An Appointment with God!

This past weekend I participated in a Prayer Fast at our church. When it was first mentioned I was all for it, then as time began to get closer I wondered if I wanted to go, but God wasn't calling me to go. Last week I realized that I needed to be there. I needed to go for two reasons: I needed peace over a situation I had no peace over, and I needed to address and put behind me my issues with pride. I told my husband I have to go! When I got there I was emotional, it was weird, I didn't know why. The evening began with 7 women. I'm not going to go into specifics about the whole evening, there's no way I could! I wanted to share 2 of the many scriptures that the Lord laid on my heart over that a 21 hour period.

Isaiah 26: 3 & 4

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.

and

Lamentations 2:18-19

The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. O wall of the Daughter of Zion, let your tears flow like a river day and night; give yourself no relief, your eyes no rest. Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at the head of every street.

The Lord gave me exactly what I needed. He comforted me with His peace and gently instructed me in His way. Where there is pride God cannot work. We discussed the different ways that pride manifests itself. There were ways we were surprised by. We prayed, sang, cried, laughed, and slept a little. We were blessed by the God inspired music of one. It added a dimension to our individual time that I will always remember and be thankful for. I found I liked V8 vegetable juice!!! We came away surprisingly refreshed, not hungry, and with a sadness that it was over. I thought that when I got home that I would be attack because that alway's seems to happen after a mountain top experience, but God shielded me from that so my family and I could have a nice quiet, blessed evening together.

To those who could not attend or did not feel lead to attend, but prayed for us, your prayers were answered!

I want to thank Nancy for being such a faithful servant of the LORD. She is a blessing and a continual well of spiritual knowledge and encouragement. I am so glad that we all get to benefit from her time with Him!

Praising God for His incredible greatness!!!!!!

Art Appreciation 101?!

Yesterday was a perfect Fall day so we decided that we would take the kids to the Frederick Meijer Gardens. Bekah's class went there when we were in Pittsburgh and she really wanted to go. I have always wanted to see the replica of Da Vinci's horse so I was O.K. with going too. The horse did not disappoint. It is beautiful! Very big and very detailed, and I mean every detail (nuf said).

From this point we travel into the sculpture loop, and we get a lesson in art and that it is subjective. The old saying "one man's junk is another man's treasure" is like saying "One man's art is like another man's huh?!" There were alot of displays around the loop that made you wonder "what were they thinking, or smoking when they came up with that one?" The great thing about this all is in everything there is a lesson to be learned. Jeremiah has always struggled in art. He doesn't think he is good at it, so he doesn't want to try. We told him we've seen his work and it's about as good as this, so look at the money he could make. Case in point this little fella. We still don't know what happen to 1/2 his face. I think this was called the thinker. I like the original better.

The picture of Bekah is cool, but I really don't think a huge garden spade is art, do you? I like art Van Gogh, Da Vinci, Rodin, Knoper (Nancy). I have to admit I just don't get some art! Can someone out there help me understand?

Another thing that we had to confront is they had a replica of Rodin's "Eve". I don't know if you know what this is, but it's a naked woman. The kids really took issue with this. Especially of course Jeremiah. His words after we left were "way to many naked women, I am a 10 year old boy after all"! We reminded him that he is 11 and yeah probably not a great idea to have naked women around.

This all left my family quite perplexed. Both Steve and I decided that we would rather take a walk in the woods on a day like yesterday, then walk through art. Lesson learned. For the 2 naysayers yesterday (and you know who you are), you were right on one count but we had to try. Like I said the Horse was great! Oh, one more thing, $38 dollars was spent to learn our "art" lesson. Money well spent, hum?

A Special Invitation

Today I got to be a stand in Nana! Most of you know that my sister Sandy and brother-in-law Ralph had to move to Mississippi for work. Well that left Samantha and Erica without 1/2 of their Grandparents to come to Grandparents day at Allendale Christian Schools. I cannot believe it, but Erica wanted to ask me if I would come because I was her Nana's sister. To say I was honored by this is an understatement. Even when people I told teased me about being a Grandma I didn't mind, and believe me I told alot of people. Well today was the day, and it was great to see all the grandparents, and to see how excited the kids were to show their grandparents their school, desk, artwork etc.... I really enjoyed myself, and a couple of times had to work really hard at not crying (I know Brandon thinks the Klifman side crys alot, which of course we do!) I thought I would be the hippest (?) grandma there, but I think there were quite a few hipper them me! I think I did get some strange looks from people who kind of know me and were trying to figure it out. Even Mrs. Warners (samantha's 3rd grade teacher that both Jeremiah and Bekah had for Pre-school) asked "are you their Aunt, and I said yes, but actually I'm their dad's Aunt". It's hard for people to get sometimes, but that is one of the joys of coming from a large family. Here are some pictures of today. I wish I were a better picture taker. I couldn't keep my hands still. The last picture is of a picture Erica made of her favorite story in the bible. It goes like this "My favorite Bible story is when Jacob is tricked by his uncle and gets married to the sister of Leah who he wanted to marry" reason why this is favorite "I like this story because I like the colors pink and purple which are the colors of most wedding flowers." Remember this in years to come when Erica gets married, we'll see if they are the colors she chooses. She made sure to tell me I had to share it with Uncle Steve, and show Jeremiah and Bekah.

Erica thank you so much for inviting me! If you and Samantha ever need another stand in Nana I'm your girl!!!!!

Our cheerleader!!!!!

Tonight we went to the Rocket Cheerleader pizza party. At this party all the girls got a trophy, a dog tag with their name on it and a little gift bag. Here is our little cheerleader with her stuff. Just thought I'd share it. Have a great night!

Things I love about Fall

The pooch and I went in search of Fall colors today to add to this post. We really didn't find what I was looking for (it's always there when I don't have a camera), but Champ loves to go in the van so he was happy. I've been thinking of all that I love about Fall, so I thought that I would put them down.

1. Of course I love the color changing. I love the lesson that the Lord give us that there is beauty in Death, through the dieing of the leaves.
2. I love the smells of Fall. The leaves on the ground that add an aroma to the air.
3. I love sweatshirts and jeans.
4. I love going to football games (when I go) and it's cold enough where I have to where a coat, mittens, and wrap up in a blanket, sipping good coffee, and chatting with people.
5. I love coming home and having a cup of cappuccino on a cool day.
6. I love taking walks with my family in the woods. Let Champ off his leash so he can hop and frolic.
7. I love raking leaves and watching the kids have a great time playing in them.
8. I love when we can still have fires out back. Sitting around it and enjoying the crispness in the air.
9. I love the way the clouds look. They have a coldness in them and a different color gray in the sky then other times of the year. It says winters coming.
10. I love the way the sun makes the trees look on beautiful sunny fall days.
11. I love how God sends that last big gust of wind to take the last remaining leaves off the trees before winter starts.
12. I love how the leaves in our front yard always get blown clear of our yard and into Ponshairs. (tee hee)
13. I love picking up leaves with the kids and seeing the beautiful patterns in them. We don't do this much any more because they are older now.
14. I love the sound of geese heading south (which I've stated before).
15. I love the first snow fall. When it's only a few that are coming down you run to the window and watch.
16. I love using our woodstove for the 1st time. It feels so warm and cozy in here. Then it get's stinkin hot (right Diane?)

I don't know if that's it or not, but I think I've gone on long enough. Have a great day and remember:

Romans 8: 19-22 (I love this chapter in Romans, it's a chapter of victory!)

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

My first Award!

This is so much fun! My friend Mari just give me this award! I love getting to know people better that I already know, and learning about new people. You would never think average, everyday life would be so much fun to read about, but you can see peoples personality in their blog, and so many other things about them. Thanks Mari!!!

Nothing happening today so Pictures

Here are more pictures of our trip this summer. Bekah and I took a walk on my birthday and we saw that someone had used rocks to spell this out on the beach. Just in case you can't read it it says "Thank you God."

We were fishing out on Muskellunge lake and we had a full moon come up. It was more breathtaking then this photo shows.

TQ falls at very low water. It was fun for the kids to wade in, but sad that it was so low.

This is the beginnings of the fire that burned something like 19,000 acres. When we left on that Saturday it was very smoky along the road. A couple days after we left they closed the only paved road to Muskellunge. The only other way out was to travel 14 miles on dirt roads to Grand Mariha(?) That's not how you spell it, but for the life of me I can't remember it right now.

Have a great night!