Once Again Let's Meet Chase

"HERE'SSSSSSS CHASE"

I have to apologize to Chase before

I ever get to meet him. I did a little

blog a week or so ago hinting that

I would love to meet this new friend

of Whitney's. Well It accidentally

got deleted and I am so sorry. I am

still learning a little about this

blogging. Sometimes for no rhyme or reason

things just disappear.

Anyway, dear Chase I still anxiously

await to meet you. I understand

you think Whitney is as sweet and pretty

as I do. I would say you have excellent

taste. Have a great day.

My Baby Tree

I get such a great feeling every

time I see this beautiful tree.

I picked up about 8 little pods that were just

sprouting about 6 years ago and transplanted

them in Bun and Ken's flower bed of their new

homeat the time. A year later about 3 of them

had survived and needed to be transplanted

again. This tree is about 25 feet tall now and

putsout some wonderful shade. When we are

outside and the kids are playing we all

enjoy the shade that this tree puts out.

I actually feel that I gave birth to this

lovely tree and take a certain amount of

pride in it every time I look at it.

It was a little quarter inch pod when I

planted it and now look at it. God's Word is

like that sort of. You takejust a few words

and plant them into someones spirit and

eventually it just grows and grows

and starts reaching out and covering

someone else with it's wisdom and

power. God says His Word does not return

void, Also that His Word is our sword.

I guess we need to keep His Word

close to our heart ready

to speak it at a moments notice.

A Blast Into The Past

Random pictures from the past...........

These pictures cover a wide range of time and places. I am very limited to the pictures I have access to on my computer. I tried to pick out some from my earlier years with the children to the latter ones with my mom, sister, brother and grandchildren. I have lived in many places in my life and it seems that pictures are a good way to help me remember some of those places.

-I guess that is what life is, a constant moving of physical locations and spiritual levels of growth. If any of us are the same spiritually today as we were 20 years ago or 5 years ago I think we have missed something. -

When I think of where I was in the beginning of my spiritual life it takes me back to a little bitty church in Baton Rouge. Mission Drive Church of Christ. I only remember little bitty churches when I was little. This church only had about 40 benches, 20 on each side. And that is probably bigger than it actually was. You know how things looked much larger when we were small than they actually were.

-

I don't have many good memories of my childhood religious days in church. I remember rules, rules and more rules. I don't remember any joyous occasions of worshiping the Lord or any sermons that just brought me to tears when learning what Jesus had done for ME. There was lots of sadness on the faces of everyone that I can remember. We didn't pray to God for healing of physical bodies or financial healing for families that were having a hard time making it. As I recall we were all pretty much in the same boat, living from day to day.

-

My whole family went to this little church. Grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins. My father did not go because he was an alcoholic and just didn't get much out of that little church building. A lot of criticism and judgemental stares and lots of condemnation.

-

My mother was a very very strict lady of the church. Nothing came before the church. Notice! I said the church, not God, not Jesus who was very seldom mentioned by name............THE CHURCH came first.

My mother died HOPING she would go to heaven, never knowing if she had done enough, believed enough, repented enough, given enough. She truly thought you had to work your way into heaven. That just believing that Jesus died for you and gave His life for you is what saved you was ridiculous. To just believe that HE did that could not possibly be enough to save you. And to be taught that I was one of the very few blessed ones to be going to heaven while millions and millions of people were not because they did not go the THE CHURCH I went to. But then again I was never sure if I was going to heaven either because I didn't "work" hard enough" Duh........................................

-

We want to raise our children to be better than we were, to be more than we were and are. WE want to uphold ourselves as being all knowing and all righteous and having all the answers. We want to control what our children have access to and what they hear and see. Oh that is in the church though, otherwise we let them watch tv, have free access to computers, all types of music that we cannot even understand the words to, go places we don't know about, hang out with friends that we know nothing about or their families. Truth is our children do need to hear about JESUS, not just the things we have had taught to us since we were children. God forgive me for the things I passed onto my children before HE showed me that HE did not live in a box and that HE did not need me to make up rules and regulations for his children to follow. A church is only as perfect as the people that sit on its pews................................so therefore I would say there are no perfect churchs

-

I grew up never knowing if I had a chance to go to heaven. Always feeling guilty of everything and never ever feeling "Forgiven" or even hearing about God's Grace or His Mercy.

-

It truly breaks my heart when I think of all the little ones that are being taught this same theology today. God is a just God, certainly. He holds us accountable for unconfessed sin certainly. BUT...............He loves us and His mercy and GRACE is sufficient to save us and KEEP us saved regardless of how much we work (which I would love for someone to define for me exactly WHAT kind of work is acceptable and worthy of salvation).

-

I knew all the scriptures, all the arguments, I could hold my own with anyone that DID NOT go to THE CHURCH! I did not know how to share the love of Jesus or how to help someone find their way to the CROSS, to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. I only knew how to tell someone how wrong they were and that they were going to hell unless they believed as I did. May God please forgive me for such arrogance.

Everyone has the right which God gave them to believe what they want. Free choice it is called. I do know that I missed a lifetime of beautiful music, worshiping music, praising music. Thank you Lord for opening the door for me and leading me out into YOUR WORLD.

-

If we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and SAVIOUR and believe why he died for us then we will love HIM with all our heart and want to serve Him everyday for the rest of our lives. And IF we mess us (which we will I promise you) He is ready to forgive us, love us and remember those sins no more. As far as the East is from the West...........a new slate every time after we confess and repent......No this does not give us an open door to go sin. If we love our Lord we will not want to sin, but we are human and we will sin. Just as you are willing to forgive your child when they mess up our FATHER is ready and willing to forgive us, pick us up and give us those new mercies He talks about,,,,,,,,,,,every morning.

-

So I can certainly tell that I have come a long way spiritually. No I know I have not reached perfection, all knowing! That would be arrogant on my part to believe I had reached perfection. Heaven forbid! And there are some of you, possibly MANY of you that have not experienced the gifts of the spirit that God tells us about in His Word. Never think you know it all, never stop asking God to show you more of HIM....and NEVER think that you have done too much wrong, sinned too bad, moved too far to the left. I promise God knew you would do that before you were born. HE loves you and has a purpose for you. Trust Him.

Alma, This Blog Is For You

Our trip to Houston before "Ike"

I just wanted to take this time to share some pictures with all my family and friends that read this little blog faithfully. Wayne and I visited with Alma and Les and their family about two months ago in Houston. Alma is Wayne's sister. We had such a wonderful time. The places that are seen in this blog all except the family picture were taken in Galveston. Alma tells us that these places do not exist any longer. That is so sad. I am so glad that I took these pictures. Her two daughters Connie and Toni both suffered great loss in their homes from the storms. I would like to ask anyone reading this to please keep Alma and Les and their family in your prayers. There are thousands of people that have suffered tremendously from these last two hurricanes.

Alma is such a sweety. Complain she hasn't, moaned and asked "why me or mine" she hasn't, cried and wanted to give up she hasn't. She is one tough lady who just keeps on "going" like the little bunny rabbit on tv. If ever there was a story to tell she could tell it. I am not sure how long ago but she had a kidney transplant after being on dialysis for a long time. She is a diabetic and on insulin continuously. She has a heart of gold, will forgive anyone for anything and most of all loves the Lord with all her heart. Wayne and I thank God for putting Alma and Les into our lives and we treasure their friendship dearly. Family is a very very important thing. Don't let things or situations separate you from the ones that truly love you. Wayne and Alma were separated for many years. Without Wayne's knowledge Alma was asked to get out of Wayne's life and leave him alone. She tried to contact him many times after that but the letters never reached him nor did the phone calls. Wayne has now been reunited to his precious little sister and is so thankful that she understands and forgives him. We wish them the very best and pray for a quick recovery for all of their family in Houston. God Bless you .......................

A NEW MORNING

What a statement! God's mercies are new every morning..........

Sometimes we just have to open the blinds and look out to see them.

This was what I saw when I looked out this morning. A beautiful sunrise behind some beautiful pine trees and oaks.

Then to my surprise my precious little humming bird came up to say good morning. I was again reminded how blessed I was. God has given me another day.

I sure hope I can be all He wants me to be today.

beauty

Thanks Doc

I am sure all of you recognize Bunnie and Ken, my daughter and son-in-law. We have just returned from spending 3 weeks at their home. I can't tell you how nice it is to have a doctor in the house. Since Ken is a trauma doctor he doesn't get excited or into doctoring unless it looks really life threatening so when any of us have this awful cold or back ache he is very sympathetic. But then he is ready to go on with what we were doing. lol I mean this in the nicest way. Until you stop and watch you may not realize how often Ken is asked something about helping someone with headache, muscle ache, tummy ache, tooth ache, constipation, diarehea, pain here and a pain there. I would be nuts if I had that many people asking me questions about sickness and pain. Of course, that is what doctors do but most of them have set hours and an office or hospital. Our dear Ken is ON CALL all the time it seems. He gets phone calls from every where, friends he has known for years that live way off asking his opinion regarding a health issue. He goes to watch my granddaughter play her volleyball games in college and he ends up taking care of the whole team, on both sides sometimes. lol So that is why I can see that he and Bunnie need to get out of town and just DISAPPEAR so to speak. He was in Hawaii on vacation and got phone calls from home asking for medical advise from people that did not realize he was out of the country. He is not the kind of person that just doesn't answer his telephone either. He feels that God has blessed him with a gift and he wants to be of assistance whenever he can. So if any of you know Ken you know what I am saying is truth, and if you don't know him you need to get to know him. He is a fine young doctor who loves my daughter and grandchildren and takes wonderful care of them. I have truly been blessed by him and thank God everyday for him as well as everyone else in my family. God is good indeed.

MANY GIFTS FROM GOD

"BEAUTIFUL CROSS"

"TENNESSEE SUNSET'

I found both of these pictures to be so encouraging to

me as I looked up. This cross is on the highway going into

Knoxville and the sunset was seen in Bunnie and Ken's

backyard as we were all outside playing volleyball with

the children. God is always showing me things that just

take my breath away sometimes. The cross was man made

but makes such an awesome statement reminding me what

Jesus did for ME............And the sunset was a gift to ME from

God showing me how great HE is. Thank you Lord for all

the gifts you have given ME...............

From the Mountains to the Swampland

Sharing some fun times together...............

Well we finally have made it back to Baton Rouge after about 3 weeks. I am just sharing a few of the pictures that I took while I was in Tennessee with my family. We had planned this trip months ago so it just worked out that we were gone during the terrible weather here in Baton Rouge. I was reminded so strongly of how blessed we all were safe in the Smokey Mountains while those here in southern Louisiana and Houston Texas were praying for the protection of their families and homes while the Hurricanes.......Gustav and Ike made their way through the south. There are a million trees standing on this road we live on and it looks like a million have fallen. I am sure the expense of cleaning up all the fallen trees and roof damages to homes is going to be extensive. We missed all the lack of electricity and ice and air conditioning not to mention trying to find a service station that had gasoline or a grocery store open just to buy a bottle of water. Sometimes the silver lining in all this is that Wayne and I have only been married for a year and have acquired very little materially. So we did not have to fight the fears of losing a lifetime of material things acquired while reaching the good ole age of 65. We are renting so we did not have to be concerned about having to take care of major damages done to our home or replacing furniture and other belongings because we have very little. It never has been a problem for either of us that we did not have a lot of THINGS. We are just so happy to have found each other and happiness that all the other just never was an issue. But we do sympathize with all those that have suffered a lot of damage and loss. We know they have worked many years to have what they have and it is only right that they grieve over the loss they have suffered. I remember when my house burned to the ground in 1989 in Prentiss, Ms. I went through many emotions. Susanne had died 4 years prior to this so the loss of our home was a big loss but it didn't come close to the loss of Susanne. I guess that is what has helped me to put into perspective the importance of life and things. I would have loved to have taken all my family and loved ones that were here in Baton Rouge and Walker and others close by with us to the safe haven of Tennessee. But I know that is not possible. Some stayed here and spent the complete time ministering to others after the storm had passed. The aftermath is probably tougher than the actual storm in many ways. So our prayers are with all of you that are still recovering from the awful storms. Please call on Wayne and I if there is anything we can do to help any of you.

Blessed Indeed

We are truly blessed!!!

We have been remembering all our friends and family back in South Louisiana these past two weeks. Wayne and I came here to be with my grandchildren while my daughter and her husband went to see my oldest granddaughter play a volley ball tournament in San Diego, Ca. The timing was really good for us because we escaped having to deal with the everyday aftermath of a hurricane. The storm is bad enough but the afterwards, the no electricity, no air conditioning or being able to cook or go to the grocery store or even buy gasoline for you car. Even though we were thankful we did not have to endure the hardship we have been remembering all of you everyday.

Now we hear there may be another one on the way. Hard to believe that it would hit Louisiana again but only God knows where it will hit. I do not know what our plans are for the next week, we will just have to wait and see as the next few days go by. If there is anything we can bring back down there that you are not able to get now please let us know. We continue to keep you all in our prayers. If there is anything we can do as we travel back to Louisiana please let us know. I am not sure how hard it is to get anything right now. God Bless all of you. We love you, LaJuanah and Wayne