Weekend

 Well, our family night ended up being just the four of us. My mom didn't feel well, Lindsay and Joseph didn't come, and Nate and Kay and girls didn't make it either, since she'd taken all four girls to a homeschool event and was really tired (so were the girls). 

Never the less, we ate pizza and played a game. We learned Skyjo at Emma's house last weekend, and had fun so I bought it on Amazon and it came in just a few days. Sarah says it is a lot like a card game called 'golf' except in this game you use 12 cards each.

Saturday found Watson sleeping on the couch most of the day. He always sleeps cozy.

Tim, Sarah, and Kyle split wood, and Kyle has sore muscles to show for it. I prepared for guests on Sunday. Our great friends the Westbrooks came over for lunch. I made bbq beef in the crockpot, cole slaw, and baked beans. Jen also brought veggies and fruit. It was a great day of catching up with them, and sharing about the Lord being at work in our lives.

I'm grateful that the Lord never gives up on us, that he is always working good on our behalf, even when we go through trials and struggles. He never leaves us, nor forsakes us.

Today, Sarah and I will be helping our friend Denny return his rental car and pick up his repaired car! A few weeks ago in a wind storm a neighbors tree branch feel and shattered his rear window. He's going to treat us to breakfast or lunch, depending on what time it's ready to be picked up.

How was your weekend, friends?

Friday Five

 Hey, happy Friday! I've been thrown off all week on my days since we were away last weekend until Tuesday. So this week, in case you missed it, I blogged on Wednesday, Thursday, and today!

1. I captured this shot of our cat Watson the other day. He's a big boy, but he's a nice cat, full of idiosyncrasies as all good cats are. 

2. and 3. My Bridal Veil Spirea is in bloom! I love to clip some branches and bring them in the house!

4. Tomorrow is my Mom's birthday! I'm very thankful for her and her love for all of her family.

5. Sunday is Weston and Rachel's 1st wedding anniversary! This year has flown by.  They are happy and growing, and we enjoy getting to spend time with them. It's fun to have adult kids!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Ours will be a normal one, starting with family night tonight. We played a new game at Emma's house and I bought it right away. We are going to play tonight, and eat pizza. And probably laugh alot. My kind of night!

Answering A Question About Obeying Those in Authority Over You

Yesterday Ria asked - 

"Just curious how a Christian decides when to “submit to authority” and when not to (in relation to Nashville’s mask mandate. Seriously just curious, no hate...)"

This is a good question and I thought it deserved an answer. My answer will be imperfect, but we have talked about this question of submitting to authority a lot this past year.

The Bible says this in Romans 13 - 

Every [a]person is to be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except [b]from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2 Therefore [c]whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for [d]good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; 4 for it is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a servant of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. 5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; [e]respect to whom [f]respect; honor to whom honor.

8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for the one who loves [g]his neighbor has fulfilled the Law. 9 For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love [h]does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law.

We would ask, "What is a governing authority allowed to require of it's people?" 

Do we obey when our governing authority says that churches may not meet, even though other groups can gather?

Do we obey if they say you may only have one child?

Do we obey when they mandate masks?

Did the Hebrew midwives obey Pharaoh when he told them to kill the male babies being born to the Hebrews?

If we live in WWII in countries run by Nazis do we turn in Jews?

It can be hard to know what things to obey and what things a government doesn't have authority to tell you to do. It IS hard.

In the beginning of the "pandemic" we were told to not wear masks. They wouldn't help, we were told, and the country needed them for the frontline workers.

Then there came talk of therapeutic medicines that could help with cov*d or even cure it. Well, the left, and many global elites, didn't want to waste the opportunity for a 'great reset,' so they must keep up the fear mongering and now masks were all of the sudden required, and any talk of meds that could cure cov*d were forbidden. 

People put on masks. We did for a time, if we went into a store. But Dr.F was saying to wear them indoors with your family. We did not do this. 

Overtime, as the 'pandemic' went on we saw many reports from doctors and scientists that mask wearing wouldn't help due to the tiny nature of virus particles. In fact, they said, that mask wearing was actually not good for the health of the wearer. Our daughter who had to wear them at work had headaches all the time on days she worked. 

As time continued, we saw that there was more going on with 'cov*d' than just a deadly virus. They were running the tests at such a high rate, scientists and doctors said, that the tests were picking up old dead virus in peoples bodies from old corona viruses, like the common cold.

We don't have cable so we do not see msm news, but when we did happen to see some if we were out or catch a report online, we were shocked by the negative tone of the news readers, and how grim they were making everything seem.

Slowly we started to not wear them. (our daughter continued to have to wear hers at work) but for the rest of us, we'd go into a store without a mask. Sometimes a store would require us to put one on so we had a choice. Wear a mask or not shop. Overtime we knew which shops we could go into and not be required to wear a mask.

We choose to not wear them for our health's sake, as much a possible. When I had a doctors' appointment recently I had to wear one the whole time and it was not pleasant.

We've been shocked by how people have just accepted what Dr. F says, or the narrative being driven by the msm. I overheard a conversation about people being given masks at Christmas as a gift and they were thrilled! They had the logo from the persons alma mater on it. That shocked me!

When our nation was pulling away from being ruled by Great Britain, Our Declaration of Independence stated, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." and that "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,"

The consent of the governed has been overlooked in our state. Our governor has bypassed the duly elected representatives of the people, and when the legislature has tried to curb him, he has appealed to our state supreme court which has a majority 7-2 liberal over conservatives and has ignored our own state constitution. Is this just? This is similar to Ol' King George ignoring the rights of the colonists, and not allowing them to have representation. 

I know there are Christians who believe that the American Revolution was wrong. That they should not have broken away from GB because the King was in authority over us. I don't agree.

Do I pay my taxes? Yes.

Do I stop at red lights and stop signs? Yes.

Do I love my neighbor? Yes

When this 'pandemic' started, we talked as a family of believers, that we may be required by God to potentially risk our health in order to care for our neighbors and we were ready to do so. This has not proven to be necessary, but we were willing and ready to do so. 

 We've also chosen from the beginning to see our family, including our grandkids, and my elderly parents. When we've been sick, we've stayed home, as we do in cold and flu season every year! 

Ria, I know that this is an imperfect answer. I can't speak to every situation, but for our family this is the way we came to our decision about mask wearing.

I'm open to discussion in the comments but if the comments get unkind or nasty, I will not post them so don't bother to say it. If you disagree with me, that is okay. I don't hate people because they think differently than me! Many people I know, even close friends, wear masks when out and that's their right to do so.  

I'm Back!

 

We had a full and wonderful long weekend. We headed to South Carolina on Saturday morning.

The campus of Sarah's school is just lovely. After we talked with some of her friends and her roommate, who was flying home to Canada the next day, we got back on the road. 

We were headed to Tennessee to see Emma and family but also my nephew and his family. His sweet wife and I are good friends, and I am so happy that they are now in Tennessee where we will see them at least once a year. Ryan is a youth pastor, and was at their church in California, and then he was the family pastor. They love ministry and the young families, but his heart is really for youth. They had been wanting to move from California, even though that is where both of them grew up. So many of the young families in their church have fled California for either Idaho or Tennessee. Did you see that California had a loss of population for the first time in their history? Not surprising. Sadly that beautiful state is a mess.

Anyway, they sent out resume's to different parts of the country and prayed that God would lead, which of course he did! Everything fell into place quickly, houses sold and purchased, packing and a big move! They are so happy. We spent Sunday afternoon and early evening with them.

It was a beautiful Mother's Day spent together!

Our nephew and our daughter live a few hours from each other, so Sunday night we drove to the Nashville area and settled into our hotel. The next morning Emma and the kids met us at the hotel, and we headed to a nice cafe. We had breakfast stuff and treats, and enjoyed ourselves.

Back at their apartment Kyle and I both tried on Isla's flower crown. I think Kyle wears it better than I do! (grin)

We spent the afternoon playing a card game called Skyjo. Sarah says, it's like golf (a card game) except you use twelve cards.

source

It was fun, and I like finding new games that can be played and you can talk and have fun at the same time. I ordered it that day and it will arrive today.

We ate some pizza, then went to an indoor go cart place. Kyle and I watched the kids, as the other adult drivers took to the race track. Tim loves this kind of thing and he won both races! One of his lap times was the 5th fastest of the day. He was a happy camper.

Yesterday, we headed home, and did it with only one stop. It's about a 12 hour drive. One really fun thing was that we were on the phone with our friend Denny who drives a truck. It turns out he was headed to Knoxville, and we figured out that we were going to pass each other! I wish I would have taken some video! That was so much fun! A happy and cheering kind of thing. He texted later when he got to his hotel, and we had about 3 hours of driving left. 

This weekend filled my tank in ways I didn't know I needed. Lots of family time, lots of good conversation, and grandkid time. Just taking time for each other. A road trip with my man, audio books, music, beautiful scenery, no masks.  Nashville does have an indoor mask mandate, but we didn't wear them and they didn't say anything to us. Be free my friends!

I hope you are all well. We live where their is a fuel shortage, but so far, and on our trip we had no issues. I'm praying for the middle east. I'm praying for all these stressors to bring people to see that if evil has a source (and it does) then so does good. That source is God. I'm praying that people will turn to him and be saved.

Matthew 10:28 - " And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

2 Peter 3:9 - "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance."

Friday Five

 This week's photos are of celebration and home keeping.

1. My dad turned 82 on Tuesday! After the week and weekend we'd had, we were extra thankful to celebrate him!

I found this tshirt online. It was from an ad on IG. I've never ordered like that but I took a chance and it is awesome. You can find this shirt {here.}

2. I bought two cream cake samplers from Aldi and it was perfect. We put a candle in each piece. There was not enough cake for 82 candles! 

3. I ordered new tea towels for my kitchen this week.  So many of my towels are old and stained. Finally, I reorganized the cupboard below the sink, and added a space for the 'rag towels' and then put some of my new towels into a basket on the counter.

4. I really like these towels. I've washed them and then I ironed them because they were pretty wrinkly. 

5. I have them right near the sink so they are ready for dish drying, or wiping up water.  

Sometimes it is the little things that make you happy!

I've been watching the Arizona audit with interest. I'm cheering them on, and so far they've been doing a great job. Some interesting bits of information came out yesterday. First thing was that the county supervisors never had the password to the ballot machines, which means they turned over the election to an outside company. The second thing was that there were "external devices" with daily up-to-date vote totals. These were taken offsite every night either by county officials (but they didn't have the password, remember?) or Dominion employees.

Also in Michigan, a lawyer working on the issue of fraud in the election, has shown they have proof of that the machines are capable of being compromised and that votes can easily be transferred from one candidate to another.

In the Wikileak's drop of HRC emails there are several that talk about meetings with Dominion, and one email mentions someone meeting with Soros to set up the machines to flip votes. This is why HRC was so certain she was going to be president. They had cheated, but didn't expect the huge vote DJT would get. This time they had a plan for it.

Interestingly, I believe that DJT and those who work for and with him have all the proof. I believe that they allowed this to happen. The people of this nation are now so aware of election fraud, of the corruption among our nations leaders, how we have allowed the people we've put into office 'rule' over us. We'd forgotten that they work for us. Our taxes pay their salaries. State legislatures are fixing election laws. Parents all over the country demanding changes for their kids at school and when the boards don't want to do that, the parent elect a new board! I'm seeing so many people realize that the citizen have the power to make change. We are awake now, and the small ruling elite are worried. 

What do you think will happen when the audit shows vast election fraud? A supreme court case United States vs Throckmorton set the precedent that "fraud vitiates everything."  How does that play out. Will other states now have the guts to do their own audits as well?

And if they find that there was an election steal, what will happen? Do we have a new election with all paper ballots and a hand count? Can they show that DJT won the election and should be inaugurated? If there is no elected government, then who is in charge?

It's going to be an interesting summer.

Home Keeping: New Bedding

 Long time readers of my blog know of my love of Waverly's 'Harbor House Sonata' pattern that was made for Target about 20 years ago. I bought it when we had a full sized bed and used it until we bought our king sized bed a few years ago.  I surprised myself because I love change but I never felt the need or desire to change from this pattern.

When we bought our king sized bed, I searched ebay for the longest time hoping to find a king set for sale, but I could only find the shams.

This past weekend I thought I'd look again and there was a gently used king sized comforter and pillow shams!  I sent the link to Tim who was in Tennessee with our daughter's family.

He sent me a reply text a bit later saying it was on it's way! I am thrilled!  I've used a different comforter set and it was alright but I never loved it. The look that the Waverly pattern gives is just right for me!

It is arriving this week, hopefully! Happy Mother's Day to me!

Weekend

 

Hello friends! I've had one of those weekends where I'm not sure what day it is even now.  It's Tuesday, right?

Friday was relatively quiet, with Tim on the road with Emma and kids. They had a safe trip, and he had a nice weekend with them. 

Saturday morning, my mom called me again and said she thought my dad was having another mini stroke, she called 911, and I headed over to drive her to the hospital. With all the testing they had done on him Thursday, and having a clear CAT Scan and clear MRI, the ER docs were leaning toward him having migraines. Unusual because he never has had them before, but we have a friend whose migraines mimic a stroke. The fact that my dad's symptoms both times were so short lived, and then he was back to normal seem like it wasn't stroke related. He has a follow-up appointment tomorrow with his doctor and we'll see where we go from here.  I couldn't go in with them at the ER, but I stayed in the area, and got breakfast at CFA and went through the car wash (the pollen has been bad this year and the van was covered), and filled my gas tank.  Fortunately, because all the tests on my dad had just been done, they were only a few hours in the ER before they released him.

 On Sunday, Kyle had a cold, and my back hurt so we had decided to stay home from church. Problem was our friend Luisa was needing a ride to church from Wes and Rachel's house (they had to be at both services because they help with the sound), and I really wanted the girls to be able to go to church. Luisa said she'd be happy to have the girls sit with her until they went to their Sunday School classes, and so I picked up Luisa and then the girls, and drove them to church. They came back with Wes and Rachel.

I picked Tim up at the airport in the evening, and fell into bed early.

Yesterday was a day of driving to help a friend. His car had its rear window shattered by a falling tree limb the other day. So he needed to take it to the body shop and then rent a car. Easy right?

No, it ended with him having to go several places, talk to the insurance company several times, then stop at several car rental places. Most places only had suv's or luxury cars available, but he finally found one. The only problem was is that they said they needed to hear from his insurance company with a claim number, he couldn't just give them the claim number! So he had to wait until later in the day to pick the car up.

So he, Kyle and I headed back to our house, then I met a dear friend for lunch. After lunch we came back to my house, she cut my hair, and we drank tea and talked more. I'm so thankful for that time with her! 

After she had to leave, I took our friend to pick up his rental car, and then I picked up some dinner for Tim, Kyle and I and came home!

Shew! I was wiped out and happy to sit for awhile.

Now you understand why I had to think about what day this was. It's all good, and nothing was too hard. God is good.

This coming weekend, we are taking a little road trip to get Sarah from her school. Her first year is completed!

Unexpected

 

Yesterday there were lots of plans. I had a doctor's appointment, then I would meet Kayleigh in the town where our co-op meets. She grew up there and was going to take their suburban to get some exhaust work done. I was going to pick her and the kids up, get some lunch, go to co-op. 

After co-op we were going to come back to our house and have a campfire and cook hot dogs over the fire. My parents were going to come over, and all my kids and grands would be there, except Sarah who is finishing up her first year at Bible School.

Also, Nate was working with Tim yesterday, and in preparation for Tim being away this weekend, he planned to mow two of the places he and Kyle mow every week.

Most of this did happen, except there was an early morning call from my mom saying that "I think Dad had a little stroke." He was up before her (unusual) and when she asked him what was going on his speech was garbled, and he knew it. (He later told the doctor that he'd gotten up at 1:30 not feeling right)

I picked them up and drove them to the ER and with Covid rules, I couldn't stay with them. He was back to normal in his speech and he'd never had any mobility issues. So, knowing that they'd be there a good part of the day, and that they'd likely keep my dad overnight, we kept the schedule planned for the day.

We had a work day at my parents house last Saturday.

'Von

Emma with my oldest son Nate and his daughter Kaidence.

Clark helping Grandpa. He dearly loves "work 'achines" and loved learning to take the lug nuts off the tires. He did several all by himself!

Emma holding Nate's youngest daughter Kennedy.

Dad did have a TIA and they did keep him overnight. He will get a full body MRI today, and then we expect for him to come home. Kyle and I will go with my Mom to get my Dad later today.  

It certainly was not the day we had planned, but in the midst of everything God's grace was abundant. We'd also had a stomach bug go through some members of the family this week, too, and God was gracious to have it not be too bad.

Tim leaves today with Emma and the kids. They are headed home, and the road trip will be easier with Grandpa along. He'll fly home on Sunday.

I'm anticipating a quiet weekend, but as I've come to realize over the years, we must hold our plans lightly and trust God to lead us through our days.

Have a wonderful weekend! May is nearly here! Wow!

Cottage Garden: Dahlias

 

My parents had an elderly neighbor, when they first moved to Pennsylvania, who grew the most beautiful dahlias.  Sometimes the kids would walk down and say hi to him and his adult daughter who lived with him. Mr. Groff always sent a beautiful dahlia to my mom and my grandma. This was my first introduction to dahlias and I thought they were beautiful, but I'd heard they required a lot of care. At that time I was a novice at growing flowers and I had a lot of children and felt I couldn't give dahlias the care they needed.

This year I've decided to give dahlias a try, at least this one in a pot.  I'm really loving this one and may try a few more.  

I'm also enjoying the lobelia in the pot with it!

Our weather has been delightful, and today is going to be hot for this time of year. Enjoying a few more days with the out of state grands. Lots of good memories.

Prayer Request

 

The day after Emma arrived, her youngest had a tummy issue overnight and then a day or so where he just was worn out.  This morning her other son, has started with something similar. 

Would you please pray that this would be short lived for her middle child, and that none of the rest of us would get it?  She heard from a friend back home that several of the kids in their friends group have had issues.

Emma and her kids leave Friday, with Tim, for home. We'd love for the rest of the visit to be happy and not filled with sickness.

Thanks!

Weekend

 We had a surprise on Friday evening!  We gathered for our Friday Family game night, and while we were eating dinner, my daughter from Tennessee showed up with her kids!  She'd been talking about how she thought she could do it (12 hour drive with three small kids) but I guess I assumed we'd know about it! LOL!

So far we've had a lot of fun playing outside, watering plants, playing with cousins, going to church, eating yummy food. They'll be here for a week, and I think Tim is going to drive back down with her, take a few days there, and then fly home on Sunday. The airline we like to use only has flights to and from Nashville on certain days. He works hard, helps others all the time, and he deserves a few days of relaxation.  Plus, he loves to drive!

Emma is an excellent mother and her kids love being with her. Yesterday, we set up the hammock and they all piled in.

I sat outside for a long time yesterday with the kids playing and then Tim joined me. Emma came out. We enjoyed a fun and relaxing Sunday afternoon in the sunshine.  We sat on the concrete pad that I want to make into a patio space.  This video shows you a vantage point you don't often see.

My heart is happy.

It's going to be an excellent week!

Pray for the audit in Arizona. I believe that this audit will show mass fraud and that it will have a rippling effect in the other states that halted counting on election night. The other side doesn't want this audit to happen, and they are fighting hard. Let's fight harder in prayer! Remember, if there was nothing fraudulent about this election, they wouldn't mind an audit. It doesn't hurt anything to do one. I think we've found out that we should likely do an audit of every state after every election! We didn't know before but now we do!

Did you have a good weekend?