Friday Fill-Ins: #96

Friday Fill-Ins: #96#96
And...here we go!


1. My favorite food seasoning is CHOCOLATE?.
2. AN EMPTY HOUSE is music to my ears.
3. Lucky is AS LUCKY DOES (HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT MEANS!).
4. RELAXING is something I take very seriously.
5. Many people ARE NOT READING MY BLOG.
6. SUPER CUTE SWEATER YESTERDAY! was the last thing I bought at the store.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to PARTY WITH MY STUDENTS, tomorrow my plans include GOING THROUGH SOME BOXES IN GARAGE and Sunday, I want to REST( I TAKE IT VERY SERIOUSLY SEE?!)

Birthday Dinner

Today was a gorgeous sunny day & I had a great time at work with so many fun people! Now I am getting ready to make a taco dinner for my oldest sons' birthday. That little cutie (the one on the right!) has turned 26 this week! I cannot believe it at all! He is in his own apartment now & is very eager to come have a dinner at home! One of his roommates told me that it is so weird to go to the fridge & not just see that food has magically appeared there! Ha! Ah Real life!
Maybe I will do a blog about my amazing sons sometime soon. My oldest is Writer Son & his brother at age 22 yrs is Rocker Son. I'm crazy about them of course!
Well better get into the kitchen & see if I still know how to cook anymore.

What??

I'm confused! For the last 6 weeks I have intentionally & carefully changed my diet to include lots of vegies & fruit & less bad (good) stuff. I have also worked out at least 3 times a week. The great result so far is that my long lost waist line has made an appearance again & my jeans & blouses fit much better. I look less hippy than that header pic on this website. :)

That's all wonderful but I do not own a scale so I was actually excited to go to the Doc for normal lady stuff this last week & hop up on the scale & enjoy the number for a change. I HAD GAINED A POUND!! What's up with that?

Here I Sit

Ok I'm sitting here in my comfy chair & reading blog after blog after blog & laughing & smiling as I travel around to all the amazing women out here in internet-land! But just down the hall & within my eyesight the exsercise mat is calling me because we have not been together for THREE DAYS! Not good at all, because that means I'm going to be all stiff now & have to warm up longer in order to do anything harder.

So I keep saying to myself, "One more site then that's it!" But the next site mentions someone else & I may never know about them again & never get back there. This is just so fun & eye-opening to see how others live & think. I'm reading new moms & wishing I had this outlet when my boys were little. I'm seeing creative decorating ideas & dieting plans & funny stories that make me think about some of my own funny happenings & then wonder if I should try sharing them with you all.

So here I sit hanging out with unknown "friends" & being totally excited that I actually got TEN comments today! Woo-hoo! :) It's almost 5 pm on a Friday & I am not commuting or closing up a store or church office. I am in my beautiful home & hearing the birds singing out my window & wondering what to eat for dinner. I'm thinking that Mr. Yoga Mat is going to have to wait for saturday morning for our next get together.

And I blame you all.

Friday Fill-Ins: #95

Friday Fill-Ins: #95
1. Right now, I'm feeling COZY.
2. WHERE I AM is where I want to be.
3. How does one GET THEIR FLAT HAIR TO PLUMP UP?
4. POST ITS keeps me on track.
5. Please don't TALK TO ME BEFORE MY COFFEE INTAKE.
6. MY AMAZING LIFE fills me with joy.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to A GLASS OF LOVELY WHITE WINE, tomorrow my plans include SLEEPING IN and Sunday, I want to HAVE A GREAT LUNCH WITH MY GANG!

Halloween Cuties!

They are now 26 & 22, don't think they'll let me make them costumes this year!

Protect the kiddies from me! ?

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Online Dating

Yikes! I have been rated PG 13 due to using the word "suck" twice & "kill" once! Oops.
P.S. And "Slut" thanx to one of my new bloggy friends! Ha!

Friday Fill-ins!

http://fridayfillins.blogspot.com/2008/10/94.html

1. Follow the books & Jujy Fruit to find me.

2. A pile of new fashion magazines are something I always take with me on vacation.

3. To achieve your goals, you must focus & say no to any detours .

4. I believe the best about people is something I'd like you to know about me.

5. I have a freckle on my toe that looks like dirt.

6. I love root beer floats.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to chilling with my hubby, tomorrow my plans include laundry & yoga and Sunday, I want to enjoy being with my best friends!

New Yoga Room!

Yay for a new yoga room! My oldest son moved into his own apartment this last week, for the second & hopefully final time! We love him lots, he is the easiest person to live with but at 26 it is much healthier for all of us that he be on his own, right? Right!
Anyway we had his room all redone & decorated with our collected items from traveling to China, Fiji & the Phillipines, the FIRST time he moved out & then had to watch it get all full of guy garbage when he had to come back for a bit. Stacks of cds, comics, underwear, drums and computer stuff defintely changed the ambience of the space if you know what I mean. And the aroma!
Now that he is moved out, just in the next town about 8 miles away, we have our beautiful contemplative room returned to us slightly worse for wear. (That gray smudge on the white wall came off easily enough with some 409 cleaner. ) And I am happily using it to do my yoga workout in the early mornings before anyone is up! I just roll my little purple yoga mat out on the straw floor covering & I am all set.
Why does this make me so happy? Keep in mind that yoga or any exersice for that matter takes concentration & calmness to stick with it & not get distracted. I have been doing my workout in my bedroom during the day (on my days off) or evenings while the rest of our 4 person family were doing other things around the house. When I would stretch out on the mat for the floor portion of the workout it would feel so sweet to stretch this way & that until I opened my eyes & came face to face with the bunny size dust bunnies under my bed! Yuck, how do they multiply & grow so fast? I don't get it! (I have discovered that this is one distinct dis-advantage to having all hardwood floors in the house.)
I also had trouble with the balancing poses. To lean way over on one leg with both arms out by your sides can be tricky when you keep crashing into the closet door or bed on either side. Of course now I am really going to have to BALANCE! Yikes! Anyway between the grossness under my bed & the falling into my closet, it was not a terribly peace-enhancing, mind relaxing endeavor.
But now I have eliminated my last excuse for lack of exercise, oops!

Friday Fill-Ins: Friday Fill-Ins #91

Friday Fill-Ins: Friday Fill-Ins #91

I know today is Sunday but I really want to try this "Friday Fill Ins" thing. It has taken me days to figure out how to create a link to it, still don't know if this is right but I'll give it a go. Okay, just previewed it & it looks all wrong but it may still take you to the fun blog that gives us sentences to fill-in every Friday apparently. If anyone would like to tell me the correct way to create a link in a blog, that would be great! Here goes.....

1. Carmel apples & kiddie costumes are some of the things I'm most looking forward to in October.

2. Sometimes I Dream about blogging.

3. I love riding on my hubbies' motorcycle, and that's why there is a saying, "never say never"!

4. When I'm down, I refuse to stay there!

5. Laughing with friends is where you'll find me most often.

6. A rainy day is good for reading & blogging.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to dinner, tomorrow my plans include sleeping in, yoga & cleaning house and Sunday, I want to enjoy gathering with friends to love on God a bit!

Downward Dog

Downward Dog
Recently a doctor visit gave me some real motivation to get serious about getting myself healthy through more exercise. My husband & I actually walked in the park twice a day for a whole two days in a row….but I got blisters on my heels & could not continue our well intentioned regimen, long-standing though it was!

So I have come back to my favorite way of getting a work-out though I still need to add some “cardio” to it according to my health-crazed friends. YOGA! It feels great & it is more challenging than you may think. I use a DVD set that I found in the $5 bin at Wal-Mart. The teacher is Shelly McDonald & I was relieved to hear that her voice is not as high-pitched & overly cheerful as some I listened to online. Can you imagine starting your day getting screeched at? No thanks. There are some definite pros & cons for using a video instead of going to a class or gym.

Pro – A video is much cheaper than a class. Can’t beat the $5 bin at Wal-Mart!
Con – I have now memorized every single comment & joke she makes. And every mistake. “Cross your left ankle over your left leg”??

Pro – You do it alone. No one is looking at your butt while doing the downward dog.
Con – You do it alone. I went to a yoga class for a while & the laughter & communal groans are encouraging. Going out for ice cream afterwards is always a treat too!

Some of the things my teacher says make me answer her back & roll my eyes which could be considered exercising my eyes right? For instance;

“Yoga is about the journey, not the result.” Umm no, I can think of many things I could be doing right now that have nothing to do with “Being a tree growing towards the sun.”

“Yoga is all about the here & now.” Well, for me it’s about looking better in a swimsuit & not losing my breath on the stairs at work.

“Just do whatever feels right to you at this point in time.” Sitting in front of the TV watching “What Not To Wear” feels right to me at this point in time!

Another Pro - I can do it anywhere & any time of the day I choose, all I need is my laptop.
The Con – My lap top is extremely distracting. I often end up doing the warm up stretches while reading my Myspace messages. Is that wrong?

She also says, “Place your feet not too wide apart; just as wide as your hips.” That one always makes me laugh!! Has she seen my hips?

“Now send your breath to the back of your thighs.” Huh? Go breath go! Get back there, I mean it!

The worst moments are when the camera moves to a beautiful scene like the ocean or a gecko on a tree. That means she has me holding a hard pose for a looooong time! Like the one she calls “a fierce warrior position” which is actually a squatting pose that reminds me of using the squatty potty on the moving train in China. Not a peaceful memory! I get a picture of the Chinese man who leered at me when I passed him to enter the bathroom during the night on the train. I had my socks on because I had been in my bed & as I stepped into the tiny room I realized why he was snickering at me. The floor of the entire bathroom was extremely wet due to some people with really bad aim! Peaceful, tranquil thoughts people!

Shelly McDonald also has to remind me to get my heels to touch the floor. Who ever would have thought that getting your heels to stay on the floor would be so hard? But ouch, that “downward dog” feels so good but can hurt so bad!

Speaking of feeling good; my favorite phrase she purrs to me is this one;

“Ok, now rest in child position, great job, see you next time!”

What Would The Last Blog You Write say?

Recently Professor Randy Pausch died after becoming famous for giving a speech called "The Last Lecture". I began to wonder what I would say to the world (or my 3 readers) if I knew it would be the very last blog I would ever write, the first thing that came to my mind was "HAVE MORE FUN!".
I would want to tell people to let go & have lots of fun because I am regretting all the chances to be crazy that I missed due to fear. Fear of looking silly, or being wrong, or getting lost, or getting hurt, or.......on & on it goes.
I would want to tell Christians especially, to lighten up & find the humor & freedom that God is full of & wants us to wallow in everyday. I know now that he laughs much more than I ever imagined. I know now that he would not have been mad at me if I had gone to my school proms & dances. ( I grew up in a strict tradition that included no dancing .Dancing could lead to sex & we know he hates that!:) He would not have been dissappointed with me if I read a book that was not all about Him. He even enjoys all kinds of music! Duh!
I would tell my readers to take risks, spend time with little kids & old people, go to the beach on a Sunday even if it means missing church. Try out your old dreams. What did you say you wanted to be when you were 8? It could still be do-able. Stick your tongue out if you feel like it. Let someone else get credit for your work; your time will come. Write the book, record the song, paint the picture, dance the dance. Worship with abandon, why not?

Seriously, we have taken ourselves so seriously that we have been robbed of many amazing adventures.
I do not want to be twenty again, but if I were, it would look very different I think. I would wear more spagetti straps & do more swimming. I would laugh louder & cry more freely. I would risk entering new atmospheres instead of fearing them. I would affect them instead of being convinced that they would contaminate me.
My last blog would encourage everyone to go ahead & laugh at yourself & invite others to join you. It would say to jump into the ocean & allow it to throw you back up to the shore. Laugh at the taste of salt water & get used to sand in unseen places. In case you don't recognize them, the sand eaters up above are my friends Dano, Dave, Bob & my husband Curt! I only did it once!

A Few of My Favorite Things.......

A while ago I wandered around my house taking pictures of some of my favorite things. For no specific reason, just fooling around with my camera. Now, please note that I did not say anything about "favorite people" or even "favorite things to do", but just favorite things, items in my home. Do our favorite things reveal something about us as individuals? I bet they do.

I ended up with about 18 items so this blog with have to become a 2 parter most likely because I want to chat a bit about each thing. If that sounds boring, feel free to move along to the next persons blog, I'm doing it anyway! Ok here goes...........

I love my red walls! We lived with an interely white house for so many years due to the dreaded "Fear of Color!" We were so afraid of getting it wrong that we did nothing. How dumb is that? Now we have this beautiful dark red in one room & pale yellow in another & a yummy butterscotch in the kitchen! Loving all our color!

Why is that very first swallow of your morning coffee so perfect? I love my coffee in the morning, either here at this cute little pub table looking at my backyard or on my swing in the backyard. I feel sorry for all of you who have your first sip of dark delight out of a cardboard cup while driving or riding to work. I am lucky enough to have semi-leisurely mornings before work if I time it right. MMMM I can smell it now!

This is how my bedside table almost always looks. I love books! I go to the library every couple of weeks & bring home a stack to enjoy. If a book does not capture me in the first few pages it goes into the "go back" basket & I move on to the next one. I love all kinds of books, mostly fiction, sometimes silly & sometimes serious. I will not tolerate predictable plots though. If it does not challenge me with new words or new cultures to explore I'll leave it be.

The color combination of blue & white captured me when I was still in high school & I began to collect dishes in this pattern called Blue Calico. When I got married at the age of 23 I chose this pattern as my fancy "good" dishes in rebellion to the gold trimmed stuff that others had chosen. I still love it & have cupboards full of it. My house used to be so completely blue & white that my husband said he felt like he was living in a black & white movie! I have moved beyond being strictly blue & white now, because I am tired of the "country" look that I worked so hard to get years ago.

Speaking of blue & white & country! I still adore my old beat up blue calico chair! It is so comfy & totally perfect for reading & blogging. As you can see, the arms are worn so have to be covered with cloth napkins. It has great sentimental attachment for me. The first piece of NEW furniture we ever bought! (About 15 or 20 years ago. ) But as I have been slowly getting rid of all my country style things, it is beginning to look like it came to the wrong party! (Can't lose the maple table behind it. Belonged to my mother-in-law & hubby is quite attached to it!)

Believe it or not I won this beautiful oil painting at an art gallery in Hawaii! It is worth many $$$ but I got it totally free! Yah for me! It was pretty funny actually. We were in Hawaii with some friends because my husband & I inherited the trip from a friend who died & wanted us to get to go there at least once in our lives. Well, that part is not funny, but the other gallery people sure were! We had spent a day wandering through random gallaries enjoying all the crazy expensive & beautiful items & I filled out a slip for a free drawing that would take place later that night. At about 8 or 9 that evening we were done swimming & were all dirty & sandy etc. & someone mentioned the drawing in the art gallery. We debated whether to go or not but decided to stop by & see what would happen. The gallery was full of very dressed up people with their glasses of wine & slightly snooty expressions. I mean, fur-coat dressed up! In Hawaii on a warm evening! Well, you should have seen their faces when this tank-top & shorts lady won the painting right out from under them! Ha! The artist loved it & had his picture taken with me. Very cool! Plus, it reminds me of my late friend.

This pile of firewood makes me just giddy! No, we do not need it right now because the temps are hitting over 100 degrees thank you very much! But in the winter this is a life saver in our house. Our fireplace has a wood burning insert so it heats the whole house without ever turning on the heater! I am a temperature sensitive woman & hate to be either too hot or too cold, & to me "too cold" is worse than "too hot". Love that firewood!

Sure hope this isn't boring you cause I'm having a great time! I am crazy about this Yoga Video! I found a set of 2 in a bin at our Walmart store for only $5! Can you tell that I love a deal? She is easy to listen to. I have listened to some online that had voices that would cancel out any relaxation that the moves inspired! It is easy & SLOW so I can actually do it & feel really good afterwards. Love it!

This really has gotten too long I know, but gotta mentioned my loverly collection of flip-flops! Can you have too many? I don't think so! Should we do one more Favorite Thing? Okay, one more......

That large book on the bottom is my giant antique library dictionary! Isn't it amazing? I found it at a local garage sale for about $8 & lugged it down the block to my home. It really is quit beautiful to look through & it is full of unusual ancient words that we no longer use. I think it's a treasure.

Do the things we love tell others about us? We have had hundreds of fires here in California this summer & it makes you wonder what you would grab as you evacuated your home. I know I'd have to grab my laptop even though that does not sound very romantic & sentimental, but it has all my best photos on it & letters etc. What do your favorite things say about you?

Menopause Sucks!

At this moment I am grateful to myself that I have not allowed my other website to cross-pollinate with this one. Only 2 people in my daily life know about this little sanctuary of expression & that gives me complete freedom to say loudly & clearly that menopause sucks, a lot!

I am so tired of sitting in a staff meeting in a circle of 15 people & suddenly feeling the inner warmth creeping up my body from the inside out & quickly making itself visible on my neck & face! I force my hand not to reach for some paper to fan myself & just will the sweat to dry up on it’s own before anyone looks my way. My face turns bright red & blotchy & once my glasses even steamed up! It is just so embarrassing & uncomfortable. It seems like my body is betraying me after so many years of getting along pretty well with each other.

The other awful symptom that has me baffled is the unexplained weight gain. I practically live on yogurt & salad. I love them & really do eat one or the other almost every day for lunch at work & at home. But this last year I am getting puffy & soft all over the place. My neck & arms are moving when they are not supposed to, yuck! I used to be able to get rid of tummy fat with a few extra exercises in the morning & skipping desserts for a bit. Yesterday in my new swimsuit the little rolls just loved moving right into the “slimmer & shaper” panel of extra material.

But the part that is really bugging me today is the mental fogginess that is showing up lately. I am getting more forgetful & starting to not trust my memory. This can be brutal in the middle of an argument with your husband when you realize that maybe you did not do what you think you remember doing! Ack! It kind of takes the wind out of your sails.

Last week I bought a whole cartload of food at our Super Wal-Mart & as I stepped outside into our scorching heat I headed to where I had parked the car & it was not there! I circled the area with that heavy & awkward shopping cart realizing that I was probably giving someone some great entertainment. So I decided to push the car unlock button on my key & listen for the beep. Nothing! My ice cream was already getting mushy by this time & I was so not wanting to call my husband & make him come on his motorcycle to help me find the stupid car!

After several wanderings around the hot parking lot I headed back to the shade of the store & called him. Just as I hung up I saw the car……in a whole different section! I quickly called him back as I wrestled the cart of soggy food to the car. Once the trunk was loaded & I put the key in the ignition, the car rebelled at all the button pushing I had done & began to beep & honk, loudly alarming everyone to the fact that an intruder must be trying to start it. I forgot how to make it stop! I waited for it to be quiet & when I turned the key again the alarm screamed again, so I called my amazing husband for the second time, yelling above the alarm that I did not know how to make it stop & let me get back home. He told me to push the unlock button on the key & it would stop announcing to everyone that an idiot was at the wheel. He did not say the idiot part, that’s me talking to me; we were not getting along at all at this point!

The only good part of that story is that I drove home laughing at myself. A couple years ago I would have been crying all the way home. There are some good things about being over 50, & one is that I don’t take myself as seriously as I used to. I don’t expect perfection anymore. Good thing huh?

My Backyard Swing

My Backyard Swing…….
Here is my backyard swing, I love it even though it’s old & ugly & faded. I come out here early in the morning in my jammies & enjoy my coffee while listening to the birds. I usually bring my Bible & journal out with me but seldom open them. Coffee & tweeting birds…what more do you need?
My views from this spot are pretty nice for an ordinary house on the corner of a cul-de-sac. Right in the middle of my yard is a huge almond tree loaded with almonds right now as you can see.

This tree has sort of a weird shape due to my husbands’ fear of the lady horticulturist that lives behind us. The first year we lived here Hubs came out to trim the messy looking tree & after a bit of chopping away he heard an authorative voice from the other side of the fence.
“What are you doing? You are trimming that tree at the wrong time with the wrong tool & you are doing it wrong!” So now, years later it looks kinda goofy but it gives our yard some nice shade.












Here is my view while looking up from my comfy spot. I removed the canopy that came with the swing because I like the sun (I know, I know, leave me alone!) and at night I love to see the stars. Earlier today I actually fell asleep out here.
Tony is my snooze partner. (Yeah a totally original name for a tiger stripe cat huh?) He likes the birds too, but I always make a noise and ruin his hunting moments out here. That’s when he gives me this face…..!
My backyard is far from being a fancy gorgeous place even though all 17 of the neighborhood cats seem to like it. But I really love it. Obviously I am not a yard work kinda person, we’ve kept it low maintenance & barely alive. Most "yard people" really mean that they like working in the yard. Not me, I just like sitting in it!

It’s my little retreat place, early in the morning, sunning in the afternoon & watching the stars late at night. It relaxes me & helps me get my mind to slow down. It’s peaceful…at least until the people next door start screaming “Marco!..Polo!…Marco!...Polo!” Oh man!

Your Fat Is Beautiful!

I have had some wonderful moments of clarity while riding with my husband Curt on his motorcycle. I love the freedom it brings & the sense that all is right with my world while we are speeding along enjoying the time away from the office. As I sit behind him I usually find myself smiling & worshiping as we point out the beautiful sights we are finding in our area. I talk to God & thank Him for His goodness to us.

Yesterday while we roamed the countryside I heard, felt, sensed, a very quick & clear sentence from God that has messed me up a bit. I was wearing a black tank top covered by a black button down shirt & the wind had pulled the shirt back to reveal my tank covered tummy. When I looked down I grimaced at the ugly rolls of fat that I saw & I immediately heard God say to me,

 “Your fat is beautiful.” What??

Let me say that even a husband knows never to say such a thing to his wife. A careful hubby may say, “I love the way you look.” Or “You are perfect just the way you are.” Or any number of similar versions that will keep him out of trouble & still be close to honest.

But my God said to me that my fat is beautiful!!

What in the world do I do with this? My friends are hearing God tell them great nation-transforming strategies, or giving them visions of business plans that will help hungry people around the world. He tells me that my fat is beautiful. C’mon God, what are you saying here?

I do not have the answer to that question. But His comment has caused me to once again recognize that He is really, really different from us! His view & values are galaxies away from mine! God has a whole different measuring stick for life doesn’t He?

My God, who loves me, even adores me, has eyes that see everything through huge love & acceptance instead of judgment. My wonderful God is messing up my mind with little sentences like this that reveal Him to me. I do not understand the concept of calling rolls of fat beautiful.

I cannot agree with Him at this point, but I can try not to frown at myself so much. I have asked Him to live in me, in my mind, in my heart & in my body. Frowning at the mirror is not something I want to be doing is it?

Philippines Update Number two!

Philippines Update Number Two!
Today is Monday & we are free to wander until 4pm when we will break into groups to go to several slum areas to pray for people. It's been great to have a slow morning to stop & breathe and be amazed at all that God has done in the last few days!Yesterday, Sunday we were in two services that were full to capacity & very noisy & crazy with kids wandering around & the shopping mall noise in the background. (Joe & Primroses' church meets in a large room in a shopping center.) Every once in a while I would see a woman leave & come back with her store purchases! Wow, a great combo of worship & shopping!! Before the message all the little kids came up & did an adorable song with hand motions, they are all so beautiful & quite taken with the PH students!Jon Tulio preached a wonderful message in the morning service. He spoke about being a Phil-Am, Philippine-American & moved into a beautiful message of heritage & inheritance. Jon & Marcia are going to make a real difference here, it's been fun to see the respect they already have with these people.After the message Bill had the PH students come up to the front with physical words of knowledge for healing. We got to see blind eyes opened, ears opened, limbs brought back to health & much more! I watched an old man in blue cover his whole face when instructed to put their hands over the place that hurts. After being prayed for he & his daughter walked to the front & said that he could not see clearly but now he could! Bill & Mark held up fingers for him to count & he did so, which brought crazy, loud cheers from everyone. Arms, legs, back problems, headaches, epilepsy, wristpain, all were healed in that meeting!Following the service I saw people all over the place bending, stretching, flexing arms & legs, twisting their necks....it looked like a gym except that everyone had huge smiles on their faces!!We returned at 2:30 the same day for another meeting with people who came from the mountains & other long distances. Again we saw beautiful healings & much laughter as Bill & Joe became something of a comedy team as they spoke together. (Joe was translating for Bill.) Our students along with the Philippine School of Supernatural & the team from Australia have done a great job of working together on the streets & in the services.On Saturday, sorry this is backwards, we divided up into groups & went out into the streets & the local mall to pray for people as we felt God direct. It was agreat experience & we had reports of spasms healed, arms, legs & backs healed. Some of the groups ended up with lines of people waiting to be prayed for! Many of the students have been gathering up street children & taking them to breakfast each morning.We are so proud of all the teams. Our students have given of themselves & been refreshed in return during our own worship times. Please continue to pray for us. The tiredness is beginning to show & we appreciate the sense of Gods presence that renews & gives strength to end our time here in a strong way with no regrets that we backed down in any way.Thanks for your prayers!

I'm In The Philippines!

Hi Friends!
We arrived safe, tired & excited in the Philippines after 24 hours of travel! It is hot & humid like Fiji, also like Fiji the people are totally welcoming & warm to all of us. The smiles just melt me every time.
Last night our group of 22 students (Yay, Roz is here too!) & 7 leaders were welcomed with a huge feast as we got to meet the 12 Australians who are here as the third cord of the much anticipated joining of three nations to bless the Philippines. Tonight we will meet the Philippine School of the Supernatural & with all three groups together we are convinced that it will be explosive!
This morning one of the Aussies described a picture she had just seen while we worshiped. She saw it raining on this area & the people running out into it instead of running for cover. It was God-rain, His presence & His pleasure. As she shared the vision it was hard to imagine because it is so very hot here....but as I sit & type this blog to you it is now thundering & pouring so hard that it is almost frightening! I am picturing our students who are out having a free day of sightseeing; are they running for cover or are they dancing in the rain?? I know them well enough to look forward to some crazy dancing stories tonight!!
This week is going to be a time of tranformation for us as individuals & this beautiful nation. Dave said that he has longed to see the time when a nation could be changed in just a day & he belives that this is the time & this is the place. What we do here in the next few days will not end in the next few days. It will bring a permanent upgrade to the wonderful church here that Joe & Primrose are leading. Each one of us here also has the opportunity to step into brand new territory & never go back to the old.
I know that all of the students at Potter's House would want me to say thank you to all of you who were so instrumental in bringing them here. Thank you also for your continued prayer as we try to hear The Father & obey.

School Marm to Motorcycle Mama!

School Marm to Motorcycle Mama!

One year ago this month my husband bought a motorcycle on EBay. Sight unseen! I am still in shock about that in itself. This is the same man who stands in one spot of the grocery store meditating on a can of soup for 10 minutes while I run around collecting 6 other items to throw in the cart! A big truck arrived at our house & out came a beautiful black & chrome Honda Shadow Spirit 1100. I admit that it was really pretty to look at but the first time he revved it up in our garage, I had to duck back into the house because I was so freaked!

But I did not stay in the house very long. I refuse to allow fear to make my decisions any more. I have a long history of disappearing whenever something even slightly risky is put before me. It has taken years for me to be comfortable just being on a freeway in a car! I used to choose going through 50 city stoplights rather than take the quicker, but riskier freeway! So here is this huge roaring thing in my garage, and it has no doors or roof or seatbelts! I decided to let Curt (my husband) ride it for a few weeks without me so he could get “used to it” before I joined him for a ride. (That was pretty clever wasn’t it?) Meanwhile I’m praying, “Oh God, oh God, oh God!”

About a month later I knew it was time to be the supportive wife & trust my hubby to keep me alive even though we had no seatbelts whatsoever. I had a shiny new red helmet from eBay that looked pretty cute. But the dilemma of what to wear was an obstacle for me. Think about this, ladies. You cannot carry a purse on the back of a motorcycle, at least not this one!
It just would not look right at all! I am not used to leaving the house without my purse full of life’s necessities; my comb (helmet hair!), lipstick, wallet, gum, camera, keys, make-up, paper & pen, cell phone etc. What if we get somewhere & I need my stuff? Even my more casual favorite bag would not really look right. After a few trips with my pockets & Curts’ pockets stuffed, I now quickly grab just my camera, phone, gum & gloss & I am good to go!

Flip-flops do not work on a bike & a regular jacket just looks silly so I found a really cute black leather jacket at the Goodwill store that I love & I wear some lace up boots that help me keep my footing on the foot pegs. Oh, didn’t that sound like I know what I am talking about? Foot pegs! Hey, I know a lot about stuff that I never knew would be so interesting; extended forks, chrome exhaust pipes, sissy bars, buying a new gas tank (with red flames!), baffling, ape hangers, cable clamps & air cleaners. Actually it is not all that interesting but I am hearing a lot about these things lately anyway! Oh, and tripping over lots of these now too!

The first motorcycle ride with my husband was tough. I was dressed correctly, but my heart was jumping around as if I had decided to take a flying leap off a mountain ledge. I got behind Curt & grabbed his waist with all my strength & off we went around the neighborhood. I was literally facing a huge fear & not backing down. I had the option of listening to the voice in my head that was telling me that this was extremely unsafe & foolish. I was very familiar with that voice; it had been with me all my life.
"Don’t approach that person, they won’t like you. Don’t sign up for that class, you will fail. Say that you are unavailable for that mission’s trip, it’s too far away. "

It was time for that special prayer again, “Oh God, oh God, oh God!” It was not an eloquent or carefully crafted prayer, but it was entirely & deeply sincere! And God heard it. I think He was proud of me & tired of the silly little fears that had handicapped so much of my life. I can honestly say that those fears have melted away to a great extent. The motorcycle freak-outs are definitely gone. (I still do not like the freeway on the bike though!)

I absolutely love riding the bike for hours & hours with my husband. We go out in the country & up to Lake Berryessa & will eventually try some more distant rides. We’ve ridden through Napa & Yountville & I have been snapping lots of amazing photos from the back of our Shadow! Did you read that? I am taking pictures while flying along at 50 – 60 miles an hour, not holding on to my husbands’ waist! I am smiling the whole time!

There is something unexplainably peaceful about roaring along the countryside, even though we are scaring the cows & sheep everywhere we go!
The beautiful flowers & hills & various aromas are captivating. The temperatures change by the minute according to where you are. If you are passing an orchard it gets wonderfully cool & refreshing. When we are crossing the many country roads that are being tilled & dug up it gets hot & dry. I wear a visor because it helps me breath easier & I’m just not okay with bugs hitting my face! Another peaceful thing about our rides is that we cannot talk so we don’t have to & even if the laundry is not done, I cannot do it when I’m out flying around the countryside!! I stop my mind from dwelling on problems while riding, but sometimes a solution just randomly pops up without any provocation from me! I love that!

What if I had chosen to keep my fear? I love my quiet times at home alone when Curt goes on a ride by himself, but I would have missed the total joy of being out there with him & God enjoying creation & each other. I would have given in to the old habit of fear & been held captive by it until I was too old try anything new at all. I am free & the only thing that holds me captive now is the love of my God who hears desperate prayers!