My God My Everything

I’ve noticed that I use both hair color and wrinkle cream a lot more than I use to.  They have become necessary elements in my Esther Project.  This project started by writing out some goals that I wanted to achieve by a certain date.  During the goal setting process I was reading a book by Mark Batterson called Prayer Circles.  He talks about goals and says, “Any goal that cultivates physical discipline will cultivate spiritual disciplines too.”  He also said, “When you write down a goal, it holds you accountable.  Goal setting is good stewardship.” Because this journey is about both outside and inside changes, God introduced me to an…

As my year progressed the closer I was getting to a milestone in my life, my 50th birthday. I’ve never been one to worry about turning another year older and I enjoy celebrating birthdays with others. I think of birthdays as your day or as a day to celebrate that person being in your life. I feel that way because my boys liked them so much, especially Brock. He liked them so much he wanted to make sure he had one more before he went to Jesus. So I guess it’s a privilege to be able to celebrate them, a privilege I’ve had for almost 50 years, and I don’t…

When I was growing up our family would go fishing often. My dad was a boat builder and part of the final process was testing the boats on different rivers and lakes. This meant that we would be able to go fishing often. On one fishing trip I was out on the lake with my dad and brothers. We were using large red and white fishing lures that were about 2 1/2 inches long. As we started fishing we were reminded to keep quite or we would scare the fish. All of a sudden I felt this sting on my ear and yelled. Then it felt like something was trying…

While Tracy and I were working on remodeling our home I would often offer to help him with bigger projects. I wanted to be useful and try new things. I thought that remodeling something by myself would be exciting and challenging and I wanted to do more than what basic skills would require. He was always sweet and calm about my offers and would usually give me something easy to do like paint, clean up or prep a room for the bigger things. So I continued to ask. Finally one day he said that the reason he doesn’t let me help him with the bigger things is that I’m clumsy…

I put myself on a timer all the time so I’m always rushing to get things done. Some examples are unloading the dishwasher before my coffee finishes brewing or getting the house clean before Tracy finishes mowing the lawn. I like lists and feeling a sense of accomplishment when I can cross something off of them. There have been times that I’ve put things on my list that are already finished, just to cross them off. I’m not sure why I do it, other than I like seeing measurable results. I won’t win any medals or get pats on the back for completing a list of projects. My reward is…

Good morning and Merry Christmas! It’s a perfect day to be celebrating our Savior’s birth. Before all the festivities begin I wanted to take a moment and remember why all of this activity is happening in the first place. I can easily get caught up with planning, shopping, cooking and all other activities and completely miss the reason for the season. With all the preparations I sometimes loose the peace, the purpose and the spirit of Christmas. I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve purchased gifts at times just to cross a name off my list. Giving can sometimes be turned into completing a task and the heart of why is…

We all know the story of the wise men who followed the star and the shepherds who saw the angels and then met the Savior of the world. Their lives were forever changed and the bible says that they spread the word glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen. (Luke 2) The wise men were seeking Him and had been for awhile. They were deliberate and committed to do whatever it took to meet the one who has been born king of the Jews and to worship Him. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. Then they saw the child with his mother…

Last night I stayed up late writing.  It was so fun remembering moments and re-reading lessons that God had been teaching me.  Morning was a great time for a test to see if I would apply what I was writing about. It didn’t start off to well.  I was tired, so I slept in skipping my workout for an extra hour of sleep.  Or at least that’s what I was hoping to get.  Tracy’s alarm went off and he hit the snooze button……over and over for an hour!  So needless to say I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and with an attitude.  It wouldn’t be much…

One of the first weekends that we stayed at Heise the weather was beautiful and I decided to take a nap by the river.  I spread out a blanket on the river bank, laid down and was out like a light.  It was so relaxing in the sunshine.  I had been asleep for awhile and then I heard a strange noise that woke me up and it turned out to be me….snoring!  What a way to impress the neighbors! After I so rudely woke myself up I sat in my lawn chair and looked out at the beautiful scenery, listening to water and scanning the riverbank.  In the corner of…

We have always enjoyed camping for as long as I can remember.  When our boys were young we camped in tents and enjoyed every minute of it.  As time went on we purchase our first camper and from then on it was comfort camping.  A few years ago we attended a church camp out in the Heise Hot Springs area.  It’s beautiful there and all the activities we enjoy are available and then some.  We found out that you can reserve a camp spot year round and that sounded very appealing to us.   So on our way home we stopped at the main office and added our name to the…