WE MISSED HIM!

This morning my husband and I were lazily, snuggling in...when we heard that familiar sound...the GARBAGE TRUCK. Immediately we went into action. We had deliberately NOT put out the garbage last night because we had alot of carpet pieces and we didn't want them to get rained on and thus be too heavy for the men to lift into the truck. We also had some smelly bags from cleaning out the frig and didn't want animals getting in to it over night. BUT we did not expect him SO EARLY! No matter how fast we moved, WE MISSED HIM!

My husband was able to load the carpet pieces into the car and track down the garbage truck. And we have a plan for the garbage bags to be picked up at another location. But I thought of how our tranquil morning was disrupted IMMEDIATELY at the sound of the Garbage Truck....and our negligance, our laziness, had caused us to MISS the garbage truck.

Now this is not nearly as tragic as it will be when the TRUMP sounds, Jesus calls His people to Himself and people are found still on earth. Well meaning people, Church going people, Good people....left behind. How sad that will be!

We missed the garbage Truck today.....but we will not miss the Rapture! When the trumpet sounds....Ken and I have our reservations securely made in the blood of Jesus Christ. We will be GONE in the twinkling of an eye!

A REAL Princess!

Like you, as Christians, we try harder every year to keep Christ in Christmas. We try to have meaning to our presents. We want to be remembered as the Grandpa and Grandma who gave gifts of meaning. Every year it is a struggle to do so.

One of the special gifts this year went to our 5 year old grand-daughter Aleaha who LOVES to dress up as all the Disney Princesses. So this year, we bought her a lovely pink princess dress and included this letter:

Dear Aleaha,
You became a real princess the moment you prayed and asked Jesus to live in your heart, April 13, 2011. And since He is the King of Kings and you are His daughter, that makes you His princess.
You will always be our little princess too.
We love you very much.

Grandpa and Grandma Lambert in Florida

A Special Gift for a Special Young Lady

One of our precious Grand-daughters was turning three. I asked her daddy if she was still in love with "Dora"...he said "No", she has started an interest in Barbie dolls.

IMMEDIATELY...my mind knew what I wanted to purchase for my grandaughter for her 3rd birthday. I asked my husband to join me in searching for the sign Language Barbie. I know I have one, but it is packed in storage somewhere, or I would have sent her mine. Surprised to see that it is now a vintage doll so the price was more than I would ever pay for a Barbie for a 3 year old....but she is precious, and this doll has such meaning.

You see, I am a deaf interpreter, so our family has been giving the "I Love you" sign to each other since they were born. Our grandchildren ALSO know the meaning of the hand sign.

Sometimes.....there is no price limit to a gift you know has special meaning. I told her to think of Grandma when she looks at Barbie's hand. I asked her to always remember that her grandma loves her.

Special Gift for a Special young lady.

The Pearl Necklace

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This is adapted for Christmas from a similar story found online, but did not find an author's name. If anyone finds an author, I will delete this promptly.
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One day in early December, Jenny (who is almost 5) was at the Dollar store with her mom. Mom was looking for Christmas decorations, but Jenny was just looking at things on the shelves she could see. Mom had picked up quite a few things when she heard Jenny’s excited voice, “MOMMY – look at that beautiful necklace!” Mom looked at it, a simple, cheap necklace made of play/faux pearls strung by elastic. Mom did not share her excitement knowing it could break easily with beads going everywhere. Jennie tugged on her mom, once, twice, and said, “I really WANT that pearl necklace mommy, can I have them, please!”

As mom stood in line to check out, Jenny tugged again at her mom and pleaded one last time for the necklace.

“Jenny, will you help me bake cookies without complaining?” “YES”, said Jenny. “OK",agreed mom. Jenny ran back to the necklace she had her eye on, carefully picked it up and went back, smiling, to the check out.

The minute she got in the car, Jenny opened the box and proudly put on the necklace. She felt so pretty and so grown up. Jenny wore them everywhere – Church, School, play, even to bed.

Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night he would read her a story and pray with her.

One night when he finished the story he asked Jenny: “Do you love me?” “Oh Yes Daddy. You know that I love you”, said Jenny. “Then give me your pearls,” said dad. “Oh Daddy, not my pearls! You can have my favorite pink horse, Daddy! You gave me that one remember Daddy? That is my favorite one!” “That’s ok, Honey”, said dad. “Daddy loves you. Good Night”, and he gave her a kiss.

About a week later, after story time, Jenny’s daddy asked again, “Do you love me?” “Daddy you KNOW that I love you”. “Then give me your pearls”. “Oh daddy not my pearls. You can have my baby doll. The new one I just got for my birthday. You can even have the blanket and her clothes.” “That’s ok. Sleep well. God bless you. Daddy loves you”, and he gave her a kiss.

A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed. As he came close he noticed Jenny was softly crying. “What is wrong, Jenny? Why are you crying?”

Quietly she lifted her little hand up to her daddy. When she opened it, her pearl necklace was in her hand. She said, “Daddy…this is for you, I do love you”.

With tears in his eyes, Daddy took the necklace and said, “I am so glad you love me that much”.

On Christmas morning, when all the gifts had been opened, daddy handed Jenny the gift hidden in the tree. She opened it and saw a blue velvet bag. Carefully she emptied the contents into her little hands….there was a strand of REAL pearls.

She put her arms around her daddy, and said, “Oh thank you…they are beautiful!”

See the Daddy had the real pearls for several months, but he wanted Jenny’s heart to be prepared to welcome the pearl necklace of value. Her heart seemed satisfied with the cheap one. He needed her to be willing to lay down the cheap one, so he could bless her with the real one.

What are we hanging on to? We think we can’t live without it? It makes us feel so good. But if we give everything we have to God, HE will shower us with blessings that are more valuable than we could ever imagine. #

Deaf Interpreter

Recently I was in a store and saw a deaf man that I know. He greeted me in his usual kind way, and then he introduced me to someone he was with. He introduced me as "an Interpreter". I cannot tell you how my body reacted inside! I had to hold back the tears. It brought back so much emotion for me, as all the past years of loving deaf people flashed before my mind.

The LAST thing I ever wanted to be to a deaf person was "an interpreter". I want to be their "FRIEND".

I did NOT learn sign language so I could "fill in the blanks" for them. I did not learn sign language to earn money off of their closed ears. I did not learn sign language to be the go between for them, or even an advocate for them. I learned sign language because I wanted to get to know them! I wanted to know them as people, their thoughts, ideas, beliefs, and opinions. It wasn't until years after I learned sign language that I realized since I was a hearing person, that automatically put me in the position of "interpreter".

For years I argued with God. I repeatedly asked him WHY He didn't make me deaf. I don't want to be known as their INTERPRETER, I want to be known as their FRIEND.

Being married to Ken since 1973 has tremendously helped me to gather peace in this area. Ken has helped me to see that GOD made me hearing for a reason, just like HE made them deaf, for a reason. I may WANT to be deaf to be more welcomed into their lives, but I am not deaf, by GOD'S design.

Ken helped me to see how my feelings are no different than anyone else who is wishing they were someone else, instead of accepting who they are by God's design. Over the years I have come to peace with my position before God.

I count it an HONOR to be able to bring music to deaf people BECAUSE I can hear. I count it an HONOR to be able to help them understand their doctor's better, and have their feelings and opinions explained more clearly to the Doctors. But most of all, I count is an HONOR to be able to interpret the Word of God standing next to my husband, who is my Pastor.

I am so grateful for God putting Ken into my life! He has walked with me thru some tough times.

So if I have this peace, why did this deaf man's words cut me to the quick?

I think it was just a IN MY FACE reminder of where I was, and where I am today.

Even though I would much RATHER be introduced as their friend, I am thrilled to be known by them at all, and thrilled that God has given me enough skill that THEY would call me "an Interpreter"!

The heart shaped twig wreath

This heart twig wreath has hung in our bedroom for many years. I am sure I do not dust it as often as I should. But nevertheless, it hangs in our room year after year.

Because we are fixing up our bedroom, Ken recently took it outside and gave it a good spray down. ( I told him I usually put it in the shower - but he knows it is not often enough.)

Today I asked him if he remembered the story of how we got that wreath. Perhaps his mind was on what he was doing on computer, but he stopped and said he didn't have a clue. I was slightly disappointed, for I was sure he would be able to fill in the blanks of my own faulty memory. You know how love has a way of finishing each other's sentences? Well this becomes a hoot as time goes by.

All I remember is we lived in Escanaba, MI and had gone into a flower shop to pick out an arrangement for someone. While waiting for our arrangement to be made I looked around the shop and I spotted this lovely twig heart wreath on the wall. I commented to Ken how much I liked it (I love hearts), but the price was HIGH, so I kept looking around.

Soon we left the shop with our arrangment.

It was later that day Ken went back to the shop and bought the heart wreath to surprise me.Although I do not remember all the details, I remember the LOVE I felt the moment he surprsed me with the wreath. To think that he had LISTENED to me, and made a SPECIAL EFFORT to go back and get it....meant ALOT. I felt loved.....and I am LOVED!

The wreath hangs in our bedroom, not getting dusted as often as it needs, and the story fades in our memory....but our LOVE is not fading. Thank you LORD!

Outside our Church

I stand amazed at God. He is so faithful.

Alot of things have been coming against me lately and I have been fighting discouragement. The irritant is outside our Church, but coming from "friendly fire". I have not given in to it more than seconds at a time, yet STILL it knocks repeatedly on my mind's door.

Just when my seconds are tempted to turn into minutes, God has a way of showing up in some pretty neat and creative ways!

The enemy has a way of catching me by surprise too, and that is why it often hurts so. Surprised at who the enemy is using to bring torment. There ususally seems to be an element of surprise in friendly fire, catching me off guard.

MY LORD tends to do this also. In ways that I least expect it, HE shows up....in very creative ways....HE shows up.

Amid my mental battle, I received an email from a lady I barely know. I may have seen her twice for a few moments of time. Her email said that she and her 7 year old daughter would like to contribute to our puppet ministry! They would like to make or purchase a puppet and donate it to our ministry! I cannot tell you how much that SHOCKED me. She has enjoyed reading my posts about the Puppet ministry on our Church Facebook page!

Today she emailed to say they decided to purchase THREE puppets for us and they put in the order today! I am left speechless (well almost) but certainly humbled at GOD.

The enemy is using people outside our Church to bring discouragement into my life.

MY LORD is using people OUTSIDE OUR CHURCH to bring JOY into my life!

So who am I going to give attention to?

I choose to give attention to the one who LOVES me, laid down his life for me, rose again for me,and lives within me! I plan to serve HIM with all my heart and MIND until I see HIM face to face.

Thank You, Lord