Praise the Father, Praise the Son!

 Happy Easter 2023! Hope you and your families have been having a good Sunday. 

Holidays for me have always been anxiety filled. From having to make a meal, to making sure the kids were dress in their best and always having to serve at church. It was stressed filled for me. Now that the kids are older and Joel and I currently live separately. Holidays have taken on a new life. 

My husband was able to be in MN for this weekend. We celebrated his birthday yesterday and today Easter. We ended up going to our son's church in Fargo. Very nice services. We actually went to Good Friday service with him as well. Sonja had to work today, but she joined us for Good Friday. 

I'll be totally transparent, it has been surreal for me. You see my flesh and the devil wants to feed me lies and hold me back. Our son had a whole different life previously. As a kid he was immersed in church and christian life. As a child he accepted Jesus, as well as he could accept and understand. Then life turned and he chose poor choices that honestly affected almost every aspect of our lives. Finances, physical items that certainly are replaceable and emotionally. I should be overjoyed and thrilled with his latest life choices. Don't get me wrong, I am! 

He is attending his church at least twice a week if not more. He reads his bible, takes notes and attends a bible study outside of church. I should be overjoyed! And I am but there is this nagging thing that holds me back. I believe it is satan. Thoughts of his old life and old ways keep me held back. I think that he is going to trip up and go back to the way things were. So this Good Friday, I asked God to take those insecurities in me, take the thing away that is holding me back from experiencing His joy and the joy in experiencing our son choosing God over old ways. 

Praise the Father, Praise the Son, Praise the spirit three in one! I praise God for the new life and the new choices. Is life picture perfect? No, there is still growth to be had and there is wiser choices to be made, but life has moved forward extremely far and fast. Pray with me that Satan's thoughts would be squashed and that I could enjoy the new faith and new choices my son is making. Maybe this should have been called prodigal son. 

Enjoy your Easter and Praise God for all we have and how far we have come!

Snow More!

I'm somewhat late in posting this. We have been getting snowstorm after snowstorm. The last storm was Wednesday of this week. We got approximately 7 inches total. The worst part of these storms is the wind. I had a work from home day. School was canceled. We literally have no more room for snow. This is not unusual for this part of the country but it has been a while since we've seen these levels. 

Today we are sitting at almost 40 degrees and it is sunny. So thankful for the sun and warmth. It helps that my husband is back in MN to stay with us until Monday. Hoping you have a wonderful Easter weekend. 

 

On The Move!

 

Yes, we are on the move again. This time it comes with a few unusual things. Our daughter, Sonja, is set to graduate high school in the Spring of 2024. So! She and I are staying back in MN at a townhome we rented and my husband has moved along with all of our belongings to Colorado. 

I knew it would be challenging but not this challenging. So far our winter has been mild but didn't start out mild. In three weeks time we had gotten ice, high winds, and snow upon snow. It took all my energy to keep up with it. Joel finally purchased me a small electric snow thrower and the snow slowed down exponentially! HA! Isn't that how that works?! 

Joel comes back from time to time to visit us in MN and Sonja and I have been to CO to visit him. We just celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary and had been apart for 40 days. Way too long! We decided to look at the calendar and plan out when we can connect more often. 

It will help when there is nice weather as well. Nicer weather and clean roads make it possible for me to travel to the Twin Cities and visit family and friends. I'm hoping once the nice weather returns, the time will go even faster!

The pic of the home above is our new home in CO. We sold our home in MN in one day. Market was good but soon changed with rising interest rates. 

I'm really hoping to get there again this summer in order to continue to decorate and organize. We have replaced the carpet. Joel has created some storage shelves in the garage. He is hoping to build a shed for the backyard. We are also planning on renovating the kitchen just a bit. Updated appliances and countertops. We are hoping to increase the island size as well. 

Joel has been Youtubing for the last few years and just reached the ability to monetize. It's not much but it is fun for him. Check it out..search Joel on Grid on Youtube. @joelongrid7625 

Hope all is well and are having a great start to 2023!

COVID-19

This time is extremely surreal. I am working part time from home. I need to go into the office to take care of a couple of things, but for the most part, I am at home.

My daughter started her online schooling today. A bit of anxiety of how it will all happen or take place, but I think she didn't mind it. She was tired when they were done, so I think it was a successful day. Unfortunately she is napping right now and it will mess up her sleep. Oh well!

So, I hope that you are not anxious or scared. These are extremely strange times. I pray that everyone is safe and has not been exposed to it. I pray that everyone is heeding the leaders recommendations and staying home, if you can.

As far as the frontline hard working people. Thank you! I pray for you daily. I pray that God protects you and keeps you safe.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6 NIV

Still crafting....

It has been quite some time since my first craft weekend with my friends. I think our first craft weekend was back in 2011. Since then, we have been getting together twice a year. We get to a resort in MN on Wednesday afternoon and we scrap the weekend away until Sunday afternoon when it is time to pack up. 

I can’t say that I work on much but I throughly enjoy my time with the gals who show up. We really have become a close knit group. The core of our group stays in touch and connects in other ways outside of crafting. We are always open to new friends joining us. We have had a few new ounces join us. It is fun to get to know new peeps!

God is good. When I am in a new town (2 1/2 years hasn’t brought forth too many friends yet) it is nice to still have my core friends to connect with despite the miles between us. 

My latest is doing greeting cards. I made them before, but I have been making more and more on my weekends away. 

It’s my outlet. Do you have an outlet? Do you have a hobby or a core group of friends to connect with? I hope you do. 

Challenge!

So I verbalized a wish/challenge for us to do in 2019. I suggested to my husband that we write, hand-write one letter a month to a random friends of ours for the whole year. It's Jan. 21 and we have yet to get that letter out the door. We will see if we can kick it old school. #stillhavetime #january #challenge #willitbeyouthismonth?

2018!

Twenty-Eighteen has been a great year with some challenges. Sonja turned 12, entered seventh grade and continues to play the trumpet. Nicolai graduated high school and started NDSU with their pharmaceutical program. Grateful for how God has paved the way and opened doors for those two. Joel continues to climb the proverbial ladder at his work. He accepted a new position but thankful it did not cause another move. I continue to learn the finance world. It has been challenging and continues to be at times. I am slowly getting it and hope that I don't forget what I've learned.

I hope 2018 has been a good year for you!
Happy New Year!
2019

A Blessing!

For the past nine years, I have taken a bit of time out of life to connect with friends through crafts. We join up at a resort or rental cabin and paper craft the entire weekend away. I have had the privilege of doing that again this weekend. It is fun! I don’t have responsibility other then to myself. I can get caught up on cards or scrap book pages, whichever I prefer!

Another weekend is coming to a close and I am always sad to see it come and go so fast. We are in the midst of trying to find a new place again. Since I moved, we are looking to find another spot that suits our needs and is a good half way point for all of us.

I may not have a close friend or connection in my current town, like I have prayed about for years, but I have these group of ladies who will travel an hour or more to join up with me and craft. That is a blessing!

This particular weekend we have found ourselves meeting up at a camping resort. They have cabins off of a beautiful lake and a lodge that allows us to spread out and create a paper trail (mess) with our creative minds.

We usually have more food than we know what to do with. We have snacks up the wazoo! Most importantly we have fun! Praising God for another fun weekend!