Life Lessons

With the final stages of the Inspire Mililani Church renovation & winter break here, Alisa wanted to help dad at the church last Friday.  Since no kiddies are invited to help, the G girls came to stay with Gma.  We watched some cartoons, ate Christmas goodie leftovers & worked on their scrapbooks.  The word for the day was BLESSING and we talked about how we can bless others & identify when we have been blessed by someone else.  I was still addressing & writing notes in my handmade Christmas cards & inserting this year's Christmas letter & picture.

I decided to make Oatmeal Toffee Cookies (from the Heath Toffee Bits bag) & use the leftover caramel apple toppings.  Made 5 dozen from one batch--happy, happy.  Packaged them in 5 bags, attached a tag & card & went around to make the deliveries.  Someone was home at every stop & the girls were encouraged to say 'Happy New Year'.   Blessing 101.

On Saturday, Mrs. Loo came down the driveway with a bag of my favorite avocados & also to check out the walls which Cliff pointed out was just right for sitting.  She found a spot in the shade & we had a nice visit.

On Sunday, Cliff served on the video team which meant we left the house @ 6:30am.  I needed to catch up on my Daily Bread devotions & read 'Letter to a Child':

   Even at the end of his life, C. S. Lewis showed an interest in the spiritual nurture of younger believers.  Although in ill health, he took time to respond to the letter of a child named Philip.  Complimenting the boy's fine written expression, Lewis said he was delighted that Philip understood that in the Narnia Chronicles the lion, Aslan represented Jesus Christ.  The next day, Lewis died at his home in the Kilns, Oxford, England, one week before his 65th birthday.
   The apostle John, in his later years, sent a letter to his spiritual children.  In it we see the joy of a mature believer encouraging his spiritually younger disciples to keep walking in the truth and following Christ.
   John wrote, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth" (3 John 1:4).  Short by New Testament standards, John's letter demonstrates the joy that comes in nurturing and watching the next generation's spiritual growth.
   Encouraging spiritual understanding in the next generation should be the pursuit of mature believers. Sending a note of appreciation, giving a word of encouragement, praying, or offering sound advice can all be ways of helping others on their spiritual journey with God.--Dennis Fisher
  To help another in Christ to grow
   You have to pay a price
   It takes the giving of yourself
   And that means sacrifice.--D DeHaan
THE JOURNEY IS BETTER WITH SOMEONE WHO KNOWS THE WAY.

   I was so refreshed & confirmed that the simple act of baking cookies can become some avocados which became the yummiest guacamole shared with church staff.  God teaches me in so many little ways.  I've been blessed.  It's like a game of tag, you're it.  He wants us to bless people who will in turn do likewise.  Multiplication.  Contagious.  My mango flowers are popping up on both trees as I look out my window.  What opportunities will they bring?

Thankful2

http://www.smilebox.com/playBlog/4d7a67354e54637a4e7a453d0d0a&blogview=true

We'll see if this works.

Plumerias, H3, the Garmin, OCC & Focus on the Family

Looked out my kitchen window at the desk that my sweetie made for me & saw these flowers glistening in the afternoon sun.  Too high to take a photo from the front so this is what I saw.  The leaves have fallen from the tree (it's fall in Hawaii or has winter started?) but a few flower clusters remain for my enjoyment.  Thank you Lord for these flowers that remind me of you.  So simple, humble & when you get close the most beautiful fragrance.

So I signed up to serve at the Operation Christmas Child Processing Center again this year.  Last year was my first time & it was in Kapolei.  'Assuming' it was in the same place, I wanted to verify through the facebook page that was very active last year--nothing.  So I found the e-mail confirmation & began my search.  It was now to be at 905 Kalanianaole Hwy, Kailua, Hawaii.  So I looked it up online and instructions said that it was off the H3, take exit 13A.  On the map, the little marker looked like it was in the middle of nowhere with no streets.  I put the address in the Garmin.

Needed gas so left before 8.  The mountains on the H3 were misty & pretty.  I turned on the radio & found Focus on the Family (8 am 99.5 The Word).  Speaker was Debbie Cherry speaking on the subject of Strong Willed Wives.  I so enjoyed hearing her though I don't think I would be considered one.  Turned on the GPS after I got near the tunnel.  Was basking in God's amazing creation & then she says to take exit 11 to Kailua.?  Well okay.  So I'm driving past HPU, it's 8:44 & I should arrive at 8:46.  Turn right at Auloa then left at the light then right back the same way I just came to turn right at Kapaa Quarry Road.  Okay, I see Les Jardins school on the left and she says I've arrived.?  So I keep driving the whole road till I came out the other side, got on Mokapu Saddle Road turned right on Oneawa, drove through Kailua town and all the way to the Castle Hospital junction & see that Kalanianaole Hwy is the street that came from Waimanalo--so I turn right & think, maybe it's behind the hospital?  wrong so I turn around & take Kalanianaole to Waimanalo & drive to the town looking for a place to park & consult my phone GPS this time to see if I will have a better perspective of where this warehouse is.  I try again & I end up turning at Auloa road this time I turn around and then follow the road to Luana Hills golf course where the guard suggests I go to the firestation for directions.  I drive around a little subdivision, find Kalanianaole, the firestation looks closed/no one there & I wander about behind the Youth Correctional Center--beautiful estates...  I'm in Waimanalo again, drive by my Grandma's/Uncle's house on Humuniki Place.  I am completely bewildered at this point and in need of a restroom so I decide to go home.

When I get home, I open up the e-mail again & find the map (felt like a dummy) that shows it is actually on Kapaa Quarry PLACE!  Why oh why?  Anywho, I call up the number & ask if I could be rescheduled & she put me on for Friday--same time 9 to 1.  Lesson learned:check the provided map first also it wasn't the GPS's fault.

Everything went well on Friday & listened to Focus & heard Sheri Rose Shepherd "Preparing Sons to Be Great Husbands & Fathers pt 2.  I was ever so blessed & had some tears too.  Listened to part 1 this morning & she has an 'only God' testimony.  Her son serves/served at the LA Dream Center!  I so understand now why I had to go twice.

Had a lovely time at the processing center.  Met Akiko who after talking with her at a water break, is Amanda Frazier's mom.  So Blessed.