Category: Blog

Precious Moments

trish1 Comment on Precious Moments

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activities.

First, I would like to introduce you to Jonah Neal Smith born to Britton and Michelle on August 11, 7lb 2 oz., 30 inches long.  Big brothers Eli, who will turn 5 in a couple weeks, and Caleb, who just turned 3, are thrilled with their new brother.

Proud dad and me with grandchild #7!
Proud dad and me with grandchild #7!

We celebrated Caleb and Lane’s birthdays at Britton and Michelle’s so erveryone could see the baby.  Lane (Grant & Jenni’s son) turned 6 and Caleb turned 3.

Birthday boys!
Birthday boys!
Caleb, Eli with Jonah, Lane, Corbin with Hadley
Caleb, Eli with Jonah, Lane, Corbin with Hadley

Eli and Caleb were able to spend a couple days with me here.  It was Berrien County Fair week so the boys enjoyed a day of rides, animals and tractors!

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Our dear friends (I mean MY dear friends) from Zambia came for a few days.  I still catch myself saying “we” or “our” instead of “me” and “my.”  They were here for some meetings in Chicago but also to attend our mutual friends son’s wedding in Holland, MI.  This wedding was particularly hard for me.  The Liske’s daughter got married two days after Neal died three years ago and Jim Liske did Neal’s funeral.  The last words Neal said to me before he slipped in unconsciousness was that he wanted to make it through the weekend so he didn’t interfere with Ali’s wedding.  It worked out that Neal’s funeral was 2 days after the wedding.  Lawrence Temfwe, from Zambia, also spoke at Neal’s funeral.  Sitting at the wedding I was reminded of when Christ returns.  The last book of the Bible, Revelation, talks about that there will be a new heaven and new earth.  Our old sick worn out bodies will be made new.  The new place where we will reign with Christ will come down from heaven like a beautiful bride prepared for her husband.  God will be with us for all eternity.  It will be a place of no more sorrow, no more death, no crying or pain.  (Revelation 21)  Sounds pretty amazing to me.  It gives me hope to continue on each day.

Mr. and Mrs. Josh Liske
Mr. and Mrs. Josh Liske
Cathy Liske, Martha and Lawrence Temfwe and Jim Liske
Cathy Liske, Martha and Lawrence Temfwe and Jim Liske

The day after the wedding I left with my widow friend, Julie, to go to a dude ranch in Colorado.  My next post I will share about my awesome time becoming a cowgirl!

 

When I got home from the ranch, the following day was the anniversary of Neal’s death, Aug. 31, 2012.  It was a hard day for me for several reasons.  I mentioned earlier about the recent wedding; there were a couple times at the ranch that were emotional for me wishing Neal was with me; I was tired from traveling; while I was away the mice problem got worse (Whitney and Ty were house sitting and dealt with much of it which was a blessing) so I had a mess to deal with when I returned home.

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This weekend is our annual Labor Day Weekend family reunion with my mom’s family.  I love having everyone here.  It is such a blessing to be together.  So as I leave this post and anticipate my parent’s arrival, let me leave you with this thought:

Happy Moments–Praise God

Difficult Moments–Seek God

Quiet Moments–Worship God

Painful Moments–Trust God

Every Moment–Thank God

I pray your moments are filled with praise and thankfulness as we each continue on our journeys.

On trhe journey,

Trish

 

Nasty mice…trapped

trish2 Comments on Nasty mice…trapped

I don’t like mice.  I mean, I REALLY DON’T LIKE MICE.  As I type this I can hear them scratching.  I was so frazzled yesterday when I figured out I had some in the kitchen, that I didn’t know what to do.  I called some neighbors but couldn’t get ahold of anyone.  So I called Britton who was just about to do a wedding.  He told me what kind of traps to get.  Placing them around just creeped me out.

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Last fall two of my friends and I went to Branson.  We stayed in a condo that was on the ground level.  One night after dinner we opened the door to go in and something scampered in the condo.  I immediately jumped on top of a chair and screamed.  Julie stood there saying, “I’m not going to touch it” and proceeded to take pictures.  So Sherry, by default, was the one to deal with whatever varmint it was.  The animal got stuck behind the open door in the corner.  We could see its bushy tail and decided it was a chipmunk.  Sherry  bravely took her coat and grabbed its tail and slide it along the base of the door and put it outside.  Julie was then concerned that we hurt it or killed it.  I just wanted it out and didn’t care if we killed it!  Sherry was, O brother you two!  (Sorry, the pictures are no longer available :()

Gerbils are just as bad.  We had a few of those over the years when the kids were growing up.  I was okay with them as long as they were in the cage.  One of the times, Collin had a gerbil named Sheen (from Jimmy Neutron).  Its cage was in the kitchen.  Yeah, I know how gross it was to have it there.  What were we thinking?  You guessed it, one day Sheen was not in his cage.  He had chewed his way through and was missing.  Britton and Grant had just gone off to college and I was doing some of their laundry that they left behind.  I went down in the basement to put away some of Grant’s clothes and looked inside the tall upright hamper to find what I thought was a headless gerbil.  I called Neal at work and had him come home as soon as he could get away.  (I thought it was a big enough emergency to merit that.)  He went down to the bedroom and found that the missing gerbil had fallen into the hamper and couldn’t get out.  He scratched and scratched to try to get out, leaving a trail of blood all around the inside of the hamper.  It wasnt’ headless but was just curled up into a ball.  I made him get rid of the gerbil and the hamper.

I don’t want to check if i have trapped any mice.  Proverbs 5:22 tells us that an evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him. I am praying that my traps have caught and held the mice.  I don’t want them doing any further damage.  Sometimes sin so entangles us that we can’t be released.  Jesus does tell us that we can be free.  He said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings.  And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”  Jesus told them that everyone who sins is a slave of sin.  He is the only one who can set us free (John 8:31).  How do we know the truth?  Jesus is that truth.  How do we know him?  By reading God’s Word, studying, pondering  and obeing it,  we will know the truth.  Then we will be set free.

Freedom doesn’t mean doing whatever we feel like doing.  Even a person who has been freed from the power and bondage of sin by Jesus’ blood can still be captive to sin.  God created us with a free will.  We won’t be totally free from sin until we see Jesus face to face.  Does that mean we don’t even try to not sin?  No, as followers of Jesus  we are commanded to be holy in all we do.  We obey God because we are his chiildren.  Don’t step back into your old ways of doing evil.  But now we must be holy in everything we do, just as God is holy. (I Peter 1:14-16)

I don’t believe mice deserve freedom.  We don’t deserve our freedom in Christ either but he willingly and loving gives it to us.  Sorry mice, you aren’t getting that from me!    So I am praying for courage to check on these traps and dispose of the mice.  Unless, anyone out there wants to come and do it for me???

On the journey,

Trish