My newest project. Making a blanket for me and the dogs. If all goes well, might make one for the Ladies Conference at church. We usually have a nice grand door prize. I'm going to be down after surgery later this month. Perfect time to work on this. Pray for me if you would. Perhaps I will be able to post more then too. We shall see. Blessings and enjoy your Lord's Day tomorrow.

Keep Your Fork

Received this in an email and it was too good not to share:

There was a young woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. So as she was getting her things 'in order,' she contacted her Pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes.

She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in.

Everything was in order and the Pastor was preparing to leave when the young woman suddenly remembered something very important to her.

'There's one more thing,' she said excitedly..

'What's that?' came the Pastor's reply.

'This is very important,' the young woman continued. 'I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.'

The Pastor stood looking at the young woman, not knowing quite what to say.

'That surprises you, doesn't it?' the young woman asked.

'Well, to be honest, I'm puzzled by the request,' said the Pastor.

The young woman explained. 'My grandmother once told me this story, and from that time on I have always tried to pass along its message to those I love and those who are in need of encouragement. In all my years of attending socials and dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, 'Keep your fork.' It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming...like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. Something wonderful, and with substance!'

So, I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder 'What's with the fork?' Then I want you to tell them: 'Keep your fork ...the best is yet to come.'

The Pastor's eyes welled up with tears of joy as he hugged the young woman good-bye. He knew this would be one of the last times he would see her before her death. But he also knew that the young woman had a better grasp of heaven than he did. She had a better grasp of what heaven would be like than many people twice her age, with twice as much experience and knowledge. She KNEW that something better was coming.

At the funeral people were walking by the young woman's casket and they saw the cloak she was wearing and the fork placed in her right hand.. Over and over, the Pastor heard the question, 'What's with the fork?' And over and over he smiled.

During his message, the Pastor told the people of the conversation he had with the young woman shortly before she died. He also told them about the fork and about what it symbolized to her. He told the people how he could not stop thinking about the fork and told them that they probably would not be able to stop thinking about it either.

He was right. So the next time you reach down for your fork let it remind you, ever so gently, that the best is yet to come.

Our New Little Guy

We were so broken about losing our old girl a month ago.  God provides though.  Just a few days after Angel passed, my hubby found an ad on Craigslist for a sweet little guy that had to find a home.  His name is Scrappy.  He's such a cute little bugger.  He has such a HUGE personality. When you look at the photo, you will fall in love.  We did.  :)

We know for sure that God put us together and I'm not really sure who rescued who.  We were so sad and lost and he desperately needed a home.  God is so good and He works such wonderful miracles.

Our sweet Angel

Had to put down our old dog yesterday.  My heart is really heavy.  It is really weird not having her here.  She was 16 and such a wonderful dog.  We will love her forever and will never forget her.

So sad....

Yesterday, Kevin and I had to make a very hard decision.  I made an appointment with the vet to put our old dog down.  She's 16 and really going downhill.  She's just a mess and is suffering with arthritis, dementia, blindness, deafness and just general not feeling well.  My daughter found out this evening that we are going to do it (hubby was a little less than quiet when talking about it with his sister and I hadn't told her yet, yikes).  She is really upset.  We have had the dog longer than my daughter has been alive.  She told me this evening that the dogs are her sisters and it just broke my heart.  Please pray for her and for Kevin and I for that matter because this is really hard on us to have to do this.  Neither of us has done it before and it's just terrible.  Tuesday, Valentine's Day is when we are doing it.  What a day to do it huh?  It's the ultimate act of love though, to help her not to suffer any longer.  I know she will be better off, but it doesn't help the pain of it.

This is Angel when she was much younger and we had another dog than our little one that we have now.  (that's the leg you see behind her, the other dog)  She has always been such a good dog and so sweet.  I am just devastated.  :(

Trusting in the Lord

I received this from a co-worker and had been looking for a subject to do my devotional for our Ladies Meeting later this month. God made sure that she sent this to me just when I needed it. This is what my co-worker sent me later after I told her that I knew that He had her send that just for me.

It must have been meant for you. I received that email from my sister-in-law about the middle of last week and I was too busy to read it. I skimmed my email again first thing this morning and I still said, I’ll read it later. Well, around lunch time I got a pop up message from Kohl’s which led me to go into my email and I decided I would read that email now, and it was awesome I had to send it on.

TRUST GOD'S PLAN FOR YOUR DAY:

Me: (in a tizzy): God, can I ask you something?
GOD: Sure.
Me: Promise you won't get mad?
GOD: I promise.
Me (frustrated): Why did you let so much stuff happen to me today?
GOD: What do you mean?
Me: Well I woke up late,
GOD: Yes
Me: My car took forever to start,
GOD: Okay....
Me (growling): At lunch, they made my sandwich wrong and I had to wait
GOD: Hmmmm..
Me: On the way home, my phone went dead, just as I picked up a call
GOD: All right
Me (loudly): And to top it all off, when I got home, I just wanted to soak my feet in my foot massager and relax, but it wouldn't work.  Nothing went right today! Why did you do that?
GOD: Well let me see..... The death angel was at your bed this morning and I had to send one of the other angels to battle him for your life.  I let you sleep through that.
Me (humbled): Oh...
GOD: I didn't let your car start because there was a drunk driver on your route that might have hit you if you were on the road
Me (ashamed): ............
GOD: The first person who made your sandwich today was sick and I didn't want you to catch what they have, I knew you couldn't afford to miss work
Me (embarrassed): Oh.....
GOD: Your phone went dead because the person that was calling was going to give a false witness about what you said on that call, I didn't even let you talk to them so you would be covered
Me (softly): I see God
GOD: Oh and that foot massager, it had a short that was going to throw out all of the power in your house tonight. I didn't think you wanted to be in the dark.
Me: I'm sorry God.
GOD: Don't be sorry, just learn to trust me.........in all things, the good and the bad
Me: I WILL trust you God
GOD: And don't doubt that my plan for your day is always better than your plan
Me: I won't God. And let me just tell you God, thank you for everything today.
GOD: You're welcome child. It was just another day keeping my promises; I just love looking after my children.

Scriptural References: II Samuel 22:31, Proverbs 3:5, Hebrews 2:13

II Samuel 22:31

As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.

Proverbs 3:5

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

Hebrews 2:13

And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.

As you can see from the dialogue, it is really hard for us to trust Him. We get so caught up in our selfishness and day to day routines that we don’t stop to think that there might just be a reason that our pattern/routine was interrupted for that day. I am a HUGE grumbler when things do not go as I want them to. Notice I said, AS I WANT THEM TO. I am getting better at trusting that He is all knowing, all seeing and already there to make sure that I am safe and well taken care of. Let’s think about that for a minute. I’m imagining a large hand ever ready to shoot out and deflect all of the bad stuff of the world. Kind of like when our kid’s were little and us mothers were right there trying to shield them from all of that terrible stuff in the world. My Father is right there for me every second of every day.

I say to my husband all the time, we must not have been meant to do that and it has caught on with him too because he says it as well. It is hard to put that much trust in something and someone. You know though, when you accept Jesus, that’s what happens. It all gets taken care of. We may not think so at the time, but He is always in control and He always has a handle on everything in our lives. As I am writing this, I am thinking, how awesome it is that I have such a wonderful and loving Savior to be there for me every second of every day and how warm and cozy it feels in his loving arms.

This personal relationship with Jesus is what was behind this email being shared with the right person and then provided to me at just the right time. He is always on time, always.

What a day!

We took off work today and tomorrow for Kevin's birthday.  He is turning the big 40.  We are having some quality time together to celebrate. 

Today we moved around furniture and cleaned up this mess if a place.  Burned a bunch of calories doing so too! 

I am right on track to lose my goal of 40 lbs by Relay.  Check out my healthy snack after our "workout". 

I am so flag I made the decision to get healthy.  I know that is how the Lord wants me to be.