I have hope

       

          Lord, remember my suffering and how I have no home. Remember the misery and suffering. I remember them well. And I am very sad.

But I have hope when I think of this: The Lord’s love never ends. His mercies never stop. They are new every morning. Lord, your loyalty is great. I say to myself, “The Lord is what I have left. So I have hope.”

          The Lord is good to those who put their hope in him. He is good to those who look to him for help. It is good to wait quietly for the Lord to save. (Lamentations 3:19-26, International Children’s Bible)

Well, it snowed again last night. And my back got worse. And I have a list of other things going haywire in my life or the lives of my loved ones.

So, after I limped to my laptop coz I am too bullheaded to just stay in bed, I did a search for the most beautiful Bible passages. There were a lot of good ones, but the one above convened most what I’m feeling and the assurance I need from God.

I pray you all have had a better week than I had. Also praying for Spring! And for healing, of course. God has got this, and He is all I’ve got. It’s in His hands.

Little Towns and Detours – Spring Vacation Blog Post #4

Back to last month’s vacation. We spent the rest of our first day in Kentucky driving around little towns up and down the Ohio River.

Who knew it was such a wide river. And this was before the spring melt up north started. All the rivers in the country seem to be near flood stage now. Thanks to the miserable, bipolar month of April. But I digress.

When we are driving around, I randomly take pictures out of the car window of any buildings which look interesting. I thought this was just someone’s huge old plantation house and didn’t think the picture would turn out anyway. Actually it is one of the world's top ten most romantic inns, Riverside Inn outside of Warsaw, Kentucky. Crazy.

 And here we are in the city of Warsaw, where we ran into our first detour. Which I appreciated, because it gave me an excuse to get out of the car and walk around town. The county courthouse.

Well maintained historic old buildings.

And some not so much.

But still some colorful ones.

The heritage center in town was closed for the day.

And someone was not happy about it.

But eventually, we crossed the river into Indiana, where we kept running into more detour signs, but I said let’s just keep going, until, well, we had to turn around and back track down some narrow windy roads which, believe it or not, I didn’t take pictures of.

The next town of interest, though, was Aurora, Indiana.

With its many murals.

Quaint downtown.

And other fun stuff.

Even the feed store looked fun.

But it was time to head back to our Airbnb to rest up for our big day tomorrow. 

Are you done with winter and everything else?

     I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, New Living Translation)

How did your week go? Or how about the month of April? Or all of 2023? Is anyone else completely done with winter? It does seem to be one thing after another.

If you follow me online or in person, you may remember that my back has been giving me a lot of trouble. The pain will be just about gone, and then the next day, I feel like I am back to square one with it – it is a trial which is starting to cause me some sorrow. I have other things to do besides baby this bum back.

And it’s not just me. I’m surrounded by family and friends who are struggling in even worse ways. My heart goes out to them, and I pray their burdens lessen.

But the Bible tells us that life wasn’t meant to be easy. And just because we believe in God doesn’t mean that we will cruise through unscathed. What I can never figure out is how someone who is not a believer can even get out of bed in the morning, thinking that there is nothing more than this life.

Take heart! Believe! Jesus Christ came into this world – into your life, if you’ll have Him – so that you can overcome all the troubles you face. Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Then even on the worst days, you will know that you have a true Friend and Ally, One who was willing to go to the cross for you. 

Next Stop – a State Park, Spring Vacation Blog Post #3

 Sunday, March 26, Hubs and I were still motoring around the twenty mile or so section of the tip of north-west Kentucky. So much to see in such a small area that no one has hardly ever heard of. But if you know me, I can always find something of interest no matter where I am.

After quick stops at Dinsmore Homestead and Rabbit Hash, we next arrived at Big Bone Lick State Park. I know, quite the name. 

It comes from the salt licks which attracted big animals with big bones, such as mastodons and giant sloths, all who died there and became fossils to be dug up centuries later.

We toured the small museum.

And then walked along the nature trail out back. 

 

But we were forced to turn back due to flooding on the trail. Darn spring rains.

It continued to be a beautiful day, sunny and temps pushing 60.

We took the trail out to the bison herd but they were naturally on the far end, and we didn’t want to walk that far (another mile, maybe) and then still have no guarantee of seeing them.

We headed back to the car and ate lunch inside it, with the windows and the sunroof open. First vehicle I’ve had with a sunroof!

Soon, though, we were on our way down the road again. Still more things to discover that day.

Waiting

The truth about Christ has been proved in you. So you have every gift from God while you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to come again. Jesus will keep you strong until the end. He will keep you strong, so that there will be no wrong in you on the day our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. (1 Corinthians 1:6-8, International Children’s Bible)

It’s been a week since Easter Sunday; seems like so much longer. It’s been a bad week around here.

My back went out three weeks ago. Usually, when that happens, I’m able to do enough things – heat, rest, gentle exercises – that it straightens out on its own. This time it just kept getting worse. No, I wasn’t babying it as much as I should have; I did a few things which in retrospect I see made the pain worse. But I’ve never had pain all the way into my shoulder blades and rib cage, and I’ve been dealing with this quirky back for 37 years. I’ve never let it get me so down; I’ve always kept the faith and waited it out until it got better. That and often times a few trips to the chiropractor.

Yesterday morning, from 3:30 to 6:00, every time I tried to move in bed, my back spasmed so much it was paralyzing. I tried a muscle relaxer and kept laying on the heating pad, but even a simple stretch would tighten those lower back muscles like I was being tasered. And then my rib cage would hurt so bad that I couldn’t get a deep breathe.

Yet, I kept waiting for this to settle down so I could work my way out of bed and gimp to the bathroom. And I kept waiting.

After nearly three hours of this, I finally caved and called 911. The EMTs from our local hospital (adjacent to the clinic where I work – even after I retire, I will continue to play that card when I have a medical crisis) arrived and did their job – got me out of bed and into our car (amid my screams of pain). Hubby drove me to the ER, where they gave me some IV drugs and a couple prescriptions and sent me home.  

All day long, yesterday, my back still ached and was stiff, but it never spasmed again. But I kept waiting for it to. And now, still doing okay, in some pain but no spasms, I’m waiting for it to be completely better, for the appointments I have next week with the chiropractor to be miraculous, and for me to get back to bouncing out of bed, doing my yoga, and being active all day long.

But what does that have to do with Easter? Waiting is hard. The day between Good Friday and Easter morning, I always wonder how those followers of Jesus were doing. Were they waiting, in fear or anticipation, for what would happen next? Had they heeded Jesus’ message that He would rise from the dead on the third day? Or were their hearts broken that they would never see their Teacher again?

We all hate waiting, especially when we aren’t sure what the outcome will be. But there is one outcome we are certain of. Jesus rose from the dead on the first Easter morning, and He will return to this earth someday.

Looks who has a birthday!

Surpise! Someone has a birthday today! 

Really? Who could it be? 

I'm not gonna tell! 

Oh, don't be silly! It's Val-Pal's birthday!

And she's ready to celebrate! 

She went from a little girl to a grown-up lady, overnight. 

Ready to take on Kenya and fall in love with all the littles ones she met.

And ready to continue her passion through multiple trips to her adopted homeland. 

She continued to make friends on every trip. 

Even some questionable ones. 

But from every side, front or back, inside or out, Val is an amazing, beautiful person 

with so much to give to this world.

Help her Mutti wish her the best year ever. 

Two Stops to Start with, Spring Vacation, Blog post #2

Oh, man, it’s been a rough couple of weeks. It’s been two weeks since we got home from our trip to Kentucky, and I’ve not done much since then, except lay around complaining of all the pain I’m in. I tweaked my back loading the car when we left home and really threw it out of place a few days after we got back. Mostly I’m just frustrated, but it’ll get better.

But you didn’t open this post to hear about that. No, you want to know what we did those three full days we were in the northern tip of Kentucky.

Sunday, our first full day there, the weather was beautiful – sunny with a high close to 70. We slept in – for us – and didn’t get on the road until close to 9:30. I had a short route mapped out from our Airbnb, just around the area, of what I thought would be interesting places to see.  

First stop was Dinsmore Homestead, which was closed until April 1. I still got out and wandered around the grounds.

It looks like all the other old homesteads I’ve visited, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t fascinated by it.

Imaging myself living there in the 1850’s, wearing those long, beastly hot dresses in the heat of summer, without even a fan in the house. And taking a bath twice a year, no idea how often I could have washed the long tresses of hair that I would have had.

 Okay, it would be fun to live there for a weekend in the spring.

Moving on. Next stop was a fascinating historic district called Rabbit Hash. Yes, it’s named for the population of rabbits, many of whom ended up in the pot on the stove.

I’m not really sure what all the buildings are in this little area, but I took pictures of them anyway.

And the fog on the Ohio River with the ghostly riverboat on the opposite shore.

The only building that was open was the General Store, where we poked around a bit. Two old geezers and two old dogs were relaxing around the pot belly stove, on which were cooking cinnamon rolls. But the men were too busy telling tall tales to offer us one.

 The Old Hacienda does have a listing on the Airbnb site. It looks pretty cool inside from the pictures that are posted, but it’s pricey too.

It was all pretty cool actually, but very hillbilly, and that’s coming from a country hick like me.

Anyway, we did a lot more driving that day. And I took a lot more pictures, but I think I’ll share them another time. My back is still killing me, and I should get to bed.