Playing Catch-up....

Finally I have managed to get a few spare minutes to catch my breath!

These last two weeks have been hectic but really blessed. I will make a few posts rather than try to put it all on this one....so follow along....

I will start where I left off....

On June 13th Robert and I celebrated our 17th Wedding Anniversary.

Robert took me out for a wonderful evening in Sacramento.... and then we headed down to the coast to San Simeon,CA on Monday 15th for a few days

The scenery was breathtaking...

The company....the best!!!(and the timer on the camera worked perfectly)

we saw where God's creation met man's ingenuity....

We stayed in a regular, but very comfortable hotel...
..and enjoyed breakfast on the patio...

God has been very good to us over these last few weeks, He doesn't have to be since we were once such wretched creatures and still struggle with our sin, but He lavishes His love and bounty upon us, how can we not love and serve Him with all our hearts souls and minds....

Next we will visit Hearst Castle.....

If you go out to the beach today.....

If you go out to the beach today....

You're sure of a big surprise!

If you go out to the beach today

You'd better go in disguise.

For every bear that ever there was

Will gather there for certain, because

Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic.

Picnic time for teddy bears,

The little teddy bears are having a lovely time today.

Watch them, catch them unawares,

And see them picnic on their holiday.

See them gaily dance about

They love to play and shout.

And never have any cares.

At six o'clock their mommies and daddies

Will take them home to bed

Because they're tired little teddy bears.

~~~~~~~

We were having some fun today making cupcakes for fellowship night at the church tomorrow. The girls had a great time making these little teddy bear decorations.

You simply make whatever flavour of cupcakes you like. Ice them with vanilla flavoured frosting coloured blue. Sprinkle them with blue sugar. Make little beds/mats/towels out of fruit foot long candy. You can also use fruit flavoured lifesavers as floaty rings to put the teddys into. We also put some brown sugar on some as sand. Then place on little teddy Graham crackers and some umbrellas.

Have fun and use your imagination!!

~~~~~~~

Learning from a little letter....

Since we are finished schooling for the Summer, I get to go to Prayer Meeting regularly on a Wednesday night at church.Robert is leading them at the minute and started a series on the book of Philemon. It has been very helpful and I don't think I had ever heard it preached on before. It is one of those little books you read through and pass on. So I thought I would take this opportunity to share with you what I have benefitted from tonight and through the summer.

We could say that this book shows us the grace of the gospel in the lives of men.

Introduction: This first installment covered the basics of the book, who wrote it?, when?, and what are the main themes of the book.

So....

I. Author: Paul, we can take this from v1"Paul, a prisoner of Christ and Timothy our brother."

II. Date: c AD 60-62 during Paul's imprisonment for the sake of the gospel, at the same time he wrote Colossians and Ephesians, cf Colossians:4 v 7-9

III. Theme: The reconciling power of the gospel.

IV. Outline:
a) Purpose and Greetings v1-3
b) Thankfulness and Prayer v4-7
c) Persuasive Appeal v8-20
d) Closing Remarks v21-25

V. Context of the Letter: Philemon lived in Colosse, was converted as a result of Paul's ministry ( most likely during his third missionary journey and his work in esus) and was a personal friend of the apostle. He was well known for his christian love; observe v1,2,5,7,19.

First, we will briefly consider

a) The Purpose and Greeting ....

Philemon was obviously a beloved friend and brother. The church met in his house v2. At some point, Onesimus, one of Philemon's slaves had fled as a fugitive to Rome. In God's sovereignty he had come into contact with Paul and become a Christian. Although Paul would have liked him to stay, Paul knew he had to return to sort out the wrongdoing with his Master, Philemon. Therefore, Paul writes this letter as an appeal to Philemon to appreciate the transformation that has occurred in Onesimus's life and to recieve him back not merely as a slave but as a "beloved brother" v16.
The beginning of this letter follows Pauls typical style, but it is addressed to a person, namely Philemon rather than a community.

v2 Apphia may have been Philemon's wife; Archippus may have been Philemon's son and may have had a significant ministry in Colosse (see Col 4:17) the church in your house...

Next week we will get into the letter proper and look at b) Thankfulness and Prayer v4-7

....And Great Was It's Fall...

We had all settled down for our 'Knowing God' study at church tonight, we were looking forward to understanding the 'Jealousy of God'. Suddenly, there was a great crash and mighty rumbling, we looked up at the top windows of the sanctuary to see a great bough from one of the trees outside come crashing to earth!!

Sorry this is not a great picture it was taken on the phone...but you get the idea...

it had fallen from a great height...

so the city was called and duely arrived.....

This video shows it a bit better....

Thankfully, there was not much damage to the church building and a mercy that no one was walking by when it fell. Had it been 24 hrs earlier as everyone fellowshipped after church outside it may have been a different story I was posting.....

Isn't God good and merciful, even his hand is on the tree limb....

...a little added benefit was that I got firewood for our firepit over the summer nights!!

First Day at Work.....

Big day today in the Briggs Household......

Our oldest daughter, Lois started her job at 'Chick-fil-a'..... She works from 11am to 2pm......
I can't believe I have a daughter going out to work already.....
even though I also worked part-time at the same age....

God bless you Lois, we love you and are proud of you achievements....

~~~~~

I also thought this morning I haven't put many recipes on recently so I decided to make some blueberry muffins....

and would you believe I even remembered to take pictures!

My egg/yogurt mixture turned out pink as I only had a cherry/vanilla yogurt, it didn't affect the flavour and they turned out fine.....

This mixture is very thick and lumpy, do not worry it is supposed to be like that.

If you like blueberries, these muffins are bursting full of them.

Let me know if you give them a try and how they turn out.

Stormy, Stormy Night......

Last night was the lightning storm of all lightning storms....

I have never seen anything like it.....

It began around 8:45pm Wednesday and I was still watching it at 3:30am Thursday.....

I tried to video some of it but all I got was a few small flashes at the end....

As usual I didn't think about the video until it was finishing....

However here is some video I got off You Tube it gives a feel for the intensity of it...

This is quite long ...you don't have to watch it all .....

This reminded me of God's power over creation, His anger with sin and yet His mercy in withholding from us that which we deserve...

Psalm 77:17-18

"The clouds poured out water;

The skies sent out a sound;

Your arrows also flashed about

The voice of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;

The lightnings lit up the world;"

"O tell of His might, O sing of His grace

Whose robe is the light and canopy space

His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form

And dark is His path on the wings of the storm."

"God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform;

He plants his footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm."

~William Cowper

"When we worship the Lord, let’s remember that He is in control.

Nothing alarms Him, or takes Him by surprise.

Nothing is too big for Him to handle, or so small it escapes His attention.

When the winds of my world begin to blow, He remains seated.

When raging waves surround me,

He governs their temper…I need not be moved …

Because the Lord is seated and sovereign…

He alone is sovereign."

~Ronald James

'No news is good news'.....

Mum....
I don't know if it's a familiar saying here in America but back home its very common.

"No news is good news!"

i.e. if you haven't heard from someone it means everything is probably OK. Well this is the case with my mum. Sorry I haven't been very faithful to update my blog about her, but I have been in touch every other day with my dad.

She has been moved to another Hospital in Ballycastle, Co. Antrim.(Here pictured) She is here for physiotherapy and recuperation. I actually spoke to her today for the first time in 3 weeks! She was in good form, even though we had a bad connection. She is just waiting patiently to be sent home. Her hands are still in bandages and she cannot use them very well. She heads back to Londonderry on Tuesday for some more work on her elbow and hands. She is hopeful that she might get sent home after that.

Graduation.....

On Tuesday our second eldest, Esther graduated from Middle School to High School. There was a ceremony at her school, Horizon Charter, that we all attended. She has worked hard this year even though math tried to get the better of her a few times, we are very proud of her achievements and look forward to a restful summer. Here she is pictured with the Principal, Mrs Rosalee Hagstrom.

So concludes my update about things in the Briggs' Household. I am so glad to be finished school for the summer. I have a list of things the length of your arm to achieve over the holidays. (Don't tell the kids!!:) So I am going to rest a couple of days and then get stuck in. I'll try to keep up to date with things as I go along.

I do want to do a post on "What's on your Nightstand?" that Mrs Elaine Wallace has mentioned on her blog. My books may be scattered all over the place rather than on my nightstand, but you get the idea....

We have 16 new members giving testimony both this and next week in Sunday School. It will be a good time in God's House. May you also have a blessed day in the House of God tomorrow.

"I was glad when they said to me:We will go, into the house of the Lord."

Psalm 121

Memorial Weekend Project.....

For any of you who have visited with us since we moved house, you would know that our back yard had a lot to be desired. It was a preverbial jungle of weeds, left over 'rubbish and generally untidy.

I am bad at remembering to take the before pictures but I do have some after ones.....

We have tackled different areas over the past year and are getting closer to the end. Last year we set up our pool and put stones around it, but the other part lay as waste ground. Two weeks ago a friend, who is a gardener, came over, prepared the ground and helped us lay the turf.

It hasn't been cut yet, but is looking good. Not quite Wembly or Wimbledon but we are thankful.

Then this week I decided to build a little wall on the opposite side. Nothing very intricate or difficult but efficient and pretty (I think!) So with the help of Jen, who is staying with us at the minute and more than one trip to Home Depot, we put it together. Here it is......I have so enjoyed building, planting, watering and generally enjoying God's wonderful creation. The dirt you can still see is going to have more stones put on it, but that's for another day.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and a Happy Memorial Day, whatever you found to do.

This is our last week of school...YEAH!! I have plenty more projects up my sleeve for the days ahead. In the meantime I can sit in my back garden and enjoy the ones already completed.