WHOOT! WHOOT!

Yesterday I went to The Price Is Right
show! Our friend Kathy is out visiting from Tennessee – and this was one
of the things on her list to do while she was here visiting California (her
family moved from here about 13 years ago).  Kathy got her tickets on line
and my friend Diane ordered ours over the phone a few weeks before hand. But
possessing a ticket does not guarantee you that you will actually get into the
show.  There are only 325 seats and they give out a lot more tickets than
that – so it’s all on a first-arrival-first-get-an-actual-ticket basis.

We
live about 40 minutes from the CBS studio, where The Price Is Right show is
taped.  I got up at 4:15am and we were on the road by 5:15am. 
Luckily we hit very, very little traffic and got there by 6am.  Our
friend, Di, who drove, dropped me off along with our friend, Dina, and Kathy’s
son, Cory, at the end of the line while Di and Kathy went to park the
car.  Thank goodness she did!!!  When all was said and done, us five
were 8^th from the last person to get a seat at the show!!! If we had
parked and then gotten in line, we wouldn't have made it in.  It wasn’t
until around 11:30 that we knew for sure that we were actually getting into the
show.  That was exhausting by itself – waiting around to find out if we
actually get in!  I mean what a waste to get up so early and wait around
for so long not to get in!!

I didn’t get picked to be a contestant, but the
guy next to me did!! So I will definitely be on TV screaming as he jumps up to “come on down”.  The
show airs October 20^th!  His name was Derek and he was the last
contestant to be picked for the show (so right before the showcases!).

EDIT -- and NO! He did not win anything!

It was a fun day, but not one I’d attempt any
time soon again! Here’s a picture my girls took of me when I got home!

Well, that's about it... Have a fabulous week!
~me

Yeah! Tomorrow is Friday!  Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!



This has been a long, hot week!!! 
<-- those are my rosy cheeks from being so hot! We live only about
5 miles from the beach (as the crow flies) and usually around 1 or 2 in
the afternoon we get a nice sea breeze that keeps the temperatures bearable... not today -- today it was
stiflingly still!  Even now... no breeze in sight...



I have so much laundry to do but I haven't wanted to go in my garage to
do it because it's gotta be 20 degrees hotter in there than even outside --
and outside today it was in the 90s.



Oh well, maybe I'll stay up until mid-night and then start doing it
then--> ha! maybe not! The warm air -- it's still in the 80's in my
house now at 9:35 at night -- is making me veeeeeeeeeeeery
sleepy. 



Tomorrow we go to the beach and then we have some good friends coming over to watch some silly movies. That should be fun.



Saturday my girls perform at the Orange County Fair again.  Here are some pictures of when the performed on Tuesday:

This is Gracie's Ballet group (she's on the right end).  My daughter Valerie, the tall one, was a helper for her class.

Oh, so dramatic -- Gracie on the left... Val up front

Good job girls!

 
This is Valerie's and Julie's tap class.  Val is on the very left and Julie is right next to her.

 Tapping toes...

Grand Finale

Val
& Julie's Ballet class -- they did a number to different princess
songs -- Valerie is Belle and Julie is Tinkerbell -- I made Julie's
dress.

Aren't they beautiful?!!!

So very graceful!

Also -- I finished all my lesson planning and scheduling for next school year!  YEAH!!!!   I got most of it done in April -- just finished it up yesterday and today.

Well -- that's all for now!  Love to you all!
~me

Good Monday Morning to you all!  How was your weekend?

My surgery on Friday went good.  We decided to only remove the
scar tissue from one side, not both, because the other side looked good
enough for me.  I hated the shots ,
but all in all it wasn't that bad.  Just exhausting being awake
while they are doing what they are doing... won't go into any gory
details, but you know.

It hurt a quite a bit on Friday night  and ached a bit on Saturday, but yesterday it didn't bother me a bit. Yeah!

The neighbor boy is doing well.  All stitched up -- dozens of
stitches, though.  It's gonna leave some good scars, but mainly
just on his forehead, so that's good.

We had a church picnic yesterday.  I had a good time. I couldn't
resist playing volleyball -- much to my friends' dismay (because of the
stitches) -- but the stitches are in a place that doesn't move with
movement of my arms.  So I promised if it started to hurt, I'd
quit. It never did.  I skipped my turn on serving and tried not to
use my right arm alone, so, I'm glad that I got to play.   It was a
lot of fun, but VERY hot!!! <- those are my sunburned cheeks!

Afterwards, some friends came over for a impromptu dinner and
swim.  It was very relaxing and fun. Then off to bed and had a
good sleep!


Here another quote from Oswald this last week that I thought was really good:

...
My
vision of God is dependent upon the condition of my character. My
character determines whether or not truth can even be revealed to me.
Before I can say, "I saw the Lord," there must be something in my
character that conforms to the likeness of God. Until I am born again
and really begin to see the kingdom of God, I only see from the
perspective of my own biases. What I need is God’s surgical procedure—
His use of external circumstances to bring about internal purification.

Your
priorities must be God first, God second, and God third, until your
life is continually face to face with God and no one else is taken into
account whatsoever. Your prayer will then be, "In all the world there
is no one but You, dear God; there is no one but You."

I thought this was interesting
because usually I'd say, God first,  my family second, then...
whatever third, forth and so on.  Hmmm, this makes me think twice
about the way I view things, because thinking my current way, even
though I have my priority as God first, I might be tempted to move
family into that spot in maybe certain circumstances.  Hmmm...
yes, good to meditate on.

Well, have a great week! 
~me

Hello all my xanga friends!  Glad you stopped by!!!

Before I get started with all my goings on, I wanted to give you an opportunity to pray for a new xanga friend
I met.  Her name is Donna and she has been battling ovarian cancer
for 5 years now. From reading her site I see that she is a neat
Christian gal, that loves the Lord deeply! You can drop her a note at
the link above and maybe subscribe to her!  I know I would have
appreciated it if I had xanga when I was going through cancer - to be
surrounded by prayer and having encouraging notes from women all over
the USA!!!!!!

As far as me, the Lord is so good to gently nudge us when we are
tempted to walk the wrong way.  I was irriated with someone this
morning because I felt they were not taking my feelings into
consideration.  I sat down for my morning devotion -- and here is
the verse I was to mediated on for today --

Again, from My Utmost for His Highest

I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also

—Matthew 5:39

This
verse reveals the humiliation of being a Christian. In the natural
realm, if a person does not hit back, it is because he is a coward. But
in the spiritual realm, it is the very evidence of the Son of God in
him if he does not hit back. When you are insulted, you must not only
not resent it, but you must make it an opportunity to exhibit the Son
of God in your life. And you cannot imitate the nature of Jesus— it is
either in you or it is not. A personal insult becomes an opportunity
for a saint to reveal the incredible sweetness of the Lord Jesus.
...
Never
look for righteousness in the other person, but never cease to be
righteous yourself. We are always looking for justice, yet the essence
of the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is— Never look for justice,
but never cease to give it.

Wholy Moly -- Isn't that a wonderful
reminder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I tell you, it humbled me right to my
socks. How quickly we are to look for perfection (righteousness) in
others when we are not capable of doing it ourselves. 

My night out with my girlfriends was a
BLAST!  We went to this place called the Melting Pot in
Irvine.  It's a foundue place.  It was expensive but a LOT of
fun!

Wow -- I have more to write -- I'll try to edit later, but I have to run right now... Love to you all!!!!

EDIT---

I'm back... my neighbor just walked through a glass plate door. 
His face had some real deep cuts and he was bleeding pretty bad. 
The parametics showed up and bandaged him up so he could get the
hospital.  He's 13 -- if you could pray for him that would be
great.  I expect he'll need dozens of stitches.

I can't remember anything else I was going to write this morning. I was
full of all kinds of stories... well, I'm sure they'll come back to me
another day!

~me

Don't ya just hate it... I went to close another window and killed my post!!!!

Well -- my weekend.... was quiet and relaxing for the most part. Friday
we went to the beach and then I went to bunco that night.  And get
this... I won $30!!!!!! Yeah!

Then I worked in the yard a bit on Sunday - watering and pulling weeds
- throwing junk away.  Then we went to the neighbor girl's baptism
-- then came home and watched Stepford Wives.... silly movie! And then
I BBQ'd a roast on the BBQ rotisserie! Way yummy!!!

This week is quiet.  I have a bit of laundry, a bit of cleaning
and a night out with some friends for one of their birthday's on
Tuesday evening.  I walked on Saturday and Sunday. Today I'm
supposed to do my resistance exercises, but it's so hot and humid, I
think I will do them tonight when it's cooler.

Actually, I'm not sure that it's actually humid or I'm having hot
flashes.  Last year when I was going through chemo, it put me in a
chemically induced menopause. The hot flashes came on quickly and
intensely. Then after a few months my cycle started up again. 

These are more subtle - it just feels like it's really
humid and I'm sweating all of a sudden, but no one around me seems to
be bothered -- maybe it's low sugar -- maybe I'm not eating often
enough.  I've only noticed it in the past few days while I've been
watching my food, but I'm trying to eat small portions every 3 hours -
maybe I need to move it to 2 1/2 and see if that helps.  Either
way, it's time to eat, so I gotta go.

Love to you all!
~me

EDIT -- please be praying for my husband -- he's outside talking with
the mormon neighbor about Jesus Christ.  This is a good start....

Hi ho.

How your week been??? Mine has been busy, busy and still tomorrow --
more busyness, but at least tomorrow is fun busyness - to the beach
then a game of bunco in the evening!

Gracie's birthday was fun and so was the 4th.  Both Sunday and
Monday were REALLY relaxing even with celebrating and entertaining!
Monday we had some good friends over for a swim -- they treated us to
some yummy yummy carne asada and fixin's. Here are some pictures:

Here's all the kids!


Val and Joy


Hopie and Gracie

On a
complete different note, I have some minor surgery next week -- not looking
forward to it as I will not be put to sleep -- I hate shots... I hate
pain... Oh well.  This should be the last thing I need to do for
my reconstruction.



Ok... so I did start exercising! 
Yeah!  I did notice that my chest muscle, where it connects to the
bone, did bother me a bit today.  Hopefully that will not continue
to be the case.  So, yesterday I did resistance exercises and
today I walked while Gracie zoomed back and forth on her new roller
blades. Starting slow, but hope to work up to two days a week resistance and 5 - 6 days fast walking.

Now I am sitting typing listening to my dear daughter serenade me on
the piano -- she plays so beautifully!!!!  The other three are
quietly playing together behind me, laughing.  Such a peaceful
evening!!!

Goodnite.
~me

Yow!  I smashed my finger in the door yesterday
-- actually 3 of them, but one of them really bad.  It's the
middle finger on my left hand -- I don't think I've ever had a bruise
on the palm side of my finger.  I caught it right at the top bend
and right below my nail! Yow!   It's really swollen and
bruised this morning, but doesn't really hurt too much unless I bend
it.  So surprisingly, it doesn't hurt any more than not using it
when I type (meaning, it hurts all the time - dull ache, but not like I
need to take some Tylenol or something).  I play piano for worship
tomorrow night.  I'm gonna have to see if that will be
possible!  Luckily it is my left hand and not my right.

This week has been beautiful here... which is not usually the case - we
usually have June Gloom every day - which is overcast/foggy every day
until like noon.  Today we are going to the beach and wouldn't you
know it? June Gloom -- and on the first day of July to boot!  I
hope it clears or we will freeze and still burn! That stinks!

This is a boring post -- all I seem to be doing is whining! So now I
will say something edifying.  I am so thankful to God for my
children.  And I don't say that lightly.  I love my
relationship with each of them.  They are a blessing!  It is
so neat to seem my children growing in the Lord daily -- fun to be with
the older two as we can sit down and talk as "friends" at times now
that they are maturing.  So much fun to be with the littler two as
they are still all caught up in the beauty of childhood.   I
do miss their littleness at times - I mean, how could you not. 
But, the seasons they are in now is just so much fun.  I've always
heard that little girls are easier than little boys when they are
little, but when they get to their teens, then that switches. 
Since I don't have boys, I can't really comment on that, but for me,
I'd have to say so far, that has been a wives tale.  Sure, they
are a bit more moody and relational, but so am I, so I'm not sure where
that thought came up... probably from the world, but I don't find it
any more difficult having a teen girl, than I did when she was 6 --
probably easier now that she is in relationship with the Lord and
understands and embraces the biblical principles we have tried to
instill in her over the years that makes it much easier.  Oh well
-- I babble -- but I babble in thanksgiving to our GOD and the blessings in my life!

Have a good weekend.
~me

I just got to tell you about the WEIRD dream I had last night!!!

.... as I start to remember it, it was just to weird to try to write
down -- in summary, we sent our daughter on a 2 day cruise (small boat)
that was a retreat of sorts -- only to find out after she had left that
it was a hoax -- it was actually a brainwashing thing to turn the girls
into Mormons!!!!!! aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Must have been that ice cream I had right before I went to bed!!!

This was from Oswald -- the day before yesterday...

We . . . plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain

—2 Corinthians 6:1

The
grace you had yesterday will not be sufficient for today. Grace is the
overflowing favor of God, and you can always count on it being
available to draw upon as needed. ". . . in much patience, in
tribulations, in needs, in distresses"— that is where our patience is
tested.  Are you failing to rely on the grace of God there? Are you
saying to yourself, "Oh well, I won't count this time"? It is not a
question of praying and asking God to help you— it is taking the grace
of God now. We tend to make prayer the preparation for
our service, yet it is never that in the Bible. Prayer is the practice
of drawing on the grace of God. Don't say, "I will endure this until I
can get away and pray." Pray now— draw on the grace of
God in your moment of need. Prayer is the most normal and useful thing;
it is not simply a reflex action of your devotion to God. We are very
slow to learn to draw on God’s grace through prayer.

I found this very helpful in my struggle for patience lately. 
Sometimes I'm just waiting for grace as though it's something that God
needs to impart on me -- I need to remember that I need to draw on His
grace that he has promised to give me over flowingly.

We finally made it to Disneyland last night (we have passes) to watch
the fireworks -- you know the 50th celebration and all.  They were
pretty spectacular.  I can't imagine
how much money they spend every night blowing those off! 
The  amount of people there was pretty spectacular as well... this
50th thing is really bringing the people in.

I'm catching up with all my housework after two weeks of not doing much
because of the other circumstance.  I probably have one more day
of laundry to do.  I'll be glad when I'm caught up.  Then I
have the summer cleaning stuff I'd like to get done.   And --
I have two more year lesson plans to do that I didn't finish in
May. 

I'm also working on transferring our videos to DVD.  That is a huge
project, as we were trying to make them more like a movie style where
you can jump to scenes, but I might give up on that and just copy them
directly to DVD-- only because I'm having trouble with our program
syncing up the video with the audio.  It's so irritating!!!!

Well.. that's all for now. Much love and blessings!
~me

-- EDIT --
HAHAHA! You gotta read my daughter's comment below (BrokenLilBlonde) -- she's a funny girl!!!

WOW! This is bright!!!

Hope you all have had a good weekend.  Mine has been busy. 

I am struggling in the area of love in one particular area of my home
life (well, probably more than one, but one that is bothering me right
now).  It has to do with patience -- I don't want to put the
details because in doing so I will not be hononring and I don't want it
to be about what the other person may or may not be doing, rather on my
own selfish comfort level.  I so want to be encouraging, but I
find myself drained and impatient and it's all I can do to keep my
mouth shut.  So I ask for prayer -- specifically for patience and
encouraging words and longsuffing -- for love is all of these things
and I know through Christ I have everything I need for life and
godliness.  So it is a matter of obedience and walking out my
faith. 

Well -- gotta run.  I am going to a high school graduation party today.

WAY TO GO, ERIC!!!!!!

~me