Back to Normal

Yes, life is back to normal...life without the granddaughters.  Both dogs and grandparents have to accept we are "alone" again.  The girls light up our life so much when they are around.  The dogs get so much attention from both girls.  Actually, after the girls go back home, the dogs finally get some uninterrupted sleep!  Sometimes they go and hide to avoid all the attention they get when the girls are here.  A big reason our granddaughters like to visit is to be with the dogs.  They spent a lot of time walking them, teaching them tricks, loving on them.  The dogs get very spoiled by all the attention.  


We went to Frankenmuth last Monday and Tuesday, staying in the Bavarian  Lodge, swimming, shopping, playing games at the arcade, and playing games in our room.  The food was wonderful, and both girls would like to go back there again some day.  


Wednesday and Thursday were sunny days in the low 60's.  We spent those two days working outside in the yard, prepping it for spring.  Both girls had tasks suited to their abilities.  The older one even learned how to aerate the yard, using grandpa's riding lawn mower.  They took their hard earned money to a big discount store where they could buy what they wanted.  These girls are very good shoppers!!  They are selective and stay within their spending allotment.  


Friday was a free day...do what you want to do kind of day.  We made chocolate chip cookies for the second time.  We took the first batch around the campground to widow ladies.  The second batch was for them to take home to their families.  The older granddaughter spent a lot time last week working on a scrapbook. She's very creative, very artistic.  The younger one liked to play games like Sorry, Uno, Dominoes, and we all played Sequence together.  We also watched the complete set of videos about Anne of Green Gables.  What a character building set of videos!  It's a very good series about how to overcome the obstacles in life, and how to handle difficult people.  I enjoyed them as much as the girls.


We had daily devotions after our evening meals.  The last night we went to the Prayer Cottage here on the campgrounds to share time together, wrapping up our devotional booklet and talking about how God was real to us...how He had helped us through difficult times and how He had protected us.  


We met their Dad in Illinois on Saturday, having lunch at Cracker Barrel.  The week had gone by quickly, as I knew it would, but we are hoping to have them back again this summer...only three months away.  I have to prepare another Grandma Camp for the younger one, while the older one attends youth camp.  It will be a fun time for all of us!


Let's look briefly at my devotional reading from this week.


The Word for You Today:

1. You should look to God, not people, for answers to your prayers.  Keep believing what God says, and do not allow others to influence you differently.
2. Everything big comes from something small.  God needs one person who trusts Him to step out in obedience to His Word.  We have the following examples:  Esther, Paul, Mother Teresa, Billy Graham.  They all did great things for God, but they had to be obedient to achieve that success.  Obedience also brings rest and peace.
3. Because God owns everything I have, I will take the utmost care of it for Him!  
4. How you use your money determines the quality of your life.
5. Our highest motive should be to exalt God in everything we do...doing everything as unto the Lord, as an offering to God.
6. It is satan's plan to destroy you by using other people.  Recognize satan is attacking you, and forgive the people so you don't allow resentment to defeat you.  Use your God-give authority to rebuke satan in the name of Jesus.

Psalms:

• O God, listen to me!  Hear my prayers!  For wherever I am, though far away at the ends of the earth, I will cry to you for help.  When my heart is faint and overwhelmed, lead me to the mighty towering Rock of safety.  For you are my refuge, a high tower where my enemies can never reach me.  I shall live forever in your tabernacle; oh, to be safe beneath the shelter of your wings!  For you have head my vows, O God, to praise you every day, and you have given me the blessings you reserve for those who reverence your name.  You will give me added years of life, as rich and full as those of many generations, all packed into one.  And I shall live before the Lord forever.  Oh, send your loving kindness and truth to guard and watch over me, and I will praise your name continually, fulfilling my vow of praising you each day.  (61:1-8)
• Yes, he alone is my Rock, my rescuer, defense and fortress--why then should I be tense with fear when troubles come?  (v. 6)
• O God, my God!  How I search for you!  How I thirst for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.  How I long to find you!  How I wish I could go into your sanctuary to see your strength and glory, for your love and kindness are better to me than life itself.  How I praise you!  (v. 1-3)
• I lie awake at night thinking of you -- of how much you have helped me -- and how I rejoice through the night beneath the protecting shadow of your wings.  I follow close behind you, protected by your strong right arm.  (v. 6-9)

Proverbs:

• Honor goes to kind and gracious women, mere money to cruel men.  Your own soul is nourished when you are kind; it is destroyed when you are cruel.  (11:16-17)
• The evil man gets rich for the moment, but the good man's reward lasts forever.  The good man finds life; the evil man, death."  (11:18-19)