Tuesday, July 31, 2007

More lessons

Good Morning!
I had to share what I learned today. While I was taking Art to meet his carpool ride this morning I was listening to Charles Stanley. He was talking about Esau giving up his birthright. He stated that Esau lived for the moment and not for eternity. In other words, he was more concerned with the fact that he was hungry at that moment than in making sure he lived and acted in a way that built him up for eternity. The conclusion Mr. Stanley made was that we tend to all live for the moment and give up the opportunity to build up/prepare ourselves for eternity. That is a poor description of what he was talking about, but you can probably hear it for yourself on the internet if you're interested. Anyway, it got to me.

My friend, Sheila, sent me the following email about Math.

From a strictly Mathematical Viewpoint:

What Equals 100%? What does it mean to give MORE than 100%? Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? We have all been in situations where someone wants you to give over 100%. How about achieving 101%? What equals 100% in life?

Here's a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these Questions:

If:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 1 9 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

Then:

H-A-R-D-W-O-R- K
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

and

K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

But,

A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

AND, look how far the love of God will take you

L- O- V- E-O-F-G-O-D

12+15+22+5+15+6+7+15+4 = 101%

Therefore, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that:
While Hard work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there, it's the Love of God that will put you over the top!


I loved this. What a fun blessing it was to read this today. Hope it encourages and uplifts you as well.

Love to you all,
Angela

Monday, July 30, 2007

Lessons learned

Do you ever have "one of those days"? Last night Art and I went to bed around 10:00pm. Art has been exhausted these days. The 13+hours he's away from home are telling on him a little. I keep telling him he's just getting old. LOL

Anyway, the girls finished watching a Feature Family film around 11:00. That's when the "day" began. It had all run smoothly until then. Ashley's bed, which she now shares with Arianna, fell. It's an old bed. My dad's parents bought it for them when they got married about 46 years ago. I think the bed is almost beyond repair. Sniff, sniff. The worst part of this, besides the bed being broken and the girls fighting about it was that the camera I just gave Ashley a few weeks ago, which has been lost for a week, was somehow under the bed when it fell. And you can guess the rest........broken!!! To say I was upset was an understatement. I had taken good care of that camera for over a year and in two weeks of giving it away it was broken. Thank goodness Art came out and saved the day. He gave Ashley the hug she needed, let her cry, and kept me from having to say something good (which I didn't feel) at the moment when I was so upset with her. After sending her to bed I went back to bed and stewed over the situation a little. This morning, I have a little different perspective. How often does God give us "things" because He wants us to have something we want or just gives us a blessing, and we lose it or forget where we put it (theoretically speaking). Then, something happens and we end up having wasted what He gave us. How does He feel? Praise His name, He doesn't quit giving us things and beat us over the head with our mistakes (we do that good enough on our own). He loves us and works us through situations taking care of them for us and teaching us in the process to trust Him more, love Him more, and ask Him to continue to teach us how to be more like Him. So now, how do I use this lesson not only in my life but in my daughter's? By loving her more and teaching her that she can trust me with not only the situations, but with herself more each day. Thank God for giving me this example I need to be more like Him.

It's a beautiful day. It's 6:41am. Art has been fed, coffeed (lol), and is on his way to work complete with cell phone, lunch, and everything else he needed. I have been up for one hour and feel pretty good today in spite of a short night. It looks like it's going to be a great day, inside and out. My inlaws return today sometime. They seem to have had a great time. I believe they went on a short day cruise, which was something they wanted to do when they got here.

Take care, my friends, and comment back when you have time.

Love to you all,
Angela

Thursday, July 26, 2007


RULES BEFORE DOING THE ME ME ME
01. Post rules before giving the facts
02. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves
03. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
04. At the end of the your blog you need to tag eight people and list their names. Leave them a comment on their blog, telling them they have been tagged and not to forget to read your blog.

I've decided to only tag six people. But if you would like to do this meme, please do it. Let me know if you do so I can read it. I look forward to it!!

OKAY, LET'S SEE WHAT INTERESTING FACTS I CAN COME UP WITH.

1) I met my husband, Art, when I was a senior in high school. It was love at first sight for me. LOL Unfortunately, he didn't remember meeting me, and it was over a year later before he realized I was chasing him and he stopped and caught me. LOL Yeah Me!!!!!!

2) I got pregnant on my honeymoon. Our first son, Andrew Garth, was born 6 months later, 3 months too early. He lived 4 months before he passed away. While some people might think it crass to joke about the dead, I have to share the following. Andrew kept me up all the time. I rarely got more than one hour of sleep at a time, and usually not more than 4 hours in a full day. I was EXHAUSTED. On the night he died, when Art and I got ready to leave the hospital, I was stunned, and trying to be brave. Out popped the following comment....."You know, the little guy has kept me awake for the past three weeks since he came home from the hospital. Now he's in heaven, and he's STILL keeping me awake." After a strange laugh we were able to grieve and realize how fortunate we had been to have had Andrew the few months he lived and how many lives he touched without ever saying a word. And folks, God is faithful, as we learned during this time.

3) Our son, Adam, who was born 1 1/2 years after Andrew died prayed and prayed for a baby sister. When our daughter Ashley was born, he was thrilled, until she got old enough to sit up on her own and throw his toy cars at him. Then he wanted to send her back and get another. (Not really about me, but something that I cherished anyway.)

4) Three weeks after Ashley was born our house, which we had just bought on Saturday (I know, I know, what a weird day to close on a house), burned down to the ground. Fortunately we were still staying at friend's house until the power was turned on on Monday (which was the cause of the fire). While difficult enough to lose my house, Art's friend, Julio, asked me, "Angela, how many more children does God have to take and how many houses does He have to burn down before you realize that He wants more than a routine, mundane relationship with you." While tactless and somewhat cruel, he was right. So, that was the beginning of my real walk with Christ. I wish I could say it happened immediately, but it took years of that comment sounding in my heart for me to "get over myself", and realize he was right.

5) I am an only child. I used to pray for siblings. They are all in heaven waiting to meet me and my parents. Anyway, because of this, I wanted a BIG family. Art and I decided on 12 kids. After seven, (Yes, it does add up when you learn that in addition to losing Andrew, we also lost Austin and Adrian, both boys. It seems that some people have problems carrying one sex. girls were no problem.)we decided that our "quiver" was full, and NO MORE KIDS. Then I just "adopted" kids from OBI. (Not real adoption, just a choosing.)

6) My daughter picked me out a shirt that said, "Who are all these kids and why do they keep calling me mom?" The irony of that is that when we worked at OBI, many kids called me mom. I can't tell you how many times they would call me that and I would answer, then turn to my kids and ask "who was that kid?" LOL Fortunately, they were usually a friend of my own kids so it was easy to just adopt them into the Roberts family. Today I have three boys who are still like my own birth children, one of which has recently made me a "grandmother". I used to say that God took three of my boys, and gave me three others.


7) I get so excited to see a moose that I have to be careful. If I'm driving and see one, I tend to start looking around for more. Ashley fusses repeatedly at me because I may swerve or something to count how many there are. During the winter I "had" to see at least one a day. It got to where that was just about all I was looking for when we went anywhere. Forget the snow and ice I was driving in. It was the moose I wanted to see ( as long as it wasn't in front of my car or on my hood-lol).

8) We moved to Alaska in a john deere green school bus. We had people sticking cameras out of their windows and snapping pics of us the whole way. It was hilarious.



People I choose to send this to

Sheila
John Birt
Kristi Morrow
LuAnn Orie
Mark and Cindy Helton
Jan Kaess
Charles and MarcellaWunderlich
Phil and Nancy Meigs

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Rainy day







Hello, it's another gray, rainy day here in Alaska. And yet it is still beautiful. I thought I'd try to share a few of my friend Heather's pics of Alaska.

My inlaws and nephew left this morning for a "vacation" within a vacation. LOL They are touring some of the areas in Alaska beyond Anchorage. They plan to fish, see the wildlife preserve, etc... Next week we are going to the zoo in Anchorage and trying to get to Hatcher's Pass, if the weather will allow. I also want to go gold panning with the kids. They have never done that and it sounds like fun.

I have been studying the book of James lately. Does anyone ever study James without getting their toes stepped on? Not me!!! I am learning much about faith. I encourage you to read the book repeatedly for a month.

Well, that's all for now. I'm at Heather's and we had a Phase 10 game. Needless to say, I lost. LOL

Love to each of you.
Angela

Monday, July 23, 2007

Another Day

Hello, it's me again! It has finally gotten sunny today. It has rained since Saturday. My poor dogs have been dying to get outside. I never would have thought that I would be the kind of person to take my dogs out in the rain. And yet, I was out at 5:50am this morning chucking a ball for Ashley's black lab. LOL It's the quickest and easiest way to get her to do her business. The other two went out a little earlier with Art. I have three BIG dogs ( a black lab, a doberman pincher, and a pitbull/black lab mix)who weight at least 70 pounds each. Our house is only about 1200 sqare feet, so you can imagine how crowded it gets on rainy days. And it isn't even our rainy season yet. It rains A LOT in Alaska. I obviously still have not posted pics of our area yet. I'm working on it. The biggest problem is that I gave my oldest daughter, Ashley, my digital camera, so I have to get another one. LOL Good thinking, right.....

My inlaws are taking a road trip for a few days starting tomorrow. They are taking my nephew with them, so it will be quiet around here again. We weren't able to go to Hatcher's Pass yesterday because of the rain and fog. Perhaps next week. That's all for now. Nothing new is going on around here.

Love to you all,
Ange

Friday, July 20, 2007

TGIF

Good grief! It's Friday already. This week has flown by.

Yesterday I went and bought school supplies. I LOVE this time of the year. I hope that someday my grandkids are close enough that I can take them out and buy school supplies. That's my kind of thing. I'm a paper and pen kind of gal. LOL Yes, I'm weird!

I stopped at two yardsales yesterday on my way home from school shopping. I got some really great deals. Of course, I didn't really NEED any of the things I got. My best find was a pampered chef grater for $1.00. It was like new. It now resides in my mother-in-law's camper.

I am making mints for a wedding that is happening tomorrow. Boy are they ever good. I had to sample one 9or two...) And they are so easy to make. I've got lots of ideas for someday when my girls get married.

Art's parent's camper was having some problems. Thank the Lord they were able to fix them the other day. I know they were a little discouraged because they weren't anticipating this problem. They are looking at going on a railroad tour to Mt. McKinley, and possibly a tour of glaciers and wildlife preserves. I think they will enjoy that. Mom Roberts likes to learn the history of places and loves to visit museums. Our area has quite a few, so she's got lots to do.

Well, that's all for today. I have much to accomplish and little energy to do it. My MS is still bothering me. I'm afraid that I won't completely recover my "normal" non numb feeling. I guess numb feet are going to be a part of my future. Oh well, could be worse.

Love to you all,
Angela

Monday, July 16, 2007

Greetings!

Good Morning! It's another LOVELY day! The sun is shining, and all is well.

My in-laws have arrived. Our nephew, Alex, is with them and the girls are enjoying his company. He and Arianna get along famously. I'll try to put pictures online later. I gave Ashley my digital camera for her birthday, so I have to get creative. LOL In other words, I have to cajole her into letting me borrow it back for a few.

We are still in the remodelling process of our house. We pulled out the carpet that was throughout the main rooms this weekend. The previous owners had dogs that definitely messed up the carpets. The smell is much better since getting it out. Now to get the money for the flooring. We have part of it, and should be able to finish the living room area by the first of August. Yippee! It is turning out to be a beautiful home. I love it.

No other new news. We will be busy for the next several weeks, showing our family around. I'll try to update as often as possible.

Love to EVERYONE!
Angela

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Good Morning!

Good Morning! What a beautiful day it is today. I have been up since 5:30am getting things ready for Art's day. In the first 30 minutes of my day I put on coffee, fix Art a hot breakfast, fix his lunch, take out the dogs, and make sure Art has whatever else he needs. Today we left at 6:00am to meet his ride for work. Praise the Lord, Angela has a car today. LOL It's amazing how you take those things for granted. We are still a one car family so it's difficult sometimes.

Church was awesome last night. We have a young couple that are getting married next weekend. Rachel and her fiance just graduated from Pensacola in May. Her fiance, Justyn, preached last night. Wow!!! Talk about a fireball! What a gift God has given him. He spoke from the verse "Where there is no vision the people perish". My poor toes got stepped on AGAIN! Seems to be the norm these days. lol He made the statement that people with a vision are people of the Word, they are people who pray, and they are people who witness. You needed to have been there, but it was awesome.

I finished reading Don Piper's book yesterday. What a blessing it was. I have so many thoughts running through my head about what God had for me in reading this. All I can do is recommend reading it. It's easy reading. Just make sure you have tissues.

I'll try to post some pics of our area by the weekend. Check back to see how beautiful Alaska is.

love to you all,
Ange

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

God is good!

Hello!!! What a beautiful morning it is. LOL I should say "afternoon".

I've been reading Don Piper's book 90 Minutes in Heaven this morning. What an awesome testimony. I've already learned some important lessons. 1) Don't forget that just because you minister to people doesn't mean that you can't let them minister to you. 2) You rob people of their blessing by not allowing them to minister. 3) God does have a purpose in everything, even when you didn't think you had any lessons to learn. I'm not through with the book yet, but it's well worth reading. I've cried many times over the simple things that God is showing me.

My inlaws are due in this weekend. I'm not sure exactly how long they might be staying. They are bringing their camper and have the rest of July and most of August slated for Alaska. I pray that we can have enough interesting things for them to do that they enjoy the Alaskan experience. I believe they are going on a trip through the Glaciers, which will be an awesome event for them. We are going halibut fishing at the end of the month. (That will be an awesome event for us all.) I WANT to catch a halibut, just for the experience. We plan on going to Hatcher's pass the first weekend they are here. They are bringing our nephew, Alex, with them. He's 13 and is looking forward to spending time with Ari. They have much in common as they both like to read. I'll try to send pics as I get them. I'm not as good at taking pics as my cousin is, but I'll try. Kris takes pictures of everything. It's so awesome to see the history of her blog moments.

Well, folks, God is so awesome. I just had to say that. Not for any special reason except that it's TRUE!

Love to you all,
Ange

Monday, July 9, 2007

My youngest daughter is leaving for camp today. It's her first real camp experience. She has been packed for 3 weeks. lol My prayer is for a spiritual understanding of what the Christian life is all about. It's one thing to walk in your parents faith footsteps, and another one to realize them for yourself and let them take root because YOU want them to. She is 10 years old. Please pray for her this week.

The preacher that spoke at church yesterday really stepped on my toes. He was talking about the rich fool. His first point keeps ringing in my head. "The fool mistook time for eternity." Mistook time for eternity. Hmmmmm......How often do I concern myself more with the present time than with eternal things. Ouch! Too often. The biggest question that has been going round and round in my head is this..."What things/persons has God made me steward of?" I think I have my work to keep me busy this week while Allison is at camp. List writing is my thing, so this should be interesting.

Well, have a great day, all you bloggers. Know that all is well with the A-Team, and we hope it's the same for you.
angela