afternoon breather....

Well, what a day, so far! Emily took Margaret, Kathryn, Evelyn, and Sonja shopping. Mirielle and I brought Samuel, Suzanne, Jonathan, Charlotte Claire, and Camille.....to the Bass Pro shop to see the fish and shoot the guns and stare increduosly at the stuffed bears, moose, deer, and geese hanging from the walls and ceiling. Then on to Aldi, "for gummy bears!", as the little girls say. We got a pineapple, and some veggie chips, soy milk, bacon, blueberries.....then a quick trip to Wegmans for some nice fresh bread for the French toast....Sam stayed in the van with the little ones, eating their candy and fooling around. Sam was at the end of his rope by the time we came out of the store.

Home....Aaron and Joe are home from work, Aaron is making a chocolate/vanilla coconut pie. Just because he wants to. I don't know what earthly good it is to make ONE pie, but hey, we can cut it in small slices.

So....in the midst of all these things that go on in life, there is something else at work. It is called "salvation"......it involves hearing what God has to say to me during the day. I am so easily entertained, and I enjoy life so much, that I have to be careful not just to breeze through and survive on my own contentedness. I need to be gathering oil in my lamp while it is still the time of grace. I would much rather please God than get my own way or be right. I say this now, but when temptations come, it is very difficult to hold fast and humble myself. But not impossible. We need so much encouragement not to lose heart when things get rough. God doesn't send trials to punish us, but in gentleness, so that we turn to Him! "Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts...." (hebrews 3 v.12...)

And so, ....my day goes on....dinner time is approaching, and I am very certain I won't have to look very hard for salvation!