Month: August 2013

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Monday’s Musings

Ali
 
Can’t believe the weekend is over ~ maybe because I spent most of it trying to find a comfortable way to position my body.  My GERD is really hitting me hard.  Today the acid reflux part is less but the back is sore and tight.  So I think I am on the mend.
I was encouraged this morning during my devotional time.  I have been struggling with my prayer time, feeling like I am farther from God and struggling to be heard.  God met me right where I am and for that I am thankful.
 
Wow!!  Don’t lose heart but keep on praying.  
Prayer is our soul crying out in our inadequacy to a God who is adequate, 
who is able to do what we cannot do. 
Prayer should be preventative not remedial.  When I am not feeling stressed, anxious, afraid is when I should be praying and seeking God’s council so that I might be shored up and ready to face the pressures of life that will be coming my way.  
And then
 
Wow — claiming Matthew 26:41 ~ praying that I not be led into temptation before I am tempted.  
What a great concept.  A lesson I should have learned a long time ago.
And then Proverbs 19:15-25
Where we are given many comparisons of what we should be or not be doing.
Verse 20 says
 
and is a reminder to me to seek God’s council in all my decisions.  
I want to be the helper and servant that God wants me to be 
yet at the same time I do not want to be an enabler either.
Sometimes I jump in without thinking and praying about a situation.
Thank you Lord for this reminder this morning.
And then 2 Timothy 2:14-19
 
says I need to be diligent to present myself to God.
Learning life lessons can be hard, some things we learn very quickly,
sometimes we make the same mistake over and over before we learn something.
I remember a time I was struggling with something and Marla asked me ‘is that working for you?” and I had to say “no.”  Then came the question, “what can you do differently to make it work, make it right?”
God is the best Teacher we could ask for.  He is patient and kind and He will guide us each and every step in our lives…we need to keep our eyes, ears, mind open to where the Lord is guiding us and to seek His will in our life all the time, not just when it is convenient for us.
Thank you Lord for your patience with me,
for guiding me,
and for reminding me to seek you daily,
to prepare myself each day for whatever comes my way
and to trust you every minute of every day.
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It’s Friday!!!

Ali
 
Where has the time gone?
For us…
…1 ~ we officially moved into the apartment on Sunday and slept there for our first night.  It is so convenient having our home right at the office.  I will post pictures this weekend.
…2 ~ I merged all my blogs into one…but you already know that since you are here.  I am still working at trying to figure out how to get a link so you can subscribe by email to get my post updates…hopefully this weekend that will get done as well.
…3 ~ we went to 
 
to watch the 
 
and
They Won!!!  3 to 2
Our real reason in going was for their 
$1
 
and
boy were they good!!
…4 ~ I have rode the stationary bike 3 days in a row…5.94 miles the first day, 6.23 the second and 6.44 miles the third and each in a 30 minute time span ~ go me!!!
…5 ~ we are going to 
 
for the
 
as many times as we can between
August 23, 2013 & September 2, 2013.
Check out the schedule here.
Talk to you soon!!!
Ali is heading to a Summer Luncheon at Friendly Baptist Church today.  The program is on a couples journey to the Promised Land.  Should be interesting.
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Whew!!! Got it Done

Ali
If you are reading this that means you found me us!!

And that makes me

As many of you know I have taken a 95% break from Facebook
as I try to get my life back to one of


and

and
one of the things I have done is to combine my two blogs
Alice’s Restaurant ~ Dishin’ Up Food for Thought and The Wandering Workentins
 into
Walking Through Life with the Workentins

Sure hope you enjoy
following along
in our life’s journey.

Stay tuned for news about

US,

Our work,

Our travels,
Our kids and grands!!!  Probably lots of news about them.
How the Lord works in our lives, encourages and challenges us
but most of all
Loves Us!!
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Remembering, Thinking and Wondering

Ali
36 years ago today we buried our sweet precious Royce Alan.  He was only here with us for a few short days, 72 hours..not long enough.  Many times today found both Ron and I close to tears, hugging each other and tears flowing freely. 
We talked about taking off about 4 p.m. and going to get some balloons and letting them go down by Table Rock Lake.  Before we knew it, it was already 5 p.m.
We headed out go to get balloons but decided as late as it was we should get something to eat so we decided to go to 
 
for a drink and  an appetizer.  
Ron had a beer and I had a cranberry juice with raspberry vodka and we shared a sampler appetizer plate that came with two little burger sliders (mine had bacon & cheddar cheese AND Ron had pepperjack cheese) they were pretty tasty, also included on the plate were deep fried green beans and fries with bacon & cheese…it was nice to sit, sharing some tasty food and talking about our boys.  All of them…Peter Edward Theodore who we lost at 21 1/2 weeks in utero,  Royce Alan who lived three short days and died from neonatal sepsis and a Class D infection, later finding out that half his brain had not developed, and Ronald James, Jr. and Brandon Michael.  Sharing some fun memories, sad memories and then got a text from Brandon and a phone call from Jamie…so thankful we are a part of their lives and they us.
And how blessed we are: both Jamie & Brandon are healthy, strong young men, each with their own sweet wife (we love our daughters-in-love Suzanne & Danalyn and are so thankful for them and who they are as individuals, wives and mommy’s) and then our grandchildren…missing Emerald & Tory, our little angels in heaven and then our five grandchildren…Max who we can’t believe will be in high school this year, Opal & Christopher both starting kindergarten this year, Treyson who is trying hard to be a big boy like his brothers and yet in some ways is still a toddler and then Alexander, hard to believe he is already seven months old and growing like a weed…so thankful that our grandchildren are healthy and bring such love and joy to their parents and all their grandparents.
We then headed to Dollar Tree to get some balloons…we wanted one mylar balloon and four white ones…but they did not have any regular latex balloons so we picked out five ballooons
 We love & miss you Royce and today is for you.
 Thinking of Brandon and his sport loving family and wondering if Royce would have played sports.
 Thinking of Jamie & Suzanne and their girls, Opal & Emerald and wondering if Royce would be married and have children of his own.
 Ron liked this…reminded us of the blue blanket & giraffe we tucked in with Royce when we said our final good-byes all those years ago.
And a silver one reflecting all our love for Royce, Jamie, Brandon and our whole family.
We went to the park where the river runs through and made our way down here

This little cove is so pretty and the water was rushing pretty quickly past.
I have always liked to be around water whether it be a lake, a river or the ocean as it is so peaceful.  And many times over the past 36 years we have made our way to find a place to let balloons go, go way up in the sky…but today would be different.
As we stood by the water 
we were swarmed by the mosquitos
and they were having a delightful dinner 
and it didn’t feel very good to us so it was time to let the balloons go, go, go 
but they ended up here
 they got caught in the trees
 and while trying to grab the strings they got stuck in the tree
all five of them
and then the strings were too high for us to grab.
The ribbons sure look pretty and the wind was blowing a little bit
so we hope they made their way out into the open skies
as we made our way back to the Jeep
slapping at ourselves to kill those pesky mosquitoes
laughing and crying
thinking that our plan didn’t exactly turn out the way we thought they would
and then realizing today is really no different than our lives
…
thinking and planning how we want things to turn out
but then seeing that sometimes things turn out differently than we anticipated
but through it all
God has been right here with us
every step of the way.
 
And believing that even though some days are hard that God works everything to good
and He knows what we need even if we think differently.
 
Though I may wonder why certain things happen and other things don’t through it all 
God is Good..All the Time!!!
 
And though my heart is filled with sadness as I reflect back 36 years it is also filled with joy and blessings and is reflected in Jamie & Brandon 
and their families
and the strength of our marriage…38 years this coming December
and I can say without a doubt
 
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Strange & Yet Comforting Dream

Ali
I woke with tears running down my cheeks and yet feeling very warm and comfortable.  Usually tears means I have had one of my night terrors but last night was a bit different.
Scene:  standing in the office with Jw (our workamper) and someone else (a lady I didn’t recognize) and as I turned around my Mom came out from behind Jw to surprise me with her presence.  Needless to say I was shocked to see her.  She passed away in 2005.  We have not always had the easiest of relationships.  Seeing her was a shock but what followed next was more shocking…she walked up to me and took my face in her hands and kissed each of my cheeks.  And then she hugged me.  
And I felt comforted that she was there with me.
This is and has been a hard week for me for many years and most of the time I feel so alone emotionally.   Don’t get me wrong, Ron is always supportive of me and nurtures me through many different situations and I have many friends and family who love and encourage me during this time and for that I am very thankful yet it is an aloneness that is hard to describe in words.
Even hours later I feel a tingly warmth and that my relationship with my Mom just healed a bit more.
And for that I am thankful.
I have been missing my Mom a lot this week, thinking about her relationship with me, with my boys, with Ron (he was her favorite and she let him do things that we couldn’t do like drive her Cadillac) and wishing that things would/could have been different.
My dream feels like my Mom was letting me know that even though we had some rough times she did love me, even when I questioned a lot of our relationship.
Been thinking of my bestie, Dee as she is remembering her mom as yesterday was her birthday and this is the first birthday without her mom who went home to be with Jesus earlier this past February.  HUGS to you my sweet friend as you think about your mom and how you have celebrated her birthday in the past.  Love you and praying for you.
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Secrets and Stuff

Ali
 
This is the verse that greeted me.  
And it made me think about something I have heard over the years…IF you knew everything that was going to happen to you in life you would stop, turn tail and then run like the dickens.
Isn’t that the truth.
There are many things I have dealt with over the years that have been hard and I would not have wanted to go through or deal with BUT if I avoided them how different my life would be.
For instance…if I had known the abuse that I would suffer by moving to Las Vegas with my mom and not gone there…I would never have met Ron…the love of my life, the man who has shared so many memories with me, the good and the bad.  And I just can’t and don’t even want to  know what my lie would have been like if we had never met.
IF I had known that Royce was going to do die, would I have chosen not to have children…that is sad because I would have missed out on so many blessings…Jamie & Brandon and the life we have shared as a family.  The joys of seeing each of them with their sweet loves, Suzanne & Danalyn.  And then of course our five most precious gifts ~ our grandchildren Max, Opal, Chris, Trey & Alex — oh the joys and laughter we would have never had.
I could go on and on but I think you get the picture…sometimes it is better to step out in faith, into the unknown, TRUSTING God to keep His word. And which He has never failed me.
I am so thankful for the life I have…yes it has had twists and turns that I could not have imagined yet
I am so blessed 
and
for that
I am thankful!!
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Wow…it’s Friday already!!!

Ali
 
Wow it’s Friday already. 
I knew that when I woke up but when I saw Donna B. McNicol’s post 
I thought how can it be Friday already???
Where has the time gone? 
So this past week
1.  Have enjoyed making time to write each morning.  
You can check out Alice’s Restaurant – Dishin’ Up Food for Thought to see what thoughts have been going through my mind and how God has been talking to me.  I am amazed at how much better my day’s go when I have time with the Lord first thing in the mornings. 
2.  Made my first ever fresh pasta salad!!!
We love pasta salads and I buy them quite often from the deli at Country Mart (similar to Haggens for our Pacific NW friends/family) but have never made one.  Well this week I did.  It was delicious.  I had spaghetti broken into 2″ pieces, sliced olives, sauteed onions, red, green, yellow peppers, garlic and Salad Seasoning by Johnnie’s all tossed together with Lite Italian salad dressing.  And it was even better the 2nd day.  Definitely something I will be making again and soon.  Also going to try it with quinoa.
3.  Stayed in my jammies all day Thursday!
Yep, I did…slept till 10 a.m and had a true day of rest/sabbath reading, crocheting, talking with my hubby, doing some writing, and just being.  That is a hard thing for me as many of you know..just to be.
4.  Wrestled all day on Thursday that my baby is now 36 years old.  
How can that be.  Wasn’t it just a week ago we brought that little 4 lb 7 oz baby boy, dressed in Cabbage Patch doll clothes home from the hospital.  Or did he go off to kindergarten just a few days ago?  No really, he was playing soccer and challenging Mr. Steelquist on the soccer field.  Nah…he just joined the Army and then went to Iraq for a year.  But really he is a hubby to sweet Suzanne and daddy to Opal Rae.  A hard worker and home owner providing for his family the best he can.  Where oh where did that baby go?  Hard to believe he is 36 now!!!  Happy Birthday Jamie!!!  We love you and wish you the best year yet!!!
5.  Enjoyed a great rib dinner with new friends.
Feeling God’s blessings over and over as we work here at Branson View Campground.  Was invited to dinner with a God loving couple who is staying in the campground.  Being able to share a delicious dinner and great conversation with a sweet couple…sharing how the Lord has worked in our lives over the years.  Definitely a blessing!!
So that’s my week…how was yours?
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God Meets Me Right Where I Am

Ali
I say it often “I am always amazed how God meets me right where I am.”  Not sure why I am amazed as He has never failed me, not once. 
 This morning was no different.
I woke with a headache, was going to get up at 5 a.m. to go and exercise…could hardly move my head hurt so bad, reset the alarm for 6 a.m., woke feeling like my head weighed a ton, got up took some Ibuprofen and made my way back to bed, reset the alarm for 7 a.m.  it went off and I just rolled over…woke up at 7:55, still had a headache but at least I could get up and move.  It was raining so decided we would skip the Farmers Market this morning…will go next Friday 🙂
 
I struggle with many things…one is finding making time for the Lord.  My heart is in the right space but not always my actions.  This morning, not feeling well I picked up my Bible and my devotional book and this was the verse and it made me think of something else I struggle with – drinking water…water is boring, doesn’t taste good YET when I drink water I find I want more water and that’s how I am with the Word…when I go to the Word I want more of the Word.  I NEED the Word in my life just like I need water in my body…I have drank 1 bottle of water already today (it’s just now 1 p.m.) and have started on the second bottle…my goal is to drink 3 bottles of water each day.  So as I think on this verse and God’s Word and needing it every day I am also thanking the Lord for letting me see the correlation of imbibing on God’s Word  ~ the Living Water and drinking water to fuel my body.
Yesterday was our son, Jamie’s 36th birthday.  This week each year is filled with tears of joy as we reflect on Jamie’s life and how proud of the young man he has become.  He is a great son, maturing into a wonderful hubby to Suzanne and daddy to Opal.  He has a  great heart and works hard to support his little family, spending time with family and friends whenever he can.  We are so proud of him and so glad he is a part of our family and our son!!  
Happy Birthday Jamie!!!  
Even though I just don’t understand how he can be 36…it was just a few days ago he began kindergarten…just can’t figure out how he can be 36?????
And also tears of sadness as we remember Royce, our baby who lived three days.  Royce is Jamie’s twin so we have always tried to spend August 8th celebrating Jamie.  We never have wanted Jamie to feel bad that he lived and Royce died…we may not understand why Royce didn’t live (yes we know the medical reasons) we do go forward.  For some reason the past few days both Ron and I have been thinking a lot of what would life have looked like if Royce had lived.  Would he be married, would he too be a daddy?  Would he be married?  What would he have enjoyed doing?
And then this morning, my scripture reading was John 14:1-11 (this was shared by Pastor Adrian at Royce’s funeral) and verse 2 jumped out at me:
 
and my heart was warmed to know that when Royce left us here on earth he was warmly welcomed by Jesus into heaven.  Today I imagine Royce being surrounded by both sets of his grandparents, Peggy & Ted and Pete & Anne and many other family members and friends who are no longer here with us.  I picture my friend, Lori who passed away in 1997…she was such a great mom, grandma and friend and I can see her cuddling Royce and though my heart aches for my loss I am so thankful that Royce is totally healed in God’s presence and for that I can rejoice.
And then the Bible verse for today at biblegateway.com 
Luke 12:6-7
 
and I am reminded that 
God Cares for Me
just the way I am 
with the joys and sadness 
with my headache still in full attack
but 
 
and even though today I am not feeling well,
feeling overwhelmed, feeling like I can’t get caught up on things
 
I think I will take some more ibuprofen, drink another bottle of water and get back to plugging along.
Hope each of you are having a great day!!!
I’ve shared about me today so you can pray ~ is there anything I can pray about for  you?
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God Nudges from others

Ali
Wednesday and Thursday are our days off.  
Yesterday we slept till 11:55…at least we got up in the morning 🙂
This morning I slept till 10:05 and woke up without a headach
e, which is a good thing because yesterday after dinner I got to feeling very puny…head was pounding, felt dizzy and just plain yuck..
…today just the opposite…woke without a headache and feeling rested.
On Wednesday and Thursday’s it is hard for me to have time with the Lord…I like to be by myself, in the quiet and that is usually just not the case.  So yesterday I had no “quality” time with the Lord.  This morning when I got up, Ron was reading stuff on Facebook and it was quiet.  I started reading a few things and God quietly nudged me…
…first from a devotional I get every morning, 
written by Christy Fitzwater.  You can check her out by clicking on her name.
This morning her devotion was titled “God Loves the Blubbering Woman”.
I was so challenged by her questions/statement of when asked by someone “what’s wrong” and we reply “nothing”…yep, I so do that.  And that we sometimes do that to God.
So true!!
And so wrong…obviously something is wrong or we, no I would not be responding that way.
As Ron says to me often…you are talking to me in that TONE, even when I haven’t said anything but am giving him the look!
And I realized that in my desire to be authentic I need to be honest to God, to myself and to others…when someone asks “what’s wrong?”  I need to reply honestly.  And most of all I need to take to God the things that bother me, hurt me or anger me just like I do when I take the things that make me happy and joyful.  And I need to remember no matter the situation/circumstance I find myself in, I need to remember
 
God continues to speak and I am trying to continue to listen ~~~ a few weeks ago, my bestie, Dee send me an email to join Daily Challenge.   Dee and I are sisters, friend, confidant, bestie’s and we are always trying to encourage one another in life.  We enjoy our friendship, have husbands who are very similar, share similar struggles at times..we are the best of friends.  Any way, doing the Daily Challenge is something we can do together even being far apart mileage wise (and I sure do miss her). 
Back to writing…this morning’s challenge was

Keep up your strength by spending 15 minutes practicing your favorite form of stress relief.

  and this is how I responded:
I can’t say stress relief for me is fun…but this does work for me…

…going for a walk. Here at Branson View Campground going for a walk is not an easy task as we are all hills…it is up or down no matter where you head. This is good as it keeps my mind off what is really bothering me and gives me something else to focus on.

…writing a “venting” email to my bestie, Dee…she understands me and can identify with me 99% of the time…the living in a RV not so much…though I think secretly she would love to escape sometimes and an RV is a perfect getaway vehicle as it has everything you need to live…toilet, fridge and most of all the bed!!!

…eating chocolate…if I did that for 15 minutes straight I am sure the 20 lbs I have lost (over 2 years) would be back in a heartbeat…as I just wrote that I think I need to start focusing on losing weight with my current weight as the new weight and get some of this extra stuff off of me…with a refocused mind and attitude.

…and sometimes I just lose it with my hubby and get all snarky and grumpy…he usually says “I think you need something to eat” you see I am diabetic and getting snarky is usually a sign that my blood sugar is not in a good space.

…and most often I say a prayer or cry out to God…I can’t take it anymore…turn on some music and refocus my heart and mind.

and I felt the Lord challenging me in how I respond to stressful situations, because right now I feel quite a bit of stress about a situation and I know I need to change how I am dealing with or in this case not dealing with the situation.  Because just venting and being snarky is not working.  I remember Marla (a great friend and Christian counselor) asking me if something I was doing was working for me…no it wasn’t…and that question came to mind this morning too…is being snarky and venting working in this situation…ummm no…so what can I do differently (another one of Marla’s favorite questions) and I found God asking “do you want to talk about IT?”  ummm no I just want the situation to fix itself.  “Oh so you want the person involved to be a mind reader and just do what you want him to do and you haven’t bothered to tell him?”  ummm yes….”Don’t you remember writing about “people aren’t mind readers just a few days ago?”  ummm yes…”So what are you going to do about this situation?”
and realizing I need to deal with this situation sooner than later…
….so I prayed about it, wrote out what the issue is and wrote out a plan of attack and will continue to pray for my attitude to filled with grace and love as I actively deal with this situation.
Thank you Lord for using others to speak to me, 
help me today as I work constructively on this situation
and most of all find JOY in my day today.

 

 

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I Am So Excited :)

Ali
Some days it doesn’t take much to make me smile
and today is no different.
I have had 
 
this phone since November 2012.
I had 
417, yes four hundred and seventeen pictures 
on the phone
but had no clue how to get them from 
the phone
to
my laptop.
I am happy to say somehow, not even sure how I did it
BUT 
I got all those pictures now on my laptop 
and I am happy.
Here are a few pictures that have been on my phone
At the Comedy Jubilee and Ron playing a game!!!

Krispy Creme motor home in Branson…pretty cool.  Would have loved to have seen the inside.

A little magnetic board and magnets given to me by Pam, one of my Forever Friends, for watching MamaKitty while they were on vacation last Spring.  Fits perfectly on the pantry cabinet here in the motor home.

And one of the grand boys toys found in the Jeep after our return to Branson March 2013!

The band playing at Friendly Baptist Church before we moved to Coffeyville, KS.

Love the bumper stickers on this truck.  Ron loves the truck.  Ali thinks its UGLY!

Looking out the window of the motorhome during one of those scary storms while we were in Kansas.
 And of course 
no blog post would be complete without pictures of my sweet grandchildren.
Max one of the few times I was able to get a picture of him.  Can’t believe he will be 15 in a month!!!

Treyson…love those blue eyes.

Christopher after he bumped his nose!

Alex giving Grammy a smiley face.

Opal smiling at her cousins!!
Bet you are not as excited as I am that I now have all those pictures…watch for more to come!!!