PRAY
~ For Brad, Jen, Kaleb and Ryann. Especially Jen as she copes with Kaleb and his behavior issues.
~ Audra's brain tumor
~ For unity within Alpha Delta Chi at Fresno State. And for the upcoming national convention they will be hosting.
~ Continual compatibility between Sarah and her new heart.
~ That my brother will allow the God of Jews and the Gentiles to have Lordship of his life.
~ Spiritual growth as individuals and as a couple. Ryan and I really want to be a good example of God's love.
~ The Women of Faith conference. That I will go out on a limb and invite some women that work for NRCS.
~ For my friend, CM, who's earnestly trying to eat healthy and shed some extra weight. That God will reward her diligence.
~ For my friend, Laura. Her husband of 12 years has caused major heartache and has recently asked her for a divorce. Pray for Laura as she deals with her emotions and for her 3 children who have lost their father. Pray that she feels the comfort of the Lord and that she can understand that God has a greater purpose for her.
~ Our missionary friends: Denise in Ethiopia with Christian Vet missions, Alisha @ Cal Poly Pomona with Campus Crusade, Ashley in Central CA with Young Life, Claudia with Mercy Ships as she works in community development with the poor, the Redferns as they work all over with JARON, the Mitchums and the Vet Net team in Mongolia.
~ Mom and Ralph's move to Iowa. For them to immerse themselves in "the sticks" and for those back home who miss them dearly.
~ There is so much more on my heart to be praying for. These things came to mind first though.
30 March 2004
24 March 2004
Springtime, longer days and a longer list of things to do.
Office work seems to be slowing enough for me to catch my breath and perhaps even catch up on things. At the same time, field work will be picking up about now. It was so much easier to stay late and finish things up but I find that hard to do now that I’m married. Today I was out in the field for the first time in ages. It was so nice to walk around, lay a contour line and get away from the desk. I’m sure my legs will disagree later tonight when they get sore. Well spring is finally here and I’m loving the warm weather. Up in the 50’s today with a light breeze, it’s so nice. I’ve really been enjoying work and the people at my office lately. Being involved with things on the state and national level has made work even more interesting. I was recently chosen as the Midwest regional representative within the Hispanic NRCS employee program. I look forward to serving in that capacity and attending the training conference this summer in Sacramento CA.
Besides work, so much is happening at home. Mom and Ralph arrived Monday night and I’m excited to have them here. I’ve been trying to recruit people to Iowa for quite some time and mom and Ralph made a wise decision! My hope and prayer is that Ryan and I can adjust to having some family local. That he doesn’t feel neglected or left out - that I remember to focus on him.
Friday was Ryan’s birthday. We went to dinner and then watched the HS boys basketball championships. His school won and it was fun for him to recognize the players who were itty bitty last time he saw them. Saturday, our friend Jill drove up to celebrate Ryan’s birthday with us. We had a good time of eating, chatting about old times and playing a domino game called Mexican Train. Other than that, we’ve worked a little cleaning in the basement and Ryan is working to set up shop down there. He has quite a collection of tools now to play with. The newest includes a nice shop vac that he bought with his birthday money.
Besides that, other excitement includes our female cat, Wicket, who recently has a fetish with toilet paper and Kleenex. She’ll attack the Kleenex box and tear that all up. This morning Ryan found his toilet paper all torn up. Both cats usually go to the basement or stay in our bedroom throughout the night. This morning was a good reminder of why. We recently got our taxes back from the lawyer. He made a minor error by forgetting the charitable givings line item in there. That affected our return by almost double. Good thing Ryan caught it. We plan to pay off our bed with our return and hope to have enough left over to replace our stove. Other news is that we still have Promise. And since it has warmed up I’ve been so tempted to ride her. She’s such a pretty horse and looks great out in my pasture but the plan is to sell her. We’ll see what happens!
Okay so that’s enough of my thoughts for now. Gotta go
Office work seems to be slowing enough for me to catch my breath and perhaps even catch up on things. At the same time, field work will be picking up about now. It was so much easier to stay late and finish things up but I find that hard to do now that I’m married. Today I was out in the field for the first time in ages. It was so nice to walk around, lay a contour line and get away from the desk. I’m sure my legs will disagree later tonight when they get sore. Well spring is finally here and I’m loving the warm weather. Up in the 50’s today with a light breeze, it’s so nice. I’ve really been enjoying work and the people at my office lately. Being involved with things on the state and national level has made work even more interesting. I was recently chosen as the Midwest regional representative within the Hispanic NRCS employee program. I look forward to serving in that capacity and attending the training conference this summer in Sacramento CA.
Besides work, so much is happening at home. Mom and Ralph arrived Monday night and I’m excited to have them here. I’ve been trying to recruit people to Iowa for quite some time and mom and Ralph made a wise decision! My hope and prayer is that Ryan and I can adjust to having some family local. That he doesn’t feel neglected or left out - that I remember to focus on him.
Friday was Ryan’s birthday. We went to dinner and then watched the HS boys basketball championships. His school won and it was fun for him to recognize the players who were itty bitty last time he saw them. Saturday, our friend Jill drove up to celebrate Ryan’s birthday with us. We had a good time of eating, chatting about old times and playing a domino game called Mexican Train. Other than that, we’ve worked a little cleaning in the basement and Ryan is working to set up shop down there. He has quite a collection of tools now to play with. The newest includes a nice shop vac that he bought with his birthday money.
Besides that, other excitement includes our female cat, Wicket, who recently has a fetish with toilet paper and Kleenex. She’ll attack the Kleenex box and tear that all up. This morning Ryan found his toilet paper all torn up. Both cats usually go to the basement or stay in our bedroom throughout the night. This morning was a good reminder of why. We recently got our taxes back from the lawyer. He made a minor error by forgetting the charitable givings line item in there. That affected our return by almost double. Good thing Ryan caught it. We plan to pay off our bed with our return and hope to have enough left over to replace our stove. Other news is that we still have Promise. And since it has warmed up I’ve been so tempted to ride her. She’s such a pretty horse and looks great out in my pasture but the plan is to sell her. We’ll see what happens!
Okay so that’s enough of my thoughts for now. Gotta go
18 March 2004
Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Philippians 4:7
It is so easy for me to let the worries of tomorrow get in the way of God working in me today. I like to be in control. I plan things out. I’m organized. When I’m not in control, organized or able to plan ahead, I get worried and stressed. How often I forget to come to the thrown of God and give him my worries and burdens. Seems like God knows how stubborn I am because sometimes it takes someone else to give my worries to Him. Of course, I have a perfect example to share:
Part of my job requires me to be mobile – willing to move around the state to gain experience before taking a step up the ladder. I had no problem being mobile, duh I moved to Iowa from sunny California. Well, that was all fine-n-dandy before I met Ryan but now my priorities have changed. Unfortunately, the guy in charge doesn’t care. I have several arguments against this mobility theory.
1. A move is difficult for two income families.
2. I’m not the bread-winner in our house.
3. Some people are willing to live away from their spouses in order to improve their careers, I AM NOT!!!
4. God calls me to be a wife before having a career.
None of that matters at the state level though. I’m expected to move around. When they realize that I’m not applying elsewhere, it is likely that I would be laterally moved to another office without any choice. In such a case, I would choose to leave the government job and find something else. The whole thing concerns me deeply. But I really like the paycheck, vacation time and flexibility. You might see why this bothers me. Who wants to go to work their butt off everyday to know that you will eventually not be employed anymore?
Two weeks ago my boss called me to his office with an idea. He knows that I’m not willing to move and he’s mentioned to several people that he’d like to keep me in this office. His idea just might work. One of our technicians is eligible to retire in December 2005. Dave asked if I would be interested in that position should Dwight retire then. It could work out perfectly if the Lord wants that for me. See, Dwight is a federal employee like me which means I could keep my fed status. Most technicians are state employees. I would no longer have to be mobile either. Halelujah!
I know that I can’t count on this all falling into place but I do know that it is possible. In the meantime I have to really pray for God’s will in my life. Decision making becomes much more involved in a marriage relationship. For now, I hold onto the promise that everything will come together for good because I have a loving God who wants the best for me.
It is so easy for me to let the worries of tomorrow get in the way of God working in me today. I like to be in control. I plan things out. I’m organized. When I’m not in control, organized or able to plan ahead, I get worried and stressed. How often I forget to come to the thrown of God and give him my worries and burdens. Seems like God knows how stubborn I am because sometimes it takes someone else to give my worries to Him. Of course, I have a perfect example to share:
Part of my job requires me to be mobile – willing to move around the state to gain experience before taking a step up the ladder. I had no problem being mobile, duh I moved to Iowa from sunny California. Well, that was all fine-n-dandy before I met Ryan but now my priorities have changed. Unfortunately, the guy in charge doesn’t care. I have several arguments against this mobility theory.
1. A move is difficult for two income families.
2. I’m not the bread-winner in our house.
3. Some people are willing to live away from their spouses in order to improve their careers, I AM NOT!!!
4. God calls me to be a wife before having a career.
None of that matters at the state level though. I’m expected to move around. When they realize that I’m not applying elsewhere, it is likely that I would be laterally moved to another office without any choice. In such a case, I would choose to leave the government job and find something else. The whole thing concerns me deeply. But I really like the paycheck, vacation time and flexibility. You might see why this bothers me. Who wants to go to work their butt off everyday to know that you will eventually not be employed anymore?
Two weeks ago my boss called me to his office with an idea. He knows that I’m not willing to move and he’s mentioned to several people that he’d like to keep me in this office. His idea just might work. One of our technicians is eligible to retire in December 2005. Dave asked if I would be interested in that position should Dwight retire then. It could work out perfectly if the Lord wants that for me. See, Dwight is a federal employee like me which means I could keep my fed status. Most technicians are state employees. I would no longer have to be mobile either. Halelujah!
I know that I can’t count on this all falling into place but I do know that it is possible. In the meantime I have to really pray for God’s will in my life. Decision making becomes much more involved in a marriage relationship. For now, I hold onto the promise that everything will come together for good because I have a loving God who wants the best for me.
08 March 2004
Another wild weekend…
… chugging down coffee when I shoulda been sleeping. Oh wait, that’s a line to some random country song. Anyway, it was a wild weekend for the B’s. Promise came home after 3 weeks at the Bishop farm. Ryan tried to pay Gary to keep her :) She and William, the goat, really missed each other. The best part about that story was that I put the rope halter on upside down. It wanted to poke her in the eye so I just held the rope down a little more to keep her from freaking out. Anyway, Gary thought it would be okay the way it was and walked her on out of the pasture and up to the trailer. She showed her attitude and whoops, the halter slipped off. Promise went trotting down the road and I heard a dirty word from Deacon Gary’s mouth. It was actually comical and I wasn’t worried about what he said or the fact that my horse was loose in the country. We got her back in the pasture without too much work and started over. She doesn’t like the halter all that much but this time we had two on her. She went right into the trailer and came on home.
Later that day we worked around the house. Ryan had Matt, one our JV buddies, over and they worked outside and in the basement. Ryan taught Matt how to drive a stick shift – the kid just turned 14 and has never driven anything let alone a stick shift. To make long story short, our neighbor’s lawn has some pretty deep ruts now that we’re responsible for fixing. Meantime I worked upstairs cleaning and watched Ryan and Matt’s little escapade.
Saturday night we went to see THE PASSION with the Brubakers. Indeed it’s a good movie. Of course, everyone is a critic and has to make their remarks. I have some too. Yes, it does have the Catholic “twist” on it but duh, the Director is Catholic. Regardless of the 12 stages of the cross and some of those things, it does a good job of portraying what Christ went through for you and me. It was my hands, and it was your hands, that nailed him to the cross. I really liked how Gibson intertwined the gospel message through the flashbacks. Quite contrary to some opinions, I didn’t think it was all that gory. Saving Private Ryan was worse! It was interesting though to watch a film like that in a movie theatre. I wouldn’t choose that again but that’s solely because a theater is a place for entertainment. And the death of my God isn’t entertainment; it means so much more to me. And to go out to dinner afterwards wasn’t exciting either. I had no appetite really and felt like I should be fasting instead. Yes, I did eat some rice and beans though to keep from getting the awful stomach ache I get.
Yesterday was fierce winds all day, which is good for drying out the ground some. This morning started out kinda crazy but it’s to be expected for a Monday. I finally made it out of the house and it was cool but no winds. I fed the animals and went to work. Before noon came around it was snowing. We got a good little snow, about half an inch. But it didn’t take long for it to melt off. Praise God for moisture!
Got news from Mom this morning that they won’t be out here by this weekend. I was really excited to see them but that will now have to wait. In the meantime I’ll be praying for the paperwork to finish, their safe travels and a peaceful move as they leave their home and friends and adjust to the rural Midwest.
… chugging down coffee when I shoulda been sleeping. Oh wait, that’s a line to some random country song. Anyway, it was a wild weekend for the B’s. Promise came home after 3 weeks at the Bishop farm. Ryan tried to pay Gary to keep her :) She and William, the goat, really missed each other. The best part about that story was that I put the rope halter on upside down. It wanted to poke her in the eye so I just held the rope down a little more to keep her from freaking out. Anyway, Gary thought it would be okay the way it was and walked her on out of the pasture and up to the trailer. She showed her attitude and whoops, the halter slipped off. Promise went trotting down the road and I heard a dirty word from Deacon Gary’s mouth. It was actually comical and I wasn’t worried about what he said or the fact that my horse was loose in the country. We got her back in the pasture without too much work and started over. She doesn’t like the halter all that much but this time we had two on her. She went right into the trailer and came on home.
Later that day we worked around the house. Ryan had Matt, one our JV buddies, over and they worked outside and in the basement. Ryan taught Matt how to drive a stick shift – the kid just turned 14 and has never driven anything let alone a stick shift. To make long story short, our neighbor’s lawn has some pretty deep ruts now that we’re responsible for fixing. Meantime I worked upstairs cleaning and watched Ryan and Matt’s little escapade.
Saturday night we went to see THE PASSION with the Brubakers. Indeed it’s a good movie. Of course, everyone is a critic and has to make their remarks. I have some too. Yes, it does have the Catholic “twist” on it but duh, the Director is Catholic. Regardless of the 12 stages of the cross and some of those things, it does a good job of portraying what Christ went through for you and me. It was my hands, and it was your hands, that nailed him to the cross. I really liked how Gibson intertwined the gospel message through the flashbacks. Quite contrary to some opinions, I didn’t think it was all that gory. Saving Private Ryan was worse! It was interesting though to watch a film like that in a movie theatre. I wouldn’t choose that again but that’s solely because a theater is a place for entertainment. And the death of my God isn’t entertainment; it means so much more to me. And to go out to dinner afterwards wasn’t exciting either. I had no appetite really and felt like I should be fasting instead. Yes, I did eat some rice and beans though to keep from getting the awful stomach ache I get.
Yesterday was fierce winds all day, which is good for drying out the ground some. This morning started out kinda crazy but it’s to be expected for a Monday. I finally made it out of the house and it was cool but no winds. I fed the animals and went to work. Before noon came around it was snowing. We got a good little snow, about half an inch. But it didn’t take long for it to melt off. Praise God for moisture!
Got news from Mom this morning that they won’t be out here by this weekend. I was really excited to see them but that will now have to wait. In the meantime I’ll be praying for the paperwork to finish, their safe travels and a peaceful move as they leave their home and friends and adjust to the rural Midwest.
04 March 2004
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)