A new way to look at hope

Yesterday, Bob preached a sermon about hope. So it made me think and I will share some of the things he pointed out.

• Hope needs a reasonable expectation of happening or it is just a wish. For example, hoping the house will be done tomorrow is not likely. It is a dream or wish.
• Bob referred to an experiment with mice. On average it took 2-3 minutes for a mouse to drown. A second set of mice were tested and in the last 15 seconds were pulled out of the water. They were tested again and could last twice as long the original average. Weird...but he used it to point out that the mouse had experience with a trial and the trial made him able to handle a harder problem. Trials do make us stronger and strengthen the hope within us because we have experienced hard things.
• Fatigue can drown anyone's hope. We can get overwhelmed and exhaused by troubles and trials yet, it is important to recognize that. We need to be renewed spiritually and we do that by prayer and reading His word.

Just wanted to share some of these thoughts as I ponder them in my own life.

Love you all.

What am I?

Is this a new fashion trend, or costume? Maybe UV protection? A sweatsuit perhaps?

My sister, Amy, is into sewing and has started a group called "Make-Mend-Do". This is one of their projects. An affordable dress form. First you get into a trashbag and then you are wrapped in duct tape. By the end you are quite sweaty and can't breathe too deeply. When you are sufficiently wrapped, you cut a seam down the back. Tape it back together and fill with stuffing of your choice and you have a accurate form of yourself. It was an idea she found on the internet. We will see if it works. I am just glad that I was taking the pictures.

The girls...Amy, Liza, Crystal and Meleah

As the kitchen changes...

The Kitchen

a.k.a. The stink cave

August 5th, 2009

This looks nice but the smell was awful!

As we started digging into it, the deeper we had to go but it should be better in the long run.

August 22nd, 2009

We aren't really going to put the shower in the kitchen but I was just trying to show how the kitchen has opened up. The guys are so quick. It is amazing what you can do when you know what you are doing.

It doesn't even look like the same room.