Miracles abound...

On January 29th I wrote concerning a friend of mine who had been diagnosed with cancer. She had surgery and was only given a 10% chance of survival with treatment. She opted to forgo treatment and rely on God's grace. I called her about a week ago to check on her again, because I knew that she was supposed to see her doctor again in July. What she told me inspired me - she is completely cancer free. God is truly good!!!

This is a big "miracle", but there are small miracles we encounter every day and often don't acknowledge them as such. (ie. an addict getting off drugs, a family surviving a tragedy intact, etc.)

I want to challenge each of you to look for the miracles every day and praise God for the blessings He has given us.

Here's the quote for the day:

Sometimes it seems like God is difficult to find and impossibly far away. We get so caught up in our small daily duties and irritations that they become the only things that we can focus on. What we forget is that God's love and beauty are all around us, every day, if only we would take the time to look up and see them.
Matthias, Correction Weblog, 11-01-03

Firsts...

This past weekend I went to Oklahoma to spend some time with Shyla. It is the first time we have spent an entire weekend without the guys. We had a great time. When I arrived on Friday, my sister & brother-in-law picked me up at the airport. That evening we had dinner with three of my sisters and two brothers-in-law. It is always good to spend time with family. On Saturday we went to Shyla & Clay's godson's first birthday party. It was a good time. After that we did peidcures - my FIRST!!





Shyla and I also went to a couple of movies. If you haven't seen Julie & Julia yet, go see it!!! It is laugh out loud funny!! We also went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Shy had seen it, but I had not. It was wonderful.

After worship on Sunday, we ate lunch then went golfing. It was hot, but not too bad. We had a great time.

I also got to spend time with old friends. (I will write more about this on another blog.)

What this weekend showed me is that I need to spend more one-on-one time with both my daughters. They are wonderful women and I am blessed to have them as my children!!!

Whatever Happened to Summer????

I keep hearing about global warming, but it seems to have passed us by here in Montana this summer. We have had the wackiest weather ever. It is supposed to get up to only 60 degrees today (the normal being in the 80-90 range), and it is raining. This feels more like March or April. We were going to float the river today, but not in this weather. Don't get me wrong, I am not a fan of super hot weather, but I do like it to be summer when it is August.

On another note, Bruce will be headed to Canada this Friday to go fishing with our son-in-law Clay. He has spent the morning preparing his waders, etc. I think they will have a blast. I, on the other hand, am flying to OK on Friday to spend a few days with Shyla. She has completed the bar and we can have a long weekend of fun and relaxation. I can hardly wait!!!

Since the blog today was mostly about family, and since our fair is in town, I will end with this quote...

If you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most dysfunctional family in the world, all you have to do is go to a state fair. Because five minutes at the fair, you'll be going, 'you know, we're alright. We are dang near royalty.'
Jeff Foxworthy

New House part deux...

I have had a request to post a few pictures of the interior of our new house. While not all inclusive, here are a few views of the insides.....

This is our "formal" living room.






This is the kitchen...duh.



This is the TV room or "den".



And this is the master bedroom.



I didn't post any of the upstairs. You will just have to come and visit to get the full nickel tour.