How do you spell LOVE?

BOXES! People from all OVER are bringing me BOXES! I love these people! I need boxes!

You know who you are: THANK YOU!

Neighbors are coming out of the woodwork to bring me boxes. I feel so loved....

LOVE is spelled HELP. Sarah, Jewel of Early, whose price is FAR above rubies, came over today and helped me pack. You would think that with 2 babies under 3, she wouldn't be much help, but you don't know my Mimi if you think that! Whatadoll! I actually have HOPE that this apartment can be packed in three days!

LOVE is spelled RESTING. That's what Deborah let me and Greg do yesterday at her lovely home, between church meetings. It doesn't get any better than that. Thank you, loved one!

LOVE is also spelled HEMMING! Mary, I pledge my undying love to you (she is hemming two of the five dresses!). God is so good to me, sending me such friends and family.

LOVE is also spelled TAKING DOWN THE WALLPAPER BORDER I STAPLED UP THERE. Joseph, you already knew I have undying love for you; now I have MORE than ever! Thank you, blessed son-in-love! He pledged to take care of me in my old age, and he's getting an EARLY start (I sure can be punny!). How thankful I am for you! AND with a great attitude, AND after working 9 hours in 100+ heat at 3*M!

See how God has provided for me? !

LOVE is also spelled PREACHING THAT FEEDS THE SOUL. And I got that yesterday! Thank you, dear pastor (you'd think he'd comment at least once a year on here; sigh)! My cup runneth over. We had 13 visitors, not counting the spouse of one of our members. Can't wait to see what God's going to do! AND, if you want to hear the awesome message from Sunday morning, click here: http://sermonaudio.com/aashepard and look for "The Excellency of Christ." And check out anything else there--it's all GREAT! That's our pastor for you. God is good. Speaking thereof, there's a great pattern developing here, I was telling him: first, he preaches on my favorite story in the scriptures, the Canaanite woman, "Crumbs Undeserved" is the name of that one, and the two following on "Intercessory Prayer for the Lost," then he preaches on my favorite verse and the context thereof, Philippians 3:7-14! I am SO basking in the goodness of God to me!

Enough for now. My back is hurting, the packing calls me, and I have to figure out something to eat for tonight.

THANKS for your prayers, those who pray for me. I CANNOT thank you enough. Truly.

Yours and His,
Vivi (which no one but Ali calls me)
PS The "Watermelon Man" on the way to church was named Pee Wee Hamilton. How fun! (I'm sure he is cuter than I am. Greg met him.)

Blizzard's Coming!

Say hello to the wife of the new Winters, TX Special Ed teacher and coach! Nice to meet you!

We will be moving to Winters by mid-August, probably earlier. Yes, I said that dreaded four-letter word: move. Sigh. I will be leaving proximity to our two fabulous daughters, and for that I am sad. Except for that, I am so so happy for my husband! (I see Mom once a week now, so that won't change anything.)

And we already got an apartment! It's a 2/2, slightly smaller than we have now. And laugh--the privacy fence houses a yard about 18" by 36". Tres cute. (I think I could have a decent garden in that plot.) That fence is major overkill! There is a little "patio" (I think it'll hold one chair) within this fence. The outer yard is nice and well-kept. It's a duplex--did I mention that? And there's a 2-car driveway. A half-mile away from school. (I may get a bike, but first I have to get into shape to ride one! The last time I tried, I got almost half a block away before I almost died. Time to work on that!)

So that's the latest here. Working on the "wedding dresses" for the little people. I cannot start packing until I finish them--too much chaos! All prayers would be greatly appreciated. If this apartment can get filled for 1 August, we won't lose a month's rent, which would be a blessing!

Signing off for now. Love to all.

PS Winters' mascot is a blizzard. Not Dairy Queen's.

What a Blessing!

Mike's coming! I am so glad; I miss my baby boy (now the father of three!). He's doing the raw experiment for 30 days, and so far, so good. I'm gonna make him some fun, yummy food while he's here. And I've lost 11 lbs. in 25 days--not too shabby! I'm pleased, and I'm enjoying myself.

Baby Grace and her family were here last weekend for Christy's shower, which was a lot of fun (both their visit and the shower). (And THAT was a poorly-constructed sentence!) Little Luke has lost more teeth than Ian, who's a year older. Interesting. I love the toothless look (just on kids and hockey players) (are you out there, CC, almost CH?).

Gotta get to sewing! I have five dresses to make for the wedding, scheduled for August 2nd. Greg's gonna marry them (doesn't THAT sound weird!), and he's getting things ready for that. She'll get married where Sarah did, which is fun. And yours truly is the photographer. Yikes!

Hopefully we will see Paul again this weekend. And Leilani (correct spelling) was a joy. Beautiful girl. We made some fun food together.

And our pastor is blessing me like crazy preaching on my favorite account in the Bible--the Canaanite woman with the possessed daughter (Matthew 15:21-28). This week will be Message #3. You can hear these on http://sermonaudio.com/aashepard and they will be under "Crumbs Undeserved" and "Intercessory Prayer for the Lost." I am a learning woman. And I continue to pray for my babies, and my baby grands, and all those related thereto. God is good!

Well, now that I've left you with the most interesting post ever, I'll sign off. My Faithful Four (and you know who you are)--please leave the required comment. Love to all!

The Thoughtfulness of God

How thoughtful is He? Well, I just started doing the bulletin for church, and I'm printing them at home. A trip to the thrift store yesterday yielded a great sale, with BOTH my printer inks there (and no others--do you KNOW how many kinds of ink there are?!), and they were $.99 each!!!!!! The regular price for both is at least $60 at Wal**Mart. I almost started crying right there. Wonderful! And books were 12/$1, and I found a bible, in great shape, for $.08, non-taxable! "More to be desired are they than gold," speaking of God's words. It was a great day. And I thank the Lord for His thoughtfulness.

Groceries!

Today I'm getting groceries! Paul's bringing me some good stuff from Austin. Looking forward to a little variety in my eating. Almost 3 weeks, and I've lost 9 lbs. and gained stronger fingernails! Mine are usually the strength of wet egg noodles, but, hey, they've gotten stronger!!! Who'd a thunk it? Next thing you know, I'll have a fat french braid going down my back. Look for it next week--the week my 12 hairs will multiply into thousands! I believe I'm staying on this way of eating from now on. And that is with the smell of brisket in the air--it's for tomorrow's meal after church. Talk about my used-to-be favorite food. No pain, no loss....

And looking forward to having Paul, the firstborn, here for the evening. He's bringing his friend, Lelani (sp?), and we're looking forward to meeting her. AND she's bringing her blender, so I get to meet that, too. We're planning on "not cooking" up some good food tonight! Stop by for a bite.

Yesterday's Fourth of July bash at Sarah's went so well! There were 34 folks there last night, and we had SUCH a good time! I took lots of fun photos, and everyone was happy. I think that not one child cried (Ian hurt his finger, and I think that was it)! And that's with 17 children there! We even had 2 Ians. And if you know Ian, you know the only thing better than 1 Ian is two of them. I love that boy.

Tomorrow's church, fellowship dinner, and then Christy's shower. I am busy, busy, and loving it!

Good evening for now. Tomorrow the church gets its first bulletin put together by yours truly. I'm striving to learn more on the creative side of it. But it's pretty vanilla for tomorrow.

You're invited to show some love in the form of a comment. Help yourself!

Finally! No news.

Psych! Actually, I thought it might actually happen, but it didn't. And it wasn't my decision. (Phew!)

We considered, and looked at, and drove, an RV which we were considering to LIVE IN! A 27-footer, even! (DO YOU KNOW HOW LITTLE THAT IS?) Shock #1--No bedroom, just a bed above the driver and passenger. Shock #2--NO CLOSET! Just for the record, I WAS WILLING! to give up everything, as Greg has always said that's his dream when it's just him, as he feels he needs hardly anything to exist, and the less the better. I would hate to have to die for him to have his dream fulfilled (sad, eh), so I consented to getting rid of EVERYTHING for him. And he decided no. (Pardon my relief!)

One reason I married this man is because I could tell I'd never be bored: sad, mad--yes, but never bored. He hasn't disappointed me yet. The only time I fell asleep on him I was on medication.

Greg and our pastor are heading home tomorrow from OK. They went to the bible conference there. I MISS MY HUSBAND! Enough! And all I'm saying is this: Prediger didn't need the earplugs.

I was all ready to sew, and then my sewing machine quit on me. Sigh.

The raw food thingie is going pretty well so far. Avocados! I know God was thinking of me when He created those. Delicioso!

Off to read some, and listen to more of the conference. Live WebCam is so awesome!

Thanks for the comments. Two people sure know how to make me feel loved, and you know who you are.

The Experiment

Howdy, loved ones! God has been doing some wonderful things around here lately, and I hope to have great news (fabulous news!) for you soon. (No, I'm not pregnant! ; ) ) And the other news is that I'm trying a raw diet for three weeks. (I'll give you a moment to pick yourself off the floor before I continue.) If you know me, you know I'm Mrs. Skeptic--yeah, right! But the eating is, believe it or not, DELICIOUS! (I didn't believe it, either.) And just about anything you crave that cooked has a raw version that is, I'm discovering, scrumptious, and even more satisfying. Interesting, eh. And I can make raw chocolate, and if you're nice to me, you can have a taste of it. And you won't be disappointed! Ingredients: love, cacao powder, agave nectar (some yummo stuff!), sea salt, coconut oil, AVOCADO (GAK! who knew?), cayenne pepper (double GAK!), and maybe jalapeno! All I'm saying is: You will be surprised.

Is this a spiritual "journey"? NO. Just trying something that may be able to help me with some problems. Mainly, I want to get off blood pressure medicine and horomones in pill form. And guess what? I feel great. Go figure. I'll keep you "posted." (I do love a good pun!) I may even start including recipes, for a not-cook book (I do exceed in cleverness, do I not?). And don't tell anyone (yes, I know it sounds ridiculous!), but I'm massaging greens now. Shhhh. And they like it. They just close their eyes and sigh contentedly. (I will spare you the explanation of breaking down cell walls, leading to ease of digestion....)

And, the funny part is, you haven't heard the most surprising part of all this yet! But I save that for the next post....

I remain, suspensefully yours,
Yours and His,
Vivian, Vivi (why won't people call me Vivi? I like it.) aka Emmie, aka Pee Wee Risse

Rant! and other musings....

Why does the world have to ruin the good words? For example: lover. "Jesus, Lover of my Soul." What's wrong with that?

The world has taken that word to mean the person with whom you are committing adultery. And that makes me angry. It's a beautiful word: the one who loves you. GRRRR!!

OK, I feel better now.

My precious husband has been gone for almost 2 weeks, and will be back on Monday! Yippee! I'm crazy about that guy, and I'm missing him mucho. We do love those happy reunions. I thank the Lord for the time alone with Him--blessed I am. And got plenty of time with others around here, got a few invites, my cousin and her LOVER visited for 4 days, got to play with the baby grands, and managed a few trips to WallaWallaWorld, which is a 7-minute walk, door-to-door. Of course, this 7-minute walk can only occur between the hours of 6 and 7 AM! It was 101 today! And, believe it or not, I was out in it. "Military Appreciation Day" at Camp Bowie. It's a tie whether the highlight thereof was the female warrior joust (please ask!) or the pavillion's shade I borrowed from the National Guard, who so kindly loaned Brother and me their camping chair. (They asked, Wilt thou? And I wilted.)

Brother is really finding his voice nowadays. I LOVE to listen to him! He is the cutest guy. And his BIG SISTER is having dry pants nowadays (go, Kayba!), just like her Emmie. (Aren't you proud of us?)

"Like" is in the air, and that's all I'm saying on that!

Our prediger is preaching a series on discouragement. I'm sure it'll be in my future, but right now I'm not discouraged. It's been a great two weeks, albeit a lonely two weeks without my LOVER, and I am very encouraged.

Our prediger is on Sermon Audio (http://sermonaudio.com/aashepard. What a fantastic website--more than 185,000 sermons on there! And monthly we receive a report of how many "listens" we have had. April: 970! May: 1710!! And this from a church of 22 members and a pastor we truly don't deserve. All glory to God. How could I NOT be encouraged about it? And more than 500 of those "listens" were in China! Isn't that awesome? I'm praying for our dear listeners all over the world. God is so good! Our pastor, I have decided after reading a few books about them, is a modern-day Puritan. I'm loving it, though he HAS gotten quite adept at quitting preaching and going to meddling. And I welcome the "meddling." I need it. Saw a website that said, One sign that you're a Calvinist is reading a book's preface, introduction, dedication, foreword, and table of contents so you can be convicted. I LOVE that! And if you've read those kinds of books, you know what I'm talking about.

So that's my rant, and those are my musings. I miss fellowship dinners every Sunday. I love our little church, though I'm looking forward to God growing us. I love the ministries we have, and the sweet ladies from the nursing home who visit every week. They are precious.

So, a blessed Sunday to all tomorrow. I love you, and remember, nothing says "I love you" like a comment, for, "to comment is to love." Selah.

My Precious Cousin and Her Lover

Aren't they beautiful? Almost 39 years! I love 'em!

Love the Family!

Here are these beautiful folks. The occasion is Johnny's baptism at Memory Lake in Coleman. What a blessing to have them with us! Love those babies!

Grace's LAME move...

See what I mean? An obvious camera trick. I LOVE YOU, GRACIE!

But Can You Do THIS After Eating Chicken, Sausage, Hamburgers, Salad, Mac and Cheese, Beans, and Drinking Tea?????

Here they are! Eat your heart out, Gracie! Top THAT!

Take THIS, little Gracie!

Little Laughing Boy

Is he not the cutest? I could make this boy smile all day long. I'm in love!

New Blog

Hello, Faithful Four! I've got a new blog at http://sovereigngracesermons.com. In it I have links to our pastor's sermons, and comments and discussion on them. Please pray for me in this, and come visit sometime. "To comment is to love." I'll keep Circle of Grace for "newsy" stuff. Thanks for reading!

I AM such a showoff!

My techie, Misty, helped me do it! A slight improvement over the other one, eh. Yippee!

Sorry

I'm over my pity party: worms don't taste that great.

More later. To comment is to love. Thanks for the love. I send hugs to all commentators!

Howdy!

Spring Break is coming up! I just finished my FOURTH round of antibiotics, so hopefully I'll get a break from the bronchitis for a time.

And not much else is going on. I'm going to get on a sewing kick, hopefully. I have lots to do.

What are you reading right now? I'm finishing "Amazing Grace," about abolition, and about 3/4 finished with "Puritians: Their Origins and Successors," which sounds dry, dry, but has actually been outstanding, and even made me cry more than once. Revival! And I just got "The Brothers Karmakov," which looks pretty weighty, literally (ha!) and literarily (is that a word?). I'll let you know.

What are YOU reading?

Lotsa News

What a delinquent. Here's some of the latest.

I'm going to Abilene later to get Mom from the hospital. She didn't need angioplasty, for which I am very thankful. I get my dear mom a little bit longer. She is precious.

Had a great time in McKinney, where I'm treated like a queen. La Hacienda fajitas! And I get to love on the baby grands, to boot.

Sick, sick. Greg is sick--I'll spare you the details. He went to work today but HAS NOT EATEN, so you know he's miserable. And I'm getting sick again--the nasty cough is back. I am VERY thankful for feeling great for a whole month, after being sick for the previous 3.

I'm enjoying our newest little guy. I've got a new move called "Joseph in the Carseat." I'll demo on request. Miggy remains the great little sis.

I get Principessa around for a bit, as her house is being worked on. How great is that!

This is dull, dull. But I do think that Grace likes to read this. So here it is.

Love to all!

Lotsa Babies!

Here are the three same-aged cousins, including Miss Droopy Drawers in the middle. They were born in March, June, and July, and will all turn 2 this year. Whee! They are precious, and each so different from the others. Miss Miggy (Droopy) is the boss, as she's the oldest, and the bossiest. To the left is Bemmie, who is Miss Mellow, as she just takes whatever comes. And Miss Abs, on the right, just does her own thing. She's otherwise known as Poncho Abby. (No relation to "Villa.") We also have two more rounds of baby grands: Sarah and Anna are 3 months apart, and Luke and our new baby Jojo are 5 months apart. Am I loving this?! Get-togethers are only getting funner! God is good.

PS To the Risse/Dodson couples of child-bearing ages and capabilities: We may need 2 more boys for a little more balance here. (Just thought I'd put my order in early....)

(You may recall I originally intended my blog to be for spiritual encouragement and edification. Sigh.)