Even though David's visit was really short (3 days) it was a wonderful time & visit.

He arrived on Friday at 12:21. I've already shared that we had lunch with our 2 sons. He spent Friday night with us. It was such a wonderful time just the three of us.....and ooops I forgot about Bear!!! We had borrowed a Chuck Miss*ler dvd on "The Nephilin". Mickey & I had already watched it but David really respects Chuck Miss*ler so the 3 of us watched all 2 hours of the video. Then it was to bed. David had been up since 3 a.m. so was plenty tired.

Saturday morning we had the joy of David joining in with our Bible Study (we are currently in Revelation) and prayer time. Then we just lazed around and about noon David went over to spend the day and night with Marc, Aric & Oksana.

Sunday of course we celebrated Marc's birthday. Dinner was at 1:30 and everyone stayed until after 6. David spend another wonderful evening and night with us.

On Wednesday night our Pastor asked a question and a bunch of us raised our hands.....much to my surprise he said "I have this book I just finished and wanted to give it to one of you. Susan's is the first hand I saw" and he handed me "When I Don't Desire God - How to fight for Joy" by John Piper. I LOVE to get a book someone I admire has read and marked all up and with personal notes. Well this book was just that. The title kind of took me aback because I desire God with all my heart and I thought it strange God would direct Pastor to give that particular book to me. I was going to read it and then pass it on to others in my two Bible studies.

With everything going on at my house since Wednesday night I had just put it on the table near the recliner where I usually read and thought I'd start it after David's visit.

Well, Monday morning I could tell David had looked at it. He had gone to bed after Mickey & I Sunday night. When he got up I asked him if he'd looked at the book and he said yes. Then I told him Pastor Gary had given it to me. David has the utmost respect for Pastor Gary, during the short time he was in church there with us. Anyway.....I asked him if he'd like to take it home and read it. He said yes. THEN I knew why God had directed Pastor Gary to give it to me. Isn't it wonderful to watch God work?!!!! I love it. He truly directs our paths.

Again, Monday morning we had the pleasure of having David for our Bible Study & Prayer time. He left at 9 and went and got Oksana & Aric and took them out for breakfast before he left for the LONG 2 day drive back to California. Marc of course was already at work.

Besides celebrating Marc's birthday the other purpose for David's trip was to pick up his 2003 Mustang. He had left it here with us last August when he moved back to San Francisco. At the time he was working at Sun Mi*crosy*stems and was right on the rail system to work and didn't need the car. Two months ago he changed jobs and went to work for another company which is across the Bay near Oakland and has a very long commute. He now needed his car. Mickey had spent the 2 weeks before getting various things taken care of it for him, 2 new tires, brakes, some engine work, etc. David paying the costs, of course, Mickey just doing the leg work for it to be ready and in good shape for him.

Dad loading him up.



Good bye son :o( His plans are to come again Christmas :o)

Oh, besides the Piper book he took along 4 cd's of the messages that Randy Cald*well delivered when he was with us for a 2 day revival in July. When we talked to him last night he volunteered that he'd listened to 2 of them on his long drive.

Planting more of that seed and always praying and standing in Faith that David will yet fulfil the call God has had on his life since a small child.

Our God is Good & Our God is Faithful!!!!

DAVID'S HOME - if only for 3 days :o(

Friday, July 31st, David arrived from San Francisco for a big celebration.

Picking him up at the air port.


First thing we did was go get Marc and go out for lunch. What a joy for this mom & dad to get to have lunch with BOTH of their sons. These two are so close ..... which naturally delights us parents.

After lunch we came home and David got to help his dad harvest honey.

David is holding up one of the frames loaded with honey.

Mickey is instructing David about cutting off the honey comb. You can see it piling up in the tray below.

Two of the scraped frames have been placed in the Extractor. David is working the crank as Mickey is holding the extractor down.

Oh the joy of seeing that pure honey filling the bucket.

Here is the first bucket full of the unstrained honey. We ended up with 1 1/2 of these ice cream buckets full. Total weight was 20 lbs.

The work is over and the process completed. Look at the pure joy in David's face as he observes this bee on his finger.

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I live the most interesting and exciting life!!!!!!! Meet "Bear".

David's home, which I was so excited about and over joyed.......but this Blue Heeler, named Bear, also arrived that evening to spend a week. WHAT?!!!!! Mickey had failed to ask me, or tell me, that he had offered to keep him for some friends of ours who were going on vacation.

When Mike & Mikey brought him in they explained if he was a human he would be described as being bi-polar!!!! Now we are scheduled to have 19 people for a dinner on Sunday, in our small house, for a much planned celebration that Mickey & I have been working hard on all week. I was not prepared to add a bi-polar dog into this mix!!!

Also, I knew that we were getting to meet my blog friend, Lisa, and her family and had a gillion, well quite a few other. places to be and errand's to run on Saturday.

Was I happy???? NOT!! Was I mad at Mickey? No!!! I wanted to be, but how do you get mad at someone who is just so incredibly nice and kind that he is always willing and wanting to help others out......even dog sitting a bi-polar dog?

You have to understand that I am not a dog lover in the first place. I don't hate dogs, I just don't particularly care for them.

Bear was running all over the house....that is except when he was jumping on something, or chewing on something....like Mickey's foot in this picture.

Mike told us that Bear slept at the foot of their bed and might try to jump on the bed. This is where my foot went down HARD. I am not having Bear sleep in our bedroom. David, who is a cat lover.....he has 3 of them, and a lover of all animals said Bear could sleep in his room with him. Wheeeeee!!!!!

One more thing to add to this "mix". A water line broke a couple of blocks from us and all the water in the neighborhood was shut off. This occurred around 4 p.m. until the middle of the night. So couldn't even wash up the super dishes, take a bath, etc.!!

The next morning around 7 Mike called, from the road, and wanted to know how we'd done with the dog. I put Mickey on the phone and he said, "We're doing fine." Then Mike said their grown daughter, who was suppose to make the trip with them, did not get to go after all and would be picking Bear up around 9:30 a.m. Praise God!!!!!!

Here are my two "monkey's" eating their banana's and "Seeing no evil" and "Speaking no evil". I am definitely "hearing" only the good report........I have had a reprieve of a week with Bear.

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Tune in tomorrow to find out what the BIG Sunday celebration was all about.

MORE POST-CHRISTMAS FAMILY CELEBRATING

Since David's plane did not arrive until the evening of Christmas day and he missed out on our celebration we decided to all meet for dinner at Ou*t Ba*ck Steak House on Sunday evening for dinner.

Our son's, Marc & David and grandson, Aric.

l We picked this restaurant because our granddaughter, Jessica, works here and although she couldn't "eat" with us she got to wait on our table of 10, and spend time serving us. Here she is taking her grandfather Mickey's order.

Dave, Suzette & Oksana perusing their menu's

Benny, Mallory & Jacque.

Mallory a friend of Jessica's. also works at Ou*t Ba*ck, and they go to college together. Oksana looking on from the side.

Mickey & I...the proud parents and grandparents... enjoying a fun time with our family.

GOD PLANTED A GARDEN.....

"God Planted A Garden...There he put the man whom he had formed"

Genesis 2:8

"What does it mean to plant? To bury seeds beyond human view so that they germinate and eventually produce fruit. In God's plan for your life, He's planted blessing you experience over time. Just because you walk out into a field and don't see a crop, doesn't mean the seeds aren't there; God has planted things in your life that will come to fruition at different times.

It's amazing that God would plant. Why would He go to such trouble when He could just speak a word and create it? Think of the love, the personal involvement of the Creator of the universe, as He stoops down and plants blessings to come up at different seasons in your life. Everything God has for you hasn't come up yet, so you can't give up, or walk away and say, "That's all there is." No, God's got some stuff planted that you haven't seen or experienced. You're still becoming what He's planted. Knowing that reinforces your faith that it will happen. It also means God believes in you-even when you don't believe in yourself.

There are talents in you that haven't been discovered and dreams that haven't been fulfilled. That's what the battle is about! The devil is fighting you over your destiny. He knows what's been planted in you and he's trying to kill the seed. Don't let him. You're not the person you'll be six months or six years from now, because there's a time factor; everything doesn't come to harvest at the same time. You have to have faith and patience, otherwise you'll miss what God has for you."

This devotional is from THE WORD FOR YOU TODAY and is for Wednesday, September 3, 2008.

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I have spoken many time about God putting just the right words before me, at the right time, on many occasions. This is certainly an additional example of that......We learned Monday, Labor Day, that our son, David, is moving out of state, Many of you, who shared his story with us when he returned to Oklahoma last September 30, 2007, know things have not turned out as we had hoped and planned. Does this hurt? YES!!! a thousand times yes. Is our faith in God and His promises shaken ....NO!!! a million times NO!!!!

CATCHING UP & THIS and THAT

It just dawned on me that in all that has been going on in our lives this month I failed to mention that David moved out of the 5th wheel in our back yard and in closer to his work in Tulsa. He actually moved July 1st and Mickey & I took over the last load of his stuff on Saturday, July 12th.

Yesterday we had the carpets professionally cleaned and now the 5th wheel is in tip-top shape. Don't know yet what we are going to do with it: just let it sit where it is, try and sell it, etc. 3 of our 4 children have had occasion to live in it temporarily during the past 4 years since we parked it for good. Suzette & Dave for 3 months while their new home was being built, Jacque for a year after losing everything in Katrina, and now David for these 9 months. It has served this family well.....plus our wonderful years, and miles of travel all over (although all of that was not done in this unit).

We are going to miss having him right here with us and I especially will miss our long, meaningful talks but it truly was time for all of us for him to move on to the next step in his life.

Aric & Oksana's great-grandmother was in town this week, she lives in Texarkansas. She took all of us out to dinner last Thursday night to Te*xas Ro*ad*hou*se for a delightful meal and a wonderful visit. She was so surprised at how much Aric & Oksana had both grown. She had been here 9 months ago, right after David came from California, and we had taken all of us out to eat on that occasion. She is a delightful woman and has become a great friend of ours.

Monday I went back to the surgeon who did my knee surgery 3 months ago. He took x-rays of my knee, both ankles and looked at previous back x-rays and is satisfied all is well even though the lower part of my back is out of alignment by a 1/2 inch. I still have considerable pain, especially at night trying to sleep. Oh well. I've learned to live with it.

Last night our dear friends, Jack & Mary, had 5 of us over for one of Mary's gourmet meals. Always a treat and a wonderful time of fellowship. 3 of the 7 of us present have had heart surgeries of one type or another so there was much encouraging of Mickey about the upcoming event.

Today is election day in our little town. We are voting for a 1/2 penny sales tax increase. Our sales tax is already higher than Tulsa's but we are growing and there are needs to be met so we will vote for it. It is to be used for: 1) an additional fire station 2) new playground equipment 2) new splash park 3) additional police equipment 4) road improvements & 5 POSSIBILY lower home insurance rates (this is based on IF the added new fire station moves our town into a lower risk factor with the insurance rates).

I've told Mickey I want a clothes line. We talked about it 4 years ago when we came back home and have never done it. Don't know whether to get one of those purchased umbrella style bought ones or have him run some clothes line. He is in the "thinking about it phase". Do your husbands do that? Mine does on everything. I'd appreciate imput from those of you who have & use a clothes line as to what you like and think would be best for me.

I told you this was a lot of this & that!!!! Have a blessed day.

CELEBRATING

Father's Day! Here is Mickey with one of the many gifts the kids got him. It is a flashlight for your head, so your hands are free!!! The kids love it when Mickey gets a new hobby because they have some new things to get him for gifts.

I prepared dinner for 12 people who were coming after church. I am anxious to get home and tend to the meal and Mickey begins talking to another man in our church who has bee hives. I finally had to interrupt and say, "I hate to be rude, but I do have 12 people for dinner today!". We had a Spiral Ham, new red potatoes, fresh steamed green beans, corn, big vegetable salad, cranberries, and french bread. It was all lush if I say so myself :o)

David's birthday is June 22nd, next Sunday, so we celebrated both occasions. Suzette brought the desserts: A chocolate cake with whip cream icing for David's 44th birthday and a Marie Callendar's German Chocolate Pie for Father's Day (since Mickey loves German chocolate cake). Both really yummy.

Here is our birthday boy, David. This is the first time in YEARS that David has been with us on his birthday so it was a very special celebrating him & his dad on the same day.

Everyone had to have a look at the bee hive. We only got this one picture of Marc and Oksana doing so. Aric won't even open the french doors and go out into the back yard!!!! Got to get him over being so afraid of the bees!!!

Our pastor's sermon was WONDERFUL as always. He really challenged all of us, not just the men, to be completely honest with ourselves as to the truth about US individually. At the end he had all the men come to the front of the church. It was so awesome because our church body is full of many, committed men. Such a blessing.

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OTHER STUFF: Friday night we had our first prayer meeting in our new permanent prayer location. We only had 13 of us but it was wonderful and powerful.

Saturday night Mickey & I had received an invitation to attend a meeting at the Library where a woman who had been an intercessory prayer worker at Brownsville spoke. It just excites me that God is calling so many people to become serious about seeking Him, and His will for our lives, in prayer.

I trust all of you had a wonderful Father's Day celebrating your fathers. I feel so very blessed to have had a wonderful Father. Then double blessed to have a husband who has been a wonderful Father, to our 4 children, and now grandfather to our 3 grandchildren.

THIS & THAT: David, Weather, House of Prayer

Several of you have asked me how David is doing. I am glad to report David is doing very well!!! His job is going super and he just recently volunteered to work a 4 to midnight shift for 6 months. He loves it and he gets a 10% pay bonus for doing so. That is one of the reasons he agreed to take it.

Those hours work much better for him, as he's always been a night owl. What we love about it is that he has started coming over every morning to see his father before he leaves for work at 9:30 and then he and I sit and talk for an hour to an hour and 1/2 (sometimes 2!!!). One of the reasons my blogging has been a little scarce lately :o) David and I love to talk: about the Bible, about his childhood, about his upbringing, about psychology, about woman and on and on. He has an amazing IQ and I am always astonished that he is my son!!! He told me this morning he was thinking about trying to get back to blogging and I hope he will because he really has so much to give and to share. I've said it before, and I'll say it again........God has a great plan for my son. He ran from it for years and it is the joy of my heart to sit and watch God working in his life and seeing him transforming before my eyes. Actually, transforming is not the correct word........what we are seeing is the true, real David coming back to life. Sort of like the dry bones in Ezekiel.

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RAIN we have had rain, rain and more rain. Two days last week on Wednesday & Thursday we had 5" each day. A total of 10". On Thursday the flooding was so bad that Highway 51, which runs through Coweta, was shut down at both ends. I had to pick my grandson up from school in Tulsa that day and I barely made it through before they closed the highway. Then Tuesday night we had 4" of rain, and tornado warnings and watches all night. Needless to say we got little sleep. Then last night another 5+" of rain but luckily no tornado watches in our immediate area. They actually closed ALL the schools in our area today because of the flooding. We are high enough we don't get flooded but we sure have soggy front and back yards. Now today we are having very high winds blowing and more bad weather for the remainder of the week.

"I" truthfully think the extreme weather we are having, literally around the world, has much to do with what God is doing and preparing to do. I am viewing and seeing all the physical rain that we are having as a token of the Lord pouring out His Spirit as prophesied as the Later Rains.

In conjunction with the physical rain we are having wonderful things moving and happening in the establishing of the 24 hour Remnant House of Prayer that we are involved with!!!! I will write a lot about this at a little later date......just let me say, "God is up to something" and we are so excited. God is so good and I love Him SOOOO.

HOW IS DAVID DOING? & AWARD

A dear friend e-mailed me last week and said:

"Just a quick question for you... How is David doing? He has been on my mind a lot. "

As I was answering her it occurred to me that some of you were probably wondering the same thing since I had not posted about him since saying this......

The past 79 days, since our oldest son returned to Tulsa, has been a war. MANY victories, which I have recorded in this blog, but also lost battles. Our enemy, Satan, does not give up those who he has controlled for a long time easily. We know this and were fully aware of the war we were entering. BUT we also know:
I John 4:4 - "Ye are of God little children, and have overcome them: BECAUSE GREATER IS HE THAT IS IN YOU, THAN HE THAT IS IN THE WORLD."

here on December 18th.

I decided to copy here what I answered my dear friend on Thursday.

"To answer your question: Based on the shape and condition he was in when he arrived in Tulsa on September 30, 2007.......he is a 9.

Based on the job situation.......he is a 10.

Based on his shape and condition in his personal life......he is a 3.

Based on the condition he is with God & Jesus.......he is a 3. Based on God's perspective and our faith perspective.......he is a 10!!!! We KNOW who has the victory.....and it's not Satan!!!!!!!

As I write this I think I'll have to post this!!!!!

Thanks for asking."

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen"

Hebrews 11:1 KJV

"The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see."

Hebrews 11:1 The Message

And I have to add.....but what we KNOW to be the ultimate truth and reality!!!

This is a recent picture taken of him and his new bowling ball. He has joined his younger brother, Marc, in the love of bowling.

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My dear New Zealand friend (oh I just LOVE being able to claim a friend from so far away :o) ) Karen of Karen's Ramblings developed this award. This is what she said about it:

What is on my heart this morning is Encouragement. A word of hope or affirmation is a real blessing to building one another up - with the view of leading us closer to God.

I have been really encouraged, inspired, challenged and stirred up by a lot of posts that I have read. They have drawn me closer to God, desiring to follow in His Footsteps more and more.

So, with that in mind I have designed this Award called "You Encourage me to follow in his Footsteps".

Then she proceed to pass it on to 7 of us. This is what she said to me:

Susan of Penless Writer Susan does not compromise, she is passionate about the Word of God and is a woman of prayer. I have been so blessed reading about her family and seeing how she holds on to the Rock in her life with tenacity, faith and unfailing hope.

I am always honored when someone chooses to give me an award. I am especially pleased to have been honored with this award because: 1) of what it represents - Encouraging others to follow in Jesus' footsteps and 2) because of the integrity of the one, Karen, who designed it.

Thank you so much Karen. I truly am DEEPLY honored and will always endeavor to Encourage others as we each follow in our Lords paths for us individually. We truly are parts of the wonderful BODY OF CHRIST and have our individual function and our special story and part.

LOSING SOME BATTLES BUT CLAIMING THE WAR

As I began my post, The Serious Side (here) about our granddaughter Oksana choosing to remain with her mother on July 14th, I made the following statement.

"One of the constant desires of my heart is to be authentic and real in my thoughts, beliefs and feelings expressed on this blog. " This has always been my heart for this blog of Penless Writer and will always remain so.

Then on November 23 I had the joy of sharing the good news of Oksana's return to her father in Re-Joyce With Us.

Our family knows how to lose some battles, and have lost many, but we also know how to win the wars and we have won some major ones. The reason we know how to win the wars is not because of who we are but because we are Born Again Children Of The Living God.

"For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day" II Timothy 1:12

&

"NOW FAITH IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR, THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN". Hebrews 11:1

The past 79 days, since our oldest son returned to Tulsa, has been a war. MANY victories, which I have recorded in this blog, but also lost battles. Our enemy, Satan, does not give up those who he has controlled for a long time easily. We know this and were fully aware of the war we were entering. BUT we also know:

I John 4:4 - "Ye are of God little children, and have overcome them: BECAUSE GREATER IS HE THAT IS IN YOU, THAN HE THAT IS IN THE WORLD."

For our prayer warrior Brother's and Sister's in Christ out there in blog land, we covet your prayers as we stand and contend for our family. They are our heritage and we claim them for GOD.

ABOVE ALL THAT WE ASK OR THINK

Yet another of God's promises that has been fulfilled in our lives.

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, acccoring to the power that worketh in us." Ephesians 3:20

65 days ago our son returned to Tulsa - 51 days ago he bowed the knee to Jesus and became a new creation in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Today he started his new job.

That in itself is wonderful but that is only the 1/2 of it.

The thing that kept him from coming back to Tulsa sooner was his fear that he could not get the type of work, here in Tulsa, that he loved and was trained to do. He had been a Network Engineer in Silicon Valley. He did not believe the job opportunities here in Tulsa would afford him that type work.

Two days after he posted his resume on the internet, L*e*v*e*l 3 posted a job opening that fit him perfectly. He could hardly believe his eyes when he saw it!

He applied for it immediately and he got the good news that he had been selected at 4:30 p.m. the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Talk about this family having even more to celebrate on Thanksgiving.

Here is the information on the company for those interested.

Level 3 Network
The Level 3 Network today operates as one of the largest IP transit networks in North America and Europe.
The Level 3 Network was designed to maximize coverage, performance, flexibility and scalability. We offer more long-haul and metro route options than other providers. In addition to our intercity route miles, we give customers access to over 26,000 metropolitan route miles.
Our high-capacity, nationwide backbone was recently overbuilt with new DWDM, IP and private-line switching layers. Level 3 technology deployments have enabled new, market-leading services like 10 GigE LAN PHY and 40 Gbps Wavelength services.
Our voice footprint is expanding with our network. We currently have connectivity to every long-distance tandem office in the United States, and to a large and growing number of end offices. Our customers have the ability to terminate calls anywhere in the world over the Level 3 Network.

Turns out this company is one of the largest of it's kind in the world. Who would have dreamed such a company was here in Tulsa, that a job opening would come up just as he put up his resume.?

The irony of his landing such a job, after moving here from Silicon Valley, CA.!!

BUT

God knew, and God had it all planned out and truly gave us

Above all that we ask or think!!

DAVID TELLS HIS STORY

Many of you who have been following the story of our prodigal sons return.

The first blog I ever wrote about David was about raising him as a child here.

Then I began the story of his recent return here.

David has now begun his own blog, Wider Than The Sky.

His story starts at the bottom of his page so please scan down and begin there with the Origin Of The Species.

This story, as you will see, is not a pretty one. What story of a Prodigal is?

But, as with all who turn their lives over to Jesus, it will have a wonderful ending.

These first four segments he has written are the beginning of the bad times.

He will be adding to them and I trust you will bookmark his blog and follow along.

Mickey, David & I appreciate your interest in our story and the many prayers that have been offered for us and our extended family.

It is a very exciting time for all of us.

We serve a wonderful, mighty GOD who can, and does reach out and snatch us from the very pits of hell.

This is OUR story.