Nancy's Notes

I wanted to share with you an e-mail that Nancy Suko (our Pastor's wife and my best friend Hannah's mom) sent to all of us ladies. Every week she sends out a note of encouragement to us and to remind us of what we are studying in Bible Study. This one was so special because last week Hannah shared with us a little about Gabe and what a wonderful man of God he was. I think about how he must be rejoicing right now and worshiping our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the One Who he lived 100% for.


Dear Friend,

As we continue this week looking at delighting in God, I would like you to consider these wonderful verses. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves." Ephesians 1:3-6 Are these verses real and personal to you? If so, they should be a great joy to your soul and a great cause of delighting in the Lord.



Last week in Bible Study Hannah shared something that was a great blessing to all of us. Before Gabe left for Iraq they had talked about their desire to live every day 100% for the Lord. One of the last letters that Gabe sent to Hannah he wrote about what their lives would be like in 50 years if every day they lived 100% for the Lord--not, trying to protect themselves and living a "safe" life, but, out on the edge for the Lord. Not only that, but, he wrote of the joy that such a life involved that could never be found by living a "safe" life. Such living is REAL living and it can only be done when we DELIGHT in the Lord!

Oh, how the Lord has blessed us! Read the verses above again and personalize them by inserting "me" for "us," etc. May our souls ever delight in Him!!

May the Lord be your life!
Joyful in Him,
Nancy
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart."

Stockings for Soldiers

On Monday night about eight of us ladies from church got together and started working on Christmas stockings we are going to send to the soldiers. We are going to send them to Gabe's unit and if there are any extra they can hand them out. We will put Christmas candy, little personal hygiene products and Christian literature in them. We are going to include little stuffed animals they can pass out to the Iraqi children. We are still trying to come up with a final list of all the things we want to put in them. Once we have the list we will hand it out at church and ask for people to donate the items. We had such a fun time visiting as we worked. The time flew by so fast. We completed thirty-three last night and we are going to get together every Monday evening until we are done.

Gabriel

Pen Pulpit

PRAISING GOD - DO YOU QUALIFY?
Psalm 1
February 13th, 2000


In Psalm 150:6 we read “let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” However, this statement must be qualified as “the fool has said in his heart there is no God” (Psalm 14:1) and therefore, is certainly is not qualified to praise Him. It is God’s desire that all men qualify to praise God.

Psalm 1, the introductory Psalm, presents sharp contrast to two extremes - the truly righteous way of life and the basically wicked way. This Psalm expands the ramifications of the pursuit of these two ways - the truly right way of joy and blessing and the basically wicked way with misery and hopelessness (Matthew 7:13-14, 24-27).

1. The blessed man is qualified to praise God (Psalm 1:1-3)

• He avoids walking in the counsel of the ungodly which leads to standing, and then sitting - a subtle erosion of his principles. Ungodly counsel in terms of ethics and moral judgments and the philosophy of life is so destructive to the Christian and is not conducive to praise.

• He avoids participating in the practices of the sinner as thinking leads to action. The blessed man does not think like the world.

• He avoids joining with those who openly mock God (v. 1c). Thinking like the world leads to practicing the world’s philosophy which could eventually result in open ridicule of the ways of God. Notice the process of erosion.

• In contrast he pursues what is right as “his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night” (v 2).

• Consequently he is strong in his faith and able to resist temptation (v 3). See also Jer. 17:8, Psalm 92:12-14, Hosea 14:4,5 and Acts 20:32.

2. The blasted man is unqualified to Praise God.

• His present life is empty and without meaning.
(Psalm 1:4, Jude 11-13, James 1:6 and Ephesians 4:17-19)

• His future is bleak and hopeless. (Psalm 1:5, Eph. 2:12, I Thes. 4:13)

In Revelation 5 we see the final praise service of the righteous - what a congregation and how exciting to know the blessed man will be a part.

In contrast we see the final gathering of the ungodly in Revelation 20:11-15.

Beloved, are you qualified to praise God?


Love to you all.

--Pastor Charles Covington 1933-2006

Babysitting

Last week I got an e-mail from Michele (the lady I used to nanny for) and she asked if I would like to come and babysit on Tuesday. Of course I said yes. I had not seen the boys since this last spring. At that time the family did not need a nanny anymore. I had been a nanny for them for two and a half years. I was really excited to see Isaac and Gabe. Isaac is now four and Gabe is a year and a half.

When I arrived I was greeted at the door by Michele and right behind her was a big smiling face. Isaac started jumping around and saying that I was going to play with them. Michele said that she had told him that morning that I was coming over and she said he kept asking all morning when I was going to get there. He immediately wanted to show me the new kitten they had just gotten. He led me into the computer room and there was the cutest little kitten. Michele told me that it was a girl and they let Isaac name her. Her name is Louis (pronounced Loo-ee). Isaac was very sweet to her and made sure to pet her nice and gently. Later on that afternoon we went in to look at her again and he picked her up very gently and as soon as she acted like she was uncomfortable or didn't like it he would put her down very softly on the carpet.


All this time Gabe was shyly watching me. I am not sure if he remembered me or not. But he did warm up to me very quickly and started calling me Annie as soon as he heard Isaac calling me that. Not too long after Michele left it was time for Gabe to go down for his nap. After he was down Isaac wanted to take me outside and show me all of the new toys he had gotten since I had been there last.

Here is some video of Isaac showing me his new toys. Note how often he asked me if he could see the video. He is so cute! :)


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Isaac and I also played Candyland together while Gabe was sleeping. Isaac goes down for his nap about 30 minutes after Gabe. We had a lot of fun playing and Isaac won!


When both boys got up from their naps they ate a snack and then we went downstairs to play. I am amazed at how quickly two little boys can make a huge mess with their toys. It must have been a matter of seconds! We played downstairs for about an hour and then we cleaned up. We went upstairs and got cozy on the couch and I read them stories. I am so glad that they love to be read to. I have noticed how a lot of kids don't want to sit all the way through a story being read to them. I wonder if too much tv is to blame for that. Michele and Andrew make sure that the boys only watch about 30 minutes of tv a day and that's it. They sat nice and still cuddled around me and I read to them. They kept wanting book after book and never got tired of it! I am going to make sure that I read to my kids more than they are allowed to watch tv. I want my children to be able to sit down and enjoy being read stories to by their mom.

After about six books Michele came home. Michele asked if I would like to come every Tuesday so that she can get errands done. Isaac was very excited to hear that I will be coming back next week. :)




Here are some earlier pictures of the boys while I was still their nanny.

Leavenworth

Monday my parents, Gramma, Daisy and myself took a little trip to Leavenworth. Leavenworth is a little Bavarian village located on the Eastern side of the Cascades. It is nestled in the mountains. The stores and buildings are all designed to have German Bavarian appeal. One feels as if they have stepped into the Alps. There is German folk music playing in the town square and some of the shop names include German in them. All of the shops were decorated for fall. Fall leaves outlined most of the doors and windows. There were scarecrows, pumpkins and hay bales in front of some shops. The window displays were so well done. One could tell that great care was taken to make them delightful to look at. Each shop was so much fun to go in and look at the merchandise. There was even a Taffy Shop that Daisy enjoyed the most. I let her pick out a few pieces of taffy to enjoy. I even got some for myself. There was a Belgian Chocolate store and I picked out two Belgian chocolate truffles to take home to Rue. One was a Tiramisu truffle and one was a dark chocolate espresso truffle. We had a very delightful time just walking around looking in the shops and enjoying the fall decorations.





















Here is a couple pictures that my mom took. :)

Pen Pulpit

PRAISING GOD - A PRIORITY FOR THE CHRISTIAN
Psalm 150
February 6th, 2000


The glory of God was the purpose of creation, therefore man finds his central reason for existence in praising the Lord. The shorter catechism states - “the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”

1. The Meaning of Praise

The Hebrew definition - “to worship, to cause to shine, to give forth a clear and distinct sound, to sing songs in honor to God, to confess or to acknowledge.”

The end result of praise is that the object of praise is given the full recognition and honor that is due Him. Praise should always be directed toward God.

2. Praise - a dirth among many Christians.

3. The Psalms of Praise - Psalm 146-150

Each of these five Psalms begin and end with “Praise the Lord.” Psalm 150 instructs:

* We are to praise God. An absolute fact (v 1).

* We are to praise God everywhere (v 2).

* We are to praise God for everything He is and does (v 2).

* We are to praise God with everything we have (vs 3-5).

* Everyone is to praise God (v 6).

4. The New Testament’s Concept of Praise is that:

* God programs praise into our lives (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14).

* We are to rehearse what He has done in our minds (Phil. 4:8).

* We are to rehearse what He has done verbally (James 5:13,

Heb. 13:15)

5. God responds to our praise - II Chronicles 20:22

Beloved, may we say with David, “While I live I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.”


Love to you all.

--Pastor Charles Covington 1933-2006

Rue's Birthday Party

Last night Rue's parents, his brother Taraz with his new wife Megan and his brother Rahmat, my parents and gramma, my brother Ben and my best friend Hannah with her little Gabriel. Needless to say our little apartment was packed but we had such a nice time visiting.

I made two lemon meringue pies earlier in the day and placed out some fruit chips and buffalo wings for everyone to munch on if they desired. I had lots of candles burning. I think it makes the house so cozy when there are lots of candles burning. When people come over I want them to feel comfortable and cozy. I like to have my house the same way in the evening when Rue comes home from work on his dinner break (he works the late shift at work). I want it to be relaxing for him.

We had a fun time watching little Gabriel. He was laughing up a storm as usual and crawling around. He just started crawling about 2 weeks ago and now you have to watch and make sure that he doesn't get into anything that he is not suppose to. Daisy brought out a couple stuffed animals for him to play with. He really enjoyed the big green frog.

Hmmmmm, which one is Rahmat?




I don't think Taraz needs anymore hair than he already has! :)


Gabriel wasn't the only one who got a kick out of the big green frog.






Some video of the party.

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This is a video of Gabriel. I forgot that you can't hold the camera length wise when you take video because it doesn't turn out the same as when just taking a picture! LOL! He is still pretty cute though. :)

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This is a story about Rue when he was 9 years old. He was crossing the highway on his bike in Montana and was hit by a semi truck. It had a cattle guard on it which scooped him up and threw him aside. It protected him from actually getting run over. He was still badly injured though and was in a coma for 2 weeks. God protected him and brought him to a full recovery. And now he is my wonderful hubby!

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You can read more about the party on my mother-in-law Bonita's blog!

Happy Birthday Rue

Happy Birthday Sweety!

Pacific Northwest Canoeing Destinations

My father-in-law George has just started a blog called Pacific Northwest Canoeing Destinations. He and my mother-in-law Bonita go canoeing often. His blog is a kind of photo journal of their paddles. If you would like to see some beautiful pictures of the Northwest check out his blog! :)

Pen Pulpit

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

Galatians 5:22, 23
January 30th, 2000


“For the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, PEACE, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control, against such there is no law.”

PEACE

Peace, like joy, is seen in several aspects.

1. Peace with God (Romans 5:1). This is a peace relationship established between sinners and God through the crosswork of Christ.

2. Peace of God (Philippians 4: 6, 7). Tranquil peace of heart. An experiential peace that comes through prayer and faith. This peace surpasses our ability to understand it.

3. Peace is multiplied (II Peter 1:2). The greater our knowledge of Christ, the greater our peace.

4. Peace with others (I Thessalonians 5:13). God expects this of His people.

5. Christ is our peace (Ephesians 2:14; John 16:33). No real peace apart from Christ.

6. Peace rules in our life (Colossians 3:15). We are to LET it rule!

Peace = harmony. In Christ we are in harmony with God. There is harmony within our life. There is harmony with others. Harmony is the ruling factor in the Christian’s heart.

No religion can produce this. No brand of philosophy can do it. Only Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit can bring this wonderful peace.


Love to you all.

--Pastor Charles Covington 1933-2006

Flag Waving

We were out again this evening waving flags on the corner. There were not as many of us this time but we still really enjoyed getting out there and supporting our troops. I got some video of Gabriel waving his own little flag. You can see how well Hannah is doing. Her trust in the Lord is unshakeable. She knows that He is there with her and she wants so much to bring glory to Him with her life. The verse for today at the top of my blog says "Look to the LORD and His strength; seek His face always." Psalm 105:4. Gabe and Hannah lived this verse out daily and Hannah continues to do so even through this difficult time.


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Proper Blog Etiquette

I have noticed on some of the blogs I frequent, the person who writes the blog always responds to people's comments in the comments section. I have not been doing this. I am wondering if perhaps I have been being "rude". So from now I am going to respond to the wonderful people who frequent my blog in the comments section. :)

Pioneer Cemetery

I just read a post on my mother-in-law's blog FlitzyPhoebie about her mother and how the world is sometimes a lot smaller than we think. You can read it here. She also shared some pictures of cemeteries on the prairie in Montana. It reminded me of right before I got married two years ago and Hannah, some girls from church and I went camping at Sunlakes in Eastern Washington.

In a nearby, secluded, town we saw a sign leading to a pioneer cemetery. We decided to try and find it. We turned down a bumpy dirt road and headed off into a golden grassy field. We got to the end of the road and saw nothing. We thought perhaps we had missed it so we turned around and headed back continuing to look. We still saw nothing. We drove back and forth a few times and just as we were about to give up I saw a metal gate overgrown with grass and dangling on its hinges. Then I saw the tip of a headstone sticking out of the grass a short distance away. I exclaimed that there it was. We stopped and walked through the old broken gate.

We really had to search for headstones because the grass was so tall. Many of the headstones were flat on the ground. We all spread out and with our heads focused on the ground we searched. When one of us would find a headstone we would call everybody over and we would read it together. After a few headstones we realized we had only seen infant graves. Everytime we came across a new one it was another infant grave. They all had died in the 1800's. We did find just a few adult graves. The oldest person who was buried there had been in their 70's. All of the rest of the adults were middle aged. There were a few graves as well that were marked but had no names or information on them.

We thought about who these people might have been and the fact that their graves seemed to have been forgotten. The grass had grown over and they were left in the middle of the prairie. We thought about all the babies that had died and were very thankful that we had the medical knowledge that we have today. It was a nice little adventure but also a touching experience as well.

Ruhiyyih's Camping Joke

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Pen Pulpit

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
Galatians 5:22, 23
January 23rd, 2000

“For the Fruit of the Spirit is love, JOY, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control, against such there is no law.”

JOY

Joy is viewed in several connections in the Bible.

John 15:11 - This is Christ’s joy in us.

“These things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full.”

Note: Joy is associated with the Word. Jesus said, “the Holy Spirit (Who operates in the realm of written truth) would take of mine and show it unto you.” John 16:13, 14

Psalm 16:11 - “In Thy presence is fullness of joy.” The Holy Spirit leads us into the presence of Christ. In Christ we are in the presence of the Father.

Jesus prays to the Father in John 17:13 -

“But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.”

The people in Nehemiah’s day had tried many substitutes for God to be strong. They discovered that joy was the source of their strength and God and His Word were the source of their joy.

Nehemiah 8:10 -

“The joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Nehemiah 8:12 -

“God’s people rejoiced greatly when they understood The Word read to them.”

Bottom Line: Jesus is our joy. We have none without Him.

JOY is Jesus (J) and you (Y) - with nothing (O) in-between.


Love to all.

--Pastor Charles Covington 1933-2006

Lake Wenatchee Camping Trip

After Taraz and Megan's wedding the Dannells family headed out on another camping trip. We went to Lake Wenatchee. I was so excited when we pulled up to the campsite and saw that it was on the lake. It was a nice big campsite with plenty of room for two large tents, three one man tents and one camper van.

Here is Lake Wenatchee at sunset.






Ruhiyyih was home from Washington D.C. visiting for the wedding. She is definitely the life of the party!


Rue's and my cozy tent. I took a cue from Bonita and brought soft comfy blankets and some down pillows. It was so nice at night to climb into a comfy cozy bed. My parents let me borrow two of their fancy air mattresses. They even lent me a fancy electric air pump that plugged into the car to blow them up.


Rahmat first thing in the morning. Note the cup of coffee. :)


The first night Rue made some yummy kabobs. He put them all together at home the day before we left. He even put together everything we would need for fajitas the second night. He loves to put together all of the food for camping and then do all the cooking. Ruhiyyih, Melanie and I did the cleanup. We had a great system.


Uncle Frank!!


Our very own tree hugger. :)


Hike up to Hidden Lake


Bonnie


Bonita and Melanie


Rue and me


At one point Rahmat decided to wander off on his own despite the warnings of George. For a while we thought we had lost him and it started to get pretty scary. We decided to head back down to the camp to see if perhaps he had made it and if not then Rue and George would hike back up to look for him with supplies. When we got back to camp there was Rahmat. For a while he was lost but he just kept walking until he hit Lake Wenatchee. He ended up having to wade through part of the lake in order to get back to camp. Needless to say he got an earful when we got back.


Rue decided to take the opportunity to give Rahmat a wedgy while Rahmat was squatting by the fire. But he pulled so hard he ripped a huge hole right into Rahmat's underwear!


The Twins Bonnie and Bonita


The last morning we woke up to an amazing rainbow across the lake. It was so breathtaking you had to just stand there and look at it and soak it in.



"O LORD, our Lord how majestic is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens." Psalm 8:1