Kisses

Kisses

(Thomas Brooks, "Heaven on Earth" 1667)
"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine." Song 1:2

Not with a kiss--but with the kisses of His mouth. A soul once kissed by Christ, can never have enough of the kisses of Christ; His lips drop myrrh and mercy. No kisses, compared to the kisses of Christ. The more any soul loves Christ, the more serious, studious, and industrious will that soul be, to have the love of Christ discovered, confirmed, witnessed, and sealed to it. A soul once kissed by Christ, would gladly have . . . her drop turned into an ocean; her spark into a flame; her penny into a pound; her mite into a million. A soul who truly loves Christ . . . can never see enough, nor ever taste enough, nor ever feel enough, nor ever enjoy enough of the love of Christ. When once they have found His love to be better than wine, then nothing will satisfy them but the kisses of His mouth.

The End.

Sweet, sweet thoughts. How I love my Lord! More amazing yet--how He loves me! "All this, and heaven, too." For almost 33 years (glory to God!), I have been His and He has been mine. His love continues to amaze me. I want to KNOW Him (Philippians 3:10, my life verse). With knowing Him, and the power of His resurrection, comes "the fellowship of His sufferings," which is some of what the Lord is bringing me through right now. And I rejoice.

All these years I've loved Him, and yet I've never seen Him. This is faith (which is the gift of God), and it is MORE SURE than sight! Peter, after speaking of seeing the Lord transfigured on the mount, says, "We have a more sure word of prophecy" (II Peter 1:19). And I can't wait for the day that I go to be WITH Him, to see Him as He is, to be with my Beloved, to grieve Him no more, to sin no more, to "ever be with the Lord." This is glory, this is bliss. He is my glory, and knowing Him is bliss.

May you grow closer to Him today.

Yippee!

Greetings! These are the results of the photo contest at Comanche (TX) Pow-Wow Days. Sarah talked me into entering in the "advanced" category instead of "amateur." My pics on the left (I ended up competing against myself, as they changed one of my categories!) got first and second place! And Sarah's pic of Miggy (in another category, advanced also) placed second. Way to go, Mimi! We were so excited! The pic of the girls says, "I DON'T listen to gossip!" The other one above it is of Joses and Sarah expecting Miggy, taken at the depot. Those were in the "Picture Story" category. Sarah's was in "Children," I believe. A good time was had by all as Christy joined us on our funnel cake-consuming adventure! Perfect weather. Happy first day of FALL! Bliss....

Card-Making Time! and other ramblings....

This is a typical end to a card-making session at our Ladies' Night Out. When we finish, we decorate Mig! Sarah also conquered some ribbon for her ponytail. "A good time was had by all."

Greg's preaching tonight for prayer meeting. I love to hear him--it is such a blessing to have a godly husband. I reverence him! Aside from my Saviour, he's God's greatest gift to me. Thirty-one years together! We met and married in 3 months--not something I'd necessarily recommend, but God was gracious and helped us, and we needed help! Lots of adjustments when you barely know each other at the start. The Boss marries The Baby (I was NOT the baby!). Without the Lord, it could have been a recipe for disaster. I'd never seen marriage done right. It's CRAZY how happy we are so many years later. Empty nest is terribly underrated! (I think that's so the kids will be eager to go; reverse psychology!). He chases me until I catch him. Joy. Not to mention all the bonding we've done over Scrabble. Our first game was a hoot--I had something like "phoenix," and he had "cat." If I recall correctly, he dumped the board (before we got the fancy kind! Thanks, Ledbetters!).

Trying to hang a new ceiling fan. I'm pretty good with directions, and adventuresome, but I see NOWHERE to hang the fan while I do the wiring! GAK! And it's HEAVY! My living room looks like an explosion at Home Depot! Gotta wait for my lover to help me. I'm off to straighten up. Have a blessed day (I get kinda nervous when I say, Have a nice day, because I don't know what their idea of a nice day is, and it might not be good!).

PS Just finished, Eats, Shoots and Leaves, a marvelous book about punctuation. The author is a blast--my kind of humor! I'm trying to include a semicolon just for her; I did it!

Typical Evening at the Risses'

Here's what our typical evening looks like. Isn't that layout neat? Nice diagonal. Lots of points there! The cup we use for the letters (Greg doesn't like the bag) says, All work and no pay makes a housewife. Yes, those are an English AND a Spanish dictionary. We play for blood. That's our third Scrabble dictionary. Our regular dictionaries are in shreds, as is our Strong's Concordance--we're on our second one. The only thing missing is hot cocoa, which we save for cold nights. The kids tell us this is one of their favorite memories of us. (Please wake up--I'm finished posting!)

Dear Benny

As we remain in this world, our dear brother, Benny, is right now with the Lord! Amazing thought--absent from the body, present with the Lord!

What a dear man. He leaves behind a family that is crying and trusting. He was such a blessing--quietly working in the background. It was such a joy to be around him. He always made me laugh, too, but was always ready to talk about the goodness of the Lord. He was so hospitable, and I count as some of my best times of fellowship those spent at his home. And he could cook some serious brisket--not corned beef, but serious Texas barbeque brisket. And he loved doing it for us.

His favorite song was "The Love of God," which is one of my favorites. One verse in particular I think is just exquisite:
Could we with in the oceans fill
And were the skies of parchment made
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade--
To write the love of God above
Would drain the oceans dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky.
I will always smile at the memory of dear Benny when I sing that, if I can make it through the song without crying.

Thank the Lord for His glorious salvation. He saved Benny, and He saved me. Trophies of grace. What a wonderful memory and legacy and heritage he leaves behind. I loved him.

Welcome Home!

Boy, howdy! I thought I was gonna have to start Blog #3 because I forgot my blogspot password in Georgia. It's good to be home, where I'm already logged in. Good thing.

Georgia! Land of New Baby Grands and Little People and Humidity. AND reasonable temperatures.

I was so sweetly introduced to Naomi Joy, age almost 2 months, shortly after arriving in Georgia. But first I must tell you about the flight! Hold on, little baby--be right back!

THE FLIGHT! Good thing Sarah came along with us and The Papa, as we really needed her! What a sacrifice--riding to D/FW in the back of the Mitsubishi between two car seats! True love. Two rolling suitcases, 2 carseats (one which comes apart extremely inconveniently!), a carry-on bag that leaked water all through the terminal (should've put the water in bottles: hindsight!), and two children: Ian, 4, and little Sarah, 2. The airport was packed (what's new), and I had no clue how to do the etickets. Good thing The Papa had to go to The Potty! He parked, and he and Sarah came in with us. They waited with the chillins while I figured out the etickets (what a convenience! You should've seen the LINES!!), and I called them to bring everything and everybody over (how did we EVER live before cell phones?!). Lovely check-in, and we said goodbye. As in Goodbye, carseats! Joy! (What a pain.)

THEN we had a 3-hour wait. The kids, to their credit, were great. To my credit, I was great, filling the carry-on bag with TREATS and new toys and other cool things. The little darlings played with their wind-up cars in the corner for a good amount of time, ate an amazing number of Nutri-Grain bars, and tried to talk me out of many bags of those fruit-chewy thingies. I thought to myself, if they get airsick, I don't even want to be on the same PLANET! GAK! I myself (how redundant, but makes sense in context) was forearmed with chewable Dramamine (technically, Bonine--not to be confused with all things cow-ish).

I am very grateful that my grandchildren have cast-iron bladders. I pictured my worst nightmare for this trip: "I have to go potty" on the plane! Those bathrooms are SMALL, and I could picture one of them HOWLING while I took the other one and left one behind to torture the neighboring passengers. And they kept asking for drinks the whole time at the airport, AND on the plane--water, Sprite. I prayed a lot. I don't know that they've gone potty yet. Beautiful children. They were great about flying, and we decided the clouds looked like marshmallow fluff, which is the marshmallow stuff in a jar (perfect with peanut butter sandwiches, a concoction which I introduced them to this visit. Try it.).

More on the next blog. I wonder if they fine you for making your entries too long....

The Adventures of Emmie

Wowie! Part-time mommy for 2 weeks! I'm thoroughly enjoying Ian and Sarah here. I sure don't have the energy I used to.... It has been good for me, and hopefully for them and their mommy and daddy. Grandpa's having a good time, too. Our patience isn't what it used to be, either.... I guess it's because we don't usually have so MANY opportunities to exhibit it in the course of a day. So many things I would have like to have done differently, or in addition, in training my children while they were home. The Lord knows.... More later on the Adventures of Emmie.

The Blog Queen

I must say I'm so intimidated! Christy can blog like no other! RATS! (Inferiority complex developing....) Sarah's blog is bought-with-a-price.blogspot.com, and the link is there for Christy's. I'll set up links on mine soon, when I make time, probably when Ian and Sarah get here tomorrow night. Seventeen days of baby grands! Whee!

I'm thinking I need to start another blog in addition to this one. This one is rapidly becoming the "Wanna see pics of my baby grands?" blog! HELP ME. I can't stop myself!

Abuelo's was great, in spite of the disappearing papas (not the "pope," and not fathers!). Their usually-outstanding papas (potatoes, for cc) were more like papa crepes, the size of a small coaster and considerably thinner (I was gonna say pancakes, but that would've made the layer too thick). New cook, I guess. (Maybe "papa soup" spilled on the corner of the plate?) (Circles don't have corners, though maybe ovals kinda do....)

And I meant this to be a serious, heavy blog. How I've strayed! As far as Target and Lie Down, at least we weren't far from the pillow section, where I was eyeing one that Christy liked that I was gonna bring her to use in her distress. Besides the side effect of swollen everthing-from-the-shoulders-up, she got a blue tongue. Where's WebMD when you need it?

For "for you, onny 4 dollas" I got a lovely fan with a pic of me and Christy (don't tell Sarah) to use in church, where the ladies will fight being jealous of me. I just want to say, When Greg throws out the trash, he throws out the trash, and everything else in the trunk. Hence the fate of the poor fan, which Christy courageously rescued. Her only comfort was that it was early in the morning, so she could skip the noxious fumes emitting from a ripe 120+ degree dumpster. Brave soul.

I'm ready for Mikayla to return (mistype--the DODSONS) . Christy and I are bonding waaaayyy too much, and, next thing you know, she'll be in our foster care! Getting paid to take care of Christy--now THAT'S an idea....

Enough nonsense for now. Our dear Shamburgers are back (yay!), along with our "oldest" friends, the Horners. Missed by all. Looking forward to slides and stories from India.

Love to all. Leave a comment sometime....

Lovely, lovely!

Here's our sweet flower girl. Better than a bench! And she's usually smiling!

Aren't they adorable? I can't wait to meet sweet little Naomi later this month!

And Abigail Rose is due the 25th of this month. How sweet can life get.... We are blessed! And I guessed three boys....

Isn't she lovely?

Cuteous girl, eh? Raise your hand if you can't believe that Sarah and Christy let her gum that nasty, dirty bench! GAK!

Today is one of my first days home in more than 2 weeks. I LOVE being home! My foot hurts today, so it's not a good day to be climbing the ladder to strip wallpaper border. NOTE: If you have any kind of liking for yourself, or for others, DO NOT put up wallpaper borders, except with staples, as Sarah and I did in her kitchen. Can't see them.

I'm in a reArranging mood, as a cute little friend used to call it. My most favorite photo (other than family) of the lighthouse in the storm has been relocated. The dear B family gave it to us when they saw my admiring it in the "Christian" book store. It is so beautiful. Must be the moving so often that "moves" me to reArrange furniture, since, joy!, it doesn't look like we're moving anytime soon.

This might get the prize for the most boring entry ever! Hang in there with me; I'll get inspired again soon, I hope (don't you?)!

Yours and His,
Vivian, aka Emmie and Pee Wee

The Girl of my Dreams

Introducing my mom! Isn't she cute (on the left!)?! She is such a joy. I "kidnapped" her from the nursing home today so she could spend the night. Greg's in Angelo at Paul's, as he has a school workshop tomorrow, so the timing is excellent.

She is so precious! She is the most giving person I know.

And a mean domino player. We didn't grow up playing sports (obviously) when I was a kid, so my mom doesn't know about good sportsmanship, which is why she LAUGHS when she beats me or I have to pick up a bunch of dominos right before she goes out! We had a serious talk about that, but she still laughs, or, worse yet, tries to hold it in. I love her so.

Back Home

Let's see what "Georgia" font looks like, as I was born there.

We're back home! I about got out and kissed the ground when we hit Texas. What a long, fun trip! It was our best ever, and our first sightseeing trip. Usually we go visit family or friends and come home.

Gregorio was a great sport, and drove most of the way. We had two days of 17+ hours in the car. Boy howdy. You really get to know each other with that much closeness! Not to mention the car is a Mitsubishi. Greg managed to crawl into the back seat while I was driving, which I tried to discourage, as I didn't care to have his foot whacking my head while I was trying to drive! He made it without mishap.

The first night we made it to McCook, Nebraska. Nice motel room--we managed to get "inexpensive" rooms when we didn't stay on base. We ate at more than one Perkins, which we really liked. Greg had to start with the comments to the waitress on who we are and this is Pee Wee and I didn't eat all this, though it was very good, because my tooth has been hurting. (They look at him so strangely.... At least he introduced me.) [A pet peeve: I HATE when waiters and waitresses introduce themselves! (We don't get enough time together to really bond.) And I HATE when they ask me how the food tastes! I think that is SO tacky and unprofessional. If I don't like it, they'll sure know it! And, as I seem to be unable to stop myself on pet peeves, I HATE when they ask, "What would WE like to eat today?" GAK! "Well, let's see what you're having, and I might just take a few bites off your plate, especially since you're buying...." ENUF!]

More later! Welcome home, Pee Wee!

Supper time

Good morning! I woke up to the smell of cooking brisket. One of my favorites! Now, for you "foreigners" (non-Texans, but not the Ledbetters), this does NOT mean corned beef! We're having our last fling before leaving for South Dakota and Minnesota tomorrow. You're all invited!

Who's been to Mt. Rushmore? (CC-watching it on TV doesn't count!) Tell me about it! We got a great history lesson on the area from our dear neighbors, N and S, at Cici's last night. I'd like to take them along! It's great knowing history teachers....

It'll be interesting visiting another church on Sunday, though I will miss ours TERRIBLY. Someone asked me about singing "specials" at our church, and I told them that our singing (congregational, NOT mine and Greg's!) is so excellent that we really don't NEED specials. Very true. We are blessed!

And today I get to go to Stephenville and meet a friend of a friend, or, to be more accurate, the sister-in-the-Lord of a sister-in-the-Lord. (Are you thoroughly confused?) I told her I'd have a rose in my teeth, so she could recognize me (more likely it will be spinach from lunch...). Looking forward to a blessed meeting! She sounds like a dear.

Greg is trying to get me out on the lake with him in Minnesota, as the boat comes with the room. He's always said being with me in a leaky canoe is better than a homemake apple pie from Dr. Michaela Quinn (from Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) (he thinks she's the prettiest lady on TV; lovely, as all you can see of her is her face and hands! whee!). (Also, he prefers a sharp stick in the eye from me than that apple pie.) (He is a strange man.) Anyway, I think I'll pass on the boat, even with a life jacket. I WILL wave to him from the safety of the shore. I don't like things that move, like oceans and lakes and rivers. They're pretty from a distance, or even from the shore, but I don't care for up-close-and-personal! I guess it's because it reminds me of being in labor, and driving on ice (preferably not at the same time!), the two times I'm not in control. (Is ANYONE following this train of thought?!)

Sorry, folks, but the high in Minnesota lately is in the high seventies! Can you say "BLISS"? It was 101 yesterday here, I believe. In a strange "twist of fate" (what a ridiculous phrase!), the last time I went, a 4th of July, it was 100 ther and 80 here! It was flooding here. Do you know that Minnows (people in Minnesota) don't have AIR CONDITIONING? Greg's friend had a 3-story house on the lake, full basement, and NO air conditioning! We went to a motel! GAK! I was sad.... The current temperature there is more normal for them....

More later! My most-wonderful son-in-love is lending me his laptop (I TOLD you he loves me!), so I can visit with everyone while I'm gone. It's worth a trip to Early to meet him. Plus you get to see Sarah and baby Mikayla, who just may exceed the cuteness-scale before she's a year old! My smiley baby!

Off to smell the brisket....

Some thoughts on tribulations

"For if you should see a man shut up in a close room, idolizing a set of lamps and rejoicing in their light, and you wished to make him truly happy, you would begin by blowing out all of his lamps, and then throw open the shutters to let in the light of heaven." --Rutherford in prison

"O how I pray that when God in his mercy begins to blow out my lamps, I will not curse the wind." --Piper

(This is paraphrased.) A woman long ago was thrown into a dungeon, where she delivered a child. The child was allowed to live with her, and never went outside. His mother could draw, and she would draw the outside world for him, which he had never seen, and try to explain the glories of it to him. He could not believe it could be so wonderful compared to what he had experienced, and asked, How can it be so wonderful if the lines (from the pictures) are gone?
--from When God Weeps by Joni Tada and Steve (forgot his last name)

What limited creatures we are! When our pastor prayed last week, this sentence from that prayer stuck with me. He said, Teach us to refuse sight, and take faith.

How we need our great God to open our spiritual eyes to behold spiritual things, and to think spiritually. How we need understanding! And how great is our God!

More later....

Yours and His,
Vivian
aka Aunt Vivian, Pee Wee, Emmie

Trying again

Good morning! Trying a totally new blog. Let's see if I can figure out pics and such. Come visit often!