I did this for dps homework. I'm not a fan of my picture being taken any more (wrinkles and age spots have done me in). It is kind of fun to get a decent picture once in awhile. They come less and less with age!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Tiny Engines that Could
Is not amazing to you that God made all of us and all we see around us? If you aren't amazed maybe you haven't seen or heard a humming bird lately.
Sitting under the porch over hang waiting for the Cog Rail at Pike's peak with all the noise around me i could hear these tiny birds flying in to catch a drink far above my head. They are smaller then my hand and have wings that flap their tiny wings 50 times per second. Wow! Here is some more info:
A hummingbird's wing is flexible at the shoulder, but inflexible at the wrist.
When hovering, hummingbirds hold their bodies upright and flap their wings horizontally in a shallow figure-8. As the wings swing back they tilt flat for a moment before the wings are drawn
Most hummingbirds flap their wings about 50 or so times a second. This means all we can see is a blur. The Magnificent Hummingbird is an exception; sometimes it flaps it wings slow enough for individual wing beats to be perceived.
The tiny feet of hummingbirds are almost useless except for perching; if hummers want to travel two inches, they must fly. Hummingbirds lift from perches without pushing off; they rise entirely on their own power, flapping their wings at almost full speed before lifting off. Though they fly very fast, they can suddenly stop and make a soft landing. They are so light they do not build up much momentum.
How could anyone say these birds are not created by the God, or Great Creator?
How do we question His power and His hand in our own creation?
I'll never understand. I know personally without Him I am nothing and would one day cease to exist. With Him I will live forever in His presence.
Be completely informed...Go to Genesis and read about YOUR creation.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
How could i forget?
I know..i haven't blogged in forever! Summer kept me away.
We drove through Colorado this summer. I'd been there in winter to ski but there is nothing like seeing all of those mountains with their true colors.
While there i had wanted to do one thing very important to me. Sit in the valley beneath the house we rented and worship God through song and reading His word. Its amazing how caught up in the moment we can become that even something so important and simple can be forgotten. I stood in awe under and on top of mountains thanking God for this blessing that we were experiencing. His hand is so powerful it could make these glorious mountains..move them if He wanted. His power is very vivid there. But i forgot! How? How does one forget to bow down to his magnificence?
I am thankful for being able to take so many pictures of our trip. With a camera and with my mind. On the way out of Colorado Springs i took my son's Ipod full of powerful songs about God's love, power and what we had done for us and closed my eyes putting myself back in that valley looking up at all the mountains surrounding me and worshipped! Worshipped my Father!
I pray that next time i do not forget the most powerful and meaningful moment i could experience any where.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness. ~Henry David Thoreau
The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness. ~Henry David Thoreau, originally uploaded by Katherine Gruender.
Our pastor really gave me a challenge Sunday something i really needed. We need to ask God to show us what He wants us to do in this life time and give it our all. I mean...really our all. Not just a little but to God's best ability. Which we know is remarkable.
Two Sundays ago the pastor (David Vaughan) talked about how Christians get us to giving God as little as they can. Not giving to him what he deserves..our best! Why do we do that? It seems we save our best for our friends or our family. We love them the best, serve them the best, make time for them first but God because He will forgive us or we can not see him we give Him the least when in fact He above all deserves far more than we can ever give.
I've become very lazy. I was sick in November, December and January and since then i just have not gotten back int he swing of things. My Bible study is null and void, house work is absent and spending time working with my daughter has been horrible. But these sermons have challenged me and hit me where i needed them to...my heart!
This week I made a list every day. Bible reading first for me and then with my daughter. Then all the things that needed to get done around the house. Tv was not to be turned on no the computer till our lives were completed and we had free time. I told God yesterday that I was so thankful for the peace that had entered our lives from it. The calmness that i felt for the first time in forever.
I met with a lady from EverCare today. She is from the organization that helped to comfort my family when my father died 2 years ago. My brother and i are going to volunteer with them. I felt just joy thinking about being able to give back and help someone in need.
I'm listening God..Is this what you want from me..Speak to me and let me hear.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Matthew 6:25...25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isnot life more important than food, and the body more important thanclothes?....
Matthew 6:25...25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?...., originally uploaded by Katherine Gruender.
26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
I must admit i AM a worrier of huge proportions! But when those times come (far too often) i find myself quoting these verses to myself over and over again.
We are in horrible times right now as a country. But i must tell you it is in the worst times that i have seen God work his greatest miracles. I think he uses these times to draw us to him and some of us back to Him. But i know some of you are wondering "where is God"! Well He never left. He is right here. He knows our futures, our tomorrows and our todays. We just need to trust Him. I know He has NEVER let me done and God is the same today as He was yesterday.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Its Friday But Sunday's Comin'
Praise God that Sunday came..that our Lord rose! That we can live because he rose!
My King!
My King!
My Saviour!
Thank you Jesus...
I am so unworthy of such great love, such forgiveness but he gives it daily! He loves me and he loves you!
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Thank you Jesus for taking my sins on that cross and dying for me!
You conquered the grave..Hallelujah!
Our risen King!
Thank you Jesus!
Sunday's Coming
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzto6khRp7w>
Monday, March 23, 2009
~The safest place to be is within the will of God.
I would like to share something that i have held off in sharing for i guess a week now. Only my son and daughter know as i fear that telling others may be drawing attention to myself and not to God's power and what the "fear" of God can do in our lives when allowed. But i feel it is necessary to share so i will do so here.
Last week I was sitting in the drive thru at Arby's thinking about the photography slump i was in and asking God what i could do to get out of it. How to see the world through His eyes. I prayed that He would just show me everything around me how He saw it. It was one of those moments when the sun came out the birds flew and the music played perfectly and i listened and looked very intently seeing things that truthfully i had not moments before.
It was my turn at the window. The lady was so very kind. She smiled and talked..i had seen her many times before. And all during the time of waiting for my food God kept saying, "tell her that i love her" and i kept saying, "but then what Lord". What was i going to say after that. It felt like the longest time at a drive thru window ever. Well, you guessed it.. i drove away fighting against God saying, "i didn't know what else to say..." I got to the end of the drive and stopped...i couldn't move! You know that feeling when you have disobeyed God and you may or may not be able to fix it. Well i could still fix it i just had to drive back around that drive thru and talk to that lady...oh my pride!!! Or live with that feeling that piercing my body to my heart! How much my Savior and King had done for me. How could i let this women go without hearing about my wonderful Heavenly Father.
So backing up and going back through the drive thru once again there she was...Stephanie. The words came people. Were they smooth..no but did i get it across that Jesus loved and died for her, yes. Does she know that i'm praying for her, yes. Does she know that the Bible will tell her every thing she needs to know to get her through this life, yes. God provided the words. Praise God! Praise God from whom all blessing flow.
I continue to pray for her and will continue to go through Arby's drive thru just to say hi and remind her of God's love.
Will i be afraid next time? Yes, but i will remember that the safest place to be is in God's will!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
And Satan trembles when he sees, The weakest saint upon his knees. --William Cowper (1731-1800)
There is no distance too far between friends, for friendship gives wings to the heart., originally uploaded by Katherine Gruender-FOURPLUSADRAGON.
I woke this morning to find that once again my throat is filling up with phlegm from infection. That means the remicade i take for crohns only works for the crohns in my throat about 1 in a half weeks. I've been coughing through the night so i am not sleeping well again. I do not want to take my sleeping pills because it makes me so crabby with my kids.
I have one more week till i see my gastroenterologist. I am desperate for answers. I do not want to go back to feeling the way i did during Christmas. It was almost unbearable.
I have been amazed although I'm not sure why how God has gotten me through this time. I spend unsleepable nights in prayer to him about friends and people I've never met on flickr. I talk to him through the day about pain. And his scripture gives my life meaning. How do people make it through this life without Him? They don't.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.~Corinthians 13:7-8
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.~Corinthians 13:7-8, originally uploaded by Katherine Gruender-FOURPLUSADRAGON.
~~Happy Valentines Day!~~
~“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
~but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8
Thursday, February 12, 2009
My Jesus, My Saviour, Lord there is no one like you, All of my days, I want to praise the wonders of Your mighty love.
My Jesus, My Saviour, Lord there is no one like you, All of my days, I want to praise the wonders of Your mighty love., originally uploaded by Katherine Gruender-FOURPLUSADRAGON.
My comfort, my shelter,
Tower of refuge and strength
Let every breath, all that I am
Never cease to worship You.
Shout to the Lord, all the earth let us sing,
Power and majesty, praise to the King!
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar,
At the sound of your name!
I sing for joy at the work of your hands,
Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have in You
I got some news yesterday and would like to share it with you. The biopsies from the tissues in my throat came back with NO cancer cells! We are so happy and full of thanks! They did find chronic ulcerations that have lead them to believe that i am one of the 1-2% of people that Crohns disease in their throat. Many of you know i have had Crohns since i was 12 years old. This is just a new experience for me. God will give me the ability to handle it and manage it. I go back to the doctor in 2 weeks to find out what medications they are going to try. Then in 2 months they are going to redo the CT scan on my throat to see if any of the lymph nodes have grown. If they do they will have to biopsy those at that time. But we will take one day at a time. Remember: Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength. -- Corrie Ten Boom
Monday, February 9, 2009
My strength is made perfect in weakness. ~II Corinthians
My strength is made perfect in weakness. ~II Corinthians, originally uploaded by Katherine Gruender-FOURPLUSADRAGON.
God's strength IS made perfect in myweakness. I am finding this out daily. Many of you know i am going through some difficult times with sickness. They are doing some biopsies today on my throat and i have some swollen lymph nodes that may have to be looked at also. But all this said.. I am strong because I know that my God is already there! He is already planning for the moment they tell me what is wrong! I have no reason to worry..his plans are greater than me. I can be assured of His strength when i am weak!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
We have no right to ask when sorrow comes, "Why did this happen to me?"unless we ask the same question for every moment of happiness that comes our way. ~Author Unknown
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Prayers and Happiness for Kentucky
Our snow is melting away today as the temperatures are reaching into the 50s. I saw on TV this morning that Kentucky is having the worst ice storm of their lives. I am so sorry to all of you struggling to find shelter and clean water. I pray that some of our warmth will come your way quickly and that your electric will be restored very fast. Know that we in other states are thinking and praying for you.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
First snow of 2009
"Among Life's precious jewels, Genuine and rare, The one that we call friendship has worth beyond compare.", originally uploaded by FOURPLUSADRAGON-Katherine.
Today we actually got snow! It seems like forever since we've seen the wonderful fluffy white stuff. Still not enough to build a snowman or play in it. I, like my children adore the dreamy winter wonderland.
I felt a little better today so i was able to go out and take some pictures of the new and falling snow. It just left me wanting a 100mm lens though. I had to repeat to myself to be happy with what you have, be happy with what you have! I do like my Tiffen close up lenses they do the trick. All in time.
Well here's hoping for more snow! Hope no other St. Louisans heard that ..they don't like snow! LOL They rush out and buy eggs, bread and milk. I have no idea what they are making with this but its what you do if you live here. Maybe some of you true chefs can send me a recipe with these 3 ingredients to make sense of it all!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Childhood Wisdom
My daughter and son were playing a little fun Texas Hold'em. My daughter 8 was giving my son almost 13 quite a beating when my husband walked in a said, "You know in this game you can lose it all in a hurry!" And she kindly replied, "I"m not in a hurry." Then she went on to win every last chip. You go girly.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
New Doctor "Tool" Invented
I guess your wondering! why i have a needle and a flashlight! Well all you need is a flashlight from the HomeDepot to be a doctor!
Well I've been very sick..yes again. I haven't been able to eat and barely able to drink for a week. Its been going on longer but this has been the worst week.
I thought i had an ENT appointment Monday but turns out its on the 2nd of February. I called my general and told me to go to the ER. Then i call my Lung specialist and he was able to see me. That's were it gets fun (kinda).
My wonderful husband went with me or i would have lost it. I go in tell him (the specialist) my throat is killing me, cant' eat, drink, swallow and my ears are hurting. He picks up a HomeDepot like flashlight and looks in my mouth, no tongue depressor, and says i don't see anything. I'm looking right at the "correct" utensils on the wall across from me! Does he check my ears..NO but he does make one more check in my mouth with his HomeDepot flashlight! He is a real specialist! Why not use the right things..they are right there?? Plus the guy went off on my general calling him stupid for sending me to the ER. Real winner wouldn't you agree!
When i got home my general called and told me he was sorry and called in something he thought would help. We'll see. I'm on so many meds I'm a walking pharmacy!
Uploaded by FOURPLUSADRAGON-
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