Friday, August 22, 2008

Baby Steps

Another week gone and another weekend has come. Where does the time go? Someone asked me how I was doing. I said because of God's grace I am doing pretty good. The weeks seem to fly by and I can't even tell you why. I just know that I am always busy so when I come home, I am ready to be home and rest. Every day I thank the Lord for my home that Roger and I bought together and loved together. What wonderful memories I have here. I am making some changes; some big and some small. Some of the changes are ones that will help me more on without the constant memory of Roger when I see it. I still have the memory in my heart and that is the best place for it to be. One of the changes I questioned if Roger would have approved of. I was told by a very good friend of Rogers, "Joyce, this is your house now." He probably doesn't even realize how encouraging that was to me. I don't have to feel guilty with my changes and that this is just another stage in moving on. It is baby steps but they are steps no less.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Blessed Be The Name

Do you know the song, Blessed Be the Name of the Lord? The words are He gives and takes away; my heart will choose to say, Blessed be Thy Name. He did take away but each day I choose to believe and trust Him. How could I not; He is so good to me. This weekend was a full and fun weekend. I spent Friday night with Jason and Carolyn and then Saturday afternoon My brother, Dale, and sister-in-law, Judy, came over to help me with somethings around the house that I couldn't do by myself and then we went out for dinner. God has given me such a wonderful family; Brothers that are always happy to help me and sister-in-laws who I would rather call sisters because they care for me.

Nahum 1:7 The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble, He cares for those who trust in Him.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Roger's Walk in Rochester

PUT ON YOUR WALKING SHOES. On Saturday, October 25, there will be a Brain Tumor 5k walk in Rochester put on by the Mayo Clinic. We thought that would be a fun way to remember Roger and to raise funds; all the proceeds go directly to brain research. If you go to www.brainstogetherforacure.org, it will tell you all about it. If you register online it is $20. There is no raising of funds just the registration fee. We are trying to get as many people informed incase this is something they would like to participate in. I am going to be ordering about 20 photo buttons of Roger for whoever would like to have one to wear on the walk. My great niece, Breanne (and she is great) had this wonderful idea of the walk and she is helping me organize it so as we get more info, I will send it out on the blog. If you know of anyone that might be interested and might not know of this blog, would you please let them know. I know Roger would be thrilled to know that we are raising research funds to help fight the brain cancer and tumor monster but he would also be happy to know that we would all be spending time together.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Roger's Birthday

Tomorrow will be another first. Roger's birthday without being able to celebrate with him. I am not sure how I am going to feel tomorrow. I don't think I will miss him anymore than I already do. I don't think that would be possible. If Roger were here, we would probably spend the evening with Jason and Carolyn and that is what we are still going to do. The three of us will go to visit Roger and remember all the good times we had together. This year Roger will not be getting a year older on his birthday; he will be forever young. I think he got the best birthday gift of all on April 10; he met Jesus face to face and heard, "Welcome home my child."

Monday, August 11, 2008

The Lost Has Been Found

Oh, God is so good! My Bible has been found! I know you are going to ask where I found it and actually it was never lost but misplaced by yours truly. I have no idea how it got downstairs in my cumputer closet but it did. I must have gone down to file some papers and put my Bible down on a stool and there it has been ever since. The feeling I had when I saw it was overjoy; it is so hard to explain for you to understand unless you have gone thru a death of a close loved one. My Bible to me is my lifeline and I know I could go and get another but this one was so special to me; you see, every day I would read scripture to Roger from this Bible. If he was sitting down in his (Archie) chair, lying in bed at night, or lying in his hospital bed, he would ask me to read scripture to him. Reading God's Word did an amazing thing for both of us; It had us focus on God and His promises rather than our fears of what the future would hold for us. My Bibles are very special to me because I want to give each of my boys one when the Lord calls me home. I know how special that was for them when they each received one of Roger's. Carrie, my daughter-in-law, e-mailed me to tell me that she is not going to believe that the Bible is lost but that I would find it and she was right. She knows me well!

God is faithful in the little things so just think how faithful He is in the big stuff. Whatever you are going thru right now, don't give up. Read His Word and digest it and cling to it.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Lost and Found

I have misplaced something very special to me; my Bible. The last time I had it was on Sunday and I was hoping that I had left it at church and it would be there waiting for me but it wasn't. I had so many written notes in there and some papers that had special meaning to me. I am praying that if I don't get it back that someone who has it will read it and growing in their faith. I will wait and see what the Lord does before I go get another Bible.

Last week I lost my cookie! No, I am not crazy. The cookie I lost was on my computer and for those of you who have no idea what I am talking about you are not alone; I am not sure what it is either. All I know, I have to have it on my computer so I started following the instructions on the computer on how to get it back and I did it. I figured what do I have to lose (accept my cookie)! The things you can learn when you have to.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Sing a Joyful Noise

This was a beautiful day of worship. I went to church and today I decided to not look for someone that I knew to sit with but to sit in a row by myself. That was a big step; one that I was working towards doing some day. I kind of surprised myself when I did it. I felt the Lord encouraging me to take another step of firsts. I wasn't alone long when a couple Roger and I knew came to sit with me. God does that; He always takes care of me. I have learned that obedience brings blessings. During the worship time we sang Hope of all Nations; a song that I remember Roger singing in church. As we were standing and singing, I could hear Roger singing along. It seemed like he was right beside me singing as loud as he could praising the Lord. It seemed so real that I had to look over to see if he was there. He loved to sing in church. He was never self conscious; he was there to worship his Lord. Roger and I often said to each other that we were singing a joyful NOISE unto the Lord!