Point of Grace Concert!

It was an absolute privilege to sit in the front row - with my daughter -
and worship the Lord Jesus with Point of Grace in my own church!!

Peanut and I had a great time last night - we sang right along with
every song and we danced - even if no one else was dancing!

I'm been a Point of Grace groupie since I first heard the song, "Circle
of Friends", in 1995. I've seen them in concert at least 5 times. I
own all of their CDs.

I appreciate their talent and their faith in Jesus! And I like that
they work to be "cool" for teen-age girls and their Girls of Grace
conferences. The message of modesty, faith, and purity in the face of
peer, society, school, and family pressures is much needed and
appreciated by moms like me!

Peanut and I waited in a line to get their autographs following the
concert - and they recognized us - thanking us for our obvious and energetic
enjoyment of the concert! I told Denise, Heather, Shelly and Leigh that
I feel like I know them as I've followed their careers (and lives:
marriages for each, babies, etc. ) for the past 10 years!

God is very good and it's nice to know that I am part of His Circle of
Friends! Thanks, Point of Grace, for being a part of His Circle too!

If you're interested, here's their web site. Point of Grace

Toula the WonderBoston

I haven't written in my blog about Sammie's death back in April (the 13th to be exact). We got Sam for my 30th birthday. She was a black lab mix. We got her from the humane society and she was about 2 years old.

She was my best puppy for almost 5 years. And unfortunately, she died of a cancerous tumor - that we didn't even know that she had. We got up on April 13th and she just collapsed. I took her to the vet... but there wasn't anything they could do. She died within 20 minutes of her attack.

It was very hard on me to have Sammie die so unexpectedly. She wasn't even 7 years old. It was hard on the kids and Timothy too. The vacuum that her death caused just needed to be filled.

Here's a picture of Sam.




So only 8 days after Sam passed away, we went to the airport to pick up Miss Toula Lee Larsen. She came to us from a breeder in Illinois and was only 11 weeks old weighing in at just under 4 pounds.

Baby Toula:







And she is just awesome. Toula is now 7 months old and she has merged into our family life and melted our hearts with her love.



I know that animals aren't eternal beings like us humans. They don't have free will. But I'm sure glad that God in His infinite wisdom created dogs!

Thank you, Father, for both Sammie and Toula!

What a Pain!

Last night Mom and I attended the fall banquet for our golf league. We
arrived at the golf course at 6:30PM. We had a nice dinner and award
ceremony.

After we were done, I went out to the parking lot to retrieve the car at
8PM only to find that the front passenger window of my car was smashed
and my mom's purse (which we stupidly left on the floor in front of the
passenger seat with all of the doors locked) was gone. I should have
put the purse in my trunk. When we got there, Mom pulled out $20 and
left the rest so that she didn't have to carry it - and keep track of
it.

And we weren't the only victims in the parking lot, a second car had the
back driver side window smashed and a briefcase stolen. We awaited the
police and filed a report.

Then, Mom and I spent a couple of hours last night - and she's spending
time today - canceling her bank card (which had already been suspended
by her bank as they noticed suspicious activity on the card before we
even called last night) - her Visa (from which the robbers had attempted
to retrieve cash - but didn't know the pin number), replacing her
drivers license, her keys, the locks for her home, etc.

My car window will be replaced tomorrow - we have full glass coverage so
it won't cost us....

What a pain in the rear end!

A couple of takeaways:

1. Don't leave items in your car - period. (I need to heed this....)

2. Keep a list of the contents of your purse/wallet - with account
contact information for canceling and/or reporting theft.

3. Don't carry items with you that you don't need regularly (don't
carry the HOM credit card that you opened for the discount and then
didn't use again).

4. Close accounts that you haven't used within 2 years just to limit
the number of cancellations you have to make (cleans up your credit
report in the process).

And I'm reminded of these quotes from Jesus:

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that
they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)

"But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do
not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." (Matt 6:20)

Accidental Spa

As you know (I'm assuming that if you are reading this, that you know
me), I have lots of hair and yet I lack hair styling skills. I solve my
hair dilemma by getting my hair cut in a short feminine manner often.

This morning I awoke to find that overnight my hair had gotten out of
control.... I was "wing" woman! I felt like a backup singer for Flock
of Seagulls (o.k. so way back - away from the microphones - you get the
idea).

Over lunch I decided to just get my hair cut. I headed to the mall
where I know there are at least 4 hair cutting shops.... I walked into
the first one I found: Salon 2000 - an Aveda spa. I asked if it were
possible to get a hair cut as a walk in. They happened to have an
appointment open. I had no idea what I had just agreed to. My stylist
Carolyn put oil into my hair and massaged it. She then gave me a
shoulder massage. She washed my hair and then gave me a hand massage
while conditioner was in my hair... I wasn't expecting any of this....
Finally, she had me put my hands into melted paraffin wax and put them
each into a clear plastic bag...

Eventually, she cut my hair. When she was done, she freed my hands from
the wax (it just rolled off) - the dried wax made my hands look like
Hans Solo's hands in Empire Strike Back frozen in carbonite. ;-)

I laughed all the way back to my car. God continues to amaze me with
His sense of humor. The cut cost the same as my usual salon.... and I
got a totally unexpected spa massage experience....

My hands are very soft now..... I'm not sure if I will go back....

Jesus Miracles

I have been reading through the New Testament. I've been paying
attention to the miracles of Jesus.

I love miracles. I love seeing tangible evidence that God can and does
intervene for us, His creatures.

But I've been noticing a few things:

1. Jesus performs miracles after He is asked. He's a gentleman and He
doesn't intervene in obvious miraculous ways unless requested.

2. In most cases, He requires action of faith of the requestor. He
took all of the food that the disciples had (5 loaves and 2 fish) to
feed the 5,000. Peter had to get out of the boat to walk on water with
Jesus. The coin for the tax was found in the mouth of the fish that
Peter caught.

Now I know that God isn't a great big vending machine -> waiting to do
whatever I ask... But He also doesn't just do whatever He wants to.
For some reason He has granted His children the privilege of asking Him
for things. And He considers our requests and does act on them
following His will.... This is a great mystery to me; one that I won't
understand until Heaven. But I rest in His eternal gentleness and
loving-kindness.

Father, help me to not miss any miracles that You want to do in my life
because I didn't ask for them.

State Fair 2005

We once again visited the State Fair! We mostly go for the food. Timothy has to have a few Pronto Pups. And I have to have some Tom Thumb mini donuts.



We visited the Red Wing Shoe exhibit... Here are Tim and the kids in front of the World's Largest Leather boot. The Red Wing Shoe company made this boot to celebrate 100 years of manufacturing boots in the US. They are the only shoe company left that make shoes completely in the US.



Timothy waited in line - with a bunch of 5 year olds to have this picture taken. Go Twins!



The people watching is also quite good. And I like going through the Grandstand and seeing all of the various shops. This year we stopped by a shop that I heard about on KTIS radio. It is a shop that offers jewelry made of guitar strings. Sounds kind of strange, right? But the jewelry is mostly Christian. Peanut bought a new necklace - a guitar string bent into the shape of a Ichthus fish.

We talked to the owner of the shop. His name is Peter. He makes all of the jewelry - with NEW guitar strings. His main products say GSUS SAVES. The GSUS is a G Sustained chord and he sells t-shirts, etc. sporting this chord!

His web site is GuitarStringJewelry.com

Check out the picture of me and Peter in front of his shop.