First Fishing Day

Got up at 4am, ate breakfast, and met a shuttle which took us to the charter boat.

Nice little nap on the 3 hour trip to where the fish were waiting.


Joseph caught the first halibut - we had amazing deck hands that did the dirty work for us.

Second fish caught by
Julianne....

When it was not expected, Julianne reeled in a 14 pound Silver.

My halibut was the biggest one of our boat, so I wanted to kill it...GRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rawr

Our family catch = 6 Halibut, 5 Salmon, and 1 Rock Fish.

Alaska

I cannot believe it has been 1 year and 2 months since I spent a month in Houston for my brother's heart valve re-replacement!

We are privileged to come visit him and Susie in Alaska for a fun trip!

First night, Joseph, Julianne and I arrived in Fairbanks at 2:30am. Cute hotel, good night sleep, nice breakfast - then TWO cars come in to snatch us up. Susie and I in one, the men plus Julianne in the other.

Starting our the right way with matching shirts...
OK - this bathroom really took "family room" to the hilt - I mean, really?

I suppose that you COULD be in such a great conversation when you make a pit stop....but...

Walked in town of Talkeetna - all the power was out!
We also saw a place where Man vs. Food went!

Babies in the Fuschia's

My beautiful fuschia plant in the backyard was having a lot of unplanned activity in it. At night, we had company over and were sitting around a cozy fire, and heard rustling in the plant, and could hear birds. Silly birds! They were supposed to be sleeping! The mommy in me knew immediately that the only thing that could keep a bird awake at night when they should be sleeping was a baby. Sure enough, next morning I looked to see newly hatched birds.

Doing the most compassionate thing - I stopped watering that plant. I watched as the birds grew feathers and started flapping their wings.

Today, I sadly missed their departure from the nest - but wish them well.


I will also now try to revive the plant. Pretty sad looking - and kinda lonely.

Then in a Nobler, Sweeter Song

As I do most Sundays since I was 17 years old, this morning I was playing the piano in church. I really really prefer to sing instead of play, but it seems that wherever I am, they need a piano player.

This morning I was lifted up in worship by the sweet, yet powerful singing of our little church. I could hear each voice, each with their own unique timbre. The colors of the voices were bright, dark, warm and even harsh. 75 individual voices lifted up together in harmony to state their faith in Jesus. The amazing aspect that struck me this morning is that since we only have one piano to accompany and lead, I could really and truly hear each voice coming together in one aggregate.

By the last verse of this song I was moved to tears as they finished the beautiful hymn accompanied by only one chord to start each measure: (It DID help that this song came after the sermon in Leviticus 7, speaking of the fellowship offering and how Jesus fulfilled all the laws to atone for our sins)

There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in His day;
And there have I, though vile as he,
Washed all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its pow’r,
Till all the ransomed church of God
Are safe, to sin no more.

E’er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.

When this poor, lisping, stamm’ring tongue
Lies silent in the grave,
Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save.

Adversary of the Worse Kind

I heard a sermon that sent chills up my spine.

Luke 12:49-59 (New International Version)

Not Peace but Division
49"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! 51Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

Interpreting the Times
54He said to the crowd: "When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'It's going to rain,' and it does. 55And when the south wind blows, you say, 'It's going to be hot,' and it is. 56Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time?
57"Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right? 58As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled to him on the way, or he may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.[a]"

The pastor spent quite some time talking about what an adversary is. Definition: 1. a person or group that is hostile to someone; enemy. An adversary has no good intentions for the enemy. Have you ever had adversaries in your life? I am sure we all have.

I can think of recent times when our adversary was one we reached out to in love and that love was considered vile.

Then the sermon took a shocking twist:

The worse and most fearful adversary one can have is God! To an unbeliever, God IS their adversary, they are either for Him or against Him. He is just, righteous, and holy. It always amazes me how people who reject the God of the gospel also declare that He only "loves" people and isn't "judgemental". Enemies of God think highly of themselves, not taking into account that every breath they have is from Him. Each man will meet God in the end - either in embracing love or the most horrible eternal punishment imaginable.

Yes, for an unbeliever God is the worse adversary conceivable. As a believer, I can only humbly shake my head in utter gratitude that He would love me - even me!

Renata's Graduation Speech 2010

Have you ever felt the pain of being lost and completely in despair? Have you ever had a time in your life when you had nobody to look to when lost and utterly helpless? Have you ever had an empty heart that left you with a sense of complete helplessness? When I stop and reflect on my childhood, feelings and sensations like these swarm my thoughts and fall like a darkness that seems to envelope every part of me.

As a young girl I hadn't the slightest idea about life. I had a mother who claimed she loved me, but the bond between her and her five children was so weak that she ended up allowing them all to slip away from her home, and it seems, from her heart. She lived as if everything mattered to her more than the care and nurturing of her children. Whether it was the pursuit of pleasing others, or of drinking the next bottle of alcohol or of having her next drug-induced "high", her children were always receiving the leftovers. In her home, that's all I was: something left over.

After being passed through foster homes for quite some time, Christ began the process of healing in the life of a little 10 year-old girl. He placed me in the home of Lynn and Paul Rorberg, who already had three young boys, all under the age of four! I still remember my initial gaze at those three faces; it was love at first sight! And while stepping into an unfamiliar home was certainly not new to me, I was about to discover that being part of this household would change my life forever - quite truly into eternity.

My entrance into the Kingdom of God did not occur in one heart-stopping moment or by some pivotal dramatic event. However, it was sudden, for there came a day when I could, with real sincerity, say that I loved Christ and that I trusted Him as the One Who had died for my sins and had snatched my soul out of the fires of eternal damnation.

It seems now, looking back on the course my life has taken, that God's hand was guiding me home - not just to an earthly home - but to an eternal home as well. My first introduction to Christ as the Living, Ruling, Redeeming God of heaven, was in the household of the family where I stayed just prior to going to the Rorbergs; but I did not begin to grasp the love of God or to have a change in my own heart until I entered my parents' home. It was readily obvious that this family was different from the other families I had lived with. They loved the Lord as a family, and as a family they chose to honor and follow Him. This meant that if I was going to be a part of this family, I, too, needed to be acquainted with Christ. As my parents spent year upon year discipling me and teaching me how to live as a Christian and be the one who stood out as a young, faithful woman who could be an example and sweet aroma to my biological family, I grew fonder and closer to God and His Word.

As the Holy Spirit began to work in my life, I found that my outlook was radically different from that of my biological family. When I made choices to refrain from things they might want me to do, I disappointed them. As I moved closer to Christ, they seem to run the other way. As I tried to understand all of this, my mother would comfort me reminding me that God had chosen me as His particular child. She said that my family was like a fruit tree, and that most of the fruit had been left to itself on the vine, but that God had spared me from falling to the ground: that I was God's picked apple.

Thus, living in the Rorberg home was God's necessary building block that helped faith come to life, and which continues to nurture faith so that it might grow.

As a result of moving from home to home, I also moved from school to school.
School was never my strong point, and even when I would catch a glimpse of what learning could mean to me and how it could shape and help me, I found it was time to move on again, and thus I would confront another new set of teachers, a new set of classmates, a new set of rules and jargon with which I was unfamiliar. School presented a dilemma in diminishing returns, and therefore, I felt hopeless in the face of it. I truly never caught the necessity of faithful studying, keeping up on daily assignments, or staying on task; these never ran through my head as things that were a must for a student. In order for me to be able to stick to something, I needed absolutely no distractions. In such moments, success followed, but such moments were rare, and the exception to the rule. Usually, because I had no confidence in myself or my capabilities, I depended on others for the work, for the outcome, even for the confidence. People around me would encourage me by pointing out those things that I could do if I put my mind to it and worked hard, but I blew all that off, and remained swamped in an academic sea.

It was not until the Lord began to change my heart that I began to reconsider my studies at school. In small steps, God began to show me that if I would humble myself and quit thinking so much about me in the process of learning but rather think about obedience and apply it to the topic at hand, I could make progress. I am still in this process, for this change has not come quickly, but I can say that today at eighteen, I am more of a student than I have ever been because the Lord has been faithful and He has placed encouraging family members and friends and teachers in my life.

So now, feeling more ready for the future than I could ever have dreamed, I am looking down the road ahead. The humorous part of this, is that to look ahead, I need to look very far back. Do you remember when you were a small child and you pictured yourself as you would someday be? Maybe for you it was the glory of being a soldier or a nurse or the first woman president; or the hope of being a great inventor, missionary or doctor or the thrill of being a famous designer or super star with your name in lights. For most of us, we dream of being someone's husband or wife. And while I am sure some of these thoughts have gone through my mind, from as far back as I can remember, I have wanted to be a hairstylist. I could lose track of time as a child playing with my dolls' hair - it was a slice of paradise for me! Now I like to style the hair of living dolls - my mother, my friends - for anyone who has the time (and courage!) to let me at their head! I find real joy in this; and I am so very glad that God seems to be guiding my footsteps towards a career doing what I enjoy most. I have applied and have been accepted at a local school of cosmetology. I begin my course of studies this summer. It is a little girl's dream come true. With humility and thanksgiving I recognize that God has given me the desires of my heart. We serve a kind and generous God. Having seen that I can fully depend on Him in the past gives me the assurance that He will ably guide my future.

The Lord in His Holy Word has declared this to be true. Ephesians 2:10 states:
"We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." God has, from before time began, numbered my days and plotted my footsteps. He has given me loving parents, a good home, a new family, a good church and good schools. Once I felt like leftovers, a child who was overlooked; now I know I have been picked by God to be His workmanship, His instrument. With faith in the God Who has so ably guided my past, I am now prepared to walk humbly in the knowledge that I am His and He is mine as I step out into the world under the direction of His ever-continuing guiding hand.

Happy Late Mother's Day to My Mommy

My children always love the drive to Leavenworth - the scenery takes their breath away and they are left in a state of awe

We love Mountain Springs Lodge for brunch

It is such a blessing to see Julianne becoming more and more thankful for her larger family. She especially loves her gramma <3

The wood floors were useful for our testing of papa in his wheelchair skills

I wanted him to take me to the mall in this thing - he said NO

Papa was amazed at how grown up Julianne is and wanted to verify her height -

Good Photo op ....

Can I get ONE, just one, good picture of you three?

(We are missing Jordan here)We may be weird - but we are a family, and it's our family

How Sweet

Growing family - nephew Ryan Jacobson is getting married July. We had a bridal shower for Monika today. We had 19 women and 11 children - or something like that....

Can there be any cuter scene than Georgi and Hannah?
Katie - you are a great mommy!

I have been saying how much she reminds me of Esther (Vanderhoff) - and she DOES! Look! They both had beautiful red lipstick on!

I used my nice glasses for the punch - and it was sunny! I love the sun shining through crystal.

Little Jake earned a kiss for finding my missing camera (of course, he didn't know that I had just put on the red lipstick)
Julianne ended the day with a very firm declarative statement:
"I really love my family." I asked, Why?" She said "I just do - they are all so nice and 'cool'." Julianne is very mindful that she is part of a bigger picture - a larger extended family and is thankful for that. It blesses my heart <3A wonderful day with family - and guess what? I really really like them too!

Bark, Barbecue, and Beer

SO I bribed my boys and nephew with the Three B's, as I have affectionately dubbed it. I had a plan...it was fully executed.

What better way to start the day than with fresh Manju from Home Maid Bakery Maui.
Love and adore this stuff.....
Not wanting to be left out of one B (Barbecue) these girls passed on the other two B's, exchanging Beer for Slurpies, and Bark for Monitoring

These girls make me smile
Joseph was Special Ops director (please don't tell anyone that we put the bark on top of the weeds)
Jordan loves yard work - he flew in from Maui just to spread bark for me
(I can pretend, can't I?)

SO typical - very much so. The girls went for slurpies while taking their monitoring job very seriously
My poor doggie - just because I gave him a haircut myself, the boys tease him because he looks like a poodle now - so they thought he should ride on top of the bark (and HE doesn't even bark that much at all)
Joseph made his famous steak on the grill, and I sauteed mushrooms and onions. (Pulling out all stops) There was even squid from Maui as a side dish!
Charles tried it - he did not care for it (to put it mildly).
While the girls watched a movie in the basement, the boys did the "remember when?" stories and laughed until they cried. As a special treat, Joseph took them to Iron Man at 11pm.

It was a good time (especially for me because my plan worked) and I love having lots of people and activity around.

God is good!

Fairest Lord Jesus

Today for Sunday School we has a hymn sing.
I remember this hymn from when I was young,
and didn't even know WHO Jesus was.
It always made such an impression on me,
that One could be so honored and revered.

This Jesus, creator and higher than the creation.

1. Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature,
O thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
thou, my soul's glory, joy, and crown.

2. Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,
robed in the blooming garb of spring:
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer
who makes the woeful heart to sing.

3. Fair is the sunshine, fairer still the moonlight,
and all the twinkling starry host:
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
than all the angels heaven can boast.

4. Beautiful Savior!  Lord of all the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
now and forevermore be thine.

More Goodbye Maui Memories

Julianne and cousin Andrew on Trilogy Cruise

Oh yes, we zip lined

Best ride in Town!

Swimming and snorkeling filled our days