The Busy Season is Over

Last time I posted was just before Christmas busyness hit. It's been crazy and I am now officially feeling rested. :) I finished my job at the Credit Union on the 31st of Dec and have been applying at a few places around here. It's been a good two weeks of rest and relaxation bordering on boredom. :) I have a part time position at a little restaurant in town, which I will start on Friday and I have an interview for a job at another little restaurant in Gretna tomorrow. I'm excited to start something new. :) It's more than a little difficult to not see my friends at work everyday and I'm feeling a bit secluded right now, but while I wait for life to get moving again in new workplaces, I am doing my best to just rest and enjoy being alone. Time to recharge. Life has changed drastically a few times in the last year or so and I definitely need the down time. It's a good time to reflect and think about changes I'd like to make in my life. It's a great time to spend with God, learning more about who he is and who he wants me to be. I am a person who wants to live and go go go, but I also need time to recharge, so it can be a bit hard to balance. My cat Eliot is loving having me at home. He uses me as a mattress as often as I'm sitting down.

Christmas was really nice and relaxed for my family this year. I really enjoyed spending time at my parents and just being home in every sense of the word. Home smells good, tastes good, is warm, comfortable, relaxing and invigorating all at once. My Birthday was also nice and laid back this year. I spent New Year's Eve (after work) and New Year's Day at home and just recuperated. The weekend after my birthday, my family went to the Forks and went skating. Afterward we went out to the Old Spaghetti Factory for supper, which was super.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season as well!

Bah humbug

Well I've managed to get sick just in time for the start of the busy season. Yup. I have great timing. Haha
Tonight is my work Christmas banquet. Tuesday night is another work party in the city. Next weekend I write my exams.
I managed to get a bunch of studying done today. It looks like I should manage to pass. :) I'm really glad my work banquet is in my town this year. I can go straight home and sleep after. Definitely a bonus. Ok. Time to get moving. I hate being sick! Achy, cold, tired, sneezy..ick.

Change..is good? right??

Goals are planned changes in life. Life has definitely been changing for me in the last year. I moved to my little town a year ago. I decided to work only part time at the Credit Union in April. Now for the big changes..I handed in my notice at work and will no longer be an employee at the Credit Union after December 31st. I have decided to finally pursue something that interests me. I am working towards becoming a certified personal trainer. Of course, since I was homeschooled, there was some housekeeping items I had to take care of in the way of a graduation certificate..I don't have a diploma. So..I have been studying like mad to prepare to write my GED exams. I will be writing my exams next week. Yikes! Scary stuff..haha. Next plan of action is to find a couple low key part time jobs in the area to make ends meet while I study. So..onward and upward into a new career focus. It would be so easy to stay in the safety of my current career. I know I'm good at my job, I am comfortable there and I have a work family, but it's now or never so here I go!
Well, those are the changes that are foremost in my mind at the moment. I'll try to share more later.

Great Expectations?

Sometimes expectations drag you down. I've been discovering that more and more! Expectations of myself, expectations of my friends, family, coworkers, God, the server at the restaurant..and the list goes on..
Ok, so I'm not saying that it's wrong to have expectations or standards, but sometimes I tend to go a little overboard. I have always been a competitive person and so I have high expectations of myself to perform well in whatever I'm competing in. Problem is, sometimes I make life a competition. haha
I seem to spread myself a little thin and the biggest problem is that I'm still not happy with the results! I'm not happy about how I prioritize and what takes precedence. So I've been thinking a bit about simplifying. Why do I make life so complicated? So I started thinking about what God's expectations of me are.
First and foremost, he expects me to love Him and love people. Simple right? Ok so that rearranges some of my priorities. In order to love God, I need to spend time with Him and nurture my relationship with Him. Read His word, praise Him and thank Him and involve Him in my life. Even if He knows what's going on, He still wants me to communicate with Him.
In order to love people, I need to have the perspective of God. All the more reason to spend time with God. I can't know God's perspective and how he wants me to view people, unless I actually know Him intimately! I know that God's love for people is unconditional. God expects me to love people as He does..that means unconditionally! Ok, now things might seem a bit harder. The problem is that most of the time when we love people, they love us back. :) We like to be selfish in love. We want to get something out of our love of others. We want to feel good!
Loving people is not as easy as loving God. God is perfect, people are not. People disappoint us..uh oh. There go the expectations again! Expectations are pretty much impossible to get rid of. They seem to be ingrained in us. Human rights, fairness and everything else that gets hammered into us from a young age. I'm not saying that all expectations are bad, but that we have to Expect to be disappointed as well. People are not perfect. People are all different and have different standards (not necessarily wrong, but different).
I guess I've come to the conclusion that I need to weigh my expectations. I need to gauge how appropriate they are in relation to myself and other people. I also need to expect to be disappointed and even hurt. Making oneself vulnerable to pain is completely against human nature..yet another reason to be in communion with God. He is completely set apart from human nature. How much pain is he vulnerable to each and every day? He has expectations that we disappoint, but yet he loves unconditionally and maintains a faithful relationship with us from his side.
I guess my challenge now is to allow myself to be vulnerable to hurt and disappointment, because loving God and people is how I need to live.

Just some food for thought. :)

Resolutely

Hey everyone. It's been a long time..again. I'm not going to even try to tell you about everything that has been going on in my life. :) The main things are I have moved to Morris and I am now working part-time. I would really love to get back into writing! I was doing my daily bible reading this morning and I am currently in the book of Luke. I read Luke 9 and a verse stuck out while I was reading, that I have never noticed before and a few things clicked together in my head about the life of Jesus.

I apologize in advance if my thought processes are slightly disconnected. Like I said, it's been awhile. :)

Luke 9:51 is the verse that caught my eye this morning. It says: As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.

So, what about this verse struck me as special? The fact that Jesus had to have resolve to set out for Jerusalem.

I teach a Sunday School class for grade 2 and 3 and over the easter season (Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday) we did a quick timeline review of Jesus' life. I got the kids to tell me all about Jesus starting with his birth and as much as they could remember until he died and rose again. During the discussions I did my best to explain that Jesus came to earth as a man and that he was both fully God and fully man. I wanted the kids to understand that he experienced life just like we do. He was born, he grew up, he faced fears, he made friends, he was tempted, he had friends betray him. On top of all that he was also God, he was perfect, he was obedient, he could perform miracles, he raised the dead, he healed people, he calmed the storm, he walked on water.

So in explaining this to the kids I was trying to help them understand that it wasn't easy for Jesus to die. He didn't want to die. He didn't want to experience pain and death! He struggled with it! So this verse caught my eye because it shows another example of Him not eager for suffering. He didn't want to go to Jerusalem, but he had resolved to go. He had firmly decided to go. Why? He loved each person (past, present, and future) so much that he knew he had to go through with the plan, to be able to offer a way of Salvation to all who believed in Him as Saviour.

I think that sometimes we can skim over just how difficult it was for Jesus to go through with his decision. He prayed that the cup be taken from him in the garden, but he was obedient to God's will. He was obedient to the decision that he had made at the beginning of time!

You can imagine the interesting conversations that arose in my Sunday School class. It is impossible for our human minds to fully grasp the amazing truth of God as man in the form of Jesus. Children will come up with very creative thoughts in an effort to understand something. One thing one of the kids said was "I want to see Him!" I agree with that. I want to see Him too! I want to see this God/Man who decided to give up himself so that he can be with me in eternity!

So that was my thought for you. Here's a challenge for me and for you. If Jesus decided to die for me, doesn't it make sense for us to decide to live for Him?

Rediscovery

I rediscovered my blog this evening while talking with a friend. I think it's time to dust off the thoughts and see if I can't make a go of this thing again. I'm pretty sure most of you have given up on ever seeing a post on here again, but I don't feel so bad because I've noticed that a few other friends have also stopped posting for awhile.

The biggest thing going on in my life right now is that I'm trying to sell my house. I've decided to downsize and clean up some of the debt. I need a little room to breathe financially and also would like to have a bit more flexibility otherwise too.

I recently got back from another trip east to visit family and friends. My parents and I headed to Timmins first after a quick stop over in Wawa. I hadn't been to Timmins for at least 5 years. It was time to get back there and visit my Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles. Grandpa is not doing well health-wise, but he's still hanging in there and we did have some good days with him while we were there.

We spent a week with Josh and Jenna. They had another baby girl August 17th and named her Hannah Alison. It was great to see the kids and get caught up with Josh and Jenna. It is so hard to be so far away from them!

This year has flown by and I can't recall most of why it's been so busy. I've started another memorizing challenge for this year. We'll see if I can do it. I'm doing 145 verses from the book of Hebrews. I've done Hebrews in quizzing before, so maybe this will be easy...

Hebrews 1:1-3, 5,8-9,&13

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

For to which of the angels did God ever say, 'You are my Son, today I have become your Father'?, or again, 'I will be his Father and he will be my Son'?

But about the Son he says, 'Your throne O God will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.'

To which of the angels did God ever say, 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet'?

Isn't it great to know that Jesus is 'sustaining all things by His powerful word'? Those first couple verses make me think of John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, without him nothing was made that has been made.

These verses affirm that God's Son Jesus created the world and is sustaining the world today.

Jesus has been at work on this earth since the day it began. He created it, he provided salvation for its inhabitants and he continues to sustain it until the day comes when it will be destroyed and a new heaven and new earth take its place. Glad to know we're in good hands right?

This chapter gives us another pretty good picture of Jesus' roles in the trinity. It is amazing that God gives us these glimpses of how things started, and how things work.

Well those are my verses for chapter 1. These are the same key verses as what were used when I was in quizzing. This is pretty much review for me. It's good to know that all that work I put in years ago is still paying off today.

Vacation with Hilde

Wow what a week! We picked up where we left off three years ago and really enjoyed talking and just being together. :) We spent some time hiking and walking and biking and swimming. Here's a few pictures that sums it up.

Mmm..Salmon and Salad.

Of course she had to try true mennonite food!

St. Malo. What a perfect day for the beach!

Hiking in the Valley

Enjoying the Pembina Valley

We spent a lot of time just reading and talking too!

Food was a very important part of this vacation. :)

Making Waffles.

Enjoying a sunset in Winkler

All the pretty flowers and gardens in Winkler

:) :) :)

Wasn't quite sure what to name this post, but the smiles seem appropriate for what I have to share with you. Work has still been busy as usual with plenty to do and always new projects to figure out. I decided to take a few more online courses through work as well which I will be working on in the evenings when I have time.

It's already been more than a month since I was on vacation and it has flown by. I'm hoping the next month will fly by too, because.....

Hilde is coming to visit me on August 16th and is staying for a week!! Yay! She will hopefully have her flights booked soon so I know exactly when to pick her up. In the next month I will be doing some renovations in the spare room. I picked up some paint and supplies last night and will hopefully be moving furniture out today so I can wash walls and prep to paint. I didn't pick really exciting colors, but I think it will look really nice when it's done.

I'm doing shades of white and then I'm planning on doing a few paintings with green and brown to accent. I picked out two shades of white in two different finishes with plans of being slightly creative on one wall. I'll be doing a warm creamier white color in eggshell finish as the main color in the room and then I'll be using a slightly cooler white in semi-gloss to texture or add an artistic touch on an accent wall.

Does anyone have a little square or round table that they don't want anymore? Let me know if you do!

I guess I'd better get to work..have a great weekend!

A Visiting Vacation

For as long as I can remember my vacations have always consisted of traveling and visiting someone somewhere or other. I've sometimes wondered what it would be like to go on vacation and just travel somewhere for no specific reason other than to relax. Quite honestly..I don't think I could do it. It may be just my circumstances of being unattached with family and friends spread across the world, or it may be my nature to not want to go somewhere with no ambition but to sit on a beach and stay in a hotel. I'm not sure.. :) Also if I did decide to travel somewhere completely different I think I would want to stay for a few months instead of a few days. Anyway... I really enjoyed my time in Ontario. It was wonderful to see Josh and Jenna and their kids. The kids are growing up way too fast! I also enjoyed a visit with Aunt Myrna and Uncle Ron in Wawa. I was able to go to a beach for a little while between Sault Ste Marie and Wawa. It was tempting to stop at more places than just Katherine's Cove, but I managed to somewhat satisfy my Lake Superior craving with some time spent walking along the beach and taking pictures. It was good to spend Sunday morning at Wawa Baptist Church. It had been a few years since I had attended a service there and though it is small, it was a great time of fellowship and celebrating communion together as a small body of believers. The church is in my prayers as they make decisions regarding whether to move into town and into a different building or not.

Here are a few pictures of my time spent in Ontario.

The Family

Jenna and James

Chloe loves the slides!

Chloe and James

Katherine's Cove

Day 1

So today was my first day of holidays. It was amazing. :) I spent a few hours outside doing yard work this morning. I even have a blister to prove it. I'm satisfied that I won't be returning to Jurassic Park the Lost World. I made my very first good white cake this afternoon and headed over to Tim and Val's for the evening. We had a delicious dinner of chicken and potatoes with veggies and biscuits topped off with the cake (not the cake that Mack ate).

After supper we decided to take the dogs for a rollerblade..which basically consisted of the dogs pulling us down the streets of Morris. So fun. I need to get myself a dog!

Once the dogs were worn out and the sky looked like it was threatening rain we headed home and decided to watch a movie. None of us had seen Alice in Wonderland yet. Definitely one of the strangest movies I've watched. It was right up there with Edward Scissorhands. haha

I drove home around 10:00 and it was still light outside. Twilight really. I realized how much I take for granted the beauty of the prairies. I am truly a mountains, trees, and lakes girl at heart, but I love the prairies too. I was absolutely in awe of God while I was driving home tonight. Looking out to the right of the car I could see the remaining colors of the sunset lingering in the sky, golds and oranges and pinks. Looking in the rearview mirror I could see huge piles of cumulus clouds seeming to stack up higher and higher. To the left I could see a storm raging with lightning flashing in midnight blue clouds that were coming down to touch the earth in some places as the rain fell. Straight ahead of me I could see half a sky where the dark clouds were threatening more rain while still reflecting the colors of the sunset and the other half was a bright and clear twilight sky with a few stars starting to twinkle. The highway was littered with puddles from the recent rain and each puddle was a perfect reflection of the sky above. The grass on either side of the road was a lush emerald green with black soil beyond it in the fields.

I started thinking about how this was only one small piece of sky and land and that throughout the world people were looking at beautiful works of God's hands in their skies and lands. I hope they really see it and give glory to God! What a wonderful maker!

Waking up..

So last night was a bit of a sleepless one for me. Woke up at 1 because someone was screaming in my dream and I realized it was actually a cat outside. I am not a happy person when woken in the middle of the night and so you can imagine my violent leanings when the cat persisted in screaming as loud as it could.

I don't remember what time the storm started, but I was awake off and on listening to the thunder and my dishes shaking in the cupboard. I got up once, remembering that I often have water come in through my exhaust fan in the the kitchen and so I went and put a bucket there with a towel around it. Then I worried about whether I might have water in the basement if I had forgotten to put the drain troughs back on after I mowed the lawn. So I quickly ran out the front door to make sure they were on and I checked all the corners in the basement to make sure no rain was getting in. I thought I might as well check the dehumidifier right away to make sure it wasn't full, not to mention the sump pump to make sure it was running properly ...needless to say, it was awhile before I got back to bed.

This morning when I drove to work I was a bit scared of stalling the car in a huge puddle at the end of my street. The water came up to my doors on that one.

Anyway..usually I love thunderstorms, but this one was a doozy.

It's storming again now and I have to run out in it to get back to work. Probably should have stayed for lunch today..oh well.

Busy Busy Busy

Well the busyness is never ending, or so it seems. Actually vacation is coming up very soon. Only 4 more days at the office and 3 in Winnipeg. Yay! I can't wait to see Josh and Jenna, Chloe and James. I'm working on psyching myself up for the 16 hour drive. :)

Well, I'm not sure what to tell you about as most of my busyness relates to work.

I spent 4 days in Winnipeg 2 weeks ago for training on the new banking system. I'm actually quite excited about the new system. It was a good week. I am heading back in for 3 days next week. I will be staying at the Radisson again and one of the main highlights is the starbucks in the lobby. :) I'm sure I will be very glad to get home on Wednesday night and sleep in my own bed again.

I've been trying to spend quite a bit of time outside when I'm not at work. It's been a beautiful spring. I mowed my lawn last night and managed to get a slight sunburn (it's already faded to a tan). The rest of the evening was spent shopping for shower gifts for a lovely bride to be. I'll post pictures next week of what the gift is. :)

Well..I'm up early today and heading to work a bit early. I'd better finish doing my hair and such...

Hope you are all well and loving life!

How they love each other

By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:35

How are you making yourself known as a disciple of Christ? Do people see the difference in you?

I was listening to a song by Downhere this morning "How They Love Each Other" and it talks about how believers are identified by their love for each other. It can be so easy to say all the right words, but can you really back it up? Can you follow through with your actions and reactions?

I was having a bit of a bad day today. Heard some bad news about my Grandpa's health last night and then to top it off I woke up 5 minutes before I usually leave for work. So on a bad day I can find it really hard to be gracious and loving. I'm glad I was listening to that song this morning because even though it's still not a great day, I can make sure I don't make it a bad day for someone else and maybe God will use me to touch someone else today.

Attitude check everybody's got x-ray vision
Spot a fake, walk away
'Cause he's not worth my time, precious attention
Does it make you scared to think you stand for something bigger?
But will I ever know 'til you say it with your life?

Chorus
How they love each other
How they shine
And they follow one
We would like to know ourselves

Not your fancy talk, not your upright walk
They're not enough, so chalk one up for love again
Here's the same old good news
When you love, you give
And you can never lose, no never
Does it make you scared to think you matter in the bigger picture?
But will I ever know 'til you say it with your life?

It's been a busy week!

So, life has been slightly crazy and it doesn't look like it's going to change much in the near future. This week was the last week of working in the basement with the F11 crew. :) Actually Wednesday was the last day. Tuesday we went out for Lunch together at Gingerwood, which was really good. We packed it up on Wednesday, since they finished the larger projects early. Thursday and Friday I was in Winnipeg for training. Early mornings are not my favorite! I was up at 5:30 each morning. So tired! Friday I stayed after training with Traycee for sushi. Yummy!

Yesterday I tried to sleep in, but it didn't work so well. I got up and did some yard work. I was very happy to find that my ferns came up again this year. I thought I had killed them last year, but they appear to be doing fairly well. :)

Dad's in South Africa now. He'll be home on Friday night. Mom is counting sleeps. :) It'll be nice to have him home for sure!

Well, it was a busy week, but not really exciting. Not much else to say. Time to get ready for church. Hope you all had a good week!

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning it's shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2

Stop this Train!

Busy Busy! So life is still flying. I often feel like I don't have enough hours in a day to get stuff done. Constantly doing laundry on the fly. Emptying the dishwasher while I wait for the straightening iron. Cleaning the bathroom while waiting for my food to warm up. Chatting with a friend while cleaning up the kitchen or cooking...you get the picture. :)

This weekend was a busy one, but also really good. Friday night I went to a play with a friend and out for coffee after.

Saturday I went to a wedding and also for coffee with some girls from work between the reception and the dance. We went to Jonny's Java and had a great time. I think we may have scared some of the other people away, but oh well. The dance was fun. I loved watching all the girls from work dance. I didn't get up and dance, but it was great fun to watch. The live band was pretty good too.

Sunday Mom and I went to the city in the afternoon and then we stopped in at Tim and Val's for supper and a movie. It was great to hang out with them and their awesome animals. I love their pets. So fun. :)

Tonight I've gotta get over to Bible Quizzing. This is the last week I think. They have their last meet this weekend. Would love to go to the meet, but I am in Winnipeg for Thursday and Friday this week. Training..yay. :) Going for Sushi on Friday night with a girlfriend from work though so that should be good!

Well, life is good. I'm enjoying it most of the time. Haven't had a lot of energy to go running lately though. :( I was thinking of going today, but it wasn't very nice out. I'm getting spoiled by the nice weather we've had this spring.

This is the last week with the F11 crew in the basement. "F11" you ask? It's our team name, because the escape key for the banking system is F11. We use it a lot in our clean-up. :) We have an appreciation lunch and wind-up tomorrow at Gingerwood Lane. Looking forward to that!

I'm looking forward to being out of the basement, but it'll be bittersweet as well saying goodbye to my new friends.

But I'm going to embrace the next part of this work year. We have a busy summer ahead!

That's all for now. Till next time...

He sees you where you are

There are times when we all feel like we're excluded from the life skipping by outside ourselves. Moments when we feel alone, misunderstood and unimportant..completely invisible.

But You're right here. You're the center of my world and Your love is unexplainable, but I know You see me where I am.

Your right hand has got a hold on me and Your grace, each day it sets me free 'cause You're right here.

Some days life seems to pass us by. We're living too fast and we're dying inside. Our purpose in life gets lost in the worries. Perspective is gone.

But You're right here. You're the center of my world and Your love is unexplainable, but I know You see me where I am

Your right hand has got a hold on me and Your grace, each day it sets me free 'cause You're right here

My understanding is not understanding at all. My strength is weak, but in weakness Your strength will prevail! If I look to you, if I trust in You, You'll lift me up above it all!

There are times in our life when we see people fall. You give us grace to reach out in love and show them that

You're right here. You're the center of the world and Your love is unexplainable, but I know You see me where I am

Your right hand has got a hold on me and Your grace, each day it sets me free' cause You're right here

One Little Heartbeat

Just listening to a song and thinking of all my friends who are Moms. This song is for you!

One Heartbeat at a Time

You're up all night with a screaming baby
You run all day at the speed of life
And every day you feel a little bit less
Like the beautiful woman you are

So you fall into bed when you run out of hours
And you wonder if anything worth doing got done
Oh, maybe you just don't know
Or maybe you've forgotten

You, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh, you, you may not see it now
But I believe that time will tell
How you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time

With every "I know you can do it"
Every tear that you kiss away
So many little things that seem to go unnoticed
They're just like the drops of rain over time
They become a river

And you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh, you, you may not see it now
But I believe that time will tell
How you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time

You're beautiful
You're beautiful
How you're changing the world
You're changing the world

You, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh, you, you may not see it now
But I believe that time will tell
How you, you are changing the world
Oh, I believe that you
You are changing the world
One little heartbeat
At a time

And you're changing the world

You guys are awesome! Keep up the great work raising our next generation!

Fun and Games

What a great weekend. Now it's back to work..

Saturday I woke up at a decent time and managed to get quite a bit done. Washed the car, cleaned up the yard, renewed insurance and drivers..

Yesterday I had a great time of worship with the church family. I went for a nice long bike ride in the afternoon which I am feeling today. :) In the evening the family was at Mom and Dad's for a BBQ. It was beautiful outside and we spent some time sitting outside and enjoying the sun. Well, I guess I was sitting while the others were playing frisbee. ;)

After a delicious supper, we played a good ol' game of monopoly. Comtois home rules..that says it all. I wasn't able to land on any unowned property and so I played the entire game without property, but still managed to survive till we called it quits and I even tripled my money..don't ask me how that works.. :)

And that's how my weekend went. I hope you all have had a great weekend and I wish you a wonderful work week!

Just one more thought and request. My Dad is heading off for 3 weeks with trans world radio and will be all over the world. Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Johannesburg. Please pray for him as he travels and for my Mom as she's home without him. Thanx!

Knowledge, wonder and mystery

Those of you who know me fairly well may also know that I have been an avid reader since I knew how to read. I grew up listening to my parents read to me and loving it. I was home schooled from grade 4-12 and thrived on learning through reading. I worked at the town library from age 14-18. I love books. I love trivia. People who talk to me may hear my love for useless trivia and can become annoyed by it..sorry. :) I love Jeopardy and trivial pursuit. As a family we used to play a game called The Bible Game, which was a trivia game based on bible knowledge. I loved that game! I love knowing things. I am fascinated by how things work, by the intricacies of nature, by the way people think and why they think the way they do. I love to figure things out for myself. Logic is my friend.

So now you may understand when I tell you that it bothers me to have a book on my bookshelf that I have never read. Today I was looking for a good read. Something different. I came across a book that I had forgotten about. It was given to me by the church as a graduation gift. My Dad wrote these words on the title page inside: To Beth, You are God's treasured possession. Remember your identity and calling. Remember the purpose of life. Remember your resources in Christ. 1 Peter 2:1-10 which reads:

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone, and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy

So now that I found this book again I am going to read it and treasure it. It's called "A Quiet Knowing" by Gigi Graham with Ruth Bell Graham

The phrase "A Quiet Knowing" speaks of our assurance in Christ. Our knowledge of eternal life and our knowing that everything is under the control and in the loving hands of our Heavenly Father.

Yes, I love trivia, and weird and wonderful knowledge. I love that there are always new things to learn and figure out. New people to get to know and understand where they are coming from. Life is full of sweet mysteries, but the one knowledge that is of utmost importance is knowing God. God will never get old, we will never fully comprehend Him. All the more reason to delve into what we can know of Him, which he has revealed to us through His word. I will never get tired of His word!

Love life! and look for those sweet mysteries!

Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you'll never cease to grow. Anthony J. D'Angelo

intricate planned beautiful

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Romans 1:20

When was the last time you looked at something in God's creation and were completely in awe? A couple weeks ago I bought the Planet Earth series that BBC put out a few years ago. I really enjoy watching nature shows and learning about the different plants and creatures God has made. Of course BBC has put an evolution spin on everything, but I just filter that out and am completely amazed by the imagination that God had to put into each creature he made. I love spring and seeing new life.

I was raking leaves yesterday and there were so many ladybugs under the leaves. So fun. :) I loved seeing how the grass was turning green and a couple of my plants are starting to sprout.

Anyway..just wanted to share my feeling of joy about spring and especially about the wonderful God we have and the absolute care he puts into everything he's made. He doesn't make mistakes and he knows exactly what he's doing.

Rest in that!