Tongiht I give thanks to God for my siblings- Vicky, Cindy, Derik and Darin. I am blessed to have their kindness and love and examples in my life. They are each noble souls, doing good within their circles of influence. It was wonderful to see them all at our recent family gathering, Dad’s 80th birthday. And did I mention that they are all strong as well? We didn’t drop dear father during our photo shoot. 

Somedays, everything just comes together. Michelle has expressed regrets that we don’t have a car carrier for our Highlander and has been asking me about getting an after-market rack to help with luggage when we travel. I haven’t been sure how to handle this issue and had hoped it wouldn’t be too expensive. Today when we went for lunch, the answer drove into the parking lot. I had never seen anything quite like it. Sometimes you just have to be lucky!

We had a fun family get together tonight as we celebrated Ned’s 80th birthday. He is a wonderful, kind, and loving man whose influence has reached across several generations. I am so blessed to be his son. 

Tonight we shared a lovely slideshow of memories from Ned’s life. View it through the link below. 

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4092749/Ned%27s%2080th.mp4

I am all for creativity and new ventures. I am grateful life gives us those opportunities. But, what in the world are “Iris Tacos?” Is this taking creativity a bit too far or have I been naive to some of life’s finer foods? 

I feel very blessed when I am able to sense of God’s reality and love. I realize that obedience to God’s laws helps us draw closer to Him. But I have also learned that the desires of my heart are very important in allowing me to feel close to God. I don’t envision God making a tally on His clipboard of my good deeds and letter-of-the-law obedience. Rather, I envision God looking at my heart and myopically overseeing my imperfect efforts to obey. May He help me in trying to keep the desires of my heart in the right place.