SAFE AND SECURE IN HIS LOVE

• Is there anything that raises our protective instincts more than a helpless little baby?
• Even more so for God, our heavenly Father, who sees us caught in our sin and unable to free ourselves, worried and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd!
• Try as hard as we will, we can't protect our children from all the pains and struggles of the world, which is why we commend them into God's powerful hands and loving will, from Holy Baptism on, for He has promised,
• "I will never leave you nor forsake you; no one can snatch you out of My hands!" (Joshua 1:5 and John 10:28).
• Enjoy another "grandchild" video, this time accompanied by Barbra Streisand singing "Not While I'm Around," from her Broadway album.

ONE LITTLE HEARTBEAT AT A TIME

• Just a little "movie" in honor of our daughter and her husband who have been gifted with "Isaac Aaron," who is now 9 days old!
• All of us who are older are saying to them, "Enjoy each day you have with him, noticing each change and growth milestone, because before you know it, he;ll have grown up and want to be on his own, which is what you'll have been preparing him to do for all of his life . . .
• So before that day comes, delight in the events, developments, and progress they make one day at a time. Celebrate it with them.
• I'd give just about anything to have those days back again w/ our 4, knowing more today than I did then! At the time, I let myself get too caught up in keeping the bedrooms and playroom clean and neatyard work and housework and seminary coursework, instead of playing and making memories.
• So set your priorities better than I did, dear young ones: let time with them be the most important thing in your lives after time with God---all the rest of it will fall into place and what doesn't get done as soon as you wish, isn't as important as you think it might be. But raising a child who knows and loves the LORD is the most beautiful and important task there is.
• "Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:58b).
• Enjoy the chronicle of Isaac's quiet life for the last week, set to a song by Steven Curtis Chapman, from his CD, This Moment, called "One Little Heartbeat at a Time."

YOUR LOVE IS EXTRAVAGANT

• Rejoice with us!
• We have a new grandson, Isaac Aaron born to Tessa & Jeremy on July 11, healthy, happy, 6 lbs. 13 1/2 oz. and 19 3/4 inches long.
• Grandma Denise is already out there with them & I leave Tues. a.m. Can't wait to hold him!
• Isn't it amazing the love we have for our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren?
• Do we understand that God's love for us in Christ FAR surpasses what we feel for our own. "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though SHE may forget, I will NEVER forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands!" (Isaiah 49:15-16a).
• The gift of a child sure does bring us back to basics and what's really important: relationships. Treasure them!
• And enjoy this song about our relationship with Him by Casting Crowns, called "Your Love is Extravagant."

YOUR GRACE STILL AMAZES ME

• My apologies to those who actually were reading this blog--it's been a while since I've written. Lots has been happening in our lives and God has been busy as usual, always working visibly and invisibly for His people's benefit, including ours.
• In the midst of our loss of Tessa, Jeremy & little Isaac (due any day now in CO), we had the joy of having Gianni with us for three weeks and he kept us happy & busy to say the lease as school wrapped up here in WA finally and we got to have some time away with him at Cannon Beach. Such a joy and so hard to let him go back to his homes in the midwest.
• Denise will be leaving Monday morning for CO to join Tessa for the "labor" process as only a mom can do. I will follow July 14, not soon enough.
• I had the joy of attending our NW District LCMS Convention w/ one of my elders and actually enjoyed it. But we had a sad event--the very first day, one of the delegates, Bill Brackman of Puyallup, WA, slipped and fell, hitting his head at the Convention Center in Portland, OR. He went into a coma, never regained consciousness &, unable to breathe on his own, the Lord called him to his heavenly home! Who would have expected such a thing? Reminds us all to appreciate each day we are given and to be ready in faith, because out time could come at any moment.
• We were privileged several years ago, w/ friends from our congregation to visit Bill & his wife and their beautifully tended rhododendron gardens. The pictures below were taken then. We pray for their family in confidence that the Master Gardener has received His son into heaven . . . . for His promise to us all is "Be faithful, even unto death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Revelation 2:10).
• God has fulfilled for Bill this promise as well, "The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land; you will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail" (Isaiah 58:11).
• The Water of Life, our Lord Jesus Christ, has refreshed Bill fully. May He do so for us in part as we live in this world still, amazing us with His grace each day! Enjoy Phillips, Craig & Dean's song, "Your Grace Still Amazes Me," as you watch some of Bill's rhododendron garden.

HE'LL NEVER LET YOU GO

• It's been a rough couple of weeks & what a blessing to be able to talk things through with a friend.
• The long, firm handshake afterwards reminded me of God's firm grasp on us, as well as God's promise:
  "Be strong and courageous(impossible, Lord! for me; more & more I realize what a weakling I really am!). Do not be afraid or terrified, for the LORD your God goes with you (thanks for coming along, Lord, the road has been hard lately); He will never leave you nor forsake you (You are my courage and strength)" (Deuteronomy 31:6).
• Enjoy Phillips, Craig & Dean's song, "He'll Never Let You Go."

DO I TRUST YOU, LORD?

• My heart is breaking.
• This is another one of those times in my life where the "rubber hits the road," as they say. Where I need to "put my money where my mouth is." Where I practice what I preach: trusting the Lord and His ways . . . even when I can't understand them or see the outcome or wonder why He's doing things the way He is, when the pain of what’s happening is threatening to overwhelm me, when I want to scream out “NO!” and take control of the situation and make it work the way I think it should go. And yet, with all my heart, I’m trying to pray, “Not my will be done, Lord, but Thine,” as Jesus did.
• It's not easy for any of us, is it? This time we have to let go of our middle daughter, her husband and their soon-to-be-born baby, after enjoying their company and working in the same congregation with them for two wonderful years. She has accepted a call to teach and direct a preschool at another Lutheran school in another state.
• I know it will be a wonderful opportunity for her to continue to use her gifts and expand her skills; and he will be able to find work there more easily than out here in the city. And the baby will be loved deeply by his grandparents there, of course. And I know we can fly back and forth to see them, as many grandparents do today.
• But oh, how I had already planned the future I thought we were going to have. You've done that in your life too, haven't you?
• I was ready to care for the baby on Mondays, my day off, and we'd go for long stroller walks and maybe I could get back in shape doing so. And we'd have all kinds of fun, reading books, playing in the yard, going to the ocean, riding in my blue volkswagen, flying kites, and watching him crawl, take his first steps, say his first words, then start Sunday school, and preschool, and get to participate in his activities, and have him come up on Sunday mornings for the children's message, and then come over to Mimi & Papa's on Sunday afternoons to give mom & dad a break, and have holidays together and celebrate birthdays up close and personal & do all the things that families get to do when they live in the same town!
• And now, the plans I've made, many of which I'm not even aware of yet, are not going to happen. At least not the up close and personal part. So I'm praying for our "children" as they move away from us with all the challenges they will face so soon . . . and I'm praying for us as well as we try to adjust to what plenty of other people have already adjusted.
• Lord, I'm not liking it at all right now . . . but I will trust You, and down the road, maybe we'll understand why this is all happening . . . and then again, maybe not.
• Twila Paris' song, "Do I Trust You?" has always been an encouragement to me at moments like this in my life. May it be for you as well when you find yourself in similar situations.

MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION

• Lately, as the weather has been so beautiful, I've been spending lots of time (when available) in my yard, trying to catch up from last summer not being able to do anything because of my knee replacement. What a mess that made for this year!
• But also what a "fun" non-work activity (even though they call it "yard work", if you will, and GREAT therapy for most tensions.
• This Sunday afternoon, though, rather than yard work, we went to the Washington Rhododendron Species Garden sponsored by Weyerhauser Inc. and beside the beautiful rhodies, we saw all kinds of native wildflowers and groundcovers and this beautiful BLUE poppy! We bought two tiny plants, hoping they'll bloom in the rest of our poppy patch . . .
• As much as I enjoy plants and gardening, my real obsession is the same as St. Paul's, "I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead" (Philippians 3:10-11).
• Enjoy Steven Curtis Chapman's song, "Magnificent Obsession." What has captivated all your attention?

RESCUE ME

• Snoqualmie Falls! What a beautiful site just 40 minutes NE of where we live.
• A powerful force--incredible when it is at flood stage--very, very misty when the wind is blowing, and NOISY! And it spills 268 feet till it drops into a 65 foot deep pool below.
• Can't imagine going over the edge! What a nightmare! And certain death. Not unlike our predicament as we are caught in our sin & dragged to certain a death if it weren't for Jesus Christ!
• Because of His perfect life and sacrificial death, we are RESCUED! "The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen" (2 Timothy 4:18).
• Enjoy this song from the Newsboys, from their CD "Thrive."

HOW DEEP THE FATHER'S LOVE FOR US

• I was born near the ocean and live near it now; can't imagine moving away from it. Its power always fascinates me; its size puts things into perspective for me whenever I walk along the shore.
• Micah, the prophet, offers us such comfort & assurance of forgiveness in his 7th chapter, verses 18-19: "Who is a God like You, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea!"
• Wow! No one can ever see our sin again, because it's buried in the depths of the ocean! Thank You, Jesus!!!
• Enjoy this song by Philips, Craig & Dean, "How Deep the Father's Love For Us," from their CD, "Let Your Glory Fall."

GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY

• What a beautiful Good Shepherd Sunday! Lots of wonderful "lamb" music as one of our members said.
• And how I need a shepherd's guiding, leading, feeding, restoration, correction, and loving care each day.
• Because of it, "The Lord IS MY shepherd, I shall not want" (Psalm 23:1).
• Enjoy Michael Card's "The King of Love My Shepherd Is" from his CD, Starkindler.