My Mom

I have wanted to write this for years but somehow just never got around to it. I've asked Mom to do it and she hasn't done it either. Her story is amazing and tells a lot about her. I'm not sure if I will get it right because Mom seldom talked about growing up and as a child I seldom asked questions. What I'm going to write is what I remember of stories I've heard or been told.

My Mom was born in Essen, Germany, on April 18 1933. She has 2 brothers, Hans and Mario, and one sister, Evelyn. Her first day of school WWII started in Germany. She told me she remembers someone boarding the windows of a church up and setting it on fire with all the people in it. I think it was the Nazi's and the church was a synagogue. As the war progresses Hitler took all the pure German children away from their parents and put them in orphanages so they could move them around and try to keep them away from the war. Mom was taken from her family and raised in the orphanage until the war was over. I can only imagine what it must have been like being raised in such a place. There were food shortages due to the war and I'm sure that there was illness too. There couldn't have been much nurturing and loving for these poor kids.
Mom tells one story about when the Americans came. None of the German kids had ever seen a black man except at Christmas. At Christmas St. Nicholas came to the door of each house and asked if the children had been good. If they hadn't his black assistant would spank them. I don't know if the assistant was really black for just painted black. When the Americans came there were several blacks in the group. The children were all scared of them. The soldiers would put chocolate out to lure the children to them. Since they were half starved and hadn't had chocolate in a long time this tactic worked.
Mom said that one time they were being bombed. The children were learning to knit when the bombs started dropping. The children were all running for cover when Mom felt an excruciating pain in her rear end. She thought for sure she had been shot but somehow with all the confusion she had been stabbed with a knitting needle.
Well I will have to come back and continue my story later. Just writing this reminded me how thankful I should be for the life the Lord has given me. Thank-you God.

My biggest struggle in my Christian life hasn't been giving up old habits. I admit that when I smoked I would have said it was quitting smoking but, when I actually quit it was pretty easy. My biggest struggle has been forming new habits. Maybe it's because I was so old when I got saved. I didn't have good habits and it's harder to form them when your older. I really think that I am just making excuses. I struggle over and over again with reading my Bible everyday and praying. I don't mean before meals but the kind of time with God that helps you grow.

One thing that has really helped me is buying The One Year Bible. There is a date and a section from the Old Testament, the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. Each day you just read the dated passage. I admit that I still get behind but, then I know exactly how much I need to read to get back on board. Another thing I started doing was to post a Bible verse on Face book when I am done reading. I ask the Lord to shown which verse from the daily passages that I should post and then I do it. I look forward to the Lord showing me the verse and sometimes I get a lot of responses from it.

I really don't understand why praying is so hard for me. I love spending time with God and I love walking in his will. I think that I just feel awkward. I have decided that the best way to deal with my prayer problem is to set a timer on my phone and pray for 15 minutes at a certain time everyday. When I do that consistently I can add more time. Of course I can pray any other time I remember too.

When we were waiting to hear about our house we parked across the street and prayed for it at least once a day. I pointed out to Jerry that we hadn't prayed for jobs at Cook once. So now every time we drive by the building we pray. I know that God knows our heart but, he also likes to hear from us. I Jerry went all day and never told me what he was thinking or what he wanted I would be a little upset. I want to KNOW him. And after 32 years I do know him pretty well but I still want to talk to him and spend time with him. God wants to hear from me and spend time with me.

What has been your biggest struggles? What steps have you taken to overcome them?
Have a great day and God bless you.

Today I helped Jessica spring clean her kitchen. We took everything out of the cupboards and wipped them out. We reorganized them and threw away stuff that she didn't need or want anymore. Then we put Liquid Gold on the doors. It looks so nice. I am also doing some reorganizing in the motorhome. I am digging spring clothes out of the garage and putting winter clothes back out there.

Josh and Jerry are at Pastors School. Jerry has never got to go before and I am so excited for him. We had to buy him some new clothes to wear to the conference. He has lost over 20 lbs since we moved here. Funny how doing physical work instead of sitting behind a desk can shape you up.

Jessica and I have been going to a Zumba class. It's really fun although I'm not very good at it.

After spring break I will be teaching a Literature class to the high schoolers. I am very excited about it. I love reading and hope that I can encourage my students to love it too.

Jerry is going to go to Oregon in the begining of April. I can't go because of work. He's going to help Chuck get the mustang running and go to the swap meet. I'm sure he will visit Les and Bev and my Mom. I just bought his tickets today.

There are a lot of pictures of our house progress on face book. It is easier to post them there than here. Jerry has been working hard and we now have some walls going back in.

Ok that's it for now.

WOW!!!

Wow. That's all I can say. Bro. Schaap was here Monday night and Tuesday night. I love to listen to him preach. It's like he is telling you a story. It was an awesome conference and I loved every minute of it.

The week before Bro. Schaap came Preacher and Mrs. Ogle went to Mississippi to be with their daughter Rachel while she had her first child. The doctors said she would have the baby last week no matter what. Well Preacher ended up coming home on Friday and there was still no baby. Late last night close to midnight Rachel had a healthy little baby girl via c-section. Mrs. Ogle will be coming home in a few days after Rachel recovers from the baby. While Preacher was gone we had a church work day. It started at 2pm on Thursday and ended sometime on Monday before Bro. Schaap arrived. The lunch room and the fellowship room were painted. The whole church was scrubbed and cleaned. The floors were scrubbed and polished. Wood work was completed, snow removed, porches cleaned and so much more. The church looks fantastic.

I am really excited about one thing. Mrs. Ogle taught Math 76 and Algebra 1/2 and English. She has been having some health problems and preacher didn't want her to teach anymore this year. I am now teaching again. Well not English. We are going to do literature instead. I am really happy. Not that Mrs. Ogle has health problems but that I get to teach. I have also been subbing whenever they need me. So much fun.

Jessica's basement is offically done. Tomorrow an inspector will be checking everything out. It looks so amazingly good.

My new grandbaby is so beautiful. Kyndra is adapting very well and Josh and Jessica are just a little sleep deprived.

I sure do love the life God has given me.