I Just Had to Smile

This morning was a bitterly cold morning. When I headed to work at 7:15 it was below zero. I had only gone about two miles when while crossing a bridge the tire seemed to make a little more noise than usual. It wasn't long and I could feel that something was wrong with the tire. I pulled onto the shoulder to find.... you guessed it - a flat tire. I hurried back into the warm car to look for my AAA card, but couldn't find it. So I called Dale to get the number from him. He said that he would call them for me. He then let me know that someone would be there within 45 minutes.

On my blog entry from just a few days ago I mentioned about being stressed out some with all I was trying to do. So, before I left work I was going through some e-mails to find a devotional that gets sent to me each day and guess what it was about. Yup, stress. Well, maybe I should say it was stressing making time for Christ in this busy season. I did have my time with God before I left the house but it was hurried. The devotional suggested setting aside 30 minutes this week to spend with Him.

I just had to smile as I remembered this while waiting for the tow truck to arrive. It was a wonderful 30 minutes. I was blessed by that time. When the man was done with changing my tire, I told him that God had given me this time to concentrate on the true meaning of Christmas. I wished him a Merry Christmas and headed to the auto service we use so I could bring in my tire. I would pick it up after work.

I returned later in the day after doing some quick shopping. As I went to pay, he said that he didn't want to do a credit card charge for something that was less than $20. I told him that after shopping I didn't have enough to pay him.

I had to smile when he said, "You can come in anytime and pay it. That's fine."
I didn't know that there were places like that anymore.

I quickly ran to the grocery store for milk.
I just had to smile as I overheard 2 sisters. Maybe 8 and 5 years old.
"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious", said the older girl.
"super", said the older girl
"super", said the younger
"cali"
"cali"
"fragil"
"fragil"
"listic"
"lipstick"

I just had to smile...
I hope that you had a day filled with things that made YOU smile!

Betrothed

Last week our son, Zach, asked Christina Prince of Holland, MI if she would marry him. We are pleased to announce that she said, “Yes.” They have been dating for over 2 years, with some of that time being spent many miles apart. From their first date in October 2006 to now, it has been fun to watch and hear of their growing relationship. They were both students at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, MI when they met. She has been here to visit several times and we have enjoyed getting to know her better.

Now begins the work of trying to make it all come together. I know that it can be a rather stressful time – location, dates, photographer, flowers, invitations, etc…
My advice to Zach is to be praying and asking God to help it fall into place. Don’t allow the stress of planning your special day effect your relationship with the one you love.


Many years ago there was another man “pledged to be married”. Joseph, “a righteous man”, finds himself in a difficult situation when he finds out that Mary is pregnant. What should he do? How did this happen? How does he still protect Mary? The laws at that time could call for her stoning. Now that’s stress!
Then God breaks through in a dream and an angel tells Joseph just what he should to.

What an example of faith both Joseph and Mary are to us. It is hard to even imagine what feelings they experienced through all of this.
Fear Excitement Praise

Joseph “did what the Lord had commanded him.”
Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”


The last two weeks has been so busy for me. I am, to be honest, struggling at times as I feel the stress creep into my life. Our tree stands in our living room carrying only some of it’s lights. Our entry has boxes of ornaments and lights waiting their final placement. There are those special gifts yet to be found and the cookies that are still in their most early stages – like in the bags of flour and sugar!
Maybe it’s because Thanksgiving was so late. Maybe it’s because we haven’t done anything for Advent here at home this year to remind me daily of the most precious birth ever.
I don’t know. But, what I do know is that I want the rest of this Advent time to be different for me. I don’t want to be stressing on things that really aren’t all that important. What gets done, gets done. What doesn’t, doesn’t.

This is what REALLY matters.

“Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you, He is Christ the Lord” Luke 2:11

Father, help me keep my eyes on you. Always and forever!

Welcome to December!

I love a good snowstorm!
We've had about six inches so far. I was so glad to hear on the radio that our school district had a two hour delay because of the snow. This is the view from my front yard this morning. It's still snowing and rather windy. When I turned back to look at my house getting ready to take the picture, the wind was blowing into my face. It's the kind of wind that on a day like today makes you catch your breath. I wish that I had more time to really bundle up for a walk and head down to the river which is behind those trees. Maybe tonight Dale and I will break out the snowshoes and do just that. I love going out in the evening with our way being lit just from the snow.
But, for right now, there are things that I need to do. I'm thankful for the extra two hours to put away my Fall things, now that Thanksgiving is over, and start getting out my Christmas decorations.
Woohoo!!
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!