Choosing Life Over Death

When the bisquits burn, the beans are scorched, and I forget to turn the potatoes on yet,
To choose life, I must thank the Lord that I have food to burn, scorch, and forget.

When the piles of laundry seem to never end, and the furniture is dusty again,
To choose life, I must be thankful for the clothes to wear and the furniture to share.

When the people in my life demand more and more love and support,
To choose life, I must thank God for the time we have together on earth is so short.

When the baby is crying and the toddler is whining wanting to be held,
To choose life, I must thank God for one day I will long for the days when my children wanted to be held.

When temptations in life come in like a swelling tide,
To choose life, I must resist the path that would only lead to my demise.

When I'm lonely for friendship, and the fellowship of those I see no more.
To choose life, I must seek out the friendless and knock another's door.

When the newness in life scares me and makes me want to retreat in a shell.
To choose life, I must pray for courage and take a step from my shell.

When the circumstances in life are not going my way,
To choose life, I must pray for grace and strength to make it through the day

When God seems so far away, and life looks so bleak,
To choose life, I must seek God and His life giving peace.

When bitterness seems a most safe retreat,
To choose life, I must let God make me better, than bitterness will not have me beat.

When someone has wounded me and made me a public disgrace,
To choose life, I must forgive and offer love and grace.

When I wish that the Bible was easier to obey, that I could change the words to make it my way.
To choose life, I must willingly submit to God's word and trust that I will be blessed by doing so some day.

When sickness racks my body and I am tired and old,
To choose life, I must be thankful for the life God has given me, more precious than gold.

When I come to the end of my years here on earth ready to say good-bye to it's pain,
To choose life, I must reach for my loving Saviour's hand to go to the life that I have chosen once again.

It was He that chose life first of all you see,

Not for Himself of course, but for you and me,

The choices He made in His life and His death,

Paved the way for His children to choose life over death.

(Just a little something I've been thinking about a lot lately, my choices, life is full of choices and even though I have not had to make all of these choices yet and there are many more to make, I do want to commit in my life to choose life over death)

One huge highlight of vacation was singing with the family. My how I miss that.

I am adjusting to life out in OR. One thing I really don't miss about DE is our crazy busy lifestyles. I was reminded of that this last time I went home. Wow. like there was something planned every evening sometimes multiple things that you had to choose. Hmmm as far as life here well let's see I'll start with the weekend. Friday evening we spent mowing. I packed a picnic supper for us with a blanket and all, but by the time we were done mowing it was getting on evening and if any of you know anything about the OR evenings they are most times a little chilly, so we ended up eating our picnics in the truck, not very romantic but it works. Saturday we went on a hike with the youth ministry we have and then stopped at McD's afterward. In the evening we took Pierre Justin's cousin and went to this turkey Rama I don't know if I spelled that right, but it's some sort of celebration thing in Mac. We got treated to a little bit of "Christian" rap ;-( Rap in my opinion is not music and just plain stinks. They had this concert thingy in town during the turkey rama thingy and Justin knew some of the people from work so we stopped in to say,"hello" Nice peeps... I dunno if I agree with their way of witnessing, but at least the gospel is being preached and with Paul I rejoice about that.
Sunday we had a church picnic for lunch. Twas fun. We all went to Sheridan park and everyone brought a dish and the guys played a little soft ball and the girls sat and talked, and then we had a little service. It was really neat. After that Quinton and Amanda invited us over for the evening and we ended up playing Beaveropoly(basically monopoly) until 10:00 and we still were not finished, so we ended up counting all our money and property value and hotel and houses value to see who one, and I have to brag I WON! I had over 10,000 dollars, David I owe you it was all your tough bargaining skills you taught me over the years.Actually I just got lucky and landed on all the right properties. If any one plays monopoly with David you know you can not win with him!!!!! Honestly, besides being the luckiest guy in the world when it comes to games he also will not give you any bargains. I miss you David. What fun!
Well, I really need to get back to my wash. I love and miss you all.

Ahhh, I have been blessed with a wonderful family. We all love Jesus and wow what good and encouraging times we have when we are together. I love you guys!!!!!!By the way Justin claims he's going through rook withdrawal, never heard of such a thing...

10 wonderful things about our vacation.

1. Roxbury(nothing bad could happen there) Well almost nothing...
2. Being with the family once again.
3. Hugs and squeals and welcome homes
4. Singing with my family and at church.
5. Prayer meeting.
6. Lunch with friends.
7. The bus ride to Indiana.
8. A Kenton sub They don't make subs like that in OR.
9. Talking with mom and dad.
10a. Laughter lots of laughter.
10b.Fireworks(would have been better with my hubby)
10c. Marcy, Zetta, Gina, and Jess, you guys are the best, and our goofy creek walk.
10e. Singing around the campfire...singing before the fireworks...just singing we really don't do enough of it around here...or I should say it's just different...ahhh I'll get used to it, but they sing choruses so weird Ha dear chorus's I wonder who actually sings them right.
10f. Sunday morning sharing and praying time. ( My cuz's are so cool)
10g. Abe and Amanda's
10h. Trevor and Angie's beautiful wedding.
10i. TMI
10j.Byler's store
10k. People lots and lots of people that I know ... ok I think I'm gonna go have a good cry now

Ok so I could go on and on it was a wonderful vacation, but surprisingly enough, I think i can come up with ten good things about coming back home to OR.

1.Walking into a shiny clean house.( I forgot how much mess 7 people make compared to two.
2. No water in the basement( a story for another time perhaps)
3.A nice soft bed
4. A normal schedule.
5. No living out of a suitcase.
6. No more hauling a 45lbs suitcase around( I always pack to much)
7. I actually feel rested.
8.Ok I'm running out of things....the scenery?
9.Um ... just me and my honey time.
10....I'm trying come on Donna you almost made it...um...Ok I can do this why can't I just think of one more...Oh I know getting a call from a Aunt Loila saying they missed us.Whew... there I did it.
Ok, I think I'll stop here there is a lot more to say, and some more pics to post, but as they would say on Adventures in Odyssey..."Keep listening...(reading).