Birthday, Bike, and Bible Memory

Around the end of April I wrote a post about the gal I am mentoring while she is in prison, and her two precious kids. One of the aunts who helps to take care of them called me Thursday, and said they were having a birthday party for R.J. and asked if I'd like to come. She also asked if their Great-grandma, Colleen, would like to come. So I called Colleen and we made arangements to go.

This is the birthday boy, R. J. (for Ramon Jr.) He had been playing and fell, and hurt his hand; he didn't even break the skin, but I showed him how to blow on it to make it feel better--thus his hand is in front of his mouth. It is possibly some kind of tradition, but he had dollar bills that people had given him pinned to his shirt. I noticed as people would come, they would give him a dollar and they would add it to the collection on the shirt. I thought that was interesting.

This is R. J. with his little sister, Nyla. They were really friendly with both grandma and me. we had a chance to play with them a little at their home before going to the party at the park.

They were on "slow time" and the party that was supposed to start at 5:30 pm didn't get started at the park until about 7 pm. It still hadn't gotten very well underway, but Great-grandma and I decided we needed to leave about 8:30 pm. They still hadn't done gifts or birthday cake. (It reminded me of being in Haiti, where no one rushes, and services start "around dusk". )

It hasn't been very good weather for bike-riding, but today was beautiful and fairly calm, and my hubby had put new tires on my "old" bike, so I decided I needed to go for a spin. I was feeling really good for the first half of the trip; coming back I was riding against the wind. I went a total of 5.5 miles. By the time I got back I was hot, sweaty and out of breath. As I walked into the house, my legs felt like jelly. I thought to myself "What a wimp". I really do need to make a regular habit of this and build up both my strength and my distance.

My memory verses for these two weeks are from Phillipians 1:9-11. "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless...to the glory and praise of God."

As I went over these verses this morning, I was just sort of overwhelmed; If I really make this my prayer, what an amazing difference it could make. Oh to have that kind of love, with knowledge and deep insight, and to be able to discern what is truly best: best for me to be doing to serve the Lord, best in my relationships with family and friends, best use of my time. And most importantly, my life would reflect His glory and bring praise to my Lord and God.

As I said, it was an overwhelming thought. As I memorize these verses in the next couple weeks, I also need to begin to really apply them and allow the Lord to use me for His glory and praise.

A New Family Member

Ever since we had to have our dog, Allie, put to sleep last fall, Lynn has wanted to get another dog. Allie was a Golden Retriever/Lab mix. She had a sweet personality. I think Lynn was hesitant to get another dog, as he wanted to get one that had a good personality like Allie.

On Tuesday, some friends of ours ask Lynn's daughter, Janelle, if she would like a dog. She said, no, but her dad would. They bought this dog as a small puppy. They have 2 kids and thought it would be good for them. However, they feel the kids haven't bonded that well, and for whatever reason they have decided to give her to a good home.

This is Chloe (her name was Clover, but Lynn wants to change it to Chloe; since it has the same "first sound" I think she'll get used to it). She is a Golden Retriever, and has coloring very similar to Allie. She seems to have a good personality, and I think she'll be a good dog for us. We have a fenced pasture where she can run; you can see the fence in the above picture.

Now I won't have to take my walks alone--I can take Chloe with me. I'm just not sure who will actually walk who. She seems to have a lot of energy! She is 11 months old, so is technically still a puppy. I think she's going to be especially good for my hubby; I know he has missed having a dog.