Weeds

Really??? I've never seen so many dandelions as this year! These are in the field just across the street.

Because of the curse!

"He told the Man: 'Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from, 'Don't eat from this tree,' the very ground is cursed because of you; getting food from the ground will be as painful as having babies is for your wife; you'll be working in pain all your life long. The ground will sprout thorns and weeds, you'll get your food the hard way, planting and tilling and harvesting, sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk, until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried; you started out as dirt, you'll end up dirt.' "
Genesis 3:16-18, The Message

"But Christ rescued us from the Law's curse, when He became a curse in our place. This is because the Scriptures say that anyone who is nailed to a tree is under a curse."
Galatians 3:12-14, Contemporary English Version

Christ Is Risen lyrics and music video provided by SongLyrics.com

Commissioning

Last Sunday, Palm Sunday, was our son-in-law's last Sunday as worship pastor of our church.

Our church is birthing a new church in Hillsboro, Kansas. Many from our church are going to help start this new church.

Adam is going to be the new pastor!

I will sorely miss seeing my grandbabies popping their head in the nursery to tell me "hi, Nana!". And my new grandbaby won't be in our care Sunday morning either. Adam's mother was Hannah's 1st grade Sunday School teacher and his dad was a helper with Sophia. They will be missing them too. But right now, they aren't moving and we do see them during the week.

We are so excited for this new journey God has brought their way. Praying for them as they follow His lead and praying for those who do not know Christ in Hillsboro and in the surrounding areas! Blessings!!

Drive home

We got up early and out of Birmingham before 6:30. If you wait even one half hour later, you will be in gridlock with traffic headed to work. A stop at Starbucks and we were off.

Look at the fog! A blogger friend's son once said "Fog is when God tears off a piece of cloud like cotton candy and puts it on the ground."
It is a long drive back to Kansas. But we are adventurous and we decided to take another scenic route after passing Little Rock. At Conway, we turned north on 65. This is the road through Damascus. :) on to Branson and Springfield. This is a picture of part of Damascus.
Couldn't resist a stop to see this.


It was a very steep and winding road and at the bottom there was this old log house. We had to pay a little admission fee to see this natural bridge.

I thought it was pretty cool. Worth the side trip I think.

??????

A close up of this vehicle. We were close to Branson.

When we got closer to Kansas, we began to hit all the bugs. Al wondered if there were any left for any birds to eat!

Well, it was a great trip to Birmingham!! We have a couple more scenic routes to take on the way there so we will have to go again!

Evening drive

In the evening, we went for another drive. This time to the northeast area of Birmingham, in the mountainous region of Lake Purdy.

Dogwoods in bloom everywhere!











Driving back to Mindy's, we saw the moon, Jupitar and Venus. You can barely see Venus in the tree branch.
We played Uno and Clue. I wasn't feeling very well (my symptoms from Rocky Mountain) but I won 3 games!! Woot woot! Then off to bed so we could get a good night's sleep for the long drive home (about 14 hours).

Morning drive

On the last morning in Birmingham, we slept in, ran some errands then Mindy took us to The Preserve. Birmingham has several of these communities, kind of like a village within the city. They have their own little "downtown" area.

The Preserve has southern style homes. Some other communities have an English flair to them or some other architectural style.
All the homes had front porches with chairs or swings on them. Such a friendly feel and country charm.
The garages are all out of sight in the back. The owners drive into their garages through a little back alleyway. It was so fun to walk around this little village.

Around lunch time, Mindy took us to Whole Foods, a unique grocery store.

We didn't really shop for much. We went through the various food bars and ate our lunch there.
Then it was home for afternoon rest time.

Down the river

After church on Sunday, we drove out of Birmingham to go tubing down the Little Cahaba River. I thought it would be too cold to be in the water (it was in the 70's, but I am used to 90 degree water for my therapeutic swim at the rec center!), but that is what we did.

Yes - I did use the bathroom. No lock - there was a rope to hold it shut while you sat on the pot.



Quite the place, huh? Unlike this place we passed on our way home through Arkansas.

We climbed in the back of the pickup and he drove us to a point up river and let us off.

It was chilly - no, it was freezing! I was so glad to have brought my windbreaker with me! I had read on-line to wear more than just a swim suit as the rocks can cut you up. Al has wounds to prove that.

We were too chicken to try to go over most of the rapids. So each time, we would get out and walk around on the land.



There was a sign for "No alcohol" but judging from all the beer cans on the tree, no one paid attention.
Shortly after this photo, Mindy lost one of her shoes. It was in a bend in the river and Al got up on the land and ran across and jumped in the river on the other side and rescued it!

Earlier when Mindy and I went over a smaller rapids, the waterproof camera we purchased slipped away and went down stream, but a couple quite a ways down river caught it for us!!

We watched a guy actually climb up the ladder and dive in. About 35 feet!
End of the road (or river) where we got out. This is the owner who gave us a thumbs up.




A very cool waterslide. One can get up to 50 mph going down it, but once a guy flew across the river and banged his head on the rock wall across from it. Insurance prices were just too high to keep it up so it is no longer in use.

The car felt so nice and warm and we were exhausted as we drove back to Mindy's.



We passed this lumberyard that reminded me of where I grew up in Japan.


We thought that was interesting. Echizen is a town close to Kyoto. Don't know the history that made the towns sister cities.
Xander was happy to see us when we got back.


What adventures we have with our daughter!

As I am typing this, I was reminded in 3 different settings this day the truth that Christ spoke -
"I will be with you always".
Our lives are similar to traveling down a river. There are bends in the stream, unexpected turns. Times when you might hit a swirly whirlpool where you can't seem to get anywhere. The journey can be beautiful. The rocks can be slippery and as you try to walk across them, you fall flat (like one unnamed person in our group!). There are rapids that are dangerous and need avoiding - and sometimes you can't seem to avoid them at all! You might even get cut up. But Christ promises "I will be with you always." And just like that owner who gave us that thumbs up at the end of the trip, Christ welcomes us with a "well done" at the end as we have traversed life with Him.

"When you pass through the waters
I will be with you;
and through the rivers,
they shall not overflow you."

God doesn't promise that we will escape the turbulent seas of life, but He does promise
"I will never leave you nor forsake you." Hebrews 13:5