That's all I keep hearing from God.  However, I'm wondering if I'm hearing anything at all.  The heavens are silent.  At least that's how it seems.  I pray and pray and pray and hear either nothing or no, no, no.  My question is why, why, why?!  When is it our turn?  I'm not stuck in a rut.  I'm stuck in a hole - a deep hole - and don't have a ladder.  This is serious.

So, here are my questions:

* What do you do when you feel the heavens are silent?

* What do you do when you feel like your faith is getting smaller instead of bigger?

I HAVE A CODE

So last Wednesday I had a scratchy throat.  Thursday, still had a scratchy throat.  By Friday a headcold had settled in.  It was tough getting through the day.  The school nurse also had a cold.  I didn't feel like I could go home if she was sticking it out.  But I couldn't wait for the end of the day!  I went home and went to bed for awhile.  Finally got up around 6ish and fixed Mike something to eat.  He just wanted a hamburger, so that wasn't too bad. 

Saturday was a most miserable day healthwise.  But I'd already made arrangements to meet someone from my church in Waterloo at Hancock Fabrics.  She's going to help me re-upholster my dining room chairs and cedar chest.  I found material for $32 which will do 6 chairs and 1 chest (the chest will be different material, of course).  I'm excited to get started.  I think we'll work on it next Saturday.  I should be feeling much better by then.  I stopped at KMart because I needed to put something on layaway.  Then I drug (dragged?) myself to WalMart to do some grocery shopping.  I left the house at 8:30 and got home at 1:00.  After unloading the car and putting things away I took a nap.  Another lazy afternoon and evening.

This morning I debated whether to go to church.  I could have gotten someone else to play the piano, but I was also in the choir and there weren't many choir members available this week, so I felt I needed to go.  I made it through.  We did the service a little different today.  We held it in the fellowship hall and  sat around tables.  Communion bread and juice were in the center of each table.  It was a meaningful time.  We also spent time praying for our families, our children.  It was a good time.

Mike needs prayer for his back.  He needs an answer for healing.  His MRI showed he doesn't need surgery, and he was feeling better, but since Thursday he's been in constant pain.  He can only take his pain medicine once every 8 hours.  It wears off way too soon.  So he will call the doctor tomorrow morning.  Hoping he can get an epidural and that that will help him.

Alisha is turning her back on her family by dating (perhaps is already married) to a guy we don't know, but have some strong reservations about.  We will continue to pray for her that God will lead her back.

Heidi & Jeff are struggling financially as so many are.  It's hard to see your children go through tough times and not really be able to help.  Our prayer is that each of them will be able to find better jobs, which won't be easy.  We also pray for them as they raise little Zachary in the ways of the Lord.

Andy is seeking a full time Worship Leader position.  He graduates at the end of April.  We know he and Mackenzie want to get married sometime in the future, but his first need to find a job to support himself and her.

Ben is enjoying his time at Bible college.  He has made some wonderful new friends.  We are thankful he will be coming home March 14-21.  Two of his friends bought him a plan ticket as a birthday surprise.  We pray for him to continue to trust God for now and the future.

Me?  I need prayer to believe.  I have been struggling lately because I am wondering where God is.  Oh, I know where He is.  He's with me.  But sometimes I feel He's so far away because I'm not seeing answers.  It's a tough place to be in.  My prayer...Lord, help my unbelief.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day.

FEBRUARY SISTER TRIP

Janet and I enjoyed our first 2011 sister trip.  In January, Janet made a one-sided sister trip to Steamboat Rock to spend the night with me when Mike was in San Diego helping care for his mom after her stroke.  Then I made a one-sided sister trip to CR in January to go with Janet to Fab Five.  That will probably be our last show choir trip.  Yes, sad but true.  Now that Ben and Andy are no longer in show choir it just isn't the same.

So, on to February's trip.  We went to the craft show at the fairgrounds in Des Moines.  I took Friday off work because first I needed to take Mike to Iowa Falls for an MRI on his back.  Then Janet came and picked me up at 11:30.  We were a little concerned on Thursday evening that we wouldn't be able to go because of the new snow.  But fortunately it didn't happen and we were glad to get away.  We stopped in Story City and went the the factory outlet stores there.  It isn't as big as Tanger, but we found some great buys at Van Heusen and VF.

From there we headed to Des Moines.  We stopped at Jordan Creek and walked the mall.  Then we went over to Wal-Mart, Trader Joe's and Kirklands.  We decided to eat at Fuddrucker's.  Then we decided it was time to check in to our motel.  After a quick settling in, we headed over to the fairgrounds.  We did our typical first walk through to get the "lay of the land" and then left to go back to the motel for the night.  But before that we stopped off at the Village Inn for pie.  Janet had the chocolate peanut butter cup and I had triple berry.  Janet had a $5 gift card which we applied to our purchase.  Then we just cracked up because Janet couldn't grasp how I was splitting the remainder of the bill, plus tip.  It was pretty funny.  But you had to be there.  :)

Janet had a good night's sleep.  Mine was just so-so.  :(  We went back over to the craft show and bought a few fun things.  We saw our "friend" - one of the vendors.  We don't know her name, but a couple of years ago when we were on a moose hunt we got to talking with her and now we always look forward to seeing her and she always remembers us.  She's the one who told us about the Cranberry Festival and Craft Show in Warrens, WI.

We were done around noonish and headed home, but first a stop in Ankeny at the Wal-Mart so I could pick up a few grocery items.  We also had lunch at IHOP.  Got home around 2:45.  So that's it.  Not hugely exciting, but we're in the process of planning the future 2011 sister trips.  :)

TENNIS ELBOW!

I'm self-diagnosing here.  My right arm, especially the elbow area, has been hurting for a few weeks now.  I get shooting pains up and down my arm and have pain pretty much constantly.  I bought some Icy Hot today and happened to notice an elbow wrap for people who have tennis elbow.  Upon look up information on the internet, it can also be caused by using the computer keyboard and mouse.  I have had an addiction to computer solitaire for sometime and I think I've overdone it.  So now I have to really limit my time and hope my arm heals in time.

Today was such a beautiful day.  Let the slop begin.  I can endure the mud and yuck because the temps are warmer and the snow will melt.  I know winter isn't over, but maybe - just maybe - Punxatony Phil was right.  A girl can hope....

This morning I drove to Cedar Falls to go to Wal-Mart and had a bad experience there.  Boo!  If it weren't so inexpensive to shop there I think I'd quit.  Oh well.  Then I stopped by Jimmy Johns and brought sandwiches home for Mike's and my lunch.  He had been at a meeting at the church from 9:00 to noon.  I got home at 12:30.  Then at 2:00 I went over to the church for the ladies' Valentine Tea.  That was a nice time.  Came home and at 4:00 Mike and I took Rowdy and went for a walk on the snow-covered trail.  Walked for about 45 minutes.  Poor Rowdy was a mess by the time we got back so we dumped him in the sink and gave him a much needed bath.

Decided to have breakfast for dinner.  Mike doesn't like breakfast for dinner, but I was in the mood for waffles.  Since I'm the chief cook, I decided.  :)  I also fixed eggs and little smokies.  We watched an episode of the Gaither's and now I'm watching The Wizard of Oz while texting with Ben.  Dorothy is in Munchkinland right now.  Got to be careful of my tennis elbow though.  Mike is resting his back.

Tomorrow is the last day of the weekend.  So sad that it goes by so quickly.  Hoping to go for another walk tomorrow afternoon, but Rowdy doesn't get to go.  I don't want to bathe him everytime.  Next week we have parent teacher conferences so I have to stay at school until 7:00 on Tuesday and Thursday, BUT I get Friday off!  Yeah!! 

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES

Taking a break from our California trip.
This week hasn't been too bad. 
Work on Monday.
Snow day on Tuesday.
Work on Wednesday, but no students.
And then today.
Discouraging news is so hard to bear sometimes.
It puts a damper on everything.
It's hard to know what God is doing.
It's hard to not be depressed.
Sometimes I just want to curl up and cry.
But that wouldn't change anything.
Can't go into details.
Please pray.

CALIFORNIA, HERE WE COME! - Part II

Day 2:  Tue, Dec 28, 2010

5:30 AM – Rise & shine!

6:20 AM – Hit the road after a quick drive through at McDonald’s.  This Days Inn didn’t have a continental breakfast and we didn’t want to do Denny’s again.  The burritos from McDonald’s weren’t too great either.  L

Ben insisted on starting our drive today.  It was dark and 31 degrees.

7:05 AM – We crossed into Texas.  Looks like it's just floating out there, doesn't it?

Some Texas scenery:

A gorgeous sunrise.

A huge cross.

Our own county.

Ben's still driving.

9:38 AM – We crossed into New Mexico.  We have decided NM has the best welcome sign by far.  It is a very pretty state.  We saw some seemingly endless trains traveling across the wide open spaces.  And the mountains began to make an appearance.

10:00 AM – Pit stop in Glen Rio, NM for gas (2.89/gal), potty and a snack.  Interesting restrooms.  Time to break out the sunglasses as we continued our travels.  Still chilly, but not cold. 

We found Jesus in New Mexico at the pit stop.

We wanted to get the odometer at 999.9, but obviously missed.

1:11 PM – Another pit stop for gas (2.89/gal) in Albuquerque, NM.  Only 306 miles to go until we get to Flagstaff, AZ.  Ben became obsessed with taking pictures of trains.

3:05 PM – We finally made it to the Arizona state line.  Ben wanted his picture taken by the sign because Arizona is his birth state.  We couldn’t pull off on the shoulder of the interstate, because there were “no parking” signs.  So, once again, we turned around, drove 8 miles down the interstate and back into NM, to come back to Arizona.  Only this time we exited to the welcome center, went potty (of course) and took Ben’s picture by the sign.  J

Definitely see a change in the terrain now.  Lots of mountains.  As we approached Flagstaff we could see snow-capped mountains.   As we got closer we realized the snow wasn’t just capping the mountains; it was down lower.  How funny!  We leave snowy Iowa, lose the snow in Kansas, and find snow again in Arizona!

5:04 PM – We arrived in Flagstaff, AZ.  Put more gas in the car and grabbed some fries from McDonald’s.  We have both decided we like McDonald’s fries the best, even tho they probably aren’t the best for us.  All the while I have been reading articles in a magazine about losing weight and trying to motivate myself.  So to justify the fries, I drank water with them.  J

We had really hoped we would get to Flagstaff earlier because we would have made a side trip to the Grand Canyon.  Ben doesn’t remember much of it because he was so young when we went before moving to Iowa.   It would have also been nice to go to Sedona and some of the other places we know and love in Arizona.  Perhaps another time.

A gorgeous sunset!

On the way from Flagstaff to Phoenix, I called our friends Grady & Marcia Willard to see if we could spend the night at their house.  It was so good to hear Grady’s voice and he told us to absolutely come.  Marcia wasn’t home from work yet and Grady was feeling a little ornery, so he didn’t tell her we were coming.  When we arrived at their door it was fun to see the look on her face.   I think the last time we saw them was in 2004 when our families vacationed together in Florida after their son, Wesley, and our Heidi graduated from high school.  Wow!  Too long! 

Anyway, we arrived at their door around 8:00 … after trying to find the Blimpies that our GPS was directing us to.  She kind of failed us on this one.  It took almost 30 minutes to find it. 

Ben and I brought our salads to the house and ate while we all caught up on our lives together.  It’s great to have friends you can re-connect with at anytime, no matter how little you see each other.  But it’s not great that we don’t get to see each other more often.  We talked about how we (Grady, Marcia, Mike & I) should do a trip together sometime.  That would be so fun!

Our dear friends, Grady & Marcia Willard.

Today we played the license plate game.  We saw plates from 28 states:  IN, CA, AZ, TX, MA, WI, NM, IA, MN, MO, MT, FL, KS, AL, MI WA, NY, VA, KY, IL, NE, NV, NC, CO, TN, ID, ME, & OR.  Plus 2 bonuses:  Quebec & Ontario.  Wonder if we’ll find the other 22 tomorrow?
 

CALIFORNIA, HERE WE COME! - Part I

It's been 2 weeks since Ben and I embarked on our adventure to California. 

Day 1:  Mon, Dec 27, 2010

We left Steamboat Rock at 7:00 AM with starting mileage at 114,820 on the odometer.  The weather was light snow and foggy and cold.  It was a relatively uneventful day.  I started out driving, then Ben drove some, and then I finished out the day. 

9:32 AM – We left Iowa and entered Missouri.
We gassed up the car in Kearney, MO.  Gas is only 2.79/gallon.  I do believe Missouri has the cheapest gas in the nation.  We also got some lunch at Burger King.

11:20 AM – We suddenly realized there wasn’t any snow on the ground.  How different things looked.  Stark and bare, with no white blanket.

11:34 AM – We arrived in the state of Kansas.

11:55 AM – We got on the Kansas Turnpike.  Yikes!  How much will this cost us?  10.75!!  Apparently when the GPS asked if we wanted to avoid toll roads, Ben answered no when he should have answered yes we want to avoid them.  His mind comprehended it as saying do you want to take toll roads?  To which he answered no, we don’t want to take toll roads.  Whatever!  It sounds like a me and Janet mistake.  J

3:00 PM – We made it to Oklahoma.

3:15 PM – We made it to Oklahoma … again.  We had been taking pictures of each state’s welcome sign, but missed Oklahoma’s.  So we turned around and came back.  What we got really wasn’t their welcome sign, but we didn’t see anything else.  That was strange.

3:24 PM – Stopped in Braman, OK for gas.  It was 2.89/gallon here.

7:45 PM – Stopped in Elk City, OK for the night.  The original plan was to stop in Oklahoma City, but Ben convinced me we should try to get to Amarillo, TX.  After awhile I convinced myself that that was a stupid idea.  We wouldn’t have gotten there until 9:00 or after and then still have to find a motel and eat.  So we checked in at a Days Inn and ate at the Denny’s that was attached to the motel.  Ben had the nachos which he said were gross (definitely didn’t look like the picture on the menu).  I played it safe and had breakfast which wasn’t too bad.  Note to self:  Do not stay at Days Inns.  This one was okay, but older and just not as nice as I would have liked, but the price was right.

Our first day of driving we logged 774.2 miles.