And We're Off - Day 1 & 2

So Sunday we heard that a snow storm was moving into the Bozeman, MT area and since I needed to be in Minnesota for the start of my Icecutter's Daughter Book Tour on Wednesday, I started feeling anxious.  Jim and I talked it over and decided to hit the road a day early.

We started out in beautiful weather and packed the car to the hilt.

 

 

As you can see, I was happy and ready to go. I love to drive and so Jim happily takes photos for me and navigates, while I handle the road.

We had perfect roads to Billings where we stopped for a little shopping.  I don't know about you, but I think it's rather interesting to have Catherine's Plus Size clothes shop next door to the Staggering Ox restaurant.  What exactly are they trying to say here? Hmmm.

We moved out again after I did my part to help Billings's economy and we headed for our first stop of the night in Miles City, MT about 2 1/2 hrs. away - without filling up with gas.  By the time I noticed that I hadn't filled the tank - we were halfway to Miles City and on empty. 

Well, we went immediately into prayer and solicited the advice of Lee - our GPS.  Lee told us that we were a good 15 miles from the nearest gas station and since it was Sunday evening, we couldn't even be sure that the small town of Hysham, MT would have an open station - but Praise the Lord!  They did.  We happily filled the tank and have continued to fill the tank at just about every stop.

After a very restful night's sleep in Miles City, we woke to this.  The snow storm caught up with us. Ah, springtime in Montana.

We decided as Montana folk that we could handle it and headed east towards North Dakota.  And it got worse.  The snow was bad enough, but then the wind picked up.

And it got worse

And worse

and we put in a call back home to the rest of the family for Urgent Prayer.

As we neared Bismarck we could see the storm letting up and because we weren't sure if the storm would slide south as predicted we decided to push on a bit farther and ended up here in Fargo, ND.  Now we're settled in for the night and tomorrow we'll head north toward the Canadian border toward Hallock, MN.  Yes, we're going even farther north - but the weather is supposed to be improved.  Pray that the weatherman is right.

Oh and next year I think I'll do like Bev Lewis and head to Alabama for book tour if I go again in April.  Hope you are having fun down there - Bev, Steve and Noelle.

God Bless!

Blessings At This Time

To all my readers I want to wish you blessings.  This is such a wonderful time of reflection.  I pray that you'll have a wonderful weekend and that your focus will be on the precious gift of Salvation and of God's love.

I have so many blessings in my life and thank God for them.  Easter always brings to mind the precious people God has put in my life.

You readers are an amazing part of that.  You are such an encouragement to me and have blessed me in so many ways.  Your letters of encouragement mean the world to me.

I'm also blessed to have 3 beautiful and incredibly wonderful grandchildren here in America and another 6 soon to be seven adopted grandchildren in Africa. 

As many of you know Rainy has suffered with on-going issues that were supposed to have taken her from us before she reached 5.  She is now nearly 11 and going strong.  Fox and Max are two of the greatest grandboys a nonna could have. They are all amazing reminders of God's love.

God has allowed me to bear 3 of the most amazing children a mother could ever have.  I'm so very proud of each of them and love them so dearly.  God's also given me Jean Pierre and Albine in Africa.  All of them have touched my life in so many ways.

Jean Pierre and his family continue to serve God and bless me over and over with their encouragement and love.

Jen put herself through college and has done such an incredible job of growing into a beautiful young woman who loves God. Jen has such an amazing talent with words and I know one of these days an incredible book will come from her.

Julie is a fantastic young woman who has endured so many changes in her life. She has an amazing talent for photography and the photos of the kids were taken by her.  Despite the pain of going through a divorce, I've been proud of how she's turned to God for her strength.

Erik is a fine young man who has blessed me through the years with his insight and imagination.  He has such a tender heart and desires to find God's direction for his life. He's self taught on the piano and creates the most beautiful music.

I'm also blessed with a pretty terrific mother and sister (brother-in-law, too)  I have wonderful aunties and a dynamic uncle.  There are cousins galore and other extended family and dear, dear friends.

And of course, I have my amazing, loving husband Jim.  After 33 years of ups and downs, good times and bad, I can honestly thank God for the way He has brought us into such a wonderful time of life. Jim is my best friend and I am so blessed to have him in my life.

I can truly say that we are highly favored of the Lord, and this time of year only serves to remind me to count those blessings and offer up thanksgiving.  I pray blessings for you and hope you will keep your eyes on Him.

God Bless You and Happy Resurrection Day!

Women in History

 

 

Since we're getting close to the end of the month, I thought I'd share one more example of women in history.  For this I chose St. Lydwina of Schiedam, the patron saint of the chronically ill, ice skaters and the town of Schiedam in the Netherlands.

She's also thought to be the first recorded case of Multiple Sclerosis and because I saw my neurologist this week for my MS check up, I thought it seemed appropriate.

Born in 1380 in Holland, Lydwina was much loved. At 15 it's said that Lydwina was ice skating when she fell and broke a rib. It's said that having MS was the reason for her fall and her subsequent lack of healing.

The town of Schiedam praised her as being filled with the Holy Spirit and capable of healing others. Lydwina was said to be in chronic, intense pain that left her paralysed, blind and unable to eat or sleep.  Even so, she was completely commited to her love of God and prayer.

Having MS, I've studied up on the symptoms and complications of the disease.  I can't imagine the suffering of severe MS patients. I have relapsing-remitting MS which isn't anywhere near as severe as what this woman, and many others, endure.  Not only that, but my MS has been very manageable, with only minor discomfort.

In fact, I had great news from the doctor this week.  My MRI shows that my lesions have actually diminished and there are no new ones at all.  I've had no other symptoms or episodes of neurological incidents and the doctor was so pleased with my situation that he doesn't want to see me again for a whole year.  Let me tell you - we are all doing the happy dance and praising God for answered prayer.

Lydwina offered comfort in the name of Jesus to a great many people and I hope to do no less.   I really appreciate the way many of you have offered me encouragement and prayers.  I appreciate the love you've shown and the stories you've shared with me.  I realize that I'm a very blessed woman and that despite having the diagnosis of MS, God has met my every need.

So now - maybe I should take up ice skating.

Oh, and check out the EVENTS link at my website at traciepeterson.com to see the locations for my upcoming booktour in Minnesota. If you're in the area, I hope you'll join me.