In His Corner.

Sunday we took the grandkids to the Pumpkin Farm. Beautiful weather and just a great day overall.

Bradley is our dog. We've had him for 3 years and he is one of the best dogs ever!

So, with Samuel, Ella and Bradley, Victor has got a really good fan-base. These three are totally devoted to him and it is very sweet. We all could use unwavering love, couldn't we?

One of those 'why's?'

There is something I've been thinking of lately. It is something that has an answer, I just don't know it fully. I know that greater minds than mine maybe have this figured out-I am stumped.

Remember recently when Jaycee Lee Dugard was found? She is the young woman who was kidnapped from S Lake Tahoe in 1991. She was found to be living with her captors, a woman and a man. The man had a long history of being a rapist. The woman was his sick accomplice.

Jaycee had grown up in a horrific situation to be sure. Actually having two kids from this evil man.

I'm so glad she was found. She is reunited with her family and can begin healing-and, hopefully getting normalized.

Here is the hard part for me: I am a huge believer in prayer. I've had so many prayers and hopes answered. Why, then, did it take so long for Jaycee to be found? I'm sure that many of God's people were praying for her, but WHY?

Oh, I know that this is a sensitive subject. I know that He has His reasons. We 'see through a glass darkly' and all.

Is it like the 'Chaos Theory' where scientists found that even in chaos, there is an order?

I hope this isn't too simplistic...

I'm not even sure I like how I've gotten this subject down in this blog...



Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts.

Healing at Center of Praise

I have to say that I truly LOVE the home church that we attend. It has been such a sweet surprise.
In the fall of 2002 me and Victor blew out of the church we helped pastor. It was really a tough change at first, but right away the Lord led us on such an amazing path. As far as finding a church, we didn't have very much luck. Don't get me wrong, there are lots of good churches filled with good people. It is just that we kept feeling restless. Victor more so than I. I kept hoping, but doubting, that there was a good place to make our permanent 'home'.

Let me go back to when we blew out of our former church. As were were getting signs that we should leave, we went on a cruise down to Mexico. The church thought that if we got some rest, we would come around to their way of thinking. That didn't happen. What DID happen was that the Lord started speaking to us about our future.

Victor met some brothers on the cruise ship. They were having a small retreat to relax and to connect with the Lord. I saw that they were filled with joy and I wished and longed to be in their frame of mind. We got invited to their meeting and decided to go. They welcomed us - which made me cry- and they loved us too. The speaker started talking about trials in life. *Tears*
He brought up the story of Joseph *more tears* As he kept speaking, I knew that God was trying to encourage us. This brother didn't know that we had been talking a lot about Joseph and we knew that it was no coincidence what this man was sharing.

After that get-together, Victor told me that he felt like the Lord was telling him that we were going to be involved in the black community. I certainly had the 'amen' too, but we didn't know that it would entail being part of such a great church community - the Center of Praise.

The wonderful part of this has been the healing of Victor's health. He really took a 'hit' with all of the stress during our trial. The doctors thought he had Lou Gehrig's disease or prostate cancer or, even MS. It was so stressful and I was really in denial. Thankfully he had none of those things. He was still very much in pain and it was really tough.

Since going to COP, starting on and off since last fall, he has almost completely been healed! I truly thank God for the victory :D

We are now members and are involved and serve too. The old has passed away. It is new and fresh. I know that no church is perfect. I know that I probably have theological differences on some issues, yet this is home.

Yeah, God!!

Just an aside, the music is soooo good and we get to sing in the choir. When churches have bad music, it is hard for me to enter into worship. I know, I know, we need to bring from our hearts praise no matter what. I am a spoiled baby in that respect. I admit it. I realize also that it is all subjective, but still...

Our Very Own Neighborhood Crackhouse

These are some of my neighbors. We went over to the house to check out what is going on with the clean-up. Well, we are disappointed that NOTHING is happening. It was fun hanging out and talking though. The kids were eating popsicles and the parents were talking. I like the light-sabers :D

Conversation between parent and young child:

Parent: Stay out front, I don't want you to go into the backyard because there are needles that can make you very sick and other things that are bad.

Young child: Is there quicksand?

Parent: I don't know. Might be...

Band of Mothers

Last night we had a Neighborhood Watch meeting in our Teen Center. I was so glad that neighbors came-even our Pakistani neighbors who usually try to avoid calling the police. We had 3 police officers come and talk about the goings on around here. They were very positive and they are seeing good things happen all of the time.

There are 4 of us who have formed what I call 'The Band of Mothers'. We are the ones who have been concerned about the state our street was in for about 9 months or so. You see we just got rid of a crack, pimp and prostitution house (all rolled into one) that was 4 houses down from mine.

It all started when a bunch of people moved into a rental house. The people would hang out on the porch and talk to their friends and such. We would walk by and say 'Hi' and they seemed friendly enough. Then, we started realizing that the women who lived there were always on the lookout for drivers going by and then one of the ladies waved at my husband. That was her mistake.

My husband, being the kind and forthright man that he is, went to talk to the guys. He told them that if he was wrong he would apologize, but it seemed that there are things going on at this particular house that will not work on this street. At first the guys tried denying it, but in the end they did admit it. My husband once again, told them that it wasn't going to work.

One day the police were called to a house that is across the street from the crack-house. A woman there has a grown daughter who is on drugs and this young woman yells and screams at her mom with such wrath and venom. It is really unbelievable how crazed this daughter gets. Well, the mom got afraid and called the police. I didn't know this at first and me and my husband went to ask the police if they were there for the crack-house. We did kind of use large hand,arm,pointing motions toward the bad house. We let the police know what was going on and then let it be because they were already busy.

Next day, one of the men, an older fellow, comes to our door. My 15 year old daughter is the only one home at the time. Well, Mr Weaver, crack-house spokesman, said he was upset with us that we called the police on them all. Thankfully, Mr Weaver realized that he shouldn't get too upset with our daughter, but I was still mad. The gall!

Fast forward to the day after the Nat'l Night Out in August. We had a great get-together with tons of neighbors and talked about starting Neighborhood Watch the night before. After the party a HUGE fight broke out down the block. This never happens and it was certainly crazy after such a great Nat'l Night Out party. Anyways, I happen to see two cop cars parked across the street. I decided to be the nosy neighbor and ask them if everything was okay and if they had heard about the big fight the night before. They said everything was okay and , no, they hadn't heard about the fight.

I then proceed to talk about our very own crack-house and right away Mr Weaver comes yelling down the street protesting that I'm talking to the police about him and his house. Boy, he was mad! I raised my voice right back at him and while he was protesting his innocence I was speaking very loudly about the "Pimping, Drugs and the Prostitution GOING ON!" Neighbors came out and watched the spectacle. So, Mr Weaver and I went toe to toe while the woman officer held up her arms to keep us separated. (this was funny to me later, like did she think I would hit him?!)

Well, I was glad that we tangled a bit because I think it showed that crack-house that I wasn't intimidated by them. They needed to fear ME. Even though I told Mr Weaver, he still kept thinking that it was just our family that was calling the police on them. The whole street was calling on them and I thank God for such diligent neighbors. In the end the cops came and busted them. A couple of people were already on parole too. The house is going into forclosure because the owners didn't want to pay for all of the code violations and the raw sewage problem in the basement-Ewww. The city attorney also filed a suit against the owners-Yeah!

A win for the Band of Mothers for sure :D
I did hear about other goings-on, but I'll save that for another posting.
Never a dull moment in the 'hood.

Wondering if I should go there

Today was first Sunday at Center of Praise. That means that the whole choir sings--3 services in the morning and the evening Communion. It is quite the workout in more ways than one. Today in service we sang a song called Our Father by Fred Hammond. I tell ya that ever since I've joined COP I keep getting struck in the heart by these songs about fathers.

I didn't get to grow up with my dad and now that I'm an adult, I still don't really know him. I feel that there is peace between us, I just don't have a relationship with him.

A month ago my mom got really mad at me and disowned me. I was sad about it, but I admit, I'm somewhat relieved. Our relationship is always tense.

All this to say that I essentially don't have parents that love and care for me. When we sing those songs at church about a loving father, it is half comforting and half sad.

I know God is good and He has been really good to me. Todays songs are meant to remind everyone how loving a God He is. I know that's true!

Yadda, yadda, yadda...

Our time in Iowa

Well, my husband and I were off in Iowa. I really liked it. I wish I could have seen more of it. You know, the Field of Dreams or something. Oh well...we were too busy!

The folks that hosted us, Tom and Kate are wonderful. They are tireless Christians who are really into helping people. Kate is a pray-er and told us of some really neat answers she has seen.
At their home prayer meeting this morning, they prayed for our whole family-what a blessing.

Tom is a relationship builder. He has gotten the Christians and Jews together and this is no easy feat. He is so gracious and passionate for Israel and it's people. And stands strong against anti-semitism.

The Night to Honor Israel was a great evening. Victor's message was the WHOLE package. It felt like a journey and I think it will inspire people to put 'actions to faith'. He sold a few books too.

We ate a LATE dinner and a pastor friend spoke about his life and ministry. Boy! It was bringing back memories-not all good either. One of the things he shared is when someone preaches a message about forgiveness, he and his wife look at each other and say "I wonder how long the line will be this time." Yep, they will most assuredly have a few people who want to 'forgive' them after church is over...Oh! I have really bad memories about such foolishness.

I don't have the 'ticket' for that life anymore.
I just want to be a plain-old sister who is helpful and loves the Lord.
So, we are back home now in Sacramento. Bushed.