Dreams and Lisa Harper!

The other night I had this very clear dream of time spent with Lisa Harper!  We were at a new conference at Bakers Life Field House in Indy.  She was speaking and my friends wheeled me out in a wheelchair right as she was going into a story.  The camera men caught me and I was mortified.  It didn’t help that the arena was not very full to boot.  Then there was another one where a group of my friends and I were trying to find Lisa at her office.  I knew I saw her go in but didn’t know how to get past security to get to her!! Ha!  Outside was Kathy Troccoli sitting doing a bible study and we chatted!  The other part was Lisa was in Colorado at a ski cabin.   It was winter and I knew she was there.  Some how I got some bad news about my brother and I had saught out Lisa.   I woke her up and she came out on the balcony with her bathrobe on and we stood with snow falling all around us with her reassuring me that everything would be ok and God was showing us his promises through the snow!  Crazy stuff!  But fun to blog about and hey if I’m lucky maybe Lisa will comment on this!  I have seen her at WOF twice and LOVE her!  Her heart is real and she is just plain down right funny!  Last year my group stayed at the same hotel as the WOF ladies and so I got to meet her twice!  If you get a chance you should read her books they change they way you look at the bible!  It was really neat because when I met her at the hotel and telling her about my back she had stated that maybe I would be like the lady in the bible who had a hunched back and Jesus healed her!  And I AM!!!!!! Thank you Jesus! 

Alone……

For anyone who has moved to a new area I am sure you have felt excitment as you will have a new place to explore, fear for the unkown and alone.  How can you feel alone with people all around you?  It’s amazing how frequently this happens to people!  Last night as I was sitting in the middle of the high school auditorum with no one on either side of me.  No one to comment to.  I felt all alone.  This place is new and no one knew me and I knew no one.  This is such a hard place to be but it will pass too.  It always does. 
Sitting and watching my daughter in the Annie play also brought along with it a whole nother slew of emotions.  Emotions from when I was in high school.  Emotions of not fitting in and wondering what could have been if I would have been involved in Drama.  Now I know I enjoy Drama but what would be different if I would have put myself into then? 
I also know the enemy had me right where he wanted me last night but I will not let that dampen my spirit today!  Today is a new day! 

Tree63-Look What You’ve Done For Me

Just wanted to share this song with you all!  What can we do for our Lord?  What is he asking YOU to do?  How can you step out of YOUR comforter zone this next week?  Maybe it’s helping that frazzled mom out at the store or taking a cup of coffee to a shut in?  You never know what God may want you to do until we are still and listen! 

On a side note these past two nights as we live in the country the clouds have been clear at night and I have been amazed and in awe at the creation that the Father has lavished upon us for FREE in the beautiful night sky!  If you ever get a chance to lay outside and watch the stars for some time it is pretty AMAZING as they get brighter and you see more and more pop out!  God is truly a magnificant creator!

Life in the Parsonage!

I linked with Kellys Blog today!  I have been in the parsonage ever since my DH and I got married!  That was over ten years ago!  I have learned much and grown much since that time when we unpacked our first U-Haul!  Not all parsonages are perfect…our first one was ATTACHED to the back of the church and right next to Subway!  This was nice when we had bad weather but not always nice because at times there was kids in the parsonage after church!  I also learned that most parsonages are very very dated!  Not something out of your HGTV show for sure!  The first parsonage we had the bathroom had been a closet!  But each parsonage we have lived in we have made it our home and we have made memories there!  The first parsonage was where we first lived as a married couple, where we brought home our first born daughter and it was where alot of memories were made as I learned to COOK!  Our second parsonage/home was a church goers home.  It was in a perfect location and we made memories in this home also.  We brought our second born son and third born son here.  We had our share of ups and downs in this home too so leaving it was a happy moment but leaving the community was not!  I loved living in that small rural Iowa town!  It was perfect in every sense!  We had a a Wal-Mart, great schools, a hospital, beautiful parks and could walk anywhere!  We were even an hour away from two major cities!  Iowa is where my heart is but alas God had bigger things in store for us!  We found ourselves back in our home state and when my husband went to check out the church he took some pictures of the parsonage and when I saw the NEW kitchen with side by side refrigerator and brand NEW windows that opened I didn’t need to see anymore!  I asked my hubby when we were moving!  Yes, the first two parsonages had windows that did not open!  In our new parsonage it was beautiful and great!  This church had taken wonderful care of the parsonage and we were blessed by that!  The town was small with NO Wal-Mart or medical care just down the road more like 30min drive!  No the less we had a blast with the yard and put in hundreds of tulip bulbs and 10 or so lilac bushes!  We had planned on staying there FOREVER!  Alas, God’s plans are not always our plans!  One back surgery failed and some mold issues that were not working out we had to move and this last move I pray is our LAST!  Moving from the land of windmills was hard!  We had an amazing support network there and people that had embraced us during surgies and other times.  We moved to be closer to my neurosurgeon for a second back surgery.  The parsonage we moved to is nice!  Moving was interesting as we had a 3 week time frame to pack up!  The day we moved there was no U-Haul there were pick up trucks and trailers!  Yes, TALK ABOUT FAITH!  All my earthly possessions were staked HIGH in the beds of the trucks and tied down with you guessed it ROPE!!! But everything made it with out loosing a thing!  God is good!  We are making improvements to this parsonage we call home and we do this at each of our parsonages.  These are our homes and we treat them as such!  I look forward to connecting with you all!  Blessings!

Upgrading and Tips and Birthdays!

Here is my DD in my Grandmother and Grandfather Campbell’s 

Bean Fields!

Here is my Grandmother at my husbands Ordination dinner after church with

my Uncle John!

Well as you may or may not have noticed but I am attempting to change and update my blog.  I have added a signature line which I like but am still working on the “Blog Header” and when I can one day in my next life perhaps figure out this photo editing thing I could have a really cool “Blog Header”. In the mean time if you have any tips or suggestions I am all yours!  Today is my Grandmother Cobb’s 96th Birthday!  She still lives on her own in an apartment and enjoys doing puzzles, sleeping, playing cards and going out to eat!  She stays with my mom and dad too out at the farm!  They do a GREAT job at taking care of her and I am blessed and grateful that they do this!  I see my Grandma every morning on my computer screen!  Love her!  I wish I would have taken the time back when I was younger to learn how to make her raspberry jam but for now I am on my own!  My other Grandmother who has since gone on to be with the Lord would have been 87 today!  Yes, they shared the same birthdays!  She was a tough old hen!  I loved her dearly and some of the things she did were provided much entertainment!  She loved to listen to her CB radio and if we went anywhere she had plenty of towels to cover such equipment up with!  She even had the CLUB!  She was quiet something!  You never went hunger when around her though.  She fed you well!  She also could never decided if she wanted it HOT or COLD in their trailer and so one time when I was visiting I kid you not my grandfather got up 20 times in a 30 min. period to adjust the temperature for grandmother because it was too HOT or too COLD for her!  I loved her though just the same!  Happy Birthday to two very special ladies today!

Getting the Hang of all this!

Flipping the blog!

Just wanted to brighten up the blog and add a few changes!  What do ya think!  One more coming this afternoon if I get it done! 🙂