Problem Solved

As you can see, I was finally able to reload my "Family" slide show on to my blog page. I would love to tell you it was because of some extremely intelligent programing talent that I process; however, that would be a complete lie. The truth is, I signed on this morning and WAHLAH it worked. I was also able to remove my "Ireland" slide show, add some pictures, and reload that one with no issues. Don't ask me why I thought it would be a good idea to try that, given the problems I had with the other one, but I did it anyway. To my pleasant surprise and great joy, it worked just like it was supposed to. I really have no clue what I'm doing on this computer. I just push buttons and hope for the best most of time.

Bob and I will be flying to California bright and early tomorrow morning for a missions conference, so I will try to post when I can, but I'm not making any promises. Of course, I'm sure my faithful blog followers are used to my posts being more, hmmmmmmm, lets say sporadic in nature, hahahahaha!

Becoming a Blog Master - yeah right!

Okay, not even close to a "blog master", but I did determine that I was going to learn how to dress up my blog today. Like anyone who is looking for information about how to do something "techie", I headed for the Google search bar and typed in "free blog backgrounds". Much to my surprise the first site I clicked on turned out to be a gold mine. I found backgrounds, blog accessories, and a truck load of "how to blog" helps. This site walked me through changing the background, changing the layout and lots of other cool stuff. If you're reading this post then you've seen my finished blog project. What do ya think?

The only issue I am having is getting my "Family" slide show back on my blog. I removed it to add some more photos, and now it will not allow me to reload it on my blog page. If anyone has any hints on accomplishing this, please contact me. I would greatly appreciate any help in this matter. The worst thing is that I had it on here and just couldn't leave it alone. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. You're saying, "why don't you just do whatever you did to get the "Ireland" slide show on here". Well, I've tried that, and for some reason it will not allow me to reload the "Family" slide show. I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually, but for now it does leave me a tad miffed.

Family Game Night

Recently our family has started having regular game nights. Nothing fancy, just lots of snacks and bunches of laughs. Those present usually include Bob and I, along with our three girls, our son in law and my parents. Everyone usually brings a snack of some sort and we spend the evening playing games and eating. Let's see, family, laughter and lots of food. . .sounds like a perfect evening to me, hahahahaha!

Last night as my parents were leaving and we were done with the normal "goodbyes", my mom turned to me and made this comment, "why haven't we been doing this all along, why did we wait so long to have a planned family night?". My response, "I don't know mom, I guess we thought we were just too busy". TOO BUSY! Are you serious? How can we be too busy to spend time with family and even friends for that matter. I look back now and wonder why I let work and other "junk" be more important than time with the people who love me the most.

I understand our situation may be different than most. Our family realizes that in four months Bob and I will be moving to Ireland. Once that move is made our only contact with our girls and parents will be through webcams, email, facebook and "snail-mail". Your family may not be leaving the country, but that doesn't mean that the people you love the most will always be with you. I think of all the "family game nights" we could have had if we had just planned a regular evening a couple of times a month to get together.

Your homework (as my faithful blog followers), is to determine to take advantage of every opportunity to be with family and friends. Don't let things that have no eternal value keep you from enjoying life the way God intended you to. . .surrounded by family and good Christian friends.

Our Amazing God!

Have you ever had one of those "duh moments", when that proverbial light bulb comes on in your head and you finally realize that God has and is answering your prayers? Let me explain! Since we returned from Ireland back in June, I have been praying that God would completely break my heart for the country of Ireland. I wanted Him to give me a love for the Irish people that runs so deeply in my soul that I would wake up every morning wishing that this would be the day that we leave. Well, the other day I was watching our missions presentation video on my computer, and I found myself crying. I'm talking real tears down the cheek and the whole deal. Now, I wish I could tell you that my reason for watching the video was to fast and pray for Ireland, but my reason was much more selfish and much less spiritual. You see, I was trying to figure out a way to change the picture that my husband used. On a side note, why is it that men always choose the WORST picture they can find of the family (or at least of you) when they are doing things like this?????? Anyway, back to the story. . .so there I am watching our video and wondering why I can't seem to stop crying. This is where the "duh moment" happened!

At this moment it dawned on me that the last couple of times we had shown our video at missions conferences I have had to fight to hold back the tears. I just figured I was having "one of those days". However, when I couldn't hold the tears back anymore the other day, I finally realized what was happening. God was and is truly answering my prayers in a BIG way. I don't know if I can explain this in a way that those of you reading this entry will be able to completely understand, but when I see those pictures of Ireland I feel like my heart will explode if I don't get there soon. There is no place else in this world that I would rather be!

Please join me in prayer for the country of Ireland and it's amazing people. Pray that God can and will use me in very special way in that country. Praise God that once again He has shown Himself amazing!

FINALLY! A new post. . .at last!

Okay, so I admit that I've been a little lazy in my blog postings; however, I hope to correct that starting tonight. So, let me fill you in as to what has been happening in my life over the last three months. We celebrated three major holidays since I've posted last. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. I've attached the family picture that we took on Thanksgiving day. As with most holidays, we spent as much time with our families as possible. Of course, knowing that we will not be with our families next year for the holidays, made a big difference in how I approached each one. I found myself spending a lot of time standing back and watching and listening to all the excitement of each day. I wanted to burn each laugh and face into my memory for future recall when we're celebrating these same holidays next year without those me call family. God has truly blessed me!

Another big change that has happened since my last post, is that we have now moved out of our house (after 26 years), and into our churches mission house. We will be living here until we leave for Ireland on July 1, 2009. Moving out the house was quite traumatic I must admit. I really had to make that a matter of prayer. Although I understand that it's only a house, the fact still remains that we had lived there 26 years and all our girls were babies in that house. Any mothers reading this will understand what I'm saying. As always though, God did supply the strength and courage needed to make the move. He also sent us a great family, complete with kids and dogs, to take our house. I pray that they enjoy living there as much as our family did.