Isaiah 46:4   New American Bible (Revised Edition)

I received a letter in early June from the DMV stating that I needed to take a written test in order to renew my license. I was frantic with worry. My thoughts reflected my panic: “A written test! The last time I took a written test was in my teens!” To prepare for the test,  three times a week I would practice to familiarize myself with the questions. I failed miserably! The more I studied, the worse it got. Needless to say, I was nervous about the entire ordeal.

Last Thursday I got the letter out again and reread it.  I had totally missed the part that said I had to appear in person! This new information was forcing me to take action. I got on the DMV website and found what I thought was a practice test. It took over three hours to review and go over all the questions that I’d missed.

To prepare for the test Mike, who also has to renew his license purchased the “booklet” from the DMV.  There are over 100 questions in the booklet, so to try to memorize even half of the answers was a impossible. After practicing the test, I was able to make an appointment to appear in person. One big problem!  The earliest date available was August 29th and my birthday is on the sixth! So I had to go to the DMV in person to take care of the matter.

DMV Visit

Everyone in the entire world knows what going to the DMV is going to entail. The DMV is notorious for making people wait; the experience can traumatize you to never return. As a result, not having an appointment makes matters worse. For starters, I parked in the wrong parking lot and had to cross over a line of teens in cars that were taking the behind-the-wheel test.

It was 11:30 a.m. and I, along with all the losers who did not make appointments, were in a line with over 30 persons. It was well into the high 80’s, and only some of the crowd had covering from the sun. The perfect scenario would be sitting on a bench, under a shaded tree and drinking cold water, but that was a far-fetched dream. The scorching sun was dehydrating me and there was no refuge, just me and a bunch of foreigners from God-knows-where. As the line moved closer to the covering, I stood side-by-side with the young man in front of me. When he looked at me, I smiled and pointed to the umbrella.  All I could think was, “If the line is this bad outside, how is it going to be inside?”

The Broken Kiosk

It was not a bit surprising when an announcement was made that the Kiosk was down. This was par for the course, like the rest of our state.  Those waiting for the Kiosk inside got to go ahead of us. No problem, I thought, “This is what I get for not reading the notification better.”  My greatest fear was getting pulled over and having an expired license.

Inside the DMV

I finally made it inside, was given the number G291, and told to find a seat. “A seat? In this sea of people?” There I was, and, just like all my plane rides, smack in the middle of two strangers. I looked up at the monitor and noticed that G79 was called. The letter G was not the only alphabet being used, so I knew I was going to be there awhile.  I pulled out the booklet that Mike had purchased and started studying. All the information about the different signs and the painted lines on the road were confusing, so I was all studied out and prayed instead.

My Turn

Finally at 2:30 p.m. I heard G291 called. I took a deep breath and walked up to window 25. The kind woman took my right thumb print and asked me why I was there. As usual, I gave her my life story and told her that I needed to renew my license.  She asked,”Did you take the online written test?” I was confused. I answered, “What do you mean? I took a practice test.”  She replied, “Let me check, you did take the test, and passed.” Believe me, I was not only surprised but greatly relieved! The rest is in the history books!

The New DMV

They say a leopard can’t change its spots, but the DMV has changed. Even though I had to wait without an appointment, the four employees I encountered were not only helpful but efficient and kind. They displayed this demeanor to everyone and, from what I witnessed, everyone was given the same professional treatment.

The Real ID

As life would have it, I did not think of getting the “Real ID,” which will soon be required by law. Like Scarlett O’Hara said, “After all, tomorrow is an other day.”

New Hobby

I’ve started making bracelets again.  This time instead of thread, I’m using stretch magic. I was selling these bracelets for $25 a piece. In the past my bracelets always broke apart and I never got return buyers. In some cases I had to return their money. With the recent trip to Spain and Portugal, I purchased more than 30 medals to add to the hundreds I already had.  I pray that my new business endeavor will be successful.

This weekend, when we took a short trip to check on our property in Santa Barbara, I wore two of my bracelets. As I was getting ready to leave, my Jesus medal fell off the bracelet. Not again! When we got back home, I made a quick run to the local bead store and asked for advice. The owner sold me a device that fastens the medals more securely. I worked on getting the ring on one of my religious medals for over two hours, but at this point I’m already in the red! Pray for me.

My Prayer

Dear Lord, thank You for my health and the ability to drive. Lord, help us all to be kinder on the road and to follow the traffic laws. Grant me the grace to not get angry or grow impatient with other drivers. Jesus, deliver us from road rage. Amen.

The attempted assassination of former President Trump is another wake-up call for us to unite as a nation.

God’s Protection

Why was President Trump’s life spared? It’s not because the Secret Service was doing a great job (they failed),  but because God has a grand purpose for his life. In my lifetime, never have I witnessed such vicious attack on a human. They tried to destroy him emotional and fined him millions of dollars, tried to him impeached twice, yet he remains steadfast. Anyone else who had gone through that kind of scrutiny would never have survived. He survived because he will protect our country, and we will once again be able to wave our banner for God.

How quickly we forget that when Obama was president we were not allowed to use God in the workplace or wish anyone a Merry Christmas. We need to re-establish God’s rightful place in our country again.

United We Stand

I believe in God and all that His Word stands for.  For centuries skeptics have made many attempts to alter the Bible to fit their personal lifestyles. When I see this type of foolishness, I wait for the truth to be revealed. If we all would take time to read and understand the Ten Commandments, our country would be a better place.

The Devil has been assigned to divide our country, and, so far, he has  been quite successful. So many doors have been opened wide for demons to bring an army of evil to infiltrate our hallowed ground. Our country was founded  on Judeo-Christian principles, and our forefathers, who wrote the Constitution, were God-fearing men. For these words to stand the test of time is only a testament of how richly they are filled with the wisdom of God.

If wisdom does open our eyes to the truth, why are so many blinded by lies? The simple answer to this question is this:  they are not yielded to receive God’s truth.

Fearing God

I know many God-fearing, good Christians who are misled by the lies that are blaring over the airwaves. They are not voting with their God-given conscience because they lack the wisdom to really comprehend the Word of God. If you are constantly hearing how evil a person is and how he is going to take the rights of Americans away, you have fallen into the pit of lies!

I recently did a study on Luke Chapter One, which is about the annunciation of the birth of Christ. When Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth to share the news of her Immaculate Conception, the baby in her womb leaped with joy. But to those who deny the truth about pregnancies this baby “John the Baptist” is not a real human being! This unborn baby, John the Baptist,  had a heartbeat, tiny arms and legs and moved around in his mother’s womb. Yet in today’s world, some well-meaning but misguided Christians would vote to kill him.

More than 40% of transgender adults in the US have attempted suicide!

A new study from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law finds that 81% of transgender adults in the U.S. have thought about suicide, 42% of transgender adults have attempted it, and 56% have engaged in non-suicidal self-injury over their lifetimes.

Pride Month

This all started in 1999, when then President Clinton declared the month of June “Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.” It continued with Obama who in 2009 declared June LGBTQ Pride Month. In 2021 our current President Biden, added a plus to the LGBTQ+. Do you see a pattern here?  I can accept one day, but an entire month is ridiculous! Christmas has one day and so does the Fourth of July.

My prayer is, “Lord, please let  the month of June  pass quickly.” The media’s constant barrage of parades and news reports of how happy and prideful these events have become is a facade. Where is the joy? These are  still the elusive questions. But is there joy in their hearts? Are they free of anger?  No, because anger is what they thrive on, and there is never peace when you are in this frame of mind.

I have nothing against a person who, as an adult, decided to change how God created them.  I will not judge any decision an adult makes because in the end it’s between them and God. I’m not homophobic or racist, I’m an American grandmother concerned for the future of my grandchildren. Don’t insert your ideologies into the minds of our children, God hates this!

Matthew 18:6   New Catholic Bible

⁶ But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

There are many decent gay people who do not want to be included in this mess. They live a life of peace.

 

Who Do You Represent?

I stand on the Word of God, and I will continue to share the truth. God gave me this Blog to share my beliefs in Him and to be an example of courage in this fallen world. I’m human and fall short of living a godly life daily, but I know Who lifts me up, dusts me off and gets me ready for another battle. Listen to the Words of God! It will change your heart!

My Prayer

Thank You, Lord, for sparing the life of former President Trump. We all witnessed the miracle of the angels that were surrounding himeto protect President Trump’s life. Lord, I lift up those who were injured at this event and for the gentleman Corey Comperatore  who was killed. Comfort them Lord! Amen.

God In Us

Living a simple life in Orange County — affectionately known as the “Orange Bubble” — has been a genuine gift, one that has opened many unexpected doors.

St. Norbert Parish stands as one of the primary pathways through which the truth of God is taught and shared. When the catechism season drew to a close in late May, a quiet but unmistakable sense of urgency took hold — there was more to do. Reviewing students’ Testimony Worksheets revealed something beautiful: hearts genuinely hungry to go deeper into the Word of God.

One response in particular stood out. Under the prompt My Life Before I Knew Jesus Christ, a former student — who now faithfully attends Bible study — wrote: “I was lost and unhappy. I didn’t know what — or who — to believe.”

Those words are a testament to the transforming power of encountering Christ.

There is simply no holding back praise for His Name. Teaching the Word of God consistently opens doors to truth, and studying Sacred Scripture cultivates the kind of godly wisdom that the world cannot offer or take away.

Deep within us all God is ever present. I want to hear the Lord say, ” Well done, good and faithful servant.” It’s all for His glory!

Family

This past week we hosted some of our family from Louisiana. Torie is the middle child of my sister Jo. He married his high school sweetheart Stacie. He also played football for Tulane. They have three children, 15-year-old Julia and twins, Jake and Tyson, who are 12 years old.

Before they arrived Jacob and I picked up some plain wood artwork that needed painting. As they were busy painting, Julie shared her tips on how to be a good boyfriend.

Julia’s Advice

When Julia discovered that her younger brother Jake had broken up with his girlfriend — and that the two were no longer on speaking terms — she took matters into her own hands. She sat both of her brothers down and delivered a lesson on what it means to be a good boyfriend.

She came prepared with 30 points. Here are a few favorites:

• Be polite, have good manners, and be respectful.
• Get along with her parents and friends.
• Remember important dates — birthdays, the first date.
• Show that you love Jesus: go to church and pray.
• Be good with kids; be playful.
• Take pictures of her and make sure she looks her best.
• Be funny — but not too funny. Don’t be desperate. Have inside jokes.
• Tell the girl you like her, but only if you know she feels the same way.
• Always pay for dinner.
• Don’t be too flirty with other girls.
• Be friends with her friends — but not too friendly.
• Remind her how beautiful she is.
• Keep your standards high; don’t settle for less than you deserve.
• Don’t stay in a toxic relationship, and never date someone just because she’s popular.

What a lesson. Julia’s rules are pure, sincere, and quietly wise — the kind of wisdom that comes not from experience, but from a well-formed heart. She is well on her way to becoming someone who understands love the right way.

The Car Switch

Organization and planning have never come naturally — not with dyslexia and ADHD in the mix. Reading a text message doesn’t always translate to fully grasping its meaning, and when dates and times are involved, the confusion multiplies quickly. A straightforward phone call is almost always the better option.

And then came the day of the car switch.

Driving any vehicle other than one’s own is already uncomfortable. The plan was simple enough: Torie and the boys would meet Russ and the grandsons at Boomers for miniature golf, while Sonja would meet up to take Stacie, Julia, and Lynda shopping at the Irvine Spectrum. But when everyone arrived — no Sonja. A misread text message had set the whole thing sideways, and suddenly, driving Russ’s car became the only option. No backup camera. No navigation. And on the freeway, it became clear the mirrors hadn’t been adjusted. A full nightmare — in broad daylight.

Eventually, a parking spot was found. Not a perfect one, apparently.

“You parked really crooked,” Stacie said. “There’s not enough room for the other car to open the door.”

“Would you like to fix it?”

Stacie — all five feet of her, give or take — accepted the challenge without hesitation. She got behind the wheel, backed the car up, and then… it wouldn’t go into drive. The car kept rolling in reverse. By this point, it had completely blocked the driveway. No other vehicle could pass. This is Southern California — patience is not a local virtue. The more Stacie tried to move forward, the further back the car crept, inching dangerously close to another parked car.

“Lynda, what do I do? Help me — it won’t go into drive!”

At that point, Julia and Lynda were already out of the car — laughing, helplessly and completely, because there was truly nothing else to be done.

Then, suddenly, something clicked in Stacie’s mind.

“Julia — I’m going to put the car in neutral, and you push it into the parking spot.”

“Do you want to kill her? The car is stuck in reverse — Julia, move out of the way!”

Horns blaring. The phone blowing up with Sonja on the other end, wondering where everyone was. It was, without exaggeration, purely by the grace of God that the whole situation resolved without someone getting hurt — or worse, in Southern California, without someone getting shot.

And through all of it, Julia — operating on a learner’s permit — kept asking if she could drive.

Stacie, still holding the keys, looked up. “Should we lock the car?”

“No — let’s go.”

Too flustered to think, no one noticed where the car had actually been parked. By the time the elevators came into view, Julia stopped short.

She had left her purse in the car.

Two full levels of the parking structure. No car. The heat pressing in, dehydration setting in, and the kind of dizzy, disoriented thinking that makes everything feel slightly unreal. A quiet, almost desperate prayer went up — Lord, help us find this car.

And then — there it was.

This time, everyone stopped and paid attention to exactly where it was parked.

My Prayer

Dear Lord, thank You for the gift of family and for the love that unites us in You. May You always remain at the center of our hearts, and may Your grace continually guide us to love one another well. Amen.