A thought on buying things

"We buy things we don't need, with the money we don't have, to impress the people we don't know."

How many of us really think about "why" we buy the things we do? I'm not talking about the things we need to live, I'm talking about the things we buy just because we want them. I've been guilty of doing this myself and maybe if I really thought it through on my motive for buying what I did, well, I just might have changed my mind about the purchase and saved myself some money and or some debt. And if we are not trying to impress the people we don't know, maybe we are just trying to impress ourselves which is just about as bad.

I may not have said much here, I was just putting a thought out there. We live in a world where people don't seem to think much anymore so maybe this will provoke us to some thinking.

The lottery will dry you up

Tulsa, Oklahoma is a wonderful place to live. We have lived here for 5 years now and just love it. I like everything about it; well, just about everything. Tulsa was doing great too until they started having the Lottery. When that thing took affect we went without rain for over 100 days and what rain we have had since has not been enough to count. The city cries for rain but what it really needs to do is repent for starting a lottery. You see this city has long been a big part of the Bible Belt. We of all people had no business implementing gambling into our city. We instituted an awful sin into our city and wonder why we are having a major drought. We are burning up with fires and threats of fires. This is what happens when we sin; kind of a small taste of going into eternity without God.

Does man really think he can bring in sin and not suffer some sort of God's judgment from it? This world is waxing worst and worst and I know it must be this way for the Bible says just before the coming of the Lord things would only get worst. I myself want to be ready for the Lord's return and as I pray that we would repent for this thing, I'm almost certain we won't. May God forgive Tulsa for the sin they have committed against God, His Word, and also the people of this wonderful city. I pray that He would bless us with rain before our beautiful city becomes consumed in flames.

I believe we are paying a big price for this lottery. I hope it was worth it Tulsa. I know it wasn't!

Flat out of air

I sleep on an air mattress, one like you would get if you went camping. A few weeks ago while I was sleeping I had several dreams in which I was sinking or my mattress was deflating. I finally did wake up only to find that indeed I had lost air in my mattress. It was around 2:00am so I decided to just deal with it and go back to sleep. I woke again around 4:00am to find I had a flat mattress; there was just hardly any air in it at all. So I got up and filled it with air. While I am filling it my son wakes up and says, "Mom, are you alright?" I said, "I lost my air, my mattress is flat." He just laughed and said, "I sleep on no air just fine." You see he sleeps on a regular mattress. I just could not get upset because I knew if it had been him instead of me I would have made some wise crack too.

It finally came 5:00am and I was out of air again so I just got up. I decided that if I couldn’t find and fix the leak I’d just get a new one. We filled it up as tight as we could get it and while I was laying on it I felt a cold stream of air hitting me in the face; I found and captured the leak and I am sleeping much better now. I did get a mattress pad for it hoping that will be an added protection for it. I have no idea how a little pin hole got where it did but it did make for something to laugh about later.

I'm Back

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted anything. It seems like time is just going by so quickly. Since November when we went out to Oregon things just haven’t slowed down and now finally when there seems to be a small break I find myself helping our youth with another play. We did a Christmas play that turned out quite well for only having a week to put it together, this time I have had more time and so I’m quite sure it will be a much better play. It’s funny, I said I would never do another play and the next thing I know here I am doing one; I must be crazy. If they do a good job and cooperate I’ll consider not saying never again.

Another year of Bible Quiz starts next week! We are excited about it and look forward to see what the Lord will do for all of us. It should be much easier this year seeing how my son is going to coach this year. We hope to have a good team and not a "one man band" this year; a team is supposed to be more than one.

The end of 2005

2005, what a year this has been! It has been the best year of my adult life. I say that because I was blessed in so many ways and those blessings far out weighed anything that I may have suffered throughout the year.

This past November we were able to fly out to see my dad, who lives in Clatskanie, Oregon and my sister flew up from California. It was an extra special time for us; not only did we get to spend Thanksgiving together but it was also my dad's birthday. My sister's birthday is on December 1st so we threw in a surprise birthday for her also. The weather was exceptional for this time of year which enabled us all to enjoy the great outdoors and how beautiful it was!
We took lots of pictures and my sister has a great camera that does movies so we have a wonderful collection of pictures and short videos from our trip. Christmas was extra special to me too this year, for three gifts that I received touched my heart in a very special way.

One project that got done this month was that of a utensil holder. I have needed one for some time now but couldn't find one to buy. I got the idea to just make one. My dad sent me a beautiful piece of wood and I just finished it up and now have a gorgeous rack hanging in my kitchen. My son also had a really nice piece of wood that didn't quite work for his project so he gave it to me and I made a gadget holder out of it. We did a lot of work and cleaning up in our kitchen this year and it really looks and feels great. There are a few other things I need but in time will work on getting those items. I am just so grateful for what I have now.
I hope everyone has a blessed New Year!

UPS and FED EX

Sorry it has been so long since I posted anything. Life has been keeping me busy and am now trying to recover from a stubborn cold or flu bug.

Something I ordered in the mail came the other day and it really made me laugh. I haven't quite figured out what happened to cause this to happen but it was simply this...the UPS man delivered the package but when I opened the UPS box my actual item was inside a sealed FED EX package. I have never received something that came by two competing companies. How often does this happen?

Oh well, I thought it was interesting and thought some of you out there might get a kick out of it. I sure did. You just never know what you'll get in the mail these days. Makes me wonder if UPS was less expensive than FED EX. One things is for sure, both delivered at the same time.

Bible Quiz National Finals

Well we made it through all the way to Nationals. Our team came in 5th place. Joshua did fantastic! He came in as first place highest individual. Unfortunately due to a technicality he did not get the Bible Institute Diploma because as a team you have to place in the top 4 winners. I think he did great considering he only got 1 hour of sleep before competing due to a lot of problems with our flight.

Our 5:30pm flight out of Tulsa got delayed twice; then our flight out of Atlanta got delayed several times. When we finally arrived at the Louisville Airport they couldn't get the doors to the plane opened so after another long wait they finally decide to let us out the back of the plane. Now of course we are late arriving so we have lost our original reservations for a rental car and have to now wait until they could get us another one. When we finally arrived at the hotel and got everything ready for quizzing, we had about 1 hour to rest before getting up and leaving to start our long day of quizzing. God was so good to us though and things went well considering all the problems we had getting there. Next time we go to Nationals we will be getting a morning flight and we most likely will not fly on Delta Airlines.

Like all the other tournaments, I asked Joshua to get me one trophy; and he came through even in the Nationals. He made his last year of quizzing a great one for me and he went out in the highest place. What a way to end your career! Next year he plans on being the coach.

Thank you to all that supported our team whether by helping out or just keeping us in prayer. God bless you all!