Labor Day Letter

Caleb, Oliver and Julia had cousins visiting from Ohio. John had to work, but Beth, Sarah and Michael took the kids... including their own two, Katy and Patrick, up to the mountains...to Rocky Mountain National Park.  This is one of the people they met at Lily Lake. He was a very interesting old fellow, who had lived near Lily Lake since he was nine years old.

That was in July.   Today is Labor Day.  That gives you some idea how behind I am with my scrapbooking. 

In my inbox this morning, I found this letter from Jim Chilton, a friend of my husband...and of myself, of course. I've copied it in its entirety because it is so well written:

"Labor Day was established to celebrate the advances brought on by the Labor Movement in America.  Labor unions were born in a climate of adverse conditions for laborers.  Before the Labor Movement, there was a huge child labor problem, very poor working conditions where literally thousands of workers died, and virtually no rights or protection for those who worked by the hour.  The first Labor Day celebration was in New York in 1882 led by a machinist union.  By 1884, Labor Day became an official holiday.

        Labor Day also marks the end of summer and a time of rest from our labors.  How do you define rest?  Sitting in a recliner in front of your television?  Being up North in a cabin next to a beautiful lake?  Biking, hiking, or water skiing?  The New Testament definition of the word “rest” simply means to be “refreshed” even as you work.

        Children understand this concept.  They play until they drop, but the activity is refreshing to them.  Playing hard all day is never a burden to them.  We shouldn’t be childish, but maybe we should be more childlike.

        Jesus’ take on rest is found at Matthew 11:28-30, “Are you tired?  Worn out?  Burnout out on religion?  Come to me.  Get away with me and you’ll recover your life.  I’ll show you how to take real rest.  Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it.  Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.  I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.  Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly” (The Message).

        The Jews were a tired and frustrated people, not unlike our culture today.  Daily life was hard enough, but those rascal Pharisee, made it even harder with their demands.  People were not satisfied with their lives and much less with their religion.  Jesus came along and gave the people a new perspective of God’s Word and how to live it.  People were refreshed.  Today, stress from every direction is impeding our ability to rest.  Jesus offers a sustaining peace that enables us to avoid being crushed or driven to despair.  The Bible is still the same.  Life is still difficult, but Jesus provides a new way to see self and God’s Word will new eyes."

Thank you, Jim. We appreciate your ability to teach.

       

Old Friends

While visiting Indiana, Greg and Aussie needed the car for the Rubik's Cube competition that  day, so when Chelle, Ashley and Mason tired of the hotel, they decided to walk to Applebee's. On the way, they ran into an old friend from their neighborhood...and here is the picture to prove it.

OK, enough of my bad jokes. I believe I explained my stress this last weekend when I was trying a new publisher after My Publisher sold out.

Today, I received my new book made by Shutterfly and I am well pleased. It is everything I wanted. I can be proud to show it to friends and family. What a blessing that is after having so much trouble getting acquainted with their site. Not only was it well done, it was delivered in a timely fashion.  Less that a full week.

There is one problem. They offered me a coupon for the next one,  but it would have to be ready for printing by October 15th. I have 15 pages completed right now, but that means I'd need to do 85 more in the next month and 1/2. That is  pretty intense. I think I will have enough pictures to do that, but that would mean I would have to do 2 pages almost every day. The problem, contrary to what some may think, I do have a life. Perhaps, I should give up everything else and just sit down at the computer until I finish all the layouts. That could solve another major problem. I should lose weight. I am not within reach of food here.

Please join me in continued prayer for the Houston area and all those who have left their homes to help with the rescue, protection, and clean up.

50 Years

I rarely do this, but I did today. I had already made a layout with this picture taken on our 50th anniversary last Saturday night and I had posted it here as well.  But as we were looking through our wedding album, I found this picture and decided that what I really wanted was a layout showing the  comparison of then and now.

Oh what a difference! A couple of our friends actually said they wouldn't have recognized that would have been us. Sad in a way, but hey 50 years is fifty years and it means that I have twice the man I married...well almost twice anyway. And, there is more of me to love as well.  We both learned to eat.

Now, we both need to go on a diet, but then we've known that for quite a while. I have fasted a couple of times, but after a year or so, the pounds have come back.

We are thankful tonight that the rain has stopped in Texas and people we know personally are safe. But now comes the clean up.

Thank the Lord that there was so much love shown to each other by those involved in that historical disaster. It helped show that our nation is not divided by race like many try to make us look. We are all creatures of the one true God. In God's eyes, we are all his people.

We all need to realize that all have the same red blood, black, white, red, yellow, male, female, rich, poor, tall, short, etc. God loves us all has encouraged us to love our fellow man as we love ourselves.

Again, it has been good to see the victims of the flood helping each other as they have. And it is now
time for all of us to help in one way or another. If you can't go to them, you can send money, and if you are not in a position to do either of those, please pray.

Looks like that might be the encouragement we need to diet, so that we can give to the flood victims the money we can save.

Hiking in the Rocky Mountain National Park

Back in July, Beth's sister and her family visited them in Colorado. It is a wonderful place to visit. There are so many beautiful things to see and generally bright sunshine to enhance any site.  This day, they had chosen to visit Lily Lake near Estes in the Rocky Mountain National Park.

We have gone to Estes and I love it, hope one day to see this part of the park, especially Lily Lake which you will see later...no I'll not make you wait...

Maybe you can see why I couldn't put you off to another day. It is a gorgeous area in the park.

Looking at that peaceful mountain lake reminds me this day of the terrible  flooding in Texas right now. 

Please join me in praying for all who are suffering through this terrible storm. Our friend, Kalai, is there and I'm praying that if need be, she will be able to get out and away. 

I'm also praying for our son, who is trying to find a way home, avoiding the airport in Houston, which was his original place to land.

Ashley as Little Medusa

Ashley loves anime and her parents make an effort to get her to as many meets as they can. This one was Tri Con Anime in Indiana the second week of July this year.

She took costumes for three different characters with her. She likes to do short characters, so this time she is portraying  a young girl named Little Medusaa. In the picture at the top, she is posing with Little Medusa's older sister, Arachne. At the bottom, she is visiting with the lady who actually does Medusa's voice.

Concerned tonight about the flooding in Houston. We have a good friend who lives there on the outskirts and as we watch on TV, it sounds bad all around. We are praying that people are rescued safely and that the rain slows down, that is doesn't rain the 25 more inches they are predicting.

Praying also that our son who is south of there and has had flights cancelled because of the flooding can get home safely by another  route.

I can't help but feel a loss again that came from the Galveston flood in 1900, when my grandmother's parents were lost. She was just a baby and was adopted by a family who raised her in Granbury, Texas.

50th Anniversary

If you've been following the blog, you know I've been very stressed, trying to get everything done this last week or so. Well tonight, we grabbed the chance to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our wedding in 1967.

I was so busy when I got home that I neglected to download this photo. I thought of it a few moments ago...so I'm not sure how much I like what I did with such an important photo as this. But here it is and I'm publishing it now.

 Just the two of us and we went to a restaurant not far away that we had patronized once before and liked quite well. It was an enjoyable dinner and we came back to work...my kind of guy and life.
It has worked out well.

Love Versus Stress

This layout is probably not finished. However, it may seem that I myself am about finished.  I had no idea that going with a new publisher would be so difficult for me. It must be because of my age. But oh my, such stress. I'm having to change my modus operandi. If you are over 65, you might understand what I mean. For  the youngsters, change is a snap...it is the way they are programmed, but for me...I really don't appreciate it much. When I find a perfect way to do something, why change?  

Unlike My Publisher whom I've dealt with for several years, other publishers do not make (let) you download their software so that one can work at home.  They have some type of deal where you have to do it all online. The ones I've tried are poorly planned and not at all easy to understand. There are many videos online for the company which I am trying  right now. However, just plain finding my way around their site and figuring out how to do things is getting to me.

Back to my layout. If I didn't have to spend days just trying to figure out something that should be very simple, I would have time to finish this layout and develop others.

This layout shows the little visit we had with our great granddaughter Ava on August the fifth this year. I love my iPhone. As she ran around the table, round and round, and making me dizzy, I snapped this pic. It stopped her motion well. There was no other way to get a picture that day because she was FULL OF ENERGY!  I was very happy to get this lovely picture, even though there was no way we could get her to stand still a few seconds and pose.

So, to sum it all up. I love my great granddaughter, Ava. I love this picture. I love that I was able to publish over 60 books with My Publisher before they sold to another company. But I am  completely overwhelmed that the new company demolished the old and changed my life substantially.

I believe in prayer. I believe in praying for my loved ones.

I also believe this is an issue about which I should pray, so I am. I am praying that I can adjust and find a way to learn what I need  to accomplish what I need (want) to do.

If you care about seniors, I ask you to pray for my adaptation as well.