ok, i did it ...

i am finally wireless!

a few posts back (in the comment section), Sandy made me feel a bit guilty about letting my laptop gather dust ... i mean, i did buy it so that i could easily show leo "stuff" online ... and that can't happen - unless i go wireless ...

since we are more or less settled here at condo central - it was definitely time to go for it!!!

*grin* ... the price was also slashed in half since i last inquired about it ... BONUS!!!

so let's see if i can nudge leo into the internet community ... i shall give it a good try!

africa ...

last november i posted about Jaako and his vision to help the children in malawi ... well the little guy is actually there! ... :o) ... he is distributing much needed supplies and sharing the gospel ... now that is some start for a 9 year old! his personal account can be found at hope for malawi

africa seems to be on everyone's hearts these days ... we have all heard of oprah's school that just opened up in south africa ... jaako's vision took him to malawi ... and after 4 years of careful planning and fund raising, a winnipeg teacher - along with her class - has just recently arrived in Senegal ... Lindor Reynolds (a winnipeg free press reporter) went along to document the activities ... winnipeg free press blogs/reynolds ...

yes, i know we have poor here in north america too ... but i think that the level of poverty in a third world country is something we can't truly envision - unless we go there ... i am sure that everyone's lives will be changed forever, after seeing what true need is all about ...

these are just 2 stories that i've been following lately ... just in case you want to take a peek into what some young people are up to ... i find it quite admirable.

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. ~Mother Teresa

perspective

So much in life depends on "where you're

coming from "as you face your

circumstances. The secret, of course, is

perspective. Even bad news can sound like

good news if it is seen from a certain

vantage point.

~Charles R. Swindoll

currently reading ....

leo chose our morning 'read out loud' book ... he wanted to hear about "heaven, better by far" ...

it has been a good read ... nothing overly deep, yet there have been insights along the way ... a fresh look at familiar passages ... and thoughts from a bible scholar who would soon step across the divide between the here and now ... into the hereafter ...

this was Dr. Sanders last book ... shortly after completing it, he slept away into eternity ...

and as we've been reading this book, the reality of our own mortality has made itself known ... it's taken the form of cancer being diagnosed in close family members ... also reminders in our own bodies of their short term make-up ... only our spiritual lives were built with eternity in mind ...

quoted from page 149, "Heaven, better by far" ...

On one occasion Dwight L. Moody, the great American evangelist, said,

Some day you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody of East Northfield is dead. Don't you believe one word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone up higher, that's all - out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal; a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body fashioned like His glorious body. I was born of the flesh in 1837. I was born of the Spirit in 1856. That which is born of the flesh may die. That which is born of the Spirit will live for ever.

enjoying the moment ...

can't you just feel the relaxation pouring out of this laid back cat! he found a sunny spot and took advantage of it ... i can just imagine how warm his fur feels ... he looks so comfy and drowsy, with eyelids half closed ... living in the moment is that good ...

Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life,

and the labors of life reduce themselves.

~Edwin Way Teale

a proverb ...

I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble. Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life.
Proverbs 4:11-13

winter 1980

keeping to the snow theme, here's a look back ...

this particular snowy day happened in 1980 ... leo was still healthy and strong ... it didn't phase him if we got 3 feet of snow, he had a shovel and could dig us out of any storm ...

my dad was spending a few days with us after a week in detox ... he was just starting to regain his strength ... in the pic, he was actually using the shovel as a cane ... his legs were still on the wobbly side ...

i remember being so thankful for the snow ... it gave us a good excuse to keep dad with us for a few more days ... we lived in the country and just told him we didn't want to go on the highway until it cleared up ... i think the extra rest did him good ...

when you look at the picture, my dad looks so small and frail beside leo ... it's hard to believe that i used to be afraid of him ... now i just think "my little dad" ...

bittersweet memories ...

i look at the picture and still remember the sadness, sure - but i also remember the joy ... a time spent with my 2 special men ... cooking for them ... playing board games ... laughing at the dogs as they played in the snow ... and hope ... always the hope that dad would be able to leave the drinking behind ... but even more important than being sober ... we prayed for his salvation - that he would place his faith in the God who could give him a future ...

though my dad has now left his earthly home ... the story cannot be concluded until i walk through heaven's portals and scan the eyes of the saved ones ... to see if Dad did accept Christ's free gift of salvation ...

until that day ... i still keep my hope alive ...

~~~~~~~~~~~

1 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee.
2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.
6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.
7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’

9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things?
11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony.
12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.

John 3: 1-7; 9-18 (New Living Translation)

on the lighter side ...

this is a typical prairie province winter conversation!

so what do you guys who have to deal with hurricanes and other warm weather problems, say?

doomsday clock ...

i see they changed the doomsday clock today ... the scientists who take care of it, moved it two minutes closer to midnight ... the official reading is "five minutes to midnight" ... apparently global warming was added to the mix ... along with the nuclear threat ...

i'm so glad that my life and times are in God's hands ... there are no surprises to the Creator of the Universe ... He knows ... yes, He knows ...

condo thermometer

what did your thermometer read this morning? this pic was taken from our dining room window this morning ... a might nippy, eh?

though not as bad as the cottage reading, january 2005 ... click here

talking weather is just the Canadian way ... grin ...


There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you.... In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself. ~Ruth Stout

Jacob's ladder

this year i'm using "the one year bible" NIV ... to read through scriptures' pages ... one day readings include the old testament/new testament/psalms/proverbs ... i love to try fresh approaches to see how God speaks to me ...

this morning's old testament reading was about Jacob's dream ... "He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it." ... what a dream ... even as a kid, this particular story always captivated my imagination ...

when Jacob woke from this dream, he said "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it." ...

just think, Jacob wasn't in his usual comfy tent ... he had to use a stone for a pillow ... and the sky as his blanket ... it didn't seem like the best of places to be ... to top it all off, he must have been just a wee bit scared - leaving his home, where he was his mother's favourite son ... yet hated by his brother - therefore making flight a necessity ...

and then in the wilderness - he has this glorious dream ... a dream that makes him conclude that God was in this place ...

if i stop and consider the places where i've least wanted to be ... or the times that made me really shake in my boots ... well those were the periods that i look back on and say "surely the Lord is in this place, and i was not aware of it ... "

God was "moving and shaking" events in some unseen realm ... that only became apparent - afterwards ...

awww, sweet faith ... may we all remember that God is ALWAYS in whatever place we are in, even though we are not aware of it ...

Philippians 4:13

and we have ... a doctor!

thank you so much for praying for us ... you guys really don't know how much it means to have friends far and near - in prayer - on our behalf ... totally humbling ... and also - TOTALLY answered prayer!

we had to drive through really yucky weather ... snow and blowing snow, icy roads - yet it only took 25 minutes one way ... so on good days, it should be a much shorter trip compared to our old doctor's office!

the doctor took us in 5 minutes early ... we spoke with him for about 20 minutes ... he had no problem taking leo on - and NO problem giving leo his usual list of meds ...

WOW! we are so thankful ...

we also felt comfortable with the new office staff ... especially the receptionist, who was very very nice ... the receptionist at our old doctors office - didn't like us - we never knew why?

this was all probably God's way of moving us on ... though we were shaking in our boots ...

so thank you, AGAIN, for your prayer ... we are tired, yet at peace & joyful!

a new doctor - we hope!

anybody with any sort of chronic problem, shudders, just shudders - at the thought of being without a doctor ...

leo is without a doctor ...

his family physician suddenly gave up his practice ... we hoped that the remaining partner would take leo on ... but yesterday, when we went to see him - he said "nope" ... "good luck" ...

uh ... ok?

sigh ...

we do have an appointment to see another new doctor ... the appointment is on thursday ... so if you think of leo, would you please pray that he hits it off with this fellah ... and that the doctor wouldn't be afraid to take on someone with chronic pain and a long list of meds that are required ...

a friend shared this thought with me ... " living by faith sometimes means walking in the dark, it never means living without a light" ...

Jesus lights our way ... one step at a time ...

Christmas remnants

the amaryllis is still blooming ... a gift from an old neighbour ...
a tray of hot chocolate stands ready to be mixed and frothed ... a gift from my aunt ...

sweet remnants of the Christmas holidays linger on ...

the new year is just awakening ... ready to be explored ... are you ready for an adventure?!!

Be assured, if you walk with Him and
expect help from Him, He will never fail you. ~George Mueller

Give as freely as you have received! ~Jesus

my little brother ...

excuse the grainy picture ... it was taken with a cheap little camera, Christmas Eve 1973 ... i was home from bible college and my little brother had sprouted during my months away ... i'm sure he must have had platform shoes on ... i mean, my 5'2" shouldn't look that small!

my brother and i shared so much in our childhood ... immigrating from Finland, an alcoholic father, the divorce of our parents, mother's re-marriage and 4 younger sisters from that marriage ... then as adults we shared love and concern for our dad ... and his death from cancer in 2001, which entailed a 5 month hospital stay ...

we lived in the same town for 7 years, then leo and i moved back to the prairies ...

that was 15 years ago ...

well - my brother has now officially moved back to the prairies too! it all happened suddenly ... as of thursday, he is only an hour away from us ... in the city!

i am thrilled to bits about it, and thanked the Lord for this kindness ...

i will probably only see him a few times a year - but i love the fact he is near ... :o) ...

A sibling may be the keeper of one's identity,
the only person with the keys to one's unfettered, more fundamental self.
~Marian Sandmaier

a helping hand ... or was it?

it has been absolutely balmy weather here in the prairies ... daytime highs have been above freezing ... so i have tried to take the opportunity to go for walks every day ...

yesterday i had an interesting encounter on the home stretch of my jaunt ... i met up with a fellow who was walking his bike ... with 2 feet of snow on either side of the sidewalk, i was going to get out of his way - especially since he seemed to be limping along painfully slow ... he saw me and started to do the same, moving near the snowbank - when all of a sudden, he lost his balance! he did a face plant in the snow, with his bike landing on top of him ...

i hurried over and took the bike off the poor guy, and offered him my hand - but that didn't work, he was too heavy for me to yank to his feet ... so he floundered around in the deep snow for a bit - with me tending to his bike ... finally he crawled/rolled his way out of the snowbank ... onto the sidewalk ... on his hands and knees ... then after 2 failed attempts, he made it to his feet ...

as he swayed there in front of me, i realized what his REAL problem was ... whoooo his breath could have peeled wallpaper ...

that was probably why he wasn't riding his bike, he couldn't stay on it or steer straight ...

i just chuckled at the scene we must have made ... me holding his bike, as he struggled to get back up and onto his unsteady feet ...

yup yup ... our little town has a varied group of folks in it ...

thinking of blogging ... but but but ...

just popping by ... saying hi ... *grin*

the unpacking is going well ... there is so much to do ... and i am enjoying it all ...

For disappearing acts, it's hard to beat what happens to the eight hours supposedly left after eight of sleep and eight of work. ~Doug Larson

first day of 2007 ...

hope you all had a most excellent first day of 2007 ...

leo and i are still amazed that just one year ago, we were still living in our cottage ... with no idea where we would move to ... our waiting place, the rental, showed up a few weeks later ... and for sure, we had no idea that we would be living right in our little town, in the condo we wanted, for this holiday season ...

well ... all of the changes in our life, brought to mind a post that Becky (who hasn't blogged in a very long time now) wrote a few years back ... it is such a true thought ...


Trusting The Man That Died For Me

" My child, you can trust the Man that died for you.
If you can't trust Him who can you trust?"

These words fell from the pages of my Streams In The Desert devotional book and landed in my lap with a thud. The simplicity of this statement stunned me. Of course, it's so obvious! Why would the man who died for me, not take absolute care of me? I mean, it wouldn't make any sense for Him to go through all the anguish and humiliation and suffering that He did for my sake, just to let me flounder about on my own power and stumble and fall and just lay there drowning in sadness and discouragement. Surely, He wants to see me thrive and bloom and grow so that others will see and notice and say, "Hey, there goes that girl that Jesus died for. Wow, what a difference He's made in her life." And so, I will trust this Man that died for me with every little detail of my life. It just makes sense.