Journal Entry #3

Today: -7 this morning when I drove Mr. Bee to the airport. Warmed up to -3 by the time we got out of church. Bright sun.

Super Bowl was today. Seahawks 43 Broncos 8. Watched it with the kids.

Used my weekend to climb Mt. Washmore. Got fairly caught up.

No open house or showings.

Journal Entry #2

Out my window: Six inches of fresh snow yesterday, bright sun and back to cold today. -10 when I left for work this morning.

On my mind: We had a showing last night, and again no offer. Their feedback was a 3/5. :( We all worked really hard to get the house clean & tidy and thought it looked great when we left, so optimistic! Then so disappointed!

I know that God hears my prayers and knows we want/need our house to sell. And somewhere out there someone is praying about a move to our area and is looking for a house like ours - and God will answer their prayers. And someone in Arizona is praying someone will buy their house - and God will send us to answer their prayers. So many prayers need to be answered.  Somehow it will all work out in His time.

In my prayers: Thanksgiving that my sister and her husband have accepted an offer on their house. They both retired and want to move to Florida to be near his parents. His mother is blind and his father has cancer. Very happy for them! And thankful too that we all got to and from our destinations yesterday in the snow, even though both Mr. Bee & I got stuck for a time in separate cars in separate places. But we got out and got going again and safely arrived at our destinations.

In my kitchen: Rigatoni & meat sauce. Garlic bread. Salad.

Verse in my heart: Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! - Psalm 27:14

Journal Entry #1

2014 has the promise of being a very eventful year in my life and I decided to journal about it. But here it is, end of January and I haven't started writing yet. So here goes...

Out my Window: Warmer today - mid-20s. Nice after 3 days below 0. Kids back in school after 2 days off because of the wind chill.

In the Kitchen: Made White Bean Chicken Chili in the slow cooker. Menu has been heavy on soups and casseroles lately.

Reading: Tess of the d'Urbervilles (Hardy). Read it way back in high school and really didn't enjoy or understand it then and when I started to re-read it I couldn't remember what happens in the novel, but it has come back to me as I've gotten further along. Such a sad story.

Pins & Needles: I'm knitting socks for me. First time sock knitter! It's been a long time since I've made anything for me. Looking forward to wearing them. Almost done with the first one.

Thought/Verse of the day:  For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.    He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. (Psalm 62:1-2)

L.O.L.

Typical of who the media labels a "devout Catholic."

I like her line, "Will the Catholic Church's war on women never end?"

Too funny. :-)

True Proverbs 31 Women

I can trace my husband's family on his father's side back to Ellis Island c1908 when his first Russian ancestors arrived in the United States. They settled in Milwaukee. His Great-Grandmother worked in a factory. As did his Great-Grandfather. His Grandfather was a butcher who owned his own shop. His Grandmother worked at the shop too, running the counter up front while Grandfather cut meat in the back. That same Grandmother had grown up working as a sales girl in a dress shop. The dress shop was owned by her mother - she was the daughter of German immigrants (who were also shop owners) and had been abandoned by her husband.

And then there is my husband's mother's family (I don't know as much about this side). His Grandmother worked in a restaurant as a waitress. His mother co-owned and worked at a sporting goods store with his father.

These women were working outside the home, even 100+ years ago. They also had families, raised kids, attended church, kept house and stayed married.

And they didn't blog about it.

The glass half full

My father was a disabled veteran. He worked for a while, but age and time made his disabilities insurmountable. He "retired" onto disability when I was quite young - maybe 6 or 7 years old. My mom was a full-time at-home mom and so I and my brothers & sister were raised on public assistance. I look back now and see that God was good and provided my daily bread. I have not always seen it that way. Many times I have looked back and only seen what wasn't there. I saw the half-empty glass, and felt no gratitude at all for the half-full part.

Had my parents been vain enough to put a motto above our door (as so many do today) it would have said, "There but for the grace of God, go I." They could always point out people around us who had it worse. And it was true. There are worse things than being poor. There are worse things than being crippled.

Song in my Heart this Ash Wednesday

I am dust and to dust I shall return.

Go to dark Gethsemane,
All who feel the tempter’s power
Your Redeemer’s conflict see.
Watch with him one bitter hour;
Turn not from his griefs away;
Learn from Jesus Christ to pray.

Follow to the judgment hall,
View the Lord of life arraigned;
Oh, the wormwood and the gall!
Oh, the pangs his soul sustained!
Shun not suffering, shame, or loss;
Learn from him to bear the cross.

Calvary’s mournful mountain climb;
There, adoring at his feet,
Mark that miracle of time,
God’s own sacrifice complete.
"It is finished!" hear him cry;
Learn from Jesus Christ to die.

Early hasten to the tomb
Where they laid his breathless clay
All is solitude and gloom.
Who has taken him away?
Christ is risen! He meets our eyes.
Savior, teach us so to rise.

-James Montgomery, 1820