…not to worry. your Texas kin have a plan. we are heading to higher ground well ahead of the storm… our house is not in the 100 year flood area, nor are we in the “zones” that are expected to get storm surge from the Gulf, even under the worst case scenario (although, truthfully, we are fairly close)… anywho, we know God is in control, and we’ll be well outta dodge before any such thing is a possibility. we’ll keep you posted here when possible…

love ya!
andi

There IS joy in the midst of Anna’s two-year old tantrum. I will choose to see what a wonderful blessing she is to me. I will pray for guidance to guide her through this stage as she becomes a strong, decisive woman of God. I will remember throughout the screaming that in a moment she will be sitting on my lap loving me and gently wiping away my tears. I will encourage her that she really can walk even though her knee is hurting, then praise her when she finally makes it up the steps and onto my lap—”I knew you could do it!”

AND, I will remember how God gently encourages me through my tantrums with the understanding that I am growing and learning and becoming a strong, decisive woman of God—although I’m kicking and screaming all the way.

As the Psalmist shouts out, “I WILL bless the Lord at all times. His praise SHALL continually be in my mouth”.

On this gorgeous Monday morning, I will choose to walk in the Joy of the Lord. I will choose to live in the moment so I will not have reason to look back on this day with regrets.

Love to all you Frieden’s!!! Mary

It’s Saturday morning again. Where did the week go? The dogs woke me up this morning. I guess they wanted me to see the sun come up today. Thanks, dogs. It is, in fact, a beautiful morning. The sun is creeping up, and I can just make out the white puffy clouds up there. It’s only 79 degrees on my porch this early. I nearly have a chill. The verse of the day today on www.biblegateway.com is: “ Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. ”- Isaiah 46:4. Isn’t that awesome?

For those of you interested in Katrina, Houston, etc. here is a little update (from my perspective anyway, for what that’s worth)…

The victims of the storm have consumed my thoughts and silent prayers since the storm was predicted, and especially since two days after the storm surge when we learned of the plight of so many along the shores of the Gulf Coast (like so many others, no doubt). For those of us who lived through the Flood of 93 along the Mississippi River in the Quad Cities, we had some idea of the devastation a flood can bring to a farm community. And we were 5, 6, 700 feet above sea level (probably seems pretty low to Aunt Mary out on Pike’s Peak, but seemed pretty good to those of us on the Illinois side of the River, living in the upper hills at the time… even with the better part of Andalusia accessible only by boat). Even with the constant pictures brought to us by local and national news, I still cannot imagine a similar fate brought on all at once to a metropolis sitting right at or below sea level. I just cannot imagine. I’m sure when Great Grandpa Frieden was working with the Army Corps of Engineers back before the turn of the century to levee the Mighty Miss so that our family could farm the rich black soil of the old river bottom without fear of seasonal flooding, he did not imagine they would try to do it all the way to the ocean. But they did.

Houston is only about 40 miles from the Gulf of Mexico (give or take). But unlike the summer I moved here (2001) during Hurricane Allison, we had no ill effects of this storm. Houston is a good 350 miles from New Orleans, which isn’t so bad for a weekend excursion to the city that serves the best Shrimp Po Boys in America (yes, I have gone there just for a sandwich)… but I have to imagine is a very long long long way when you are hot, tired, wet, dirty, hungry, have seen and lived the unimaginable, and are fearful for your future.

A lot of people ended up here in my adopted home town. Houston. Houston is glad of it. Houston has (before this horrible tragedy) convinced me it is the new home of the entrepreneurial spirit of America. Here, people look at a 100,000 or so sudden influx of people and say, awesome…. more people, more creators, more engineers, more teachers, more children, more jobs. Not that everyone here is happy. People spend time blogging on the Houston Chronicle website (www.chron.com) about how little Lakewood Church is doing, for example (Lakewood, pastored by Joel Osteen, is my church, and it is not true that they are doing little best I can tell… Osteen has reportedly already raised over 700K for victims). But even those people, who spend plenty of time bashing church and God for that matter, still reportedly spend much of their time donating their last dollar and volunteering at local shelters and the Food Bank. It’s like that Christian Joke Email Forward we have all seen … where the old lady repeatedly praises God, and one day, a neighbor trying to show her that there is no God, fills her basic need for groceries by leaving them on her porch. He says, there is no God, I gave you those groceries. And the old woman says “Praise God for providing my food… and making the devil pay for it.”

God is in this place. He’s using everyone and everything. You can feel Him here. Everywhere you go. Even on the highway people seem more courteous… there are so many Louisiana plates on the roads here… but even the “Texas plates” are driving so civil, you’d think I was in Iowa, even on I-45 in rush hour. I hope the displaced people of Louisiana stay here. I pray they thrive here. I trust God that they will.

We’ve been volunteering various places… distribution centers, mass shelters… I even took a crash course in Louisiana law from the Houston Bar Association and answered phones at the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program… temporarily displaced Louisiana folks have questions about landlord/tenant issues, credit card bills, banking, etc. Answering phones was so much more fun than going to work this morning. Thank God I could do it, even for a short while.

But the most fun thing was: there is a house 4 blocks away from mine. I started noticing Louisiana plates parked out front on the street two days ago. There were always people outside in the front yard. I’d never seen anyone near that house before. I got it on my heart to go over there; to make sure everyone was ok. I decided when you don’t know what to do… bake! An old Frieden habit I must have inherited somewhere. I baked cookies all night, and Joe & I… and Michelle’s puppy (as the designated Michelle representative) walked over there. There were 11 extra people in that house. All from New Orleans. All looking for jobs. A young woman, about my age (very young! ) was on the stoop with 3 other ladies. We almost didn’t go up, because there were no lights on that you could see from the street. But we did. We said hello. And told them about the cookies… they were still warm.

And they asked God to bless us… and told us how many many people from the neighborhood had done the same thing! And despite their tragic circumstances, they told Joe & I about the kindness of others… and their hunt for jobs, etc. And every lady on that stoop was SMILING. Can you believe it? All that tragedy and they were smiling and thanking the Lord. God is in this place. You can really feel it.

Keep praying for the families along the entire Gulf Coast region and across the U.S. who have been affected by Katrina. Keep thanking God for being in this place with the victims, with the survivors, with the residents, with the children, with their schools and new teachers, with the Government, volunteers, and leaders.

There are so many stories here. We’ll have to stay up in somebody’s kitchen all night.

God is in this place.

Thank you Father,
Andi

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!

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!!!

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)