To Honor a Grandparent

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Psalm 19

To the chief musician, a Psalm of David.
:1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
:2 Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
:3 There is no speech nor language
where their voice is not heard.
:4 Their line is gone out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun.
:5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
:6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven,
and his circuit unto the ends of it:
and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
:7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul:
the testimony of the Lord is sure: making wise the simple.
:8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart:
the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
:9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever:
the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
:10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold:
sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
:11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned:
and in keeping of them there is great reward.
:12 Who can understand his errors?
cleanse thou me from secret faults.
:13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me:
then shall I be upright,
and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
:14 Let the words of my mouth,
and the meditation of my heart,
be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord,
my strength, and my redeemer.

I have just committed this chapter of Scripture to memory, to honor my Grandma. As a Christmas present, I began reading the Bible to her everyday. We began on Psalm 1, and are as far as Psalm 70 now. When we came to this chapter, she requested I read it several times, because a long time ago she had memorized it, and as age often does, was now forgetting it. After reading it a few times over several days, she was able to recall much of it, saying it with me as I read.
Because I won't always have my Grandma with me, this chance to be with her, reading the Scriptures, is so precious. Up until just recently my attitude had caused a terrible rift in our relationship. I had gotten impatient with her, and disrespectful. And when I realized what this was doing to me, I repented and now our relationship is healing, and growing as it should.
I ask you, my friends to think about your relationships. Are you causing a rift with your grandparents, parents, sibling, cousins? Think about what your life would be without them. Probably pretty empty. You'd regret forever not spending time with them, just because you are to angry to forgive, or repent.
Don't waste time staying away. Trust me, you'll just miss out on a wonderful blessing.

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Only a MONTH!!!

So my dear friends, it is only one month til I travel to Bogota, Columbia. And I am sooo EXCITED!!!!! I seriously could bounce off the moon!
But with the time getting so close, there's lots of stuff that needs doing to prepare. Like a plane ticket for one. My uncle, who flies for American Airlines is so kindly giving me a standby ticket. And I was to be riding with one of the ladies that runs CVII's home office here in the states, on AA. But now she and the rest of the group that are going down are going by Delta, because its cheaper. So I am in a dilemma, because I have flown only a few times, and going all the way down to Bogota by myself is REALLY scary. Mainly because my flight would get there an hour before the other peoples, and on the return trip leaves 2 hours before, or 4 after. And I don't know what the rules for loitering are in an international terminal.
SO I ask for your prayers in figuring everything out.

One of the mother's from church suggested I place a donations box in the back of church, for things I could take with me for CVII. So you, my dear readers get a heads up on that project. The kinds of things they need down there are clothes, shoes, bedding, towels, hygene items (boys deoderant, shaving stuff, toothpaste and brushes, soaps, scrubbies, etc), school supplies, and small simple toys (dolls, trucks/cars, yo-yos, jump ropes......)

I am making an especial appeal to my girlfriends. You know how we girls love to be pretty, to have beautiful things. Well, the teen and preteen girls at CVII are no different. But since most people who send donations to them think more along the lines of babies, and clothes, and the basic nessesities, these kind of things get easily overlooked. So my request girls is if you could help me give them the kinds of things we like. Body spray, lotions, hair thingies, simple jewelry, etc. Anything you like, they probably like too. And when they know you are thinking of them, they will appreciate it so much.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow! 2009 is here already? My how time does fly! It seems I was just excited about going to Oregon, and that was way back in February!
Memories are the only thing left of 2008. Some good, some not quite...

I rejoiced in the marriages of 3 of my dear friends, grimaced over getting braces, had fun adventures with friends, giggled for joy from having 30 baby lambs, cried when so many died, congratulated graduating friends, and celebrated my dear parents 25 years together, and experienced a revival of my heart.

Now my calender is empty, no photos of my adventures, memories unmade, ready for a new year. With God leading the way, 2009 is going to better than any before!

The Angel's Message

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And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazereth,
To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou art highly favored, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.
And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary; for thou hast found favour with God.
And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

~Luke 1:26-33~

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Mary, Did You Know?

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Mary did you know,
that your baby boy,
will one day walk on water?
Mary did you know,
that your baby boy,
will save our sons and daughters?
did you know that your baby boy,
has come to make you new,
this child that you delievered,
will soon deliever you,
mary did you know,
that your baby boy,
will give sight to a blind man,
mary did you know,
that your baby boy,
will calm a storm with his hand,
did you know,
that your baby boy,
has walked where angels trod,
and when you kiss your little baby,
you've kissed the face of God,
the blind will see,
the deaf will hear,
and the dead will live again,
the lame will leap,
the dumb will speak,
the praises of the Lamb.
Mary did you know,
that your baby boy,
is Lord of all creation,
mary did you know,
that your baby boy,
will one day rule the nations,
did you know that your baby boy,
is heaven's perfect lamb,
this sleeping child your holding,
is the great I am.

~Mark Lowry~

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O Come, O Come Emmanuel

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O Come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O Come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From dpeths of hell thy people save, A
nd give them victory o'er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O Come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer,
Our spirits by thine advent here;
O drive away the shades of night,
and pierce the clouds and bring us light.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O Come, Thou Key of David, come,
and open wide our heavenly home
Where all thy saints with thee shall dwell-
O come, O come Emmanuel!
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

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Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat....

Greetings to my friends! I am sorry to have waited so long between posts.

We had a wonderful time with Jonathan home. Always fun to have the family together. The day before he left, actually the night before, Bethany Abler drove all the way up to Sioux Falls after work. We kids, and a bunch of friends hung out at Haugaards house after church as we awaited her arrival. That was fun. Staying up til 4 is not my forte, but I survived.



That next day (Thursday) we celebrated our Thanksgiving, with all the fixings, including my ABSOLUTE favorite, Krem! (This is a Scandinavian grape jello type thing.) Following our big dinner, we gathered for family photos, which is always a fun adventure.


In the evening Jonathan and Bethany left. She would be taking him to the airport in Omaha, so he could get back to work. :(


On Friday Mom and us kids traveled to my Grandpa's house in Minnesota for Thanksgiving there. We also pulled off an awesome surprise party for Grandpa, who turned 70 on the 6th of Nov. He was SOOO surprised!


So I have come to the conclusion, after eating 4 really big meals for Thanksgiving, that thats how it always should be. 3 or more Thanksgiving meals every year. And this actually fits in with the first Thanksgiving meal. When the Pilgrims celebrated their day of Thanksgiving they actually celebrated for 3 days in a row, with feasting, and games and prayers. So thats what we should do, have 3 big meals, with lots of people and play games and have time devoted to prayer. And turkey was actually a side dish for them. They had venison, wild turkey, duck, eel, and lots of fruits and veggies. Can you imagine what eel would be like? Yuck!

And now December has arrived, with all its snow and cold. My mom's 4-H club had their tree decorating and Christmas Caroling "party" already. So we started the month off just right. :)


Tomorrow is our church's Christmas program. I am really excited! We've worked a long time on it. And I am hoping it all turns out wonderful. All the songs are really pretty, and sound great. Especially with Pastor Schuurmans directing us.