Stuff

Tried to think of a catchy title but nothing comes to mind.  It is 6:15 a.m. and I have been awake since 4 a.m.  Lots of STUFF on my mind.  A little anxiety about the upcoming trip to Washington/Oregon ~ flying is not my favorite thing to do and I am just thankful that Ron is going with me ~ that will help me for sure.

 I can't wait to see our kids and grandkids and  our Northwood family and as many friends as possible.  We will be reconnecting with friends we have not see since the early 80's, reconnecting with friends we have not seen since 2009 and 2011 and then reconnecting with our family and giving Jamie & Suzanne a big congratulatory hug to celebrate their recent marriage and most of all hugging and playing with the grands!!

And my mind is full of thoughts of where the Lord is leading, asking questions of why and wondering why somethings happen that seem to come out of left field.  Praying for clarity in situations and seeking God's peace in everything we do.

Had a hard few days recently, said some things I regret, used tones & words that were inappropriate, seeking God's forgiveness and being thankful that His mercies are new every morning and knowing that He is faithful and is always with me even when I feel so alone.  And praying for healing in relationships and situations.  Seeking His will not ours.

Finding that I need to get back to writing more regularly and remember the reasons why I write: to get all those mumble/jumble thoughts that run amok in my head out on paper (computer) to where I can find clarity of the issues.  And the need to stop worrying about "what others think" of what I say when I write on my blog with my thoughts.

I need to be more disciplined intentional with my time and my actions.  I need to be intentional with my time and activities and stop letting things just happen.  I chose the word "intentional" for this year and it has slipped away from me.  So starting today I am back on track of being intentional in what I do as well as what I eat.  The last two weeks have found me slipping, nope, falling back into old habits: not caring about what I eat, not exercising daily like I know I should and need to do, being intentional in my quiet time: being specific about reading, praying & writing and not doing things because they are expected of me but because things are important to me, satisfying to me and things I care about.

And I need to remember not to "react with a knee jerk response" but to use my mind and my abilities and to think before I speak.  And remembering to keep my focus on the Lord because when I do that my life just goes more smoothly.

Not sure if this makes sense to anyone else but I know the Lord has brought me back to this place of beginning again, starting over, today is a new day and a new chance to do what is right in my life.  I need to remind myself daily of my life verse: Trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding BUT to acknowledge HIM in everything and He will direct my paths.  Prov. 3:5-6

A Wedding in the Family

Ron & Alice Workentin are happy to introduce the new couple:

Mr. & Mrs. Jamie Workentin were married on March 13, 2012 in Bellingham, WA.

Jamie Workentin & Suzanne Trulock making it all official!

And it is official!!!  Don't they look happy??

The wedding party!!!

Tried to do a close up of Opal, but it just got blurry!  I will be posting more pictures once we are home on vacation next weekend.

Pictures of Different Happenings

Hi All

Thought I would do some catching up with some pictures.  Sure hope you enjoy them.

First up was the graduation of our niece, Miriam Workentin from the US Air Force Basic Training.  We were blessed with being able to spend time with Ron's brother John, his lovely wife Fawn and beautiful Miriam.  We are happy to say that Miriam graduated in the top 10% of her class and with honors.  We are so proud of her.

Yesterday we went for a drive to Crystal City with a stop in Uvalde to have lunch with our good friends, Jerry & Lynda Clemons who were celebrating their anniversary.  It was so fun to sit and catch up with them, share some prayer requests and just be together, and me of course, forgot to get any pictures :)

We would have loved to have gotten some pictures of the blue bonnets that are in bloom but only saw them along the highway and it was too crazy on the road to stop and take pictures.  Hopefully we will get some this week.

Hope you have enjoyed catching up with us through our camera lens.

Does God Speak to You?

At the beginning of the year I chose a word to focus on this year.  That word is INTENTIONAL.  I want to be intentional in what I do with my time and my activities. Webster defines INTENTIONAL as  being: conscious, deliberate, intended, knowing, purposeful, purposive, set, voluntary, willed, willful. 
And that is what I want to be this year.

One of the ways I want to intentional is in my daily Bible reading & prayer time.   Which brings me to this morning's scripture and questions running through my mind.  My scripture reading this morning was in Numbers 17:1 to 18:32 where the Lord tells Moses to have the heads of the tribes bring their rods w/their names written on them and the Lord selects Aaron's and Levi's rod and then talks to them about what they are to be doing.  Then in my daily devotional of Guidepost the scripture was "Be still before the Lord..." Zechariah 2:13.

While reading in Numbers I thought to myself "how does the Lord speak to me?" Wishing I could have this one-on-one conversation with the Lord and have him directly speak to me like he did to Moses and so many in biblical times.  And then I switched to my devotional and read from Zechariah to BE STILL and that got me to reflecting on how the Lord DOES speak to me, IF ONLY I WOULD BE STILL AND LISTEN!  And then I thought about times past and a question that was asked of me more than once which was "where do you see God in "that situation" and "ask God to show you where he has been with you."

And what peace came to my heart when I would take the time to specifically talk to God and ask him to show me where he was at a given point in my life.  I had much healing in my life from the physical & sexual abuse I had sustained in my growing up years.  And so this morning as I was reading the question came to mind "do you talk to me Lord?"  And then I remembered he talks to me through his word ~ remember to be still and listen for my words; they may come in thoughts or writings of others, in my memory of times past and through the words of others.  I just need to be open to HEAR him.

One of ways the Lord so openly talks to me is through the sermon preparations that Pastor Charles send out each week to those involved in the service.  When we hit the road with the carnival and then our move here to Texas I asked him to please keep me in the email list so I could use those notes as study guides.  And then each week following the worship service I get a bulletin in the mail that includes the handout from that weeks sermon with more scriptures, questions, answers, etc...and so many times God has talked to me through those tools.  And now the website for Northwood Alliance Church is up and running and sermons are posted to the website and I can listen to the  sermon and while doing so use the sermon outline notes and the bulletin ~ I am so thankful for those tools as so many times I get little snippets from the Lord.

In closing I want to share one of the most specific ways the Lord has talked to me.  And I do this to bring glory to God and how he shows his love to me.  For a period of six months in my late teens I was sexually abused by my step-dad.  Due to things he said to me I truly felt I had no where to go, no where to turn.  In my mid-forties I was going through some horrific times with my emotional health and was in counseling with Pastor Charles & Marla.  I was struggling with how could God allow my step-dad to abuse me, the pain was unbearable and I became very suicidal for a long period of time.  I can remember begging Marla "where was God, I was so alone?"  And so we spent time in prayer, asking that specific question and slowly I began to picture the Lord right there beside me and I saw how he had protected me ~ I never got pregnant during any of the sexual abuse encounters/rapes by my step-dad and I know that was the Lord being in control and being right there with me because those who know me well know that each time Ron & I even thought about getting pregnant I did.  I have had 4 pregnancies and it was like each time the idea to have a child came up the next thing we knew I was pregnant.  And so with much thankfulness in my heart I am so glad the Lord did not allow me to get pregnant thus I did not have to decide if I was to have an abortion - remember this was in the mid 70's and being young, single, pregnant and being pregnant by a black man would have been detrimental to my life.  I am so thankful the Lord was with me during those difficult days.  As well, the Lord has used that horrible time in my life to bring Glory to him and healing to others.  I have had many opportunities to share my testimony of God's protection & healing with other women who have dealt with similar issues, to give them hope that even through the midst of horrific times God is there and He is with us.  And what a wonderful thing that is to KNOW that God is ALWAYS with me, ALWAYS available for to speak with him and him to me.  I have had complete healing from the horrible things that were done to me.  I have not been suicidal or so emotionally torn apart since January 2009.  God has blessed me with a healed heart and mind and given me so many wonderful days that outshine all the pain I had dealt with from the Fall of 1984 till January 2009.  I am so thankful for the Lord being in my life, for the lives of those who he sent to guide me, pray with me, walk beside me during some rough and difficult times and make me whole again.

IF as you were reading this you have any questions or wa nt to talk further about this, please do not hesitate to give me a shout out.  You can reach me at    ali1257 AT gmail DOT com ~ just put the symbols in where the capped words are written OR drop me a comment with your contact info.

And remember, no matter our struggles, our pain, we are never alone and that God is always with you and I.  May each of you reading this, whenever that is, have a truly blessed day. 

What's been happening ~~~

Wow!  It has been over a month since I have written anything here.  Some of you maybe asking what's been going on ~ well let's see:

~ in a nutshell: working, sleeping, walking, and just living life each day

~ we have been busy planning our upcoming vacation which starts at noon on Friday, March 23rd!

~ vacation plans tentatively look like this ~~
~~~ 3/23 ~ leave San Antonio at 7:00 p.m.  and arrive in Seattle at 11: 30 p.m   
                    ~ drive to Everett and spend the night w/friends Sam & Janna Dyck, our old housemates from 1982
~~~ 3/24 ~ meet Heather Loggains for breakfast at 8:30 a..m.
                    ~ drive to Blaine, first stop Jim & Mary Lang's - our wonderful friends/hosts for 4 days
                    ~ get settled at the Lang's; connect with Jamie, Suzanne & Opal, visit the C-Shop to find Easter treats and who knows what else???
~~~ 3/25 ~ attend our home church, Northwood Alliance Church and share a potluck meal with our Northwood Family and lots of visiting; then in the evening we will be joining Jamie, Suzanne & Opal with Suzanne's extended family for dinner, conversation, lots of laughter and of course lots of hugs from Miss Opal
~~~ 3/26 ~ coffee with friends (if any show up) at Wood's Coffee in Birch Bay Square from 7:30 a.m. till ??? and then dinner with the Workentin clan at Olive Garden in Bellingham at 6:00 p.m.  and who knows what else during the day
~~~ 3/27 ~ hopefully time with Jim & Mary before they head off to work and we begin our trek to Tillamook, OR ~~ the day will include some more time with Jamie, Suzanne & Opal ???, a trip to Kirkland to see Christie
& Todd at Erickson Labs Northwest, for a much needed eye polishing & socket evaluation; hopefully meeting up with friends as we travel down I5 to Oregon and over to Tillamook to spend a few days with Brandon, Danalyn, Max, Christopher & Treyson.
~~~ 3/28 to 3/31 ~ hopefully connecting with cousin Andi in Dallas, OR, playing with the grand boys, lots of hugs and baby playing with Treyson, going to the beach, connecting with some Funtastic Shows friends', hanging with Brandon's family, going to the Tillamook Cheese Factory and getting some squeeky cheese! and playing with Christopher, Treyson & Max and getting more hugs and snuggle time with the grandboys!!
~~~ 4/1 ~ say goodbye to Brandon & his family and then make our way back to Seattle to catch an afternoon flight back to San Antonio (need to confirm who is picking us up from the airport), catching a few hours of shut eye before
~~~ 4/2 ~ showing up for work at 8 a.m.!!!

~ have started back on track to spending 45 minutes to an hour of quiet time with my Bible, praying, reading scripture each morning then going for a 15 to 20 minute walk (hope to be up to 30 to 45 minutes by the end of March ~ have set a goal to lose 50 more lbs (already down 24.8 lbs) by 12/31/12!!!  Feel free to ask me how my quiet & exercise time is going and where I am at towards reaching my goal!!!

~ have played bingo a few times and jumped a  couple of times with Ron yells BINGO!!  and played Mexican Train a few nights, visiting with friends, taken a few drives

~~~ got to spend Friday, 3/2 with Ron's brother, John, his wife, Fawn and their daughter Miriam to celebrate Miriam's graduation (in the top 10% of her class) from Basic Training at Lackland AFB.

~~~ busy planning a long weekend the end of April/first part of May to spend more time with Miriam in Wichita Falls, TX while she is at Technical School

~~~ making plans to have a weekend camping getaway with some of my WomenRV friends near Fredricksberg, TX from April 13th to 15th

~~~ also arranging new bookshelves that hubby built for in our bedroom!!!  Didn't realize how many books we have collected over the past two years.

~~~ and working on an attack plan to purge, organize, purge, clean and purge the motor home; being stationary for the last year we have seemed to gather lots of stuff!!!!

And that's about what we have been doing.  Oh, and in the midst of this I had a bad case of bronchitis and then an eye infection to deal with which always makes life interesting.

Hope you have enjoyed catching up with us ~ now to get back to at least weekly posts on both of my blogs.  Don't forget to check back here and at The Wandering Workentins.   Bye for now.  Hope to see and talk to a lot of you soon!!!

Thought I Should Do an Update

Well, it has been awhile since I have visited my own blog ~  so I will just do a rambling thoughts page ~ hope you enjoy catching up with us ~~~~ in no particular order

~ will be heading for WA/OR on 3/23 to see our 4 kids, 4 grandkids and tons of friends!!

~ found a new grocery store today in San Antonio: Sprouts, reminds me of Trader Joe's in WA; definitely will be heading back there next time we do a major grocery shopping which we think will be sometime toward the end of April

~ have enjoyed Skyping with Brandon's family especially the call Christopher made all by himself last Tuesday night.  He told his Daddy that he was calling Grammy and the next thing Brandon heard was Christopher telling me hi and me saying hi back.  We all laughed that Christopher knew how to call us using the computer and very thankful it was a free call

~ had a rough couple of weeks at work but think things have been resolved and straightened out and we are back in our happy space at work

~ have wrestled with some health issues but think I am back into a healthy frame of mind and have decided that I need to set some daily goals: tomorrow's are get up at 6:00 a.m., do my quiet time, walk for 15 minutes before work (working up to 60 minutes in six weeks) and do our laundry.  If still motivated will clean the bathroom from top to bottom or else that will be on Tuesday's goal

~ saw John (Ron's brother), Fawn (John's wife) and Miriam, their 19 year old daughter ~ who graduated from Basic training last Friday in the top 10% of her class ~ great job Miriam we are so proud of you!!  And so fun to see family here in Texas.

~ been busy planning some trips: our trip home on 3/23; then the middle of April getting together with a group of women/friends by Lynden Baines Johnsons ranch, then the end of April going to Wichita Falls, TX to spend a weekend with Miriam; and then Memorial Day weekend at King's Ranch.

~ and of course I had a bad cold thrown into the middle of life

~ celebrated long distance Opal's 4th birthday ~ said prayers of thanksgiving that she is the healthy little girl that she is; saw some great pictures of her swimming and enjoying a chocolate cupcake with lots of blue frosting

~ enjoyed a great concert by the Southwest Texas Singing Men at church one Sunday evening

~ been playing some great games of Mexican Train

~ enjoyed watching Ron win 3x at bingo and laughing when he yelled "bingo" and scared a couple of other players ~ not big pots but hey $7.00 pays for the next week :)

~ cooking some pretty tasty dinners

~ praying for friends who have had surgery/illness to deal with and seeing the Lord work in mighty ways

~ busy, busy days at work - the annual membership meeting was on 2/23 so lots to get ready for; lots of lots being sold and welcoming new members into the park

~ getting to visit with good friends Jerry, Lynda and their granddaughter Maddie as they made their way to San Antonio

~ trying a new restaurant in Castroville called Napoli's

~ reflecting on where we have been and where we might be heading

and through it all continuing to see the Lord's hand in our lives as he provides for us in so many ways with unexpected meals from friends, hearing from friends not seen in many months, good checkups with the doctor, phone calls from Jamie & Brandon ~ so fun to always connect with them and hear what is going on with their lives.

Hope you have enjoyed catching up with us.  Am going to try to get back in the habit of at least doing weekly updates and adding pictures along the way.