The End Of Our Christmas Vacation

Our time in Bakersfield, CA is always sweet and way to fast.  It seemed like we had just arrived that Christmas Day and now it was time to fly back home.  Being that Bakersfield is approximately 2 hours north of Los Angeles, Rich and I went down to LA on Thursday afternoon to stay at a hotel and be shuttled to the airport at "dark-thirty" the next morning instead of getting up at 1:30 in the morning and driving to LAX to catch the plane back to NC  We had a great time with all of our family out there.  We do not get to see them often enough at all and cherish the precious time we do have.
 
That evening, we had dinner with friends who live in Marina Del Rey along the beach.  Here is a picture of one of the yacht's parked in the harbor where our friends live.  No this is not our friends yacht or ours.  We do not know who's it is.  It just made for a great background for this picture of Rich and our friend Jack.

 

 

The view outside their apartment is gorgeous and so peaceful.  Just wanted to share it with you.

 

 

 

After dinner with our friends Jack and LeAnn, we happened to come across an accident that involved a pedestrian.  He was hit while riding his bike and it was a hit and run.  It happened in front of us and the person who hit the pedestrian took off in their car.  Yes a hit and run right in Los Angeles.  Well Jack was in the driver's seat so he put the pedal to the metal and we were able to follow the get away car, get the license plate number and make of car and call it into the police.  I was in my element solving a crime..  Here is a pic of us chasing the get away car.

 





 Of course, it isn't that good of a pic, but what can I say.  My camera gave it it's best shot while driving the streets of Long Beach, Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey or wherever we were.  I had no idea.

The best part of that whole evening, besides enjoying our friends, was that we went back to the crime scene.  Along with us were firemen, policemen, witnesses, and people just milling around.  After we talked to the police, we went over and was talking to the young man that got hit.  We asked him if we could pray with him and he said he would like that.  So standing on a curb down in the LA area, Rich, myself, Jack and LeAnn, the young man that got hit  and his two buddies all bowed our heads and Rich led us in prayer for this young man.  I know his name is Edwardo, but that is all I know.  He definitely got a bad headache from the incident and banged up some but thankfully he wasn't hurt bad.  What a mighty God we serve that no matter where we are He listens to our prayers.

Keep your eyes open for ministry if you serve the Lord.  He will provide it when you least expect it.

Just Get It Done

 Are there times when you do not feel like taking the journey that lies ahead of you.  I knew some of you would know how that feels.  BUT!!!  alas, the journey must be taken.  My journey today is the journey of cleaning house.  So far I have got my livingroom done including  cleaning blinds, corners, moved and vaccuumed under furniture.  The only thing left is the ceiling fan but as I am gazing at it right now, it is not dusty yet so I might put that off.

Sometimes I need motivation to continue to clean and do things I do not like to do, but then I remember what the Bible says.  In Proverbs 10:4 it says," Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth."  Also in Proverbs 31:17 it says "She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks."  Reading verses in the Bible about keeping on doing what you know to be right, being diligent, working your best are verses that I think about as I clean.  I want the Lord to be pleased with me NO MATTER what I am doing. 

If you are a stay at home mom or an emptynester wife a home is still a home that needs to be cleaned if you want to live in a clean place.  Step up, dig in, pull on those gloves and get it done!  Then breathe a sigh of relief that it is all clean for awhile (sometimes only 5 minutes if you are a mom with kids at home).  It is a good feeling when you've laboured with your hands and accomplished the task set before you.  Good luck and let me know how it goes.

Scrapbook Album for 6th Grandchild

     Another sweet grandbaby, Levi, joined our family last November.  One of my daughter-in-love's, Danielle, along with myself, get together and create a scrapbook for any new grancdhilren that enter into our family.  We format an A-Z alphabetical book and then new mom's just have to add the pictures and journal.  Here is the latest book we did for Levi.  We got the idea from a picture we saw on the internet baby scrapbooks.  They are timeless, fun to do and it makes it easy for new moms to cherish the memories of that first year in a baby's life.

 

 

 

When You Least Expect It

We were sitting at dinner this evening with great friends at Pacos Tacos by LAX.  The conversation drifted to how God works in our lives.  We had been reminiscing about "old times" as they still live on the West coast and we had moved to the East coast.  Some of the comments were the following:

1.  Blessings come from serving others
2.  Sometimes you feel God is far away, but He ia always  pursuing those who belong to Him.
3.  Life experiences are not for bitterness or betterness but for spiritual and personal growth.
4.  Man always fails and there is no one perfect but the Lord Jesus.
5.  Our expectations need to be off of man and onto God.
6.  Wherever we are, God can use us.

Well after we all agreed that there is nothing better than being in fellowship with God and serving Him, we paid the bill and left the restuarant.  Now I must admit, in the Bible Belt there are a lot more churches than there are in the LAX area.  Los Angeles has a lot of people but I do not know what the ratio is of people that go to church.  I know in the Carolinas, where I live, there is a church on nearly every corner.  At least it seems that way.

After we were in the car and headed back to our friends home we all of a sudden see someone down on the street after being hit by a car on his bicycle.  It was one of those moments where you feel helpless.  We finished crossing the intersection and pulled over as soon as it was safe to do so.  The person who hit the bicyclist had drove off, then pulled over to check her car.  Then she got back in the car and drove away like a maniac.  Since we were all good citizens, we jammed the pedal to the medal and followed her.  She has trying to get away from us, but we were not to be outdriven.   I called 911 and we were able to report the license number, make of car, and the street we were on.   Well I sure didn't know where we were so I handed the phone to my friend and she proceeded to give precise street information and directions where the getaway car was.   The dispatcher then politely told us not to follow her anymore as we would be liable if she were in a wreck.  We were a little disappointed we couldn't be deputized as in the old western movies in order to keep pursuing the getaway car, but we did as the dispatcher asked and went back to the crime scene and reported our part to the police.

The young man that was hit is going to have a bad headache for awhile and his friends were going to haul his bike home while his mom was coming to take him home.  My husband was talking to the young man and as we turned to go back to our car I asked that young man, Edwardo, if we could pray for him.  He said yes he would like that.  So out there in the Marina Del Rey and LAX area, we stood on the curbside with firemen on one side and police on the other and prayed with this young man.

As my husband, me, and our friends walked back to our car, we were amazed to see God give us opportunity to be able to help someone who had a need in a huge city where an emphasis is not on living for the Lord.  We weren't expecting that ministry opportunity but it felt good to be used by God.

In order to serve Him, one must be available.  We were later that we had wanted to be getting to our hotel room, and our friends got home later than they wanted, but it did not matter.  Being used by God is well worth the interruptions in life.  The King of all universes and creator of all creation used us to minister and care for someone.  God does work in amazing ways.  Why God chose us for that particular event I do not know, but I am glad He did.

California Journey and Happy New Year

Traveling from the East coast to the West coast is not hard ONCE you get on the plane, but getting the tickets, riding coach, checking in baggage, lugging luggage around in the airport, especially if it is Christmas with extra packages can be challenging. 

We have had the blessing of visiting our family in CA.  It has been a great time.  As we get ready to leave to go back home it brings about many emotions.  Leaving loved ones to see loved ones.  Leaving what is familiar from long ago to what is familiar in the last 8 years.  Does your heart ever break in two?  Mine feels like it does. 

Here is some pictures of our "old" home on the west coast.  I'm from the desert area of CA and my hubby is from the central coast.  Quite a difference in landscape, but home all the same.

We are leaving a newborn grandson and a toddler granddaughter.  They are so precious.  We are blessed to see them once or twice a year.  Talk about breaking your heart.  That is what grandchildren can do.  But leaving our son and daughter-in-law and parents is heart rendering also.  Ahhh yes.  Life moves on.  How can you tell someone to enjoy each moment and savour each breathe as they will never have that time back.  Live the life God has given you to the best of your ability in service to Him and by loving others as you yourself would like to be loved.

May you be blessed with a wonderful start for 2013.  Let me say Happy New Year and may the Lord bless you richly.  Blessings.  Deb

This last October we had dear, lifelong friends come back to visit us.  We decided to take our friends on one of our Paradis Journey's.  By definition, Paradis Journey's are trips or little jaunts we take that are from a day to usually 4 days or so.  We go no less than 300 miles and then of course much more than that.  It was harder when the gas prices were expensive, but we did manage to drive to Richmond a couple of times to eat at a restuarant we love and drive around in Richmond.  Hubby and I love to explore places we haven't been and find new places to eat that are "keepers" for us.  A restuarant where we definitely would go again.

We had never been to Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell so we added that to our list of things to see and do.  We marveled at the buildings where the constitution was signed.  We saw the house of Betsy Ross and the oldest alley in the United States.  That trip enriched our heritage of being a citizen of the United States and also made history come alive.

Also, on that trip we stopped in Harrisburg, PA and took a tour of the capital building.  Absolutely stunning.  Well worth the stop there.  We also drove out to Lancaster County, which is some of the most beautiful countryside we've ever seen.  The farms, the rolling hills, the silos.  It is all rich with fertile ground, gentle landscape and of course our little eateries we love.  The wooden bridges are rustic and primitive.  The Amish country is amazing.  The fields of corn and other agriculture are lush and green.

The following weekend we took our friends then to Virginia up on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  One of our stops was at Nancy's Candies in Meadows of Dan, Virginia.  There is a variety of fudge, truffles, hard candy taffy, and about any kind of candy you want.  Most of it is made on sight.  It even has sugar free chocolates for diabetics.  Awesome store.

We followed the parkway for awhile past a couple of Stone Churches that Bob Childress pastored years ago.  In fact, legend has it that he changed the mountain.  There is a book written on it and I highly recommend it.  It is called "The Man Who Moved A Mountain".  As of this writing, I forget the author but if you contact me I'll get it for you.  Excellent book.

The pictures posted on the sides of this blog are all from this Journey's I've mentioned in the above paragraphs.  Thanks for coming along in reading about our little experiences and hopefully we will have another one coming up soon.