Twenty Five Years!

A quick search of my blog using the label "adventure" brought up 52 posts!  I've used the phrase "the Adventure Continues" numerous times so I thought I'd post some pictures of our many adventures.  I should have known it would be this way, even when we were dating...

It started at Yosemite on November 3, 1990 where Les proposed and I gladly said, "YES!!"

There was a surprise at Truth Tabernacle Christian School a few weeks before we were married...

On May 25, 1991, we sealed the deal!

and headed off on the adventure of a lifetime!

We honeymooned in Hawaii of all places...

and we've been back many, many times!

We've had hiking adventures...

and biking adventures...

Kayaking adventures...

and camping adventures!

We've had silly times...

and smoochie times...

 
we even dress up every once in a while!

We've been to San Francisco...

and Santa Cruz...

and Saint Louis...

and Europe!

I said I'd following him anywhere, I just didn't know we'd go everywhere!

Our adventure continues as we are sailing our way to Mykonos, Greece today!

Greetings from Rome

We have enjoyed 3 amazing days here and are transferring to our cruise ship in a couple hours. Here are a few pictures in no particular order:

Repost: Her Price is Far Above Rubies

I'm the one who does all the talking on this blog, but I'm not the only one who talks in the family!  If you have ever been blessed to sit in an Adult Sunday school class in Burbank, you know that Les is an amazing teacher/speaker.  Since we're celebrating a big anniversary in a few days, I thought I'd share the one and only post he's written for my blog.  This was after Les was in the hospital for eight days in 2008...

(I temporarily interrupt the blog normally appearing in this cyberspace to bring you this important blog.)

It’s interesting that the author of Proverbs 31:10 chose to elevate the price of a virtuous woman to a point “far above rubies”. And I know why.

A little research yields the fact that the Bible contains the word “gold” or “golden” 483 times in 422 verses. However, the word “rubies” is found only 6 times in 6 different verses. Even more research shows the value of rubies to be over 3,000 times that of an equivalent amount of gold. The ruby is considered to be the “king of gemstones”, exceeding the value of all other gems (yes, even diamonds) and precious metals.

So, a virtuous woman’s value is far above the most valuable substance on earth. In other words, she’s priceless.

Having just gone through one of life’s unexpected adventures, I share the opinion of the Writer. When a routine corrective surgery went awry, turning a 1 night hospital stay into 7 nights and 8 full days of agonizing imprisonment, I could only helplessly watch in wonder and awe as my precious wife proved her love and devotion throughout the ordeal.

She’ll never really know the comfort she brought when she stepped into the room each morning. And she’ll never know the loneliness that replaced her each night when she left. She’ll never know how meaningful were her little acts of kindness, tending to details overlooked by nurses. And she’ll never know how much brighter the room was with her in it. She’ll never know how slowly the second hand traveled its arc through the night, and she’ll never know how swiftly her smile made the days pass.

The song sung at our wedding over 17 years ago remains true today, only more so. You are the sunshine of my life, Kathy, and I love you. Far above rubies? Yep, not even close.

~ One fortunate Dude.

(Thanks for reading. You will now be returned to your normally scheduled blogs.)

This was written and posted while I was napping after Les' hospital ordeal in 2008.  Almost eight years later, this is still one of the sweetest things I've ever read.

Twenty Five Years of Marriage

Les and I will be celebrating our 25th anniversary this month. I started working on a "lessons learned" post but changed directions.  I started going through my blog searching for pictures and stumbled on a post from about a year ago.  It sums up how I feel about marriage.

I want you to answer the following question in your mind before reading the rest of my post.  Don't reason it out, just a quick "yes" or "no."

Is Marriage "Hard"?

I asked Les that question last night and thankfully he gave me a resounding "No!"

Why am I asking this question today?  It started with a post I read yesterday.  The writer has been married about six weeks and has heard frequently that marriage is "hard."  She wondered if the other shoe was going to drop soon.  There was a link in her post to another post with the same title and it had a link to an additional post with a similar title!

First, I want to say shame on the people who are giving marriage a bad name to a young woman who is embarking on the adventure of a lifetime!  Then I want to ask, "Why is YOUR marriage hard?"  Not anyone else's marriage, but YOURS, that you feel you need to say such a thing.

Marriage CAN be hard for many reasons:

• Not understanding and following Biblical roles in marriage.
• Selfishness on the part of one or both parties.
• Silence, holding grudges, saying, "I'm fine" when you're not. 
• Unforgiveness
• Unspoken expectations.
• Unfaithfulness
• Financial hardship due to poor stewardship

Marriage CAN be easy for many reasons:

• Following Biblical roles in marriage - with Christ as the head, the husband loving as Christ loved the church and the wife submitted to her husband.
• Giving on the part of both parties.  
• Communication, forgiveness, speaking up.
• Forgiveness
• Reasonable, spoken expectations.
• Faithfulness
• Financial hardship in spite of good stewardship (job losses and unexpected expenses happen, but they won't crush a marriage that has been based on good stewardship.)

Pastor White mentioned in Bible study last night that recent prenuptial agreements now include cell phone etiquette, such as leaving cell phones off during date nights.  I personally think a prenup is an exit strategy.  If you are planning on marrying someone, shouldn't those plans be "til death do us part?" 

Life, at times, is hard.  That's life.  Bad things happen to all of us.  Hardships come.  But sharing life with the one who knows me better than any other, who loves me in spite of my failures, who cries with me, and laughs with me, that is not hard.

Life, most of the time, is wonderful.  That's life.  Good things happen to all of us.  Blessings come.  Sharing life with the one who knows me better than any other, who loves me and cheers on my successes, who cries with me, and laughs with me, that is not hard, it's wonderful!

MOD Sportswear

 

Most of you know that I've been active for many years.  LOTS of running (including 4 marathons) and lots of cycling.  I've worn a skort by Dressing for His Glory for all of those marathons and the many miles of training that go with it.  With all the time that we spend in Hawaii, my one complaint has been the color - Black.  Not exactly the color you want to wear for a 10 mile run when it's 80 degrees out!  Enter my new favorite running skirt from MOD Sportswear:

I got my first one in February and I've been running in it ever since.  There is a matching short attached.  It is super light weight.  It also has a snap at the bottom, which was perfect when we went kayaking.

I wore it this past Sunday morning during the Bill Beauchamp Memorial 10k.  The race director was standing on a corner where we needed to turn and said into his megaphone, "Best dressed runner out here!"  I also placed 2nd in my age group!

MOD recently made some revisions ~ two highlights are zippered pockets and it comes in purple!  (Yes, I already have one!)  It also now comes in two lengths - 24" and 27".  The 24" is perfect for a shorty like me.  I did size up so it would fit comfortably in the hips.  (Have I ever told you that I don't own any pencil skirts?  Well I'm not shaped like a pencil, you know!)

Hannah, the owner of Mod Sportswear, has been a sweetheart to work with. Guess what?  When I reached out to her about featuring her here on my blog she offered YOU, my readers, a 10% discount!  These skirts are already very reasonably priced, so snap 'em up!  Just enter coupon code MOMENTS at check out.

I asked Hannah how she got into the modest sportswear market and her story is just too cool not to share!  I've condensed it a little, but hats off to Hannah's mom for getting the ball rolling:

"I went to a Christian school and loved playing sports. To gather me a few cool points, my mom made me SportSkirts out of men's basketball shorts. My mom's hobby really took off and became a ministry. She named her ministry Apostolic Sportwear and set up a Facebook page and website. She would sometimes advertise, but when sales got to be too high, she would pause advertisement because it was "getting to be too much." A LOT of people wanted what she was putting out.

Christmas 2014, mom was telling me again about how her business was just booming. Feeling very Shark Tankish, I asked her what she considered to be the valuation of her company. She said she didn't know. This dialogue got conversation going quickly. She and my dad had talked. They wanted to give me the business. When I drove home from Christmas, I drove back with 90 lbs of product, enough thread to reach the heavens, and the sewing knowledge of three tutorials. 

We decided that at the beginning of Q2 of 2015, I would 'officially' take over Apostolic Sportwear. I did. And right away I faced a lot of obstacles. Transforming men's shorts into skirts was quite the ordeal. And during the winter, those shorts are scarce in the North!

I initially charged a local seamstress to make the SportSkirts. She pretty much chuckled, called me cute, and told me that there's no way I'd make money if I went that route. So I took to the world wide web and found a factory overseas that would custom make the SportSkirts I envisioned and designed. 

My design knowledge and experience can fit into a Tall coffee cup at Starbucks. After lots of awkward body measuring of different friends and coworkers, countless research of what's practical and comfortable, reaching out to friends of all hobbies and body types, I finally submitted to the factory the 'winning design'. 

The skirts hit production in September 2015. I pressed them to be done early so I could take product with me to my first big show - General Conference in Nashville, TN. Heeding the counsel of a high-end marketing guru, I changed the name of Apostolic Sportwear to MOD Sportswear. In the month of September, ASW became MOD. We rebranded, re-logo'd,  kicked off the new website, promoted our new product, and had our first BIG show in Nashville. It was quite the month.

Things haven't slowed down since then. There are always kinks to work out and customers to serve, but the Lord has been gracious during every part of this journey and has blessed this company.  This year's life verse is Zechariah 4:6 "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit." and that's truly been the case here. God has been breathing into this project from the very beginning. 

As of tomorrow, I will have officially hired my first part-time employee. My heart is bursting with joy and thankfulness as I consider what the Lord has done and what he's doing. MOD will always be for His Kingdom."

I truly love this story, Hannah's passion, and MOD Sportswear's product!  If you're looking for a modest skirt to be active in, this is it!  You don't have to run marathons like me, these are great for water activities, going to the gym, walking, cycling, hiking, pretty much anything!  Go get your skirt today and save 10% by using coupon code MOMENTS (code ends July 1st.)

Repeat Post: Written in Sand or Stone

While I was working on my Mother's Day post I re-read all my posts with the label "Mom." (Well over 100!)  I really felt like this particular post from September 2011 needed to be re-posted.  I didn't change any of the details (I'm 52 now instead of 47) but my thoughts are the same.  We read so much about "keeping it real" and not sugar coating our life, but if you're looking for negativity here's why you won't find it here.  

I read an interesting article in the most recent Weight Watchers magazine. The topic was social media and how it affects us. The main focus was on Facebook, but blogs and tweets were also mentioned. One quote that really caught my attention was:

Beware of Boast Posts
Too many chirpy status updates from a virtual friend can hurt your self-esteem, says Alex Jordan, PhD, a psychologist at Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business in Hanover, NH. If your friend's posts prove more demoralizing than motivating, unfriend her fast.

This made me question my blog. Am I hurting someone's self-esteem with my posts? That is the last thing I want to do. Part of my profile says, "my hope for this blog is to be an encouragement and a blessing, or maybe just bring a smile on a dreary day."

I don't post when I'm having a bad day. This isn't my "venting place." Some may think I am sugar-coating my life or not keeping it real. I am blessed beyond my wildest dreams, but let me just clarify:

• I am human.
• I am a Female human.
• I have bad days.
• I don't always want to run or ride my bike or eat healthy.
• I need to pray and read my Bible more than I do.
• I need to mop my kitchen floor (really bad!)
• I have piles of laundry every week.
• At least one load will be full of smelly running and cycling clothes.
• If you cut me I will bleed.
• If you say something mean to me, I will (hopefully) bite my tongue and walk away.
• And hurt, and possibly cry about it later.

Every single text message, email, Facebook update, blog post, tweet, etc., can be retrieved. You can delete it from your phone or your computer, but it is never gone. Police departments, insurance companies, future employers, and lawyers, can all get to electronic information. It is written in stone...

Two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything,wrote in the sand:

"Today my best friend slapped me in the face."

They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one, who had been slapped, got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him. After the friend recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone:

"Today my best friend saved my life."

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?"

The other friend replied: "When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."

Learn to write your hurts in the sand, and to carve your benefits in stone.
~ Author Unknown

This blog is my stone. When someone hurts me, I won't be writing it here. My hope is not to make others unhappy with their own lives, but to be an encouragement. If you know me, you know I've buried my dear brother and my godly mother. My life is not, nor has ever been, perfect. I want to learn from hurts and mistakes, but not dwell on them.

One of my greatest possessions is Mom's Bible. She received it on her 47th birthday ~ my current age. She carried it until her death. It was this Bible that she carried during an 8 year battle with cancer and the loss of Rod. I know of some very hurtful things that were said to her during those years. I know she was very sick. At times she was discouraged. But I counted the many sayings and quotations written inside the covers of her Bible. There are nearly 100 of them. There are only a few that mention her cancer. Written in the stone of Mom's Bible are:

• A smile can brighten someone's day.
• Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its strength.
• HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT.
• I can see to the corner, but God sees around the corner... don't worry (from Sis. Mary Coursey)
• I'm a Happy Camper
• Lately I've got Leavin' on my mind.
• Prayer is the Christian's mightiest weapon.
• Gratitude is a seasoning for all seasons.
• Not the greatness of our troubles, but the littleness of our spirit makes us complain.
• Every miracle begins with an impossibility.
• One who uses the Bible as his guide never loses his sense of direction.

On and on it goes. Faith. Trust. Hope. Prayer. Even the ones about her cancer show her faith in God:

• 4-27-90 - Black day for me - but God is in charge. Cancer is not too hard for my God.
• Dec. 3, 1996 - Bone cancer - arms, legs, spine, pelvis - I need God.

Since this is my blog, I'll share my blond moments, but not my bad moments. I want to make you think, laugh, and hope ~ because the God I serve came to bring life and that more abundantly. He's certainly given it to me.

I'll close this post with one more quote from Mom's Bible:

Repeat to yourself and store in memory some good thought everyday.
Look for something beautiful everyday, no matter where you are.
Do something kind and helpful for someone everyday.

What are you writing in stone?

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!  This blog started with my Mom in mind.  I have used so many quotes from her Bible and shared so many stories.  I often wonder what she would have done with a blog.  There would have been lots of pictures of grandkids and dogs, and her Friday Foodie would have been Chocolate Chews!
 

Can I just repeat yesterday's words?  I've realize more and more just how blessed I was.  I think one of things I miss the most is just hearing her voice.  She could stay calm in just about any situation, so her listening ear was the best.

I got completely distracted while working on this post.  We are in Hawaii, I don't have a lot of pictures on my laptop so I starting searching my blog for pictures.  I re-read all my posts with "Mom" in the label.  Go read this one if you have the time - "To Kathy."  Oh my, I sure do miss her!

Happy Birthday, Dad

Tomorrow is Mother's Day, but today would have been my Dad's 78th birthday.  He is missed so much!  He was so patient and loving.  I've realize more and more just how blessed I was.

I never heard my parents say things like "You'll never amount to anything!" or "You're so stupid!"  Dad was always proud of us, no matter what.  He'd laugh at our silliness, and sometimes he'd be tired and just need quiet, but he loved us all so much.

25 years later, I still love this picture! Here's a priceless quote from my Baby Book:

DaDa is Kathy's first word. This was said on October 16, age 5 1/2 months. The others all said MaMa first! Wonder if she'll be a Daddy's girl - she's not now.

Oh yes, I was a Daddy's girl!  He made it easy!

Forty Days of Fire

We are only ten days away from Pentecost Sunday, which means we are in our final days of Forty Days of Fire. The final objective is to fill the sanctuary for Pentecost Sunday while expecting a tremendous outpouring of the Holy Ghost and Fire. This has been a time of prayer, fasting and Bible reading.  We had a special focus for each week of fasting:

Week 1 - Media fast.
Week 2 - Meal fast.
Week 3 - Meaningful fast.  This was a fast that each person did on their own.  Something that we eat, drink, or do that we would miss the most.
Week 4 - Daniel fast.  We are currently on the Daniel fast as found in Daniel 10:3, "I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth."  This will conclude on Saturday after our church prayer.  (We only get the building every other Saturday, so this will be our final time for a group prayer meeting.)

Pastor McGriffin is currently in the Philippines, so Les taught the Tuesday night Bible study.  He taught on the Feast of Pentecost as found in Leviticus 23.  According to Judaism 101, Pentecost, known as Shavu'ot celebrates the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai.  "The period from Passover to Shavu'ot is a time of great anticipation. We count each of the days from the second day of Passover to the day before Shavu'ot, 49 days or 7 full weeks, hence the name of the festival. The counting reminds us of the important connection between Passover and Shavu'ot: Passover freed us physically from bondage, but the giving of the Torah on Shavu'ot redeemed us spiritually from our bondage to idolatry and immorality." 

It is no coincidence that Pentecost is consider the birthday of Judaism and Acts chapter 2 records that the birthday of the New Testament church took place on the day of Pentecost.  We had a great service a few weeks ago to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and now we are looking forward to a great outpouring of His Spirit on Pentecost Sunday!

National Day of Prayer

Today is the National Day of Prayer.  From the National Day of Prayer website:

The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May, inviting people of all faiths to pray for our nation. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. Since its inception, this day has continually united Americans from all socio-economic, political, and ethnic backgrounds in prayer while also encouraging personal repentance and righteousness in the culture. The National Day of Prayer belongs to all Americans and is a day that transcends differences, bringing together citizens to celebrate our most beloved freedom; the freedom to humbly come before God and seek His guidance in prayer.

For the past few weeks I've been doing double in my daily Bible reading - I'm still following the plan I started in January, but I've added the recommended reading for our Forty Days of Fire.  (I know I need to blog about Forty Days of Fire, maybe tomorrow!)  In the past few weeks I have read about several rulers:

Pharaoh - "Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph." (Exodus 1:8)

Ahab - "And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him." (I Kings 16:30)

Herod Antipas - "For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife." (Matthew 14:3) "And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison."  (Matthew 14:10)

I am personally so tired of the presidential campaign.  I have many concerns about our nation, but as I read about these rulers, I also read about people who remained faithful and a God who delivered or chose not to deliver:

Exodus 3:7-8, "And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows.  And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites."

I Kings 19:18, " Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him."

Matthew 11:11, "Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist:"

The situations are all very different, God brought great deliverance to the children of Israel, but He allowed John the Baptist to lose his life.  I don't know what lies ahead in our country and in our world.  I do know that God allows men to rise to power.  Romans 13:1 says, "For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God."

Matthew 24:3 says, "And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"  The response that Jesus gave isn't a pretty picture of peace on earth and one day He returns.  I don't know when that day is going to come, but I don't think the days ahead are going to be easy.

So what should we as Christians do?

1. Make sure our hearts are right with our Savior.  There is nothing more important.  If our hearts are right, then whatever comes we can hold on to Jesus.  As the three Hebrew children said in Daniel 3:17-18, "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."
2. Keep reaching out to others.  "And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire." Jude 3
3. Pray for our nation.  2 Chronicles 7:14, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
4. Pray for His soon return.  "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come."  (Revelation 22:17)