DEVINE REVERSAL

I awoke to a blanket of snow on the ground today, and the Lord revealed some things to me through it that I thought I'd share.
Things are not how they appear!

Jesus said, the kingdom of God is not what you expect in this world. "It's like a farmer who plants seed and goes away, and later it sprouts."
The farmer in Pennsylvania who plants the wheat at the end of the summer would be very discouraged now if he did not know one thing; it is God who causes the seed to grow. Even though the seed may appear dead now, covered by the cold snow, he has to do nothing but wait, and he will reap a harvest later.
What the Father planted will be harvested and nothing will get in the way. Not governments, financial or natural disasters, persecutions or nuclear holocausts - nothing will obstruct God's Kingdom. Human effort is as nothing compared to the sovereign plans of God.

This morning I was reading in the book of Esther how the Jews were heading for sure destruction and even annihilation because of Haman, the Persian prime minister, the highest office under the king. In a matter of one day, it all turned around because the Jews found favor with the king. Their enemies became the king's enemies, and Haman became a public display of utter humiliation and was himself destroyed.
Jesus, in His humble obedience on Calvary's cross, "disarmed principalities and powers (and) made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them," even though at the time it seemed like such a defeat.
Things are never what they appear to be when it comes to God's kingdom!

NEW POST

I just posted two "new" posts, but because I started a draft earlier on, it posted on those dates instead of today - shucks!!
Check out Sept 27 (Camping with Dana and the kiddies) - I even included a video believe it or not, and June 6th (Mary Kate and her baby) which comes after the T'dad pics. So sorry!
Does anyone know how to change the dates on a post?

I have lots more to come, but we've been busy - check out Al's blog (Sangree Construction) on the right side of my blog (beneath my photograph) to see what we've been up to lately.

Myrtle Beach, SC - visit with good friends

A few weeks ago we took four days off and drove down to stay with some really good friends, BK and Donna Guy in Myrtle Beach, SC.
We sure had a wonderful time! We were so refreshed by our time together, and were so grateful for those long days on the beach relaxing, fishing, swimming and just hanging out together laughing and chatting.

Al & I on the pier.
Al and Donna in the background with her new rod. What fun we had together. It was so good seeing Al enjoy himself fishing and relaxing.

On the pier. Donna (left), BK in the middle (bating Donna's hook no doubt), and Al on the right.

It was quite a walk out there and back.
THE CATCH!

We could not have had a better time. We ate out at some great places - here we are having breakfast on the river in Conway. What great memories we have of our time together. It was so comfortable and relaxing.

Thanks "Guys" for all that you did to make it so very special, and for being such good friends.

We sure do miss you, and are really looking forward to Donna's visit next week.

BK, we'll miss you, but look forward to us all getting together again soon.

Thanks again for such a great time. I wish I had taken more pics - especially of us in the rocking chairs laughing. God is so good, and provided what we all needed - lots of laughs.

(Click on any picture to make it larger).

GRANDMOM'S CAMP

Grandmom's Camp this year was at Lake Heron again, and we had the whole side of the lake to ourselves once more (Thank God =)
We had a wonderful time!
During the days Al was working, but joined us after work (it's only 45 mins. from home, thankfully). The weather was great, and the Lake warm - perfect for swimming, diving off the dock etc. The children went non-stop until bedtime, and then were up bright and early in the morning before Grandad left again for work. Our little RV nestled in the trees, taken from the other side of the lake.

Grandad swimming with all four children just before supper.

The fishing was great. Tim caught this is no time at all. (Trying not to look TOO proud =)

They all painted on canvas and each had a nice painting to take home. Owen needed a little encouragement, but liked his in the end.

The boys have become good swimmers, and little Megan with her life vest did everything they did. She's fearless!

They love kayaking, and it's safe on the lake since we could see them wherever they go.

They had quite a lot of freedom and loved every minute of it.

Here's Andrew (not yet 10) coming in at quite a speed. They amaze me how well they can handle the kayaks.
Even Owen at 8 does a great job kayaking, and loves swimmimg and diving.

This is Megan's kayak. What a smile!

S'mores over the campfire.....yummmm

Grandad and the fearless members of the "Polar Bear Club". It's about 6;30 am and they all took the challenge. Wow!
....but not before Grandad got in.

When it was all over I was left with these beautiful "hand-picked" water lilies, a precious gift from Tim, and then not to be outdone, Andrew. I had just the vase in the RV and enjoyed them, and the quiet for the rest of the day.
"Not a creature was stirring, not even a Bass".

Father's Day & Timothy's Birthday

I've been meaning to get these posted for a long time now. So sorry it took me so long.

This is Camp Hebron where we took Tim overnight for his birthday, and then celebrated Father's Day with three generations of Fathers (Al's Dad, Allen, and Will). We had a great steak dinner on the open fire (Al's specialty - yummm) and ended with Mom's fresh homemade strawberry shortcake - thanks Mom! (We missed you guys; C&H, A&S, and of course Sean).

We had a lovely time. Check out Al's special Father's Day gift (the recliners - we nearly slept under the stars that night)

Four generations.
At the lake after dinner. Owen's describing the turtle he saw.

Tim catching critters with his new net.

Getting snagged is no big deal when you have a Grandad like this :-)

Talk about "out on a limb"!

OK, down to some serious fishing.
Tim with his catch. Good job Tim!

Happy 11th Birthday! We sure are glad you're our grandson, and we had a great time with you.

Mary Kate on the carousel with Daddy.
On the night of June 9th, Tim's actual birthday, we went to Hershey Park after dinner and got to go on some rides free of charge (for the last half hour until they closed). This was what Tim wanted and we all had a blast! We almost ran from one ride to the other, but there were "no lines, no waiting!"

This also was the night that the thief cleaned us out at our building site, but we were celebrating!

Stay tuned....more summer pics to come!

Camping with Dana and the kiddies

These are some pictures of our camping trip back in late September to Cape Henlopen. Our husbands could not come, and Timothy was already back at school, but Dana and I went for a few days with the four youngest children and had a great time.
It was extremely windy, and the water was quite cold, but we enjoyed it nevertheless!

Beautiful Cape Henlopen State Park, DE.

Sleeping in the little RV was fun. Megan and Mommy slept in the top double bed, with the two boys, Andrew and Owen on the pull-out couch (left), while Mary Kate's pack-n-play fit perfectly at the foot of the dinette (which became my bed, on the right). AND we still had room to walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night - very important =)
Or should I say "waking up" in the RV was fun. Here's Owen in Mary Kate's "bed" getting jumped on and laughing hysterically.

Princess Megan with the boys playing on the beach of (what they call )"the calm side" or the Bay.
I love this picture of Dana.

We sure had a sweet time!

Thanks Will for staying at home with Tim to make this possible.

Beach bums=)

"Look what I found!"

(We took tons of pics of Mary Kate, and I just deleted the best one by mistake)

What a cutie!

Back on the "rough side", the boys did have fun in the cold surf - for a while anyway.

Megan, the wave-runner. Just look at those huge waves!

(It was so much fun just watching them have fun)

Mommy and Mary Kate getting "cozy, cozy"

At the end of the day this was one tired little girl, but even as she was nodding off she held on tightly to her sand bag and would not let it go.

(I just had to take this picture).

One last little clip (video) to hopefully give you a glimpse of what it was like.

We had never seen it so rough nor so windy before. It was awesome!

He is an awesome God!!