In between travels

We were home for 3 weeks before we were off to Colorado.  During that time...

we celebrated our 43rd anniversary!

 Prairie Pines -  Frivolity and Romance.

My friends and I enjoyed sewing for Dress A Girl!

 

We went to the Manor to help push people in wheelchairs to the chapel for a singing time.

Oh, yes, the WONDER of it all!

Sunsets and sunrises, flowers and birds, 

the love of a couple, and good friends,

but the greatest wonder of all - 

just to think that God loves each of us!

I enjoyed my back yard.

The canna have gotten so tall!

Canna grew in my prefecture of Miyazaki in Japan.  I love them!

Aren't these mushrooms wild?!

 We watered some baby trees around the neighborhood.

 Love my bike!  A couple of friends broke bones from falling off their bikes (I also have fallen but luckily caught myself!)  so Al got me this bike.

 We enjoyed the birds around our home. 
Geese crossing.  They like the new little pond that has been dug to the south of us.

 Birds visit daily at my house.

We enjoyed the magnificent clouds!

Praise the Lord from the earth,
    you creatures of the ocean depths,
              fire and hail, snow and clouds,
                       wind and weather that obey Him,
 mountains and all hills,
    fruit trees and all cedars,
                    wild animals and all livestock,
                               small scurrying animals and birds,
 

 Let them all praise the name of the Lord.
    For His name is very great;
      His glory towers over the earth and heaven!

from Psalm 148

Our lives are but a breath

Before our trip to Colorado, a tragic thing happened that sort of rocked our world a bit.   

A good friend was killed in a lawn mower accident.  I spoke with him just a couple of hours before he died.  We grieve the loss, but know that Mark is with the Lord.  God knows just how many breaths each of us will have.  Mark was such a gentle and sweet man.  Let me tell you his story.

Mark was a man transformed by God!  He served in Thailand during the Vietnam war.  He became addicted to heroin and was searching for answers to life's toughest questions in all the wrong places.  A Christian man reached out to Mark and gave him a miniature booklet containing the Scriptures.  The air force decided to send Mark back to the States to undergo drug rehabilitation.  He was so physically ill at this time that he had to be strapped into a stretcher for the plane transport.  A pack of cigarettes in his pocket was all that he was permitted to take with him, but Mark snuck the little Bible booklet in with them.  It was during that flight that his life changed forever.  He pulled out that booklet and read "The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy:  I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly."  John 10:10  God opened his mind and he realize immediately that he was killing himself slowly.  In total and complete desperation, Mark cried out to God.  "God, if You're there, I need Your help!"  God reached into Mark's life and touched him.  He gave him victory to that battle and blessed Mark with a miracle.  He healed him of that addiction!  By the time his plane landed, the burden of his drug cravings were completely gone and never returned!  Over the course of Mark's life, his relationship with Christ became a deep friendship rooted in trust and love.  He did not live for himself but lived for Jesus.  He served as an elder of our church and was a beloved Sunday School teacher.  He would say to you right now, "Do you know that God loves you?  He saved a guy like me.  He wants to save you too!"

Zephaniah 3:17 New Living Translation (NLT)

 "For the Lord your God is living among you.
    He is a mighty savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness.
    With his love, he will calm all your fears.
    He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”

As a parent will hold and rock to comfort a distressed child, we pray that Becky and the family will know God's tender arms holding them and comforting them.

Then just a couple of days later Al's cousin, Jane Kaufman, passed away after a brave fight with cancer.

Al's brother sang at the funeral.

Jane's fervent desire was to bring praise to the Lord and for her family to all follow Jesus.  

Her last words were

                                                "Jesus, my resting place."   

Isn't that beautiful?

1 Corinthians 15 is a wonderful passage to ponder on!  This world is not our home, we are just passing through.   We never know when we will take our last breath.  Are you ready?

"Our last breath on earth, our first in heaven!"

Driving home from Wisconsin

We slipped out of the house before everyone woke up.  The sun was just rising.









We stopped at a new Starbucks in Sun Prairie.  We didn't make coffee at Jill's as we didn't want to wake them up.  The smell of coffee is so good and would surely wake them!  

I love a good cup of coffee in the morning!

We had learned that the night before there was a gas explosion in Sun Prairie that leveled a downtown bar and caused a massive fire to a pizza restaurant.  It killed a firefighter and critically injured another.  I had to think about that as we stopped in that city.  Here's a photo I found.

We hit Madison at rush hour.  Bumper to bumper.  It took so long to go through it!  We should have found a 2-lane road around the city.  It would have been faster!

 I love the wildflowers in the ditches!  Wouldn't that be wonderful if every state had them in between the roads.   You wouldn't need to mow them.  I think they do, but they should just leave it as it is so very pretty!

 We didn't go on off roads going home as Al had to be at work early the next morning and I needed to set up for Dress A Girl at our house.  So we went the fastest way we could!  It truly is a beautiful drive!

 This barn becomes more and more dilapidated each time.

 One day it will be in a pile I suppose.

 Beautiful farms!

 Crossing the Mississippi

 Crop duster

 I took a turn driving from Des Moines to Kansas City so Al could take a nap.  We hit rain and had to drive pretty slow.  Some people don't understand the danger of driving fast in a downpour.

"Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home."  CS Lewis