Wow, it's almost 2009!

Can you believe it? With all the Thanksgiving and Christmas hustle the fact that we were almost turning a new year kinda slipped past me. I was just remembering birthdays that fall right around the new year like my sweet little niece Kaitlyn who turns 1 on December 31st, my wonderful mother-in-law Nancy (yes I love my mother-in-law) who is a New Years baby, and my sister (sister-in-law) who celebrates her earthly birth on the 4th, and now I realize I better get busy sending something for those happy occasions. But really when I remembered their birthdays I realized that 2008 is just about gone. I can't even believe that we are about to replace our 2008 calendar with a 2009 version in just a few days.

When I was a kid, I remember that the days moved so slowly. I remember telling my mom how bored I was and her reply that if I didn't find something to do she was going to find something for me, how quickly my boredom was quenched. Anyhow, now it seems like If we get too busy that the years just slip by.

Our dear Nanny passed away in September and afterwards we received 3 photo albums in the mail. They were pictures that Nanny took while she was here with us 8 years ago. We took her around to see the surrounding areas: Venice, Italy; Vienna, Austria; Budapest, Hungary and the beautiful Adriatic coastline. She had already beat cancer twice and wanted to ride in the Gondolas in Venice, so we took her. She took lots of photos and after she died those photos made it all the way back to Croatia.

I absolutely loved looking through those old pictures. My kids were so small, Cody who is 16 was only 8 and Josh and Hannah were 5 and 3. I almost cried as I looked at those pictures, I suddenly wished I could hold those little children again, but it's too late. They are all growing so fast and the boys can almost hold me now. I wished I could go back, spend more time watching them play and listening to their voices. But alas, it's too late, time has sped by and we are fast approaching a new era in our lives. Before too long our kids will begin starting their own lives, marrying and having children of their own. Where has the time gone?

Anyhow, I don't mean to be Debbie Downer but I think we need to slow down, look around and really enjoy each day. 2009 is fast approaching, this is the year that your little toddler grows up enough to throw that paci out, or your son decides that he's too old to get toy trucks for birthdays anymore, maybe even the year that your daughter gets a little too heavy to pick up any more. Sometimes we take the most important things in our lives for granted.

In 2009, I'm going to slow down. Look at my children more. Talk to them about the important stuff. Listen a little more intently when they say Mama. I'm going to hold on to the years we have left, do my best to direct them to a life of service and obedience to Christ. Teach my boys how to sew on buttons and iron a single crease in their pants. I'm going to do my best to help Hannah become the godly young lady God would have her be, chaste, quiet and soul-conscience.
And hug my kids way more than I do now.

Oh yea and not forgetting, I'm going to do my best to make my husband feel like he is the most important man in the world, that he is so secure in my faithfulness and love to him that he need never to question.

Also I want to try to be a better friend, to those whom I already love and to those who need a friend.

And try to come back to my first love. To feel about Jesus the way I did on the day He saved me. To try my best to serve him with every ability He's given me and thank Him often!

Hoping you all have a wonderful end to 2008 and a life changing beginning to 2009!

To all my Friends!

Season's Greetings!


To All My Democrat Family and Friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2009, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country, nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wish.


To My Republican Family and Friends:
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Just a little Bloggy-break!

Hey Y'all, I think I it's time to take just a little break from blogging for the next two weeks or so. I know how busy everyone is and I'm in the same hectic, garland covered boat.

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas as you remember the real reason for the season, Jesus!

Free Shipping at Old Navy

Look who's got free shipping for the next two days and also 10% off if you buy $75 or more!!

Old Navy has the best strait jean skirts for little girls. I was looking on e-bay and used jean skirts were selling for $18!! Are you kidding, no way I would pay that for a used skirt when I could buy a new one for the same price. Two months ago I got the skirts for $15 now they're $19, but still.

Anyhow, I just thought I would share!

First Times

Last week while Johnny was out door-knocking he came upon a young man, married and expecting their first baby. The young man was surprised when Johnny asked him "the" question and answered with, "No, I don't know if I would go to heaven when I die.". Johnny jumped in with both feet and showed him from the Bible how he could know he was going to heaven if he would simply turn to Christ and accept His gift of eternal life. The man agreed with every point. He agreed that he was a sinner and that sin has a penalty and that Jesus paid that penalty for all mankind but when Johnny got the last step, he lost the young man completely. He knew he had a decision to make, but this is what he told Johnny, "I am a 10th generation Catholic. Everyone in my family is catholic and have been for 10 generations. My wife and I have a baby coming and my family expects me to christen her. I'm a 10th generation Catholic, I just can't change now."
Johnny was heart broken and explained to this man that he would one day stand face to face with Jesus and would have to give account for himself minus his family. He would be responsible for himself and he would stand alone.
Anyhow, Johnny left this man at the door, both of them very sad, but what can you do? He made a choice and it wasn't in favor of Jesus. Johnny talked about him for days and he was really bothered by this 10th generation Catholic. Can you imagine if your family had been Catholic since the 1500s and suddenly you were the one to break that tradition. Wow.
We're still praying for this young man, God's Word is powerful and sharper than a two edged sword, we're praying it will work in his heart and God will gain the victory over 10 generations of the Devils stronghold.

Okay so onto yesterday's report.
About 7 years ago Johnny stopped a young man walking down the street and with a translator he led the man to the Lord. For the last 7 years Johnny has been training him to be a soul-winner. Well tonight Alan was the speaker for the first time and he took a silent partner. This was Alan's very first time at someone's door without Bro. Johnny or the national pastor. Our son went with Alan and I'm so happy to report that Bro. Alan was walking in the Spirit, it was clear and we could see it all over him. He shinned his shoes before soul-winning and aparently prayed most of the day because it sure showed.

We were so excited when they came down the stairs from the 6th floor of the old communist apartment building we were knocking with smiles that could come from nothing other than seeing a man trust Christ. Alan had knocked the door of an 18 year old man and walked him through God's simple plan of salvation and led him to Christ. Amen!!! We were almost hollering with joy in that stairwell, but we didn't care. Here we had a convert, a man who has been faithful and followed and listened and now he had a convert.
This is how missions works. On a perfect day this is how it would work.

Oh wait I forgot, Johnny and I also took a new lady with us to the doors. She isn't a new Christian but this was her first time door-to-door and we had a horrible time. People we so rude and hateful. We learned that the Jehovah's Witnesses were just there before us, it wasn't going well for Zeljka's first time. Then it happened, right after we prayed, Nikolina opened the door and invited us in. I'm so happy to say that she trusted Christ and received eternal life last night.
God is so good and it was amazing to see her saved. She was very open and it was obvious that she had been searching for truth, even the TRUTH and the LIFE.

Anyhow, I just wanted to share these stories with you. Praise the Lord, He's still in the saving business!

**Hey Bro. Sam, your name was mentioned more than once last night in our door-knocking efforts, you've left a lasting impression!
GOD SAVE CROATIA!

Adding a watermark in PSP, A Tutorial!

Okay so I've managed a tutorial in Paint Shop Pro for all you who have asked about making a watermark for your photos. Here goes! (Click to up-size any images for better viewing)

1. Open a new workspace about 300x300 with the TRANSPARENT box clicked.
2. Click your TEXT tool which is usually on the left side of the workspace and presented by an A.

3. Click on your TEXT tool and then in the text entry box, enter your watermark text, Leave the box open;
4. Okay, now we need to set some details about our text,
a. while the text box is still open you need to set the color to black, make sure the text is highlighted
b. In the settings bar or presets for the text tool, which is usually at the top of the workspace and looks like this: make sure the settings outlined in red are set to the same as above.
5. Now on your layer pallet to the right of the workspace you will see your LAYER pallet that looks like this:
See that you have two layers, we are going to erase the layer that is highlighted and says FLOATING SELECTION, by right-clicking the floating layer and deleting.
6. After you delete the FLOATING SELECTION, your text will look like this:
7. Now while your text still has the marching ants (lines which move to outline your text) find the EFFECTS menu at the top of the screen, CLICK it and go down to 3D EFFECTS, the menu should go out to the right, select DROP SHADOW.

8. Okay now for the settings:
vertical: -1
Horizontal: -1
Opacity: 90
Blur: 90
Color: black

***You can expirent with these settling to see how results you can acheive but for this watermark set them as above.

9. CLICK OK and now you have something that looks sorta like this, but with your text. ;0)
10. Now we are going to make a TUBE out of out watermark so we can just stamp it where it needs to go and never have to redo all these steps.

11. Your TUBE tool is on the left side of the work area (by factory settings) and looks like this:

A tube is basically a preset picture that you can use like a stamp almost, one of my favorite tools!

12. Go back to your water mark and we're going to crop it. Select your CROP and crop to smallest possible size.
13. Now go to FILE at the top of the workspace and go down to EXPORT then down to PICTURE TUBE.
14.We are going to set some details here. We are onlly going to change the CELL ARRANGMENT now. Change each box to 1.

15. Now set the TUBE NAME to WATERMARK. Hit OK and you have now made your first Tube.

16. Okay now that that is finished you can open any photo and try your new tube. Simple click on the TUBE tool on the left side of the workspace.
17. In the TUBE presets at the top of the screen you need to select the tube type but clicking on the tube selector, and then the size can be changed as well.


18. Now simple click where you want your tube to go on your photo. Remember you can resize it quite a bit to your liken.

19. Ohh and Ahh over my super sweet neices, Madison and Kaitlyn Wise!

20. Bravo, you're finished!!

If you have any problems with this tutorial, feel free to e-mail me.

Happy Birthday Honey!

Today I want to wish my honey a very happy 37th birthday!!

This morning I prayed that he would have many more, even out live me. I can't imagine life without him and don't even want to.

I've never met anyone who loves Jesus more than him. It thrills my heart when he proclaims his love for Jesus in his sermons. When he lives what he preaches and never misses his time alone with his Lord. He challenges me on a daily basis to be closer to Jesus, to make him first in my life just as Johnny has done in his. He loves me more than anyone in my life and it's all because he loves Jesus most.

Out of all my blessings in this life he's my most valued. Happy birthday Baby, I love you!

Does He answer prayers?

He sure does!
Here in Croatia we work in two churches. The first church that Johnny started and then the new church plant just started 4 months ago. Anyhow, we have church at the first church on Sunday nights and Wednesdays and then church at the new one on Thursdays and Sunday mornings, so we stay busy between the two. Well the thing is is that we only have one set of chairs for the churches so we share. We take the chairs from the first church on Wednesday after the service and load them in the church van. Then on Thursday we leave to go to soul-winning before church at the second church and we unload the chairs and they stay at the second church until after the Sunday morning service, then we load them up to take back to the first church.
Okay are you confused? Good!

So yesterday we go ready for soul-winning and church and Johnny went out to start our diesel church can and it wouldn't turn over. The battery was totally dead and after trying it about 8 times or so it wouldn't even make noise. Anyhow, we are now 10 minutes late leaving.
So Johnny gets out family van and decides to jump it off, so he pulls the vans together and goes for the jumper cables in the church van. After searching like crazy we realize they are gone! Then we remember about a week ago when out KD dog was raising cain and we thought we saw someone at the van, well we did and they helped themselves to our jumper cables.

So now the family van is running and needs to be killed when our oldest son walks around it and decides to shut the door. What he didn't know is that the only set of keys we have were in the van and it was now locked. Okay get the picture: the church van wont start, and the family van is running with the keys locked inside and we are now searching the house like crazy for Johnnys keys that have been missiing for the last week.

Now we are 30 minutes late and we have had to call the church people to let them know the situatuin and that we would be there as soon as possible. We are in the house destroying it trying to find those lost keys when our oldest asks, "did you look in the church van?". Now we have looked everywhere, in every room in every possible place in the house and garage but we didn't look in the church van, sure enough that's where they were.

Praise the Lord we got the keys and killed the family van. We are now 45 minutes late and our soul-winning time is flying out the window.

The situation now stands like this: The church van where the 30 chairs are is dead, we have no jumper cables and we are 50 minutes late. We can take the family van but we can't take the chairs so we are faced with having church with nothing to sit on.

So we all jump in the family van, without the chairs and try to head to church when Johnny says, "Let's try it one more time.". So he gets out and we all start praying and I hear him tell God, "Now God, I know you want us to have church so we really need you to start this van.", and he puts the key in and tries to turn it over and do you know what happened??? It started! Without one problem or hesitation it started. We all screamed, I couldn't believe it, He did it, He answered our prayers.

We actually missed soul-winning but we made it for church with something nice to sit on, God sure is good.

Why then do we doubt that He will answer our prayers? Why are we so surprised when He does?

He hears them all and answers them one of 4 ways:

He may say Yes
He may answer our prayers with No
He may say Wait
He may answer in a way you didn't expect.

Here are some wonderful verses about prayer: It works!

(Psalms 4:3 KJV) But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.

(Psalms 37:7 KJV) Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

(Psalms 65:2 KJV) O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.

(Psalms 66:18 KJV) If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
(Psalms 66:19 KJV) But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.

(Proverbs 28:9 KJV) He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.

(Isaiah 65:24 KJV) And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

(Matthew 6:7 KJV) But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

(Matthew 6:8 KJV) Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

(Matthew 6:9 KJV) After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

(Matthew 6:10 KJV) Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

(Matthew 6:11 KJV) Give us this day our daily bread.

(Matthew 7:7 KJV) Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

(Matthew 7:8 KJV) For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

(Matthew 7:11 KJV) If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

(Mark 11:24 KJV) Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

(John 14:13 KJV) And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

(John 14:14 KJV) If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

(Romans 8:26 KJV) Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we
should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

(Romans 8:27 KJV) And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

(2 Corinthians 12:8 KJV) For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

(2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV) And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

(Ephesians 3:20 KJV) Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

(Ephesians 6:18 KJV) Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

(Philippians 4:6 KJV) Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

(Philippians 4:19 KJV) But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

(1 Thessalonians 5:17 KJV) Pray without ceasing.

(Hebrews 4:16 KJV) Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

(James 1:5 KJV) If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

(James 1:6 KJV) But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

(James 1:7 KJV) For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

(James 1:8 KJV) A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

(1 John 5:14 KJV) And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

(1 John 5:15 KJV) And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

Don't forget that He loves you and is concerned with every area of your life. It's His delight to do good for His children.

All Scripture is from the Holy KJV Bible, thanks to BibleVerseSite.com for the easy access to the Scriptures.

I did it! I did it!!!

I switched to Google Reader today and I'm so glad I did. I was surprised to see how many posts you guys have made that Bloglines wasn't reading. Wow, should have switched long ago. So for those of you who wondered why I didn't drop by your blog anymore, you know why now, Bloglines is guilty!

I've been putting off switching for a while because I didn't want to take the time to put all of my 225 feeds into a new reader. But there is a very easy way to do it from Bloglines and I'll fill you in now.

To switch from Bloglines to Google Reader:

1. Go to your feeds page on Bloglines.

a. in the left frame you will see ADD, EDIT, OPTIONS just below the tabs.

b. click EDIT

c. scroll to the bottom of that frame and you will see IMPORT SUBSCRIPTIONS and
EXPORT SUBSCRIPTIONS

d. click on EXPORT SUBSCRIPTIONS

e. when bow pops up click on SAVE TO DISK (this will save it to your computer)

f. now go to Google Reader and in the right hand corner you will see SETTINGS, click that

g. you will now see a page with tabs, click on the IMPORT/EXPORT tab

h. now you will see an empty field with SELECT OPML file

i. click BROWSE and find the OPML file on your computer

j. once you've found it, UPLOAD and then it's finished.

k. pat yourself on the back for a job well done!

Okay now that's you've switched it's probably a good idea to go through and clean up your feeds a bit. I went through just one section of my feeds and I was surprised to see how many people hadn't posted in months, so I cleaned up a bit. It's very easy to delete feeds in Google Reader.

BTW, if you are still following your blogs by visiting each one, it's probably time to upgrade to a feed reader, it's super easy and it saves alot of time!

Anyhow, have fun and I hope the instructions are clear.

December already?

Wow, what happened to November? I mean really, I planned on blogging after Thanksgiving but here I am on the 3rd of December sitting down to blog for the first time since Turkey Day.

We had a great Thanksgiving. We were alone this year but now without yummy eats. I made way too much food, as usual. We watched the Cowboys and a few other games. We just enjoyed some "us" time, it was nice.
Thanks for all he Thanksgiving wishes!

Well now that Christmas is right around the corner I'm almost in shock. I can't believe that there are only 3+ weeks left to the big day. I have so many things I want to do and make, baking and visiting and I don't think it's all gonna get done.

When I was a kid it seemed like the time passed so slowly until Christmas and now it's here and I'm not even ready for it and really I didn't even see it coming, I feel like I've be hit by some actor in a V8 commercial but this time it's a conk on the head and a "Should have started sooner!"

All that stuff is gonna have to wait, we have a Christmas play coming up and I'm busy or should be, making props. Our kiddos are so excited, they are preforming the 3 Trees skit and it's gonna be so cute. I can't wait, actually I can since I don't have any of the trees finished yet.

Hey I took this picture the other day of the sunset. It actually gets dark here by 4:30, it's a huge bummer and contributes to some depression, I think. I watched the sun set and it was lovely, very unusual.
Okay so this photo doesn't do it justice but it was so cool.

The other day I got an e-mail from a friend and this is what it was; a Mountain Dew Christmas tree. Are you kidding, who in the world would have drunk that many Mountain Dews, Dr. Peppers I can see but Mountain Dew? (That was for you Bro. Scott)


It's actually pretty cool, I like it!! It's funky and I like that.
We put up our tree on Black Friday, as I mourned not being out in the rush. I mourned it until I heard about that poor guy in RI. Maybe it was good I was here and not able to fare the fun. Usually my sister in law and I get about by 4:00 and make the rounds, well not usually but when we're home for the holidays. It's fun but it looks like the fun is getting out of control.

I went to get my hair cut after a long absence from the frizerka (hair stylist). I have been letting my hair grow out even thought I know it looks better shorter, anyhow I finally did it today, she cut off about 5 inches and I LOVE it.

Anyhow, this is me and my new haircut, What'cha think?
Anyhoo, hope you all have a wonderful week and get lots of Christmas stuff done!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey Y'all, just wanted to wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving with your families. Don't forget to give thanks to Him from whom all good things come.
God bless you all!

I'm just living life

Not much going on here worth blogging about, just living life.

We did have missions conference last week, it was good and the church promised 400 kuna or 85 dollars to missions. Our church supports national preachers who work with missionaries on the field. So far we have supported a man in Romania, Albania and Hungary. The man in Romania isn't in the ministry and sadly we have to drop the man in Albania so we have money to find another. Our church is looking to find a national in Ukraine, Russia, Moldova or some other Slavic country. I'll be getting in touch with some missionary friends and hopefully we'll be supporting a new national preacher soon.

We're getting ready for Thanksgiving here in Croatia. Okay so Croatia isn't getting ready but we are. This will be one of the first years that we are all alone for the holiday. We are staying home, not that we have anywhere to go anyhow, we are the only IFB missionaries in this part of Europe for several hundred miles.

Yesterday we went to Hungary to get out Thanksgiving goodies. So now we have our turkey, and the ingredients for the dressing and broccoli and cheese casserole, after a several hour hunt for celery. Usually here in this part of Europe they don't use the celery but only the root, which is hard and white and not at all good when filled with cream cheese. Anyhow, almost everything is purchased and the cooking can begin on Thursday. Actually we are celebrating Thanksgiving on Friday since we have church and soul-winning on Thursday. Also the Cowboys(America's Team) play on Thanksgiving and if we wait until Friday we can watch the Cowboy game the time when it is usually on in the states and it'll be just like having Thanksgiving at Nanny's house. Our sweet Nanny passed away a few months ago so Thanksgiving won't be the same in the states anyhow. Okay....I'm rambling now, so I better move on.

We are anxiously awaiting our first snow, it's teasing us. They say it's coming and it hasn't yet but it's 0 and even below so it's prime temperature for the white wonder.

Here are a few short videos I took of the kids the other morning;





After a brief lesson...

I have a few projects on my sewing table waiting for my attention. I'm making crayon rolls for our national pastor's kids and a few checker boards for some friends. I have some of the rolls cut out I just need to clean of my sewing table so I can get productive.

Anyhow, that's about it, I think. Let me see..... family, school, cooking, cleaning, soul-winning, church, blogging, crafting......yea that's about it!

Handmade Holidays

WARNING!!! TIME INTENSIVE POST
Okay I can't believe how cool this series is over at Sew Mama Sew Blog. You would not believe how many links there are to endless tutorials and ideas for a handmade holiday.

Featured are:

Gifts for Grandparents
Gifts for College Students
Gifts for Girlfriends
Gifts for Dads
Gifts for New Parents
Gifts for Multi-taskers
Gifts for Sports Fans
Gifts for Bookworms
Gifts for Elementary Kids
Gifts for Snow Fiends
Gifts for Teachers
Gifts for Pet Lovers
Gifts for Crafters
Gifts for Music Lovers
Gifts for Babies and Toddlers
Gifts for Travelers
Gifts for Tweens and Teens

Anyhoo, enjoy looking and I hope you have fun making some of these great tutorials too!

Have You Ever??

Okay so I seen this over at Tammy's Times and thought I would do it too, I usually don't do these sorta things but it looked fun. Your supposed to copy the list and the highlight the ones you have done. I think I managed 38 out of 99, I better get busy!

Feel free to jump on board, can't wait to read your's!

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland/world

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang/played a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort - with my kiddos

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping - with girls when I was a kid

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Gotten flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one

94. Made a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

So I'm Sitting....

...in the van on the way to soul-winning feeling pretty down. After talking with my best friend for a little while and her filling me in on all the happenings and conferences in the states I really began to feel sorry for myself. All I could think about it how life is always the same in Croatia and how we're missing out on all the fun and fellowship in the states. Missing out on seeing our sweet nieces Madison and Kaitlyn growing up. Just missing family.

We have been in Croatia going on 9 years all alone, waiting for someone to come. Loneliness is one of the hardest things to deal with, isolation, it's really indescribable until you have felt it, really felt it for years and years.

Anyhow, there I was sitting in the van, almost in tears, dreading going into town to pass out tracts when I hear Hannah (11 years old, our youngest) singing in the back seat. She sings, "My house is full but my field is empty, who will go and work for me today...it seems my children all want to stay around my table, no one wants to work in my field, no one wants to work in my field. " Suddenly it was like God was speaking to me, this was His field, this was the place to be working, not sitting around His table enjoying His goods in the states. It was profound! He really spoke to me and helped me through a difficult night.

Anyhow, I'm not in tears anymore, still a bit lonely but comforted. He is so good to speak directly to us when we need Him.

I'm thankful that He called us to Croatia, it's sometimes hard but He's worth it!!

Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
Matthew 9:38-38 KJV

Missionary Pecan Pie

I found this wonderful pecan pie recipe that takes no corn syrup. I called it "Missionary Pecan Pie" because it doesn't take corn syrup and corn syrup is most times almost impossible to find. Anyhow it had rave reviews and they said it was even better than pecan pie with corn syrup. Oh yea and if you don't like pecan pie...Bless your heart, I'll pray for you to get it right!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy, and stir in melted butter. Stir in the brown sugar, white sugar and the flour; mix well. Last add the milk, vanilla and nuts.
3. Pour into an unbaked 9-in pie shell. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until done.

***Thanks Arlene, I'm a little blond underneath all this brown hair. No offense to you blondies out there!

A Day at the Market

Last Saturday Johnny and another man from church sat up at the local flea market passing out tracts and witnessing. I decided to join them although later in the morning, no reason getting up too early. Another lady from the church showed up and she and I went to rummage through the stuff. It was a great day and lots of people we're there with their junk.

I think we did pretty well and found some really fun stuff.



I found these who fun brown thinggys. I think the first one is a mug and the second, I dunno, maybe a bud vase? I don't know by I paid a quarter for them, not a bad deal!
The we found this lady who had lots of old sewing stuff. She had this ribbon which is typically European and it was only a dollar for about 100 years and maybe more. My friend and I halved it and this was my half.

She also had this great red ribbon, traditional style and also a huge amount for $1.

Around the next car we found this cute little pitcher and handleless mugs. I love them but....after I got them home I noticed a very earthy smell in all of them. A clay or dirt sort of smell, not nasty dirty but very earthy so I don't know how well they'll work for drinking purposes, but maybe some cute flowers. Hmmm....
I found this nice little plate ready to hang and you know what's cool. It was made in our city the year I was born, cool huh?
This little orange gem is my favorite. I love the twisty handle and the weight of the thing. It's great, don't know what to do with it but for a quarter, I couldn't pass it up.
Oh yea and some more stitching stiff, this is a roll of black bias tape, it's about 3" wide. Can you image how much there is on that roll? I don't know what I'm gonna do with it all but something. Oh yea and it was $1.

Lastly I say this carved wooden tray leaning against a cardboard box and asked how much. The older gentleman told me that if it was worth so much because it was hand carved. I said really, he said yea and then he said it was carved by a man in Ljepoglava, and town in Croatia. I said really, then my friend elbowed me and asked me if I knew about Ljepoglava. I looked at her and asked, what about it. " It's a prison town", so apparently is was carved by a prisoner in that town. So again I asked him how much, the carving was so nice, rustic but pretty intricate, he wanted 30 kuna for it, which is about 6 dollars. I thought about it and finally decided to get it. I don't usually pay $6 for anything that I'm not immediately going to use but I really liked this.

It's nice that it's been made into a tray, covered in glass it could be used for anything. I love it!


Here are a couple close-ups of the tray, did I say I loved it?

When we came to Croatia we sold or gave-away everything that we had in the states. I brought nothing in way of things other than clothing and so on that we had before. So everything we have in our home is very new, 8 years old or younger so I have been looking for older things to give the home a warmer, aged feeling. Now if I can just figure out how to put all these things together.

Urgent Prayer!

Please pray fervently for Mrs. and Mr. Cuddles over at Cuddles on the Couch. They are going through the biggest trial and need prayer. Just breathe a prayer for them when you think of them, they'll appreciate it and God will hear it.

Look What I Found!

Can you believe it??? Do you realize the significance of this find? Can you even see it? Well I'm at the grocery store here in Croatia and I'm walking down the isle and look what I see. Okay that's Euro creme which is a hazelnut creme spread like Nutella and beside it is our normal peanut butter creme that they just started carrying a few years ago and above that?? See it with the blue lid...it's SKIPPY!!! Yep, Skippy peanut butter! Hey do you see the price below it. It's says 37 kuna which equal to almost $8. I'm not kidding. Anyhow, this is my great find for the week, pretty cool huh and I bet it even tastes like Skippy too. °Ü°

Well What Can I Say?

The more I think about this whole political mess America has got herself into I can't help but think that maybe just maybe this is the turning point for America. Maybe this is the year that God takes His hand off of America. I can't even fathom it and pray it doesn't happen but I can't see how God could continue to bless a country that has no desire to serve him.

I guess until this election I hadn't realized that the majority of Americans are nonchalant concerning God's Word and right. I know now that America is no longer a nation under God but a nation ruled but the great green back and what feels good.

I read an article on another blog from a man supposedly a Christian man and his decision to vote for Obama. He had always voted Republican because they represented his Bible view of right but this year was going to be different. In the past he had voted his conscience concerning abortion, gay marriage and so on but now he was more worried about financial ruin and a good economy. I was shocked to think that the death of millions of babies could be looked over and justified for a measly fist full of money. How far have we come when we can overlook taking a full term baby alive from the mothers womb and leave it on a table to cry itself to death?

Anyhow, I still think America is the greatest county on Earth, I really do, but not for long. We are no different than Israel and other peoples in the Bible that turned on God and eventually reaped the consequences of that decision.

Well I started this blog this morning thinking that this whole Obama thing is a unthinkable thing and I still think it is. It's a turning point that we will reap from for generations.

Anyhow, doesn't this mean that the "One Nation Under God" will soon change. Doesn't this mean that the Muslim terrorists will soon spot a vital hole in the nation's security. That our great society of free enterprise will soon fall into the hands of a socialist government, stealing from the rich in the name or mercy and giving to those who refuse to take advantage of the freedoms we have in this great country to work and make a life for themselves and their own. I really wonder if this isn't the beginning of the end. Maybe this is a good thing, maybe it has to happen for the puzzle pieces to fall into place; to unite a divided world, to usher in a one-world currency, maybe this is just another play on the proverbial game of chess between the Good and evil. Hey I'm not a dooms-day prophet I'm just a sinner watching for His glorious return.

So upon this historical presidential election I quote, He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I COME QUICKLY. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

no ballot yet....BUT

I did find this and I printed off my FWAB and I'm ready to send it in, we'll see if it makes it or not.

I sure hope all you folks in the US have voted and please remember your vote counts!!

MAD

Wow what a title for a blog, well I am, mad that is. Know why?

Well in the past election we voted at our American Embassy in Zagreb and that was great but this year they changed everything.

This year we had to send off to the states, actually to our county for the ballot and we were suppose to receive the ballot; we would fill it out for McCain of course and return it to be counted but here we are sitting less than a week away and still no ballot. Even if it came today there would be no way to get it returned in time. I'm so hot about this I can't even stand it. There is one silver lining, Texas is already pretty much guaranteed for McCain so my vote wont make a difference in that but still.

Johnny is totally convinced that the "ballot senders" are democrats and that's why the long wait. Could be, dunno, but I'm still mad!