i am amazed but i am not sure why

I am amazed at how God comes through all the time is whys you never expect and more then you ever imagined but i am not sure why i am amazed at this because He does it over and over and over again.

I am working on a toy giveaway and we had less day then ever before to set up but the first day we set up more in half a day then we have ever set up in two whole days because of the amazing amount of volunteers.

Because of the economy we have had less toys and donations come in but at the last min and i mean the last min that has started to over flow too. Today is the giveaway and even this morning i am picking up donations i did not know i would get until just last night. And the toy giveaway is today.

I have had more peace the about this year then ever before too!!!!

God is so good. If you are reading this today please pray for the familes that will be coming. That is will be a way for them to see how much God loves them, that it could be a way of connecting with them, that Jesus light would shine through.

children, toys, and Christmas

right now is the really fun time of the season where i get to help buy toys and find donations for needy families. Last year we helped about a 1000 kids and well every year it has grown a couple hundred so i don't even know what this year will look like. getting donations seems to be a little harder this year but it is not easy any year. The Lord always provides and comes through with amazing miracles. I love to see how he works. I just spoke to a woman that attended the event with her children last year. She is homeless and has been in and out of shelters or living out of her car for the past year. This year she is still in need but is also asking how she can help and volunteer. these are the reason i love doing it. really seeing it touch lives. please keep me in prayer as we are still trying to get enough donations and buy the last part of the toys and clothing we need.

pictures

I just loved my nephew's hat
My sister Chrissy and her baby Lexy

I got up for a run and this was the sunrise that morning

Some pictures from my last trip to New Mexico. Sorry i have not written more this is such a crazy time of year for me. I am in charge of a toy giveaway for needy families in my neighborhood and this is crunch time. But it is the time of year that i really like because of all the anticipation. about two more weeks until the big event. I was thinking back on this past year and I am amazed at how much has happened. It seems like it has been longer then just a year, and yet it has gone so fast at the same time.

my grandpa

My Grandpa went to be with the Lord last Wednesday morning.
I thought it would not be this hard or hurt this
much because he had been sick for a while and knows the Lord and is in now with the Lord. He was ready to go home and now is in no more pain and is
worshiping with the Lord like never before. But it still hurts so much. There is such a
huge loss in my life and my whole families life. Please keep my
Grandma in your prayers too. They would have been married 66 years
last Friday. He was a man so tough he always told us he ate nails for
breakfast, he was so on fire for the Lord you could not help but see
his joy and the light of Christ in his life, and he was the best
example of a prayer warrior I have ever known. i don't want to think
about not having him here and in my life but i know he was ready to be
with the Lord. He was a man that never stopped praising the Lord and
is now doing that all the more.



You could always hear and see the love he had for my grandma. The picture above he is reading her letters while he was stationed in Germany during World War II. He was stationed there during the invasion of Normandy and he lived in fox holes for 11 months during the years he was there. He later got the medal of honor for his heroic acts.

Even in his 80's he was riding his bike with his grandchildren, competing in the senior Olympics (where he won lots of medals) and serving with his church. He was always sharing about the love and grace of God. He was a hero in so many ways!

rain

There is something so relaxing about rain. It is raining tonight, and i love it. ok so i would not love it if i was driving because LA drivers and rain are..... well lets just say not something you want to experience. But i am not driving, i am at home under a large quilt, getting ready to go to sleep to the sound of rain. it also makes it feel more like fall or winter instead of the 90 degree weather we have been having. i love the rain! it rains so rarely in LA it's nice to have these times as long as you don't have to go out. if you have to drive you need to add twice as much time to your travel time because LA drivers get crazy and scared with just a water on the road. kind of funny if you are not out there in it. walking in the rain is another thing all together. one of the things i like to do the most is walk in the rain. it reminds me of college. i went on so many walks in the rain in college, getting soaked but loving it.

fires

The sky had this very strange orange glow all day. The sky that should be blue was full of smoke and you could barely see the sun. When I went out there was ash all over my car and it has been hard to breath even where I live.

The Fire Department reports "Around 800 residences -- ranging from multi-million-dollar mansions to modest prefabricated mobile homes -- have been razed by a series of wind-whipped fires that have erupted through the region since Thursday.

At least 50,000 evacuation orders have been issued and more than 35,600 acres (14,400 hectares) have been destroyed in the blazes, which have stretched from Santa Barbara to southeast of Los Angeles."

LA is always having fires but this time it seems worse then before because its more peoples homes then in the past fires. I don't remember it being this hard to breath before either. It has been very warm all weekend too in the late 80's and 90's. It was just a strange day.

Quilt

i wanted a new quilt so i decided to make one. i have never made one before but thought it would be fun. i had some friends that were going to the fabric district downtown one day so i went with them and got the fabric and started on it. i learned a lot and am pretty happy with my first quilt. it is simple but fun. i think i am going to have to do this more and maybe get a little more crazy with the designs. i have some fun ideas just not the time or money to do it yet. but i really enjoyed seeing a project like this come together. I am going to sleep so good tonight!