Home Sweet Home

We had such a wonderful time in Frankenmuth! Mom and Papa did a fantastic job with Lucy and Wrigley. It was hard to come back to reality although it was time for some visiting, since I hadn't seen my folks for over a year. Talking to them on the phone and via the internet just isn't the same as reaching out and touching them. I'm trying hard not to be a pushy daughter, but I do feel that it will be time soon for them to come home. Texas is a long way away. They don't want to deal with the winters, but I don't want to deal with the distance. So, we'll see what God wants to deal with.

They went on their journey to the east side of the state for vacation and ministry. Please as you read this, say a quick prayer of protection for them. They took along with them 40 of my books, so they will also be my traveling salesmen. :-)

The temps and humidity are in the 90's so I'm hybernating in the air conditioning. Gary and I are also dog-sitting for our neighbor. She is so sweet, but she is a jumper, so I have some training to do.

Anyway, hopefully, I'll be back in the swing of things soon. Back to blogging and writing.

Frankenmuth Trip

7.19.06

Finally in Frankenmuth!

After receiving an early checking, Gary and I came to our room. Waiting for us inside was a rose and box of chocolates along with several coupons good for food, carriage ride and other goodies. Excited to be here and tired from the ride, we tried to rest after unpacking, but couldn’t stand the wait any longer and headed off to Bavarian Inn for an early chicken dinner. We ordered an appetizer, which we didn’t need, but we only tasted one of each and boxed up the rest for later. Pacing our treats for the four days of our vacation…oh yeah, my folks invited us to stay an extra day!

The “Muth” as is known by us and the Saunders hasn’t changed and is as wonderful as I last remembered. It is in its mid-week lull so it’s nice and quite. I’m going to the employment office this morning. After talking with several of the folks around and watching the website for so many years and staying here, I’d love to work here. And the dresses, well, God dealt with me and wearing dresses a couple of years ago, so it’s no big deal, just another uniform.

Yesterday was a really long day, quite unusual for a fun day. After we ate, we went to Kroger and bought some snacks and stuff we forgot for the room. Then we took a nice nap. We got up and went downstairs to the gift shops. They have some really cool stuff but is it stuff I need? It’s still out for debate. We went to the lounge to see Marko, but he wasn’t playing. There was another team playing. Last night was their first night and they did really well. It was a light crowd but it was fun and something to do. We had a snack…Ruben egg rolls. Very tasty.

Mom called earlier, around 7 and told me that Wrigley misses me. He really does have sad eyes, but we knew he’d get her with them. After talking to him on the phone, I got him riled up. He started barking and I had to have Mom tell him to go get his bone so he would have some way to release his energy.

I am so blessed they are in good hands with my folks. I have no worries at all!

Thursday was so much fun! We did a lot of running around but there were two very special memories that we had. The first one is about my book. We went to give one to Mr. Bronner at Bronners CHRISTmas store. I asked if Mr. Bronner was in because I wanted to give it to him personally, but would drop it off if that was the only way. The receptionist called him and he wanted to speak with me on the phone. I refreshed his memory of who I was and he remembered! He said he was very busy, but wanted to come and greet me himself but could only take a few minutes. I said I understood and we hung up. Before I knew it, he came through the door, grinning. I showed him my book and the things that I had for him and thanked him for his time. I told him that I cared about him and needed to “connect” with him. He thanked me profusely, kissed me right on the lips and gave me a great big hug! I floated out of the office and throughout the rest of the store. I would like to sit down and have a cup of coffee with him some day.

The next memory we made was much later in the day. We went to the lounge to see Marko…the live entertainment here at the Bavarian Inn Lodge. He is a funny guy, plays a guitar, sings any song, any genre, plays the crowd and helps people have fun. In the lounge folks bring their kids, old and young alike come to hang out, have dinner or snack food. Gary and I got there kind of early, close to 8. They play a song, called the “Snitlebunk Song” and it takes some of the wait staff to help him, along with the audience to sing. I had never heard of it, but Gary had and wanted to hear it. They only play it every so often, so we were there early enough to hear them and participate in the sing-a-long. We had our picture taken with Marko on his stage and then through out the evening, he kept giving Gary hints to get out on the dance floor with me, but Gary wouldn’t take any. Finally, around 10, we were getting ready to leave, the place was packed and we were waiting for the check, Marko called everyone’s attention to the couple at the back of the room…US! Explaining that it was our 20th anniversary and wouldn’t they love to see us dance. Then he played a song, “First dance, for the rest of my life…” it was so romantic. Of course, the crowd went nuts clapping and Gary couldn’t not dance with me so we went up and danced and then some others came out to help us out. Another couple had been married 43 years. When the song was over everyone clapped and we went to our table. Once our check came we started to leave and Marko made another comment. “Say good night to the honeymooners” And everyone said good night and waved and made comments about “I know where your going” it was silly and fun. We had a lot of attention.

On the way back to our room, we met three girls and one of them said, “This is the bride to be…” I said, good for you, we’ve just been married twenty years. They said, “Wow!” We had this conversation as we passed in the hall.

It was such a fun day, I wonder what today will bring? God is so good!

Preparation

My mother is coming! :-) And it is good. After being disappointed about not going on vacation over our birthday and anniversary, my mom and stepfather came to the rescue and agreed to come a couple of days early for their visit to play with the kids. Please pray for their safe travel as they are driving up across the country, headed in this direction. It will only be for about two and a half days and then we will be home.

I need the break away from work...a nice get-away to our home away from home. Frankenmuth, what a sweet little town, we just love it there. We can feel God's peace on the town. I'm hoping to meet Mr. Bronner again, but if not, I will leave a copy of my book for him along with the picture we took last year at his book signing. He will remember me. What a nice man!

I have a ton of things to do today to prepare for mom's visit and it's going to be very hot outside, so I will have to do my outdoor chores early. Of course, I do have to wait for the hay maker to come out and give me some light first. :-) And hopefully, my back holds out.

I haven't written much this week. I wrote one story to enter into a contest and have gotten good reviews so far. I've sold quite a few books and ordered my second hundred. I've been working on Journey; it's almost ready for print. So, the next funds go to printing Journey!

Also, I've been letting people know that I'm available for speaking engagements at churches. As scary as that is, I know it's God's time and will. So, I will be preparing something on paper but I know once I get in front of people, it will only come from my heart. I've done it before, but it's been years ago. God is up to something good. :-)

Well, dear readers...I think I'll go work on building that computer and getting that off of my list.

God bless you!

It's about Forgiveness

Colossians 3:12-13 NKJV

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

Often times, after being hurt in some way talking about forgiveness is not what I want to do. However I always know I must come back to this truth in order to get free from the bondages that deceive my mind. You know the re-runs of the wrongs that the other guy did? The tape plays over and over until we’re all worked up again. The enemy once again, gets a foothold and we’re back where we started.

We feel bitter, resentful and angry, possibly even towards God for letting the situation happen in the first place. I certainly have been there, too many times to count. And why? Because I refused to look at the truth, which is the Word of God. And why? Because I think I can do it myself. It’s a trick of the enemy for us to be self sufficient, instead of relying on God and His power. God, our Father has given us His power to conquer the schemes of the enemy if we will read His word and find the truth.

And the truth is to forgive as Christ did. It takes the power out of the hurtful punch.

Heavenly Father, we come before you with broken hearts. We need healing and forgiving. We ask not only that you heal our hearts, but Father that you heal the hearts of those that have hurt us. Please help us to forgive those who we have harbored judgments against and held resentments against. We ask for Your divine healing in all areas of our lives, that we may be Your witnesses, in Jesus name. Amen

Fizzled Out Firecracker

Yesterday was my birthday. Today, my 20th anniversary. After such a disappointing Sunday with our vacation plans ruined and Monday we just hung around here, did a little grocery shopping to prepare for the fourth, yesterday went off without a hitch. Well, it started out at 2:30 in the morning with a car load of teenagers knocking at our door. Of course, they either realized they were at the wrong house or that the dog sitter wasn't there, I'm not sure which, but I think it was the latter. They heard Lucy and Wrigley barking and raising cane and they got out of their. The neighbor lady asked them what they were doing. Needless to say, we were awake, so I got up, Gary waited while I took the kids out and I stayed up for a while.

My heart has been having those palpitations ever since Friday when I had a discussion with my boss regarding work conditions at the office. Then the ordeal with the vacation just made it worse, so it was obviously stress related. When I woke up so early, I just knew what I needed to do...write. After writing a couple of letters, getting things off of my chest, I feel much better.

I went back to bed around 5am and slept till 8:30! We hung around and Gary grilled short ribs. He went and bought us some potato salad and baked beans, along with a dozen peach and pink roses. The flowers are so pretty. Lucy and Wrigley and I sat outside while he grilled.

A lady walking her dog down the alley sparked the interest of Lucy and Wrigs. Gary tried to warn me, but not fast enough. By the time I swung around to grab Wrigley's collar, he was already taking off. Rather than risking breaking the extenda leash, I decided to drop it, but not before he pulled me off my seat and on the ground. I hit my knees so fast, I didn't know what happened. Laughing, I just let myself go, so I didn't break something! The lady in the alley asked if I was all right. Of course, just a bit embarrassed. I walked back to the fence to retrieve Wrigley, as he was coming to see if I was okay.

After dinner, we took a ride around the lake in Grand Haven, saw the traffic and the people and came home. Mom was on line, so we watched the Macy's fireworks on TV together. It was nice because I didn't miss them and we got to oohhh and ahhh together, even though we're 1200 miles apart.

It was too late for me to go see them here and with Lucy and Wrigley, I'm actually glad we were home. There's no reason to upset them. All of the racket and the folks in the neighborhood playing with firecrackers, it is just good that we were home to make sure they were safe. Yes, it was very disappointing, but I think I'd rather be disappointed, knowing that my kids are safe, than worrying the whole time I was away, supposedly having fun. So, our weekend was pretty uneventful, but everyone is safe and relatively happy and very full.

Vacation Woes

“But God, I don’t understand. I’m trying to get over it and stop worrying, but the feeling in the pit of my stomach, You know, the one that makes me feel kind of sick for no apparent reason? It won’t go away. I call it my peace indicator. When I have Your peace, I don’t have that feeling in there, but I don’t have Your peace and I can’t seem to get it. I don’t know if I should be grateful or devastated. At first I was the latter, but after having some time of reflection, now, I’m disappointed for sure, but at least I know everyone is safe and relatively happy.” Discussing the situation with God, I wiped a run away tear from my eye.

“I thought our plans were pretty solid. We trusted the boy to be here when he said he would. Leaving the dogs with people they know and that we trust is important. We prepared them and him for a month. I am totally surprised still, that he called as we were half way to our destination to find he was in another city two and a half hours away from home! I should have listened to my gut then that said to turn around and come home, but I wanted to go on to celebrate our 20th anniversary. I somehow wanted to make it okay so we could still go on our vacation. After all, our friends were meeting us there, the next day. The boy’s story became a wild tale as he rambled on until I just couldn’t let it be okay anymore.

The more I thought about what he said, the more it didn’t make sense. Did he think I was an idiot? I had my husband call him and see what he got out of it. Now the boy was saying he might not be home until later that evening. We turned the car around after being ten minutes away from our destination and drove the three hours back home. Thank You, God that my kids were safe and they didn’t have any accidents in the house. They were so excited to see us! And we were relieved to see them and the house in one piece.”

After I unpacked everything, I still had the stomach thing and the heart palpitations going on. Not being able to find God’s peace, I prayed and forgave the boy for being irresponsible. God knows, I’ve been irresponsible a time or two in my life, especially at eighteen. I feel bad for the boy, but he still refused to take any responsibility for his actions. It was his friends fault or our fault for not trusting him, when we couldn’t trust him…he wasn’t here! He didn’t get it, but I hope and pray someday he does.

I suppose it could be worse, we could be having our vacation and he could have abandoned the kids or something could have happened and we really should have been. Lucy could have had a seizure, anything. Only God knows the plans he has for us, plans to prosper us.

As hard as this was to take, it was a lesson well learned. We can only have people care for the dogs that know them and that we know personally. And, leave wiggle room in your plans, something I don’t know how to do, but will have to learn.

Stolen Kiss

It's 5:15 Saturday morning. The cool Michigan morning air is cranking in through the window fan filling the bedroom. Lucy (my lab mix) must have gotten a sniff of something because she decided it was time to wake up. Quietly, she whimpered. I heard her but didn't make a move as I wasn't ready to start my day yet. Although we knew each other's next move, it was fun to play the game. I tried to stay in "snooze mode", while she attempted to wake me again…this time a little less subtle. Sliding over closer to me, she crawled across my stomach. Trying not to laugh, I scolded her, "Lucy, go back to sleep!" I threw the covers over her. She twisted the other way and threw herself back towards my head so she could lie in the crook of my arm, facing me. Still, I didn't move. We lay that way for about twenty seconds, then she put her paw on top of my hand and licked me ever so gently right on my mouth! I busted out loud laughing. The gig was up.

Holding her in my arms, like I have done since she was a little pup has always brought me joy in the morning and this morning was no different. I held her for a few minutes, relishing the time just to hold her. She is so soft and such a cuddler, I couldn't resist any longer. Of course, knowing we are going on vacation for a few days didn't help as I started to feel a bit guilty. I always miss her so terribly while I'm away. I can't tell you how many mornings she has made me laugh right out loud, just by being silly. I know there are plenty of folks that don't want their dogs in bed or on the furniture. In some ways, I don't blame them. I didn't want Lucy on them either when we got her. But you know what? You really miss a lot of their personality by keeping them at arms length away.