More random trip pics

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Some of these are from last night when Barb and I were waiting up (in the driveway) for the guys to return. The rest from today. Today we went into Boise to go to the mall. My sister-in-law has lost like 30 pounds and has a wedding to go to in two weeks. She needed something to wear. So we went shopping! When have I ever turned down a shopping trip to a mall. And guess what, I didn't get a thing! Aren't you proud?

It is 104 Degrees in boise Today

Gone, Gone, Gone My Baby's Gone...

...or at least Barb's baby is gone! Since the brand new four-wheeler was supposed to be hers! The only way it is coming out is with a helicopter. Rob and John spent another four hours out on the mountainside trying to locate the four-wheeler and they couldn't even find it. So it's 11 o'clock at night and they just returned!

These pics are in one of my smileboxes but we (Barb & I) thought we would do a tribute to her missing fourwheeler!
These pics were taken when Rob, me and John rode up their mountain on their property to see the cabin at the top about two hours before Red went rolling down a mountain. This was the last time we (Barb & I) saw Red. :( She is unrecoverable!

A day in the house

Well, after lunch the boys (Rob & John) decided to take the four-wheeler's out for a ride. They left with two four-wheeler's, their old one and their brand new one. They left at 3:30 pm and at about 6:30 pm the two of them came riding back up the drive on one four-wheeler. Do the math and you will realize that they were missing one red brand-new four-wheeler!

While on a trail up in the mountains John's four-wheeler lost footing and rolled probably about 400 ft. down the side of a mountain and got stuck in a tree. Don't worry once John realized that he was loosing it he jumped off. They spent a couple of hours trying to hike down to it, well the time was spent trying to hike back up the mountain. Everyone is okay.

They are back out right now trying to winch it back up the mountain. However, Rob thinks it's unrecoverable. (They have insurance - if it's not recoverable!)

So this should explain to you why I have so much time to sit on the computer today. Barb and I sat at the house with the kids. But that's cool because we got to talk and catch up. And take a bunch of random pics of our kids!

Rowan took his first shower today in their sauna/shower. I thought he would hate it but he loved it!

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First Night

Our first night in Idaho was spent at my mom & Jim's. We, of course, stayed up late and got up early! (If you know my mom, you know it wouldn't be any different than that) We visited her church this morning, Columbia Heights Baptist Church. It is right around the corner from their house. It was nice.

After church we headed up the mountain to John & Barb's, which is where we are now. We've already taken a short ride on the four-wheelers and we are getting ready to eat lunch.

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Pics from our trip out to Idaho

Well, we've made it! We drove all day Friday. In Iowa we were pelted with nickel-sized hail and 90 mile an hour wind. If you heard on the news that two people were killed in Iowa. It was exactly where we were. Same storm, same town. But we did make it through and slept for a couple hours at a rest area just west of Lincoln Nebraska. We awoke this morning and drove the remainder through Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah and Idaho. We arrived at about 7:45 pm Mountain Time. ANd we are safe.

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heaven after a long night!

Jourdyn Knows

We took Jourdyn last Friday to Erie Street Chowder House (since I had gift certificates) and told her the news about her school. She seems okay with it. It was hard today though because she had piano lessons and her teacher told her how excited she was to have her in the middle school band next year. Jourdyn had to tell her she wouldn't be there. Miss Youngblood said she was sad to see her best saxophone player go. But she is going to continue to give her piano/saxophone lessons even thought Jourdyn won't be at school there.

Of course, she had some creative ideas: Jourdyn could live with her during the week and come home on the weekends that was just one of them. But like I said before the only way she'd be able to continue where she was next year will be by divine intervention.

Fish Fry

Today, was the fish fry at the Rook's house! We had perch and a little bit of walleye. We also had french fries, onion rings, and friend twinkies! Basically it was a fried food heaven!

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New Camera

I got a new camera yesterday!! I am so excited!!!

It's an Olympus E-500 Digital SLR, which means it has interchangable lenses. YEAH!!! I am going to see if Oregon Adult Education has a Photography class. So I can learn how to play with it. Or maybe one of the camera shops. Either way, it's awesome and it takes really nice pictures. Here's a couple that I took yesterday at our garage sale. The last one is of our friend Jason.

Oh yeah, we had a garage sale this weekend. It went okay, not great but okay! I was hoping to get more money for our trip but some is better than none.

Baptism

Tonight I had the awesome privilege of being with and watching two of my dearest friends, along with seven of their children, publicly profess their faith in Jesus through baptism at Cedar Creek Church. All together there were probably over 100 people baptized. I stood there amazed and completely moved at what God is doing in this world. He is so faithful to us even when we don't deserve it. Even when we aren't faithful to him. He is just there, patiently waiting for us.

Tonight is also special to me because it is an answer to my own prayers. It is again God being faithful to me; faithful to hear my prayers and faithful to answer them in miraculous ways. I have prayed for several years for these friends that they would find Christ and find new life in Him. Over those years I have watched God work in ways that I never thought possible in their lives and in my own.

I had asked when it was all over if they felt different. It wasn't to mock or make fun of the baptism. Galatians 3:26-29 says

"So you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all
who have been united with Christ in baptism have been made like him. There is no
longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. For you are all
Christians--you are one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you
are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and now all the promises
God gave to him belong to you."

Baptism to me is much more than an outward sign of an inward change. It
is a new life. It's not our salvation, but it ushers in a change. It is a
death to our old selves and a new life, a whole life in Christ. After
baptism we should feel closer to God, we should feel like He is everything.

I haven't been baptized since I was a little girl. While I know that
repitition doesn't offer any brownie points, I believe I'm going to reaffirm my
baptism. My life has changed drastically since I was a little girl. I
rededicated myself to Jesus shortly after I had Jourdyn and God's been
putting overtime with me ever since!! I think I need to be rebaptized as a
symbol of the new life he is creating in me.

Saturday night Family excursion

to the new Bass Pro Shop in Rossford. It's really nice. I think we prefer it to Cabela's. There are less animals but it's not as crowded and it is cheaper! Charlene & I took the kids to get fudge and ice cream in the general store. The women's clothes aren't so safari-ish as Cabelas or Gander Mountains. All around I recommend it for everyone in the family.

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We also went with Chuck and Char to Cedar Creek tonight. I video taped one song. I don't think it's a copyright issue or anything. But this is one of the best songs ever! And I thought you should see it.

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A little taste of the South

Rowan came in to find me just a little bit ago looking like this...

Everybody's Zooing It!

Terrifying Decision

Rob and I have been faced this year with a terrifying decision to make. Well, it's not so terrifying for him, just me. Jourdyn since 1st grade has always gone to a private Christian school. Tuition has always made our financial life tight, except when I was working, which I haven't for four years. But God has always been faithful to provide for us.

This year Rob and I really have prayed about what to do with Jourdyn in the upcoming year. She is entering 6th grade, middle school (yikes!). Gas prices are sky-rocketing and at $4.00 per gallon we would be paying $10 per day to take her to school, 186 days a year, not including extra trips for activities and that's on top of tuition. It's really just not feasible. We have prayed and prayed for a miracle. You know, some rich unknown person dying and leaving us big bucks, or winning the lottery even though I don't play, I don't know just a miracle that would allow us to keep her where she is.

But it has become more abundantly clear to us that God is asking us to take a leap of faith and trust him. This is the scariest leap I've had to make. It's terrifying. This is one concerns the future of my girl that I want so much for. This could take her places that could change her life for the worse. Jourdyn is a reader. She reads constantly and I can't imagine what doors will be opened to her once she enters the library at her new school. I don't want her to be in a school where she can't go to her teachers and pray with them about her concerns or whatever. I want her to know that her teachers are praying for her daily. I want to know that she is in a place where she can freely talk about God and learn about God, not in a place that she is told that she came from a monkey.

I'm sitting here balling my eyes out. I am terrified. Do I think she'll be okay in the long run? Yes. Do I think that she's a good girl and will be smart enough to stay out of trouble? to make wise choices? Yes! I do. I just am scared to death that we aren't making the right decision. It comes down to I have to trust God with this. So here are a couple of Bible verses that I am writing out and carrying with me so that when I worry I can read them and remind myself that God is in control and He is watching over this whole thing. (and don't say anything to her yet - we haven't talked to her about it - I have to be able to do it without crying!)

I will instruct you and teach you

in the way you should go;

I will counsel you and watch over you.

Psalm 32:8

Do not be afraid, for I am with you.

Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you.

I will help you.

I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

Forgot to tell you this

I won gift certificates from WSPD last month. I win stuff all the time: symphony tickets, restaurant certificates, cd's, etc. I've probably won at least $500 in stuff in the past year. When we go to the symphony it's because I've won tickets!

Anyways, we had to go downtown this past week to pick up the certificate, which I am pysched about because it's for the Erie Street Chowder House and it's 50 bucks!! WooHoo!!

There isn't much left downtown. Libbey Glass and the Chowder House are the only things keeping Erie street Market alive. Oh, and Carty Finkbeiner, Toledo's megalomaniac, Napoleon complexed mayor. That's his baby.

But it's really not alive at all, mostly empty buildings. There is the Mud Hens . They are awesome! And of course, the Spaghetti Warehouse. I think that's about it. And my salon, Ahava. Carty has pretty much killed the city! Anyways, this decline in Toledo benefited me the other day on my trip to pick of Gift certificates.

COSI, which was located in the failed Portside Shopping Center on the muddy Maumee River, has followed in it's predecessors footsteps and closed it doors. As we drove by, the doors were open and there was a big sign that said "Big Sale." Well, the garage saler that I am, I made the soonest available U-turn and Rob and I hit that sale. Here's some of the spoils of our stop: an umbrella for our picnic table, cool bookshelves for my kids, a crazy toy that we hung on the wall, a brand new in the box Sound system for Rob (it's sells on amazon for 200+ and that's a refurbished one), some baskets, some kites, toys for the kids and the game Trionimos. We really got a lot of cool stuff. The radio was the most expensive thing, 80 bucks but Rob will get that back at our garage sale from his old radio pieces.

The bookcases when I found them there were connected back to back with the toy on the end of them - I got it for 20 dollars. That's the biggest deal we got! It probably cost about $500 originally! The kids love it!

An Interactive Chess Game

Pay attention this video is great! Note the people walking by watching us. And all the people driving by honking their horns! Oh, it was great! Don't mind the shakiness I couldn't stop laughing!!! They were jousting with life-size chess pieces. Oh, and racing too!!!

Holy Crap

Well, I've added the advertisements on the sides to make a little extra cash - and since no one clicks on them hardly ever - I've only made 18 cents (and that's from one click). Anyways, I don't chose the content, they read my blog and pick appropriate things from the things that I have written.

Today, you can click "Affairs made Easy" an online service to match married people for a no-mess affair. Give me a frickin' break - please don't click on that one! I think they pulled the idea for that from my sermon...maybe they should read better. So anyways, I need the money so don't throw out the baby with the bathwater, start reading the ads and if you see something you like or need check it out!!!

But on a good note I got a B on the sermon...or maybe an A. But for sure at least a B - 177/200 but he made a grading mistake. He graded on a 200 point scale when in reality it was supposed to be 150 point scale. So on our record book it shows 177/150 and he said he's not going to change anything. I emailed the prof and said "so that's kinda like extra credit points!" We'll see!!!

Nagoya Japanese Steakhouse

This is a video of our chef doing his thing!! Check it out it's pretty entertaining.

Date Night

Yesterday, Rob and I got a chance to go out with Chuck and Charlene. Her girls, Meridian and Carla came over to babysit my kids, who had a ball with them. We went to Nagoya in Levis Commons. It is a Japanese Steakhouse. They have hibachi chefs that cook right in front of you. It was very fun and awesome! I even ate with chopsticks. I can tell you if i had to do that for every meal - I would be really really skinny! It causes you to eat slow and therefore not eat as much!

After that we went to the movies and saw Don't Mess with the Zohan. It's the new Adam Sandler movie. It was one of his stupid funny movies. You know it's so stupid it's funny. If you're a Sandler fan you'll like it. And it has all the Sandler entourage in it! Including the foot fetish guy from Mr. Deeds! And of course, "You can do it" Rob Schneider!

We had Ben & Jerry's ice cream for dessert! The perfect topper for the night! We had a lot of fun! Oh I almost forgot, we went on a tour of East Toledo. We got to see everything including a stop at the 7-Eleven for slurpees!!!

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Happy Father's Day

My grandpa's birthday was this past Wednesday. He turned 92 years old. It's hard to believe that he has lived for nearly a century. I can't even fathom the things that he has seen in his lifetime. He was a WWI baby and a WWII soldier. He's seen 16 presidents, was around to remember the assassinations of JFK, MLK, and John Lennon. It quite amazing!!! I just can't comprehend the amount of knowledge that has been experienced by him. Anyways, we had a party for him today. It was kinda an all-around party, Father's day, grandpa's birthday and Grandpa Don's birthday too. We had the party at my Uncle Scott's and Aunt Jo's. Grandpa Don is Aunt Jo's dad. Both my grandpa and him share the same birthday. I believe Don is many years younger though. I bought the cake and they shared it, since it said happy birthday grandpa. Here's a video

And of course, it's Father's Day! So here's a pic of Rob with his kiddos today! He wanted to have steak dinner. We are grilling this evening for him and my dad is supposed to be stopping by this evening. I have to write my final paper that is due in 7 hours! Nothing like procrastination!!!!

Cute pics

I had my camera out (when don't I) and my kids were hammin' it up!

A missing picture

So I'm such a bad friend, when we went to VA to Derek & Jackie, I never took a family picture of them all! Stirling had fifth grade graduation. This is a pic of the family. (Derek, Jackie, Carl, Stirling and Ainsley) They are such a cute family!!!! I miss them already!!! Don't worry though, I'll see them in October for the Highland games in richmond.

WooHoo

I feel like I'm sixteen again - not that I feel that great, I just am allowed to drive again! Of course, with gas looming at about $4 per gallon, I'm not so sure I want to anyways! But, it is nice to know that I'm not confined to my living quarters anymore.

The doc doesn't seem worried about anything. He seems a little indifferent to everything and he doesn't have a sense of humor at all. I tried to complain about the fact that he didn't liposuck any of the fat from my stomach and I was going to knock off part of his pay but he didn't even smile.

I am allowed to resume my regular habits as I feel able to. So maybe no softball this next week - although I'll be there just in case they need me - but for sure the week following I'll be out there.

Maybe mowing the lawn...

...isn't technically age-appropriate for Rowan! But he tried his hardest!

Healing

It's Monday. I'm five days out from the surgery. My incisions seem to be healing well. At least i think they are. They itch quite badly. And I was always told that if a wound itches it's because it is healing. They are bruised pretty badly. My belly button one doesn't feel like the rest of them. It hurts. There is a lot of tenderness near my belly button and in my right side near that incision. I can't stretch. I can't bend down. I can't lift anything. I can't lay on my side.

I haven't been taking as much percocet. So maybe that's why I am feeling all this more. I have what I can only describe as heartburn. there's not much of a burning sensation, it's more of a tightness in my chest and it moves a little into my back. I go back to the doctors on Thursday. I guess we'll see if this is all normal then.

Rob, dad and the kids went to see the Mud Hens play last night. They lost. The kids could have run the bases afterwards and seen fireworks but the it had rained so the game started 45 minutes late and the kids were tired. So they didn't make it to the end. But they had fun! Our church went as a group. I, of course, stayed home in bed.

I had got up and went to church yesterday morning and it was definitely too much for me. So I slept a lot yesterday. Melissa & Tom brought us dinner last night, so I did get to visit with them for a little bit.

I have great friends. Many of them have brought us meals since I've been home so I wouldn't have to worry about cooking. In fact, Melanie stopped by unexpectedly with Lasagna tonight! Rob is on second shift so I had her put it in the fridge. About an hour later I opened the fridge and oh, it smelled wonderful!!! The only bad thing about friends bringing food - Rob might get used to home cooked meals!! :) I am kidding!

We have been trying this new system of planning out our meals for two weeks. It eliminates unnecessary trips to the store for random groceries and it eliminates the blank stare at the contents of the fridge while trying to figure out what to have for dinner! It was working really well, until my surgery!

A Stone's Throw of Grace

Mom has been asking me lately to post some of my stuff for yall to read! So this is long but here's my sermon. It's on John 8:1-11 (follow the link and read it first). Remember, I'm not an experienced pastor, this is only my first attempt at a sermon someone was to actually hear. Be gentle!!!! And I haven't been graded on it yet...so I don't know what it's worth!

A Stone's Throw of Grace

by Sharon McQueary

According to Ecclesiastes 1:9 “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” One can’t help but wonder if Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter was inspired by this very story of the Adulteress we find in John. There are many similarities. Hester Prynne, the Scarlet Letter’s main character was also caught red-handed and arrested for adultery. Like the woman in our passage, she was paraded in public for her crime. Hester was forced to wear her shame on her chest in the form of a scarlet letter. There were a couple of huge differences though.
One, the adulteress in John wasn’t a fictional character. Our faith requires our assurance in God’s written Word. She was a real life woman, in a real life situation. The second big difference, the adulteress in John was placed on display with her sin boldly proclaimed not just to all within hearing distance, but also to the Great Teacher, the Great Prophet, the miracle worker, the man who claimed to be the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
I can only imagine the shame that she must have felt. We aren’t told much about her, just that she committed adultery and was arrested only to be used as a pawn in the Pharisees plot to trap Jesus. She had no defense. Verse 4 says “this woman was caught in the act of adultery.” We have to wonder if she was even given time to dress before she was dragged out of the bed and into the temple courts. Were the Pharisees camping out to catch her in the act? Like peeping toms outside her window. Did they know exactly where to go to find their pawn? They didn’t care about this woman or really even about her sin. This was evident in the way they treated her and the fact that they didn’t arrest the man she was with, who was equally guilty. And under the law deserved the same penalty: death by stoning. The Pharisees were looking to trap Jesus and the adulteress was to be the bait.
How embarrassing. In fact, embarrassment doesn’t even begin to describe the feelings that must have rushed through her as she was caught in the act. Being caught red-handed left her with little justification for her actions. So she stood there.
She stood there before the Great Teacher, before the crowds of people waiting to hear His every word; waiting to be sentenced to death, the punishment for adultery.

When I was 13 years old, my mom dropped my friend, Dawn and I off at Southwyck Mall. It wasn’t all that long ago, but the mall has changed drastically since. While the halls today are bare and empty and only a handful of stores remain, the only thing empty back then was our pockets. The mall was thriving. And as you can imagine, it didn’t take two empty-pocketed teenagers very long to get deep into trouble at a flourishing shopping center.
I had never shoplifted before, in fact I had never really even given thought to do it prior to this occasion. I learned quickly that day that Dawn was well-versed at the art of the five-finger discount. Apparently though, she wasn’t as good as she thought. We got caught. Not only did the store personnel see our actions but the strategically located video cameras caught it all. We weren’t even able to make it out of the store. Security promptly confronted us and detained us in the back office of the store. My parents were called and summoned back to the mall to deal with us. Dawn’s parents were out of town for the weekend and under my parents charge.
I remember sitting in that office for what seemed like hours, listening to the security officer telling us how much trouble we were in and how we could go to jail for this. All of which were things I knew very well, and I really didn’t need to be reminded that I had so seriously messed up. I knew, I knew I was done for.
Waiting for my parents to arrive, I contemplated all the trouble I was in…I could imagine the paddling I was going to get, not to mention the endless grounding that was sure to ensue. I would never be trusted again and the worst was I would have to look my stepfather in the eye and see the disappointment that was sure to be staring back at me.
Like the Adulteress, I had no excuse, no defense, I was caught red-handed and I deserved the punishment that was coming.
Many of us today can’t relate to the Adulteress John is telling us about. We’ve never committed adultery, we’ve never even thought about an affair. However, the associate press reports that 22% of married men have strayed at least once during their married lives and 14% of married women have had affairs at least once. The AP also admits that given infidelities inherent secrecy these numbers are most likely way off base and it’s tough to get a handle on the real number of us that are having affairs.
Do you know even if we don’t fall under this sin…even if we’ve never committed adultery that doesn’t mean that we are sinless? Just as the adulteress was guilty, I too was guilty of stealing back years ago. And I’d love to tell you that I learned my lesson, that I never again disappointed my mom and stepdad, that I had turned away from my sinful ways. But I didn’t. Shoplifting wasn’t something that continued in my life but I did in many other numerous ways sin against God and even against myself. The simple fact is that each one of us is guilty of a countless number of sins, some that we don’t even know that we committed because sin is so engrained into our world. In Romans we are told the divine truth that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” No one is different from one another when it comes to sin. We all have it and we’ve all done it. We are all just like Hester Prynne and the Adulteress, we may a different letter pinned to our chest, but the penalty before God is the same. None is worse than the other. They are all the same in God’s eyes.

So we left off with the Adulteress standing in front of Jesus waiting for her immanent death penalty to be handed down and for the stones to be thrown. Oh, but what happened next was nothing short of a miracle in her life. Jesus poured His grace on her like a raging waterfall.
His grace didn’t begin with the words that He spoke. It began with His actions. We don’t know if the Adulteress stood gazing at Christ, if her eyes glared with repentance or with contempt, but what we do know is that unlike the people standing around her, accusing her were sure to have that hatred in their eyes and in their voices. Not Jesus though, He bent down and began writing in the dirt on the ground.
Now I have to say that this is the only time in the Bible where Jesus wrote something down…does it tell us what? No. John leaves us hanging on this one…and oh, would I love to know what He wrote…just what was so important that He had to bend over right then and write it down. Well, I was a bit disappointed to hear that most scholars believe that Jesus was just…doodling. You know, looking at the ground and drawing circles.
But let’s look at that again and think about it…if He’s looking at the ground and keeping himself occupied there, perhaps thinking of what to say…He’s not, like all those around him, staring and judging her with his eyes. This is the first outpouring of his grace; he has spared her his holy gaze.
His grace doesn’t stop flowing there. It’s as if He is refusing to answer them, refusing to play along in their trap. They keep nagging and nagging, like little children wanting a cookie. “Well, well, what do you have say?” “Aren’t you going to give her the punishment she deserves?” “Are you not going to follow the Law of Moses?” “What kind of Rabbi are you?” “Don’t you have an answer?” “What are we to do with this filth?”
And then grace appeared. Jesus straightened himself. The New Living Translation records Jesus’ words as “All right! But let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” I can imagine Jesus being somewhat irritated by their whining and just with a little conviction and perhaps a raised voice saying, “Fine, just stop, just be quiet, do it but let the one who’s never sinned be the first to throw their stone.”
This was the second outpouring of grace on the woman. No one there accusing the adulteress was qualified to throw that stone. And they knew it. Silence consumed them. You could probably hear a pin drop on that dirt floor. The one, by the way, that Jesus went back to doodling on.
There is only one person that “has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.” (Heb. 4:15) There was only one person there that could have rightfully condemned her. There was only one person that could have thrown that first rock. And he was busy doodling in the sand.
The accusers all walked away, the old ones first. If find this interesting. It leaves me with a couple of unanswered questions: Did the old leave first because they had racked up more sins in their lifetime or because they were wiser and able to see their sins more clearly? Nonetheless, they all left and the woman was left standing before this Great Prophet, Jesus all alone.
Just when we thought she had about all the grace she could stand or at least all the grace we thought she deserved. Jesus the one who could condemn doesn’t throw a stone. He doesn’t even throw a harsh word. This woman knows what she did; she didn’t need to be reminded.
He throws her grace, even more grace than before. While he never condones her sin, he does forgive her. She was still a sinner, but forgiven. She was still guilty of adultery, but he had lifted her sentence from her shoulders and placed it on His own. Grace was given in abundance to the Adulteress that day. She had been saved.

That day at Southwyck mall, my accusers were there reminding me what I had done. And my stepdad, oh, I didn’t know until writing this just how much of godly man he was, but that look that I dreaded. That look of disappoint that I thought for sure I would bare, it never came. Now sure I was grounded for a century, but I don’t remember ever seeing the look that I knew I deserved. My stepdad gave me grace that day.
Today, we have accusers. We have one great accuser, Satan who stands at our shoulder, like he has done since the beginning, telling us how wrong we’ve been, how bad we’ve messed up, how deep we’ve dug our grave. And like the Adulteress, there is only one who is worthy, there is only one who is sinless, there is only one who can throw the first stone. And his stones of choice are grace.
Do you see, Jesus didn’t come here to condemn the Adulteress and he didn’t come to condemn us today. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:17). Jesus came to save an adulteress that day in the temple, Jesus came to save me that day in the mall, and he came today to save you!
His grace is sufficient to stop our accuser in his tracks. It is sufficient to forgive all our sins. His grace is sufficient to save us.
By the end of our passage, our adulteress was left standing before a man that had once been known to her as the Great prophet, the great teacher, the man who claimed to be the Messiah. Do you think that after this encounter with grace that she thought him anything less than all that he claimed to be?
I believe that if their was any contempt in her eyes for the Pharisees who had so embarrassed and shamed her, if she had in the beginning looked on Jesus with the slightest bit of haughtiness, that by the time she was standing with him face to face – alone – her eyes were probably filled with hope, they were probably filled with repentance. She was given her chance by Jesus to deny her sin and she didn’t, she acknowledged it. And He forgave her.
She walked away that day with a new life and a new hope! She had experienced grace from God himself. Well, I’m here to tell you that you can experience it to. Jesus came not just to save the worst of the worst or to save the best of the best; he came to save us all. He came to throw his stones of amazing grace at each one of us. Are you standing, like the Adulteress, ready to catch them?

Happy Birthday Julie!!

My big sister, Julie turned 40 on Wednesday. I didn't get this on because that is also the same day I had surgery!!! So happy birthday Jules!!!

Tonight, my grandpa wanted to take us out together. He's 92, so when he's feeling up to it, we have to be up to it! It was an interesting night. Their car broke down on the way over, so we had to go pick them up and squeeze us all into my van. We went to Bob Evans together then came back to our house for cake and ice cream. Uncle Jeff picked them all up here, since they had no car to get home. AAA towed grandpa's car to the shop.

I was already feeling like crap today from not getting enough rest. And this evening really didn't help my body at all. but I had fun getting out with Julie & Brodie, and grandpa and grandma! I'll be paying for it tomorrow!

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Dad's pics from Chuck E. cheese

Trying to Rest

There is no rest for the wicked...well, at least there is no rest for the mamma!

Dad and Rob took Jourdyn and the little ones to Chuck E. Cheese today. Jourdyn had a reward party for piano/saxophone lessons, so they just made an afternoon of it for all the kids. It gave me a little bit to sit and relax.

I can't get comfortable. I can't cough and I desperately need to. And my whole abdomen is sore. I feel like I was ran over by a truck.

Here are some pics Rob sent me from Chuck E. Cheeses.

The pic is sideways but there is a hole at my belly button and 3 Others - the is drainage from the one on my right side. My belly is extremely bloated from the air they use during surgery- it should in down in a couple of days. I still have no appetite

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