MY Baptism!

I should have written this a long time ago, but I just haven't felt like writing in my blog, even though this was such an amazing event in my life, so please accept my apologies!    I'm writing this on September 7, 2012, but will write as though it was the same day.

Today dawned bright and beautiful!  It was a little chilly out, but I'm sure it only felt that way because we had gotten so used to 90 degree temperatures.  We had a beautiful church service, with Pastor Will.  I was hoping that the service would be on-line by now, so I could link to it, but it's not there yet.  

We don't have any rivers or lakes nearby, so we have to use what we have available for water baptisms.  In the winter months, we use the pool at one of the local schools.  This time, because it was warm out, we went to the house of one of our church family members who had a pool.   It may seem strange to have a water baptism in a pool, but it wasn't strange, and frankly, you have to do what you have to do, right?  

As it turned out, there were quite a few of us that were baptized that day, including my daughter, Abby!  She had kept it a secret from us, and I was thrilled to discover that she was ready to make that commitment to Jesus Christ.  How AWESOME is that?

We were all given a chance to speak before getting in the pool.  Here, I'm telling my story about my son's buddy who was killed in Afghanistan and how his service affected me and made me want to seek Jesus.  (Most of you know that story from earlier posts.)

So, I realize I look horrible in these pictures, but what can I say?  I'm the one in "color" in the picture.  Abby is standing right behind me, with her hands on her hips.

Did I mention that the water was COLD?  This picture needs NO caption!  This is Pastor Will getting into the pool.  His wife, Jen, is the lovely blonde woman in the background behind him.   I am on the ladder behind him, waiting to get in.  This did NOT give me any warm fuzzies about that water!









My teeth were chattering, and I was literally shaking from the cold water.  When Pastor Will began praying over me, I had such a warmth go through my body that I stopped shivering and just felt this amazing love.  When I went under the water, it was not cold, and I just felt so many burdens I had been carrying drain out of me.  I know that although we all have problems in this early life, Jesus was telling me  that He was holding me and taking those burdens away from me and taking them on His own back, to shoulder the burden of those things that I just cannot handle on my own any longer.  As long as I continue on this journey of knowing and loving Jesus and doing everything I can to honor Him, that He will always be there for me, by my side, holding my hand, showing me the way, comforting me and taking my burdens from me.

Coming back up . . .

It's Abby's turn!  











Brian, from our worship team, brought his guitar so we could have some music.  Quite a few of our church family came to witness the baptism, which really touched me!

It was truly a SPECTACULAR day!!!!

May God Bless and Keep all of You!

Julie

John & Sue's Wedding!

Some of you may remember me writing about my dear friend, Julie, who died of ovarian cancer two years ago.  She was one of my dearest friends and I truly miss her.   Her husband, John, is one of the nicest, sweetest men you would ever meet.  He was truly devastated when she passed away.   I don't want to go into all the details about Julie's death, because this is a HAPPY post!

John found a wonderful woman that he and Julie both knew and their friendship turned to true love and they were married today!  Sue is a wonderful lady and is quite good for John!  They make a lovely couple, and you can just feel the love between the two of them.  I'm so incredibly happy for them both!   John spent quite a few years with rodeos before he was injured in a construction accident.  He was and still is actively involved in the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association and High School Rodeo, as well.  From what I know, Sue was also involved in rodeo, but I'm not sure how.  This was Sue's first wedding, which made it even more special in my eyes.  Anyway, as you've probably guessed by now, this was a "cowboy" wedding!

The bride and groom wore jeans and cowboy boots.  Sue wore a beautiful white embroidered western shirt, and her two bridesmaids wore turquoise cowboy shirts.  John and the groomsmen were wearing burgundy cowboy shirts, and of course, cowboy hats.

The minister they had for the ceremony was Sue's family minister for many years, until he retired.  According to Sue, he was quite honored to be able to come out of retirement and perform the wedding service!  His service was AWESOME!  He had an amazing sense of humor and we had quite a few chuckles through the ceremony!

Because the service was at 1:30, and I had to work, I had called John on Thursday and told him that I wasn't sure we'd be able to make it to the service.  I could tell he was saddened at that news, but what was I to do?  I work 40 miles from home, and the wedding was another 40 miles away.  I couldn't afford to take a day off work, and I knew John knew that and understood.   I didn't want him to think that I didn't feel it important enough to be present at the service, as I desperately wanted to be there.

When I finished all my paperwork on Friday, and was able to spend some time in the greenhouse, getting things ready for Saturday, I started to believe that maybe, just maybe, I'd be able to get out of work in time to make it to the ceremony!   Saturday morning rolled around, and I was at work at 6 a.m., and things were going well.  My young helper, Megan, is AWESOME!  She's just a tiny thing, about 5'4" tall or so, and not even 100 pounds!  Like I said, just a little thing!  She's in high school and has been helping me get plants together and out out for the various routes for about five months now.  She's a quick learner, and an amazing helper!  She's learned a lot since we've been working together and we work really well together.  She's learning the plants and where they are and is always willing to run here and there to grab something for me.  So, at about 7 a.m., or so, she was able to get started helping me and we made quick work of everything we had to do.  We saved the 6" crotons ((picture here)for last, and I thought we'd have to sleeve up about 150 of them, but Mandy, who's in charge of 6" plants, asked that we use some other ones that were already sleeved up.  WAHOO!  Didn't have to ask me twice!  LOL  That saved at least 30 minutes of work!  I was actually able to get my paperwork done and leave work at 10:36 a.m.!  (The previous Saturday was atrocious, and I didn't get out of there until 2 p.m., which was why I didn't hold out much hope for today.)

So, at 10:36, I was out of there and heading home!   Yehaw!   I got home, took a record breaking quick shower, and even managed to shave my legs, put on my make-up, got dressed, did my hair and the girls and I were on our way!   We still had a 45 minute drive, but it was looking like we were going to make it! We had to drive to Merrill, WI, a town that I'd never really been to before.  It's a small town, but it's bigger than Abbotsford . . .  I took Highway 29 east to County Road 107 . . . what a TREAT!  It's an awesomely hilly road!  It's one of those county roads where the hills are such that if you speed up a bit and hit them just right, you can make your stomach drop!  I LOVE roads like that!  LOLOL  Erica was in the front seat with me, and was watching and knew what I was doing, as I'd hit the gas when we were coming up on a hill, but Abby wasn't paying attention.  Finally, after about six times of that, I hit a really GOOD one!  It was a short hill, but went down right away, where you couldn't see what was over the the other side.  (I know you know what I'm talking about!)  So, I hit that one at a good clip (I'm not going to tell you how fast I was going!), and when we went over, I know ALL of our stomachs dropped!  Abby even let out a yelp from the back seat!  That just made my day!  LOL

OK, back to the wedding.  Sorry!  This has turned out way longer than I expected!  Thanks if you're still here with me!

Here's a few pictures from the wedding . . .

The happy groom . . .   He was injured in a work accident quite a few years ago, and is disabled because of it.  From what I remember, he is lucky to be able to walk.

His lovely bride!

During the ceremony

The happy couple!

I LOVE this picture!

These are our friends, Chuck and Judy, who drove up from Milwaukee for the wedding!

And finally, a picture of me and my beautiful girls, Erica and Abby!  I LOVE this picture and am going to have it printed professionally!

I know that my dear friend, Julie, was smiling down on all of us and gave her blessings to John.  I know she worried about him being alone when she was gone.   Although I miss her dearly, one day, I will see her in heaven.  For now, on this earth, I am so very happy for John and Sue and pray that they will have a blessed and wonderful life together.  

Just some "stuff" . . . and some GREAT news!

Just wanted to let you all know a couple things.  First of all, I have found some of the most AWESOME Christian Rock Bands!  I had been listening to a Casting Crowns station on Pandora at work, and recently heard some fabulous music by other bands, including Jars of Clay, FFH and Third Day!  Now you need to remember that I am a "rocker" from way back (at least as far back as I go! LOL)  . . . 80's "hair" bands were my favorites (I saw Sammy Hagar -- long before he joined Van Halen -- in concert three times!) and still are!   Now, I like all kinds of music, and can easily go from AC/DC to Johnny Cash to Frank Sinatra to Billy Joel to Garth Brooks.   BUT, my heart belongs to good old fashioned rock and roll!  

The Christian music I've been listening to are all Christian Rock, so they satisfy not only my spiritual need for uplifting music, but also my baser need to just rock out!   I must say, being able to crank up the stereo or my computer speakers with rock and roll praising God and Jesus is FABULOUS!   To that end, I've recently discovered Spotify and have downloaded it to my laptop at home.  I'm not sure if you need to have Facebook for it or not, but I do, so that's neither here nor there for me.  The great thing is that you can create playlists and have them available to you anywhere as long as you have Spotify!  I downloaded Spotify to my computer at work, so now, instead of listening to a local radio station on the internet at work, I can listen to all my favorites on Spotify!    I spent the first night creating playlists with literally hundreds of songs!    There are a few artists that are not on Spotify, like Bob Seger, and I'm not sure why . . . but, as a whole, it's AWESOME!  

My new favorite band is Third Day.  I'm kind of reminded of Nickelback and Creed, which is probably why I like them so much!    For now, my most favorite new song is by FFH.  Here's the video

I don't know if it's the words, the beat, or what . . . but this song just makes my heart sing!

Now, to get to what else is going on . . . well, I'm going to be BAPTIZED on Sunday!  Our church (Abbotsford North Ridge Church) has adult water baptisms, and I've decided that it's time for me!  

So, that's all the news I have for now!  I hope you'll check out some of the music/bands I posted here and that they move you (or someone you love) as much as they do me!

Blessings to all!

Julie

A Hidden Gem of a Park!

The other day, Abby and I went to pick up a half-bushel of green beans that I had ordered from a local Mennonite farmer and I decided to take a drive to a little park that I found a week or so earlier.  I thought it might be a nice place for the kids to go swimming or have a picnic and spend the day, and the best part is that the park is only about 20 minutes away from us!   

Here's some pics I took! 

It's got a great little stream, that also has a deep area for swimming!  

Abby had fun looking for rocks to skip in the river!

The river was very pretty! 

I was trying to get a picture of the rock Abby was skipping, but I only got it after the fact. 

Another view of the river. 

We saw LOTS of frogs and minnows swimming around in the incredibly clear water! 

Not much else to report!  Things are going well, and the new roof is AWESOME!   It is such a relief to not have to worry every time it rains!   If you're in North Central Wisconsin and need any construction-type work done, please contact Central Wisconsin Construction in Colby, WI.  You'll get a GREAT deal and a GREAT family doing the work!  

Speaking of work, my job has been going well.  I really enjoy my job!  The drive to and from work isn't as bad as one would think.  Course, it would be a LOT better if diesel wasn't up to around $4.00/gallon! UGH!  Sure wish I could afford to buy a little car that gets high mileage to drive back and forth to work. I've often thought about how lucky other people are and how beautiful other areas of the country are, and then I take a good look out the window of my truck and realize how beautiful it is right HERE!    

I have gotten in the habit of taking pictures on my way to work.  It helps to make me appreciate where I live, and allows me to share the beauty of North Central Wisconsin with all of you!  

Here's a view of the Wisconsin river, just before I get off the Interstate, about 2 miles from work.  I saw a bald eagle flying overhead here just the other day!  How cool is that?!  

Some really cool storm clouds on my way home from work not too long ago. 

I had to stop at my mom's house a few days ago and snapped this picture on the way home.  This is just before you get to the Eau Pleine Reservoir.  

A view of the lake as I'm crossing the bridge.  The lake is a reservoir formed by the damming of the Wisconsin River.  The river runs through the center of the lake.  In this picture, the river is where you can just see the end of the bridge, which is really the middle of the bridge. 

This picture is from our back yard.  Those clouds were part of a storm that went south of us (sigh), at a time when we really needed the rain.  It was such a pretty sight, with those huge thunderheads that I couldn't resist!  

And just for fun . . . this is our (not spoiled) pooch, Mater!  He LOVES to sleep on his back, and this is how you will find him sleeping at least 70% of the time!  LOL  And yes, he is named after the character from the movie "Cars."  We had to come up with a name that started with "M" and Erica came up with Mater!  (You know, like Ta-Mater, without the Ta!  LOL)  


Blessings to all! 

Julie


PS, I have to share this video with you, too.  Big Bird (a/k/a Joey) my Amazon Parrot was "screaming" the other day.  I can cover him or give him some people food to shut him up, but I was busy working on my laptop, so I just ignored him.  After about 15 minutes, Mater had had enough!  He got up out of his kennel and started HOWLING at Big Bird!  This is just too funny!!!!!

It's a short -- 25 second -- video, so be sure to watch it (and ignore the mess in the living room!)  

Worship Service in the Park Today!

There's a little city-wide festival that started here a few years ago and this year, our church decided to hold services in the park!   Not only that, but we also hosted a charcoal chicken dinner as a fundraiser for our "Raise the Roof" fund.  Our church needs a new roof, and unlike us, insurance is not going to pay for it.  It's also quite a bit more expensive than our roof, so we're doing what we can to raise funds to pay for the new roof.   Apparently, last year they also held the chicken dinner, but we weren't a part of the church yet.  They did not hold services in the park, so that was a first.  We had volunteered to help out, and Greg was helping to cook the chicken.  That meant he had to be at the park at 7 a.m. today!  Lucky me, I didn't have to be there until services started at 9 a.m.  :-)

HUGE kudos go out to Brian and the worship team.  I know that this was a LOT of work to get all the instruments set up and ready to go.  I also know that although our worship team is amazing at what they do, performing in church is totally different from performing in a park!

I've got LOTS of pics here . . . hope you enjoy them all!

Pastor Will is on the left in front, and his wonderful wife, Jen is next to him.  In this picture, we're singing "Happy Day."  The kids learned this song in Children's Church, and had a great dance to go along with it.  I was trying to capture the kids and their dancing in this photo.  I wish they had all gone into the street to dance and show their joy at singing for the Lord!





Here's a video from Tim Hughes of the song "Happy Day."  If this doesn't make your heart sing, I don't know what will!

That's my dear daughter, Erica, being goofy with the thumbs up sign.  My other daughter, Abby, is in the pink sweatshirt, being held by their friend, Ashley.

This ADORABLE little boy is the son of our friend, Nate.  Malin is just the sweetest little boy and SO picturesque!

Our Worship Team!  They did such an AMAZING job today!  I'm so proud to be a member of this church!

Andrea does a great job on keyboards, and has a beautiful voice, too!

A few pictures of the folks attending services today . . .

That's Pastor Will.

More of the folks attending our services.   Many of them are "regulars" at services on Sundays, but we did have a bunch of folks who aren't normally at our services.

Pastor Will and his lovely wife, Jen.  An AMAZING couple!

Our friends, Nate and Jessica, and the adorable little boy, Bernie, that we babysit on Sundays!  What a great picture of Nate and Bernie!  I love it!

Pastor Will is starting our services with a prayer.

Pastor Will is truly a fabulous pastor!  I so look forward to going to services on Sundays!  I think I've only missed three times in the last 10 months.  Something would definitely be missing from my life if I was not able to attend services, that's for sure.  I learn so much more than I ever did before.  Pastor Will's sermons are always interesting.  He has such a great way of teaching us about Jesus and the Bible.  What I think I like the most is that he uses REAL LIFE examples to teach us the Word of God.  He uses himself as an example and his family, too. He makes us realize that we're all human and uses those real-world human experiences (as a husband, dad, friend, neighbor, etc.) to teach us.  He even uses his experiences as a . . . ahem . . . "male" . . . and the stupid things that men have a habit of doing!  LOL  

Brian is the leader of the Worship Team and does a GREAT job!  If not for him and his family, I'm not sure what the rest of the team would do!  Brian's son is a bit chopped off in this picture, but he's behind him, playing guitar.  In the other pictures of the whole team, the young man on drums is also Brian's son.  His wife, Charlotte, is on the keyboards next to the drummer.  Their family is VERY talented and some of the nicest people you will ever meet!











As I stated in the beginning, we also had a charcoal chicken dinner as a fundraiser for the Church's new roof.  Here's a bunch of pictures from the dinner.

Long before services began, the guys were busy cooking chicken!  Isn't that an AWESOME setup for cooking it?!

That's a LOT of chicken!

You didn't really think all those chickens were turned one at a time, did you?  You need special tools to turn that many chicken!  You can tell this has been done once or twice before!  LOL

Oh yes, that chicken is looking GOOD!!!!!

Hungry yet?  LOL!

If you're not licking your lips at this picture, there's something wrong!!!!

Did someone ask for baked beans?  We had LOTS to go with the rest of the chicken dinner!

LOTS of help from church members!

Jen was enjoying her watermelon that came with the chicken dinner!  We had a good laugh over me taking this picture!

The younger folks were having fun and enjoying each other's company!

One of my FAVORITE pictures EVER!  Such unadulterated joy!  Absolutely a beautiful picture of Jen!

And finally, another picture of Jen!  Such a beautiful smile!  Makes sense, as she's a beautiful person, both inside and out!









I hope you've enjoyed this virtual journey with me!  We had an incredible day with our church family.  Oh, and in case you think some of these folks look familiar, but you're not sure why . . . you're not seeing things!  Brian and his family are the ones that put the new roof on our house!  

Blessings to All!

Julie