More Germany Pic's

These are some pic's of the Cathederal in Colgne.

Here are my pictures from our trip to Germany and Austria. It was the most beauitful scenry I have ever seen. Isn't God's creation awesome! We were there for nine days. My husbands brother and his family live there. Everything looked like a fairytale to me. We first went to Heidelberg, Germany and then to Rudesheim, Germany. Heidelberg was my favorite. It was so beautiful and the Castle that is there is just awesome. We traveled to southern Germany and Austria for a few days and it was just beautiful. We seen so many castles. We just drove until we got somewhere and then got a hotel. The Austrian mountains was spectacular. I have never seen anything like it. We ended up in Salzburg, Austria the home of Mozart. The last part of the trip Doug and I took at train to Colgne, Germany. The train went along the Rhine river. This part of the river has several castles on it. You can go on a Rhine river cruise but we did not have time to do that but maybe someday we can go back. There is a huge catheredal there in Colgne. As soon as you get off the train there it is. You wonder how in the world did they build that. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. I love going to Europe. This is our second time. We went to Italy 3 years ago. I wish we could of stayed a little longer this time. I was sad to go.

Everything matters
by John Fischer

Well I looked over this morning's devotional just now and was relieved. That's because yesterday morning, when I wrote it, I was not on my normal coffee and granola/yogurt bar routine. I was preparing for minor surgery that was to happen at noon, and the requirement was absolutely no food or drink - even water - after midnight the night before. Deprived of caffeine and sugar, I found my eyes closing every few minutes. And the 10-minute “power nap” that I sometimes climb back into bed for after about three hours of early-morning writing turned into 30 minutes. It's a wonder I even made sense. And now I'll have to do it all over again next week.

Halfway to the surgery center I called to let them know I was running late and found out my appointment had been rescheduled. So there I was, depriving myself and rushing off halfway to the surgery center for no reason. Don't you ever wonder why things like this happen? It seems like so much wasted time and effort.

If we're fortunate, we might discover what we thought was wasted time actually put us in a position for something good that wouldn't have happened otherwise. But this isn't always the case. Sometimes these things just happen and we weather them and go on. But is that the best we can expect? I think there may be more.

Just as none of us is an accident, I believe none of the things that happen to us are accidents either. Behind all the causes, effects, and surprises in our lives, God's hand is moving. My history and yours are intertwined with everyone else's in an intricate tapestry of events, none of which are outside God's control. And in this elaborate confluence of things, everything matters. My “wasted” morning may have played into someone else's day in a more significant manner than I can know now or understand.

Perhaps for this reason, we can look back on the events of an otherwise wasted effort and see other things not evident at first glance. In this case, it allowed for my wife and I to stop for coffee on the way back home and have a few moments together. Those moments pointed out some things to me that I needed to act on due to their critical nature. Had I been drugged by anesthesia most of the day and focused on myself, that awareness might have been delayed even further, a delay we cannot afford right now.

What happened yesterday was no accident; what happens today will not be either. We need to pay attention to find out why, because God isn't messing around.

Everything matters; everything counts.
Everything matters; everything counts.
Keep my eyes open.
Keep my hands on the wheel.
Everything matters; everything's real.

- from the song Everything Matters by John Fischer

Favorite Memories

Favorite Memories

Okay I found this on susie's blog and thought I would join in on it.

1. Favorite memory of your mother?
I guess my favorite memory of my mother would be her baking all the the time. We always had homemade birthday cakes. And she would make this 7 minute frosting to go on them. She could bake anything. I miss her chocolate pie's. I can't really make them like her but I am pretty close. I miss her homemade yeast rolls also. She spent most of her time in the kitchen but unfortunally things changed after my parents got divorced after 36 years of marriage. She does not cook the same anymore and she really is not the same person anymore. Which is hard for me.

2. Favorite memory of your father?
My Dad was always taking picutres of us. He always had the camera ready. We had a picture drawer where all the pictures went and I always loved getting into that drawer and looking at the pictures. So I guess that is where I get my love of taking pictures. From him.

3. Favorite memory of your siblings?
My sister and I as kids were always together. We did everything together. We would ride our bikes together all the time everywhere, that is my favorite memory.

4. What one skill would you like to wake up tomorrow and be able to do(though you never learned it)?
Speak spanish. It is so hard to learn a language when you are an adult. I want to learn it so I can speak to the people on the mission trips to mexico. I want to be able to communicate with them.


5. Which of your dreams has come true?
Okay somehow I missed this question so I adding now. Well I would have to say God leading us to where we are now and being apart of a wonderful church and having God back in my life. It has been a long journey to get to where I am. But I can look back and see that God was working in my life even when I thought he wasn't. He had his hand in all the times of despair and uncertain moments in our life even though I did not realize it at the time. I am amazed!

Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado

Those who go to God Most High for saftey will be protected by the Almighty
Psalm 91:1

We create elaborate houses for our bodies, but our souls relegated to a hillside shanty where the night winds chill us and the rain soaks us...We don't have to live outside...God wants you to move in out of the cold and live...with Him. Under his roof there is space available. At his table a plate is set. In his living room a wingback chair is reserved just for you. And he'd like you to take up residence in his house. Why...? Simple, he's your Father.

Katrina at Callapider Days has come up with a great idea for this fall. She's created the Fall in to Reading Challenge. I thought was a good idea. I love to read especially inspirational books. I read a lot devotional books also. I usually try to read before I go to bed if I am not too tired from work. I almost always end up catching up on the weekends on my reading. I have a book shelf by my bedside with a lot books that I still need to read. I usually end up reading several books at one time so it takes me a while to finish one. So here is my list of books to read this Fall.

Only Holy Ground
by Charles Stanley

Voices of the Faithful
by Beth Moore

Prayers that avail much for Women
by Germaine Copeland


Finding God
by John Fischer

Love Him in the Morning
by John Fischer

Grace for the Moment
by Max Lucado


One year of HOPE
by Nancy Guthrie


Women of the Bible
by Anne Spangler











Books I have finished

Your Late again Lord
by Karon Phillips Goodman

A Day with a Stranger
by David Gregory

A Women and her God
by Beth Moore

Dinner with a Perfect Stanger
by David Gregory

I love this Passage in the bible. I read it again last night in a book I am reading called Finding God by John Fischer. This passage seems to keep finding its way to me. I love the last verse in this passage. So I thought I would post it.

Luke 24:13-32 (New International Version)

On the Road to Emmaus

13Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16but they were kept from recognizing him.

17He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?"

They stood still, their faces downcast. 18One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?"

19"What things?" he asked.

"About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see."

25He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" 27And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

28As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. 29But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them.

30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

Friday Five Meme

Susie at A Pink Carnation in Bloom tagged me for this meme.


1)Five Minutes to yourself. How would you spend them ideally?
-I would have to say praying to God. I love having time to myself and when I do get chance to be by myself I usaually want to spend time with God. Even if it is only five minutes. Like in the mornings on my five minute drive to work.

2)Five Dollars to spend right now. How and where would you spend it?
-Probably at Cold Stone Creamery on some for coffee lovers only ice cream. I love coffee flavored ice cream from there.

3)Five Items in your house you could part with right now.
-My bedroom furniture. Acutally most of furniture we own. We still have furniture from when Doug was in college.
-Doug would say my two cats but that will never happen.
-My mixer. I would love to have a Kitchen Aid mixer.
-My coffee pot.
-My toaster. I love to cook and bake and all my kitchen appliances need to be replaced.

4)Five Items in your house you positively, absolutely could never part with.
-My violin that my dad bought me in the 5th grade.
-My pictures of my great grandmother
-My cedar chest that my mother-in-law gave me for a christmas present. I was surprised when she gave it to me. They found it at a antique store and it was painted black and she had it stripped and refinished for me. And Doug's grandpa fixed the top of it by putting some braces on the inside because the top of if was split into two peices. He does wood working anyway, he made it look nice. So it means alot to me.
-My quilts made by my grandmother and the quilt I made a few years ago. My grandmother's quilts are made out double knit fabic from the 70's and they are tied quilts.
-My bunny rabbit that was given to me when I was born. He only has one eye left now. He is 33 years old.

5)Five Words you love.
-Jesus. He is such a part of my life. He has always been there but have recently found Him again and it is so awesome to have Him in your life.
-Awesome. I use this word a lot I guess especially to describe the experience's I have had in the last several months about what has happened to me by surrendering my life to God.
-Grace. God's Grace is wonderful.
-Hope. There is always hope.
-Faith. My Faith in God has Grown so much over the last sereval months. I guess all these words means so much because of what I have been though the last year with my back and other things. I now look back and what I thought was hopeless at the time really wasn't I was just looking in all the wrong places for what I needed and what I needed was God and found Him in a very special way. And God put some very special people in my life to help me find my way.
Philippians 1:6
And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.

These are pic's from the scrapbooking retreat I went on this past weekend. I enjoyed it so much. There was sixteen women that went and it was such a good time. The log cabin was great. I love staying in log cabins. It did rain for a little bit on Saturday and it was so pretty looking at the rain thought the huge window in the cabin.

I thought this cartoon was cute and I wish sometimes my cats would just stay in bed all day too.

If I had a second chance



If I had a second chance
I'd stop looking and start seeing
If I had a second chance
I'd treat everyone as a human being

I'd stop talking and start giving
Stop hiding and start living
I'd do more listening and a lot less talking
Enjoy the world and do more walking

If I had a second chance
I'd take my eyes off my watch
And watch with my eyes
To notice the trees and the beautiful sky

I'd stop criticizing and show more love
Be less forgetful to give thanks to the One above
I'd be less angry and give up my pride
And share with the world what I have inside

I'd stop hating and be more kind
And give a little more of my precious time
I'd give more encouragement and a lot more praise
And do a lot less judging, for I too have lost my way

I'd get my priorities in order and straight
Better now than never... I'm just a little late
I'd stop chasing hopelessly after the wind
From this point on, a new I begin

I'd find my way back to GOD'S Grace
And hope to never again lose my place
I'd change my life and make a stance
Oh, GOD, what I wouldn't give for a second chance

It's not the destination that counts in life
But the journey with the people we love
That's all that really matters...

Such a simple truth so easily forgotten...

Sabotaging a witness
by John Fischer

A lot of Christians stay relatively quiet about their faith when in the company of those who don’t know Christ. There are probably lots of reasons for this, but the one I hear most frequently is the feeling of not being good enough. “Who am I to tell someone about Jesus,” the rationale goes, “when my own life is in such a mess?”

There is an improper assumption that goes along with this kind of thinking, that in order to witness for Christ you have to have a close to impeccable life. There’s a certain standard one has to live up to before being in a position to tell someone about Jesus. Otherwise, people will point the finger at you and spot your own inconsistencies.

The absurdity in this kind of thinking is the fact that no one, not even Christians, will ever have it all together in this life. Instead of being an excuse not to witness, the fact that we aren’t good enough should be the whole point. We tell people about Jesus because we know, better than anyone, how much we need him. When people throw our own inconsistencies up in our faces that is just another opportunity to tell our own story of how Christ has forgiven us on the cross and how much we need his salvation every day. So instead of being a threat to our witness, our faults and shortcomings are the very things upon which our witness hangs. If we were perfect, we wouldn’t need Jesus.

When I think of the essence of our statement as Christians to those who don’t know Christ, I always think of the blind man that Jesus healed by covering his eyes with mud and telling him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. (John 9:1-34) When the Jewish religious leaders got wind of it, they started to question the man extensively – wanting to know who healed him, how it happened, where the man who healed him was now, and even asking his parents to verify whether their son was in fact born blind. When they came back to the man and pressed him with questions a second time, accusing Jesus of being a sinner for doing work on the Sabbath, the man replied, “I don’t know whether he is a sinner … But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!” (John 9:25 NLT)

There’s our message: “I was blind, and now I can see; I was lost, and now I am found; I was guilty, and now I’m forgiven; I was alone, and now I have a friend.” It doesn’t take a perfect life to spread that message – just a saved one. So what’s keeping you from telling your story?

These are my two cats snowflake and socks. They are so silly. They love to sit by the window and get in the basket. Yes they are very big cats. Snowflake is right at 20lbs and socks is 14lbs. They are like my children. Snowflake is so demanding. He won't leave you alone until he gets what he wants and socks is more timid. He gets scared so easily. He is deathly afriad of the vacum cleaner. All I have to do is just move it and he is gone. Snowflake on the other hand he is deaf. Nothing bothers him. You have to move him out of the way of the vacum cleaner.

Prayer: Your Powerful Priority
September 11, 2006
Key Passage: Luke 9:28-36
Topic: Prayer
About eight days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John to a mountain to pray. (Luke 9:28, NLT)
September 11, 2001--the nation looked on as the New York skyline and our lives were forever changed. Lives were lost, fear and anger gripped the nation…and people prayed.
In the face of tragedy, people cry out to God. We look to Him for guidance, for strength, for deliverance, for miracles. Five years ago today, it seemed like nearly everyone in America was praying.
But what about five and a half years ago? Six months before the attack--what happened then? I don't know. But who was praying then? We're quick to pray when things are hard. But when things are going well, we tend to ignore God. Let's take a new look at a few passages we've already seen in Luke that touch on prayer: "As he was praying" (3:21, NLT), "Jesus often withdrew…for prayer" (5:16, NLT), "he prayed to God all night" (6:12, NLT), "asked God's blessing" (9:16, NLT), "Jesus was alone, praying; (9:18, NLT). It's easy for us to get hung up looking at the more glamorous parts of Jesus ministry. We love the stories about His miracles; we pour over His teachings for wisdom. But we overlook Him praying. Jesus was always going off to pray. He made it a priority. These weren't quick little "God-bless-my-burger" prayers. He spent time praying--pouring out His heart and listening for words from His Father."

Let's take a new look at a few passages we've already seen in Luke that touch on prayer: "As he was praying" (3:21, NLT), "Jesus often withdrew…for prayer" (5:16, NLT), "he prayed to God all night" (6:12, NLT), "asked God's blessing" (9:16, NLT), "Jesus was alone, praying; (9:18, NLT).
It's easy for us to get hung up looking at the more glamorous parts of Jesus' ministry. We love the stories about His miracles; we pour over His teachings for wisdom. But we overlook Him praying.
Jesus was always going off to pray. He made it a priority. These weren't quick little "God-bless-my-burger" prayers. He spent time praying--pouring out His heart and listening for words from His Father.


If Jesus made it a common practice to spend time in prayer, what makes us think that we can go a day without praying?
"Prayer does not prepare us for the great work; prayer is the great work." --Oswald Chambers

Just thinking about 9/11 today. I remember I was driving to work in Memphis, TN and not thinking what I was hearing on the radio was real but I soon found out when I got to work it was very real. My heart just sunk. It was the worst feeling. We watched T.V. at work all day and had alot of patients cancel their procedures. Again today they had the T.V.'s on at work with all the memorial services going on for all the people who lost their lives that day. I could not believe what I was seeing that day. I never thought that anything like that could happen here. I was just in disbelief. I pray for all the people in the Armed services serving our country and to the people that lost their lives that day and their families. My heart goes out to all of them.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing songs to God as the other prisoners listened. ACTS 16:25

Great acts of faith are seldom born out of calm calculation. It wasn't logic that caused Moses to raise his staff on the bank of the Red Sea...And it wasn't a confident committee that prayed in a small room in Jerusalem for Peter's release from prison. It was a fearful, desperate, band of backed-into-a-corner believers. It was a church with no options...And never were they stronger. At the beginning of every act of faith, there is often a seed of fear.