San Francisco (Again!)

We enjoyed another day in San Francisco with international students.

This time we had 9 of us altogether with two from Reno and Virginia, and five from China.  Our Chinese friends had been here from just a couple of weeks to several years.  The one who had been here only a few weeks had a wonderful time.  It was a blessing to see her joy and amazement that she is actually HERE!

We started on the Golden Gate Bridge:





We had a great sunbeam!
My Photo:


A captured it better than me, though:


But David captured it best!


A was amazed to find that she perfectly matched the Bridge!


We caught some great pictures on the beach:


Loved watching a sailboat move into the Bay:







Meanwhile, our students made it all the way to the beach:




We meandered a bit by ourselves...


This wee, small flower caught my attention - The air was heavy with its scent...


David started looking around - he couldn't believe that such a small bloom could send out so powerful a fragrance.
  
But when you have so many together, even though each individual is so small (and insignificant), it's POWERFUL...

Makes me think of the following Bible passage:

I Corinthians 12:12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less apart of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is,there are many parts, yet one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (ESV)

Of course, I truly enjoy the architecture in San Francisco:

  

I think this guy must be the grandson - doesn't he look the part?!!!

(The Shrimp and the Crab were Excellent!)

On our way out...

At the end of the day, we realized we'd hit 6 spots!
Golden Gate Bridge
Beach
City Architecture (we had to pick up a key from my Landlord!)
Japantown (no pictures there, sorry...)
Lombard Street (The students walked down it!)
Fisherman's Wharf

So glad we were LEAVING the City, not Returning...

        

(all the oncoming cars were stopped - or barely moving!)

We were cozy at home by 10:30... (we started at 5 am...)

Church Valentine's Dinner

Had a chance to help a student by taking her to the GRE testing center - 7am found us up and at it! (Please pray that by our service to her, and by what she is finding in God's Word, she will realize that she is truly, deeply loved by God and that she will respond to His love and accept His gift of eternal life.)

Eventually we started prepping the Farmer's Casserole for Sunday Dinner tomorrow - Breakfast for Dinner... Should be fun!

Finished the day by enjoying the church Valentine's Dinner.

It's always a fun time, sitting with people I might not get a chance to talk with otherwise...

The youth group puts it on - MC, our youth group leader, made wonderful, fancy chicken and melt-in-your mouth tri-tip...  And with a crew of over 15 youth to help, they took care of us in style.

1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us. (ESV)

Blessed Day

Thursday 14 February 2013: Blessed Day

It was a wonderful Valentine's Day.... 

Started by making heart-shaped pancakes, with strawberries, powdered sugar and whipped cream, for the ladies upstairs.  Enjoyed giving them a small heart box of chocolates, too... Very Fun.

The invitation to travel over the Hill with S for a job interview warmed, touched and delighted my heart... We had a great time together, and I think I even helped settle her a little bit (!). 

(These turkeys were running around loose on the property where the interview was!)

Also was able to touch bases with T while we were there... 

Then S and I enjoyed Auburn...

All followed by coming home to warm thoughts and plans... 

(And I am remembering that the mystery that is marriage is to help us to understand how God loves us!!! Ephesians 5:32-33 ESV This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.)

FEELING VERY LOVED!

Sunday Dinner Lost and Found!

Did you lose this at Sunday Dinner?!!!

I found it!

I think the jacket is from this last week.

But the glasses... They've been around a Long time... 
(that means, if you like them, come and get them - whoever left them has probably already left Reno!)

Bran Muffins for Breakfast!

Today's Verse: 2 Corinthians 4:1,2,5-11
1Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. ...    5For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all‑surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 

Today I enjoyed getting to know J from Taiwan better by showing her how I make cookies. We made a monster batch by tripling the recipe. She chose semi- sweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and Reese's peanut butter chips. Yummy!



'Twas another busy day...
Made Blueberry pancakes for D, K, M and J (plus left some on the counter for the other girls), cleaned upstairs, sent cleaning emails, started the roast for the GH House meeting, A came for lunch.  After the cookies went to visit with W, went to I's new place and then had the House Meeting!

Countries:  China, Japan, USA, Taiwan, Egypt, Chile

The Floor is Cracking

Everything was new downstairs when we moved into the new place at the end of last summer. I savored it's newness, knowing, by now, that, no matter how careful I am, it won't stay new forever, and, in fact, probably not for long. Sure enough, the newness is beginning to wear off. The floor that was brand new now has a few cracks in it. I believe it's termed "ordinary wear and tear. "

That everything around us is deteriorating should cause us to make some conclusions. One of the things we should understand is outlined in Romans 8:19-22 "The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration (to futility - NASB), not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time..." (NIV84) An interesting concept... That the world, once perfect, is now decaying - groaning, subject to futility... 

We have emotional, intense reactions to this... we get angry, or find ourselves fighting depression as we see these things we work so hard to get falling apart. 

Another conclusion we should come to is that this IS unusual - not how things are supposed to be... (!!!) This isn't good. (We know that when God finished creation He said it was good - Very Good. Genesis 1 and 2) We need to realize and understand that God did NOT make the world the way it is today! Things didn't decay and fall apart and deteriorate when He first made them... That began after the first people God made rebelled against the only instruction He gave them. He even warned them that to disobey would cause death. (Genesis 2 and 3)

So... to be down, dismayed, distressed, depressed, bothered by, and/or frustrated by the deterioration we see everywhere in our world is a natural response or reaction, and it should lead us to the conclusion that this can't be right - this can't be the way it was meant to be...

Friday 8 February 2013: A Chinese Dinner

These three friends from China are an answer to prayer... I was very concerned about how many new renters we needed in the Houses. And I prayed that God would send us renters. He answered with enough to fill both Houses PLUS these three additional girls! So then, we had to find a space for them! I hoped they would want to rent the house next door or the one up the street. That didn't work, but we did find a place for them close by. And, because of the Material Needs Ministry that my church started last year they only had to purchase their beds! We were so glad to help them.

And so they made us dinner. It was a lovely meal - Cola Chicken, Eggs and Tomatoes, Potatoes, Vegetables and, of course, Rice.

It was great to discover that it was one of the girl's birthday! What's the chance that the one night all of us could get together would be her birthday?!!! It was so fun showing them how to make brownies and how to use the oven to bake them!

I am learning that a cup of tea is very refreshing about this time of day....

It was a busy day from making waffles for the girls upstairs (whole wheat and wheat germ!  Yum!), which Amy came and shared, followed by a walk to the Park with Amy and the dog. Then, as I cleaned up, connecting with another student who came down for breakfast. That was followed by a little bit of productive time on the computer. then it was time for lunch at the Cantina with two students (and Erin came for a time also). I scooted back home to meet with 2 more students who needed help setting up their Electric account. I'll refresh with some tea, then we'll head out for prayer and church, with some dinner after that....  

Feels like I didn't get anything done...