All Dogs Go To Heaven!

Zoie Girl! Anyone who has had a dog has seen a sneak peak of God's Love for us, it's that true unconditional love that mere humans find impossible. Zoie was a perfect example of that love. She brought so much happiness (and fur) into our lives. We rescued her when she was 3-4 years old, that was just a little over 10 years ago. Zoie was a sociable dog, she was happiest when there were new people to pet her. For some reason she thought humans were created to love on her. She especially loved kids for that reason, they would hug her and let her give kisses. Zoie entertained us with her talking, Ray loved to get her going and would ask "Zoie, who is the bad one of the family?" to which Zoie would "reply" MAAAMAAA. Ray thought it was hilarious. when my nephew Jacob spent a couple of weeks with us when he was 12 he worked and worked with Zoie to get her to talk. He succeeded and it was a proud moment when Jacob and Zoie performed for me. You knew where Zoie had been, her hair was proof! Good heavens that dog shed like crazy, year round! I kept a lint remover in my car and at work because if she walked within 5 feet of you, you would have hair all over you. She loved eggs and on Sunday morning when Ray would pull the egg tray out she would start pacing and in her younger days talking. She also loved to camp. She knew when we were getting the camper ready and she would go bezerk! And yes, she was constantly walking through my flowers! I have countless Zoie stories, she was smart, loveable and wanted to be with us all the time. You truly could not keep yourself from falling in love with Zoie if you met her. I know we all have memories of pets, funny stories that we love to tell. What a wonderful gift God gave us when He created dogs. Thank you God for allowing us to be Zoie's parents for 10 years. I will never forget her!

There Are Many Times I Wonder....

There are many times I wonder... Why do slowpokes insist on driving in the left (Fast) lane? How is it that On a huge windshield the big juicy bug splats right in your line of vision??? Someone please explain to me why you have to starve yourself for a month to lose 3 pounds, but eat a 3 oz bag of M & Ms and you gain 7 pounds? How is it That when you look your worst you run into that person from your past that you least want to see? The question running through my mind right now is, why can I think of countless things to write about UNTIL I sit at the computer to write them? Whether it is for a Toastmasters speech or an attempt to write a book. The above goes hand in hand with why is it when you commit to do something it seems you encounter hurdle after hurdle? As I sit here with a blank mind I am reminded that anything worth doing is rarely easy. If everything was easy what would be the prize? Hard work in school is rewarded with good grades, which can lead to money in the form of scholarships. Dedication at your job is rewarded with.... well, these days, just keeping your job! I think of the times God has urged me to do something and I actually heard Him and did it, the reward is an incredible feeling knowing I have made a difference in someone's life. So why is it that so many times I am deaf to the countless opportunities God whispers to me? Why don't I hear His "voice" all the time? Life is full of questions, most of our questions get answered in some way, but sometimes we don't get an answer, or at least not the answer we want. Sometimes we cry out to God to rescue us from some trial or tribulation in our life, and we are angry when He doesn't, we assume He doesn't care about us. Sometimes instead of rescuing us, He walks through the trail with us. Sometimes He just gives us the strength to keep breathing. Of all the questions we may have in this life there is one thing we can know, that if you earnestly seek God, you will find Him! When you find Him, He will never leave you. Period.

Lately I have really been missing the fellowship that you get with Church or Bible Study. On Monday last week, my birthday, I mentioned to God that I would like to find a Bible Study to attend. We are rarely home on weekends so don't have a Sunday church home. That night a friend of mine, sent me a message via Facebook saying that she'd just started a bible study that night and thought of me. She asked me if I would like to attend that bible study with her. I couldn't believe it! God answered my prayer sooo quickly! This past Monday I got ready to go to the bible study, it is a Beth Moore class so I knew I would enjoy it. I had a bit of trouble getting there! Got behind every slow-poke on the road, with me wanting to yell... "Get out of the way.. stupid slow-poke... I'm trying to get to Bible Study!" I had to laugh at myself, but that is why I don't have a fish on the back of my car. Then I went to the WRONG church! Then it was storming so badly with my wipers on high speed I still could barely see where I was going. I did eventually show up at the right church and was only 10 minutes late, they were just wrapping up the prayer so I didn't miss any of the actual Study. Since I knew the Study was on Deuteronomy I started reading the beginning of the book so as to not be too far behind. I read about Moses and how he didn't get to enter the Promise Land because of his disobedience. I prepared my mind and heart to hear Beth Moore talk about how our disobedience is the cause for our not being able to have all that God wants us to have. Instead, we learned 3 verses, all 3 containing the word "Love" and all 3 having different meanings in Hebrew. I was reminded that God loves me with a love that joins me to Him, it's emotional. I was reminded that God wrapped His love around me and pulled me out of the pits! He delights in me and His love is faithful, steadfast and He CAN'T QUIT LOVING ME! So there I was in Bible Study,crying, with NO KLEENEX! Next week I will be more prepared and come with plenty of tissue. We can't begin to fathom God's love! We judge God by our human standards, we say we can trust Him, but then expect Him to disappoint us like those here on earth we have loved and trusted only to be "kicked in the gut" by them. We listen to the hurtful words those that claimed to love us have said to us. Like, "you aren't worth fighting for". We can't understand God's unconditional Love, and that HE says I AM worth fighting for! How Grateful I am that God sees me as "worth it". I've sure tested Him in my life. Isn't it grand that God gives us His love freely? It's not something we can earn, like our salvation, it's a gift, a free gift to us, we only have to accept it!

SURPRISE!!! ???

This afternoon on the "prevening" (you know, that time between afternoon and evening) show one of the DJ's was confessing how her and her brother would carefully unwrap all their Christmas presents, then re-wrap them and place them back under the tree. That reminded me of the year my older sister, Renee and I accidentally found the stash of Christmas presents. Yes, we looked for them every year, but never expected to actually find them! Christmas is the most anticipated day of the year!!! As kids we would rush into the living room to see what treasures were left behind by Santa, we'd dump our stocking contents on the floor for more treasures. This particular year was different. There was nothing new, one by one the presents we found were revealed. This only confirmed our suspicion that Santa may not be real, another disappointment. By being sneaky we only ruined it for ourselves. I did my best to hide my UN-surprise, that was work. It wasn't even fun watching the two younger kids open their presents as they squealed with delight with each new unwrapped surprise. They were clearly having much more fun that Renee and I who opened our gifts with "ho-hum-ness" To this day if I am aware of a present nearby for me, I avoid that area! I learned that ruining your surprise only hurts yourself. Years later I wanted to surprise my husband (my ex) with a birthday party. I worked hard and made plans for a grand day to make him feel special. Unfortunately he found out and couldn't wait to tell me. He took a lot of pleasure in reminding me that I failed in keeping him from finding out about the party. I was so disappointed and learned that day that by ruining your surprise, you also ruin it for the person who has put in a lot of time and effort to do something nice. I never wanted to surprise him again. Why can't we just let things be? why can't we just enjoy the moment?

Oh goody, I will get what I want!

Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." So, that's how you get a new car, or house, or boat???

I'd read that verse dozens of times. I didn't understand why I wasn't getting the desires of my heart!...ie, what I wanted... I thought I was delighting myself in the Lord, but once again felt like a failure, something else I couldn't get right. I was used to that, not getting things right, what was wrong with me? I even pointed out to God that the desires of my heart were honorable desires, I wanted a happy, strong marriage, I wanted to be able to afford things for my children. I wanted to feel valuable! I asked God how to properly "delight" myself in Him so I could have those things I wanted. I just didn't get it.

One day while driving in the car the radio station I was listening to had a verse of the day. This particular day it was Psalm 37:4."Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" Instantly It hit me like a ton of bricks.... when I delight myself in the Lord He will PUT the desires HE WANTS me to have, in my heart! When we are taking pleasure in our relationship with God, He reveals His plan for our lives. When we delight ourselves in Him we can "hear" Him better.

Maybe that desire is to sell your house and live in a Hotel and just wait, while others scratch their head and look at you like you've lost your mind. Sometimes that desire is to teach, sing, speak, mentor, build a church in South America..... What ever that desire is you can count on it being out of your comfort zone! God never (in my experiences) gives you a desire to do something you already excel at, that wouldn't require any trust or stepping out in faith. But I have also learned that as you DO step out in faith and trust God's direction, or the desire of your heart, you will be rewarded in ways you could never imagine! There is no high comparable to the high you get when you obey God's direction, when you allow Him to use you as He wants.

The Funny thing is, the more you allow God to use you, the more you trust Him, and the more you trust Him the more you WANT Him to use you.

Great Pacific Coast Adventure day 2 & 3.

Saturday, July 10.
Our first "official" day of vacation! We left the hotel in Sacramento at 6:30am and headed to Sonora, CA to catch a GWRRA (motorcycle club) Chapter meeting at 8:30am. Everyone was very friendly, had a great time. The ride there was very pretty, brown mountains and a few scattered trees.

We followed highway 49 which is part of the original trail the gold diggers took.
Stopped at Sutter's Mill which is where gold was accidentally found and is rumored to have started the Gold Rush. The scenery is so different from Georgia's lush green landscape.


Sunday, July 11.
Today we headed to Ft Bragg on the coast! Rode through winding roads that would put the "Tail of the Dragon" in North Carolina to shame! Stopped in Napa Valley to tour Sterling Winery. We took a gondola to the Winery, the views were beautiful! Tasted a little wine, bought a couple of bottles then back on the road. We stopped in Callisto for lunch at an old Train Depot. It warmed up a good bit so layers came off. After leaving lunch we got back on the road. As we hit the Coastal Mountains the temperature went down!!!! The higher we got the more the temperature went down!! I was freezing by the time we finished crossing the mountain range.

As we came out of the mountains I could almost immediately see the Pacific Ocean. It was a thrill I must admit. We walked about a mile to Ft Bragg Steak House to have dinner. It didn't look like much from the outside, but the food was wonderful! Then we walked back to the hotel, dropped off my purse and walked a half mile to the coastline to watch the sun set. We watched a seal playing, then saw more seals in the ocean riding the waves. what a great way to end the day.

Still not able to download pictures to blog. :(

The Pacific Coast Grand Adventure!

We began our adventure with an adventure! I’m used to flying stand-by, but for our vacation we BOUGHT tickets so we’d get to Sacramento with no delays. Well, after sitting on the runway off to the side for about 30 minutes, the Pilot comes on the PA and explains that there is a problem with the air pressure and something about a light not working. We wait another 15 minutes and once again the Pilot explains that the light can’t be fixed where we were, so we are returning to the gate where a mechanic will be checking on the plane. After sitting at the gate for about 10 minutes once again the pilot asks over the PA that everyone turn their air vent on and close the window screen to keep the plane as cool as possible. This isn’t sounding good right now…. Once again we hear the Pilot, this time he is explaining that the plane has been grounded and we will be disembarking, the search for a new plane is on. Finally about 11:30ish we are on the run-way, this time actually taking off. Only 3 hours later than originally expected. AND, with a bought tickets! Sigh…..

Up in the air, I began reading my book, (“Rooms” by James Rubart – great book) When we were flying over New Mexico and beyond I was watching out the window. How beautiful the world is! Even from 38,000 feet up. We could see canyons, (not the Grand canyon) buttes, rivers… the changing landscape was amazing. Pretty thrilling to the snow capped Sierra Mountains in the distance and watch them get closer and closer until we could see trees. Flying over lake Tahoe was just a taste of what we will see in a few more days as we drive around it on the bikes.

I was the typical tourist and took pictures from the plane! (I tried to upload pictures but not able to)

We finally arrived in Sacramento and headed to “In and Out” a burger joint. Very limited menu, good hamburgers. It’s a California “thing” we were told.

We head out early tomorrow, will head to Highway 49, part of the original trail of the Gold-diggers. It’s in the foothills so am looking forward to taking lots of pictures!