January 10 - Genesis 28:6-30:24

Good morning everyone,

This morning we pick up with Jacob fleeing from his brother to go and live with his mother’s family in Haran. While in route  God appears to him in a dream where he sees a stairway that reached from earth to heaven with angels of God going up and down it, can you even imagine how awesome that would have been to see? Anyway, the purpose of the dream is to confirm the covenant promises made by God to Abraham. 

When Jacob gets to Haran history repeats itself in that, like Jacob’s mother Rebekah who was found by the well so will Jacob find his love Rachel and set out to make her his wife. This is not going to be as easy as he had hoped it would be though and Jacob will soon  learn what it is like to be on the other side of deception, however through this we will see that Jacob is a very patient man and how as a strong leader he could also be a servant. Jacob worked seven years for the hand of Rachel but Laban, her father, instead gave Leah her older sister away to Jacob and told him that the would have to work another seven years and he could then have Rachel for his wife, which he did.

In chapter 29:31 we read that “When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless”. Rachel became frustrated with this and in an effort to win the affection of Jacob which (btw) she already had will, like Sarah, take things into her own hands and give her servant over to her husband to have sons for her. In the end God will open her womb and she will give birth to Joseph.

Trusting God and being patient when nothing seems to happen is so very difficult, but it is harder still to live with the consequence of choice when we take matters into our won hands. Are you waiting on something today that you feel the Lord has either forgotten about or is not acting quickly enough for you? I would encourage you to resist temptation. Pray and ask God for the patience and courage to wait on Him.

I pray you all have a good day,

God bless you.

January  9 Genesis 25:27-28:5

Good morning everyone,

Yesterday we read that Isaac’s wife Rebekah was barren and that Isaac went to the Lord, on her behalf and pleaded with Him for her to be able to have children and she became pregnant. While the boys were still in the womb they were struggling with one another and Rebekah went to the Lord and asks “Why is this happening to me?” He told her that the boys would be two nations, in-fact rivals. He also told her that the older son would serve the younger son. 

Today we will read how Jacob, the younger son, tricks Esau out of his birth right, the right to be the principal heir of the family’s fortunes. Then later we’ll read how with the help of Rebekah, Jacob tricks Isaac and basically steals Esau’s blessing. 

There was no reason for any of that deceitfulness. God had already said that Jacob would be the son to inherit the covenant promises made to Abraham and Isaac, but rather than trusting in God to work in His way and His time they took it into their own hands. As a result, Jacob had to leave his home and his family, moving far away in fear of his brother.

How often do we take things into our own hands thinking either God has forgotten or we simply don’t want to wait? Only to find out later that if we had waited for God the outcome would have been so much better. 

Our God is an amazing God, able to do amazing things ever so much better than we could even imagine. Psalm 37:3-4 says “Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires.” I challenge you to claim the promise.

Well, I pray you all have an extraordinary day and look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

God bless you all. 

Good morning everyone,

January 8 - Genesis 25:1-4; 1 Chronicles 1:32-33; Genesis 25:5-6; Genesis 25:12-18; 1 Chronicles 1:28-31; 1 Chronicles 1:34; Genesis 25:19-26; Genesis 25:7-11

Today we are going to start off with a lot of genealogy. There are a lot of “sons of” and names that are different and can be a little tough to pronounce, that is if you’re anything like me. Try to hang in there though because it can get very interesting seeing the generations unfold. I am going to give you the link to where I do my daily reading, I find it is a lot easier than bouncing back and forth from book to book. If you like it let me know and I will include it on the days there is more than one book we are reading from. 

Also in our reading today will be introduced to Abraham’s grandson’s, Isaac’s sons by Rebekah, Esau and Jacob. These boys were twins but we’ll see that they were as different as night and day. They spent much of their life struggling with one another from before they were even born.

Esau was known for his hunting skills, and he was able to forgive after a heated confrontation. 

Jacob, a shepherd/livestock owner, was known to be a good businessman, determined to work long and hard for what he wanted, however, having said that, he often relied on deception and his own resources rather than God when faced with conflict.

Enjoy your reading today and God bless you all.

Link for reading;

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis+25%3A1-4%3B1chronicles+1%3A32-33%3Bgenesis+25%3A5-6%3Bgenesis+25%3A12-18%3B1chronicles+1%3A28-31%3B1chronicles+1%3A34%3Bgenesis+25%3A19-26%3Bgenesis+25%3A7-11&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OneYearBibleOnlineDailyChronologicalGlobalFeed+%28OneYearBibleOnLine.com+Daily+Chronological+Global+Feed%29

Good morning everyone,

Jan 7 - Genesis 21:8-23:20 | Genesis 11:32 | Genesis 24:1-67

Wow! More great reading today, so many great stories in Genesis, leaving us with so much to think about. I can hardly wait until tomorrow! 

Can you imagine how awkward at best and at times down right unlivable, albeit by their own consequence of choice, it was for Sarah, Hagar, Ismael and Abraham. Honestly, I know that was a different time, but the thought of my husband having a mistress much less a child with her, would require a bit more grace than I imagine myself mustering up. My heart does go out to Ishmael, who was thrown into the middle of this by no choice of his own and now, having  been an only child, the apple of his father’s eyes for more than 13 years has this baby, this little half brother named Isaac who has robbed him of a lot of his father’s love and attention . Of course he is going to be upset and taunting the little 3 year old kid, he doesn’t like how he has rocked his world. Naturally, both mothers stick up for their respective sons and Hagar along with Ishmael are sent away with very little provisions. Isn’t it beautiful, though, how when their water ran out the Lord stepped in to provide for them. Not only that but I loved how the Lord provided for Hagar and Ishmael to the point of promising to make him into a great nation. 

Later we read God told Abraham to take his only legitimate son Isaac up to the mountains and use him as a burnt offering. Now, I just really love, love, love that Abraham never once said, “What?! You can’t be serious!”. His faith told him that Isaac would be alright. Remember in chapter 17 God told Abram, “What’s more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations.” He would be the father of many nations! Well that is a little tough to do if you don’t have any legitimate children. So he follows the plan, he chops the firewood, loaded up the donkey. grabbed two servants and Isaac and took off to obey God’s wishes. Abraham obeyed God to the point of tying Isaac up and drawing the dagger out to kill him with before the Angel of the Lord stepped in to stop him. Amazing faith! Don’t let it go unnoticed that Abraham earlier told the servants that “we” will come back and also that when Isaac asked where was the lamb they were to sacrifice Abraham told him that God himself would provide. I absolutely love the trust Abraham had in the Lord, I want that for my life, I want that for your lives.

You all have a great day, God bless you.

Good morning everyone,

January 6 - Genesis 18:1-21:7

How are you all doing with your daily readings? For those of you who are new or may not know, we are on a one year Chronological  journey through the Bible. As you can see we are in Genesis, it has been awesome reading again of the beginning, Adam and Eve, Noah, the flood and so much more. I encourage you and  hope you will jump right in and join us.

Today in chapter 18 we will read of how the Lord appeared to Abraham near an oak grove. Abraham saw Him walking up the road and ran to meet Him and then asked Him to please stay for a meal. Abraham and Sarah did not just scrape up some leftovers for the Lord, no, no, no. They prepared a huge meal for the Lord while He rested in the shade of a tree, using the best flour, a choice, tender calf, fresh yogurt, and milk. It was totally a lot of work but they were honored to serve the Lord in that way. I wonder, are we always that eager to serve the Lord? When He calls us to do anything do we jump right up and give it our best? When he beckons us to spend a bit of time with Him do we, out of duty open the Bible for a few minutes then jump on the computer or do we bow our heads and worship Him, give Him our full attention and cherish all He has to show us? There is nothing better than known God’s Word and growing closer to Him.

Anyway, that was way they served the Lord cool but my favorite verse in chapter 18 is right after Sarah laughs when the Lord tells Abraham that within a year they would be parents, verse 14 says “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”  Of course the answer is no. What a great reminder it is to pray specifically and often to the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says “pray without ceasing” When we do it will start to form a pattern and it serves to remind us that God is personally involved in our lives and is nudging us to ask for His power to help. He loves us and more than anything wants us to be near Him, to call on Him. He is honored to help us. 

So with that I hope you have a super good day I pray God will richly bless you all :-)

Good morning everyone and a very Happy New Year in ‘Year Through the Bible’.

What an amazing time I had last year participating in the One-Year-Readings of my Bible. I learned so much and was stretched in ways I didn’t know possible through dedication, commitment, and perseverance just to name a few.

This year my husband and I decided we would like to read through the Bible in chronological order. We believe it will be an amazing journey as page by page we stroll along through generations of history providing us with direction, encouragement and love all the while putting events and people in the same time frame with one another. We invite you to walk with us. 

It goes without saying we will begin in Genesis after all “In the beginning”, right?!, we will also get our first look at 1 Chronicles. It is believed by Jews and Christians that Moses is the author and compiler of the Pentateuch, a five-volumed book which includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Book of Genesis does not state when it was written, however  most agree it was likely to be penned between 1440 and 1400 B.C., between the time Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and his death.

Genesis 1:1 is the very first place we see the name God in the Bible, “God created”. The word for God here in the Hebrew is Eloheim, it means “Strong One” and it is the plural of El, so right off the bat we are seeing the Trinity. Verse 2 begins the account of the heavens and earth. Though these words are so very familiar to us and easy to quickly pass over, I would encourage you to take your time with them. Envision them, imagine and contemplate what each step would actually look like. Feel the wonder and the glory of it all. Oh how BIG our God is, He has done great things.

1 Chronicles is written by Ezra and the history told in Chronicles begins with Adam, the story is then carried forward, almost entirely by genealogical lists, down to the founding of the Israelite monarchy, so though it sometimes gets VERY hard to read all the “sons of” try to stay with it, I have found myself more than once thinking “Ohhh, he was her Uncle?” or something to that effect and again, stating the obvious, God has it there for a reason.

I hope and pray you are as excited about this year’s readings as Matt and I are. God will richly bless you for each and every moment you give him.

God Bless you all.

The Year 2010

Wow! Here we are January 2011. Stockings were hung and taken down. Gene and Carol visited then went home, Karin has gone back to work, Avery and Makenna have gone back to school, Matt is still in Alaska which leaves me, Max and Sienna at home all alone to sit and ponder the year 2010.

It was a fun year full of excitement, lots of laughing, crying and stretching in the Lord.

In January Makenna's birthday is always the first event of each New Year. By then we have all had time to rest up, diet down from "holiday joy" and welcome the "excuse" to dip into the sweetness of ice cream and cake. This year Makenna wore a cute little sparkly cupcake pattern dress I made for her with fabric Juanita had given her for Christmas. She had her party at home with her signature colors being blush and bashful, that is to say pink, pink and more pink. Her cake had pink frosting, there were pink streamers, pink table cloth and even pink cheeks on all of the many friends who came over to help her celebrate. Oh! and yes, she did blow out all the candles in one breath : )

In February, Matt and I took Avery and Makenna up to Vancouver, Canada to join in the fun of the Winter Olympics. We drove up to just across the boarder then rode a train in to Olympic Village, joining thousands of tourists wandering through the town making our way to where the Olympic Torch was burning, making sure to snap lots of pictures along the way.

In March we traveled back up to Canada with the girls, this time visiting the Capilano Suspension Bridge. In a word ... AWESOME! The day was a rainy one but that did not stop us from having a very, very fun time. The bridge is planked and stretches 450 ft. long across a canyon, 230 ft. above the river. Once across there are trails and a tree top experience offering, as they say, " a squirrel's eye view."

April brings us Avery's birththday and baseball! Since Avery's birth on Opening Day 2002 we have traditionally gone to the Mariner's Home Opener in part of her birthday celebration. It makes no difference how poorly the team did the year before; we go with high expectations for a great up and coming year. Each year we arrive in plenty of time to have a before the game hot dog, gather our kettle corn and licorice rope go down to infield practice in hopes of getting another signed baseball, and have our picture taken before settling into our seats. Fun times! This year brought the passing of long time Mariner voice Dave Niehouse. My! Oh my!, but he will be missed!

May would have been Grandma Opal's 97th birthday, just weeks earlier she also went to be with the Lord. Friends and family gathered from all across the states to bid her a final goodbye. I will miss her stories of her days in Chicago, moving to California and meeting Grandpa, her custard pie and visiting 9646 Craiglee St. I will always miss her. I love you Grandma.

In June Carol and I embarked on a trip across the United States to Gatlinburg, Tennessee in quest of fireflies. I had with me Avery and Makenna leaving from Seattle with a connecting flight in Dallas, Texas. When we changed planes Makenna was to sit in the seat in front of me with instructions not to talk to the "stranger" that would be sitting next to her. Little did she know that that woman trying to crowd her out of her seat was her very own Grandma Carol. Laughs exploded all around when she politely tried to avoid the woman then realized what was going on. Very fun way to start off an incredibly fun weekend. Gatlinburg was a funky tourist town with lots of fun things to do, but the most amazing part of the trip was seeing the magical fireflies. Crossed that one off my bucket list.

July is probably my very favorite month of the year. The 4th of July is my favorite holiday and it is always a weekend affair. I love the parade, Matt has made it possible for the girls to ride on the fire truck each year since Avery was 2ish, allowing them both to take aim and fire away into the crowd with candy, I also love the ice cream eating contest, the duck blowing the dash whistle, Oxygene, fireworks and jello cake and "skewered" chicken, not especially in that order. This year Craig, Kari, Elise, Savannah, Javin, Carol, Gene, Brad and his three kiddos Ethan, Brieleigh and Natalie all came up to join in the fun. Wow! It was a great time to be had by all.
July also found me falling 12-15 feet off a hay truck to the hardpan ground breaking the calcaneus bone in my right foot and severely spraining my left. Needless to say I was sidelined for the rest of the summer. Gene very graciously came up and took care of me and the farm all summer while Matt had to be in Alaska working. Thank you Gene ...

In August I spent a lot of time catching up on my reading as there was not a whole lot else I could do. I learned a lot that month. My biggest lesson was when you slow down you can more clearly hear the voice of God.

In September I had made plans to drive to California to join the celebration of Dad's 80th birthday, however, I was not fully healed and would not have been able to drive the trip by myself. Carol was aware of how important this was to me and decided it would be a fun idea to fly to Seattle drive me down to Southern California, then drive me back up to Seattle then fly back home to Southern California, which she did. cRaZy! Right??! But very appreciated! On our adventure we got to visit the Whitney Portals where a real Black bear nearly ran smack dab into us. We got to visit Mammoth Lakes, CA. and saw many an amazing scenery on the entire trip. Carol and Gene both went to Dad's party with me and several other family members on board a yacht that formerly belonged to none other than John Wayne, which departed out of Newport Beach and served an incredibly delicious meal. The entire trip was a very special time for me in my life. Thank you Carol ...



In October Matt and I took the girls to a Sand Sculpting exhibit. It is more than just a little interesting what one can do with a lump of sand, water, patience and WAY too much time. Having said that, the work we found there was brilliant. I am very thankful we were able to view the entire exhibit without Avery, Makenna or Max ruining one : )

In November we got our first snow of the year or should I say season. Matt was gone for Thanksgiving and Rich had to work. Karin, the girls and myself planned to break tradition and go out to eat at the restaurant where Rich would be working, however the roads were awful and the ammount of snow still to fall was in question so we decided instead to purchase an "already made" dinner from Safeway. It wasn't nearly as good as the dinners Karin cooks but we all enjoyed it just the same.

In December Makenna and I got to go to Santa Barbara to see family and friends. I was so blessed to see Elise, Savannah and Javin in a Christmas performance put on at their church in the morning, then in the afternoon we got to see Savannah dance her way across the stage while performing in the Nutcracker. In the evening then we all met up to help Elise celebrate her 8th birthday at a pizza restaurant. Very fun! Believe it or not it rained relentlessly the entire two and a half days we were there while I hear it was bright and sunny in Washington. Go figure : )

Gene and Carol then came up for Christmas. Karin made us a spectacular prime rib dinner while we watched Makenna ride her new bike and listened to Avery play her new set of electric drums. It was very nice to be able to have Matt home this year to share Christmas day and all the memories. He did have to leave before New Years, though, leaving Gene, Carol and myself at home warm and comfy wishing him a Happy New Year from afar while watching the fireworks go off from on top the Space Needle on the television.

All in all 2010 was an amazing year.