The Group

Well, here is the "Group". Us friends that meet every other Sunday. It's really cool how God put us together. We started meeting for a fellowship/bible study group at our home from our previous church about 3 years ago. We kind of grew on eachother and decided to have dinner every other Sunday. We all ended up at Freshlife Church too! We take turns on who brings a meal and dessert each week and then follow up with a Max Lacado bible study book on Ephesians, trying to keep in line with our teaching at church. They've gotten us out of our sheltered lives and showed us outdoor life such as hiking, cutting down Christmas trees, cross country skiing and fun stuff, even shooting a real gun! They are quite a group. That one at the head of the table is a real character, if you see her WATCH OUT! Actually, they all are quite the bunch!

So moving along, tonight was my turn for dinner and I made homemade Calzones. John thought it was called Cowzones... hahahahahhaha... They are kind of like Stromboli for those of you who aren't from the East coast and have no idea what Canolis are either... I made one with pepperoni and the other with sausage, peppers and onions. Dang, I wanted to take a picture of them to put on the blog!

I'm going to try something new and put a poll on my blog. Question- What IS a Canoli?

Muddy Waters

She's at it again! I came home for lunch to enjoy 45 minutes or so of solitude. Ate my lunch, let Abbey out for a few minutes. Looked out the door and screamed to Greg "OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

He thought maybe she had a mouse in her mouth or something. Nope, just a muddy pup that we had to throw immediatley in the bathtub. Notice the color of the water in the tub. And my lunch was far from relaxing. Never a dull moment in the Anderson house.

Abbey in the Shower with Dad

Just had to post a few pics of Abbey dog tongiht.

Greg was in the shower and she decided to jump on in with him!!

Woman of Faith

Had an AWESOME time with my friends at Woman of Faith in Spokane, Infinite Grace conference this weekend! Everything was just as we prayed for, great weather, great travel, lots of laughs and LOTS of shopping!!!! The speakers were amazing and encouraging. They are so real and funny! I didn't want to leave, I could have listened to them all weekend. Nicole C. Mullins was fantastic along with Aeyisha Woods and Sandy Patty. We adopted a child from World Vision who lives in Etheopia. Her name is Sidise and she is 9 years old. The 4 of us adopted her together and we're looking foward to blessing her and her family. The are having another conference next May in Spokane which I am definetly going too... and if anyone wants to come, the more the merrier!!!! Oh and we ended our last night at Crispie Creme donuts, I got in trouble for taking a picture of the donuts being made. I guess you're not allowed to take pictures of them for some privacy/security reasons??? What is this world coming to?

What a great Day!

Today was beautiful !! 66 degrees! Abbey had me up at 6:30 chewing her bone on my face while I was trying to sleep. But it was worth it as I got alot done, did some things around the house. Then I took her for a nice walk in the field near my house and worked with her on her lessons. She does awesome in the house (especially when you hand out the treats) but outside it is so distracting. But she did better (at times) not pulling and even heeling a little... well at least I thought she was, despite hanging my hand down next to my left knee with a treat enclosed.. haaahaaa. but it was an improvement :-) ... Then I came home and blasted my christian music out my window, went in the backyard and played fetch - she even dropped it for me !!! ( as I exchanged a treat for it and said "drop it" Does this count??????????????

The music really lifted my spirits - I went inside for a second and opened Greg's bible and read this scripture:

Jeremiah 50:6-7

My people have been lost sheep;

their shepherds have led them astray

and caused them to roam on the mountains.

They wandered over mountain and hill

and forgot their own resting place.

Whoever found them devoured them;

their enemies said, "We are not guilty,

for they sinned against the Lord, their

true pasture, the Lord, the hope of their fathers.

It made me think of how lost we are without God and how easy it is to be led astray from all the cares in the world and even false teachings. Last week I had a conversation with a dear couple but do not believe in what I do. They were trying to witness to me and I saw how brainwashed and lost they were. It really grieved my spirit and I couldn't wait to get out of the room, it even felt so hot in there and I almost felt defiled just listening to it. I was praying God, please let me out of this. I told them I was a christian and I believed in Jesus but he kept using knowledge and history to persuade his faith on me.. I left and had to really pray that God would cleanse my thoughts and spirit as it really was weird and made me feel uneasy. It made me realize how much I love the Lord my God and felt so protected by him. That situation really drew me close to Jesus. I felt like just listening to that garbage that I was cheating on God. It's hard to explain, I guess it's a spiritual thing. Sorry about my tangent, but when I read that scripture, I thought of that couple and also how easy we can "lose our resting place" if we don't stay focused on the truth. So that was my sermon for the day ;-)

I will end this blog posting some pictures I took today.

Bad News

Well, they are at it again! Or should I say Greg is on another quest to defeat these creatures that seem to have a colony under our BBQ grill. Yesterday when he was off, I came home for lunch and he said "I have some bad news" I thought- Oh no what could it be??? He proceeded to tell me when Grizzly was sleeping outside on the other side of the yard, out came 3 mice running on the deck, 2 climbing our screen (AUghhh, this is so freaking gross) and 2 up the railing. The bad part is that we can't use poison because of our animals. So all we can do is try to catch them one by one. Well today, I came home for lunch and ALAS, there was one of those gross things on the trap!! Ruined my appetite too. Where the rest of the 100 are, I have no idea. I just want to put our house up for sale. Greg did come up with a good idea and asked me if I remembered where we put our left over fireworks, thinking maybe we can blow up the hole, but I am pretty sure we threw them out. If anyone has any they would like to donate, please let us know. Hey maybe we can have a firework display/BBQ if it's nice this weekend :-O) ....

There's No place like home

Writing a short blog tonight! Just a regular Monday, wishing there was 1 extra day to a weekend. But I made it through another day. I love coming home. And I love that song, Somewhere over the rainbow. I love rainbows, just a confirmation of God's promises. And I so love Dorothy.

Have a wonderful Tuesday. Psalm 91

Sunday

I'll keep this short as it is way past my bedtime. Just wanted to recap my day. Church was great as usual. I always walk out of there energized and challenged! I was a bit of a whiner though because it was very cold in there and just couldn't seem to warm up. Oh well, all is good! Okay, so then we go home and relax a little, read the paper. I gave Abbey some training. Then Greg and I went out to clean up the dog poop in the back yard, a chore we have been waiting to do hoping the weather would warm. We discovered a mouse hole under our bbq grill as we have been seeing mice run on our deck. GROSS, there's nothing more I hate than mice. Tonight Greg went on a mission to catch all 6 of them that he counted tonight with mouse traps. I swear, every time he laid one out, within 5 minutes we would catch one. We got 5 altogether!!! Greg was so proud! I was so beyond being grossed out! Then we had to clean out Abbey's ears because she has an infection. She hates it and I totally traumatized her tonight so much, she ran away and I think I blew her trust in me. I felt so bad. I finally got to hold her and she just cuddled in my arms looking in shock (mom cried) it don't take much. There is no way we will be able to finish this out, I don't think we can put her through this one more night. Plus it is wearing on us. Greg is real frustrated wondering why the vets give this kind of stuff to squirt in a puppy's ear and expect it to go smooth. Greg also cracked his tooth and has a toothache so he has been cranky all day... the ear thing stressed him out. So now I better put in a few pics before I publish this post. One pic is Abbey stressed and in shock after the meds and the other is the dogs outside today fighting over their raw hides and one of Abbey looking pretty. Geez, I feel like a proud mother of a newborn. Have a wonderful week.

First Day of School

Today was so much fun. I took Abbey for her first private lesson at obedience school. I was so proud of her! Our instructor reminded me of a female version of Ceaser Millan the Dog Whisperer. She was really informative and taught me how to make Abbey submissive. She is quite an energetic pup, I sometimes call her psycho-dog! But it was really cool. She had me hold her like a baby, really tight until she calmed down and I couldn't look at her until she calmed down. She finally did calm down but she was whimpering like a baby for 5 or so minutes and I couldn't make eye contact until she stopped. I have quite the drama queen dog. When she finally stopped I was allowed to let her go. It was a stepping stone for me and her. We worked on coming, sitting, down, focus, and heel position. She did excellent!!! But to be honest, I am the one being trained and I came home overwhelmed and exhausted just like Abbey. She slept most of the day ;-) The picture is her snoozing with Greg and of me and her-- Notice how submissive and calm she is No biting and going spastic on me!!! BIG IMPROVEMENT. I think I am going to sleep well tonight!

Iron Sharpens Iron - Friends

Last night I spoke with my good friend back East. She read my blog that I fowarded to her and shared that she had to call me and tell me that she was feeling the same way I was, that she wanted to be on fire for God and serve Him with all she had. Last month when I talked to her she was so low and depressed and was ready to leave her husband. But last night there was a MAJOR change in her spirit. She said she read the book "The power of a praying wife" by Stormie Omartin and shared how it has really impacted her walk with the Lord. She is praying for her husband and family and things are really changing already! God is so faithful when you make time with him. Her husband came to church with her for the first time in years and may even join their baseball team! THIS is a total miracle because her husband wanted nothing to do with church. She is so on fire again for the Lord and totally different person. Which really inspired me and confirmed to me that I really need to seek the Lord daily and be in his word and worship him with all my heart, soul and mind. We had such a nice chat and then we prayed together. It was so encouraging and refreshing to me! It really is contageous to be around people like that. It just does something to your spirit. Oh and she also shared that her pastor is doing a 6 week study on 30 days to live, He is talking about if you knew you had only 30 days to live , what would you do. That is something to really think about and got me thinking too. All the stupid cares of this world would not mean a thing (even American Idol). Gives us something to ponder, huh? So I decided that I am going to be available for God, use my gifts, spend more time with him and see where He takes me! And I am going to read that book which I happened to have on my shelf that I completely forgot about. I hope in a month from now, people will see a change. Pray for me!!!!!!!!

Walking with God

I was really touched by our church service this past Sunday. Our pastor touched on how our relationship with God should be. He said that we should be talking, sharing, reading and shouldn't be able to keep inside what God has done in our lives. I really felt convicted because at one time that was me. All I wanted to talk about was God and it frustrated me when I ran into Christians and they never talked about God. He then mentioned that the amount of time we spend in the word will show how deep our relationship with Him is. I really felt a conviction. I have been praying about this alot, that my heart would be ignited again for God. That I would talk about him more, share about him more and give people the hope that He has given me. I recommitted my heart to him by raising my hand in the service when he challenged those who needed that recharge in our hearts. I want to share on my blog what I hear from God when I seek him as accountability to stay in His word. So this morning I prayed and read and this is what I heard.

In Matthew 5 13-16 I read about being salt and light in the world. Isn't it cool how God has me reading this after I asked Him to help me. I want to be that seasoning of salt when I am around people. I want to leave an impact wherever I go. When you go out to eat and enjoy a wonderful tasting dish, you talk about it and share your comments to others. It should be like that with the Lord. And I definitely tasted and saw that the LORD IS GOOD! He has been so faithful to me, He has taken my wretched life and truly turned it inside out. And as I am blogging, I am praising His Name because if you knew me before I turned my heart over to Him you would see a totally different person. A city on a hill shines in the darkness. It looks so pretty from a distance. It stands out although it is so far away. I love seeing the lights of a big city when I am landing in a plane at night. I want to be that person that when I leave a room or a conversation, they will remember something good and I will leave a footprint of Jesus on their heart.

Life is not easy but God is faithful and true and He is always walking beside us, all we have to do is open our hearts. Like I did this morning and heard him speak to me. If anyone wants to be on this journey together, please join in and share what the Lord is doing in your life.