Celebrating 91 years

Mary Francis Duncan Born 8/19/1917

Well this last week my Grandma celebrated her 91st Birthday. I didn't get to spend it with her this year but last year my sister and I put on a party for her. She lives in a small town where she has for most of her life. So we invited the town, along with some relatives from out of town. I had a slide show made from some of the pictures we gathered, and I put together a collage of pictures from her life. Below are a few of the pictures that celebrate her life.

Her Parents Mother Clare, and not sure on her Fathers Name.Grandma in the early years!






Grandma and Grandpa! Grandpa and I had lots of fun in the garden together. He was a rock hound and made jewelry. I had fun watching. - Grandpa is in heaven now.
Grandma being Baptised in 1981.

5 Generations. Grandma, Dad, Me, My Daughter and her Daughter "Baby J". Baby J is now 41/2. Grandma with her two children, my Dad and Aunt, at her 90th Birthday Party.

She has just sold her home and moved in with her Step-Daughter who is helping her out. Grandma is remarkable especially for her age. She's an awesome woman who has lived through and seen a great deal in her life. She's quiet, doesn't say a lot and really doesn't speak evil of anyone. She's given little tid-bits of advise in life, that has stuck with me all my life.
Love ya Grandma,
Lynn

More Tagging Fun

I've been tagged by my very good friend "Plant Lady"
So here is a little good clean fun....

Four things I like about my husband . . . . .
1. I like his love for God
2. I like that he always encourages me to be my on person and to grow
3. I like that he appreciates me.
4. I like that he is nice to everyone and finds the good in them.

Four movies I have watched more than once . . . . .
1. Sarah Plain and Tall
2. Remember the Titans
3. Man from Snowy River
4. Pretty Woman

Four TV shows I watch . . . . .
1. Cops
2. Deadliest Catch
3. Ice Road Truckers
4. Lock up

Four places I have been . . . . .
1. Laughlin NV
2. Bullhead City AZ
3. Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
4. Weiser ID

Four people who email me regularly . . . . .
1. My Sister Randi
2. My Sister in Law Romy
3. My bloggy friend, Plant Lady
4. My friend Faye


Four favorite foods . . . . .
1. Anything Mexican except Menudo
2. Salad
3. Baked Chicken, Rice w/ Gravy and Corn
4. Pasta, or Corn Bread


Four places I would like to visit . . . . .
1. North Carolina ( I have a new friend there somewhere) :)
2. Norway
3. Texas
4. Australia

Four things I am looking forward to in the coming year (2009) . . . . .
1. Spending another year with my WONDERFUL husband (I agree)
2. Growing in the Word (I agree)
3. God's many blessings (I agree)
4. Many great times of fellowship with friends and family (I agree great answers)

Four friends I tag . . . . .
1. Paula
2. La Tonya
3. Alice
4. Sharon

I tried to pick ones that have not been picked. Enjoy and have fun and let see what you have to say.

Be Blessed,
Lynn

What's the Siesta Cookbook?

Siesta Fiesta Cookbook was put together and designed by christian women that wanted to make a difference. We submitted recipes, sent in family sayings and submitted pictures for the cover contest. Holly donated more of her time than I think we really know putting it together editing and getting it set up for printing. Then she has to distribute.... Thank you Holly.

Becky won the cover contest isn't the cover great. The rest of the pictures that were submitted are included in the book.

But Wait .... That's not the best part. ALL the proceeds of this cookbook go to Life Outreach International to dig wells for Clean Water.

So go to the link above and check it out. You can also follow other links about it on the "Siesta Fiesta Blog" and if you would like to get one click the picture on my side bar and it gives you an order form.

I have some on order. I Love to cook, and after all when you first publish your recipes you have to get a couple copies don't you? :)

Be Blessed!

Lynn

Cover 2 Cover 8/4-8/10/08

Hello we're doing a chronological reading of the Bible hosted by our Bev please check out her site and join us. We read and then post what lingers on Monday mornings.

Well this week I got behind, my notes were vague and if I spend too much time sorting them out I will be farther behind. So this weeks post will be a little on the lite side.
1 Chronicles 3:15 it's listing the sons of Josiah and I wondered why it was his second son that was his successor. Okay another question that I had was Josiah had a son named Zedekiah, and then a Grandson named Zedekiah(from Jeconiah ?) Who or which was the royal line of Exile. I may have to go back and study after all. :)
Now Daniel and the story of Shadrach, Meshach, & Abednego and the fiery furnace. I so love this story and I wish I could say that I have that strong of faith all the time. Not that I would bow down to a gold idol, but as I have learned there are things in our life that we give more attention to than we should. We could all learn to "Let Go and Let God" a little more I'm sure. To have so much faith that we could walk into a furnace and say vs. 17 "He will deliver us from your hand O King, BUT if not, let it be known to you O King, that we do not serve your gods."
Daniel 3:30 The King ended up promoting them, But really the promotion came from God. If we would trust God instead of chasing after things in our own flesh - God will see that we are promoted.
Jeremiah 14:7 The people say, “Our wickedness has caught up with us, Lord, but help us for the sake of your own reputation. We have turned away from you and sinned against you again and again
Now they want God's help. They wait until they are in dire need, Now they recognize that He is the only one that can help them.
14:10 So this is what the Lord says to his people: “You love to wander far from me and do not restrain yourselves. Therefore, I will no longer accept you as my people. Now I will remember all your wickedness and will punish you for your sins.”
God's Judgement comes!
14:20 Lord, we confess our wickedness and that of our ancestors, too. We all have sinned against you. 21 For the sake of your reputation, Lord, do not abandon us. Do not disgrace your own glorious throne. Please remember us, and do not break your covenant with us.
What? Isn't that just a little gutsy? Lord Ya me , well you know I built these pagan idols and bowed down to them. Ya I went over there where you told me not to, ya that was me who hurt your people, but hey that doesn't give you the right to be breaking the covenant with us. I don't know about anybody else but that just floored me, what size guts do you have to have, to say that to the Lord. Then I heard - oh about your size. Oops. How many times have I stepped out, mouthed off and then said God I know I did this but you'll still protect me won't you. It's easy to read what these people did and think "Well I Never.... Oh Yes you did! :) Thoughts to ponder.
Jeremiah 15 the Potter remolding the clay pot and I thought about how because Jesus paid the price for our sins, we are remolded into a different pot. Thanks to the sacrifice and blood of Jesus.

That's all for now. Thanks Bev for all you do to lead this.
Blessings,
Lynn

Missions in Brazil

Hi
Well it's God at work even though I don't know what He's up to. :) But it's not my position to question just be obedient. Years ago when my husband and I were dating our Friday night dates consisted of a Bible study at some friends house. During the time we were going there one of their daughters was going to Brazil to do some missions work. She had graduated from college with a degree in nutrition and it came in handy.
Over the next few years that particular Bible study moved to someone else's house and down the road we lost contact with the original host family. After getting married my husband and I attended a small church that our pastor and friend was starting but after a year or so found that it did not have a youth program which we felt our youngest daughter needed. So at the advice of our pastor friend we were advised to go back to the parent church where he and my husband had originally come from. Shortly after we did I saw a little notice on the bulletin board that Heidi that had gone to Brazil was getting married to someone she had met down in Brazil.
Fast forward a few more years and our current pastor at some point says that Heidi and her husband are part of the mission's that our church is supporting.
Fast forward even more years to a few weeks ago. My husband and I greet newcomers, it's just what we do. (Probably why we've been asked to do it at the front door now) Well there was a couple in front of us that I didn't recognize and so when the pastor said go greet someone of course I went to them. The lady said Hi I'm Heidi, and that is my husband his name is Hi son (or so I thought) ya we're here from Brazil, to which I replied great I'm so glad you are here. Well about that time we were asked to be seated so I did. All of the sudden it clicked. Oh Oh Oh, that's Heidi. I had never met her in person always just prayed for this person named Heidi in Brazil. So after service I went to her and asked if her parents were..... and then told her who we were and how we knew her parents. Well they left for a couple of weeks to visit other relatives and came back this last week to tell us a little more about there work in Brazil.
So this morning as I have been doing some of my Bible studies their card with their pictures and websites kept staring at me, so I went to one of them and felt urged to share.
Railson (pronounced "Hi Al Son") and Heidi and their two children have just been on my heart a lot so I pray for them and I'm sure it's okay if you want to too. Below is a link to one of their posts about the flooding in April. Not sure why I felt so strongly about sharing their work, but God does and that's all that matters. After all how many times does someone have to cross your path before it's not a coincidence?

Laranjal Under Water

Have a blessed Day!
Lynn

PS check out my other Blog I'm doing a study from "Battlefield of the Mind" by Joyce Meyers

Monday's Cover to Cover

Good Morning everyone!

Wow can you believe it is August already. I am doing a chronological reading of the Bible with a bunch of other women all over the nation/world hosted by Bev. Then below I will post some of the thoughts that lingered this week.

I had never read in full the book of Nahum so his book was interesting and some points that I think will linger for a long while. Nahum's name means "comforter". Although they are not sure when his reign was they think it had to be somewhere around 612bc. He makes reference to looking back to the destruction of Thebes in 663bc and looking forward to the fall of Niveveh 612bc. The fall of the Assyrian Empire Climaxed by the destruction of its capital city Niveveh and that is the subject of the prophesy of Nahum. The part of the book of Nahum that will stay with me hopefully all my life was stated in 2:13 and then repeated in 3:5 "Behold I am against you". These are words I never want to hear the Lord say to me.

Nahum goes to them pleading with them to turn from their evil ways. 1:2-8 He describes the goodness of God and what God's character is like. He is great in power, He will not equip the wicked, There is NO unpunished sin.

That's why we have it so good. Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for our sins. He took that punishment. God isn't going to send an army to wipe us out all we need to do is accept Jesus, repent for our sins and they are gone. Pretty sweet Daddy huh? (Get personal with him he's not just your "Father God" he's your Daddy) He knows the ones that trust in Him. God is the only one that can break the yoke that binds you.

When the Assyrians plundered all the other cities then applauded it was only fitting that when God brought them down the cities they had terrorized applauded their demise.

The Bible tells us over and over that we will reap what we sow. If we are hateful, judgemental, we will reap judgement. If we are merciful, we will reap mercy. God dealt with the Assyrians the way they had dealt with others.

Here 's a thought to ponder: If God were to deal with you the way you deal with others, would you like it?

Habakkuk is another one that I haven't read all of before, his name means "Embrace"

1:3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.
One of the commentaries on this said it was God wanted him to see how it grieves Him when we are like that. So that it would make us not want to do these things against the Lord.

2:2 Then the LORD answered me and said: “ Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. 4 “ Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.

Without vision we perish, our visions are our dreams, our hope.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

In Jeremiah I noticed in chapter 11 and in 24 that he pleaded to God to protect him, it made me wonder if that's where we got the saying "Don't shoot the messenger" :)

Then we continue on to the book of Daniel and the story of Shaddrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Our reading this week stopped right as they got thrown in the furnace, so I'll have more on that next week.
Daniel 2:46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel, and commanded that they should present an offering and incense to him. 47 The king answered Daniel, and said, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.” 48 Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts; and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 Also Daniel petitioned the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego over the affairs of the province of Babylon; but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.
Notice that because Daniel seeked God for the wisdom for the meaning of the dream, God promoted him, and because Shadddrach, Meshach and Adednego, hadn't bowed down they were also promoted.
What will God do for us when we don't bow down to this world and its ways?

Have a blessed week. Remember to go check out Bev's blog and join us in our journey through the Bible chronologically.
Lynn

Cover to Cover

Here are some thoughts that lingered from my Chronological reading Hosted by Bev.

Isaiah 57:13 - "When you cry out let your collections of Idols deliver you" Because of doing the other Bible study "No other gods" and because we have been reading so much the last couple of weeks about the people having Idols, I have been really trying to examine how I am looking at things and people. I want to be right with God so I'm doing the "Lynn is that an Idol in your life? :) So this part of the scripture really hit. Then as you continue the scripture "But the wind will carry them away, a breath will take them". If your honest with yourself these things we look up to are temporal - God is the only one that is lasting . Then the scripture ends with "But he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain". .

We need to make sure we keep our focus in the right place.

Jeremiah 1:5 - Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you, I ordained you a __________ He was talking to Jeremiah and he ordained him to be a prophet to the nations. But what about you and I. What has God sanctified us for. What is our holy purpose are we walking in the full of what God had planned for us?

The rest that lingers is sort of general, the book of Zephaniah and 2 Chronicles 33 reminded me of me as a parent wanting so much for my children to do the right thing. How God loving his people so much wanted so much for the people to repent. I can remember saying "Please do the right thing Pleeeeese. :) God in His mercy did not want to bring judgement and gave warning after warning. In 2 Chronicles I noticed how Hezekiah's son Manasseh built up the idols and wooden images which his father had broken down. So after the Lord sent the army in to destroy them Manasseh got wise and repented and made things right with God. Then Manasseh's son Amon who took over after his death, did the same thing by worshiping the wooden images and Idols however he did not humble himself before the Lord as his father and grandfather had. Look what was was passed down. But Family curses can be broken, look at Amon's Son Josiah.

2 Chronicles 34:2-3

2 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.

3 In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David. In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles, carved idols and cast images.

When things have been strongholds in your family for generations, these scriptures are encouraging. I unfortunately passed some of my insecurities down before I overcame them. But I am praying and encouraging my daughter to break the cycle before it is passed down again.

Be encouraged and Blessed this week.

Lynn