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As I contemplate the outcome of the mid-term election, I wonder, am I so different than most of the country? I’m not just a little concerned about what this means for our fight against terrorism and how it will affect our troops overseas. Read the rest of this entry »

Our house is on the ridge on the right, just out of the picture.

Some call it, the ‘Boy Scout Fire’. I thought I’d seen and had my share of fires. This one was big; we could see the smoke from it, from the 14 freeway in Agua Dulce, a good 45 or so miles away. Read the rest of this entry »

Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it. I Corinthians 10:12,13

Pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. I Thessalonians 5:16-18

I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. Psalm 32:8

Recently as I was reading and studying the story of the Garden of Gethsemane, in Matthew, I came to realize how deeply Jesus cares for us. Here He was praying and agonizing over what was shortly to come to pass, the brutal beatings, all of His friends deserting Him, everyone mocking Him and the horrible death of crucifixion, and He is worried about His disciples. He is trying to get them to be ready for all that is about to happen to Him and them. He wants them to be prepared, but they fell asleep.

I always wondered how could they fall asleep, they were allowed to witness His transfiguration, saw Him in His glory, saw Moses and Elijah. The disciples must have been exhausted, just the emotional high of being involved with something greater than themselves. Witnessing miracles on a daily basis, being around the throngs of people with all their drama, people in chaotic situations, because people without problems weren’t the ones clamoring to be next to Jesus, and they had messy problems, Jerry Springer and Dr. Phil problems. They were in Jerusalem for the Passover, so there were thousands of people in town for it. They had been a part of the triumphal entry, all the people cheering and shouting Hosanna, meaning everyone was recognizing Jesus was the Messiah. So, they were beyond tired both physically and emotionally. And isn’t that when the tough trials come? I’m never tested when I’m ready, never when I’m looking; it’s always when I least expect it. But, thanks be to God, that the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words…Jesus intercedes for us according to the will of God! Romans 8:26,27

So now as I “keep watching and praying”, and I fall asleep, I can have confidence that the One who I am asking for help is also the One who is always awake and watching and praying for me.

We knew that installing the garden window would be hard. However, we had no idea of what we were in for. All the windows for the kitchen remodel were delivered, which is not how we usually do it. There have been only a few building supplies delivered, because of the road to the property, we usually, go get, load up, and drive them up here ourselves. So, we didn’t know how really heavy the garden window was until we went down to the garage, (the delivery guy couldn’t/wouldn’t drive it up the driveway to the house) to see how we were going to get it up here.

After many conversations, many ideas and many days, we decided that maybe we could get it up on top of the suburban, and I could drive it up really slow (which is hard because sometimes you can’t drive slow up the driveway). Our first idea was to put it “in” the suburban, that is when we discovered how heavy it is, 200+ lbs. is our guess. But it didn’t fit in the suburban. So we thought it would go on top. We made ramps with 2×4’s to push it up there, it worked, Randy did most of the work, I’m not very strong anymore, and I drove it up….no problem!

I guess we were encouraged by this great feat, and getting it off wasn’t too hard either. So, we went on to build a ramp up to the back deck. That too went well. So now we had the garden window up on the back deck! We were very confident at this point, (well I was).

Our plan was for both of us to lift it up to the opening, Randy would steady it, and I would put in a couple screws on both sides. Then we would go inside and see what adjustments needed to be made to get it centered.

Once we got it up to the opening, we realized how top heavy it was, mainly because we were so low, the bottom of the widow opening is almost 5 feet off the deck. We had put up a 2×4 across the bottom of the opening for the flange on the bottom of the window to go behind and rest on. So now to get the window down, because we now know itis too heavy for us, we would have to lift/push it even further up over our heads to get it off the 2×4 support. If we had done that it would have crashed down on us and unto the deck and ground below, the deck is about 4-5 feet off the ground. So, while I’m trying to hold it up on the one side, Randy, holding his side with one hand tries using another hand to grab the nearby scaffolding to somehow use it to help hold it up his corner of the window, so maybe he can get up on the scaffold and be able to hold up the top of the window. While trying to wrangle it over, one of the wheels, which were locked, went over the side of the deck, and the whole thing crashed off, for a moment it seemed to me that it might take Randy with it. We are both really losing strength now. My idea was for me to go inside, hold the window from the inside, so Randy could screw it to the wall. When I got inside, I discovered there were only two small areas where I could get a handhold, really just my fingers. At first I was very hopeful, I had it! I told Randy, “hurry get the screw gun I’ve got it!” He said, “no you don’t”, and let his pressure holding the window up go a little. He was right; I didn’t have it at all. So I girded myself to really try hard to hold it, with just my fingers. Its 5 feet wide though, so my arms were stretched out and I have no hand or arm strength, never have. We decided it would be better if he came in and held it, while I screwed it, but that meant I’d have to hold it by myself while he came up the back stairs and into the kitchen and grabbed the window. Randy knew if he let go, the windowwas going to fall , but there was nothing else he could do. He let go ran up the stairs and there I was holding a 200+ lb. garden window with my fingers! He grabbed it and I ran down and screwed it to the wall.

While we were catching our breath, we both realized that God had once again reached His hand down to us, this time to save our garden window.

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