I took the kids out on March 21st while Charlene recovered a bit from her hernia surgery. Funny I had to phone in sick to help the wife and I end up fishing.

I like this shot Chris took of Dave and I. I am not short. Dave is quite tall. (As are his tales, ha ha) 

Went fishing after church with Dave and Chris. We went to Hirsch Creek, also called cable car. Chris coudln't find his status card but Dave and I fished hard to no avail. Great time though. Always is, out enjoying God's beautiful creation.  

Brought this 19" Dolly home. I love how the kids take such an interest in my fishing. Joel and Annabelle always pull up a chair to see. That's Joel's little finger pointing while he says, "shes".  

Devin, another church friend, showed up shortly after Lawrence. This is such a beautiful spot, especially when the sun has just gone down like in this shot.  

We had the pleasure of Lawrence's company. He showed up and fished a little. I think is a great pic of him all geared up.  

Joshua and I went out fishing after I was done work at 5pm on the 18th of March. We were a little rushed but hey we could get some fishing in.  

This is the man, the legend, Lawrence with his steelhead Feb. 2, 2005 as I didn't have any good pics of him from the night celebrating his birthday.  

What a nice night of fellowship, celebrating the birthday of our brother, Lawrence. Not only is Lawrence ruggedly handsome and a good Christian witness, he is also a fishing buddy.  

Went to a birthday party for buddy, Lawrence P. On the way in we saw Mark and Ruth M with their new car!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations guys!! 

My Utmost For His Highest

March 24

Decreasing for His Purpose

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He must increase, but I must decrease
—John 3:30

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If you become a necessity to someone else’s life, you are out of God’s will. As a servant, your primary responsibility is to be a "friend of the bridegroom" ( John 3:29 ). When you see a person who is close to grasping the claims of Jesus Christ, you know that your influence has been used in the right direction. And when you begin to see that person in the middle of a difficult and painful struggle, don’t try to prevent it, but pray that his difficulty will grow even ten times stronger, until no power on earth or in hell could hold him away from Jesus Christ. Over and over again, we try to be amateur providences in someone’s life. We are indeed amateurs, coming in and actually preventing God’s will and saying, "This person should not have to experience this difficulty." Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, our sympathy gets in the way. One day that person will say to us, "You are a thief; you stole my desire to follow Jesus, and because of you I lost sight of Him."

Beware of rejoicing with someone over the wrong thing, but always look to rejoice over the right thing. ". . . the friend of the bridegroom . . . rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease" ( John 3:29-30 ). This was spoken with joy, not with sadness-at last they were to see the Bridegroom! And John said this was his joy. It represents a stepping aside, an absolute removal of the servant, never to be thought of again.

Listen intently with your entire being until you hear the Bridegroom’s voice in the life of another person. And never give any thought to what devastation, difficulties, or sickness it will bring. Just rejoice with godly excitement that His voice has been heard. You may often have to watch Jesus Christ wreck a life before He saves it (see Matthew 10:34 ).

For those reading who are not aware, I developed a hernia in my belly button while pregnant with my beautiful son Joel. Well, the surgery is over and all went fine! Thank God for his hand of safety in my life.
I arrived at the hospital and was nervous as I don't enjoy the whole ordeal of surgery but God is so faithful. It was 7:45am and I was prepared for the surgery and praying for safety. I am still sick with this cold which has been hanging on for a month now (as it is with anyone who I know who has it, and that is many). I was nervous about my cough and phlem when being put under but the nurse told me that it would be fine and I would just end up coughing more after I awoke for a while, which I did not. Thank the Lord again and again. The nurse told me I would be waiting a few hours so I started reading. Then, realizing just how long a wait it was I asked the nurse if I could take a nap. She said that that would be great so I layed down at about 8:30am. I awoke and opened my eyes at 10:00 and heard the nurse talking to someone. As I looked to see who it was I realized that it was Hazel, a wonderful woman from church. She is actually our good friend Sam's mom. Oh, I was so glad to wake to a friendly face. As my mom could not come to town for my operation and I was at the hospital alone (Adam was caring for the kids), I believe that God sent Hazel to comfort me, and that she did! We talked and talked. It was like we were just good friend, although we have really had very few conversations together before. Again, I thank God for hearing the cries of my heart. I needed a mom to calm my nerves and that is what He sent for me. Before I knew it it was about 12pm and the nurse was calling me for my surgery. I was not nervous anymore, on the contrary, I was laughing and light on my feet. I felt relaxed.
It was time to get prepped for my surgery and the anesthesiologist came and talked to me and then I was off to have the procedure done. She gave me some happy drug in my IV and then told me I would go to sleep. I said, "night night" and then I said, "are you going to start?" and a nurse said, "you are all done" (It is funny, when I sleep at night, I am aware of time passing. When I am knocked out, time seems to stand still. Strange sensation). Then I said, "really? I guess that is why I am in so much pain". I had no idea that it was going to be so painful after!!
Up the stairs I went, and there was Hazel, smiling at me as I came in the room. What a blessing. And then she was off for her procedure. It took me quite a while to be ready to even sit up and have water. I was wondering why I was in so much pain and it finally came to me tonight. I know that Tylenol 3 with codien is supposed to knock a person out, or at least take away all signs of pain. For some reason, it does nothing for me. I have used it 3 times before, and everytime have realized that there is no use. Each time, though, I second guess myself and think that I must be making it up. Or maybe it will work this time. I have been told so many times that it is impossible for it not to work. But, I see again, I was taking the medication, thinking that it was going to help with pain and maybe help me sleep, but again, it doesn't feel any different than without it. So, I am awake, in a lot of pain and feeling lonesome. It is 3:40am. Tomorrow, or rather today, I will see if Adam can get me some Motrin as that always seems to help. The nurse told me that I should feel like a truck run over me by the second day, and that is about how I feel.
Adam has taken tomorrow off work as I am not able to lift for 7 days. I don't know what I will do when Adam has to go out of town on Thursday and Friday, but I know that God always takes care of me, so someone will be willing to help, I know it.
Well, there is my report, I am well, quite well. Pain is only pain and I can get through it. I ask for prayer, someone please pray that I will heal quickly and that there will be no complications in the healing process. I am just so thankful that they have these operations so that I don't have to suffer with the hernia after this! I truly believe that one way God creates healing miracles all the time is by the hand of skilled surgeons.
In closing this entry, I want to thank everyone who has prayed for me. God has been my comforter, my healer, my protector and my friend in all this. I love this verse:
2Co 1:3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
I pray that I will be well for my birthday at the end of March as I would love to bring in the next year in my life, healthy. This year has been quite a struggle that way.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Besides the 17" dolly from the Copper I also caught this. The river was so low on the Kitimat I spotted what looked like a Christmas tree. I used a stick and yanked up a log which had all of this on it. Catching fishing supplies is also as exciting as catching fish. (I'm cheap) 

About half an hour of fishing and Chester had two dollies and I had the smallest, a 17" dolly. Any wonder that I love this spot? Pretty sure Chester will be out again. He seemed to have a great time fishing. 

I thought this was a great view of Chester fishing the bend of the Copper River.  

We stopped by the red bridge to try our luck here but once again, nothing.  

It almost looks like he knows what he's doing hey? 

This here is Chester A. We fished behind the Hatchery in Kitimat on March 12th. No bite between us but man it's beautiful out fishing in the winter.  

Spring Cleaning

Well, for my first time in my life I decided I better spring clean. So I started, and what a job it is. I will not be able to finsih soon as I have a surgery on Monday and then will need to rest a couple days but I thought, if I don't start now I probably wouldn't ever start. I can't believe how many little hand prints and finger prints I need to wash off my walls. Although it is needing cleaning, I find myself not wanting to wach them off. I was thinking about this little poem that I heard at Building Healthier Babies program when I was pregnant with my little ones. It was so cute and we did the kids hand prints on cards. It always makes me smile.

FINGERPRINTS.

Sometimes you get discouraged,
because I am so small
And leave my little fingerprints
On furniture and walls.
But everyday I'm growing
And soon will be so tall
That all these little fingerprints
Will be difficult to recall.
So here's a little handprint
That you can put away
So you will know how my fingers looked
On this special day.

~Author Unknown~

Then I was looking at my wall and remembered a card I was given with this poem and it was so beautiful that I had to share it. I love the kids little hands. How beautiful!

Hands

Thank you Lord for dirty hands,
That touch my stove and fridge;
For sticky little fingers that
try to build a bridge.

For careless hands that go astray
in search of something new:
For hands to hold and show the way
As mothers often do.

For precious little hands in which
Great faith so abounds
For silly little hands that reach
To touch a mothers frown.

And thank You for Your guiding hand
That leads me to the light:
That lifts me when I stumble
And points me to the right.

As little hands reach out to me
To show them what to do,
I'm steadied, reassured and loved
As I reach up to You.

Joshua's Kindergarten readiness test.

Here is a copy of the test Joshua did. The learning assistant said that 83% is quite a high score. He is so smart. Anyway, he scored low on motor skills which she took me, is something that comes with age and even often older kids aren't that good with that yet. It is not something that can really be worked on, just will improve in time. Click on the image and it should come out much bigger and hopefully more legible.