Summer is flying by...

Well, posting more often just hasn't happened.  The weeds are taking over with all the rain we've have and I don't like the heat and humidity, so I have to take advantage of the cool days.  I finally got my rows of flower seeds planted in the veggie garden about 10 days ago. They are just starting to pop out. I probably won't have flowers until September!!   I don't have much blooming this early but was able to scrounge up a bouquet for the dining room table...ants included!

Lord, Teach Me To Pray

http://www.laurastorymusic.com/

I heard this song about a week ago and then forgot about it...it came up again today so I'm "marinating" in it:

Laura Story - "Blessings" Lyrics

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe


When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

Eulogy for my little brother, Robert 4/3/69~4/17/11

On behalf of our family, I'd like to thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and expressions of sympathy. ROBERT~~ I don't know this "Bob" that some of you  know and love.  He will always be known as "Robert" to me and perpetually be about 7 years old, like he was when I left home.   As a kid he had a nickname, "Bear."  I was wracking my brain trying to figure out how that started.  I think it ws the year I took French in 9th grade.  His name was "Hobear" in French and  eventually it got shortened to BEAR. When I got married in mid-Dec. 33years ago, we got a card from Robert that year.  On the inside flap he had written, "Jon if you hurt my sister there ain't gonna be NOTHING (double underlined) left of you when I get done!"  That was Robert's nature, to be a protector and to care for the underdog. (I held the card up so they could see it) He came out to visit us within a year or so at Ft. Leavenworth, KS.  He and my husband bonded after the initial welcome to the family. While he was there he went camping with my husband and his x-roommate.  Imagine 8 or 9 yr. old Robert out camping with two Marines.  Now he was one of the big guys.  One of my brothers was a Boy Scout but it could not have been Robert since he didn't help Jon identify the 3-leafed green plant and Jon came home covered in poison ivy. He went on to say in the card, "Diane..."  He must of thought of me as an old, married woman then, since I was never addressed by my given name.  I was always known as "Sis."  He says, "Diane, use this pencil every time you write anything to me - it has has my name on it.  P.S.  Merry Christmas, Love ya, Bear. How convenient, his name was on the pencil so I wouldn't forget him. Since I have lived away all these past 35 years, I haven't known Robert very well as an adult.  But, I do know that when we did talk, his favorite topic was his kids, ~ Jody, Dustin and Jenny. It's natural to wonder why Robert, why now in the prime of his life?  I don't know why...but I would like to think that if there are vehicles in heaven, a top mechanic just reported for duty.  I'd like to close with Isaiah 40:28-29 "Have you not heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, The Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of His understanding.  He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless." God gave his own Son for us and He understands our grief.  I pray that He will give us who mourn the strength to carry on and may he give Robert eternal peace and rest.

Dithering Drought

I was going to make a real effort to blog more starting in April and here it is the 5th and I haven't yet....guess I don't have much to say these days.  It has been pretty busy around here.  Had book club this morning...trying to finish knitted sweaters to send off to Afghanistan before May.  Did a "for hire" quilting project  two weekends ago.   And this is the calm before the storm of weeds start growing in the gardens.  Where does the time go??

Long Winter



Today my heart is heavy for the people of the Japan and the suffering over there due to the earthquake and tsunami. 

Wow, it has been over a month since I updated....where has the time gone?  I am anxious for spring to get here.  What has consumed my time?  Reading, knitting, crocheting, organizing the sewing room, friends, family..... I still have a big job waiting in the storage area of the lower level garage but that will have to wait until warmer weather. 

I need to update more often.....I'll have to work on that. 

Hope and Grace

You have real hope when your hope is rooted in grace. Grace forgives your past, empowers your present and secures your future.         Paul Tripp

In addition to the spiritual aspects of hope, I am hoping for spring to arrive soon.    I HOPE that my mini irises come up again.  This is getting to be a long winter even if you're a tried and true Minnesotan. 

Why I Must Pray...

“I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time—waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God—it changes me.” (C.S. Lewis)