Butter Not Eat Dat!

Did you see the funny commercial by I Can't Believe It's Not Butter? The Mom is serving baked potatoes with a whole stick of butter stuck into each one. It's so funny. (Click on link for a coupon from the margarine company even.)

Didn't we used to always eat a lot of butter? Now there is such a craze on HEALTHY or is it just me seeing all this healthy, excercise suggestions going on everywhere?

I like it.

I was quiet when I watched the little four-year old girl weighing 104 pounds, (something like that) demanding more food. Her Mom can't figure out where she gets her obsession with food. If she does not get her food the way she wants it, she hollers at her family, especially her Mom! Read about this at GMA.

I've lost 25 pounds ---I have not been hollering at anyone for more food either.

Speaking about overweight children, Shaq is one of many that has made an effort to help with kids that are overweight. Check out his website Shaq's Big Challenge, he has a tv show with that same name (I have never seen it).

I know a lot of my blogging friends are dieting too and I want to say good luck on your plans for a better you, whatever they may be. Eat your fruit, eat your veggies, buy fat free yogurt, cottage cheese, milk. My favorite diet food is something my Mom likes to eat, frozen blueberries. So good to snack on while I'm watching the Biggest Loser, ha!

FYI

...and to be polite, I wanted to let you know that I plan to take a blogging break. I shall return on a brighter day, maybe when the fair breezes of spring return, or if I capture an exquisite view of Alaska, or a picture of my family caught as it is at the moment and only for a short sweet time, or just to come back and say "boo!" Until then, I shall be visiting my blogging friends to keep up.

For those that prayed from my sister Millie, she ended up not having surgery. (According the her daughters update site.) She just changed out the tube and she is doing good.

Awl be bach!

Whiter Than Snow

Whenever it snows I always remember this song:

My heart was black with sin
Until the Savior came in.
His precious blood I know
Has washed it whiter than snow!
And in God's Word I'm told,
I'll walk the streets of gold.
Oh wonderful, wonderful day!
He washed my sins away!
OR as the Wordless Book has:
I'll read my Bible and pray,
And grow in Him everyday.

That is a cute song to sing with little ones, and they enjoy the Wordless Book. I did too when I was sitting on the little tiny tots red-stools in the tiny Chapel in tiny Old Harbor.

Yes! It began to blow a bit yesterday evening and this morning it's warmer and it's snowing a lot now! So pretty outside.

I'm thankful that my sins have been forgiven. My heart is whiter than new snow on a bright, sun shining day! God's forgiveness is complete! He does not forgive the way I sometimes do - forgive yes, but remember and bring it up another day to hash over again and again. Good thing my forgiveness did not depend on the incomplete forgiveness such as my own - but God's forgiveness is perfect because God is perfect!

The prophet Amos wrote down the words of God speaking to His people.

To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?...
Bring no more futile sacrifices...
Incense is an abomination to Me...
The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting...
They are a trouble to Me...
I am weary of bearing them...
"Come now, and let us reason together," says the LORD,
"Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword"; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. Isaiah 1

These people would do as the Laws demanded, but God hated it even though they were doing what He said they should do to pay for their sins (previous to Jesus Christ's death and resurrection). God grew to hate their rituals because they didn't do these things to draw near to God, they were fulfilling another obligation in their lives. After their sacrifices they went back to their sinful lives. God who longs for the fellowship of mankind but cannot tolerate black hearts provided the ultimate sacrifice for forgiveness. Today, we enjoy complete forgiveness because Jesus Christ paid the last price to cover our awful sins, just so that we can fellowship with Him! He is so good to us. I am thankful.

Please keep Millie in your prayers tomorow, she will be having surgery to replace her feeding tube with a new one. Thank you.

So Cold!

It's been in the minus for a while now. So cold! On the way to church this morning we noticed the earlier daylight. That was encouraging.

Klint and Kris planned a race day on the ice track for yesterday. When they planned this they said, if the temperature was below 15 F the race day would be canceled. It was -8 here yesterday! They went ahead and were out there themselves even if their noses and cheeks were being bitten by the cold. We had several die-hard racing families and friends show up for the afternoon too.

I made a reluctant appearance and did spend time down by the big bonfire. The kids were in the shop studding up the tires of their quads when I was outside. I wanted to be outside to watch the races (which were planned to be on by that time) but there weren't any races going on, so I went back to the house to wait until they were out racing. The longer I was indoors the better the woodstove heat felt. I began to dread going back out. I ended up watching from the windows the rest of the evening.

They plan to do this again sometime --- when the temps are warmer! That sounds really good to me.

Angels, Orbs

I've noticed some of my pictures have these circles. When I enlarge them they are pretty, like rainbow circles within circles. At first I thought my camera lens had water spots so I cleaned it and cleaned it but they keep showing up at different times. My daughter said, "Their vapors from your breath," but I think that they are too far away in most of the pictures.

Anyway, I forgot about them until I heard Klint talking about "orbs" and about a co-worker that was talking about them, and how there is a lot online about them too. He said, "Just type in 'orb.' No one really knows what they are, or even if they are something. They could just be reflections of dust, raindrops, etc.

I prefer to think that they are angels than any other explanation I've read so far. There are so many of them and I keep thinking of the Bible verse that says - "since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses..."

Klint had been up on that ladder working on the siding before this picture was taken. While he was up there as he worked the ladder wobbled away from the house threatened to fall over but he caught himself. He got down off the ladder and they were talking about it here. I was just wandering around taking pictures and the picture showed all these busy circles. Maybe they pushed his ladder back to the house, maybe.

My daughter sent me this cartoon which goes right along with this topic.

Here is a link to a person that believes that these unexplained rainbow circles are probably angels. It's something interesting to wonder about.

Max Greiner, Jr.

No Mirrors

[telephone]
Hello?
Connie?
Yeah.
Is Kris the-
[phone goes dead]
Doug?
Hello?
I looked at the phone and saw there call was disconnected so I went back to playing a computer game.

[telephone]
Hello?
Mom? (my youngest son)
Yeah.
Did Dad call you?
He tried to but his phone quit.
[little laugh]He didn't tell you what he wanted?
No, his phone quit.
Okay, if he calls tell him that I am on my way.
Whe're you going?
He broke down, I am going to get him.
He broke down in my car?
Yeah, his phone was not working so I could not hear what he said.
Okay, I will tell him you're on your way.
You gotta tell him soon as he calls because his phone isn't working where he is.
Okay, I will.

Back to the game thinking about my car breaking down. (?)

[telephone]
He's on his way!
He is?(my oldest son)
Klint?
Yeah.
Did Dad call you?
Yeah, did he call you?
He tried to, his phone quit.
Is Kris there?
I think he left, he is going to get Dad, Dad broke down.
He broke down?
Yeah.
I think he slid off the road.
What?
He slid off the road.
Is he okay?
I think so, he needs to be pulled out of the ditch.
Oh! I thought he broke down!
No, he slid off the road. So Kris went over?
Yeah.
Okay, thanks Mom.
K, bye.

[telephone]
Hello?
Connie?
Yeah.
I slid off of the road, did Kris come yet?
Yeah, I think so, I think Klint is coming too.
Okay, good.
Are you okay?
Yeah, I'm fine. Roads are slicker than I thought and I went off a sharp corner.
You are okay though?
Yeah, I'm fine, might have to get you a new car.
Why?
Got a few bumps on it now.
Oh no.
Okay, so the boys are coming?
Yeah.
Okay, I will wait for them.
Are you cold?
No, I am fine.
Alright. I love you.
Love you too, Babe, bye.
Bye.

Long time passes while my daughter and I watch Time/Life's Grand Ol' Opry DVD's.

[front door opens, youngest son enters] Poor Dad, broke out the window!
What???
[motions to come to the garage to see]

Roads were bad tonight. Marie did a 360 on Birch today, Kris munched through the snowy ditches on Birch and Doug said that even Klint slid into the ditch tonight. So that makes for the whole family here to have been off the roads unexpectedly - but only my car lost it's mirrors!

Kris said that there was just a small avenue through the trees and Dad went right through it and off came the mirrors!

I am glad that Doug is fine.

Huge, Obscuring Clouds

We are in our long dark winter days. Some people can suffer from light deprivation and become depressed. I sometimes feel that when the days are dark and when there are things on my mind that trouble me, like the huge cloud in the sky yesterday these feelings loom and won't dissipate very easily. Wrong counsel during these sorts of times can cloud what we believe to be the Truth too.

I was thinking of the importance of keeping our thoughts focused on the Truth. If we don't, the little discrepancies in our thought life can become persuasive enough that they will even topple the major truths we believe so that they are set aside in pursuit of the less fulfilling "bobbles" this life dangles within our grasp. Upon grasping these seemingly harmless attractions, the spirit will languish into a deepening depression, especially on long and dark days.

With God there is hope and forgiveness. I am thankful for His never-ending presence, guidance and especially His overwhelming and redeeming Love.

Psalm 1

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Whose counsel are you enjoying today?

I remember the small steps to sin being pointed out to me. We take these wayward steps -away from God- when we decide to follow counsel that is not the Truth, in order to follow what we feel our hearts desire is. I underlined the words in this beautiful chapter in Psalms above to point out those steps here.

First, we walk or commune with someone or something that is not truthful. Then we stop to stand in the way that is in error. Lastly, feeling comforted in our chosen sin we will sit down with those whose counsel we have decided to accept. Sinning is not something that comes suddenly upon us, it is something we have willingly embraced and justified in our hearts.

As for the long, dark days here in Alaska - we learn to cope by using candles, handcrafts, reading, baking, family get-togethers and even the internet! The daylight has begun to stay longer now. If my sister Mil was able to she would be informing me by how many minutes - exactly! I miss your counsel Mil!

To Forgive

Tremendous relief.
Outflow of Love.

Frees the hidden heart.
Overflowing joy.
Right response.
Glad reunions.
Instant peace.
Vital to spiritual growth.
Empathy grows for others.

My attempt at acrostic writing.

Forgiveness is so important to practice. Jesus said we should forgive a lot, for the same offense, seventy times seven times. That is a lot, I don't think I've ever had to forgive for the same offense that many times ever.

"The Signature of God" (yup, I'm still reading it) gets into the numbers of God's word. God is a mathmematical Creator. Everything is done with numbers, even creation and the instruction to forgive is given in mathematical terms. The Torah or the first five books of the Bible, are in written in an alpha-numerical language, meaning that the alphabet used to write the words are also used for numbering. So one can take the text and cross over to the number value and - not surprisingly it is in numerical order, by sevens somehow. This is hard for me to comprehend. Unlike myself, people that do excellently at math are amazing to me. God is AMAZING!

TO FORGIVE is important, we need to practice this everyday, even when we feel that we can't - with the power recieved through the Holy Spirit, we can! And if you don't have the Holy Spirit, you can! This is the only way many times forgiveness can be employed.

These are the mountains I can look at from my livingroom. They don't normally look like this. The atmosphere between my house and the mountains have elongated and magnified them. I have imagined that an unforgiving spirit does this in our personal lives. It grows the problem, whatever it may be, out of whack and begins to change the way things are! Most of the time the problem ends up seemingly bigger and scarier than it really is.

"And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses." Mark 11:25.

Happy New Year!

The holiday frenzy is over and now I've begun putting away all the "stuff" of Christmas. I am trying to put it away in an orderly fashion and because I didn't do that for the last two years things are sort of in disorder. Today I spent a lot of time putting the ornaments into the boxes they are supposed to be in and then hauling them up into the attic over the garage. I kept telling myself that I am probably getting a lot of exercise and it will be beneficial to the body, but I would have rather been online.

After Christmas, Adam had us all over to eat with Millie. It was a nice time together and I decided I would share pictures from the dinner with you all. Thanks for praying for Millie.

It was a year on December 27th since Millie has been hospitalized. She has been opening her eyes a lot and staying awake for long periods of time. I've never heard her say anything more than making groaning/moaning types sounds at different times.

I got to the hospital a bit earlier than others and so got to visit with Mil in her room. I like to take a warm washcloth and swish it in scented bath gels to wipe off her arms, hands, neck and face then I put on lotion. It gives us some time to interact with each other and mostly gives me time to check out how she is reacting.

I finished cleaning her up a bit and then started looking around her side of the room. She has a small, lighted Christmas tree that was so cute. And several new cuddly bears. I picked up the bears and then turned around and said to Mil, "Look Mil, who gave this bear to you?" She opened her eyes and looked. Then I put it away and picked up another, "Look, who gave this to you?" She glanced over at the second bear. She did this again for the third. She also looked at my niece when I said, "Look Mil, it's Becca's girl - Britt." So looking is her newest accomplishment and one that I really enjoyed observing on our last visit. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I had a hard time getting slide.com to work this time! I think it was my connection.

Happy birthday today to Calli (my son Klint's wife). We all love you so much. You have made yourself a super, sweet addition to our family I love you and I thank God for you.