No Accident

Well, seeing I just posted a post on death below, I "just happened" to go to sermon audio afterward, and "just happened" to listen to the latest puritan podcast titled "No Accident" which is related to the topic I wrote on and is worth listening to!

On Death

Okay, here comes the warning. This is, perhaps, a strange post. But then again, maybe I am strange. Here is my question for you. Do you ever think about what you would do if your spouse were to die? (There, I managed to use the "die" word instead of "pass away." In our culture where we like to sugar-coat everything, it is even hard for me to use the word "die" because it is so ...hmmmm... I don't know what the word is. Permanent? Concrete? Final? Which defines death pretty much.) Anyway, let me hasten on to explain that I am not talking about WISHING that your spouse dies - that is totally different. I just wonder what I'd do if Mike were to die. Where would I go? What job would I take? I was thinking about that earlier today and then I quickly thought - "Don't be so morbid, Nic!!!" And yeah, if I did think about it ALL the time, that would be morbid. But I don't. Why is it suddenly so terrible to think about death - whether you think about dieing yourself, or someone close to you? Mike has told me in the past that if he were to die, I would find a nice Canadian boy who wears socks with his sandals in a jiffy (Mike has vivid memories of Canadian's coming down to visit for the long weekend, and this is what he always mentions - socks w/ sandals. I don't know why). And I have given him permission to marry again if I were to die... on two conditions which I won't mention here. In a life where there are no guarantees, is it strange to think about something that WILL eventually happen to you or your spouse (barring Christ's return)?
I haven't even started talking about wills and the like. But I'll leave that for another time. Well, to be honest, I know NOTHING about wills so I'll leave it to a wiser person.

Lord, Thank You for the Blessings!

When I look at my life, I see so many good things! When I read the newspaper (or news sites) I see God's sustaining hand - keeping me and my family free from harm. And I am blessed! When I see the magazines with their glossy covers of the perfect home and the perfect accessories and see my sometimes messy house - the windows covered in hand prints, the dirt on the kitchen floor - I am blessed! It isn't a perfect life by any means, but it is a life filled with GRACE. What could be better?

All of my parents grandkids

After running around all day, the kids are all a little on the grubby side...

Mike took a picture of us trying to get all the kids organized.

Easter Weekend

Easter Weekend

Well, I promised pictures so here they are!

Spring Ramblings and Techno-phobias

Who has time to blog when the weather is absolutely gorgeous? I am LOVING it! Jules is outside every day, sitting in a pile of mulch and dirt and poking it with a twig with great satisfaction. She's an absolute disaster but, hey, who cares! I am so glad I bought six tank tops with matching shorts from Walmart for Jules last summer ($1.00 each)! She is already using them and since they were only a dollar each, I don't care if they get filthy. Anyway, I had a fabulous weekend with the family. Dor and John were down for the weekend as well as Vince and Petra (who stayed at Lora's house). On Saturday we went to Van Saun Park (it was FREE day - we didn't know it was until we got there - our dutch instinct must have been pulling us toward it). Juliet and all the kids had a ton of fun on the train and on the merry-go-round. I can't wait till Mike downloads all the pictures (yeah, haven't quite figured that out yet. I know how to download onto my computer, but I don't know how to delete them off of the camera. It doesn't help that we have THREE cameras and they all work a little differently. Isn't that a good excuse? Anyway, I'm too nervous to delete them because I know I'll do something wrong and Mike will be saying the next time he picks up the camera, "What did you DO to the camera???" And then I will feel like I'm ten years old again and getting a lecture from my dad. So I'll just let him do it. Have I ever told you that I have this thing called techno-phobia? When someone first mentioned the word "blog" to me in a conversation, I remember feeling a slight sinking feeling in my stomach for I had no idea what a blog was and had absolutely no interest! When someone explained it to me, I had no idea what they were talking about and it was only recently that I checked out my sister's blog and knew what it was all about. But if I am blogging, there is hope for other technophobics. Hey, I even get the gist of what twittering is about. Which, in my opinion, is the silliest waste of time and a big ego booster for whoever is twittering. Honestly, do I really want to know what you ate for dinner and where you are every hour? Sure hope no one I know twitters or next blog you will see me backpeddaling like ninety.