The LORD Does Whatever Pleases Him

Six years ago today, we lost my dear sister Patty to breast cancer. Patty has taught me more about Christianity than anyone else has in my entire life.

While she was fighting this horrible disease, at the end of November, 2002, my family put on a benefit for her to raise money for medical bills etc. Dad, Mom, all of my siblings and their significant others participated in this singing show and silent auction. As a thank-you gift, Patty gave all of her sisters a two-year planner. Here is a picture of mine, the verse is Psalm 135:6

At the time, I remember reading the verse and wondering if it had significant meaning...or if Patty just thought they were nice planners and bought them for us. Here is the verse in context:

1 Praise the LORD. Praise the name of the LORD; praise him, you servants of the LORD, 2 you who minister in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God. 3 Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant. 4 For the LORD has chosen Jacob to be his own, Israel to be his treasured possession. 5 I know that the LORD is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods. 6 The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.

Now, for a few years we've been purchasing beautiful calendars from our church's youth group at Christmas time, so in December of 2002, since Ruth was in youth group at the time, we bought one from her. I've always loved these calendars, because they have wonderful nature scenes with scripture verses written across the pictures. However, I didn't pay a lot of attention to the particular verse each month. Perhaps I should. Patty only survived another 5 months...she passed away on April 27, 2003. Here is the picture and verse from that calendar for the month of April, 2003:

Yes, it is the same exact verse, Psalm 135:6. "The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths."

I believe that this was God's (and Patty's) way of reassuring me that it really was His will to take Patty home to be with Him, and that He does do whatever pleases Him. As much as we would have loved for her to be healed... as much faith as Patty and her family had in the fact that she would be completely healed...as much as she loved her parents and her nine siblings...as much as she loved her husband of 21+ years and her eleven children...she loved her Lord and Savior most of all. And I truly believe that God honored that. And even though she prayed to be healed, that the deepest desire of her heart was to be in heaven with HIM...where she is today. Remember, that whenever we pray, we say, "Lord, not MY will, but YOURS be done," but our will is not always His will.

Happy Birthday Patty, Happy Birthday Jesus!

Today would have been my late sister Patty's 49th birthday. Patty went to be with the Lord on April 27th, 2003; after a 2 year battle with breast cancer. She was a great sister and a wonderful mother to 11 children. We all miss her very much, but I know that I'll see her again someday in heaven. Every year since she passed away, most of her remaining 9 siblings have gotten together on her birthday to remember Patty and celebrate her life. I suspect we will do that again this year, but not until later on this evening. There's something else we have planned to celebrate first tonight.

It's Wednesday, which means it is AWANA club night at church. My husband is our church's Awana Commander, and I help out in the nursery. Every year around this time, we celebrate another birthday too. We have a "Happy Birthday, Jesus party", with cake and ice cream for all of the kids, their parents, and AWANA staff. Seeing as how I'm the Commander's wife, and a former professional cake decorator to boot, I get the honor of decorating a birthday cake for Jesus each year, and then I usually ice a couple more sheet cakes to serve to everyone. This year, I opted to bake and decorate one cake and 12 dozen cupcakes. Sound like fun? It actually was. And as an added bonus, it warmed the house up nicely too, having the oven going for about 5 hours straight.

Here's this year's model. The only thing is, I used a "Christmas Red" paste food coloring, that turned out a little more like "Barbie Pink". Oh well, pink poinsettias are pretty too.

Thursday Thirteen ~ 13 Pictures of my Summer so far

It has been a very busy Summer. We've had many grad parties, a church picnic, two 50th birthday parties, (including mine), a 30th birthday party, an 80th birthday party...something every single weekend. This makes it a bit difficult for those of us who are trying to lose weight. It's not just the temptation of wonderful desserts and foods at these parties, but mostly the fact that there are generally not a whole lot of healthier choices to be had...unless one brings one's own food to each party...and that's no fun. All in all, I feel like I'm doing pretty well just to "maintain" lately.

The first half of the Summer, I didn't have a digital camera...and then a couple of weeks ago, after I'd gotten a camera for my birthday, my computer crashed. Therefore...I'm going to try to upload some of the pics I just now got off my camera. Here we go...

1. Above is our church picnic, once again, graciously hosted by the Peterson's. The pork chops were provided and grilled by other church members, and then beans and coleslaw were made and served by still other members who worked very hard to put on a delicious meal, (not to mention the numerous desserts brought by everyone to share). I did indulge in a very small sliver of cheesecake there, if I remember correctly. Thanks everyone, for all you did to make it a day of great food and fun.
2. After the dinner, we made our way down the hill to "gather at the river" for baptism. Below is the lovely little Lydia, just before her "dunking" by Pastor Al.


3. We do Karaoke the 4th Friday of every month at our church. This was perhaps our youngest Karaoke participant yet. Some of you will recognize him as Lisa's little guy, Sam. Actually...he was "helping" his Daddy, sing a song here. It may have been "The Streak"?
   
   
   


4. In June, two of my late sister Patty's daughters, visited MN from AZ. Above is me with April who is 17. I'm wearing my new size 16 capris in the pic. Yes, I have lost over 30 lbs, even though I look HUGE next to little Miss Size 0 there.
5. Below is one of me with her 15 yo sister, Sarah. She's such a sweetheart.
   
   
   


6. Above, is a picture of me, April and my sister Laurie. Some people say she and I look a lot alike, as we get older. I never used to look like any of my siblings when I was a kid.


7. Below, April wanted a pic with her 3 uncles, and they were all happy to oblige. L to R: My brothers, Dan, Mike and Bob give April a "lift" while Bob's wife, Rose looks on.

8. In August, Ray's Aunt Marilyn turned 80! Above: she is opening the gift from us. The date on the pic is wrong, it was actually 08/02/2008.

9. Below, is a pic of Marilyn with her nephew, (my dh Ray) and niece, (his sis Cheryl), and some of our children and grandchildren. Is Marilyn not the youngest, (and shortest), octogenarian you've ever seen? She barely comes up to my chin!

L-R: Molly, Sarah, with her husband, Brad behind her, Dan D. (Ruth's fiance), Ray, Ruth, me with Marilyn in front of me, Cheryl, her hubby Darryl, their sons Alan and Kevin, and Alan's wife, Becca holding their daughter Brooklyn. Their son, Brian is standing directly in front of his Great-Great Aunt Marilyn.

10.The next day, we had a get-together at my parents' house to see April and Sarah off. They were both heading back to AZ the following day. Above is my sweet niece Katie, and her cousins, Tiegen and Grayson.

11. Below: "sisters holding sisters"- April is holding cutie-pie, Elizabeth while Sarah has Liz's big sis, Katie in her arms. I think they're all adorable. 12. Above is a "Kodak moment" of my mother reading to 3 of her youngest grandchildren, L to R: Tiegen, Shelby (Connie's daughter), and Grayson. Mom's oldest grandkids are in their mid 30's now. She also has a few great-grandchildren and one great-great-granddaughter!

13. Below is another cute one of "2 sisters and 2 brothers", my brother Bob's little girls and my sister Kathy's little boys on tractors. I'm pretty sure I have the cutest nieces and nephews on the planet...but then, I may be a little biased.

A Tribute to My Sis

This is a picture my sister, Patty and me. Patty fought a brave battle against breast cancer for at least 2 years, but in the end, the Lord took her home to be with Him. Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of her death. The picture was taken almost 6 years ago at our parents' 50th Anniversary party, which turned out to be a little over 11 months before Patty passed away. Patty was a wonderful Christian wife and mother of 11 children...yes, you read that right, 11 children. At the time of her death they ranged from almost 4 years old to 21 years of age.

She was a year and a half YOUNGER than me, but was always the one I turned to when I had questions of a spiritual nature, even though she was my little sister. We all miss her greatly, and I still have moments when I think I'll just call Patty on the phone and ask about something that I'm sure she'll know the answer to.

Here is a picture of her husband, Randy and ALL of their children, taken about a year after her death.

Shanna, (standing next to her father in this picture), joined the Army after graduating High School. She spent a year in Iraq, and is now stationed in Alaska. She is also the mother of Patty's first grandchild, Ja'lyn, who turned one year old 3 days ago and sadly, never got to meet her her wonderful grandmother. Happy 1st Birthday, Ja'lyn!!!

Their oldest child, Tonia is now 26, Shanna will be 22 this Thursday, and the rest are as follows: Thomas is 19, Isaac 18, April 17, Sarah 15, Zach 14, Christina 13, (yes, there are 6 teenagers!), Zion 12, John Jacob, (JJ) is 10, and Isaiah will be 9 in May.

Yesterday, our pastor was preaching about how we all need to let ourselves be emotional at certain times in our lives. It brought me back to exactly 5 years ago, (which coincidentally was also a Sunday), when I went to church just hours after the call from my mother that my sister was gone, and bawled throughout the entire service. I was certainly being emotional then. I also remember that my cousin, Channing and his wife Dawn were there for the service, and Pastor Tom told me that morning that my cousin had accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior that very week. I told Channing the sad news about Patty, and added that I was sure she was jumping for joy over his salvation, up in heaven. Patty was all about spreading the Gospel and trying to get everyone she knew saved. I miss you Sis, and if you have any "pull" up there, could you possibly arrange for me to have the mansion next to yours when I get there?