Please Saturate Us With Your Prayers

We've been a the front of the battle this weekend and the enemy's darts have been being hurled fast and furious. Please saturate my family with your prayes. I am so phyiscally, emotionally and even spiritually exhausted. I have felt my Lord surrounding me and whispering commands in my ears and I am so thankful for that. But the enemy is trying to wear us down and he is slick and fast as he works with those closet to you. But I know the "God of the battle will defend me". I need to carry me today. I have some problems to deal with at work and I am so exhausted...I know your prayers will get me through. Then tonight there are other things I must deal with that calls for Divine wisdom.

When I have more time I will share the laughter, fun and fellowship that was in this weekend that included the Harts from Alabama and the men from men's retreat. Because there was laughter in the midst of the battle~sigh.

A Short Post and then I'm Going to Bed

Last night I didn't go to bed until almost one because I waited up for our "4th daughter" to get here. Brother Ray you need to really start feeling bad for Brother Nowling. Jackie Heathershaw from Iowa has to moved to Alaska and will be living with us until she can get enough money to get an apartment. I'm really hoping two other girls in our house will choose to share it with her (then again maybe we'll make the choice for them~raising eyebrows). Any way Jackie is a precious young lady, she just graduated from high school and turned 18 on Wednesday and moved here on Thursday. She stayed with us a couple of weeks in the summer a couple of years ago and we had did just find. Actually Brother Nowling and her really hit it off.

I do hope we haven't made mistake in opening up our home. 5 people in this "small" house has been tough and now we added one more~I think I forgot to think. Seriously now, Jackie's a great girl, but Josh Grant is her boyfriend...I have enough worries with my girls and boys and now another.

Pray that the Lord can help us to stay sane...and give me wisdom. I feel like if the Lord would just give me wisdom in all things I wouldn't have ask for anything else.

tomorrow's going to be a very busy day. The men are at men's retreat. I have to take Joleesa to work. Go pick up Sis. Hart from the hotel, come back and get lunch ready for the guys (I've kept it simple, hot dogs, chips, baked beans and Joleesa's brownies). I figured they could have all the beans they wanted as long as us women wouldn't around ~ really laughing hard. Then we'll clean up and come back to the house and rest and then head back to the church to serve supper (Sister Texter is doing a moose roast, potatoes and carrots and Jessa is making dessert). Then I'm going to go do some shopping for a friend that has asked me to pick up some things for her. Then Sunday morning I'm in charge of service. I did ask Jenna to teach SS and Jessa to lead song service so I wouldn't be doing everything. So to say the least after a long, hectic week my weekend is going to be anything but relaxing but it's a good kind of business.

Well so much for the short post, but I am going to bed now. So goodnight.

AND MORE SNOW

It snowed all day yesterday BUT it's not snowing now, YET any way!
Job 38:22 says "Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?" Anchorage is VERY RICH!

Have a great day.

BACKGROUND - NO WHITE, YES!

What a background huh! Yep Jenna did it. She's working on a special requested one that's going to take a while but she found this and it's so fitting. First the picture...the beach, NO SNOW. But more importantly the footprints. Oh how He has carried me (my family) and continues to do so. And my new name "AND HE WALKS WITH ME" thank you Lord for always being there. And thanks Jenna for the background. Now if you could get some of the pictures from dad's and my trip to Kenai I'd really, really appreciate it. It's great having the "expert" around.

MAKE IT STOP!

Ok all you that want some snow...if I could send some your way I would be glad too. It has been snowing for days. We have about 3 feet of snow on the ground. I want to say it's not pretty any more but I can't honestly say that BUT enoughs enoughs. MAKE IT STOP! Everyone telling me this is the most Anchorage has had in years. Of course, our first year, why not! Slippery roads, brushing off cars, scraping windows, car accidents and moose everywhere (including dead in middle of the main street ~ bottom lip is sticking out as I felt bad for the moose). A moose even walked right by our window last night but we didn't see it go by the window, we say it come back down the street. I'm really tired of white! Street signs are covered with snow, signal lights are just barely peeking out from the snow, snow banks are so high you can't see around them (they're taller than I am), streets are so narrow because of the snow banks only one car can get through at a time, and my 4 foot "welcome" yard sign is just barely visible. BUT Brother Nowling hasn't had to shovel and for that he's grateful and so are we (our land lady snow blows for us).

Any way, did I say MAKE IT STOP SNOWING!!!

A Black and White World

This past week I filled out paper work so I could "technically" become a Fed Employee. Fed Ex employees are actually not "employees" but "contractors". Jody will be doing a bulk run to Wasilla and the Kenai Pennisula on Saturdays for a few weeks. It's about a 10 hour day,traveling and unloading included. He gets paid by the trip, not by the hour so we thought it would be nice if I could go with him. So the only way that could happen was if I became his "helper" which meant I had to become a "Fed Ex employee" and have a full background check, watch the "how to" videos and sign off on it all. Any way with Jody's help I did them and got cleared.

So today my day started at 4:30 a.m. We had Joleesa to work by 5:45 am and we were at the Fed Ex garage to pick up the truck by 6 am and on the road to Wasilla by 6:30 am. I slept going to Wasilla (an hour drive)and coming back to Anchorage from Wasilla (after all I'd been there before and it was dark). By 8am we were on our way to Kenai. As we hit Girdword and the Alyeska resort it was snowing. Alot of the time it was a complete white out. The snowbanks were about to the windows on the Fed Ex truck,and the trees were so laden down with snow they were bending over. Every now and then there would be a break and I would see some mountains. It was beauiful at first but there were times the sky and snow cladden mountains and ground look like one. One big "white" landscape with black spots of trees and "some times" road. The mountain pass (I believe it's calld Moose Pass) was the worst with the winding roads. When we reached Soldotna and the pennisula, it was like we were in another state. No more mountains, and it wasn't snowing. There was still the gray skies (that's how I knew we were still in Alaska ~grin). We didn't go far enough to see the ocean though. Temps were in the high 20's. We got to the Fed Ex garage and Boss Jody put his "helper" to work as he handed the boxes off the truck to me and I sorted them on pallets by zip codes (I did only the light ones ~ dah). Anyway it took us about an hour and I was starving so he paid me by taking me out for lunch. We at the Bear's Den. It was really unique. It was log cabin and when you opened the door the sound of a bear growling met us. The decor was rustic and comfy. We had their pancake and ham special. We made the mistake of not asking how much it was and wound up leaving with a $30 bill (it included two coffees and a homemade blackberry cream soda to go). Ouch! But we enjoyed ourselves. They also had an ice sculpture of a bear with a fish outside the restruant. Believe it or not I did take pictures. Hopefully, I can get Jenna to put them on for me in the near future. We made one side stop at a woodcarving shop but headed home because Jody didn't want to drive the mountain pass in the dark. It was a good thing we did as it worst then the drive up. I couldn't see ANY mountains it was complete white with spots of black trees. Forget about the black road as it too was snow covered most the time. Fortunately the truck had 4 wheel drive and with God's help we made it back to Anchorage at about 5:30 pm

Even though Jody was disappointed that I didn't really get to see the mountains, I really enjoyed my time with him. AND we finished studying our Alaska DMV book so we can go get our Alaska licenses hopefully next week.

Next weekend's men's retreat so he won't be going (which I'm really glad) but then he has to make the trip the following weekend so I'll probably go with him again. We'll just have to pray the sun shows up and the snow stays away. But no matter what we'll be headed that way again as Family Camp is in Soldotna...it's in June so the snow better be gone ~ grin.

Watch for pictures. I'm not the photographer Jenna and Sister Tammi are, and I was taking them from inside the truck through the windows; but you'll get the idea of MY BLACK AND WHITE WORLD.

By the way I'm really tired of seeing white!!!

Short Post

Not a whole lot happening on the Nowling Alaskan Front these days. Except for I've been struggling with my sinuses since my birthday. I'll have a couple bad days and then I'll feel good for a few days. All this week my eyes and ears have been hurting. As the day goes on they feel somewhat better. My boss told me they have urgent care medical centers that take walk ins and are less expensive and that it's probably an sinus infection (dah) considering how long it's hung on and that I should go. He even looked up the address and phone number. But I don't want to. They're open until 8 pm and even if I don't want to go....my ear and eyes are hurting so bad this morning I may breakdown. I know God can touch me though. So please pray. Thanks and have a great day.

My Hubby's Birthday!!!

No I didn't forget my husband's birthday. Our internet didn't appreciate the fact that it was his birthday and that I needed to get on this morning, but it wouldn't let me. When Jenna got up she got it working but I had to leave for work and I couldn't do anything by that time. I had already given him a "real" sweet, and sappy card with a Thomas Kinkade picture (he's one of my favorite artists). When I got home we headed across town for me to fill out the paper work to become a Fex Ex employee. Yeah that's what I "technically" will be doing so I can ride with on Kenai trips on Saturdays. I just won't be a "paid" employee or an employee with any hours. Any way we got there and there were no managers there so I got to try again tomorrow. Then the two of us was going to get dinner...where, we couldn't figure out. I did say that soup sounded good and the girls had said TGIF had good soup. So we get there and the place is so packed that he won't even go to see how long of a wait it will be,we just get back in the car and drive, and drive, and drive. We drove down Muldoon, down Tudor, down Debarr and I'm not sure where else and where dud we eat at....what is the cheapest date a couple could on...you got it MCDONALD'S. Yeah, go ahead and groan, laugh or whatever. I'm sure many of you can relate. It just proves we're gettig old.

Adam's Family...Brother Nowling thanks you for your birthday wishes...but the song....it WAS really bad (that was his words)~ giggle.
Thanks to the Doran's, "CokeLady" as he puts it, and Sister Smith for your kind birthday wishes.

By the way we really had a great SS yesterday. I love it when everyone get's involved. Then for the Sunday night service we had about 17 people out. It was Jessa's missionary service and I know she was really nervous (I'm not sure "nervous" is the word) because of one particular person being there. It started out with a real strain trying to worship. I asked Sis. Grant (our state WMB leader)to pray for Jessa and you could really feel the presence then. She had scriptures read from Colossians, and I & II Thessalonians on being steadfast. She shared brief thoughts of her own and then asked the "youth" in particular to share thoughts on one of the scriptures that may have stuck out to them. They were scriptures that spoke on their own, but the comments were strong and straight forward. It was good. I've said before and I'll keep saying it...Anchorage has been fighting the enemy but there is a GREAT VICTORY ahead and I am anxiously watching for it!!!

Tsunami Warning

OK This is really wierd. I'm sitting here playing a game on the computer and watching NUMBERS on t.v. and a warning goes out for tornado, NO. Flooding, NO...well kind of, a TSUNAMI! Apparently there was an 8.2 earthquake off of Kuril Islands, Russia therefore triggering a Tsunami warning for Coastal Alaska, which includes Seward and even to the tip of Vancouver British Columbia. This is just too strange. I've had a tornado go through our town when I was younger. Been near the Red River flooding of ND and MN. But earthquakes and tsunamis. Since we've been here there apparently been several earthquakes. I haven't felt them, but I'd be talking to someone at work and they'd say "did you feel that" (my office is on the 2nd floor) and I'll say no but sure that night's news tells of an earthquake, usually approximately 3 in magnitude. I guess that's one more thing I'll get use to.

Jody will be travelling Saturdays to the Kenai Pennisula deliverying bulk drops for fed ex. I so wanted to go with him tomorrow as it's suppose to be really nice, but I can't. Fed Ex is requiring me to go in and sign a waiver as well as they have to do a background check on me, which will take 3 days. Bummer. Please pray for him that the Lord will keep him safe. Lord willing I'll go with him next Saturday.

Wow two posts in one day!!! Sorry!

Joleesa's School

I am soooooo glad this is Joleesa's last year. It never fails when it comes to the end of a semester we are both stressed as we try to push to get everything done. Alaska I.D.E.A. homeschooling is worse then ABEKA as their is no daily outline. We have to create one. The IDEA office was to give us a contact teacher. Yeah right. I haven't heard from her since we signed up and I've left several messages for her and still haven't heard from her. I finally emailed the superintendent because she still hasn't gotten her meteorolgy book and the new semester starts Tuesday. It is so frustrating.

Please pray for me today. I stayed up with her until midnight working on her English and Math (she is awesome in Alegebra) and then I woke up at 4 am and couldn't get back to sleep. My mind kept going between a major problem at work, Joleesa's school and the young girl at church that got saved New Year's eve. Why can't there be an on/off switch on brains like there is for electrical things. After all aren't brain waves electrical? I said I was tired!

This Is Me! Do you know Me?

Ok. I'm following the crowd. I've taken several of these, let's see how well others know me. Take the quiz and we'll see who knows me best....

Take My Quiz on QuizYourFriends.com Can you Ace my quiz? Yes! No Let's Find Out!

Pray Without Ceasing!

I've really took to heart the scripture "Pray without ceasing!" as of late. There are so many needs that we cannot allow ourselves to be idle but we must have a prayer on a lips constantly. I see a face, or have a thought, or think of someone (oh I guess that's having a thought) and I breath a heartfelt prayer. Prayer brings comfort, protection, guidance, so many different things and the best thing is the recipient may not even realize that a prayer was spoken on their behalf but yet they made it through a tough day because of it, they resisted temptation because of it, they weren't in that car accident because of it, they were physically strengthened because of it. OH THE POWER OF PRAYER!

Let us saturate our lives and those that are dear to us with our prayers.

Prayer request: please pray for a young girl at our church that just got saved last weekend but the enemy is stalking her and she is really struggly. She was in church last night but the enemy was very present and it was a battle that I'm not confident that she won.

A Long Short Week

Even though there were only 4 days this week it seems like this week has lasted forever. Jody was laid off and it didn't look like he'd be going back but they called him and he'll be going back part-time which will be ideal if they give him 25 to 30 hours. It actually was nice having him home considering all the snow we've gotten (I think Jenna said on her blog, we've gotten 60 inches). It is beautiful as far as the trees and all, but there's so much snow, the roads by our house are so narrow due to snow banks that only one car can get through at a time. The snow banks are so tall you can't see around them. So Jody took me work yesterday and today (I know what a guppy seeing as I only have a mile to work~but I'll let my husband do it any day). He also took Jessa and Joleesa took work. The roads are terrible. Even when they plow they are so packed down, bumpy and icy.

God is doing a different sort of work in our family. I don't know how to explain it. But I thank the Lord for a loving, Godly husband and 3 beautiful girls that I love so much and I know God has great plans for them if they'll stay faithful.

One more day of work and then the weekend. Yes, I will sleep in. After all it doesn't get light out until 10 am. I thought for sure that would bother me, but durng the day, I'm working so I don't even notice it. On the weekends I've never been one to sleep past 8 am no matter what time I go to bed, but it's so dark, I actually have done 10 am...shhhhh, I know,what a slug. Yep, and proud of it ~grin.
Now the long day light hours in the summer...sleep will be hard to come by then. But I look forward to it just the same.

Sorry for the rambling...sleep tight to you who already sleeping. Have a great Friday.

The Old and The New Ran Together

I don't think I've ever experienced a year full of soooo many changes as I experienced in 2006. The year ended with sadness of something lost that can't be regained, but the joy of seeing two young souls saved. But the road ahead is going to be tough, the tests hard, but the victory is going to be grand because the enemy has been working so very hard even as we entered into 2007. When you stop and think of the fact of how the victory was won, it was won in blood. Our Lord's blood that was shed over 2000 years ago and then reached into 2007 for everyone that would accept it.

If there is anything I could ask for in 2007 it would be the same thing that Solomon asked for...wisdom. Wisdom and discernment. Parenting is the most difficult job there is. Couple that with pastoring and my cry is "give me wisdom Lord, please give me wisdom".

My other cry is "heal our land". Heal the hurts, mend the broken hearts and make us one in 2007. I'm tired of hurting, and seeing my dear brothers and sisters hurting. Not only by the enemy outside but an enemy within. Make it stop Lord, make it stop! Heal relationships, heal bodies, heal the broken, heal the schisms, heal our land. "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14. He's talking to His people, that are called by His name...and He's telling HIS PEOPLE to turn from their wicked way. He's not telling the world to turn from their wicked ways, but HIS PEOPLE need to turn away from THEIR WICKED ways. Ouch! The Church is suppose to be a place of safety...but has it been.

Well 2006 ended heavy hearted and full of tears and 2007 came in the same way. But I'm looking for the healing, I'm expecting times of wisdom. I'm going to reach for the VICTORY! It's there and Alaska is going to be shouting it. Because we are overcomers. Help us Lord to live as overcomers.