Well, our shade tree is nothing but a tall trunk now. We spent another half a day cutting the branches off of it. We have it all cut and stacked for firewood and the small stuff is all chipped up and spread around for ground cover. My poor hands hurt from breaking up branches.

When we re-roofed our house we bought a chipper/shredder. We paid as much for the chipper as we would have for a large dumpster to throw away all the shake shingles. We chopped up the shingles and spread them around the bottom part of our yard to keep the weeds down. Ever since then we've used it a lot because we've lost a lot of trees over the years. It was a very good investment.

My husband has to start digging out the roots to stump the tree. He learned a lesson about stumping the year our big pine tree blew over into the street and took out our water line in the process. He and a few other people were cutting it up and when they got closer to the roots the tree was no longer top heavy and it stood back up into the hole. That was a very bad thing because we still had to fix the water line.

Now, he uses the tree's weight to his advantage. It is easier to tip it when it has some height to it.

I have a feeling I'm not getting this online on Monday. The house was a disaster so I've been vacuuming, dusting, cleaning bathrooms, and much more. My poor hands are not only sore from breaking branches, but they are dry from washing things.

Yup, here it is Tuesday and I'm picking up where I left off. I spent most of the day yesterday just cleaning. Cleaning house can be a very unfulfilling job, especially if you look behind you and see what you just cleaned beginning to get dirty again! It isn't one of those jobs that gets people excited, either. My husband is nice when he knows I've been cleaning and tells me how nice everything looks, even before he looks around. However, you generally don't hear anyone commenting on how clean everything is. You know what, though? God likes it. I did it with Him.

"And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men." Col 3:23

I sure notice a difference when I am not allowing God to be number one in my life! When I don't spend time in the Word and in prayer then I stumble around in the flesh. I say things I shouldn't. I think thoughts I shouldn't. I just generally feel disconnected from God. That is not good!

Then, the longer I feel that way the less I feel like going back to being close to Him because I feel like I am no longer worthy. That's what we have learned in the flesh. That's the way the world works. We have to perform to be worthy. With God it is different. Once we make the decision to go back to Him and ask forgiveness for falling away, He takes us back. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1Jo 1:9

Unless we read our Bibles we won't know about the differences between the way the world works and the way God works. It is a bad thing when we try to place human attributes on God. What that does is limit our minds as to what God can do and will do. It's not like we are changing God to fit into our understanding! He is still God. We are just hindering ourselves.

What a week I've had!! Wow! The enemy is on the prowl! He's been attacking all of my children as well as myself. However, I will not be moved! I am standing strong and allowing Him to refresh me, give me wisdom, and fill me with all that I need to face each situation as it arises. Even rapid, multiple attacks following one on the heels of the other are not enough to take my eyes off the Lord!

"...I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." 2Tim 1:12

"I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." Ps 16:8

No matter what our eyes and ears see and hear God is still in control. No matter what our brain thinks is happening, God is still in control. It may look like the enemy has won, but that is only our perception. The war has already been won by Jesus! We are in minor skirmishes now. We need to look to our Lord, our Commander-in-Chief and get our battle plans. He knows what words will be necessary. He already knows the outcome, so who better to have as our leader?

I don't usually ask for prayer for things but this time I feel led to ask. My youngest son, who was in a car accident last June, and I are being sued because of the accident. The other car ran a stop sign and there was even a witness who came forward to verify that my son was not doing anything to cause the accident. The driver of the other car died at the scene. His widow is suing us.

This has brought up a flood of bad memories for my son and is causing him to review everything that happened all over again.

I feel bad for the widow. As a matter of fact, I have a feeling she doesn't speak English and she may be in the country illegally. Her husband was driving an uninsured car and did not have a driver's license. The police ID'd him off of a Mexican ID card. Perhaps her lawyer is an ambulance chaser. It seems he is giving her false hope of getting anything. Anyway, our insurance company will be hiring lawyers for us, but the whole thing is very unpleasant. I would appreciate your prayers for my son, Casey, for the widow of the other driver, and for the outcome of this lawsuit. May God's will be done!

I'm a little distracted this morning. We are having the windows across the front of our house replaced and I am listening for their arrival. I had to move the furniture away from all the windows and take down all the mini blinds. My poor fingers are sore from prying and messing around with all the screws and fasteners.

Our living room gets very warm in the summer and cold in the winter because it has so many windows in it. That was the main reason we were looking at double-paned windows. We decided to do the entire front of the house and the side bedroom as well because of the noise levels in our neighborhood.

We have neighbors across the street who use yelling and honking to communicate with each other. They also have a welding business they run out of their house and often work on projects in their driveway with clanging, banging, and generators running. Then they throw all their scrap metal away in their metal dumpster.... clang! bang! crash! Lots of noise comes from that house. Then we have other neighbors who have barking dogs. Plus, there is, all of a sudden, an overrun of teenagers on motorcycles, scooters, and such going up and down the street.

So, we decided to invest the money for some peace and quiet as well as temperature control. Too bad we have to spend money because people won't be considerate of their neighbors, isn't it? Such a world this is!

I was excited to hear some of the other advantages of the windows. I was told that it is very difficult to see inside the house through the windows. I will be able to raise my blinds and leave them open during the day and people won't be able to see in! I really love the idea of being able to see out without having to worry about privacy! Plus I was told that the windows don't get dirty because of whatever treatment is on the glass. I found that hard to believe but have had it verified by others who have those kind of windows. Yippeeeee!!

Some of the "reality" shows on TV where they put a group of people together fascinate me. I find it interesting to watch how people interact with each other. Some people are not tolerant of others. Some people reach out and try to care about the others.

We, the people on the earth, are all supposed to interact together. We are all supposed to be using our talents and our gifts for each other. Like Jesus said, the second most important commandment is, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Matt 22:39

I watch the kindnesses that people demonstrate on those shows and also the selfishness. It is sad how sometimes the winner is chosen on their ability to cheat the other people. Most of the shows have the people competing for money and that causes people to do things that they normally wouldn't do. People watching the shows enjoy conflict more than love these days so the people are chosen in hopes that there will be lots of conflict.

There is one going on now that has a professing Christian on the show. Oh my goodness, what a badddd witness she is being!! She is not demonstrating the love of God for people but is going around proclaiming her love for God, Himself! I'm afraid she is one of the Christians that non-Christians label a hypocrite and use as an example of why they don't believe in Christianity.

We all have to walk in such a way that people see the love in us. That's the bottom line. When Jesus gave us the two most important commandments, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets," (Matt 22:37-40) He gave us all the information we need on what God wants from us. Everything else falls in place if we are walking in those two commandments.

The other day I overheard a professing Christian standing outside yelling at her husband. Non-Christians who heard her will make the assumption that Christians are no different than anyone else. They will not understand when you tell them about the love of God if they don't see it demonstrated to the utmost in Christians. By "to the utmost" I mean above and beyond what we can do in the flesh. The love of God must shine out through us like a beacon. We must hand our lives over to Him and allow Him to take over.

Impossible? Find out for yourself. Begin with the first commandment. Find out more about the One you love. Learn all you can about Him. Fall deeply in love with Him and you will find yourself wanting to be obedient. You will find yourself wanting to do things to please Him. You will find yourself more and more able to follow the second commandment.

OH MY! Will you look at that! We had a Bible study before we even got to the Bible study! God's going to have to come up with something good to follow that one, isn't He?

We have the threat of war looming over our heads. What should we do?

1. We need to pray for our leaders. "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour." (1Tim 2:1-3)

2. Don't be afraid. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (2Tim 1:7)

3. Know that God will take care of you, if you let Him. "And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Luke 12:29-31)

Last week I was telling you I was getting new double-paned windows. What an interesting experience. I found out that our salesman was either a compulsive liar or had no knowledge of his product. For some reason it seems I was on the receiving end of miscommunications, lack of communications, and untruthful communications. To top it off the installer did a crummy job on the mitered corners of the outside window frames.

The windows do what I wanted them to do. They cut down on the heat, cold, and sound. However, it is the details of the installation and the fabrications of the salesman that are all wrong.

I have found that over and over I am victim of any and all things that can go wrong in products and services. A normally good company that has many satisfied customers will demonstrate any problems that might exist within their organization... to ME!

I kid you not, it happens over and over and over. It has gotten to the point that I expect it. I have a friend who knows about my experiences and whenever I tell her something like, "My camera is in the shop," she hollers, "OH NO!!!!"

I don't believe in coincidence. There are a couple of different theories I've developed. Perhaps God assigns me the job of correcting problems. I write letters and do other things to prevent the same problems that happened to me from happening to others. Most of the time I surprise the head of a company with the happenings within the company.

The other thing might be that God has been perfecting the patience, perseverance, or other things in me. These days it takes something really really big to surprise me or to tip me off balance.

If it is God teaching me something I sure wish I'd hurry up and learn whatever it is! I would thoroughly enjoy having someone who is trained in a particular field actually perform the task correctly! What a novel concept! Do it right the first time! Wow. I might be on to something here!

(By the way, last week I told you the window salesman said people wouldn't be able to see in when I have my blinds raised.... NOT TRUE!)

My husband and I got to go away for the weekend. We actually got an extra day since he had Friday off. It was nice and relaxing.

I am very much looking forward to when my husband has more time and we can go on more trips in our camper. It is lots of fun to see new things and to get away from the pressures of day to day living.

I already have the linens washed and the camper vacuumed. I'm almost ready for our next trip!

Just so you know, I probably won't be updating this next week. I'm leaving Monday to stay with my in-laws for six days. I'm going to be helping my mother-in-law organize her garage. I also get to do something that is very exciting for me. I get to meet my Internet prayer partner/friend. I've known her for around four years and we've never met because we live on almost opposite sides of the United States.

She and her husband are going on vacation in the same city where my in-laws live! I'm very much looking forward to meeting her. We are anxious to turn our written "HUG" into the real thing!!!

I will be taking my camper to sleep in so plan on getting some quiet time with the Lord as well. That is one thing that I've been missing out on lately. I no longer have a quiet place in the house to be alone with Him ever since my middle son moved back in. When I am in the living room or in my bedroom I am usually interrupted or my mind wanders because I see things that need to get done.

Remember I told you I had all sorts of trouble with the company that installed my double paned windows? Well, I wrote them a letter detailing all my problems and they have finally gotten in contact with me. They are very apologetic and sent someone out this morning to find out what they could do to make it right.

The guy also came to repair the one that got broken before it was even installed. The installer messed up and they ordered the wrong size window so he couldn't fix it today! This is, like I was saying, another instance of everything that can go wrong will happen to me. "Why me?" is going to be one of my first questions when I get to heaven.

I am worn out. I had one of those days where the projects I had lined up ended up being much bigger than I had planned. I kept finding things that needed to be fixed before they could be cleaned, and things that needed to be cleaned before they could be fixed! (This part I was writing on Tuesday.) The day isn't over and I don't have much energy left so what got done already will have to do.