Janey's News
Blog «after the wedding» -- Oct. 19th, 06
Thanks to all of you who prayed for our daughter’s wedding last Saturday. It was a glorious event—one we will never forget & will always relive in our minds. First, it rained—for 2 days defying that old Carpenter’s song “It Never Rains In Southern California”. Truth it, is doesn’t. But then it begun to pour for a few days and the wedding was outside. Just as it was looking hopeless, the skies stopped throwing out bucket-loads and the ground miraculously dried up. But it doesn’t end there. When our beautiful daughter walked up the aisle with her handsome Dad, the sun beamed on her creating like a golden aura and dazzling light which continued dancing on the waves in the background of Del Mar beach. This opening of Heaven took my breath away and reminding me that the Lord is making his bride ready—and it will be for soon.
The couple was beautiful beyond description. They looked like a prince & princess. Rachele was radiant & Jastin so handsome in his marine uniform. The bridal party were stunning in various shades of blues with yellow flowers and then the three little flower girls in yellow princess dresses -- so cute. And Jastin's two younger brothers were handsome ring bearers. Of course, among the groomsmen was our son, Francesco, & among the bridesmaids was his cousin Kristin (they walked together in the processional, & my son previously walked me to my seat).
The vows were deeply moving & honored God. The ceremony was just glorious -- with Louis' preaching & also a message by Pastor Gary Nelson. Did we cry? Yes -- all three of us -- Louis, myself and even our son. I sang "You Are Still Holy" for the couple's communion ceremony, and Aveana, Jastin's mom, sang at the end. Later Louis danced with Rachele -- both crying & laughing together. The music by Raw Silk was awesome (a wonderful band with diverse talent). Food was Italian, of course, & delizioso.
The location was gorgeous -- at the Del Mar Surf Station -- decorated in blues & yellows with the nature's own backdrop of sun-kissed blue waves. At the end of the ceremony, the couple were lifted up on a blue surfboard and carried out before the photo shots on the beach (Thanks to Tom of Sand Castle Photography). The newlyweds then rode in a "woody" -- true surf style. I hope to place some photos on this website – probably not till the kids return from their honeymoon at the end of October. (They will be honeymooning in Italy, Sardinia, Corsica & France -- thus Jastin will have a chance to meet Rachele's roots).
Another gift from God: We'd encouraged the newlyweds to ask to be upgraded to business class on their European flight as honeymooners. Against all odds, Air France agreed. Rachele then called us from Paris before getting the plane to Rome thrilled to have had a restful & fun flight. God is faithful -- to the detail. There is much more I could say, but the short of it is this: to God be all the glory forever and ever Amen!
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Meanwhile, on greater world subjects, here’s a great article I read that helps us see where we’re heading and how to pray:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/column.aspx?UrlTitle=madder_than_ever&ns=AlanSears&dt=10/11/2006&page=full&comments=true
And for those wanting to pray for the suffering children, please check out the latest prayer requests on my site – www.orphansfirst.org
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Janey's News
October 4th, 2006
Countdown to my beautiful daughter’s wedding – Oct.14th. Obviously this is why I’m not blogging very often (after the wedding, I’ll invent a new excuse). Actually, there are a lot of things I’m not doing often enough – except eating. I always eat more when I’m nervous, and believe me there’re still lots of details. Thank God though that my baby girl is so organized and has taken care of so much already. Amazing how those babies grow up and get so organized (it makes up for the messy room all those years). Does this mean there’s hope for my son? There is because God is faithful.
I recently considered 1 Cor.11:31 and the beautiful opportunity God gives us to examine ourselves. By so doing, we can prevent pitfalls whereby we bring judgment upon ourselves. In other words, if we examine our own hearts -- “sonder le coeur” in French – then we give God’s Spirit an opportunity to show us areas in our lives that oppose the ways of God. These may be areas of selfishness or just blind spots. They might be caused by willfulness or just DNA “pass-ons”. Either way, we have the privilege of bringing them before the Maker, recognizing that these areas don’t please God and then asking Him to root them out. He then does. Not by waving a magic wand but by a process which is sometimes painful. But what freedom when the root is removed. And all because we began examining ourselves asking God to shine His light into our dark spots.
I suppose it’s like doing a breast exam each month. If you catch something wrong early enough, you can likely root out a whole ton of misery & perhaps prevent eventually losing a breast. I guess this is what it means to pluck out your eye, or cut of your hand, if it offends you. Just deal with it. And the earlier the better because the sooner it’s dealt with, the happier we’ll be. And so will those who might be victims of our blind spots or whatever it is we have that wounds people because we haven’t died to self. Letting God root stuff hurts at first, but we feel better after. Most of all, it helps others in multiple ways. It helps them because we become more Christlike and that helps the whole world because more of Christ in a dark planet is good. I like that.
I love Mercy Me’s song Goodbye Self. Wow. Awesome. Says it all in a fun way and with a great melody.
I have a couple of chapters on this subject in my book, Heaven Help Me Raise These Children! -- Biblical Answers for Practical Parenting Issues! Thanks for recommending it. The book now has an accompanying CD I recorded to go with the book and can be ordered here: www.carepointministry.com/heavenhelp.html.
For those who want to pray for the suffering children, please check out the recent prayer requests on my website: www.orphansfirst.org
A bientôt, (later)…
October 4th, 2006
Countdown to my beautiful daughter’s wedding – Oct.14th. Obviously this is why I’m not blogging very often (after the wedding, I’ll invent a new excuse). Actually, there are a lot of things I’m not doing often enough – except eating. I always eat more when I’m nervous, and believe me there’re still lots of details. Thank God though that my baby girl is so organized and has taken care of so much already. Amazing how those babies grow up and get so organized (it makes up for the messy room all those years). Does this mean there’s hope for my son? There is because God is faithful.
I recently considered 1 Cor.11:31 and the beautiful opportunity God gives us to examine ourselves. By so doing, we can prevent pitfalls whereby we bring judgment upon ourselves. In other words, if we examine our own hearts -- “sonder le coeur” in French – then we give God’s Spirit an opportunity to show us areas in our lives that oppose the ways of God. These may be areas of selfishness or just blind spots. They might be caused by willfulness or just DNA “pass-ons”. Either way, we have the privilege of bringing them before the Maker, recognizing that these areas don’t please God and then asking Him to root them out. He then does. Not by waving a magic wand but by a process which is sometimes painful. But what freedom when the root is removed. And all because we began examining ourselves asking God to shine His light into our dark spots.
I suppose it’s like doing a breast exam each month. If you catch something wrong early enough, you can likely root out a whole ton of misery & perhaps prevent eventually losing a breast. I guess this is what it means to pluck out your eye, or cut of your hand, if it offends you. Just deal with it. And the earlier the better because the sooner it’s dealt with, the happier we’ll be. And so will those who might be victims of our blind spots or whatever it is we have that wounds people because we haven’t died to self. Letting God root stuff hurts at first, but we feel better after. Most of all, it helps others in multiple ways. It helps them because we become more Christlike and that helps the whole world because more of Christ in a dark planet is good. I like that.
I love Mercy Me’s song Goodbye Self. Wow. Awesome. Says it all in a fun way and with a great melody.
I have a couple of chapters on this subject in my book, Heaven Help Me Raise These Children! -- Biblical Answers for Practical Parenting Issues! Thanks for recommending it. The book now has an accompanying CD I recorded to go with the book and can be ordered here: www.carepointministry.com/heavenhelp.html.
For those who want to pray for the suffering children, please check out the recent prayer requests on my website: www.orphansfirst.org
A bientôt, (later)…
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