I'd Rather Pick Roses Without Thorns

I'd rather pick roses without thorns, Lord, a bright and fragrant, beautiful bouquet to decorate my world with pretty pleasures- the brambles and briers, I'll throw away.

But you say I must pluck the thorns as well, Lord, although they'll pierce my heart and sting my soul; You say that pain's a part of peace, you tell me that breaking is part of being whole.

You say that if I truly want to know you, I must count everything but Christ a loss;

You ask me to exchange my way for yours, Lord, to trade contentment's kingdom for a cross.

And so I come before you weak, but willing; I seek to walk your path, and not my own; I choose to share the crown of thorns you wore, Lord, until I kneel before your royal throne.

~B.J. Hoff

Update

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for our friends down south, (the two boys and their drug addict mom) Right now, they're living with their mom and her boyfriend in an apartment, so at least they're in a stable place for now. The dad has not made moves right now to have the boys removed because in the governments eyes they're "safe" and he thinks the mom would hide the boys from him if he tried to take them, because she benefits from child support.
Thankfully the mom's own family (her 2 other children in their late 20's, and her sister) are on the dad's side, which would help him to win a court case if it ever comes to that. The boys older brother is ready to go down and take the boys from her now, but the dad has asked him to please refrain from that action for now, as it would do more harm than good.

So things are "ok" for now, and we got to spend an afternoon with the two boys a week or so ago.
They seem to be ok emotionally, but the younger one (11 yrs.) who usually stiffens up a bit bit when I give him a one-arm-hug (I hug him anyway :-) let me hug him last time.
It's hard to read the faces of two little boys who have the years of pain of watching their mom go through boyfriend after boyfriend, and move from place to place etched on their faces.
Drugs, alcohol, boyfriends, live-ins. Is this really what our government considers a safe environment? It's a sad reality.
But they really do seem to be doing pretty well, and they're still smiling, something we're grateful for.

Thank you again for your prayers, keep it up.

Love,
Emily

One of the most important things in life, is to learn how to give out love, and how to let it in.
~Anonymous

Walk for Life

This morning Ali and I walked/ran the 2 mile Walk for Life in Bellingham. Our church, had a great turn out, they had lots of walkers and the pledgers all did a terrific job raising money for the WCPC.

We had lots of fun walking/running and chatting with our group of girl friends (we ran on and off during the "walk." Fun! ;-) Ali and I got T-shirts, and because Ali raised over $500, she also got the cute hat she's wearing.

It was a great morning, and definately, a "mark-it-on-your-calender-for-next-year"!

Please Pray...

Some dear young friends are living with their mother further south. Their mother has recently become a drug addict, and is no longer working. She's also an alchoholic and she can no longer work as a result of failing the drug/alchohol tests. They are living in motels, and though we saw the boys just last weekend, the mom won't tell anyone where the boys are now. Their dad is taking the nessecary movements to try have have the boys taken away from her.

These boys are only 13 and 11 years old, and they are sweet and precious to us. Please pray that the Lord would watch over them, and that their dad can get full custody soon.

Hello, I am Eloise.

My dog Eloise is most definately one of a kind. When we're walking her or have her in the car, she never fails to draw attention, and some odd questions. The best (as in funniest) ones I've ever been asked about her are:

"Is she a kind of chihuahua?" Answer: No. But we understand. Her lack of any apparent brain activity would seem to relate her to that breed.

"Is she still a puppy?" Answer: Nope. She's 2 1/2

" How did you get her so small?" Answer: We programmed the puppy machine that way.

(Seriously, a gal asked me that as if we built puppies in the basement.)

"What do you feed her?" Answer: Goldfish food.

(Sorry for the sarcasm, but really, what do they expect?)

Anyway. So here's something to file away in your All About Eloise Trivia file. Her favorite food? WHIPPED CREAM. These two pictures are of said intelligent pooch licking the whipping cream out of the lid from one of those delicious mocha milkshakes from Cruisin' Coffee. I drink the shake, she gets the whipped cream. And she goes bananas for it.

Ok, so even dogs have their..... moments.





We all love our dogs. They make life better.


Yesterday I was a dog. Today I'm a dog. Tomorrow I'll probably still be a dog. "Sigh"
There's so little chance for advancement. ~Snoopy

4-18-92, 10:07 A.M.

The time and date I was born. Celebrating 19 years of life this week.

19 highlights in my 18th year:

1. Completing Mrs. Jordan's honors English class.

2. Cruise to Alaska with my family.

3. Joining Mt. Baker symphony.

4. Getting my driver's license.

5. Getting my ears pierced.

6. Lots of BBQs in the summer with friends and family.

7. Day trip to Larrabee State Park with my family.

8. Fiddling with Ali and Brad.

9. New Year's Day dance on Camano Island with Placzeks and Moores.

10. Getting my own hard cover set of Calvin's Institutes from mom and dad.

11. Planting and harvesting my veggie garden.

12. Taking a flower arranging class with a friend at WCC.

13. Performing at my first masquerade ball.

14. Singing Handel's Messiah at Christmas time.

15. Starting my first official year of teaching violin.

16. Having 5 students in my first year of teaching.

17. Babysitting my niece Lydian for 2 weeks.

18. Spending another year of Tuesday mornings with the Clarkes.

19. Turning 19 of course! ;-)

O Lord, and Guardian of my soul,
Your word is my counsel,
Your power is my courage,
Your promises, my comfort,
your presence, my confidence.
I rest my life,
My soul,
My future,
in your hands.

~B.J. Hoff

Forget it.

Awful. Nerve wracking. Mind-boggling. Unnecessarily Complicated. Invented to make people wonder why there aren't more accidents on the road. Probably the result of more cases of insanity than drugs or 6th position on the violin. Bad.

All this flashed through my mind, as I killed the motor on the jetta for like, the sixth time during my first stick-shift lesson this afternoon. My wonderful daddy was everlastingly patient as he explained that once the meter on the dash board reaches 20, you shift.

Daddy: "Let out the clutch SLOWLY and when it's almost out, shift to 2nd gear. No Emily, 2nd, that's fourth..... Ok so the car stalled. (a nice way of saying I killed the motor) Turn the car on. Now, push in the clutch and the brake. Shift to 1st. Now let off the brake. Now SLOWLY let off the clutch, and give it a little gas.

QUICK,!! NO, LOOK OUT, SHIFT! LET THE CLUTCH OUT! SLOWLY!! GIVE IT GAS!"

(Car: shudder, shudder, jerk, jerk, bounce bounce. Ominous silence)

Sigh. The car died again.

Daddy: Umm, it's ok. Turn the car on. Let's try it again.

Me: This is horrid.(as the neighbor lady gives me a sympathetic glance.)

Daddy: you're doing pretty well actually!

Me: Sigh. (as I give daddy a sympathetic glance.) Can we go home now? That is, if I can make it all the way around the block?

Daddy: No, no, keep trying. You'll get it.

15 minutes later...

Me: (starting the dead car again in the middle of a turn.) I suppose we should give it a rest. You look shell-shocked and I feel like a jellyfish.

Daddy: Ok.

So. That was my first lesson. I hate stick shift, but I guess I'll have to try, try again. Like daddy, rather too cheerfully I thought, said as we walked in the house, "Clarks NEVER quit."

Me: Sigh.