The Adventures of Life

    We are now 2 days past Thanksgiving, the boatload of snow we had earlier in the month is mostly gone and the weather see-saws between winter and fall. This afternoon we decided to make pancakes and bacon...A very Saturdayish thing to do.  

Jordan popped by on his break to enjoy them with us. 

    

A couple weeks ago my parents came up for a visit. 

Looking at pictures with Poppy

 My dad shares my love of color and has thus far kept Buirlen supplied in a swirl of colorful tie dye. We like it!

While my parents were here, my dad's cousin Viv was also in town visiting her family, our good friends Andrew and Katy. So we had dinner together. 3 generations of cousins around our supper table. 

Ama and Buirlen and Viv and Brody. 

Grandpas are such a good thing to have in one's life!

Poppy Shearer

Grandpa Williams

Last weekend, my good friend, Larisa, traveled North to attend the Sound of Music with me. It was a lovely production. Buirlen stayed home with Daddy and his cousins and had a grand ole time. 

Having fun with Uncle Jordan.

Jordan and I were discussing the other day about how, when we were kids, we would imagine that the specks of dust floating in a beam of sunlight were horses and we would then ride the the horses by jumping around in the light. I have no idea how this got started, but it made me all sentimental this morning to watch Buirlen discover the specks of dust floating in the mid morning sunlight as it streamed into the living room. 

Playing with Daddy....Mr. Buirlen is starting to walk around furniture.

A visitor 

I was feeling in the mood to be festive the past couple of days. So I made a pot of spiced cranberry punch. 

The boy with the wild hair. 

Happy Saturday. 

"Find Joy in the ordinary."~Unknown

The Envelope

     One Christmas, many years ago(I think somewhere around 8-10 years ago), my Dad gave myself and each of my siblings one of these envelopes.

    They were addressed to each of us and said, "From your Heavenly Father."
This is what was inside.

5 note cards, each with a different promise from God's word.

Abundant Life: John 10:10 "The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give you life in all its fullness."

Example to Live By: "John 13:14-15 "And since I , the LORD and Teacher have washed your feet, you ought to wash eachother's feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you."

Kingdom of Heaven: Luke 12:32 "So don't be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom."

Salvation: Ephesians 2:8-9 "God saved you by His special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it."

His Love: Romans 8:33-35a " Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself.  Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.  Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? 

    I pulled it out of my Bible this morning and read the cards again. So thanks Dad for this gift, a reminder that not only does my Heavenly Father love me, but you do too!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Dad!!!!! I love you.

P.S. Thanks for sharing your love of fun shoes with me!

The I.T. Guy Part 2

     So, as I wrote last time, my work computer was having difficulties. Any way, as it turned out the poor old desktop computer I had been using was simply too old to be updated. So, the next solution was to drag out my dusty old laptop and start getting my files moved over. And so, I began the process, happy to find out that the laptop actually runs a lot faster than the old desktop. Then, the world of technology threw me another curve ball. I couldn't get the printer to hook up to the computer and suddenly my happy progress was halted. So once again, my wonderful dad has been spending many phone calls and texts with me trying to get it all figured out. I try to tell him what I see on the screen in my very un-techy way and then he begins to search and advice and talk me through the steps I need to take. We were stilling having problems and that's when the really cool tech savvy stuff started to happen. Dad tells me over the phone to click here and select that and then suddenly from 300 miles away my Dad has complete control of my computer. I sit back and watch as the mouse moves across the screen, seemingly on its own, but knowing that it's just my dad working his magic. Now the printing problem is not fixed yet, but he's still working on it.
      Did you know that our Heavenly Father wants to help you with your problems? I can't physically see my dad right now because he lives way across the state, but he's still there for me. And so it is with our Heavenly Father. No, we can't see him and sometimes you may feel as though He isn't there but all you have to do is call him. I could have tried to work through my computer problems all by myself and never once told my daddy that I was having problems. I could have done this, but I wouldn't have gotten very far. In our lives we are going to come up against "computer problems" these problems may be seen in sin, loss, hurt and  million other technical glitches. Sadly, we all to often attempt to fix these problems on our own or sadder yet simply give up on them and attempt to work around our "printing problem." But our Heavenly Father is just waiting for that call, "Dad, I need help...It's the dumb printer again. What should I do?" And you know what, He will take time from His day to talk you through the steps, to give you pointers on things to try and tell you what buttons to push and which ones to avoid.
      Now as I mentioned above, my dad has this really cool program which lets him access my computer from miles away. But you know what I had to do before he could take the controls? I had to give him a password from my laptop. He couldn't access my computer without my permission. Our Heavenly Father, the One who gave you life, who loves you and knows yours joys and your pains want to help you. He knows the solutions to all your "computer problems" but you have to give him the password. Open your heart and let Him take control . Because then you can sit back and watch Him do His thing and you can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the One who wrote the program knows how to fix the glitches that are operator errors.


"Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God's love encompasses us completely. ... He loves every one of us, even those who are flawed, rejected, awkward, sorrowful, or broken."
~Dieter F. Uchtdorf 
     

The I.T. Guy

       My Dad is pretty great. You see, my computer at work was having issues. Something about an out of date program that no longer had available updates and is thus at risk of computer viruses etc. etc. Anyway...Some people might experience this problem and have to spend time on the phone with some unknown IT person and have a whole lot of run around and hoopla. Not me, nope. You know why? Because my Dad just happens to be one of those smart, tech-y, people who fixes others computer problems for a living. So, I text him and he says "Call me." And so I do. After talking with me and running over options and the specifics he simply tells me, "Bring it home over Easter, I'll fix it for you." So there you have it, my Dad is AWESOME.
       But let's look at this one step further. We have a Heavenly Father who is there for us. He loves you so very much. And you know what He did. He died so that He could fix the biggest problem His children have--sin. Our imperfections, our faults, our mistakes, they have the power to be the end of us. But our Heavenly Father took care of that by allowing His son to die in our place. Just bring it to Him and He's there ready to take the problem off our hands.

" Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face." -Ronald Reagan

Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/problems.html#ycsGekXjV8Hdfi2Y.99Within the

Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/problems.html#ycsGekXjV8Hdfi2Y.99