Christmas Blessings

Christmas Eve was a busy day, catching up with all I had left to the last minute. I had great plans to be prepared but once again I was left scrambling. I am beginning to think that I do it on purpose and honestly, I think I work well under pressure.
I got it done - the cleaning, the wrapping and made a cherry pound cake before Christmas Eve service at church - which was by the way, excellent! Afterward I had the stuffing to make and put aside in the fridge to be used the next day and I had bacon to cook for Christmas morning breakfast.
Christmas morning, my oldest son came bright and early with his girlfriend and we got our acts together and did breakfast and opened gifts. After the six of us were fed and gifted, it was time to get that 22 lb. turkey into the oven. It all was accomplished by 11:15.
The rest of the day was filled with movies and visits and getting the rest of the meal taken care of.
We were ready to eat by 5:00ish. We had 11 for supper which consisted of the following...turkey (obviously) and mashed potatoes, corn, pickle tray, cranberries, gravy and for dessert there was cherry pound cake (previously mentioned), cherry cheesecake, fruitcake, tea and coffee. A good time and meal was had by all.
Later we played "Pass the Pigs" and watched "Four Christmases."
I'm so glad that we had a good time with our family, no conflict and no disasters.
The best part of the holidays is the time spent with loved ones, making new memories and reminiscing over old memories. I hope that all of my friends and family had a blessed Christmas and many best wishes for a Happy New Year!

“It came without ribbons. It came without tags.
It came without packages, boxes or bags.
And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.
‘What if Christmas,’ he thought, ‘doesn’t come from a store?’
What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?”

-Dr. Seuss

In Flanders Fields

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"The Last Post"

Women of Strength

A strong woman works out every day to keep her body in shape ...

but a woman of strength kneels in prayer to keep her soul in shape...

A strong woman isn't afraid of anything ...

but a woman of strength shows courage in the midst of her fear...

A strong woman won't let anyone get the best of her ...

but a woman of strength gives the best of her to everyone...

A strong woman makes mistakes and avoids the same in the future...

a woman of strength realizes life's mistakes can also be God's blessings and capitalizes on them...

A strong woman walks sure footedly ...

but a woman of strength knows God will catch her when she falls...

A strong woman wears the look of confidence on her face ...

but a woman of strength wears grace...

A strong woman has faith that she is strong enough for the journey ...

but a woman of strength has faith that it is in the journey that she will become strong...

It's October - Feel Your Boobies

Early detection is key!
Fight for the cure.
Learn more here.

Good Advice

GOOD VISION IN A DOWNPOUR 

How to achieve good vision while driving during a heavy downpour. 

We are not sure why it is so effective; just try this method when it rains heavily. This method was given me by a Police friend who had experienced and confirmed it. It is useful....even driving at night. One method used by Canadian Military Drivers for years.

Most of the motorists would turn on HIGH or FASTEST SPEED of the wipers during heavy downpour, yet the visibility in front of the windshield is still bad...... 

In the event you face such a situation, just try your SUN GLASSES (any model will do), and miracle! All of a sudden, your visibility in front of your windshield is perfectly clear, as if there is no rain. 

Make sure you always have a pair of SUN GLASSES in your car, as you are not only helping yourself to drive safely with good vision, but also might save your friend's life by giving him this idea.. 

Try it yourself and share it with your friends! Amazing, you still see the drops on the windshield, but not the sheet of rain falling.

You can see where the rain bounces off the road. It works to eliminate the "blindness" from passing semi's spraying you too. 

Or the "kickup" if you are following a semi or car in the rain. They ought to teach that little tip in driver's training. It really does work..
And for a similar reason, why "Fog" lights must make WHITE light, or else are useless in FOG
Those YELLOW "FOG"lights are great in those blinding night SNOWstorms, and those big snowflakes become virtually invisible.
But YELLOW is useless in RAIN, FOG. 

This next warning is a another good one! I wonder how many people know about this: 

A 36 year old female had an accident several weeks ago and totaled her car. A resident of Kinburn, Ontario was traveling between Kinburn & Ottawa. It was raining, though not excessively, when her car suddenly began to hydro-plane and literally flew through the air.. She was not seriously injured but very stunned at the sudden occurrence! 

When she explained to the OPP Officer what had happened he told her something that every driver should know - NEVER DRIVE IN THE RAIN WITH YOUR CRUISE CONTROL ON . She thought she was being cautious by setting the cruise control and maintaining a safe consistent speed in the rain. But the Officer told her that if the cruise control is on when your car begins to hydro-plane and your tires lose contact with the pavement, your car will accelerate to a higher rate of speed making you take off like an airplane. She told the OPP Officer that was exactly what had occurred. 

The Officer said this warning should be listed, on the driver's seat 
sun-visor - NEVER USE THE CRUISE CONTROL WHEN 
THE PAVEMENT IS WET OR ICY, along with the airbag warning. We tell our teenagers to set the cruise control and drive a safe speed - but we don't tell them to use the cruise control only when the pavement is dry. 

The only person the accident victim found, who knew this (besides the officer), was a man who had a similar accident, totaled his car and sustained severe injuries. 

NOTE: Some vehicles (like the Toyota Sienna Limited XLE) will not allow you to set the cruise control when the windshield wipers are on.

Daniel's Gloves

I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the town-square. The food and the company were both especially good that day.

As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street. There, walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read, 'I will work for food.' My heart sank...

I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief.

We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and went our separate ways. I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them. I glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange visitor. I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call some response. I drove through town and saw nothing of him.. I made some purchases at a store and got back in my car.

Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me: 'Don't go back to the office until you've at least driven once more around the square.'
Then with some hesitancy, I headed back into town. As I turned the square's third corner, I saw him. He was standing on the steps of the store front church, going through his sack.

I stopped and looked; feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be a sign from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out and approached the town's newest visitor.

'Looking for the pastor?' I asked.

'Not really,' he replied, 'just resting.'

'Have you eaten today?'

'Oh, I ate something early this morning.'
'Would you like to have lunch with me?'

'Do you have some work I could do for you?'

'No work,' I replied.. 'I commute here to work from the city, but I would like to take you to lunch.'

'Sure,' he replied with a smile.
As he began to gather his things, I asked some surface questions. 'Where you headed?'

' St. Louis '

'Where you from?'

'Oh, all over; mostly Florida .'

'How long you been walking?'
'Fourteen years,' came the reply.

I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left earlier. His face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling. He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, 'Jesus is The Never Ending Story.'

Then Daniel's story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in life. He'd made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences.. Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona. He tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought.

He was hired.. The tent would not house a concert, but revival services.  In those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his life over to God

'Nothing's been the same since,' he said. 'I felt the Lord telling me to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now.'

'Ever think of stopping?' I asked.

'Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me; but God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles. That's what's in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads.'

I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission and lived this way by choice. The question burned inside for a moment and then I asked: 'What's it like?'

'What?'

'To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign?'

'Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn't make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people's concepts of other folks like me.'

My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and gathered his things. Just outside the door, he paused, turned to me and said, 'Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I've prepared for you. For when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in.'

I felt as if we were on holy ground. 'Could you use another Bible?' I asked.

He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and was not too heavy. It was also his personal favorite. 'I've read through it 14 times,' he said.

'I'm not sure we've got one of those, but let's stop by our church and see.'  I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well, and he seemed very grateful.

'Where are you headed from here?' I asked.

'Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park coupon.'

'Are you hoping to hire on there for awhile?'

'No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star right there needs a Bible, so that's where I'm going next.'

He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his mission. I drove him back to the town-square where we'd met two hours earlier.  As we drove, it started raining. We parked and unloaded his things.

'Would you sign my autograph book?' he asked.. 'I like to keep messages from folks I meet.'

I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong. And I left him with a verse of scripture from Jeremiah, 'I know the plans I have for you, declared the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you; Plans to give you a future and a hope.'

'Thanks, man,' he said. 'I know we just met and we're really just strangers, but I love you.'

'I know,' I said, 'I love you, too.' 'The Lord is good!'

'Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?' I asked.

'A long time,' he replied.

And so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been changed. He put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile and said, 'See you in the New Jerusalem.'

'I'll be there!' was my reply.

He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dangling from his bedroll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said, 'When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?'

'You bet,' I shouted back, 'God bless.'

'God bless.' And that was the last I saw of him.

Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried to my car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them - a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the length of the handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered if his hands would stay warm that night without them. Then I remembered his words: 'If you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?'

Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office. They help me to see the world and its people in a new way, and they help me remember those two hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry. 'See you in the New Jerusalem,' he said.
Yes, Daniel, I know I will.

'I shall pass this way but once. Therefore, any good that I can do or any kindness that I can show, let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again.' 


'Father, I ask you to bless my friends, relatives and others reading this right now. Show them a new revelation of your love and power. Holy Spirit, I ask you to minister to their spirit at this very moment. Where there is pain, give them your peace and mercy. Where there is self-doubt, release a renewed confidence through your grace, In Jesus' precious name; Amen.' 


GOD BLESS YOU MY FRIEND 

Live Life

IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER - by Erma Bombeck

(written after she found out she was dying from cancer).

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have talked less and listened more.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have sat on the lawn with my grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, “Later. Now go get washed up for dinner.” There would have been more “I love you's” and more “I'm sorry's.”

But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute, look at it and really see it...live it and never give it back. STOP SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF!!!

Don't worry about who doesn't like you, who has more, or who's doing what. Instead, let's cherish the relationships we have with those who do love us.

A Prayer of Blessing

Dear Lord,

I thank You for this day,

I thank You for my being able to see

and to hear this morning...

I'm blessed because You are

a forgiving God and

an understanding God.

You have done so much for me

and You keep on blessing me.

Forgive me this day for everything

I have done, said or thought

that was not pleasing to you.

I ask now for Your forgiveness.

Please keep me safe

from all danger and harm.

Help me to start this day

with a new attitude and plenty of gratitude.

Let me make the best of each and every day

to clear my mind so that I can hear from You.

Please broaden my mind

that I can accept all things.

Let me not whine and whimper

over things I have no control over...

And give me the best response

when I'm pushed beyond my limits.

I know that when I can't pray,

You listen to my heart.

Continue to use me to do Your will.

Continue to bless me that I may be

a blessing to others.

Keep me strong that I may help the weak...

Keep me uplifted that I may have words of encouragement for others.

I pray for those that are lost

and can't find their way.

I pray for those that are misjudged

and misunderstood.

I pray for those who

don't know You intimately.

God changes people and God changes things.

I pray for all my sisters and brothers.

For each and every family member

in their households.

I pray for peace, love and joy

in their homes; that they are out of debt

and all their needs are met.

I pray that every eye that reads this

knows there is no problem, circumstance,

or situation greater than God.

Every battle is in Your hands for You to fight.

I pray that these words be received

into the hearts of every eye that sees it

in Jesus' name. Amen!

Just repeat this phrase and see how God moves!!

God I love you and I need you,

Lord Jesus, please come into my heart.

Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers? 
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.

2. Mostly to clean the house.

3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.


How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my mom just the same like he made me. He just used
bigger parts. 

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2.. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's mom like me.

What kind of a little girl was your mom?
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed..
3. I guess mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms and dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause
that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friends.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2.. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.