Category Archives: 1 Christ is All

Jesus loves me, this I know. This category is about Jesus, the Living Word, my prayers to Him, my worship of Him, His relentless pursuit of my heart and His invitation to me to come to Him in Sabbath, my Savior, my Rest.

Take Me Back

1 Christ is All, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, 5 Songs I am Singing, Stuff I Actually Think, , ,

Ohmygoodness, I L O V E D late 60s/early 70s soul music like the Stylistics and the Four Tops; give me some Marvin or Stevie or even Smokey; but wow-o-wow for the Supremes, the Chi-Lites or Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, mm-mm-mmm.  A Motown Label on an old vinyl in a thrift store still sets me heart to beating fast.

It wasn’t just love songs and radio pop soul music that I loved, though, for since as far back as I can remember, I have loved-loved-LOVED music that brought the Presence of God into the room.

Andrae Crouch.

Oh, yes, Andrae Crouch.  L O V E him.  Wrote about him before HERE.  And HERE. And as far back as HERE.  Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally wanted him for Heaven Fest this year, but breakdown in communication or something?  And he parted ways with the guy we were working through.  Sad!  *sniff, sniff

But he was just the power-and-Presence-of-the-Holy-Spirit music to me in my early teens and on.  Got to see him in person and LIVED on Andrae Crouch: Live at Carnegie Hall and later Live in London.  Had 8-tracks, cassettes and record albums.  My dad loved him, too, so there was always a lot of Andrae in the 70s for us!  This 5 or 6 minute sampler on Amazon.com – ahhhhh.  Just click on number 1 and let-er-play.  And-why can I not play the piano like that?

Ephesus Girl.

I also love the book of Ephesians.  Just always thought: now Paul knew how to communicate with these people.  It mixes the right amount of richly-romantic and mystical Bride-of-Christ imagery with just the right amount of practical here-is-how-it-is-done language.  He speaks of mystery and marriage and a spotless bride and husbands loving their wives like Christ loved the church all that.  Go get ’em, Paul!

Jesus

Sometimes the mystery and magic, though, gets muddied, lost.  Sometimes we have “seen enough to know we have seen too much” and we are dirtied and poisoned and broken and bleeding, just sitting in the yuck-of-life getting hard-hearted because tenderness leaves us too vulnerable.  An innocence stolen, a trust broken, a love damaged.

And then we remember – there is a place where those things were taken into account before I knew I would even have needed them to be.  There is a place. It is where resurrection happened, where Jesus rolled away the stone and darkness and death that had held our hearts.  Jesus had hung on a cross, yes, wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.  His blood had  flowed freely to cover the wrongs done to me, the wrongs I have inflicted on others.  He bought my freedom.  He took the keys of death, hell and the grave.  He rose again and it was a done deal.

Jesus set us free and somehow the enemy managed to dupe us and has stolen our freedom and our hearts.  We sigh and say ‘Life….’

Makes me think of Gal. 3.1…O you foolish Galatians…

Or as The Message puts it~

You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it’s obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His sacrifice on the cross was certainly set before you clearly enough.

How did we get here?

The Ephesians weren’t much better.

Despite the love letter God had given them through Pul the Apostle,  in John’s Revelation, God rebuked them,  He saw their works, knew they hated evil – He could see all that.  But He pointed out that they had fallen so very far, left their ‘first love.’  He didn’t leave them hopeless, though. He reminded them to return to that love, to remember the height from which they had fallen and go back and do the first things again. New life, new love, restoration!  Fresh.  Clean.  Whole and holy.

Sometimes you just need your spiritual innocence restored, don’t you?

As we have walked through Holy Week, I have not been  a bit interested in observing religious dates on given days of the week for the sake of remembrance alone, but I have cried out for a return, a restoration of my heart to flesh.  Transformation.  I am open to God renewing and restoring to me the JOY of my salvation {Search me, O God and know my heart} and I am praying for the resurrection power, that same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead, to give life to my heart. 

Take Me Back

 

Enter Andrae on Easter week.  A song from my way-back-in-the-day past.  Just remembered it.  Started singing it.  “Take me back – to the place where I first received You, where I first believed…” I have been singing this as a prayer all week.

Romans 8.11 Amplified   “And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.”

So, Happy Easter. May Easter (the high holy day of every Jesus follower) 2011 be for you a very holy and set apart day.   And may you be made  new and alive because what Jesus did was enough, more than enough.  And may your heart be softened and trusting again.  Return to your first love. Sing with me and Andrae, if you want. And Danni Belle Hall, “Take me back…”  yeah-let’s go remember the height from which we have fallen.  Back – not to a cross on a hill, but to the open grave of a risen Savior, where we first believed…

Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping….

1 Christ is All, 4 Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, 5 Songs I am Singing, Stuff I Actually Think, , , ,

Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.  Psalm 90.12 niv

When I get the time…

Where did the time go?

There aren’t enough hours in the day…

Time flies when you’re [fill in the blank].

I don’t have time for this.

An “alarm” clock.  Is this why time alarms me???

A quote I have kept for years…

“Don’t ever say, ‘I don’t have time.’  What you mean is ‘I haven’t arranged my life so I can make the time to do more of the things that are meaningful to me.'”  ~Alexandra Stoddard

I continue to work on discerning the difference between the apprehensive, nerve-inducing “what time is it?” and the more important “what is it time for?”  I wanna be doing the right thing at the right time.  Ecclesiastes 3, says,

1 For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.

2 A time to be born and a time to die.  A time to plant and a time to harvest.

3 A time to kill and a time to heal.  A time to tear down and a time to build up.

4 A time to cry and a time to laugh.  A time to grieve and a time to dance.

5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.  A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

6 A time to search and a time to quit searching.  A time to keep and a time to throw away.

7 A time to tear and a time to mend.  A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

8 A time to love and a time to hate.  A time for war and a time for peace. 

9 What do people really get for all their hard work? 10 I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. 11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.

I don’t want to get all the way to the end and realized I wasted precious time, not one minute of the plan of God for my life. 

There is a TIME { f o r } everything, even if this isn’t exactly the time right now.  A mystery I am pondering.  If I had it to do all over again…

Teach us to number our days, our hours, our minutes and seconds; teach us to discern and organize our very lives, Lord, in a way that welcomes You (Wisdom) and heals our hearts….Every morning, every evening, all our days: May Your favor rest on us.  Establish the work of our hands, yes – establish the work of our hands. 

From Psalm 90, a Prayer of Moses, the man of God

If I could put time in a bottle, the first thing thing that I’d like to do….

NOTE TO SELF:  So, ummmmmm….in light of the previous post (from yesterday), it must be time for Heaven Fest.

Lust {not love} Hurts

1 Christ is All, 5 Songs I am Singing, Stuff I Actually Think, , ,

From Half-Broke Horses, a book she is reading, Erin shared this quote:

“By loving you, I have destoyed you” he said. 

 “…you have a mighty high opinion of yourself,”  I told him….You don’t love me and you haven’t destroyed me… You dont have what it takes to do that.”

What we were taught:

We spent an entire 2 days in junior English at Hammond High School dissecting the words to the Nazareth song, Love Hurts, its’ imagery, its’ angst.  I heard it every single day on the school bus, to and from home.  It sunk into my heart as fact – if you love some one, it will eventually hurt you – irrepairably.  Having been around the block, I know now this is not true..  This is not love. 

But if you replace the word “love” with the word “lust,” the song holds a lot of insight.  Because while lust comes to take, to consume, to use, {true} LOVE comes to give, to nurture, to sacrifice.  It isn’t that there isn’t risk and pain in maintaining true love, but love, real love, covers so much.  It is the greatest thing of all that will remain (1 Cor 13).  Lust is a passing-fancy while love is an unbroken covenant.  Lust hurts, but love heals.

LOVE HURTS by Nazareth

love hurts, love scars,

love wounds, and marks,

any heart, not tough,

or strong, enough

to take a lot of pain,

take a lot of pain

love is like a cloud

holds a lot of rain

love hurts, ooh ooh love hurts

I’m young, I know,

but even so

I know a thing, or two

I learned, from you

I really learned a lot,

really learned a lot

love is like a flame

it burns you when it’s hot

love hurts, ooh ooh love hurts

some fools think of happiness

blissfulness, togetherness

some fools fool themselves I guess

they’re not foolin’ me

I know it isn’t true,

I know it isn’t true

love is just a lie,

made to make you blue

love hurts, ooh,ooh love hurts

ooh,ooh love hurts

Truth:

1 Corinthians 13 (New Living Translation)

1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

4 LOVE IS patient and kind. LOVE IS not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. [LOVE] does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 [LOVE] does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 LOVE never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But LOVE WILL LAST forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.

11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and LOVE—and the greatest of these is LOVE.

Who ARE You People?

1 Christ is All, 2 Mi Familia, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, 5 Songs I am Singing, Stuff I Actually Think

The familia.  The Heaven Fest Familia.

You know how you join some things and the meetings stink?  THIS is NOT one of those things.  You leave these meetings thinking, “I know THE BEST, most amazing people in the universe and God lets me hang out with them!  What on earth??!?  This is church, people.  Church!

These are my people.  Their God is my God, their people are my people.  I have these people in my heart!

Who Loves Investigation Discovery? I do! I do!

1 Christ is All, 9 TV & Movies/Books & Entertainment, Stuff I Actually Think, , , , ,

ID: Ivestigation Discovery, just another Discovery cable TV channel among, how many now, 37 or 152?  Ah, but this one is great.  All unsolved crimes and crime mysteries and FBI and CIA and Paul Zahn-On the Case; there are crimes and I-almost-got-away-with-it cases and pretty clever criminals, but some hero-type officers of the law who investigate and solve tough situations.  It is my one TV potential-addiction.  I know this because I have already plotted, should I break a major bone and have 7 -10 days where I have to just be on the couch, I will watch ID around the clock.  It is weird to know that, but I like to plan ahead.

Last night I didn’t get to {really} watch any ID, but I did sort of land on it for a few minutes while waiting for the Papa Murphey’s pizza to bake.   What I was able to surmise, in this particular show about the FBI in Carroll Parish in Lousiana, was that some crazy alligator-wrestling swamp-guy did some bad stuff (like shooting & killing a man outside a bar while some one hed him down and claiming self-defense), but escaped from from the courthouse after sentencing and they could. not. find. him.  Why?  Because he knew how to live in the woods and the water and the swampy areas.  Even when his feet were chained and the sheriffs came out with the dogs, he knew to bury himself into wet marshes and the mud, allowed the soaked earth near the water’s edge to come up around him and they say the dogs walked right over him and couldn’t even pick up hs scent because he was covered, face down,  in the mud and water. 

Life-Changing Moments with God, Praying the Scripture Everyday by Dr David Jeremiah

My mom gave me her copy of her favorite-ever devotional book by David Jeremiahwhile I was there visiting  in January.  I love it because she jots little notes in the margins and notes family milestones.  She’ll add a song she is singing that day and definitions to words that stand out.  It is sort of her journal and very personal.  She got herself a new copy and let me have the one with the real treasures.  I pick it up periodically so I can see what my mama has been meditating on on any given day. Each page starts with a scripture, then a prayer made up of scriptures, then the scripture references are noted.  For today ~

April 16, page 119

I said in my haste, ‘I am cut off from before Your eyes,’; nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications when I cried out to You.

Lord, I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters where the floods overflow me.  Waters flowed over my head; I said, ‘I am cut off!’  I called on Your Name, o Lord, from the lowest pit.  You have heard my voice. ‘Do not hide Your ear from my sighing, from my cry for help.’  You drew near on the day I called on You and said, ‘Do not fear.’

Lord, will You cast me off forever?  Will You be favorable no more?  Has Your mercy ceased forever?  Has Your promise failed forevermore?  Have You, Lord God, forgotten to be gracious?  Have You, in Your anger, shut up Your tender mercies?  I said ‘This is my anguish; but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most high.’  I will remember Your works, Lord God; surely I will remember Your wonders of old.  I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see Your goodness, loving God, in the land of the living.

Great is Your faithfulness, Lord!  I will remember Your works and Your tender mercies.  Praise Your name!**

Yesterday.

I had one of those days.  You work hard, really hard, for a long period of time.  And suddenly, you are overcome, overwhelmed, at your end.  There is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, no relief in sight.  You have done all you know to do.  You have done as much as you can and suddenly the ground seems unstable.  You sense you are sinking into the mire.  Nothing is working as it should.  Wait, what?  How did I get here?  What happened?  Did I take a wrong turn?  What is going on?

Yep.  I had one of those days.

And in reading this this morning, and having watched the FBI show about the swamp-guy, I realized it is ok, sometimes, to just surrender to it.  Burough down into the mud and let the waves and water surround.  The promise from God is that they will not overtake me, anyway.  Yes, it is a pit, but from there the Lord still hears my cry.  The Faithful One is on it.  But the enemy won’t be able to find me, hidden in the land, the land of the living.  The enemy may prowl, but I’ll be where only God can find me.

That is where I may be reached at this time.

**Psalm 31.22, Psalm 69.2, Lamentations 3.54-57, Psalm 77.7-11, Psalm 27.13 (from the book, page 119)

When you pray

1 Christ is All, Stuff I Actually Think

Jesus taught us how to pray.

Matthew 6.6-10 NIV  “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

“This, then, is how you should pray:
” ‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.'”

So few words, yet they say everything.

The New Testament gave us insight into prayer.

They “joined constantly in prayer” (Acts 1.14).  They sought direction from God in prayer (Acts 1.24). They were faithful in prayer (Romans 12.12).  They were cautioned to devote themselves to prayer (I Cor. 7.5).  Paul asked them to pray for him (Eph. 6.19) and he told the Philippians (1.4) “I pray for you.”  Pray with petition (Phil. 4.6), pray earnestly (I Thess. 3.10), pray continually (I Thess. 5.17).  James 5.13 says to pray in times of trouble.  I Peter tells husbands to treat their wives well so their prayers won’t be hindered and later to be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray (4.7).

Throughout the course of my life I have been told I wasn’t praying right/correctly/effectively if I…

  • didn’t pray very early in the morning (certainly before 7 am)
  • didn’t pray loud enough or with enough authority
  • didn’t command and speak the promises of God into existance
  • didn’t pray in tongues or, by certain groups, if I  did pray in tongues
  • didn’t pray with my mind or did pray with my mind
  • didn’t pray long enough (couldn’t “tarry one hour”)
  • wasn’t on my knees
  • wasn’t pacing around taking authority
  • didn’t go to the altar
  • prayed with my eyes open or prayed with my eyes closed
  • didn’t pray the scriptures in the first person
  • spoke too quietly, or carried on too loudly

Whew!  Tiring.

How will I ever get prayer right?  Well, His Word is His will and when my praying lines up with His Word I can know I am praying a prayer He will not only hear, but that I will most assurredly have that prayer answered. 

1 John 5.14-15 Amp.  “And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us. And if (since) we [positively] know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted us as our present possessions] the requests made of Him.”

But I also know that in the times I have been broken and can barely put together two syllables, when I am curled up in the fetal position, and can only manage Ab-ba….He has heard my prayer.  When there are no formulas and when I am respectfully following a liturgy that is different from how I was raised, I am praying.  He is hearing.

Yikes, everybody – let us pray. 

Let us pray when we know how to pray and when we don’t.  Let us pray when only groanings come forth and the Spirit Himself intercedes for us.  Let us talk to God like Adam when they walked in the garden in the cool of the day.  Let us talk to God like Moses when he questioned and avoided and moaned a little, or like David when he wanted God to gnash his enemies’ teeth, but also when he was just filled to the brim with praise and adoration and gushing over God’s wonderfulness!

Let’s quit with the compulsory formulas and mandatory prayer perimeters.  When you ask me to pray for you, tell me how I can agree with you in prayer {what are YOU praying?}, but don’t insist I follow your blueprint in praying.  You are already doing that.  Let me talk to God on your behalf in the language of love He and I share.  I feel trapped when some one asks me to pray and then tells me how to do it and what to say, or how it won’t work if it isn’t exactly like they pray.  Are they really open to God’s leading?  Will they really allow me to talk to the Father on their behalf and hear His heart about the situation?

Prayer ritual/formula/rules doesn’t change things. God changes things – and I can trust Him in that.  He is faithful.  {He knows what I need before I even ask!} He hears us even when we don’t follow the current prayer craze. Or when we don’t pray “as well as” the next person.  I don’t trust my prayer, but I trust Him.  If all were dependant on my well-developed prayers, I’d make it my hobby to be great at it.  At times I have.  It is vanity.

I will pray for you.   Let me go to Our Father from the place I have learned to trust Him for you.  But the real thing you have going for you is that Jesus is interceding for us (Romans 8.33-35).

FOUND: in the drafts folder from early July 2009…should I have left it there???

MY FAVORITE PRAYER IN THE BIBLE: Mark 9:24 NKJV “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

{things that happened during the “break”}

1 Christ is All, 2 Mi Familia, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, 4 Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, 5 Songs I am Singing, 6 Looking Back // Memories!, 9 TV & Movies/Books & Entertainment, Stuff I Actually Think, , , , , ,

I  A M   B A C K, baby !

I kinda took a blogging fast after epiphany (January 6), which I was afraid to say “out loud” until later in January {wrote about it HERE}.  And I didn’t know how long I’d stay gone and there were birthdays I had to mention and a few times I couldn’t resist posting something like a link or video or quick thought.  But true writing/blogging, I have not done.  And how I have missed it.  And how, especially right now, in the midst of the greatest joys anyone could experience and in the midst of the deepest of sorrowful things for people I love deeply, right in the middle of the messiness of life and celebration-worthy rites of passage and as the tulips are becoming glorious and the daffodils stand tall and proud –  I just need to be and  able to break-the-blog-fast to say, and {to declare loudly}:

God is good.  He is faithful.  He is SO faithful.

 

So, I am back to write that ~~~ plus lots of silly things and a little opining, too.  I will write about sunny days and my quest for joy and let you in on where I find it.  I will sing songs and share the lyrics and write about life as I see it.  And I am back to write because my mom thinks I am good at it (everyone should have such a cheerleader!) and because I want a written record for my familia. 

 One day the grandbebes will grow up and be so happy to read this thing and see their faces and know o-how-much-I-do-love them & their amazing parents (the people I adore most in the world)! 

  

And I am back to blogging because, to shamelessly rip off 1 John 1, I am writing about the Word of Life!  I have not only heard of Him, I have heard fromHim myself, and have seen Him with my own eyes and touched Him and been touched by Him.  So I want to share and tell the things I have seen and heard with my own familia and the ones God has made mine by His Spirit. My “motive for writing is simply this: [I] want you to enjoy this, too.  Your joy will double [my] joy!”  (1 John 1.1-4, The Message) 

May this blog be a record for the generations to come of the faithfulness of God in our less-then-perfect, ordinary-yet-unique lives. And of the great, great joy He gives.

Plus a peek into the swirling thought collage of my very heart & soul.

And now,

here are some things that happened

while I was “blog fasting”…

 

Dave and Tara got settled into their new home

She is an amazing homemaker and it was cozy within days.  She is also very creative and organized and it is a lovely, peaceful place.  There is a giant, jetted tub in the guest quarters where the grandbebes could swim laps!  Their yard connects to open space (which in Colorado is guarded  like gold!) and their big window views are of the crystal-clear Colorado Rockies.  They are home!

 

I visited my mom and dad in St. Joe, MO…where is snowed and snowed and snowed…bleak!

 

Parsonage on the left.  Church on the right.  Too close for comfort.

 

Rocky and Jovan bought a new house, too!

 

There’s a lot  a-lotta pink in the girlie room!

It is cute as a dollhouse and colorful and sweet.  It fairly screams Rocky + Jovan + 2 of the cutest little girls = Blue and green & lots o’ pink and JOYfully Ever After!

Averi turned THREE and had a CandyLand Party complete with an Ice-Cream-Cone-Castle cake

 

Aren’t the presents kids get at three just the most fun?  Her Grammy and Papa hosted in Frederick and it was a sunny day full of cute kids and smiles!

Love was, naturally, in the air

    

 

My sister Tami worked on the Moslander Family Reunion in earnest.

We shall gather near Chicago late June.  Frontier Airlines to Midway, car-to-go, please.

I discovered Rice & Bean Chipotle Cheese Artisan Snack Chips

All Natural, Gluten Free, Zero Trans Fat, Zero Cholesterol

“Aged cheddar cheese and just the right amount of spicy seasonings create a flavor that is highlighted by the adzuki beans’ subtle sweetness. Together with its light and crispy texture, this artisan snack is the perfect better-for-you snack chip because of the adzuki bean’s natural healing and health properties.”

Thank-you Candi, for this most wondrous introduction.  I shall ever be grateful…and smiling as I crunch on them.

We unveiled the Heaven Fest 2011 Vision at 4 small, joyful gatherings with our volunteers and team

 

The volunteers for Heaven Fest, the leadership and everyone who is part are THE. MOST. AMAZING. PEOPLE. IN. THE. WORLD.  I love them.  {Stonebrook Manor in Thornton, Jim Elliot School in Englewood, Northern Hills Church in Brighton and Rez in Loveland}  Thank-you, people! www.stonebrookmanor.com

Dave was in Prairie Playhouse’s “Willie Wonka”

 

He played Grandpa Joe to the great delight of crowds of people.  Stephanie had to assure her friends he did not really walk or act that old in real life, because he was so good and a local news article said the “ubitiquous Dave Rhoades” threatened to steal the show.  And?  Even though it was sprayed gray, he got to keep his hair (in “Annie” a year ago, CLICK HERE  he was shaved bald)!

We had the coldest days of the year and also reached the 70s in mid-winter – all within a 2 week period!

  

That is Colorado for you.  And though March is our snowiest month, we didn’t get any.  Uh-oh.  Watch out, May!

Joe & Robin came to visit!

 

Joe made red beans and rice (to-die-for, mmmmmm) and I made an ok batch of gumbo.  That got better each day until it was gone.

Tredessa got a boyfriend.

Is it ok to say that here?  Well she did and he is cute (Army) and she kind of adores his muscles (Norwegian from Florida).  And how sweet he treats her (prophetic intercessor).  We all like him.  That works out well.  And since I don’t think he even knows I have a blog, I can pass all the news about them on to you.  Haha.

I lost an hour, but the days got longer.

I am not against Daylight Savings at all.  It tells me gardening is around the corner.  Every night, as the blue hours (l’heure bleu) get bluer and last measurable minutes longer, I sigh happily.

We announced our super-cool NEW Heaven Fest 2011 location!

 

The Ranchin Loveland!  Oh, yeah, baby!  www.heavenfest.com

My niece, Christiana, starred in a commercial for shopping in Aberdeen, SD.  


She is “Dorothy,” which seems so perfectly appropriate, somehow!  VERY proud of our little working actress!

There was a “super-moon”! 

It’s a wonderful night for a moondance…

Tredessa introduced me to a positively lovely way of looking at sarcasm, a mode of communication I tend towards:

 …the last refuge of modest people, when their soul is invaded.

Spring snuck up on me

One day I woke up – and there it was, spring!   And I looked out the window to a sure confirmation: the garlic chives were taking over the back yard already!

              

Stormie bought a house.  Yes, she did.

 

Look at all the colorful dishes waiting for Dessa to finish painting the cupboards.

A 1919 bungalow.  Cute and in pristine condition.  Great price.  The last owner {Ruby} had lived there since 1944.

Tredessa moved out of her apartment in Arvada.

She will live with her baby sister.

My lover turned 52

Sorely missed at the celebration were the Powers fam.  Another celebration will have to ensue.

You have to see this {all the way through} to believe it!

Yep.  That is Wrex.  The Birthday Singer.

“Baby Belle” (better known as Amelie Belle), turned ONE!

  

And?  God is still faithful!  And we have lots to talk about. :)