49 looking for lots of 7's.

Thank you Jesus for every good and perfect gift that you have showered all over my life this past year and on the blessings continue to rain down on me.

Have your way in my life.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight

Oh Lord my Rock and my Redeemer.

You are my Shield and my very great Reward.

No doubt about it!

A Very Good Friday

The beautiful daughter came home this week and we've been dealing with various issues that have been sitting rather heavily upon her this past season. It hasn't been easy but there is most definitely hope on the horizon.

Because there is always Hope.

And Faith. And Love.

I've needed those three rather desperately myself as we are grappling with issues that feel bigger than big.

But Good Friday puts things into perspective again.

A place where heaven met earth and death met life head on.

And that's why we have hope.

"Behold the Lamb Of God that takes away the sin of the world..."

Joey and Jesse had slept over and we started off the day with a wonderful breakfast together with Sara and Patrice.

French toast and pina colada smoothies were enjoyed and then the crowd disappeared into the back yard to work on the garden in the sunshine. In the afternoon we crawled onto my bed, closed the curtains and put on the movie to remember...

The greatest sacrifice.

We beheld the pain, the cost and the suffering as we watched The Passion of the Christ on Friday afternoon.

Tears flowed and the sacrifice was observed.

The blood still avails and we still apply it to our lives, our homes, our loved ones, our all.

Interestingly, we were invited to my nieces home for Lamb for Good Friday Dinner (it was a secret longing of mine that this should happen and God arranged it all so beautifully). God truly gives us the desires of our hearts and I longed for us all to be together on Good Friday but didn't have the energy to host three events in a row. It was such fun meeting all the loved ones outside and seeing the beauty of the generations interacting.

It was a sweet evening with family members arriving from out of town and all of us gathering with so much joy in our hearts.

Two engaged couples, three sweet children to liven up the crowd, the honored elders with the rest of us thrown in to complete "family". So rich, so beautiful, so full.

Easter eggs, paska with icing, decorations...

What a glorious reason we have to celebrate!! And we will continue to with another gathering tonight and Easter Sunday lunch tomorrow...

An April Adventure

So, I decided it was time to take Oma and Tante Hilda on a little Spring Adventure.

Despite the fact that it was a glum looking overcast day.

My sister jumped on board with very little coaxing and soon we were all zooming down the highway in my little red Poppy looking for somewhere pretty to lunch.

Sweet comments were happily supplied despite the dark day which was getting more cheerful by the moment.

"Oh look at the nice houses!"

"Isn't the scenery pretty."

They just choose joy and optimism despite aching bodies and bad nights and the day is so much brighter because we all gathered together for a little adventure.

My poor sister was feeling ill to begin with so the thought of going through a drive thru and picking up sandwiches to eat at the lakeside in the car was too much for her to bear.

So we ended up at a Pub overlooking the prettiest little marina on a calm lake.

Nachos are almost always the preferred choice for these outings and a large plateful kept us munching and quite satisfied.

An entertaining conversation ensued and we spent a lovely part of the afternoon overlooking the marina, watching the gulls and chatting about heaven and other interesting topics.

My mom had us very surprised when she told us she heard about 10,000 people who had wings in a certain place. My sister and I were mezmerized until we heard that they were mechanical devices that needed to be attached for the people to fly. The way the story came out initially had us quite taken and we laughed hard when the truth of the matter came out.

I'm so glad for follow through. That God arranges days and times where on a whim everyone is available and the adventure is just there for the taking and making.

We seize the moment and push through till we're all together and laughing again.

Everyone's cup is full and we can all snuggle into our respective homes satisfied with an afternoon well spent.