Dawning of a New Day

Recently, California received lots of badly needed rain. The problem is that it rained/poured daily for about a week, giving us a little too much too quickly, which caused mud slides and flooding problems. I'm used to sunny skies around here. It is normally sunny about 97% of the time. Having a whole week of cloudy skies and so much rain, I feel, gave me a glimpse of what it might be like to live in Seattle or other areas where it rains a lot. I loved getting the badly needed rain and appreciated that gift from God, but I didn't like all of the darkness and gloominess it brought.

After several days of darkness, one morning I woke up and noticed this beautiful sunrise outside my bedroom window and had to take a picture of it. It really got me excited for the dawning of a new day. The picture really doesn't do the sunrise I saw justice (picture is a little dark), but it serves as a reminder to me of the beautiful world we live in -- a gift from a loving Heavenly Father to each of His children. I hope I can always take the time to notice, be thankful for, and help take care of this place I call earth, for it is my home until I pass on to the next life where it will be even more beautiful, I'm sure.

It's A Miracle!!!

Last night I went down to our bedroom to get ready for bed and the room felt pretty cold to me. I hadn't been down to that end of the house since earlier that morning. I checked the table thermometer in our room and it said 65 degrees. Since the thermostat is set at 71 degrees, I knew something was wrong. After manipulating the thermostat controls for a while, and after Alan changed the air filter, it still wasn't working so we figured that something was wrong with the furnace. Being so late in the day, we couldn't call in for a repair so we went to bed anticipating a very cold night. I even kept an extra cover handy in case I needed it. I woke up about 3:30 a.m. and I could hear the beautiful sound of the heater running -- and it's still working. I was so happy that it was working again. I don't know how it fixed itself, but I'm glad that it did. Miracles do happen!

OK, so here's a thought for the new year that my brother-in-law sent me in an e-mail. I loved it, so I thought I'd share it here.

No matter how badly last year treated you, just walk tall with your head high. This is a brand new year baby!

Christ Won The War

I had an interesting dream the other night that I can't get out of my mind. I only remember a very small portion of it, but that portion has stuck with me. I was singing a song that I had made up and it had a rather catchy tune, if I must say so myself. The only lyrics I remember is that it ended with "Christ won the war." Hummmmm, what could that mean? Is there a message in this dream specifically meant for me? I don't know, but I do know that Christ, also called the Prince of Peace, has battled against Satan since the pre-existence when the war in heaven started. I also know, through scripture and revelation, that Christ will reign triumph in the end. One third of the hosts of heaven followed Satan and couldn't have this earthly experience. The other two thirds followed Christ and were allowed to come here. Being the competitor that I am, I'm glad that I chose to be on the winning team. How about you?

Heather's Request Granted

Heather requested that I post our new family portrait, so here it is. I haven't gotten it framed yet, so this is the digital copy. We need a few more spouses in the picture, right?

Ethan and Ella were not very cooperative with the photographer, so we were glad that at least one shot turned out good enough to print.

Wall of Fame

After 6 long years our whole family was finally able to get together to have a family portrait taken, along with individual and family group pics. I picked them up from the photographer's on Monday and today they were installed on our "Wall of Fame" in the den. I think Alan did a great job installing them. We are very happy with the way the photos turned out. I love our "forever" family. Life is good! [P.S. The large group pic is in the family room, so it is not pictured here.]

Give & Take

I've been working as a dental assistant for the past four months at Alan's office because his assistant, Nora, broke both of her ankles (klutzy move) and was off for three months. At the request of my sweet husband, I was brought in and trained in the back office to help offer relief for the part-time assistant, Kathi. Things were working out well until Kathi was called to jury duty in Los Angeles for two weeks, making it even more necessary for me to put in hours at the office. We survived that storm, but as it turned out, Nora couldn't come back to work so Alan had to let her go and Kathi became the full-time assistant and I became the part-timer. Long story short.....since I've been spending so much time at the office, my house has been neglected. Being a stay-at-home Mom all these years, I'm used to having a routine with regards to my work around the house. That routine was shattered when I started working at the office. Here's where the give & take comes in. Since I worked so many hours this week at the office, which didn't leave much time for housework, Alan was an angel today and helped me out. So far today he has dusted the whole house, vacuumed the whole house (see the photo below), stripped the sheets off the bed, and hung new family photos in the den. That gave me time to do the grocery shopping, do two loads of laundry, sweep and mop the kitchen floor, and other miscellaneous chores that needed to be done. Tomorrow, before we celebrate our anniversary (late) by going to a movie and dinner, we will take down the outside Christmas lights and clean all three bathrooms. Alan routinely helps with the dishes and takes out the garbage, so now I guess I just need to teach him how to cook! Oh, the fun never stops with house work. I'm so glad that Alan is not one of those husbands who thinks that housework is woman's work only. Give & take, I tell you. That makes happy marriages!