Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Year


A peaceful moment...and I am reminded that God is working in my son's life.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas



Photos taken at family Christmas Party, Laguna Beach.

Friday, December 16, 2011

It's Christmas

I thought I should get something up on my blog that looked like Christmas. Meet Diamond. May you have a blessed Christmas as you celebrate the birth of Jesus, our Savior.

I'll be going to a family Christmas party this weekend, and on Monday...a wedding! My Christmas shopping is almost done. But nothing is wrapped.

The dishwasher broke and the wind storm's power outages took out the TV. We're looking for a new one. The refrigerator broke last month. Well...that's life! (as my mother would say.)

Yes, life is good. I have a husband who loves me, food on the table, a roof over my head, not to mention two sons and a dog to go on walks with. I have loving parents and beautiful blue skies. Tonight I spotted Venus and Jupiter in the night sky, as I put away the ladder. Oh...Mozart was up on it, cleaning the leaves out of the rain gutters.

Traffic is getting thick out there so I'm planning to avoid the stores at all costs, if possible. I want to find a quiet corner. To be at peace. To think about Christmas. To bask in God's amazing love. And Jesus, reconciling us to him. Yes, He has made it possible for us to have peace.

But after that I have a lot to do. A Christmas dinner must be planned, and the house cleaned. But I hope to carry His peace in my soul.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Hurricane in the Neighborhood

Our valley has been in the news every night for a week. We had a hurricane without the rain. I still can't believe it.


This picture above does not do it justice. We have fallen trees and branches lining the curbs of our streets...like snowbanks...green and brown snowbanks.

Powerful winds woke us up on Wednesday night, in the wee hours of Thursday morning. I woke Mozart up, "Did you hear that?".
"Oh it will be okay," he said. "It's just the wind." Then he rolled over and went back to sleep.

I stayed awake and thanked God we had just trimmed our giant tree in the front yard. Someone had knocked at our door a couple of weeks ago and suggested a trim. Since it hadn't been done in 10 years. (Above) Palm Frons scattered over the Arboretum parking lot.
Large power poles snapped and fell on this street near hour home. Our power was out for 3 days. The homes on this street still don't have power. Our schools closed on Thursday and Friday. Since the kids couldn't play video games, the parents put them to work. I've never seen so many children raking before!
After the electricity came on, I went to the market to re-stock the fridge, and found many trees like this.
Edison is still working around the clock.
Broken trees are everywhere.
That's the roof of our church.
The people on this street are not only enduring the cold, but have their homes illuminated all night...Edison's been working on this half-mile stretch for 6 days.
These people weren't very lucky. Today I noticed another home with 2 cars parked in the driveway. Both were crunched by a large tree. But amazingly nobody was hurt.

Our small city lost approx. 500 trees. Several other cities were affected and had similar losses.
My oldest son was determined to read, and made some candle holders out of my glasses. For three days and 2 nights, life changed for us. But good came out of bad. We had some family time without the tv and other distractions. Mozart emerged from the studio and didn't know what to do with himself...but when we finally began to get into the rhythm of our "new normal" then...the electricity flipped on!