6 MONTH BLOGIVERSARY

I began my blog on January 31, in the dead of winter and here it is July 31st, in the dead of summer. This blogging experience has been such an exciting adventure. It has surpassed any and all expectations I might have had when I very timidly posted that first little blog. I have met so many wonderful people from literally all over the world. I have made some dear friends. Some I trust will last my life time.



So in honor of my 6th month I wanted to give away one of the most important books in my life. It has been such an aid, that God has used, in molding and making me who I am today.



For my history of this book, Mickey gave me a copy of it for my 60th birthday on December 25, 1997. I set it aside for 6 days and began reading it daily on January 1, 1998. For the past 9 years and 7 months I have read the daily reading, in addition to my Bible reading and study. I find the devotionals speak to my heart over & over.

It is "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers

The copyright is 1935

This is the Classic Edition

Below is today's reading

TILL YOU ARE ENTIRELY HIS

July 31st

"Let your endurance be a finished product, so that you may be finished and complete, with never a defect." James 1:4 Moffatt

"Many of us are all right in the main, but there are some domains in which we are slovenly. It is not a question of sin, but of the remnants of the carnal life which are apt to make us slovenly. Slovenliness is an insult to the Holy Ghost. There should be nothing slovenly, whether it be in the way we eat and drink, or in the way we worship God.

Not only must our relationship to God be right, but the external expression of that relationship must be right. Ultimately God will let nothing escape, every detail is under His scrutiny. In numberless ways God will bring us back to the same point over and over again. He never tires of bringing us to the one point until we learn the lesson, because He is producing the finished product. It may be a question of impulse, and again and again, with the most persistent patience, God has brought us back to the one particular point, or it may be mental wool-gathering, or independent individuality. God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right.

We have been having a wonderful time this Session over the revelation of God's Redemption, our hearts are perfect towards Him: His wonderful work in us makes us know that in the main we are right with Him. "Now, " says the Spirit, through St. James, "let your endurance be a finished product." Watch the slipshod bits - "Oh, that will have to do for now." Whatever it is, God will point it out with persistence until we are entirely His. "

Everyone who leaves a comment during the next 24 hours will be in the drawing for this Classic Devotional Book.

It is now 7:05 a.m. so I will have the drawing in the morning at 7:30 a.m. and post the winner. If this is something you would like to receive please leave me a comment and let me know.

WRITTEN ON STONES

Jennifer, my wonderful friend living in New Mexico and the first blogger whose wonderful voice I was priveleged to hear when she called me, has issued the following challenge:
My challenge to my blog friends is this: write 8 of your blog friends names in a unique way and post them. Then come back over and let me know. You must write the blogger's name that tagged you, then add 7 others. Be creative and if possible use the natural wonders of the world!


When I first read this yesterday and saw Penless Writer written in the beautiful White Sands of New Mexico I thought......there is no way I am going to know what to do mine on although I loved the concept. Then I thought of my rocks, picked up from all over our travels, and decided to put my precious blogging friends names on them. At a later point in time I will tell you more about these particular stones and you will understand better why I chose this medium.

Here are my 7 choices. As always, if you wish to not participate in this challenge that is permitted.



Of My Life as Annie. Annie is a fairly new blog friend of mine, and a fellow Okie!!! Annie has a sweet and wonderful outlook and a deep faith and trust in our God. I am so very thankful I have met her.

Of A Frazzled Farm Wife. I've been following Christ since she began her blog and commented on mine. Her life, as that Frazzled Farm Wife, is about as different as night and day from mine. I love how she shares their farm life and it is so interesting and informative to me because I've never been exposed to farming. I also admired the close knit family that she, her husband, son & daughter are.

Of Living to Learn & Learning to Live. I've named Leigh Ann for so many things, and I know she was also pegged by Jennifer at the start of all this. BUT, I could not list these name with out hers because she has been such an encouragement and help to me, almost from day one of my blogging. She was also the second one to call me!!!!

Of Just A Thought is also one of my dearest blog friends and just like Leigh Ann I have to have a stone for Ginger. Ginger always has the most wonderful pictures and words to bless us with. I admire her open and tender heart. Ginger blessed and surprised me with a phone call, too.

Of Pearlie Gates. Pealie is my dear, dear precious friend from Malaysia. Pearlie blesses me with her deep study and thinking on the scriptures. Again, she and I are about as different as night and day. She is very, VERY deep thinking and I am very, VERY simple. As always, God is so wonderful to bring people who aren't just like us to add such a wonderful dimension to our lives. I appreciate and treasure you very much my sweet friend from so far away.

Of Rocking Chair Reflections. Linds is the first person I met from the United Kingdom and her name is very misleading. She is anything but a person sitting in a Rocking Chair!!! She is, and has been facing, very difficult circumstances in the lost of her dear husband with a grace, faith and steadiness that I admire so much. She also has the most divine sense of humor and many times I find myself laughing out laugh. I treasure you dear sweet friend.

Of Ramblings from an English Garden. Barbara & I have about decided we were twins and we just didn't know about the other. I've already written about all the things we have in common. What we do not have in common is her beautiful English Garden which is such a delight. Also, she has retained her slim girlish figure and mine has vanished! She has given me the biggest shock so far in blogging when she phoned me from across the pond. I'm still reeling from that one and loving to tell everyone about it.

THE RED CARPET PLEASE

Annie ,of My Life As Annie, gave away 5 of her Siggy's in the Dawg Days of Summer give away.
Annie, being Annie, didn't just stop with the 5 but gave a bunch more to people

who had signed up with her!!!

Then, as if THAT wasn't enough, she said that the first five leaving a comment on the day she announced all the above would also receive a Siggy.

I did not participate in the Dawg Days event. Although I watched from the side lines and it looked like great fun. I was surprised at how many of you did. Since I didn't participate in the giving, I choose not to enter any of the give aways either.

BUT

When Annie made the offer of 5 more with this post I signed up.

AND

I now very proudly present my wonderful Annie Siggy

:o)

One winged, little Angel and all.

Thank you Annie for being such a blessing, to not only me, but all the other bloggers who got their Siggy.

I love her and am so proud of her because she came from YOU!

FLYING WITH SUZY BLUE PART II - 1981 International Balloon Fiesta

This picture is the cover of the 1981 official program of the 10th Annual Internation Balloon Fiesta held in Albuquerque, NM the first 2 weekends in October for a total of 9 days.

In this post I am going to write about this grand-daddy of them all .

As I explained here, our introduction to hot air balloons began in 1979 when we attended the 8th Fiesta just for a weekend as spectators only.

In 1980 we attended the 9th Fiesta for the entire 9 days as crew members for our friends ERA (Electronic Realtors Association) Balloon. They had introduced us to ballooning. Mickey had earned his Private Hot Air Balloon License and did fly their ERA balloon during part of this time.

By the time the 10th Fiesta rolled around in 1981 we attended with Suzy Blue. Above is our official chase vehicle pass, Mickey's Pilot ID, and the propane card to refuel the propane tanks each day.

This picture shows some of the balloons being inflated on the balloon field amidst the crowds of people that attend.

This is our fearless Pilot!!!! Ballooning is an early morning sport. We would set our alarms for about 4:30 and arrive at the balloon field by 6 a.m. YES, that early of a morning in Albuquerque in October it is cold and this picture depicts that.

It was just 9 days of pure bliss for us and our large group that made the trip from Tulsa with us. The high point of the event for us is shown here. The Australian balloon pilots had a drawing among the 300 registered balloons and Mickey won the drawing.

This certificate reads: This certificate is valid for one round-trip ticket for one individual from Los Angeles or San Francisco to Sidney, Australia. Must be redeemed within 12 months upon receipt. Contact6 Bob Dickson for redemption. October 10, 1981. Mickey was to be furnished a balloon in Sidney to participate in a Balloon Rally there. We were ALL so excited about this!!!

The sad part is that Mickey never took the trip. My mother was very ill and living with us at the time and I was unable to go. Mickey said if I couldn't attend with him he wouldn't go and he didn't. I tried my best to get him to go and take our 13 year old son Marc but he wouldn't. It is one of the things that all three of us really regret to this day.

This picture is of Ella and I in our Suzy Blue skirt and tops that we wore while at the parties in Albuquerque. Ella & her husband, Floyd traveled with us to Memphis and Albuquerque as part of our crew.

Since Mickey & my anniversary is October 4th we celebrated our 21st through 25th Wedding Anniversary every year in Albuquerque at the Balloon Fiesta. This is our 23rd Anniversary. The girl in the red dress is Anna Lee. She and her husband, Don, also traveled with us from Tulsa to Memphis and Albuquerque. From left to right is: Susan, Mickey, forever friend Joan, forever friend Bev and Bev's husband, Jim. The others were there too just not in this picture.

Part of the celebration is a parade down Central Avenue of the balloon chase vehicles, balloons and crew. This is a few of us as we were preparing for the parade.

We have MANY fun stories and experiences from this Fiesta. One of which is this: Suzy Blue was a "stock balloon". That means that we ordered her out of a catalog and she was not a custom made balloon. There was another balloon the exact colors and size that was owned by a Doctor from Kansas City. We kept running into this Dr. and his balloon at various Rally's beginning in Memphis and developed a very friendly rivalry with he and his crew. Our mascot, Mickey Mouse was always tied to the corner of Suzy Blue's basket. When we got to our chase vehicle on the morning of October 6th , where the basket and balloon stayed over night at the Holiday Inn, Mickey was gone. There was a note in Mickey's place that read that Mickey had been mousenapped by Big Bird. We were all quite upset. Two days later on the morning of October 8th they held what was called the Tumbleweed Drop event. All the balloons would start out where ever in the city they choose and the object was to drop a big tumbleweed onto a very large "X" in the center of the balloon field. Prizes were given for the winners. During this tumbleweed drop some of our Tulsa group were on the field watching and suddenly down comes a big tumbleweed with Mickey Mouse tied to it. We were so happy when we got back to the field that morning and were greeted by these enthusiastic Tulsa's who had rescued Mickey.

So far I have pretty much covered the high points of 1981 and Suzy Blue's adventures. Stay tuned for the next installment!!!

SHOW & TELL #12 Votives

It's Friday and that means it's Show & Tell hosted by Kelli at There Is No Place Like Home. Post your Show & Tell and then go here to post it on Mr. Linky.

It's so much fun so please join in!!!!








Most of the items I've shown on Show & Tell have been items with a lot of history and meaning to me from my past.



This week is entirely different.



These are the 4 votive candle holders that I won in Leigh Ann's recent birthday celebration where she gave a gift away for each of the first 10 days of July to celebrate her birthday on July 10th.
I was blessed to be one of the 10 who won and these were my lovely gift.

I have placed them on my computer desk in front of the 12 scrapbooks of our travels.

To the left is a rock from Pictou, Nova Scotia from the Ship Hector launching on September 19, 2000.

To the right is a rock from Halifax I picked up on

September 14, 2000.

It is interesting how we have "stages" in our lives.

I find it intriguing that this new stage of my life, BLOGGING, is represented and surrounded by pleasant memories of my past.

There is no question that my life entered an entirely new stage when I began my Penless Writer blog on January 31, 2007.

I have no idea where God is taking Penless Writer but I know my steps are ordered of the Lord and that gives me great comfort to know I am in His perfect will.

Thanks again Leigh Ann by blessing me with this lovely momento.

I also have to give mention to Amber, of Trust in the Lord, for the Land's End Gift Certificate I won on her blog on July 10th. I don't have a "show" yet, because I haven't spent it!!!

but I can certainly "tell".

A TOUGH QUESTION & AN AWARD

I got this Blogger Award banner out of order. The post about it is below this post. Please be sure and read it also :o)


My friend Chris at Frazzled Farm Wife had this one on her blog. I found it very profound and wanted to do it.

...If you could change 3 days in your life what would they be? Some rules ..... You cannot bring anybody back from the dead and if you are in a bad marriage, you cannot say the day you were married. Believe me, I had to think long and hard on this one. Here are my answers.....


1) When I broke my 2 front teeth when I was in the 3rd grade. This has caused me much pain, discomfort and MUCH EXPENSE throughout my lifetime. All from "horsing around" in the girls rest room at school.


2) Saying some unkind things about my forever friend's housecleaning when we were in our 20's and it really hurt her. Fortunately she confronted me, I apologized and felt terrible and she forgave me. I have never forgotten this lesson and the hurt my unkind words and loose tongue caused. I did learn a good lesson from it and have tried very hard to watch my words.


3) Buying our first home in Tulsa in 1965 from a Realtor who's name was on the sign of the house we were interested in. We had some friends in Tulsa, who had been our neighbors in Albuquerque, who were in the Real Estate business. I will never forget the shocked look on their faces when they heard we'd bought this house and hadn't done so through them. This event was innocent on our part, because we didn't understand that they could have sold us the house and made the commission. We felt so very bad about that.


Any of you that this appeals to please feel free to just let me know and post your three days. Please let me know in your comment so I'll be sure and check it out!!

=================================

Annie at My Life As Annie has bestowed on me The Thoughtful Blogger Award.


It is described as: For those who answer blog comments, emails & make their visitors feel at home on their blogs. For the people who take others feelings into consideration before speaking out & who are kind & courteous. Also for all those bloggers who spend so much of their time helping other bloggers design, improve & fix their sites. This award is for those generous bloggers who think of others.


I truly don't think I fully qualify for this award because I don't have the technical knowledge to help "design, improve & fix their sites." I would if I could!!!


These are Annie's kind words in giving me this award: "Susan is a wonderful Christian woman & I really enjoy visiting her blog. She is so thoughtful in her comments and posts. I'm glad I found Susan.

Thank you Annie for this award and your sweet words. I am glad I found you, too!!


These are the bloggers that I am passing this award to:


Connie is an encouraging blogger that always has kind & encouraging words to say and always leaves a comment when she visits your blog. Thank you Connie.

Weaver Mom I think is the first blogger that ever read my first feeble post and commented to me. That was such an encouragement to me when I didn't feel that anyone would read me. She has been faithful to do so from the start. I appreciate your thoughtfulness Weaver Mom and enjoy reading your blog daily.


Ruth is another one that really deserves this Thoughtful award. All her posts are just that, Thoughtful, and her comments are always sweet and share in your feelings of your post. Ruth is also the one that first introduce me to Blogger Chick on her blog and I had to have one, too!!! Thank you Ruth for your friendship.

As always, I could name a BUNCH more but these are the three I have picked. Thanks to you three for being an encouragement to me and MANY OTHERS!!!
Please accept this award, and place the award banner on your blog and pass it along to others.

JULY 24, 2007 - A VERY SPECIAL DAY

Tuesday, July 24th, 2007 was a very special day in our family. This is the day that our daughter, Jacque closed on her house in Tulsa. Jacque is our daughter that lost everything she owned in Katrina Hurricane in Ocean Springs, Mississippi on August 28, 2005.

Read all about it here.
Here are proud mother & daughter in front of Jacque's

new home.

The back of Jacque's new home.






Proud dad, Mickey, Mr. Moore (Jacque's little dog) and Jacque peeking from the entry hall into the formal living room.






A picture of the large panelled den with fireplace and built-in bookcase.







Mickey & Jacque gazing into the kitchen dining area from the den. Note the lovely built-in china cabinet.

Here Jacque & I are in the kitchen where we'll probably be preparing this years holiday meals and occasions.

The house is full brick with a 2 car garage and extra wide driveway extending to the side for extra parking. The house itself consists of 4 bedroom, 2 full baths, formal entry, formal living, den, kitchen with dining area, large laundry room with built-in desk/work top. The bedrooms all have built-in bookshelves. The carpet is almost new and a very nice brown color. The flooring in the entry, kitchen, baths, and laundry room is ceramic tile. Included in the price was a refrigerator and washer & dryer.


The house needs some updating and cleaning but believe me Jacque will have it fixed up like a doll house in short order.


We are so proud of Jacque and the progress she has made since moving here with us on September 15, 2005. Talk about starting over from scratch and doing great!!!

Now the next step for Jacque, and the rest of our family, is to convince her only daughter and our oldest granddaughter, 21 year old Jessica, to move to Oklahoma from Mississippi to join us.

Thanks for letting me share a very special day and event in our lives with all of you!

P.S. Mickey will be very glad to get his storage barn and part of his garage back!!! Jacque and I have been busy loading them up with items of furniture and things to give her a head start when this glorious day arrived.

BLESSINGS & MORE BLESSINGS

Sunday afternoon, after church and dinner, I decided to lay down on the couch and take a nap. Something I rarely do during the day. The phone rang and Mickey answered it and said "Honey, it's Barbara from England". Now talk about waking up fast!!!!

Sweet Barbara from Ramblings From An English Garden called me. WOW!!!

NO DOUBLE WOW!!!!

This totally knocked me off my feet and thrilled me beyond belief. Almost speechless, which for me you know is rare!!

Barbara and I have e-mailed back and forth quiet a bit but I never expected a phone call from "across the pond".

Barbara and I have a lot in common. We are both in our late sixties, both have long, successful marriages, both mothers, and grandmothers and both have worked outside the home extensively. We both have done extensive traveling and love to travel.

The truly amazing thing is that we both worked for the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association in the 60's!!! Me here in Tulsa and Barbara in Liverpool, England.

Now I ask you what were the chances of that?

We share our strong Christian faith and heritage having served Jesus for years.

We adhere to the belief of Victorious Christian Living, that we truly are "more than conquerors through Christ Jesus our Lord".

Barbara had such a sweet, very British accent of course. I love that!! I have always found the British accent to be so proper and impressive and she certainly was.

Be sure and go check out Barbara's blog if you haven't. She has one of the most lovely English gardens. Oh, how I would love to sit and chat and share a cup of tea with you there Barbara!! I told her I thought the chance of her coming to America again (she has made many visit here) was better than the chance I would ever come to England.

Thanks again, Barbara for blessing me so with your sweet call.

FLYING WITH SUZY BLUE PART I - 1981 Events

As promised in Introducing Suzy Blue in my July 9th post I will share some of the additional events that we were involved with during 1981. We have just taken possession of our new Barnes balloon and then attended the Memphis Rally as I wrote about in the previous post. The above picture was taken at the Awards Banquet at the end of that rally. The two couples seated are from Tulsa and made the trip with us. Mickey & I are the couple standing to the left and the couple standing to the right are Mickey's older brother, Doug and wife Helen who lived in Memphis. It was at this banquet that Mickey received the $150 check as the 3rd place winner in one of the races. The drawing for a free TV to one of the landowners was also held here and it was a couple on whose land that we had landed that won the TV. It was a fun and glorious night for the 10 of us.

After returning to Tulsa we received the following card from the landowners on June 13, 1981. It reads:

"We enjoyed your letter and all the EXCITEMENT and the colored TV is just beautiful. Everything was great-write up in newspaper-everyone read it and they still tease us.

All you nice people up there can put your balloons on our fields just any old time O.K.

Yes, we are going to frame the certificate. It was sure nice of you. You're the nicest people we've ever met.

God Bless and thanks again.

Edith & Ed"

The gentleman you see here in the balloon is Anthony Mason. Anthony was a news reporter on our local channel 2. On June 22 they filmed a segment with us of Anthony taking a balloon ride. You can see the camera man outside the basket as they are preparing to lift off. Anthony is now a CBS new correspondent on the national level.




This is the Channel 8 news helicopter that flew along beside Suzy Blue filming Anthony's flight and reporting. This segment appeared on the 6 & 10 o'clock news that evening. You can imagine how excited we were with this coverage.

Mickey had taken and passed his Commercial Balloon Licensing on June 6th. Prior to that he had been flying with a Private Balloon License. This meant that we could now do commercial work with the balloon in addition to our pleasure flying.





This is a picture of part of our Tulsa crew that helped us during the balloon launch and chase. It includes the same 2 couples who accompanied us to Memphis plus 3 of their sons. Our 17 year old son, David, is in the second row with his arms crossed and our 12 year old son, Marc, is in the balloon. The boy next to David was one of his friends. Mickey & I are kneeling in the
front.We have our Suzy Blue Crew shirts on in this photo. We had not purchased them when the Memphis Rally was held.







The article to the far left appeared in the Tulsa World, Friday, July 3, 1981 and is a picture of Suzy Blue. The article reads: " STUDYING CURRENTS EVENT Motorist stop to watch one of four hot air balloons approach a landing site north of the Gilcrease Hills area Thursday. The balloon was one of the colorful flight of four making a short hop on the wind currents from near downtown."

The picture next to it is of the very first paying customer of Suzy Blue and our first Champagne Flight. This is the couple that was in the balloon with Mickey when the picture in the article was made. The Champagne Flights were priced at $75 for one or $150 for two people. It was for an hour flight. At the end of the flight we always opened a bottle of Champagne for the passengers, crew and visitors. This is the traditional Balloon Prayer that is given as the Champagne Toast.

May the winds welcome you with softness.

May the sun bless you with his warm hands.

May you fly so high and so well

that God joins you in laughter

& sets you gently back into the loving arms of

Mother Earth

We would then present them with the signed Champagne Bottle and a Suzy Blue pin.

Governor George Nigh made a Proclamation on May 5, 1981 that Tulsa was the Balloon Capitol of Oklahoma and this was part of the 75th Diamond Jubilee of Oklahoma Statehood in 1982. There were a lot of activities in connection with this. One was a balloon rally on June 21st where balloonist outside of Tulsa came to join in for a total of 29 balloonist. We also did three separate launch times on other occasions at Discoveryland where the musical Oklahoma is preformed in an outdoor theater during the summer. 5 balloons flew for the annual Golf Classic and that evening attended a great performance featuring Roy Clark. It was a lot of fun activities and events that occurred. Tulsa is now, this year, celebrating its 100th Jubilee.

On July 4th the Tulsa Balloonists all traveled to Sherman, Texas for a 2 day rally but bad weather prevented us from flying. That is one of the hazards of ballooning. The weather has to co-operate with you!!!

On September 26 & 27 we did a balloon promotion in Durant, Oklahoma giving tethered balloon rides from 3 till 6 each day.

These are just a few of the many and varied activities we were involved with during our first year of owning Suzy Blue. There are too many to tell it all but I've picked out several to give you an overall picture.

Below if the last event which we did during 1981 with Suzy Blue . This was held Sunday, November 22, from 2 to 4 pm. and was the opening of the new West Side Library. Suzy Blue was featured and 300 helium balloons were launched at 2:30. This was an honor for us because we had been Southwest Tulsa residents since coming to Tulsa in 1964 and we had our Real Estate Company located in Southwest Tulsa.

This is a picture at the Library tether. You can see we were fighting the winds that day. A hot air balloon can be launched in winds up to 8-10 mph. For tethering a hot air balloon you need the winds 5 mph or less.


I know this has been a pretty long post. There is so much to tell that I am having difficulty in selecting items to feature. In the next Suzy Blue post I will feature some of the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.

Please let me know by way of a comment if you are enjoying these and want to hear more about Suzy Blue.

SHOW & TELL #11 Roadrunner

Okay, its Friday and SHOW & TELL again. Go over to Kelli's at There Is No Place Like Home to find out all about it and join in the fun. Be sure and go back and put your name on her Mr. Linkey after you post your SHOW & TELL.

This is my SHOW & TELL for this week. It is a very old Road Runner that my father bought for my mother about 60 years ago. It is glazed and muted blue & tan colors. The beak was broken at some point in time and re glued on. Otherwise it is in perfect shape. The Road Runner is New Mexico's State Bird.

I had this Road Runner for a number of years and gave it to my oldest daughter, Suzette, when she got married as a wedding gift from her deceased grandmother. Suzette proudly displays this Road Runner in her beautiful home.



Thanks for letting me once again share my SHOW & TELL with all of you.

DREAMIN' MEME

My sweet friend, Myrna, of Cherish the Word tagged me for a Dreamin' meme. Since I haven't done this one and since I love dreamin' I am happy to join in and list some of my dreams. I find it hard to distinguish between dreamin' and believing for things so mine may turn out to be more believing.





#1. To see ALL of my 4 children serving the Lord with their whole heart and soul.


This is not only my #1 dream but my #1 prayer and my stand of faith. Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And


"Faith is believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse".







#2. To continue to live to a very ripe old age in very good health both physically, mentally and emotionally.





#3. To meet some of my blogging friends.





#4. To lose 30 lbs. Now this one probably really is a dream!!!! I like to eat too much and all our socializing is around food and going out to eat.





#5. To be used of God to reach out and encourage and minister to others, especially women.





#6. To be completely and totally out of debt. This is one that every time we get close it seems like something happens.......like having to buy a new car last week very unexpectedly!!!! :o)





I'm not going to tag anyone for this meme personally but I'd love to see what those of you that read my blog are Dreamin' about and believing for. If you choose to play along please tell me in your comment so I can be sure and read your dream list.

IN THE MELTING POT

I am posting another devotional from THE WORD FOR YOU TODAY which I read on May 19th.

"He will sit as a refiner....or silver."

Malachi 3:3 Nkjv

"Rick Warren says, "God has a purpose behind every problem. He uses circumstances to develop our character. In fact: He often depends more on circumstances to make us like Jesus than He does on our reading the Bible. And the reason is obvious: we face circumstances 24 hours-a-day."

We learn things about God when we're in trouble that we can't learn any other way. Adversity draws us closer to Him! "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted" (Ps 34:18 NLT) Problems force us to look to God and depend on Him instead of ourselves. Paul writes, "We...saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God" (2Co 1:9 TLB). Submitting the situation to God and trusting Him with the ways, means, and timing, is hard for most of us to do. Why? Because it means giving up control!

If you feel like you're in the melting pot today, maybe God put you there. Have you thought of that? The refiner is burning away the impurities and removing the obstacles in your life. "He will sit as a refiner...of silver, he will purify...them like gold...Then the Lord will have men who will...be acceptable." Since God's plan is to make us more like Jesus, He'll take us through the experiences Jesus went through. What are they? The wilderness of temptation, rejection by your family; the strain of caring for others, criticism from religious folks, and betrayal by those you love and have invested your life in. So, are you in the melting pot?"

I know that my greatest desire is to be all that God wants me to be. I never want to take joy or pleasure in anything that drove those nails into my Savior. I do not want HIM to have taken one blow on nail in vain on my behalf. I want to get to the point, in my life, where I see everything that happens to me as coming from, or being allowed, by my Lord & Savior. What about you?

IDENTITY CRISIS!

The following is taken from THE WORD FOR YOU TODAY. I read this back on May 31st but earmarked it to share at a later date.

"I know where I came from and where I am going."

John 8:14 amp

"A national news network recently reported on a man who was released from prison after serving time for a crime he didn't commit. A case of mistaken identity had stolen many of his best years. And unless you understand who you are before God, Satan will sentence you to a life of worthlessness, fear and manipulation.

Identifying somebody means having the ability to recognize and say exactly who they are; so when you identify with what people say you are versus what God says, you're

setting yourself up for problems. Jesus identified only with God's opinion. "I know where I came from and where I am going." People said terrible things about Jesus, yet the Bible says, "The stone....the builders rejected has become the

....cornerstone" (Ps 118:22 NKJV). Sometimes we're so busy telling people what to do, that we neglect to tell them who they are. Knowing who you are in Christ gives you the confidence to hold your head high! Paul says, "In (Christ) you have been made complete (Col. 2:10 NAS). "Complete!" That means you lack nothing! Once you accept that, you stop feeling like you constantly fall short. When you've money in the bank and you need to withdraw it, you don't feel pressured to. That's because you know it's there with your name on it, right? You don't have to struggle to be right with people when you know you're right with God. He loves you and has a plan for you; never lose sight of that! Instead of focusing on people, begin looking to "Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" (Heb. 12:2), because you already have His approval!"

It sounds so simple, I know. The good thing....it is simple. It's what Christ wants us to do. Rely and depend on Him for EVERYTHING....even our idenity!!

SMILING FROM EAR TO EAR

Look who called me today!!!!!



I keep telling you all that I'm absolutely one of the most blessed people on earth. Well.......I had additional proof of that today. Right after lunch my phone rang and this sweet voice asked to speak to "Susan" and when I said "speaking" the sweet voice said "This is Ginger" WHAT Ginger picked up the phone and called me all the way from West Michigan!!! Can you all see my big smile? It was, and is, from ear to ear and plastered all over my face.

We had a lovely talk. She didn't sound like I expected her to. Don't ask me what I expected. She said I sounded like she expected because of the Southern twang.

Thank you, Ginger. You'll never know how really pleased I am and how very much I appreciate you.

Ha - Ha Leigh Ann & Ginger......neither one of you thought I would know how to get her picture. But I Do!!!!!!!

AND THE WINNING OPTION IS...............????

Here are the four of us Monday morning, July 9th all set to leave Tulsa and head for Kansas City, MO and a fun few days at Worlds of Fun & Oceans of Fun amusement & water parks. The sun was in Aric's eyes and he was not cooperating :o) Mickey is holding our map instructions so we don't get lost. (click on pictures to enlarge)

We are by our beautiful 1993 Cadillac Eldorado with only 81,102 miles on it. Little did we know when this picture was taken that 2 days and 300 miles later this car would have to be towed from the Oceans of Fun parking lot to a Cadillac dealership. The unfortunate diagnose the transmission is out. I posted here about our 5 options. Car troubles are never pleasant....but they are certainly compounded when you are on vacation, in a city 300 miles from home, with an 8 year old grandson and 12 year old granddaughter you are hoping to show a good time.

Well, I think I've held you all in suspense long enough as to which option we chose. And the winner is Option 3 - Buy a new car!

This picture was taken at 12:30 p.m. July 12, 2007 as we were preparing to drive off with this.

She is a 2007 Chevy HHR. The color is "Sunburst Orange Metallic" and the enterior is called "Cashmere" (a very light tan). To me she is Cooper colored. We got to the dealership about 6:30 Wednesday after Mickey had rented a car, picked me and the grands up, (sunburned, sore, very tired and full of junk food only since breakfast) and a good dinner.

The minute we walked on the lot to begin looking, and after meeting the sales person Mickey had talked to earlier, I spotted this car. We had bought a new Lincoln in 1976 that was almost this exact same color and I had loved that car. We looked at most of the Chevy line, drove this one and a dark blue Malibu and liked this one the best.

The dealership closed at 8 and we left about 8:35. We were not going to make a decision until we had prayed about it, slept over it, and of course I was even able to enlist prayer warriors via my blog and the handy-dandy computer in the motel lobby at 4 a.m.!!!! My portion of the sleeping over it was very short!!!!! 4 hours to be exact.

I knew this had taken us very much by surprise but I knew it was not a surprise to our Father God!! While I was typing my blog and asking for prayer the Lord just dropped in my Spirit this thought "I wouldn't have you here in Kansas City with a broken down vehicle at a Cadillac-Chevy dealership if you weren't suppose to buy a Cadillac or Chevy". Mickey and I both felt, almost from the beginning that the '93 was not worth pouring a huge amount of money into and it would be best to bite the bullet and buy a new vehicle. Our biggest concern was we hadn't looked at cars in years and here we were limited to the GM product only. Wasn't the "practical" thing to do would be to look at various makes and models, compare all the features, prices, etc. and then deside? See how easily we fall into the mind and our "thinking" and conditioning take over!!!!! No this was our answer. The Cadillac was economically out of the question for us on a fixed income. Now it was just a matter of which Chevy did we like, want and felt would fit our needs.

It just so happened (don't believe that for a moment either!!) that two of the couples we run around with had just recently bought HHR's!!! One a black one and the other got a gold metallic. They were both delighted with their purchases, comfort wise, mileage wise, ride, etc. Believe me Jack & Mary, and Don & Carol, that gave us great comfort!!!

We walked back into the dealership at 8:30 Thursday morning. Had them call our sales person on the phone and she was there in about 15 minutes. By 12:30 we were driving off the lot and heading home with our new jewel.

We cannot say enough for the dealership and how effeciently, professionally and kindly they handled our transaction. You know it's not easy to trade-in a car when you don't even have the title on you, you live in another city, etc. None of these factors were any problem with them. They even called our Insurance company and had the coverage transferred to our new vehicle for us.

We, our grandkids and our new vehicle are now safe and sound back home in Tulsa where we found we had an additional 4" of rain which completely finished off Mickey's lovely garden. Oh well, next years another year.........but we don't plan to be buying another vehicle next year. Ooops...better never say never, Mickey's pick-up has a lot of miles on it, and so do WE!!!

SHOW & TELL #10 My New Look

Here we are at yet another Friday and it's SHOW & TELL time hosted by Kelli at There Is No Place Like Home. Believe me, after returning from our 4 days in Kansas City and the situation with our car......I can TRULY say "There is no place like home"!!! I'll blog later about our trip to Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun and our car but want to share my Show & Tell now.





Horns and fanfare ******** My new look. I JUST LOVE IT!!!! As you scroll down my side bar you will see one of my favorite people who worked so hard with me putting the ideas together and then of course SHE did all the work. It was a real collaborative effort between the two of us as we developed exactly the look and things I wanted included in it. I would suggest something and then she would not only accomplish what I had asked but would have a suggestion or idea that made it even better.





Who is she---------well of course none other than our beloved LEIGH ANN aka Momma Roar and Birthday Girl extraordinaire.



Thank you Leigh Ann for blessing me with this wonderful new look. Thank you Kelli for the opportunity to introduce it on your wonderful Show & Tell. Thanks to all you who read my blog and a SPECIAL THANK YOU to those of you who comment. Your comments mean so much and bless me. Thank you especially for your prayers yesterday.

WHAT DOES ONE DO?

...........When one is in a motel room with 2 sleeping grand children and a sleeping husband and it's 3 a.m. and one can't sleep? You can't turn on the TV with everyone sleeping in the same room!!! Well, if the motel has a computer in the lobby and you are a blogging addict you get up, get dressed and come on down!!!!

Situations arise even in the midst of fun outings and vacation time. It's due to our "situation' that I awoke at 2 a.m. and laid their for an hour before I came to the lobby.

Tuesday the car began to "act up". So yesterday morning Mickey has decided he'll drop us off at Oceans of Fun and he'll take our beautiful '93 Red Cadillac to the dealership and have it checked out. We are very close to Oceans of Fun but the car barely makes it. So Mickey calls our towing service to have the car towed to the dealership. Thank goodness we did make it to the park so the kids and I go in. Mickey sits and wait 2 hours for the wrecker :o( Bless his heart he never complains!!

Oksana & Aric had a blast at the water park. All kinds of water rides and junk to eat. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Cooler than the day at Worlds of Fun and thank goodness because we all have a little sun burn as it is.

Back to the car "troubles". It is the transmission. YIKES!!! Mickey rents a car and comes to get us at 4:30. Thank goodness Oksana has a cell phone. We are all starving because all we've had to eat is junk food. We find a Chili's and have a great meal and then head to the dealership to look at new cars.

Sooooo here we are in Kansas City with an 8 years old and a 12 year old, lots of luggage and a situation to be rectified. What are we going to do?

Option 1 - call Marc to come get the children and we'll wait to have the car repaired.

Option 2 - Rent a truck and a trailer and tow the car back to Tulsa.

Option 3 - Buy a new car!

Option 4 - Buy a used car!

Option 5 - Throw our hands up and give up!!!!!!!!

Well, option #5 is out so that's good news :o)

Now you can understand why I am blogging at 4 a.m.

One thing I know for sure..........this may have taken us by surprise but it hasn't taken God by surprise. Another thing I know for sure.......God has his plans and purposes even in situations that befall us like this and He is for us and not against us and that in the end it will all be alright. (As I typed that I thought of something else.....our daughter, Jacque's, personal license plate reads "Alright" because that has been how we've raised our kids!!!)

All you prayer warriors out there........please pray for us that we clearly hear God and do the right thing.

FROM KANSAS CITY

Here I am in the motel lobby blogging AGAIN. All the rest of mine, hubby and grands are still fast asleep. It is 6:30 a.m. I seem to need to take more care in making myself clear. Even though our son loaned us a laptop to take to Nova Scotia (cancelled trip) I choose deliberately NOT to bring it so I'd give all my attention to the grands and not be tempted to be on the computer. BUT this motel has a computer in the lobby and as you can see......I have to drop by and read my comments and post a tiny note.

We walked I don't know how many miles over and over Worlds of Fun yesterday. I only rode two rides. Grandpa is a much better sport than I and road a lot with the kids. We were there from 10 a.m. when they opened until 4:15. Believe me, lights were out last night at 10 and we SLEEP. Belessed sleep.

I just read on the comments that I won Amber's contest. Boy, the Lord is really blessing me "coming in and going out". Thanks Amber.

Today it's Oceans of Fun which is a water park and water rides. We are not going until 11 today and we'll stay until the kids sa "uncle"!!!!

No time to read any blogs and I miss you all but just had to report in and say "hi". Sooo sorry to hear about your beautiful garden, Barbara :o(

How was the birthday Leigh Ann? I'll be eager to read all about it.

Well, off this thing and back to my duties as "Grandma-ma"!!!

HI!

It's 7:40 and I'm sitting in the hotel lobby in Kansas City on the computer!!!!!! Can you blieve it? YES!!!!! Couldn't resist. World's of Fun doesn't open until 10 a.m..

None of us hardly sleep last night. I thought Aric would be out the minute his head hit the pillow but I think he was too worked up. Mickey & I couldn't sleep because the 2 of them keep flipping!!! We turned off lights at 10. Gave up and turned the TV back on until 11:30. Sometime after that I finally got to sleep and then woke up. I thought surely it's 5 a.m. Looked at the clock 1:44 p.m. I finally got up at 6 after just laying there waiting for 6 to go down for the continental breakfast and COFFEE!!!

Thanks to you that left comments on Suzy Blue. For those of you that talk about being afraid of heights. The lift off in a hot-air balloon is so gentle that you are off the ground and looking down before you even know it. Sometimes the landings can be a little challenging, as Linds commented in hers, but even that is pure fun.

Better get off and back to Mickey and the kids but I couldn't resist saying "Hi" since I was able.

Big (((((hugs))))) to you all. Susan

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Leigh Ann (hug)

INTRODUCING SUZY BLUE

I featured Suzy Blue in Friday's SHOW & TELL post.

First I have to say we DID own a hot-air balloon named Suzy Blue, we do not now own a hot-air balloon.

We sold her in 1984 after moving to Albuquerque.

The following things were listed in my 100 post

These give a brief run down of how we became the owner of her.

90. In 1979 we were invited by some friends to go to the International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. We had no interest, or knowledge, about hot air balloons but being from NM and Albuquerque where we went almost annually anyway we said "sure".

91 Our first glimpse of a hot air balloon is what they call the dawn patrol. They put up just a few balloons right at sun rise. When we saw that first balloon light up like a light bulb in the sky we were so excited.

92 We returned from the Fiesta and Mickey began training for his Hot Air Balloon Pilot License and we ordered a balloon!!! When it arrived on May 19, 1981 we named her "Suzy Blue".

93. When Marc was 14 he began taking lessons for his Pilot License and had a big write-up in the Tulsa World as the youngest student pilot ever in Tulsa. (I'll blog about this at a later date)

94. One of the people who flew in "Suzy Blue" is Anthony M*a*s*o*n. He worked for one of the local TV stations and took the ride and reported about it. Anthony Mason is now a news reporter on one of the 3 national TV networks. (Can't remember but I think it's CBS).

95. The local morning radio celebrity of the day, John E*h*r*l*i*n*g did an actual morning broadcast from "Suzy Blue" live.

96. "Suzy Blue" was the 3rd hot air balloon in Tulsa. The 3 of us, all close friends, were featured on the cover of The Tulsa Magazine.

97. We got a lot of attention every time we would fly. We would look down and it would kind of be like Pied Piper with all the children (cars) following.

This picture of Suzy Blue appeared on the cover of Tulsalite Magazine July, 1981 The insert below About the cover: reads

Five years ago there were approximately 700 hot-air balloons in the nation.

Today that number is up to more than 2500 and is growing rapidly - and the Tulsa

area is no exception. Readying for the lift-off at 31st & Memorial, the hot-air

balloons pictured on this month's cover are the colorful aircraft of

Tulsa balloonist Mickey Joyce, Ken Cook and Ron Thompson.

Tulsa Balloon Club member Don Clear captured the event on film.

For more on the fastrising sport, see page 36.

Suzy Blue is on the left. Center balloon is Wind Drifter & Cloud Hopper is right.

Pilot Mickey Joyce beside the chase vehicle. You can see-Follow Me....I Chase Balloons-painted on the tailgate. And follow us they did!! Every balloon has a chase crew and a chase vehicle. The chase crew helps with setting up the balloon for the inflation, the inflation itself and launching the balloon. After the balloon is in the air and drifting off all the crew jump in the back of the pick-up for the chase which is loads of fun. We had wonderful chase crews and always more volunteers than we needed. All of our chase crew wore the yellow Suzy Blue T-Shirts like Mickey is wearing.





This picture was taken at a Balloon Rally in Memphis at Memphis in May held Friday, May 22, 1981 through Sunday, May 24, 1981. We had just received Suzy Blue and she had taken her maiden flight in Tulsa on May 19th. This was the first rally she & Mickey flew in. Mickey won the 3rd place prize of $175 in the Hound & Hare Race on Saturday morning.. We landed on 3 different property owners during those 3 days and the first couple whose property we landed on won the Property Owners Drawing of a new TV. It was an exciting time for all of us, especially since Mickey's brother Doug, sister-in-law Helen, & nephew, Steve lived in Memphis and got to participate with us in all the fun.





See Mickey Mouse sitting on the basket? Every balloon has a mascot and of course we purchased Mickey before the balloon was even delivered. He made each and every flight that Suzy Blue ever flew sitting right there. He currently resides in our guest bedroom. He's a little dirty and scuffed up from all his adventures but dearly loved and holds precious memories.





Mickey is 47 and I am 42 in this picture and yes I use to be thin! The hat I am wearing has various balloon pins on it. We had a Suzy Blue balloon pin that was given to each person who flew in the balloon, plus those who helped us crew. Each balloonist had pins made of their balloon.





This is a picture that was taken of us near an apartment complex near down town Tulsa one evening. If you look closely you can see the Oklahoma flag hanging off the left side of the balloon. We always flew the flag each time we would fly.






As you can imagine we have 100's of balloon pictures!! I just tried to pick out a few for this post. This is one of my favorites. I am the one in the yellow shirt, of course Mickey and then another good friend of ours. We were just taking off and this shot was taken shooting straight up at us. You can see the star design that the blue and white colors formed. Again if you look carefully toward the top of the picture you can see the Oklahoma Flag.








As you can imagine we had LOTS of adventures and experience with Suzy Blue and I will be sharing some more of those with you in future posts. Hope you enjoyed meeting her and learning a little about her.