They Do Make Me Smile

Well....it has been six years since we all have been together. Most were there at the beginning, but almost 20 years later....we are still connected...talked as if we had just spoken yesterday.....laughed until our sides hurt....praised the Lord for husbands and the 18 children...did you catch that? EIGHTEEN children between us...
three hours of catch up was too short...plans in place
to see each other soon....Chris has offered one of their famous "Thanksgiving in July"....why you ask? Because she will be eight years cancer free this summer! We have walked through a lot in 20 years....hoping the Lord comes soon, but praising Him for the friends who walk this journey together.

baby gavin could still really use some prayer....go here for the update.

"spiritual life is the life in the Spirit, or more accurately, the life of the Spirit in us. It is this spiritual life that enables us to live with a new mind in a new time. Once we have understood this, the meaning of prayer becomes clear. It is the expression of the life of the Holy Spirit in us. Prayer is not what is done by us, but rather what is done by the Holy Spirit in us. to the Corinthians Paul writes, "no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit" (1 cor 12:3),, and to the romans he says, "likewise the Spirit helps us in our wekness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. and God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God" (rom 8:26-27). prayer is the work of the Holy Spirit.

This indicates that prayer as a discipline of patience is the human effort to allow the Holy Spirit to do re-creating work in us. This discipline involves many things. it involves the constant choice not to run from the present moment in the naive hope that salvation will appear around the next corner. it involves the ongoing struggle to prevent our minds and hearts from becoming cluttered with the many distractions that clamor for our attention."

henri nouwen

The Weekend

the weekend started with a belated valentine party...

but these....

with some of these...

and a little bit of this.....brought out many smiles.

a quick turn around headed us over to the valley for this...

....in honor of baby Jax

the two first time grandma's to be....oh yeah, and the momma to be!

the papa was home in North Carolina, but sent roses...to honor baby Jax and the momma...

This little one (click here) needs some serious prayer.....

for more in depth information go to his dad's blog here or his mom's amazing blog here....and here


i don't believe there is greater joy brought to the Lord then when we lift up another in prayer...

one day he will fit his father's coat....

just a bit of heaven....oh, so goooood! (thanks janet)

Rain and Sun

homework's done....bubble fun...

rainy day fun....
it's an original.....45 years old....do you know its name?

We spent the afternoon and early evening at a friends home today. It was a housewarming/birthday celebration. A special housewarming because this friends home caught on fire halloween night. They have been out of the home since and moved back in yesterday and partied today! Boxes everywhere, but their home is always filled with lots of love, people and good food (can you say costco chocolate cake covered with chopped up campfire mints! Yes. I only made it through a couple of bites, but it was worth it). Maureen O’Hara and John Wayne in Quiet Man on the big TV….

It was good to catch up with friends, laugh (a lot) and usher a family back into their home.

Friends...

i've been thinking about friends recently....

this pic is one of my daughter's best friends....
they have so many good and well documented times together...

it makes me think of Proverbs 17:17...."A friend loves at all times...."

who are the special ones in your life? call them today and tell them you do love at all times...

Random randomness......things that made me smile today:

• my kids showing their delight as we drove through a carwash - they commented on the pretty colors of the soap, the power of the spray and that it all felt like being in a waterfall....so pretty (I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad that a drive through carwash was the highlight of their day)
• my daughter went to her first high school basketball game last night - the humor was her trying to explain the game to me - she knows nothing about basketball and kept talking about the last line of defense....hmmmnnn.....soccer anyone. Made her night when she saw her mom's name on some of those banners and realized how much time I spent in that gym!
• the enjoyment I had watching my children eat solo styx and cesear salad at Pizza Solo without complaint...although Jacob almost choked when a gal came in with a hair color that is not found in nature.
• my husband and son eating food BEFORE they left to a men's event at church where food was being SERVED!
• visiting two local bookstores and my children engrossed in reading as we drove home.

Does anyone else find it bothersome that the longest word i have created on pathwords is 'sinner'?

i don't always know what people are thinking...actually, i'm not God so I never know what people are thinking, but here are four very random thoughts in regards to my drive (twice) to Kettleman City in 30 hours- also known as the most beautiful city on earth. NOT!

-saw a bumper sticker that said, "I heart Spinach". OK....what makes a person share that thought? I like spinach as well, but the need for the bumper sticker....yes, we live in america.

-A huge billboard showed a picture of a smile with a gap in between the front teeth and said, "This space available". Seriously.....it was an add for rental space. I obviously saw the sign, but still think it lacked taste (ahhhh....no pun intended).

-On a large semi truck, "Expand your vocabulary - Send flowers," What....? I still don't get that.

Picture this.....standing in the middle of absolutely no where in a starbucks. You are the only one in the starbucks. Read that again....YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE IN THE STARBUCKS. You are a little hungry and thirsty-----ahhhh, order some tea and a little food that must be warmed up. No problem - you would think. Sorry, ma'm I say. I can't see the types of tea from 30 feet away (does it frustrate anyone else that starbucks does not list their tea varieties?) Do you have something with lemon and ginger, I say. A shrug from the employee. Ok....how about chamomille? Another shrug...we have something called 'calm', she says. That will do says I. I could sense a need for calm. I am handed my tea, pay for my nutrition and stare into the eyes of the employee who is NOT moving to warm up my food. She looks expectantly behind me....(let me remind you....there is NO ONE else in the place. No need to ask "what drink may I start for you"). Will someone be getting my food, I inquire? Yes, she says...we will take care of it. Now think about this...WE....who is the we? She does not move from the cash register......I'm looking around....after a couple of minutes a customer comes in behind me with a mammoth drink order - (seriously people, just order coffee - how many pumps do you need?! ) Another drives up to the drive through where an employee mysteriously pops up - oh, that must be the now famous WE. The first employee is now deep in discussion and thought taking the mammoth drink order. The second employee is also taking a large food order. The first employee is now fulfilling the mammoth drink order....HELLO PEOPLE....IS ANYONE GOING TO WARM UP MY FOOD? Apparently the Lord feels I need some work on patience. The second employee warms up numerous food products -none of which are mine. The first employee keeps staring at me as I am moving closer and closer to the freezer and microwave - face it...I was hungry. Several minutes later employee number 2 looks at me and hands me my food - somewhat warm and sad looking (the food, not the employee). I may never be able to have a peppered bacon sandwich and tea again...the memories are too dramatic. Starbucks...you made me sad.

it does remind of the time my husband and I were the only ones in a fastfood restaurant - we had a paper with the number 71 on it....the employee kept coming up to the mic and calling number 3.....number 3. Seriously...no other people in the restaurant ....ok, that is another story....as it is also the story where i was sitting on my husband's knee and he tossed me to the ground (no joke) when they finally called number 71....

i opened up photobooth and look what i discovered.
guess who was in ALL 290 photos?

Happy Birthday, David....

From My Utmost for His Highest recently.

...."Always make it a practice to stir your mind thoroughly to think through what you have easily believed. Your position is not really yours until you make it yours through suffering and study. The author or speaker from whom you learn the most is not the one who teaches you something you didn't know before, but the one who helps you take a truth with which you have quietly struggled, give it expression, and speak it clearly and boldly."

excellent thoughts....

I'm not going to preface this other than to say....watch it all the way through.


Upside Down from Pace Hartfield on Vimeo.

you know....sometimes only this will do.....(note to self..and anyone interested...i only eat the frosted blueberry poptart)

let me just say that the yellow kick out advertising made me laugh "Good Source of 7 vitamins and minerals!" I wonder which vitamins and minerals they would be referencing...

I sat in a hospital waiting room this morning....there was an older couple (late 70's) sitting together and I noticed that she was holding his hand, but in a way that was very relaxed, comfortable and obviously familiar with each other. I couldn't resist (as I seldom do....) I asked about their life together. Much to my surprise they had only been married three years, yet had known each other for 18. She was widowed and he divorced. She didn't let go of his hand until they called him in for his surgery. After he went - she, with tears in her eyes, began to tell me the entire story. She didn't think the Lord was going to give her a soul mate at this stage in her life.... it made me once again think of Ecclesiastes 3:4...

"A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance."