Hey all-
Just a note to ask a favor. My office has been fairly solemn for the past few days as we wait for reports to come in on the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. (We have major offices all across southern Louisiana and Mississippi, as well as Texas and Florida.) We are especially anxious to hear from a good majority of our employees in those areas that we have come to learn suffered complete and total devastation. We have still not heard from 75% of our Gulfport and Covington employees. Our hope is that they have all survived and are just having difficulty communicating with the outside world. However, we simply do not know. Over the last 2 days we have received phone calls from some employees in those areas, saying things like “my family is ok, but our house is completely gone…” or “We made it through, we’ll be fine, have you heard from anyone on my team?” , and things of that nature.
These are people I talk to on a daily basis- I handle their worker’s comp claims, their vehicle insurance, their property damage reports, and so on. They give me a lot of grief for being a yankee.
So what I am asking of you all is that you please keep my co-workers in your prayers. They really need them right now. Pray for their safety, their health, and that they will all come out of this thing just fine.
Thanks, guys. I knew I could count on you!

Married in 1963!

Not a bad day in Texas. It is a cool 88 degrees this morning (Praise God). I think we are getting cool breezes from Katrina. We aren’t supposed to get back to the 100s until tomorrow. A nice break.

Our clan is doing well. The baby boys, Daniel & Isaac, are just pulling in to Minnesota. They are heading to Jonathan’s apartment in St. Paul to catch up on their rest after driving all the way from South Georgia. Isaac will start the 3rd grade up there just after Labor Day. Daniel will move into his freshman dorm at the U of Minn at the end of this week. Dad arrived in Minneapolis around noon on Sunday and has already started at his new job this morning. Robert & Kristin are looking for their first apartment in South Georgia where they will begin setting up for baby girl Frieden (does this child have a name? i will keep you posted.). Liz & Benn are getting snuggly in their new cottage on a lake in very very south Georgia (Liz is now just paces away from her dream of living in Florida). Michelle, just back from a weekend in Kansas City (oh, the elegant places we travel) will probably be busy at work for the near term, doing her part to clean up after storm Katrina.

Joe & I are doing well. Same old same old with work piling up at home and at the office. We continue to plow through it, one thing at a time. We had the house to ourselves this weekend, for the first time in … um… ever. We didn’t know what to do with ourselves. You’d think we would have taken this opportunity to walk around in our underwear or something slightly racy… We ended up painting a few rooms, moving furniture, and unclogging toilets. Fully clothed.

What a beautiful day I have arisen to this morning! I’m looking out my backdoor gazing at the majesty of the Rocky Mountains. Having lived here nearly two decades, I continue to be so blessed when I take time to see God’s wonder in the mountains. Pike’s Peak looms in the distance, truly one of God’s beauties. Thank you God for your creation and for allowing me to enjoy it.

Thanks for all your prayers. I find it hard to ask for help—imagine that! I know this is a characteristic of finding it hard to trust God as well. I’ve always been ready and waiting to help anyone in need, while stuffing my own needs down, smiling and going on.

Perhaps God is saying to me today as I’ve said to my children, HELP ME HELP YOU!!

“Okay God. I’m letting go as much as I know how—I’m looking to YOU for my help. I know You will send it through your Word and through Your people. In YOU do I put my trust. Thank You for sending Your love on the wings of an email from those who love me and You. This is a wonderful day. Thank you for it!”

Hey, Frieden’s, we are good people. God has made us strong, but not intended to carry the burden alone! Love you all and miss you too, Liz!!!

Born in 1993!

Born in 1972!

What a great idea, Andi, for this section! Prayer and Praise IS powerful and what a wonderful thing to share with each other.

Psalms 37:3-8 has been my scripture for at least 3 decades. It was part of my reading this morning with the girls before they headed off to school. It reminds me that no matter what is going on around me, Trusting in the Lord pays off. It pays off first and most of all for the peace I can walk in no matter what else. I don’t always see deliverance in the time I want, but God’s PEACE is more and better than deliverance!!

v 3 Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
v 4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. (my thought: afterall, HE gives you the desires so why wouldn’t He fulfill them)
v 5 Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.
v 6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
v 7 REST in the Lord and wait PATIENTLY for Him, Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way. Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
v 8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret–it only causes harm.

Pray for the Thompsons! We need much guidance, deliverance, rest, patience, etc. from Him. We are at a place in our journey that is unkown and will only be mastered through following Him very closely! I appreciate your prayers.

Love to all. Mary

I’ve created a new blog section called “prayer & praise.” This section is for your prayer requests and praise reports. My mom used to have one day a week for each of her seven kids where she would pray for that kid all day long. We (along with countless others, no doubt) feel the loss of that intercession. We know from the Frieden Stories, that Grandma too had a firm handle on the power of prayer. Here, we can post our prayer requests, and praise reports, and offer support for one another even when we can’t be near each other. As you know, God answers prayer and our praise glorifies Him!

On Prayer, we are instructed:

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. (Matt 7:7)

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Matt 7:11)

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:19-20)

On Praise, we know:

“For what were all things created? Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” (Rev. 4:11).

“…Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (Eph. 5:20.)

“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” (Ps. 42:11)

“Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me; and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God.” (Ps. 50:23)

“Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” (Phil, 4:6) (Col. 4:2),

“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thess. 5:18.

“Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul.” (Ps. 66:16)

Ok, I finally broke down and hired someone to type up the rest of the cookbook. Joe’s secretary, Suni, is great, and is working hard to get the rest of the content in electronic format. The main thing we are missing is the tons and tons of great sweet stuff… nearly 200 pages of cookies, cakes, pastries, pies and more! Shelly, our site administrator, is working hard to get the content up that is finished or in progress, like other recipes and the photos. She is also tossing around some ideas for how to make the site so that you can edit and add entries on your own without a middle man. We will keep you posted. The cookbook was really my main goal for the site… so we can get to the recipes any time from anywhere… and those of us who are too young to have a copy of the cookbooks ourselves will have the recipes somewhere, and don’t have to keep calling our parents and aunts, etc. everytime we walk in the kitchen! I want to get the cookbook in a format everyone can use, so please please please send me any comments or suggestions! Thanks all.

Good morning everyone. Just thought I’d do a grandma-esque note to let you know how all of us are doing… It may be the end of summer… but it’s hot in Houston. And humid. I believe Grandma would call it miserable. Maybe even horid. Our garden has finally given way to the weeds. But we have a few jars to serve as reminders of the summer’s hard work. Jeannie let me take home Grandma’s big canner and a few boxes of genuine Grandma Frieden Mason Jars, and now they are brimming with pickled peppers, and pickles, and tomatos, and pickled okra, etc. Joe and I are planning on getting a piglet next weekend to put in the garden (a converted horse corral) to dig around and get fat in time for winter (which still seems very far away).

Well, I suppose this has been a tough year for all of us. It’s Saturday morning… It is still hard to believe that I won’t be sending my “update” email to Grandma each Saturday, and that she won’t be sending me the weekly update on the status of the weather and everyone’s health, and that Mom won’t be calling at the crack of dawn on my one day to sleep in to tell me a verse she thought of that I might like or to tell me to quit my bad habits and to start having kids so she could be a “Nana” (that’s what she wanted to be called because “you already have a Grandma Frieden”). I still pick up the phone to call them every once in a while.

But life continues to move at the pace of life. This summer, at various times, casa Andi & Joe served as the base for Dad, Michelle, Jonathan, and Isaac. But, times are changing, as they do, and our house is about to be a lot less interesting. Isaac, following a few weeks of fishing in Minnesota with Dad and 5 of his brothers and sisters, is spending a few weeks with Rob & Kristin in Georgia. Kristin is pregnant with their first baby — and Baby Girl Frieden is due this winter! Kristin is back in school finishing up her degree. Rob graduated last year and is busy working with Liz’s husband Benn. Liz too is back in school. The two couples remain in South Georgia, and show no signs of moving any time soon (despite my best efforts to get everyone in Texas). Daniel is off to college at the University of Minnesota in about a week. Michelle and I will dearly miss our favorite roommate Jonathan, as he heads back to law school in St. Paul on Tuesday. This my 4th Summer rooming with Jonathan, and I always miss him when he heads out to do his thing (who will mow the yard???). And Dad. He’s moving out too, I hear. Heading to his new post in Minneapolis. After nearly a decade in the deep south, I hope he has some heavy coats! Isaac will join him as they embark on their new adventures together in the land of 10,000 lakes. What did they used to say? “Change is Good”? The jury is still out on that one. At least I get to keep my rock, Michelle. Having my best friend around makes everything a little better.

We serve a good God. And we can do all things through Him, who gives us strength. Joe & I have been so blessed this year to have family around. We will miss them, and I suppose as each one pulls out of the driveway, or runway, I will shed a few tears as Grandma did when our van left the farm each summer…. but it is good to know that we don’t have to lean on our own understanding. He is directing our paths.

Love you guys. Come visit soon. I suddenly have lots of room!

Andi