The following is from a friend that is attending a university in Israel, He has sent us a couple letters since the conflict began. He is not only going to school, but he has learned the Hebrew language, and has fallen in love with the people. I’ve only copied part of his letter, but I want you to notice the last paragraph. If I were over there. What would I say?

Dear Friends

I really cannot say exactly what will happen, but I do know that Israel is in a state of frenzied activity due to these very real threats. I have lost track of the number of my own friends who have been drafted into reserve duty due to this situation. I also know at least three soldiers from the regular army currently serving in Gaza which is a new and difficult scenario for me. A week ago I was visiting right along the border and – by a seeming “coincidence” – ran into one of the three, someone I have known very well for some time. I treasure the half hour I had simply to walk around with him as he prepared quietly and pensively for the ground war which ended up coming just one day later. Needless to say, I have said more than one prayer per day for him since then.

So where am I in all this? I believe I am right where God wants me. For the most part my daily schedule continues at this point in spite of the tension even here in the area of the university. This situation is painful to watch and my heart is so heavily involved in what happens here. Even so, I am at peace and I know that God holds in his hands the uncharted waters of the next few months.

A friend

Can we say that?  I also know someone that has been doing some mission work in guarded places and I heard them say. “Even though your heart beats hard and you have a certain amount of fear, underneath there is a peace.” I thank God for those that are willing to risk their life in dangerous places for the sake of standing for what is right. I’m pretty comfortable in my warm house. Would I be willing? Would I even go close to the border, if I were there?

I know, I know,…..    there is still 8″ of snow on the ground, but I like what the heading says.  It’s all I’ve got going for me.  In fact it’s all anyone has going for them…. REST IN THE LORD, How precious and how fulfilling.

What’s up in my life?  Well first of all, I traded some cards last year to a blog friend, for some fruitcake.  It turned out I liked it so good I ordered some again this year.  Pop never liked fruitcake so I didn’t figure I had anything to  worry about…. I should have worried because Pop so happens to like this fruitcake and it is a race to see who gets the last piece.   (Pop can eat his fruitcake out of the freezer, that he bought a couple years ago)  But, being the loving wife that I am  I’ll keep quiet and not remind him of the fruitcake in the freezer, till next year.

So much for fruitcake. Guess what I finally suppose to get my taking machine, so as long as I can type I can talk. While the rest you get a tired jaw from talking too much, all I to do is push a booton.  (whatever a booton is) it must be kind like a button .   I shouldn’t be writing this when I’m tired and silly, but I’ve lived without a computer for the last 4 days, and it is too good to have it back. I mean that, I shouldn’t be so tied to it, but I  found myself looking longing at the quiet, dark corner in which it sets.  It’s dark because I didn’t even turn the lights on in the corner. Anyway after 4 days it seems good to have it back (like an old friend) And did you ever listen to the house when the electricity is off.  It’s quiet and still. Well that’s the way the corner was.  

Blessings…….. What are blessings? I think they are anything that God allows in your life that makes you feel warm inside,   (and sometimes they make, a women, cry)  This last Christmas I was sooooo blessed in everyway, but there are 2 blessings that stand out. One came 2 days before Christmas and the other New Years Day.   The one was noticed right from the beginning and the last one it took awhile to realinze it, but I felt warm circles around my heart with joy, so I got to thinking, it was a blessing and O, so great a blessing.  the first one I could write an entire post about it and I will sometime, but for now I’ll just say a friend appeared at our door with 3 – 2′ logs of custom made summer sausage. We couldn’t begin to say thank you enough but before he left our 30′ freezer had 1 1/2 shelves of FREE freshly butchered angus beef in it. How does one say THANK – YOU? I felt so unworthy, but is just like our God, He doesn’t do anything half way.  It bring tears to my eyes everytime I open a package of steak or a roast. In fact I feel like hugging the frozen hamburger, too.

Blessing #2. My son came for a visit on New Years Day and all planned on going to my daughters  (she lives 12 or 15 miles from us).  As a mother I feel sorry for her, she has so much to do and is so cherry and sunny about it, and I know Pop and I are an added responsibility to her, but she never complains.  Anyhow I was feeling pretty good when I got up so I called her and told her I would bring deviled eggs and tuna puffs to add to a finger food type supper. I made 70 tiny cream puffs and boiled 15 or 16 eggs. MY son and his family arrived and he immediately started to peel the hard boiled eggs. About that time I gave out, my energy was gone.  At first I panicked, I had told my daughter that I would help with supper.  Then I happened to think that Ted did this all the time for years before he was married.  (We owned a catering business and we would do 15 dozen eggs instead of 15 eggs, and we would do 2 or 300 cream puffs, instead of 70) So I lowered my pride and asked him if he would the rest for me?  “SURE” and while I laid down and relaxed, he made the filling for the tuna puffs and finished the eggs, and got them ready to go. That was a BLESSING,  I didn’t have to give any instructions, because he knew how to do it the right way. 

Tired Mothers, I say don’t give up, you might think what you are trying to teach your little ones is for nought, but they will come back and bless you some day.

To count the blessings of God would be to number the stars.  Salvation is a blessing, that fills the whole universe, and it don’t cost us a penny.

One last thought, Don’t you think, I might be able to post more often if I didn’t write so long everytime I posted.

I’ve got to post one more time while it is still 2008. I hope it don’t take me 3 hours to write this or I’ll be the first one posting in 2009. As I go from site to site there are lots of people looking back on the year. The news said it was a bad year. Was your year bad? Of course every year I hope is better than the last. That is I hope I do better than last year.

I could say 2008 was full of trials for me. In a sense it was, but as I type this there are rockets and bombs falling across the sea. While I check back over Stan’s diary of the summer and count the surgeries, I can’t help but think of the mothers that are losing their homes, while I count. Think of it, and Thank God every time you put a spoonful of food in the open mouth of your child or grandchild. ( I love to watch a baby eat, they open their mouths wide like a baby bird )

Let’s see the last 12 months…….Wow I just looked over my blog, so many of them are unfinished, so many interruptions . Life does gives us a lot of surprises, and lots of interruptions, some good and some we would rather not think about. J but I’m glad the ones I don’t like to think about are in the past. One thing that happened this past year that I love to think about is our family reunion. O, the fun memories. I don’t want to ever forget.

One word of warning for you dear people, Thank God for what you have and use it. I talk from my own experience. Listen up to my wisdom J What I mean is I love to scrapbook and I like to plan ahead sooooo-o planning ahead I purchased 6 – 12×12 scrapbooks to use for special occasions. I collected stickers and papers and all kinds of good things, I even saved special pictures for these scrapbooks that I would certainly do when I had time, I finally got around to working on one, oh the fun I had making each page just so. When I got it done and went to show it to Pop………………I can’t hardly lift it. So I will enjoy it by myself, alone, in my craft room L J I do some of the dumbest things O, the times I have to laugh at myself. If you should come to visit me and you hear me laughing way off in the house with no one near, don’t think I’ve lost my mind, I’ve probably just discovered something that I can’t believe I have done. I keep wondering off of things I want say. So I guess I’ll close, I can’t close without wishing you a

   Blessed New Year !