Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. In a single sentence tell us something about your 40's. Started my website/blog.

2 Life begins at forty. Agree or disagree? Tell us why. And if not at forty, when? Yes it did, Having fun with my church friends, my relationship with my mom healed, fun on the computer and took my first flight, and went to Hawaii!

3. Share a favorite book, song, or quote with a number featured in it somewhere. My favorite book is the Bible Matthew 18:21-22 "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy-seven times !"

4. A picture's worth a thousand words, a stitch in time saves nine, back to square one, catch-22, on cloud nine, my two cents...pick a number phrase and tell us how it applies to your life currently. I need to appreciate the little things because they can be big things, like the hug from my grandchildren, the flowers my husband picked for me or the meal he prepared. Soaking in the spa, or just feeling the breeze on my face. The mental pictures stay on my mind.

5. Last time you drove more than 40 miles from home? More than 400 miles from home? Where were you going? Was it before or after this current season of social distancing? Hubby and I took a belated 45th anniversary trip to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite last October. We drove (467.1 mi) via US-395. If you drive straight through, it takes 7 hours 48 minutes, but it took us 12 hours because of all our stops. That was on our way up. We took a different route on the way back. So around a 1000 miles!

6. Insert your own random thought here.

1. How will you celebrate Easter this year? This year we will watch the service online. Not sure if I will get changed or stay in my pajamas. My daughter and her kids will come over for an egg hunt and dinner. We will share vidoes with our other grands. We normally go to their house for the egg hunt and dinner.

2. Is it easier for you to receive grace offered or extend grace to another? Explain. The church I grew up in seemed to focus on judgement more than grace. I also grew up thinking that I had to be perfect and of course I wasn't. So grace was hard to receive and give. It took awhile for me to accept the grace that God offered me. I felt like I did not deserve it or had not earned it. But God gives it freely because He loves us. It was freeing to finally accept that.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:8-10).

"Grace may be defined as the unmerited or undeserving favor of God to those who are under condemnation." – Enns2

I looked up the word grace and this is the one that I thought explained it. "a disposition to or an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency." So saying something nice instead of putting someone down when they make a mistake. To offer forgiveness instead of punishing someone for their behavior.

3. Do you say grace before meals? If so do you have a standard dinnertime grace or is it more 'off the cuff' ? Do you say grace when dining out? Do you have a favorite grace? Any special memory associated with 'saying grace'? Yes we say grace before meals and yes when we go out. We take turns saying the prayer and it is said from the heart. All my grandkids know how to pray and will do so when asked, even when we go out. I remember my dad leading a prayer one year and he asked us to hold hands. It was so special.

4. What are some challenges you think the next generation will face? (Generation Alpha-born between 2011 and 2025) I think that the next generation will do okay for the most part. Sometimes I think that the younger generations rely to much on electronics. What would happen if something happened and we lost electricity or internet capabilities? I think that we are surviving this season because we are connected with others through electronics. I pray that they will see the value of having other options and then adapting to it. I think they are seeing some of that now. I am hoping that these younger generations will appreciate what they have.

5. Share a favorite quote or lyric featuring the word faith. If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you’ll be at rest.” Corrie Ten Boom Corrie was a great example of a woman of faith. Here is a picture of me by her grave in Orange County. My parents and grand parents are there and I will be there also someday.

Hebrews 11:1 Good News Translation
To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see.
My faith means I trust in the Lord. I can't see Him, but I still believe in Him and that He will take care of me.

6. Insert your own random thought here. I liked doing this today. It made me stop and think about things. These past few weeks and given me a time to really reflect on my trust in God. I know that I am trusting in Him. I am normally a worrier, and have dealt with depression in the past. I have been more at peace than I thought. Every year I ask the Lord for what one word I should reflect on for the year and it was PEACE!

1. Has spring sprung in your part of the world? How can you tell? Did March come in like a lion where you live? Going out like a lamb or something more ferocious? It is a beautiful spring day to day, sunny and in the 70's. The grands will be going in the spa today. The birds are chirping away. Lawns are being mowed. The grass is really green from all the rain. It is a beautiful day!

2. The last thing that caused you to spring to your feet? When my grandson said my eye looked read. I had felt a pain in my eye earlier and so I ran to the bathroom and looked in the mirror and the whole left of my eye is blood red. I called the advice nurse and they asked me tons of questions. Then she scheduled a phone appointment with a nurse practioner. She asked me a lot of questions too. She said there would be some pain because my eye from the area the vessel broke. She said if my vision got blurry, if my my eyes was bleeding tears or there was any other unusual symptoms, to call back. Today it is sensitive but I can see. It looks a little swollen and it doesn't help that I only slept for 4 hours.

3. Do you have a spring clean to-do list? What's one chore on the list you've already managed to accomplish? What spring clean chore do you most dread? I do have a list, but right now I am busy making face mask for my daughter's job. She works for an OB. They had to turn in their N90 mask to the hospital.I am also making them for my family.

4. Tell us something you've learned about yourself or the wider world as a result of social distancing/the virus crisis. I am reminded how much I miss not being able to see my younger grands, sons and wives. Our daughter is staying with us but she works all week. I miss my friend. It makes me more thankful for all the people we take for granted. I am pleased how the state has put us on "lockdown". I like how the schools are trying to keep the kids busy and my grands use a program called Zoom to chat with the teacher. I like how our pastor is sending us messages during the week through all the different media. We have had online services but not it has expanded. I think a lot of positive things have come out of this. I hope that more people will tune into the online church services as we repost them. I am focusing on the positives.

5. Something you love that's the color pink? My pink roses.

6. Insert your own random thought here. I am going to be dreaming of making mask. I made 8 today and I am so tired. Since I am making my own ties and it is very tedious. But it will last better than elastic. Some of the nurses are allergic to latex and the ears get sore from wearing them all day. I made my daughter a rainbow one.

1. Howdy Hodgepodgers. It's kind of fun to be back, isn't it? Last time we met was September, 2018. Tell me something big-important-happy-or sad that's happened in your life since that date. Just one thing. We don't know how long this current isolation situation is going to last and we might need to dole out our news bit by bit.I started Bible jouranling with my grandkids.

2. Might as well get this out of the way early on...COVID-19. On a scale of 1-5 how serious are you about keeping your distance? Explain. fyi-I didn't create the scale but have seen it several places online. Also fyi-we won't only have virus related questions each week, but for this first one it feels right.
1-Not at all, living normally
2-Cautious but still going out
3-Going out as needed, mostly home or working from home, still seeing friends/family
4-Extremely limited, only going out when unavoidable, minimal contact with people
5-Full lockdown, no one in or out

3. Raise your hand if you think you might run out of steam in the cooking department before it's all said and done? What's something delicious you've cooked or eaten in your own kitchen in the past week?I am blessed because my hubby likes to cook. We are actually making things we don't normally make. We had meatloaf on Monday, chicken tacos and tostadas on Tuesday and tonight we are having baked turkey breast, sweet potatoes, corn and salad.

4. What's a television show or movie you've seen recently (it could be an oldie) that you really liked? There are lots of shows I like to see and hubby has his long list. Here is what we like to watch together. The Good Doctor, Survivor, Hawaii Five O and Blue Bloods.

5. Share something funny you've seen or heard this week.

6. Insert your own random thought here. This is both funny and sad at the same time.