I'm baaaack!!!!

Hey...
I'm baaaaaack!
I just arrived from Ramona CA where I along with 9 others from here and Puget Sound served as a disaster relief recovery team.
It was hard work, to be sure, but very very gratifying.
We served on the La Jolla and Rincon Indian "Rez" where we cleared 15 burned out sites along with one house that had been decimated by a flash flood.
What was amazing to me was the peace that these resilient people exhuded from their very pores!
They are very spiritual....and some even have a saving knowledge of God and His Son, Jesus.
We had wonderful conversations with the people...we talked about their heritage, their beliefs, about Jesus, about their lives.....it was wonderful.
I tried to get a little momento from each work site to remind me to pray for these folks even after I get home.
I got Red Oak pods from Chuck and Patsy's place to remind me of their beautiful oak tree that survived the fire; I plan on placing these in my yard to remind me of new life.
I hiked down into this canyon below the trailer park that we cleared where I gathered rocks for the team to take home as reminders of our trip.
The rose quartz rocks were everywhere...they absolutely sparkled in the sun....they will remind me of the sparkle in the eyes of those we served; Fred, Chuck, Patsy, Glenda, Chase, Mitzi and her family, the unnamed.
Bruce picked up a stump from a burned Oak tree; he is going to cut it up and make plaques for each of our team as a reminder of the healing hand of God over difficult circumstances and how He can take a tragedy and use it for good.
Everytime I go to a disaster situation I wonder what God will show me...
I think, for me, it was just that they need workers...people who will show up, under the age of 60, and work their very hardest until the work is done.
I love the like-mindedness of the group: we are here to work...period!
There is no glory...just sweat...and sometimes tears.....

Pretty simple....and this is my lesson: ministry doesn't have to be grand to be good, it doesn't require an agenda...just obedience.
I think, too, that God used this time to show those around me that He is faithful.
Thank you, Father, for your strength to do the work and for your faifulness to this child, and thank you for my friends who stepped in to watch over my family while I was away.
My encouragement to you would be this:

GET INVOLVED!!!!!

Disaster Relief needs young people to serve and work hard and make a difference in a disaster.
75% of those involved are senior citizens!
They need workers.....with strong backs...and a strong resolve just to serve.
I think the disaster here in our own state is a great way to start!
Our team was already called out while we still in CA!!!!!
They need workers!!!!!!!
It's intense, but so worth it.
As a parting gift you'll receive some lovely yellow t-shirts and a yellow hat that nobody looks good in....tired muscles, sore backs, achy feet.
Remember the words of Jesus:

"Whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cool water to drink, truly I say to you he shall not lose his reward."
Matthew 10:42

I was hopin' for a snow day....

It snowed!!!!
It was glorious!
It melted......
Now, as I look outside it is blue sky and sunny and equally glorious!
I love the changes in weather....
I love the newness of the day and I look forward to what the day will bring.
Sometimes drab and dreary....sometimes...glorious!
But, everyday is a gift, that's for sure.
What are we doing with our glorious day?
A trip to the library...maybe a "blizzard" stop.....hangin' with my girls...it's all good.

Amazing Grace.....

We just watched this amazing movie: Amazing Grace

WOW!!!

It is the true story of Wm Wilberforce who used his influence in the Parliament to end the slave trade.
It took 15 long, grueling, physically draining years to accomplish this goal, but he never gave up.
How inspiring!
That kind of passion is so rare.....so important.
Anyhoo, it's a fantastic film with discussion questions at the end and even a follow-up bible study for small groups.
Cool.

an opportunity to serve....

Well, it looks like our local Disaster Relief is being deployed down to Southern California this week to help with clean-up after the fires.
This will be new experience for me since I've usually been part of a feeding crew, though I'm not suggesting that is a cake-walk, not at all.
When you are deployed anywhere for Disaster Relief it is going to be hard work, no matter what you are doing, but it is such a labor of love to being able to serve and make a difference in a disaster situation.
My husband is worried about my neck...I'm not.
God has graciously healed it.
I am pain-free and have been for 5 weeks!
I should be recovering from surgery right now, that is how bad it was, but I and those around me prayed for my healing and God chose to heal it.
THANK YOU JESUS!!!!!
Did God heal me for such a time as this: so that I could serve in this way????
You know, God doesn't promise anywhere in His word that this life will be a cake-walk, He justs asks us to trust and obey and He will never leave us nor forsake us.
I do trust you, Father, and I want to obey.
Use me, I pray.

thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving day!
We hosted dinner this year for Con's family and for some dear friends and it was very sweet.
At one point we had written down on paper what we are thankful for and then tried to guess who wrote it.
That was fun....
It got me thinking....we should all be that transparent.
Those who are most important around us should always know what we are thankful for because we should make it a habit to say it out loud.
I am thankful for Jesus and His salvation, for my amazing family who loves me inspite of my warts, for my friends who make me want to be better than I am, for the freedom that we have, for those who have paid and are paying the ultimate sacrifice for that continued freedom.
I wonder if I'd been one of those oppressed people in England, would I have been courageous enough to leave everything I knew behind to go to a New World and start over from scratch?????
I don't know.....
I don't think I'm that brave.
I don't even participate in Black Friday.
I'm definately not that brave.
Maybe people were made up differently back then, yeah, that's gotta be it.
They were stronger and more resilient than us contemporaries, who expect everything yesterday with little or no pain/difficulty.
God knew what He was doing when he inspired those folks to this New World and He knew they would make it because He was there right beside them, holding them up.
I am so thankful for those brave people who sacrificed so much for the freedom to worship God in their own way.
I suppose they had no idea what would become of this great country....how quickly we would forget why they came here in the first place....how quickly we would forget God's plan for this country.....shame on us.
I will not forget.

my dream....

So....
I had this amazing dream the other night.
I dreamed that my mother was alive!(in reality, she died when I was 7 years old.)
Apparently, she had not died but had lapsed into a coma after her heart attack and when she'd awakened, my dad had already remarried and we'd moved away.(true, very true.)
She moved into a house just 2 blocks from our old home and waited for us to come back to her; we never did.
Anyway, in this dream I had heard of a woman who lived close to my childhood home with fiery red hair named, Neva, which was the exact description of my mother, and so, I went to see this woman.
I walked up to the house and saw a man I didn't know and then I looked in the window and I saw her...it was my mother!
I went to the door and asked for Neva and there she was.
I told her that I was her daughter, Lori, and she gave me a look that said she'd have to be convinced and so I convinced her.
In the end she started crying and ran into my arms and it felt so real.
I swear I could smell her....she asked about my brother and sister(I have 3 brothers and a sister) and I told her about them.
I couldn't wait to go get my sister and tell her that mom was alive.
Apparently, my brother already knew and hadn't told anyone(typical).
Anyway, there it is.
I woke up with this thought in my head: "there, I can give you your mother, too."
Slightly alarmed, I got up and wrote it down before it got all fuzzy.
I kept thinking: what does it mean and was this a gift from the Lord, or what?
My friend, Dana, suggested I give it to her friend who interprets dreams.
My question to her was how can she possibly do that without even knowing me?
Apparently she believes that dreams are all symbolic.
By the way, this woman is a Christian, don't worry, I'm not seeking other-world divinists.
So, I think I'll let this woman look at it and she what she has to say, if anything, it'll make for a good story.
I'll let you know....

MySpace tragey...

Did anyone see the news this am about the 13 yr. old girl who committed suicide after being the vicitm of an on-line hoax on MySpace????
It was hideous!!!!
Apparently it was orchestrated by the PARENTS of a friend who wanted to teach her a lesson after she hurt their daughter's feelings.
OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!
These parents have escaped prosecution for criminal behavior and, yet, isn't it criminal the way they targeted this little girl and tortured her emotionally????
I mean, who are the adults in this situation????
Uhhhhh.....
I don't even know where to begin....it's so appalling on so many levels.
As someone who is committed to Christ, I know that it is not loving to sue those who injure us, ya know, we are to turn the other cheek, and all.
However, as a cautionary tale I believe this needs to have light shed all over it, after all, we cannot change the things that we don't acknowledge, right???
I hope the media keeps it alive and I hope MYSpace, who is owned by Fox will take steps to prosecute people who take advantage of their resources.
I'm just sayin'.....

my new read....

Here's the new read:

"One home at a time" by Dennis Rainey.
The synapses would be:

Restoring the soul of America through God's plan for your marriage and family.

This is a MUST read for those who are passionate about ministering to their family and for those who have gotten "slightly-jaded" with the Church and it's "over-programming." (that would be me.)

In the first few chapters He talks of the "silent stirrings of reformation" and of the "Index of Leading Cultural Indicators" tracing the decline of American society through such things as crime, out-of-wedlock births, abortion, divorce, child abuse, etc.
The #1 spiritual indicator is this:

We have lost our fear of God.
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." Proverbs. 1:7
He says that as a people we have rejected the rules because we have lost respect for the Ruler.
It is a heartfelt conviction that He is not only loving and personal, but holy and just as well.
It is the awareness that God sees and knows everything I think, feel, and do. When I fear God, He becomes preeminent in my life.
As a culture who says there is no God, no absolute authority, then it is an easy leap to see that people feel no accoutablity to anything so they do as they please.
Why keep promises, why fulfill my vows, why carry out my responsibilites?
All one needs do is watch the evening news to see new ways this country has no fear of our Lord God, in fact, this culture openly despises Him and mocks His Word.
How sad...I can see God weeping over his creation, how depicable we've become.
I desire to be counter-cultural.
I am in the world but not of the world.
This family will survive...we will fight for the right to be called "sons of God."
We will stand in the gap....and say, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

I want a new attitude..

OK, so I think that it is time to have a heart to heart with the kids at our church over the attitude of their worship and their hearts.
Seriously, it has gotten ridiculous!
We have a handful that are hungry for God's word and for serious study, but the rest of them....I'm not even sure why they're there, which is what I want to talk about with them.
It's interesting, the timing of it all; all of the leadership are completely sick of it all and we've finally talked amongst ourselves to realize that we have a problem, and, cooincidently, the youth pastor has asked for us to take charge of the evening cuz he can't be there.
In other words, we have a captive audience, but, really we want to take the time to tell the kids how we feel about their behavior and how we believe it's time for something new...a new attitude!
My friend, Jill, showed me an email about Saddle mountain church, Rick Warren's fellowship, and how they are seeing now that they have approached their church programs completely wrong.
They have seen that people are not closer to God or each other because of the programs offered.
In fact, they believe it about corporate prayer and Bible study.
This is the most influential church in America admitting they've done it wrong!!!!!!!
We, the Church, have lost our way to the hiways and biways of over-programming when the answer is so simple; love our neighbors, pray with them and over them, independently and corporately, and study God's word, individually, and as families.
Kudos to that church for identifying a problem AND finding a Godly solution to that problem.
They are my heroes and my inspiration to do what must be done at our church, even if it's hard.

laid back Friday night

We're getting ready to watch SM3, I'm so excited!!!
I love Spiderman....
I think because he embodies strength and vulnerablity, humility and confidence, all together in a beautiful balance.
Yeah...that's right....it's his character that I admire.
Call me kooky, but I like Spiderman cuz he's a real super-hero.
Batman is OK, a bit....too mysterious, I think, and, his lips are nicer than mine...that's distracting to me.
Anyway, movie's on...gotta go.

Ta daaah!!!

OK, so here I am in a new spot, but, I haven't changed, I promise.
Hope you like the new look.