Our trip to Colorado was wonderful! The wedding was wonderful! The weather was wonderful! Well, except for the wind that was whipping when we left.

Anyway, God took good care of us. Snow followed us, rain preceded us, but we had great weather. Have you ever seen one of those cartoons where a rain cloud follows someone around? Well, we had sunshine and blue skies following us around.

Last time I spoke about how we were given authority over the earth, and as a result, had authority over weather conditions. Why didn't the wind stop blowing then, when I commanded it to?

Perhaps there were others who were also supposed to be praying against the wind and weren't. Perhaps God had something He intended to do and needed the wind blowing to do it.

I don't know. I do know that there are a lot of things we don't understand about Godly things. We do need to continue to keep our minds open to what He wants to teach us and what He wants to do.

It is important to remain open-minded about God and His Kingdom. Even when we see something happen we must be careful about jumping to any conclusions saying that same thing will always happen in the same way. God doesn't change, but everything else does. That means he sometimes has to do things differently to achieve the same end result.

Be careful what you believe. I've heard people say, "God always such and so," or "God never such and so." There are some things that God always does and others that He never does, but don't allow something to fall into one of those categories haphazardly. We must be able to be open to what God wants to do. If we have our minds locked then the things of God can easily go unnoticed. We can render ourselves useless if we don't keep an open mind. Be careful!

I caught the flu this week. I felt fine Monday morning and BOOM! I've had the worst sore throat I've had in a long time. I'm having chills, weakness, coughing, a sore ear, and a sore throat. Uh oh, maybe I should have warned you first so you could spray your monitor with disinfectant. Sorry.

This is a bad time to get sick. I've got a long list of things I want to get accomplished. Oh well, I guess they will all wait for me.

Oh boy, I should have gotten a flu shot. I'm still sick. Yesterday I could finally say I feel better, but I'm days away from being well. Now my poor husband is sick. Today I have a new symptom added to take the place of others that are gone.

Slowly but surely our well-laid plans for Christmas are changing. I am behind on the shopping and decorating. Presents I mail may not make it in time. Oh well, what is important? Being healthy is important. The real reason for Christmas is important. What else? Can't think of a thing.

I will probably not update this until after Christmas. If you are on my mailing list then you will be notified when it is updated.

So, since I won't "see" you again until after Christmas let me take this opportunity to wish you a blessed Christmas. Make sure you and your family pause to reflect on the reason we celebrate Christmas. If you are with non-believers or lukewarm Christians be bold! Whether they like it or not, they already have thoughts of a baby in a manger, a choir of angels, a star over Bethlehem, and other thoughts about Jesus' birth. Bring those thoughts into focus. Bring Jesus back into the forefront of the celebration.

Here's an idea. Write, "The first and best Christmas present ever given was Jesus giving Himself to us. What have you given Him? What will you give Him?" on a piece of paper. Put it in a box, wrap it like a present, and put it under the tree. On the tag write, "To: Everyone."

I'd love to hear from you if you find another way to focus attention on Jesus!

OK, enough chit chat. I need to go rest and get well.

I'm back from visiting my in-laws for Christmas and I'm finally almost over the flu. The last few days I have finally felt good. Gee, that only lasted a month!

We ended up extending our trip so we could relax. We took our camper so we wouldn't have to fight for a bed and we slept well. My husband, son, and I stopped at Calico Ghost Town on the way home and camped there an extra day. It was nice. My husband scrounged some firewood from around old campfires and one of our camping neighbors gave us half of a compressed fire log so we even had a campfire. From now on we carry a fire log in the camper so we will be ready when the opportunity for a campfire presents itself.

Our teenage son even had a good time. Sometimes youth have a tendency to become very bored. He hiked all over the place. He found a fossil and a large vertebrae. We all had fun and enjoyed each other's company. I think if we had more food and more time we would have stayed a few days more!

I have a lot of things to do now that Christmas is over and I am feeling better. My house is a disaster. I couldn't keep up on things while I was sick so I have lots of messes. Plus I have to finish cleaning out the camper.

I'm waaaaay behind on my email, too.

I just was pondering how I just can't seem to get caught up, especially on my email. It seems that just when things are getting under control something happens. Well, I do know that booster club events won't interfere any more. The band golf tournament in July threw me for a loop. I don't think I've been able to recover from that. I've always been a step behind. Now I am even farther behind due to the long bout I had with the flu. I have to be careful that I don't overdo and have another relapse. I've already done that once.

Oh well, that's the way it goes. You still love me, don't you??

A friend and I came up with a slogan we are going to try to live by next year. We have been accountability partners in our quest to allow God to rule in our lives. This coming year we want more of God and:
LESS OF ME IN 2003!!!