All "B's"

This post is a combination of many posts but for sake of time, space, energy and for your benefit, I have combined them into one big post. All of my topics will start with the letter B (it is stretching it for some of the words). In no particular order here are my "B's": busy, broccoli, birds, bugs, beads, blossoms, bum or bunk mortagues and beloved bargin music.

Busy- my life has been slightly busy in the last few weeks and I have not had much time at my house. Grandma had her surgery 10 days ago and I spent several evenings at the hospital to visit with her. Last week Jen and Trinity came up to visit and to help out and I was at Mom and Dad's several nights to hang out with everyone. I had fun with my sweetie pie niece (and it was good to see Jen and the rest of my family- always good to see them). We danced, played hide and go seek, swung in the swing (I pushed), drew with sidewalk chalk and read many stories.

Broccoli- ate my first crown of broccoli from my garden yesterday. Absolutely yummy. More on this under bugs.





Birds- despite a blustery storm that was rolling through, the robins, western goldfinches and the hummers have been alive and well in my yard. The robins were going for the ripe, red berries in my neighbors yard. There seriously were 50 robins feasting on the berries. I think the berries makes them a little intoxicated or at least they act intoxicated. Instead of DUI it would be FUI (flying under the influence). The Western goldfinches are snacking on the thistle seeds that I have hanging outside of my sliding glass door in a thistle bag. There have been up to 5 goldfinches on the bag at a time. My girl cat, Rosie, is really bothered by the birds and she gets a low guttural growl/meow and her whole body shakes. Last week I put out new hummingbird food. They swoop on down, take a drink of the sweet water and zoom on off again.






Bugs- having an organic garden means that my produce sometimes has to be extra washed because there are bugs. As I said above under broccoli, I fixed my first broccoli to eat for lunch yesterday. It sure was yummy. I only used half of the crown and brought the rest over to eat with a friend in a salad. Upon further inspection of the broccoli (this had been washed earlier in the day and was the other half of what I had already eaten), there were tons of tiny bugs on the underside of the "flowerettes". I had to really wash each and every flower to get the bugs off. I must have eaten bugs when I had fixed the broccoli for lunch. Yuck.



There have been a few times that when I bring fresh lettuce in from the garden that while I am soaking the lettuce leaves, small snails somehow get out of the sink of water and crawl around the top of the sink. Reminds me that I always have to wash everything super duper good. I can only imagine bringing a salad from my garden to a party (this actually happens quite often) and dishing up on each person's plate and having a small snail circling the plate.



Beads- today I wore the earrings that I won at the Peach Fest auction. About 2 1/2 years ago, there was a dinner and auction to raise money for my cousin Julie's fight with ovarian cancer. There were so many things at the auction. I remember clearly wanting to win the auction for and item that I could take home and keep forever, in case my cousin would pass away. As you know, my cousin passed away just over 2 months ago from ovarian cancer. When I put the pretty pale aqua stoned earrings on this morning, tears filled my eyes. I stopped what I was doing and took a few minutes to reflect on my cousin and to pray for her husband Chad, son Kevin and Julie's family. It was in honor of Julie that I wore the earrings today. The earrings are almost the color that represents ovarian cancer-teal.



Blossoms- my yard is starting to explode with different blossoms. Right now my daffodils, African daisy's, prim roses and my apricot tree are in bloom. Very beautiful. Hoping the powerful storm, did not knock off some of my precious apricot blossoms. Lord willing, the dwindling bee population will find the way to my tree to pollinate the blossoms so I will have a great crop of yummy apricots in June. June is crazy again this year, school ends around the 14th and Jen's baby boy is due on June 20th. It is a real quick harvesting period, the fruit comes ripe and then they are gone and fall off the tree.







Bum or Bunk mortgages- oooooouch, this mortgage situation is deep and far reaching. I praise God that I am not in the situation of losing my house because I could easily have been in that situation. I bought my house almost 6 years ago when all of the "great rates" were tempting. God had me go the conservative route. Let me tell you just a little of the effects of the mortgages that have gone bad. Not sure if you heard, don't know how one could not have heard, but the Governor of California (as we call him, Arnold) reported to Californians that we are in a fiscal emergency. The State of California is in crisis because of the mortgage situation. The revenue from home sales and the tax of those sales is grossly down. The State has to make billions, yes billions- with a b-b and in boy, of cut backs across the boards. Public education alone will suffer a 7.8 billion, yes b again, in cut backs for this fiscal year and projected much more for the upcoming year. The school district that I work in is already anticipating making 8 million in cuts (which is on top of the 18 million that we had in the emergency fund). I don't know where it is going to come from, we are already hurting and have large class sizes.



Let me take this further. The city where I work has over a thousand houses on the market and over 2 thousand houses in foreclosure. Many people who are in trouble know they don't have many options, they can't sell, no one is buying, they can't rent for full price because no one can afford full rent rates, so. . . some are renting to low income renters because it is set money which is better than no money. I personally don't have a difficultly about section 8 housing. The problem arises when you have a large number of people living so in a given area. Unless a city (including law enforcement, schools, political policy. . .) is ready, prepared and has a plan to deal with some of the challenges and issues that come with low income housing, every aspect of the city is affected. You now have urban challenges and issues coming to the suburbs. These challenges and issues are different than the challenges and issues of the suburbs. I'll stop here because I don't want to be misunderstood. This housing crisis is deep and far reaching, more than people 'just needing to move to another place'. Whole lives, family and communities are being affected hard.


Beloved Bargin music- I received my package yesterday from Sovereign Grace Music. As I noted in a post a few weeks ago, Sovereign Grace Ministries is having an incredible sale on their music and books. These music CD's are some of the most Christ and gospel centered music that I have ever heard. My church includes several of these songs in our worship services and I have included several of them on this blog page. I have been listening to a few of these CD's non-stop since I got them yesterday. I encourage you to check out the music and books while you can get a discount. Check them out here. What incredible music. On a later post I will share one of my favorite songs.



Anyone know how to get music to play on your blog page?

Trin Trin and the Snow

Jen and Joe took Trinity to experience snow for the first time. Looks like they had a fun time. I am grateful that Jen is faithful to send Auntie Shel Shel pictures of my sweet love. Even though we are miles away, I always feel connected to what is going on in their lives.























Trin, did you make this snowman?

Jen, the poor snowman sure has skinny arms.

Rock a by Baby

The last several evenings I have been at the hospital visiting my grandmother. Every once in a while, over the hospital intercom system the lullaby for Rock a by Baby plays. My parents asked why the lullaby is played over the intercom and they found out that the labor and delivery room plays the lullaby every time a baby is born. So cute. Last night I heard it and I prayed a quick prayer for this newborn.

Grandma is doing just fine. She is eager to be discharged from the hospital but she needs to be able to do two things first: eat solid food and go to the bathroom. She and I played cards last night and she won, nothing new on that end.

Update on Grandma

Grandma's surgery went perfect. The doc's got all the cancer and they said it looked really good in there. I visited Grandma after work and she looked great. She will be in the hospital for 2-3 more days. She had her sense of humor back last night too. Thanks for praying, I really appreciate.

My Grandma

My grandmother has seen and experienced many things in her 93 years of life. We talked recently about these things. Here is just a sampling of some of the happenings in the world:
*she has lived in 2 centuries
*she has lived in 10 decades
*been alive for 2 World Wars
*been alive for countless other wars
*lived through the Depression
*saw the first cars, airplanes, radios, TV's, telephones, computers, most modern day conveniences. . .
*her family growing up milked a cow for milk, turned that milk into butter
*been alive for 16 different presidents
*she never herself stayed overnight in the hospital except for having her daughters. She was in the hospital last summer to have a pace maker put in (had been 60+ years since her last hospital stay)
. . . the list goes on.
Now my grandma can say that she will live with one kidney and that she has had cancer. This morning (she is in surgery prep as I write) my grandmother will undergo surgery to remove a lemon sized cancerous tumor that is on her kidney. My grandma and her age amazes me. If you have a moment say a prayer for her.

Daffi and Cauli

Hiya! Here are two pictures from my yard that I took while working outside today. One is of daffodil flowers and the other is a cauliflower.

Daffodil's are my favorite flowers. They are called the flower of hope, the are the first flower of Spring.

The cauliflower is about 6-8 inches across. This yummy almost was part of dinner tonight but it did not go with what I had in my mind to fix. One night this week she will fulfill the reason she exists, a vegi for dinner. Yumm.

Before the Throne of God Above

Good morning! Today is the day that the schools celebrate President Lincoln's birthday, so I have the day off. Yeah, love days off from work. The list of things I want to get done is huge but it is fine with me if I just get a few things done. What I hope to get done is to work outside in my yard and garden, get my Valentine's ready (I bought a pack of the school age ones with animal tatoos- mainly to send one to my sweet niece), mail them and my thank you cards from Christmas, to clean the kitchen and to post a few more posts later in the day.

For now I want to share with you one of my favorite songs (there are many more of my favorites) we sing at church. This song beautifully complimented the sermon from 1 John 3:19-24.

Before the Throne of God Above by Chartie Lees Bancroft Music by Vikki Cook, 1997 PDI Worship

Before the throne of God above I have a strong and perfect plea,
A great High Priest whose name is love, Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands, My name is written on His heart;
I know that while in heaven He stands No tongue can bid me thence depart,
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair, And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there, Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died, My sinful soul is counted free;
For God, the Just, is satisfied To look on Him and pardon me,
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there! The risen Lamb, My perfect, spotless, Righteousness,
The Great unchangeable I AM, The King of Glory and of Grace!
One with Himself I cannot die, My soul is purchased by His blood;
My life is hid with Christ on high, With Christ, my Savior and my God,
With Christ my Savior and my God.

This song will be on my mind while I work outside today. Wishing you all a Christ filled day.

Giants Fan Fest

Today is the San Francisco Fan Fest. This year I am unable to attend mainly due to three reasons. Firstly, I was disappointed with last year's Fan Fest held inside the stadium . Secondly, I have a deadline to meet tomorrow with a project that I forgot about. And thirdly, my dad is not able to attend with me (I love attending Giants events with my daddy). I would like to have gone but honestly, I am not disappointed at not going this year.

My dad and I have attended the Fan Fest the last 3 years. The 1st two years were a huge hit. Everything was held in a pier building next to the stadium. You had room to walk around and could actually see the planned events/exhibits and stand in an organized line to get autographs.

Last year the organizers decided to hold the event inside the stadium around the playing field. That sounds confusing. All of the venues were on the 1st or 2nd level of the walkway where all the concessions stands are. There were huge lines of people that were intertwined with thousands of people trying to move through the lines. It felt like I was a car in the worst commute on get away day before the 4th of July holiday on the spegetti maze (what my sisters and I call the 580, 80, 880 interchange in Oakland). The reports out the following day of the event said that 30,000 people attended the fest. Now for a normal baseball game that might be a little crowded but at a normal game situation most of those people are sitting in their seats. But last year it was like everyone was buying a hot dog and a beer all jamming the hallways at the same time.

It was actually funny to look back and remember how my sister Amy, my dad and I walked through that crowd. We held onto the belt or waist band of the back of each other's pants. It was the only way we could stay together. As my middle school students would have said, "big wedgy". Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have a slight fear of earthquakes. It did go through my mind several times last year about having an earthquake in the crowded stadium. There would have been no way for us to have evacuated the stadium.

Guess the promotors wanted the feel, smell, taste, sights and sounds of being out at the good ol' ball park. There were a few good things from last years fest. Hot dogs and drinks were on sale for $1. We each enjoyed a couple of dogs and a Coke. We were able to walk on the playing field. My dad so loved walking on the blades of grass, touching the dirt and running across home plate. He just lit up like he was brought back a sweet memory of his childhood playing ball. One funny thing about the home and opposing teams dugouts was the ventalation system. The Giants dugout had fans and heater ducts and nice cushioned benches. The opposing teams's dug out had no fans or heating ducts and there was just a beat up piece of wood for the bench. No love for the opposing team. Love it.

Excited for spring training to start and opening day!

Sovereign Grace Ministries Big Sale

Just to let you know Sovereign Grace Ministries is having a great sale on selected books and music CD's. Some of my favorite worship music at church is from PDI Music which is now Sovereign Grace Music. Everything is Christ and gospel centered. I ordered 6 books and 5 CD's and paid 68 buckeroos. No tax, no shipping cost (if you choose the option for US Postal Service- Library) and no handling fees. If you are interested to view what is on sale click here.

Prayer for Patrick

Good morning everyone. This will be super quick, I need to get going to work. There is a 17 year old young man in my church who was dignosed with liver cancer over the weekend. Today at 2:00 he is scheduled to have surgery to remove the tumor and one of his lobes of his liver. The tumor is the size of a softball. This boy is a believer in our Savior. God has mercifully and faithfullly given him much hope and faith to endure this trial. There is an organization called Caring Bridge that has set up a web page telling of his story, has regular updates and there is a guest book to sign, you can check it out at this site www.caringbridge.org/visit/patrickschalin . Thank you in advance for your prayers to our gracious and loving heavenly Father.

New Digital Camera

So I finally just downloaded the Canon software for my new digital camera. Think I need to take a
class on how to use the software, it's not too user friendly for me. Want to give you a sampling of some of the pictures that I have taken in the last month and half. I already know that I don't know how to do pictures the best on blogger. There is so much that I need to learn, at least I am trying. Enjoy the randomness of the shots.








These are some pictures from a Northern CA park. This is prior to every day of rain.














Here is Trin Trin and Snickers at Christmas time.










Here is a blue jay taking a cold winter bath.

This one was taken straight up in the air on a incredible cloudy day. My favorite kind of day.

A pretty Northern California sunset.

Taken while driving to work one day. Yes, I was driving and taking a picture out the window.







Suzie and Mar outside of church one day.

Here is Love

Even though I was not at church on Sunday, I know we sang Here is Love by Steve & Vicki Cook, 2003 PDI Worship (now Sovereign Grace Music). I love this song and I can remember the very first time I heard it at church. This song was taken from Here is Love, Vast as the Ocean by William Rees and changed just slightly. My heart always is flooded with thankfulness to my Savior for His love that He bestowed upon my heart. Here are the lyrics for you to enjoy (if I could find the music I would share that with you).

Here is Love

Here is love, wide as the ocean, lovingkindness as a flood.
When the Prince of Life, our ransom, shed for us, His precious blood.
Who His love will not remember? Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten, throughtout Heaven's eternal days!

On the mount of crucifixion, fountains opened deep and wide;
Through the floodgates of God's mercy, flowed a vast and gracious tide.
Grace and love, like mighty rivers, poured incessant from above.
And Heaven's peace and perfect justice kissed a guilty world in love.

O, how marvelous, O, how glorious,
Is my Savior's love for me!
O, how marvelous, O, how glorious,
Is my Savior's love for me!

Of Your fullness You are pouring Your great love on me anew,
Without measure, full and boundless, drawing out my heart to You.
You alone will be my glory, nothing in the world I see,
You have cleansed and sanctified me, You Yourself have set me free!

Real Christian Love

Along with being home ill today and not at work, I missed church on Sunday. Thankfully, from my church's web site, I can listen to sermons, including the last Lord's Day. So today I listened to the sermon from Sunday that is part of a ongoing series from 1 John titled Will the Real Christian Please Stand Up, the Letters of John. Click here if you would like to listen and choose message 15.

What an encouraging and convicting part of scripture on true Christian love from 1 John 3:10-18.



1 John 3:10-18 (New American Standard Bible)

10By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious:
anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does
not love his brother. 11For this is the message which you have heard from the
beginning, that we should love one another; 12not as Cain, who was of the evil
one and slew his brother And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds
were evil, and his brother's were righteous.
13Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. 14We know that we
have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does
not love abides in death. 15Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and
you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 16We know love by
this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for
the brethren.
17But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in
need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.

Here are some of the thoughts that stuck me. The whole book of 1 John is being addressed to Christians, one who has been born of God, one who has a pattern of practicing righteousness. Practicing righteousness includes showing love to his brother. A true believer can not be practicing righteousness if he is not loving his brother or one another. As Christians we love because Christ first loved us. He has changed us, He has set a pattern of how we should love, He is our Supreme example of true love. When we as believers show love to a brother or to the brethen, our love is two fold: it is an example of true love of Christ to the dying world around us and to the believers among us.



The love we show is a proof of our faith, of what Christ has done in our hearts. Verse 11 tells the reader that the message from the very beginning has been love for a brother and that "we should love one another". The "should"in that verse would better be stated as "ought". We ought to love one another. Believers are to love one another, it is what we should do, it is part of our job requirement. Sadly, there will be failure in this area because we are humans and still have sin in our lives. My Hebrew Greek study Bible tells me that the verb "should" is a PSA- present subjunctive active. The present subjunctive mood refers to continuous or repeated action, without implying anything about the time of the action, and the active voice represents the action as accomplished by the subject of the verb. In Greek it is to be distinguished from the middle and passive voices.



John continues his grain of thought by giving a contrast of the righteous and the unrighteous in verse 12. A blood brother should or "ought" to most of all love his natural blood brother but here we see that Cain slew his brother. Slew here is just not a slashing of one's throat but a butchering, a brutal act. Cain killed because his deeds were evil and his brother's were righteous. We need to not be surprised if the world around us hates us because of our righteous deeds. As John continues in the text, we were once like Cain but we have been changed. A proof of this transformation is that we have love for the brethen.



Now where the meat attaches to the bone is in our application of loving a brother. Who am I to care for, to what end? Verse 17 has the two qualifing factors, a brother (and) who is in need, we are to help him in whatever way we can. Not in word or with tongue but in deed and in truth. True love will cost us, it will take it's toll, it will not be convenient. True love is practical, meeting the needs that you personally see, not to walk away and pretend you did not see the need. True love and care for a person who is in need will take energy and energy that you sometimes don't have. Loving your brother will put a demand on us. "Love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous, love does not brag, and it is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails;" (1 Cor 13:4-8a)

Those Goofy Students

Middle school, what a age. It never surprises me what these students can come up with. Today during my last class of the day a student asked one of those questions that I just walk away from. The question was this, "Miss ______, if you are blind can you still be a Jehovah Witness?" No answer needed, he was just being silly. Talk about turn and walk away with a chuckle. Goofy student. I am grateful to God for my opportunity to teach and to work with these young people. God refines and molds me often through these pre-teen and teenagers.

Speaking of those goofy teens, one of them passed along a nasty cold to me. It is not often that I miss church or call in sick to work but this cold has done both. I look forward to my unintended day off of work tomorrow to rest and relax. Think I will get some good Pho' soup (Vietnamese soup) for lunch, listen to the sermon I missed on the web, pay my bills and go out and vote.