My Little Christmas Spot

I wanted to share my little Christmas spot here in San Diego....I am looking forward to coming "Home for Christmas" to the snow, family and friends! We leave tomorrow morning!
Thank you God for such a gift as the Son of God, born of a virgin to be a light to the Gentiles and the glory of His people,Israel. The Savior of the World, Immanuel, God with us! It's all about the gift, the promise fulfilled, the offer eternal life to all who believe.....Will you accept the gift?

I love the celebration of His first Advent and look forward to His second Advent when he will reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Let us be watching so that we will not be like the many who missed His first coming because it was not "the way" they expected it to happen.

O Mandy Pick a Bale of Cotton

Remember that song? On our trip to Texas we happened by a bale of cotton, a little bigger than "Mandy's" I'm sure.... since it is machine picked and baled.
I wanted to put up pictures for the kids to see how the cotton is grown and picked. It's not something you get to see in Idaho. Also, on the educational side I put in a picture of mistletoe growing in the tree. Another item you don't get to see in Idaho. Pa Pa Bill got under it to pull some from the tree, but it was too dangerous to kiss him while he was standing on the trunk of the car reaching for it.
We had a good visit in Texas with Trey and Granny and Eldon, Bill's brother.
Love to all,
Mom, AKA Leslie, Ruthie, Grandma

Thanksgiving

Did I remember to take pictures of the family at the table? No, how utterly strange of me....consummed with thoughts of dinner preparations no doubt.
However, we did have a lovely time with the kids, Shonna and Adam, Jerry and Jessica and Mom and Dad.
We were also suprised to have some little Indian show up at our feast....I wonder where He came from...
...I think he was from the Allen Tribe.
Love to all,
Mom AKA Leslie, Ruthie, Grandma

No greater Joy!

I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth. IIIJohn 1:4
It is such a blessing to me to watch my kids taking their responsibilty as parents seriously. Anyone can have a kid, but it takes dedication to raise a godly child in such a fallen and messed up world.
I was so proud of Jerry and Jessica as they spoke their written vows to little Cohen when they dedicated
him to the Lord. It truly does give me great joy.... I can only imagine the heartache one would feel if you had to watch your children leave God's path and screw up their lives and the lives your grandchilden, that is one of the reasons I pray for them every day.
I know that it is not easy to be a good parent. In fact, I would venture to say that the hardest thing you'll ever do, (if you choose to do it well) is to be a Mother/Father.
For a mom to create a home filled with love, a place of refuge, a place of learning,a place of order,a place of fun and fond memories for her family,is a 24/7 job.(and I didn't even mention the cooking and cleaning) It requires so much more than a "punch the clock" job and although there is no monetary income from the constant giving of oneself, the value is priceless.
And for the Father who's providing, leading, loving and protecting his family, showing them the way to the Heavenly Father, there may be no earthly recognition, but again, a priceless value as you present your family to the Lord on the day of accounting when we stand before the King of Kings and answer for what we did with what He gave us.
Since the world won't recognize this value, be sure to tell each other how much it means to you and how much you appreciate each others efforts! So....I am proud of you Jer and Jess, I'm behind you in prayer and available for whatever...and I love you both.
I am so blessed by all of my kids and their spouses. God has definitely been good to me. Thank you, Thank you, Lord!

As you can see, this very special moment just wore poor little Cohen out!!
Love to all, Mom AKA Leslie, Ruthie, Grandma

The Surprise!

"Come in, come in!"

"We've already started the party! - Who is it anyway??"
Abbie hollered from the lighted front porch. She was unable to see who that "guest" was that was walking toward them in the dark. As the mysterious person stepped into the light.....the surprise on their faces were evident....Grandma!!!!What are you doing here??? How did you get here!!! We thought you were in California!!! What a great surprise!
We stepped into the house where my daughter Shannon is on the phone, "I've got to go now, Mom is here.....MOM IS HERE!!? MOM!!! What are you doing here??!!!"
This was the scene that played out yet again as Lani arrived with her kids and my Mom and Dad. It was so much fun for me to be the surprise at the party. Soaking up hugs and kisses from the little ones. We were celebrating Micah's 9th birthday and Charis' 7th birthday. Hard to believe these grandkids are growing up so. My daily prayer for each of them is that they grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. They are such a blessing!

Love to all!
Mom AKA Leslie,Ruthie,Grandma

Wow! Has it been a long time since I’ve updated my blog or what??? My excuse? Hmmm….... I haven’t been in the mood? Whatever the reason, I’m going to do it now.
September and October have been filled mostly with fishing trips on the weekends and during the week I’ve been working on and off on the Christmas sewing projects I started.
Mom and Dad came down for a week this month and happened to be here the weekend we needed to take the “Net Gain” down to Ensenada to dock it at the Marina Coral for a few months. We hopped in the boat and took off for the 70 mile ride on a Friday afternoon getting in to the Marina after dark. We saw dolphins and whales on the ride down and Bill totally enjoyed having the auto pilot on the boat fixed so that he sit back while the boat stayed on course. I think Mom and Dad totally enjoyed the boat ride and we were glad to have them along. We had a fantastic weekend, staying at the Hotel there. Shonna and Adam drove down on Saturday to be our ride back home and we all took the boat out fishing on Sunday before leaving.
We didn’t know if the tuna would be biting or not, we hoped, for Mom and Dad’s sake, that they were so they would have a chance experience the thrill of bringing one into the boat. Well, thank you Lord!
Our wish was granted and both Mom and Dad hooked up with a tuna. Dad brought in a feisty Bonito tuna and Mom brought in (with a little help from Bill) a nice Yellowfin tuna. Unfortunately, when you look at the picture of Mom’s fish, we didn’t get the whole fish in the picture, but you can tell by the head about how big it was, I think it was in the 25 – 30 lb class. They had so much fun and were so tickled to have the chance to catch a tuna! We enjoyed watching them as much as they enjoyed the fishing.

Bill and I took a little weekend trip to visit Ken and Bev in Arkansas. We planned to go stripper bass fishing but ended up just fishing for large mouth bass. It was fun, I’ve never bass fished before and we had fun “attracting” them to our lures. Ken fried them up in beer batter the next day and we had the best fish fry, it was delish ! Yummm! (To quote Rachel Ray)
We had a great visit with Ken and Bev, it was good to catch up with them. We also spent a considerable amount of time bemoaning our fears of the upcoming elections. Scared to death we are going to have an Obama presidency. Bill alone remains optimistic that it isn’t going to happen. I SO hope he’s right! Ken and Bev send their love to all the family and especially wanted us to let Marcus know they have been praying for him.
We love you all and miss you. Be praying for the elections!