Blessed Beyond Belief

At Disneyland yesterday I was speaking with my husband on the telephone. In the distance two Asian women were walking toward me. Just 2 strangers in a crowd of people at Disneyland on this Thursday. One of the ladies shirts caught my eye. To my horror her shirt was displaying two women in their bras and underwear embracing each other and kissing in a sexual way. Before I knew what was happening I was reaching out and gently grabbing her shoulder. "Your shirt.... It is horrible" I said in a grieved voice. She looked at me with a big smile and tugged at it proudly as if to say "Oh, you like it?" as she said "Yes!" with a thick accent of someone who does not speak English. I could tell she did not understand me and I said "No, bad.....It is wrong....." She walked away from me and I stood there, sad. I did not judge this woman because it is only by God's grace that I myself am not depraved. I prayed "Oh Lord, when will you come a...

Some people would call my parenting extreme. I would agree. This morning I took extreme measures with a lovely adorable little lady living under my roof. You see it seems this little one is suffering from an extreme case of discontentment and ingratitude. She has been of lately very picky about foods, clothing, etc. So this morning I took extreme measures. I feel very much that it is my duty to help her root out the wee roots of discontentment while she is young and under my authority. So today she is eating plain rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I also weeded through her wardrobe and left her with a pair of pants, 2 shirts, a dress, and a jacket. The Bible teaches us that "godliness with contentment in great gain" and we also see a wonderful example of the Apostle Paul, who, while in a cold, dark, wet prison wrote these words "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content,". If my little one is having trouble being content w...

I was doing my bible study the other day when I came across a wonderful treasure: 1 Timothy 5: 6 " But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives." So even though this verse is specifically talking about widows, it can be universally applied to all women. Wow. What an impact this verse had on me when I read it. Firstly it is written to the "shes" of the world. That is me. I am a she. I absolutely treasure verses that talk to me specifically as a woman. Who: she- women What: are dead while they live Why: because they live for pleasure's sake The implications for application of this verse in my life are numerous. Although I know I am not dead because I am born again and have been made alive in Christ, I can certainly still act like a dead person. When I won't get out of bed and want to sleep "just a little more", I am living for my pleasure. When I don't put things back where they go because I am lazy and tired, I am living for my pleasur...

Dear Sir and Madam, We were invited by a friend to a Jr. High Drama Play last night at LA Lutheran. We had our whole family in attendance. We have children from the ages of 3 all the way up to 11. I must tell you we were deeply grieved and disgusted with the material presented in your play. We wrote down some of the many things that we found disturbing for you: "My teacher is a moron. If you didn't hear me I'll say it louder--MY TEACHER IS A MORON! I think I might kill him and bury his body with this cork in his mouth" "That boy that you like? He's over there kissing your older sister." "I saw that cute boy first!" While enacting a witch’s ceremonial religious ritual with candles lit and red lights shown: Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed. Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined. Harpier cries "'Tis time, 'tis time." Round about the cauldron go; In the poisoned entrails throw. Toad, that under cold stone Days and nights has ...

David is excelling in sign language and communicated to us that he was sick yesterday. After taking his temperature, I realized he was right. Bad that he is sick. Great that he could tell us! :) Since we last posted, 3 out of our 6 family members has come down with Fifth Disease . David currently has a fever and we are wondering if he will come down with it too. Ahh , illnesses, the results of sin and one more thing we will be glad to be free from in heaven! Interestingly, we had a very good lesson come from our appearing in the local newspaper (The LA Times). After being interviewed about our interest in growing fruit trees in our backyard, it turns out we are depending upon their harvest to feed our needy family of 6! Something like "Tim and Wendy Petta painstakingly researched what trees to choose for their backyard, which has 40 fruit trees crammed onto a 8000 sq ft lot, to help feed their four children" !!!! Can you believe it! So what was the lesson? That the media sev...

Well, it is official. This blog rocks! I cannot contain the amounts of requests given to continue journaling my mundane wanderings! (wink, wink~ Amy) As you can see to the left, Nacho Libre rocks too! This drawing is courtesy of Allison Petta age 5. So what is new with us. Well, Kayla, Maddie and I have faithfully read our bible in a year reading every day so far this year. WOO HOO ! It feels so good to be disciplined in this area of our lives and even though K & M have been dead dog sick this past week, they have not missed a day. I am also excited about some wall charts I am going to be ordering from Rose Publications . These charts will help us to keep straight the kings, prophets, times and places as we read through the old testament. Our Korean students arrived on Monday and they did not have American names. After being told by their teacher to pick American names, they proceeded to not pick names. So I named them. They are Rachael and Sara. They seemed ...

Tim and I will be in the side bar of the front page of the LA Times this Thursday. :)