Who would have thought...

today'sFUNNY===========================

Who would have thought...

..that when you wished your kids didn't need you so much, you would someday wish that they did?

..that when there wasn't enough time in the day, you might someday wonder how to fill your free time?

..that when you couldn't wait to get your driver's license, you would someday try to decide when to give it up?

..that you would finally have more than enough stuff?

..that grandchildren grow even faster than children?

..that when people told you to enjoy your (time, education, job, kids, friends, health, spouse, etc.), you would someday realize why?

..that some people are grateful no matter what, and some are ungrateful no matter what?

..that when you struggled to make ends meet, they finally would?

..that each day can be a blessing and a chance to be a blessing to others?

..that a smile, a touch and a listening ear are worth more than expensive presents?

..that there's always something new to learn?

..that you would never get tired of watching a sunset, a rainbow, or a baby's first steps?

..that the best things in life ARE free?

..that a funny or inspiring e-mail would be the best way to start the day?

[forwarded by Doreen Hietsch]

today'sTHOT============================

Education is what you get when you read the fine print. Experience is what you get if you don't.

=======================================

PASS IT ON!
Yeah, you can send this Funny to anybody you want. And, if you're REAL nice, you'll tell them where you got it! www.mikeysFunnies.com

I know, I know, I'm crazy.

You might think that with the events so far this morning, something like the following would be inappropriate. However, I'm sure Libby would have appreciated it. Thank you, Mikey's Funnies, for this lighter note:

'TWAS THE NIGHT OF THANKSGIVING

'Twas the night of Thanksgiving,
But I just couldn't sleep.
I tried counting backwards,
I tried counting sheep
The leftovers beckoned
The dark meat and white,
But I fought the temptation with all of my might.

Tossing and turning with anticipation,
The thought of a snack became infatuation!
So I raced to the kitchen,
Flung open the door,
And gazed at the fridge full of goodies galore.

I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes,
Pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes.
I felt myself swelling so plump and so round,
Till all of a sudden, I rose off the ground!!

I crashed through the ceiling, floated into the sky
With a mouthful of pudding and a handful of pie,
But I managed to yell
as I soared past the trees ...

HAPPY EATING TO ALL,
PASS THE CRANBERRIES PLEASE!!

today'sTHOT============================

Asked to write a composition entitled, "What I'm thankful for on Thanksgiving," little Johnny wrote, "I'm thankful that I'm not a turkey."

=======================================

PASS IT ON!
Yeah, you can send this Funny to anybody you want. And, if you're REAL nice, you'll tell them where you got it! www.mikeysFunnies.com

===============================

Precious

Psalm 116:15 says, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Libby died this morning, with all six of her children around her. Thank you, God, for blessing us all with this wonderful, saintly woman.

A day of gratitude and mixed emotions

I found out this morning that my cousin, Libby, who is like a sister to me, is in ICU in Norton's hospital in Louisville, more than likely dying. All her body systems have shut down, her blood pressure and body temp are falling, and it's only a matter of time. They took her to the hospital on Tuesday evening, and it's been downhill since then. All her children except one, who lives in Northern Kentucky near Falmouth, are there, and the other one is on his way. Libby's daughter Martha said her mom's pressure would occasionally try to go up on its own--I think she is holding on until that son gets there, too, so that she can have a moment or two with him. That's what my mom did right before she died, and I think that's what Libby is doing. What a really rotten way to start Thanksgiving. What a really rotten way to try to be gracious and grateful and have gratitude.

I'm not sure what my plans are at this moment, but I'm reasonably sure that I'll be flying to Louisville once I hear she has died and will stay with a family member there for a few days in order to attend the funeral. Libby has been the rock of our family for at least the last 10 years or so, as well as the rock of her own family. I can truly be grateful that she has been an example for us all of God's love and acceptance, and has showed the gift of hospitality for at least 65 years! (I think she was too young before that, since she's only a little over 70 now.)

I did get to talk to two of my kids today, Ann and Lydia, and got to see the grandchildren "cut shines" over the computer, so I'm also thankful for that. I know that my children are all with folks they love today, even if they're not with me, and that's good. Everett is at Ann's, in Nashville, and Lydia is surrounded by her husband, children, and in-laws, who love her like the daughter they never had. Everett does have a job, he's working fulltime for Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, in their library. It's only a temporary job, supposed to end in August, but something might open up there at that time. God has taken care of him this far, who am I to think He won't take care of him after August?

Have a good Thanksgiving with your loved ones. We are going to be eating with new friends here in San Antonio, and I am grateful for that. There are supposed to be maybe 50 people at the dinner! I'm taking a hash brown casserole, a dump cake, and "the traditionally forgotten green salad", if I remember it! So I'm grateful that I am able to do that. And the weather here in Texas is absolutely gorgeous, for which I'm also thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving! Love to each one of you, and may God continue to bless you!

Buenos dios!

Hello to all. I'm back from my trip to Mexico. (David disagrees that I really went all the way there, and Andrea will be surprised that I went without my passport, but poo poo to them!)

Yesterday I left our apartment with the intention of going to the library. I had very simple directions from my friend Jenn. David and I had read through them on Saturday, and we had even simplified them a little more. I went out of the house, got in the car, got out the gate, got to the corner, turned right, and then I made mistake number one.

When I got to the Valero station, I turned right again. I was now no longer on Military, but on the 151 access road. Now it was no longer a trip to the library, but an adventure. I sensed something was wrong, but I continued down the pike. (Heck, something is always wrong when I leave the casa.)

After motoring quite a ways, when I realized I probably should have written down mileage on the directions, I saw a sign for Military. Good. I got off the access road. Here's some interesting information for you folks who might want to take a trip to San Antonio: there are a whole lot of roads down here whose first name is Military. Unfortunately, their second name can be different. Just like Jim, Bobby, or Tom, not all of them have the same last name. This one was a case in point.

Soon enough, mistake realized. I was back on an access road. Somehow it had morphed into the 410 access road. Never mind. I still had an idea where I was going at least, even if it wasn't to the library. Aha! An HEB! It took a while to find the actual store, but soon I was inside, pushing my cart. I think I alluded once before to the fact that we bought stuff in small quantities, and toilet paper had moved very quickly back onto the list.

This HEB had a very distinctive Mexican flair--in other words, I heard more Spanish than English. Also, the menfolk seemed to have quite a few tattoos. Still, it was an HEB, and I needed stuff. Like toilet paper. HEBs are great stores. They have everything a person needs, except Diet Mt. Dew in 24 oz bottles. Poor David. The drink salesman who was stocking the shelves helped me look for the nonexistent stuff, all the while chatting about lawyers, for some reason...He was nice, though.

Eventually I checked out behind a woman who had over $100 worth of coupons, as well as a grocery bill that approached $500 dollars! My groceries really looked meager, compared to hers. As I type this, I recognize she might have been a member of a very large family, shopping for her Thanksgiving dinner. Or for a food pantry. Or for the entire gang. She seemed really friendly, though.

I was back in the car. I had three or four perishable items, only a small amount, so I would be able to get them back up to the apartment. Next step, get back up to the apartment.

Somewhere on the drive home, I made a left turn. I know it wasn't at my Military, but I don't know where it was. It took me half an hour to find a place I felt comfortable enough to turn around, somewhere past about 20 auto parts stores, a zillion taco stands, and even a few pinata shops. There were no markings in the parking lot, and I almost drove over the sidewalk to get out, but I finally wised up and followed another car. I headed back for the states. (Read that I410)

After I got on 410, I knew what to do. Get on 151 and drive until I saw the Sea World exits. Get off when I saw the roller coaster. Turn left. Go to the Valero station and turn right. Go to Dugas, turn left again. I did all that flawlessly, and made it home.

I carried the perishable groceries up to the apartment very quickly--good thing I still had a roll of toilet paper up there! I sat down and relaxed for a few minutes, then started putting stuff away. Whoops--no hamburger. It was still down in the car. I really didn't want to do it, but I traipsed back down to the car. When I got there, I realized I had left the car keys up at the apartment. So I went back up, got the keys, and went down again. Before I did, though, I put a post-it note on the door that said, Purse? Keys? Glasses? Mail?

Anyway, I survived my sidetrip to Mexico, and that's the way things are down south.

Love to all, and God bless.

PS David and I found the library last night, five minutes after it closed.

A Day of New Adventures

Yesterday I actually took that longhorn by the horns and ventured outside the apartment complex! Thanks to Jenn, who is a friend of all of us, by the way, not just the girls, I have directions even a dummy from the North can follow, and I got all the way to Wal-Mart! Talk about a liberating experience! Of course, due to the 39 steps, some of the stuff is still in the car trunk (not the food, folks, not the food!), but I made it! I can now hang up clothes, sort clothes, wash dishes, keep my Splenda in something beside a measuring cup, drain dishes on something beside my two tea towels...Oh, you can't imagine, unless you've moved into a furnished apartment, how many little things at home a person takes for granted.

Then last night, I waited and waited for David to come home. It was almost 6 when he came home--later than Georgetown, for sure. But they did two hours of overtime yesterday! Way to go, Toyota! Looks like things may be picking up. I didn't have supper ready on the table--it would have been cold, if I had, because I expected him closer to 5. He wanted to go out, though, so we went out--again. Three nights in a row. Who thought eating out that often could get so old, so quick! We found a Chinese restaurant that we may go to again--maybe a fast-food chain for all I know. The egg rolls were Tex-Mex Chinese, but the other stuff was pretty decent. When we got out of the car, David said, "It smells like Sunday dinner!" I guess it was the soy sauce, because it didn't taste like it. When you eat every week at America's best Chinese restaurant, the others really don't stand a chance.

What else was I going to tell you? Oh, yes. We got mail yesterday! An insurance bill and a bill for my eye surgery back in September, but we got mail. At least the post office knows we're here now.

Love to all, and God bless.

PS By the way, we went to Wal-Mart again last night and bought more food. David bought three bags of cookies! I guess he's suffering from junk-food withdrawal. Everett, we made it up the stairs in one trip, loaded down like pack mules, but one trip. I'm proud of us! (And there is still stuff in my trunk from my yesterday's expedition.)

Howdy from Texas!

Texas is nice--temperature today is 69, and they are anticipating a high of 79. Except for some rain on Sunday, it's been sunny every day. The rain slowed down our travel some on Sunday, making it after dark when we finally got to San Antonio. The road signs were difficult to read, and for a few minutes, all I wanted to do was turn around and go back to Kentucky!

The road system is really intimidating, for me at least. There are a number of "spaghetti" junctions, and I often feel like a meatball at the bottom of a bowl of spaghetti! It doesn't seem to faze David too much, though, and so far he's done all the driving. Right now, going to the grocery store is an adventure (one we need to repeat tonight). Getting to the store isn't too scary, but getting back home again is a different matter. Too many of the roads are one-way, 55 miles an hour--the access roads are a whole new experience for me. A person can get directions to the store, but once they get there, they (if they're me, anyway) need directions to get back home! Lydia and Ann's friend Jennifer has been nice enough to send me directions, but they only get me to the place, not back home again.

Our apartment is very nice--living room/dining area combined, with a kitchen separated from that area by a large counter--very open. Nice carpeting, comfortable furniture, a good supply of kitchen utensils, nice appliances. The bathroom and bedroom are also a comfortable size, with good furnishings. David is really impressed with the size of the bathtub--he said he wants to take a bath in there for sure before he goes back to Kentucky. It ought to be about time for his spring bath when we leave, so he might get a chance. Our only complaint so far has been about the slowness of getting hooked up to the outside world through cable, etc. I finally played the invalid card on Tuesday evening, telling the woman who was supposed to be handling the hook-up that I was a diabetic and concerned about being stranded here without a local phone. If I had an emergency and called 911 from my cell phone, the emt's would have no idea where I was. That seemed to get results, since the guy showed up at 10:30 or so on Wednesday morning and got everything installed. Also, the woman called me back twice on Wednesday, once before he came and then again around noon, to make sure we had been taken care of!

A couple of other minor complaints--we're on the third floor of the building, which means there are 39 steps between us and the ground floor (and if a person wants to be picky, there are another 5 down to the parking lot!). The most I've left the apartment so far was four times on Tuesday, once to pick up a key to the apartment, then three more times to check the mail. I still don't know when it comes, since we didn't get any on Tuesday. I was told on Tuesday evening that you had to put your name inside the box in order for the mailman to leave mail. I had no clue about that. I figured having the apartment address was all they needed, really. Anyway, I finally figured out how to do that and am looking forward to at least having some junk mail today.

Back to the stairs. Going to the grocery store is an event, I already told you. Carrying the stuff up to the apartment is NO FUN. I tried just buying small sizes of everything, so that we could carry it in one trip. Only problem with that is, a person tends to run out! David and I have joked about rigging up a pulley system to haul it up over the balcony railing in a milk crate, and I'm telling you, that doesn't sound like a bad idea right now. Of course it involves two folks being there to make it work, one to load the crate on the ground floor and the other one to unload it at the top. David says he has a really long rope, so he might be seriously considering it.

We went to church last night at Jennifer's church here in San Antonio. It was a good experience, except for the breakneck drive to get there. I don't handle the traffic well, and I'm pretty white-knuckled by the time we get anywhere. Once we were at the church, though, the service was comfortable and familiar, and the folks were really friendly. We know that we will go back, at least on Sunday morning. Unless we see something we like when we're out exploring the area around us on Saturday, we will probably continue to go there. Like I said, the folks were really friendly. We may just have to pass on midweek services, as long as David is working overtime. He didn't get home yesterday until 5:30. We were supposed to be there for supper at 5:30, but we thought that maybe since they served until 6:30, we could get there in time to eat before the 6:30 service. By the time he had changed clothes and cleaned up (very minimally), it took us until almost 6:30 on the dot to get there. As a matter of fact, they were already singing the first hymn when we got into the service.

You can see we have a lot of exploring and adapting yet to do, but so far the experience has been good. David has had a really comfortable work experience so far. He's working as a quality inspector, making sure all the equipment that goes into the trucks is installed correctly. He seems to enjoy the folks he's working with, although he hasn't started telling me stories from the break room yet. I guess that's when I'll know he's settled in.

I hope all of you are enjoying being home, even if it is cold, raining, and without the over 100 cable channels we have here. Just remember, when you're envious, that at least you can go to the grocery store when you are almost out of toilet paper!

Love to all, and God bless.

Good thing I went home...

Monday evening David surprised me by telling me he had taken the day off on Tuesday. He had a bunch of things he needed to get done that he couldn't do after work, since he's been working until after 5 every day lately. That was nice to hear. Of course, I already had plans for Tuesday, but they didn't entail the whole day, so it was okay.

Tuesday morning he got to sleep late. I didn't have to get up until 8:30, in order to make the WMU meeting at 10:00, so we slept in. There was some controversy in the different sources I had checked as to the location of the meeting I was attending. Before I left, I had a couple of phone calls that were a little on the off-setting side, but nothing too serious. Things looked manageable.

I left for my meeting and spent way too long trying to find the house. I made the mistake of getting behind some sort of cherry-picker-type gadget that traveled at less than 5 miles an hour. One good thing about it...I got a good look at renovations around Georgetown College. When I finally got to the street where the meeting was supposed to be held, I couldn't find the house. Those of you who have never been in Georgetown may not understand this, but that street wasn't all that long! In addition, there were only houses on one side of the street. Anyway, after traveling the length of the street and back, I decided to call it quits and just skip the meeting. I headed home, avoiding getting behind the same cherry-picker again.

When I got to the house, I discovered we had company. I went in, found the company ensconced in the back room on the computer, and found David stranded in the bathroom after his shower. Turned out, since there was no one there except him, he hadn't bothered to take his clothes into the bathroom with him. I went to the bedroom and fetched him some pants and a shirt so that he could escape.

All I can say is, good thing I went home. He might still be in there.

New game

Go ahead. Waste your time. http://http://www.brandextract.com/catbowling/default.asp

President Obama Wins Nobel Prize

Wow. Hunh. I knew there was a reason I voted for him.

long time, no blog post...

Couple of things I want to blog about today. First is comfort food. What do you crave when you want something to comfort you? I usually eat popcorn, with butter and garlic salt. That would be my favorite food. I think it all goes back to the special times my mom and I spent watching TV (Batman and Dark Shadows) in the afternoon after school. She would pop some corn, give me a mixing bowl of it, take one for herself, and then end up dumping part of hers into my bowl. I thought she was so nice to share. I wouldn't do it then, and I'm still not a good sharer.

Another favorite food is saltine crackers. I like them three ways: plain, straight out of the package, broken up into milk, and with cheese slices on them, broiled under the broiler. Usually the only way I eat them now is plain, straight out of the box. I remember when they used to come four to a square, and I spent many an afternoon after school trying to eat just one cracker out of the square without destroying the whole thing. I did it, too, on occasion. Today I had crackers with cheese on them for lunch. I stood by the oven, watching the cheese slices bubble up, just like I had done when the kids were little and I would fix them cheese and crackers for lunch, to go with their soup.

Second topic of the day: the flu and football teams. I remember going to the infirmary at Georgetown College when I was a freshman--it was down in the basement of a no-longer-existing building, Rucker Hall. It was standing-room only that day, because of a stomach flu that was going around campus. Rumor had it that an entire case of Pepto-Bismal had been sent to the basement of Anderson Hall for the football team. Poor guys. I guess that was better than the time that they befriended the rabid kitten, though.

I hope everyone is having a great day! Love to all and God bless.

Technological burnout

I'm suffering from technological burnout. I am completely dissatisfied with the way my computer is performing--huge delays in loading stuff like gmail and facebook, then when loaded, neither works well. I can neither reply to nor forward email from the gmail account, and today I've been completely unable to access my aol account. When I try to compose new mail to send out, I can put in an address, type a subject line, and then I cannot write anything at all in the text box. It's so very, very frustrating!

On to more interesting, less depressing stuff...I have a date for the eye surgery, September 16. Now it's a matter of finding a driver (to Lexington) and finding someone to stay with me for 24 hours after the surgery. I don't think I'll need the person, but info from the surgery center says to arrange for someone to be there. And THAT means I have to clean the house. Shoot--back to depression.

I need to go eat something--my mood says give me food!

New hard drive

Out with the old, in with the new--except, boy, do I miss the old! My old hard drive had all sorts of stuff I loved on it! The old hard drive is still at the shop, although the new one is here and functional. The fellow at Computers 4 Less who installed the new hard drive after the BSoD appeared said he thought he might be able to recover some stuff from the old drive, but it was a sloooooooow process. He is going to give me a call after a few days with an update.

What do I miss off the old hard drive? Well, I miss the mail program I had. I still have access to my gmail account by going through Google, so I am not without email. However, I've lost the mail folders I had in the old program, in particular the one that chronicled Cora's and Cohen's births and growth through emails from their mama. I also had one like that for Jennifer, Ann, Everett, and Sam, in addition to some folders of other folks' kids and grandkids. Another miss, my humor/inspiration folder, where I stored neat emails and funnies I got from friends.

I miss my pictures. God knows how many pictures I had stored on here--all stored by Geron, of course, with some I received on email and added by just clicking on copy to gallery. The only problem with that was, I had no idea how to access the gallery, unless someone emailed me a picture and it just opened up. I'm guessing that gallery was somewhere on my old hard drive--boohoo, boohoo.

I miss the folders I had in Word, the "old lady's pocket book, geezer gear, honeymoon survival kit, and Daddy's diaper duty kits", the bazillion recipes (including the popcorn-stuffed chicken), the scriptures for Easter eggs, all the little stuff I used once in a while but will now have to recreate...what a drag!

And then we get to the bookmarks! I don't know if they can be recovered--maybe they don't need to be. But still--there's a potload of good websites marked there! The only blogs I have right now are the ones that are listed on the left of my blog page and ones I can access by going to those folks' blogs. That can get old after a while, I think, but I may be able to get a few of them back on here. I do hope so!

Last and least, I miss my solitaire and minesweeper. I've been wasting my time in other ways, like doing paperwork, studying my Sunday School lesson, and reading. How uplifting. I did get on Bejeweled Blitz today far too long, but it'd had been a while, folks, and I missed it!

But now I'm back, and aren't you all glad? Please write me and give me your blog address, if you don't mind. I guess I'll start a new blog folder! Love to all, and God bless!

Wacka Wacka Jing Ding?

When my children were still at home, it was a fad to wear a bracelet with the letters WWJD on it. I have a really pitiful habit of making things up, so bear with me when I tell you what I called those, "Wacka wacka jing ding?" bracelets.

I think more and more of us need to think about those bracelets and maybe start wearing something like them again. I was talking about them to David this morning, chuckling over the nickname, which I hadn't thought of in several years. Probably many of you know that WWJD actually stands for "What would Jesus do?" David, for sure the spiritual head of our house (well, second in command to God, of course), said, "That's not the important question. The important question is, 'What would I do if I realized Jesus were here in my presence?' And the reason is because He is! Amen!"

There are so many times we have a dilemma as to whether or not to do something which is acceptable, either way you look at it. This week I was supposed to go for a consultation with a local doctor concerning a surgery I need but is not life-threatening. Finally, the morning of the consultation, I decided to cancel the appointment. I believe my decision was influenced by the prayers of friends. After I canceled the appointment, I called my GP and asked for his recommendation for a surgeon for the procedure (which I know I should have done in the beginning). He gave me one, and it was not the doctor I had been scheduled to see--nor was it the one I had considered going to for a second opinion! Now I feel relatively comfortable that I made the right decision and have scheduled an appointment with Doctor #3. So much for removing myself from "the horns of the dilemma", which is a nasty place to be.

I don't know if the WWJD bracelet would have influenced my opinion or not. I did seriously think about the impact my cancellation might have on that particular doctor. For one thing, I am reasonably sure he is not a Christian, since he is from a country where Christians are a very small minority--maybe less than 2% of the population. He sees me on a regular basis, and he has already performed some surgery for me, surgery which I feel was successful, and I have referred friends to him. I will continue to go to him after this surgery, so he will know that I had it done. I wonder how I am going to explain to him that I chose to have someone else do the surgery.

These dilemmas are encountered every day. Do I shop here? Do I buy this? Do I allow my child to participate in that activity? Do I punish my child for something she thought was acceptable but I didn't approve? What would Jesus do? More importantly, what would I do if I realized I was in Jesus's presence? For I am! So I guess what I need is a "WWIDIIRIWIJP?" bracelet.

Love to all, and God bless.

Pictures from the build

I'm going to take the lazy man's way out on this, but mainly because of a camera "disaster". The first day on site, June 3, my water bottle leaked all over everything in my tote bag, including the camera. It isn't working yet, but I have hopes.

For those of you who are interested, here's a link to the official pictures. I hope you enjoy. Rather than going through all 500+ of them at one time, you might just want to look at page 1 and page 9 to see how we we went from a concrete block foundation to a pretty little house in just a little over 8 days. Love to all, and God bless.

We got back Saturday.

That's enough for now--I'll actually post something later. Love to all, and God bless.

We're leaving tomorrow.

Update: I worked with Vic and Geneva at Feed the Hungry today. Geneva thinks she is going to be able to go, after all--we're all glad to hear that!

David and I had a great time last summer participating in Extreme Build. There's probably a post about it in July 2008, somewhere. We enjoyed it so much, we wanted to do it again--which explains why we're leaving tomorrow.

Tomorrow afternoon we are going to McCreary County, Kentucky, to build a house with other folks for a family we don't know. The house is for a single mother with two sons, one of whom still lives at home. She managed to purchase a lot in the country near Whitley City, and her house will be built there. This week, June 3-5, is what they call the prebuild week, when the subfloor is installed and walls are built. Much of the work will begin in earnest on Saturday, June 6, when the walls are raised and the roof is installed.

Beginning on Monday, folks will be doing interior work (if all goes according to plans). There will be plumbers, electricians, plasterers, dry-wall hangers, people installing siding, and painters all over the place. Hopefully by the Saturday after next, June 13, the house will be ready for its new owners to move in.

David was a carpenter for 20 years before he began work at Toyota, and he dearly loves carpentry work. He has taken 10 days of vacation in order to participate. He is a team leader when the majority of the volunteers are there, June 5-13, but just a regular carpenter the rest of the time. He loves the work, the people, the area...and I love him. That's why we're going.

We will be living in a motel from June 2-June 13. Starting on June 5, almost all our meals will be communal. Our days will be long, hot, dirty, but very rewarding. Also again this year, we will have our son Everett there with us, from the 5-13th. That has been a great experience for us.

I'd like for you all to pray for Extreme Build. Here are some specifics:

1. That the weather will be cooperative. That matters really more for the first part of the build, when the roof isn't on the place, but we would love to have temperatures more near 80 than 100, like we had last year.
2. That David's health will hold up. Last year he had some serious problems with heat exhaustion (see above), before I started making a conscious effort to keep him hydrated and full of potassium.
3. That the other workers from our church will have a good experience. We have our good friend Gina Whittle going with us. Gina is a teacher in Scott County, married to Kenny, and the mother of a really neat girl, Taylor. Last year the entire family went. This year, Kenny was unable to get vacation time, so he and Taylor are staying home. Our other local team member, Vic Carr, is pushing 90. He's a great guy, and an example and role model for all the folks on the team. Please try to lift him up in prayer every day, as the work is hard on him, but he will NOT give up and quit going. This is at least his third trip to the Extreme Build. The other two years his wife, Geneva, went with us, but this year she doesn't feel up to the trip.
   
4. That we all get along. When we're living out of a motel room (well, three rooms when the other folks show up), tempers can raise their ugly heads. We need to learn to live together as a family, God's family, and this is one good way for us to practice doing this.

Well, I have a bunch of things to do today, since we're leaving tomorrow, and part of the day is occupied with a trip to Lexington for Feed the Hungry--that will take three hours or more. Sometime I'll have to tell you all about that.

Love to all, and God bless!

Memorial Day

I'm not much into schmaltz. However, I thought this link from my cousin Gayle was beautiful. It gave me goose bumps. Of course, I've always been a sucker for bagpipes.

We also went to McDonald's.

Yesterday I told you about going to Chattanooga to visit Cohen and Cora and their folks. Wednesday of last week was their anniversary. I took care of the kids that night while Lydia and Geron went on a date--according to Geron, the first date they'd had since Cohen was born! I contemplated ordering a pizza for supper, but instead decided to take the kids to McDonald's.

I told you in yesterday's blog about the difficulties of getting Cohen into that car seat--a bowling ball with legs (and chubby ones, at that). Cora wasn't so hard, since she no longer is in a five-point harness. About three or four miles into the trip, Cora started wondering where Mommy/Daddy were. I told her they were on a date, but we were going to McDonald's. McDonald's wasn't exactly where I remembered it, and I guess the ride seemed a little long to her. She got excited when she saw "my McDonald's".

She was really good about not running away from me in the parking lot, which was helpful, since I had to haul the bowling ball and his diaper bag (which seemed to weigh almost as much as he did). Ordering was not a problem, finding a table was not a problem, trying to figure out what to do about the drinks was a little more challenging, but still not a problem. The first problem arose when, true to form, two minutes into the meal, Cora announced, "I need to go potty." As we say at our house, strange terlet syndrome. So I hauled Cohen out of the high chair, grabbed my purse, and took them to the bathroom. She really didn't need to go, which was good, because I sort of had my hands full with her brother.

She had chicken McNuggets. The McDonald's had a play area. I told her she had to eat her McNuggets before she could go to the play area. She cooperated and ate the two she had on the table. Then she crawled on the floor and picked up the other two that she had dropped down there. I stopped her before she ate them. She got her straw off the floor and stuck it back in her cup before I caught her on that. Anyway, the meal was over, so we went to the play area.

She seemed just a little hesitant at first about climbing around with the other kids, but pretty soon I spotted her feet coming out of one of the tunnel slides. She seemed contented, the kids who were there were playing nicely, and I just smiled and basked in being the grandma of two extra cute little kids. A little girl younger than Cora came over to me pretty soon pushing a high chair, which I figured was for Cohen. I thanked her but kept him in my lap.

We planned to go from McDonald's to their church for the Wednesday evening service and children's activities. About twenty minutes before time for the service to start, I decided to call Cora out of the play area. She was nowhere in sight, which puzzled me, but I figured she was in a tube slide and would pop out in a minute. After waiting for a couple of minutes, I spotted her up at the top of the tower, with a little boy not a lot older than her holding onto her legs. He wasn't going to let her go. She didn't seem upset at all. I called up to him to let her go--he stared at me for about half a second and let go of her. Pretty soon she had climbed down and we were ready to leave.

On the way out the door with bowling ball (who can be pretty slippery at times), the diaper bag, and Cora, I realized my pants had come untied. Cohen was wiggling and kicking, and the danger of losing the pants appeared to be imminent. I had no clue what to do, since both hands were pretty much involved holding on to kids. Somehow I got a grip on them with the baby hand, and we made it into the car. Then I got the bowling ball buckled up, tied my pants back up, got Cora into the car, and decided I would NEVER go to McDonald's with them by myself again--at least not until Cohen is the one who says "I need to go potty".

Love to all, and God bless.

We went to Dollar General

Last Tuesday I drove to Chattanooga to see the grandbabies. It was a great trip, all around. The driving was good--I only got lost once, and that was on the way home when I wasn't paying attention to road signs and missed a turn on TN 61. I even made it through the two roundabouts in Chattanooga on the first try! Everyone seemed to be reasonably healthy, we weren't too rushed, the babies were beautiful...

Wednesday, I kept both children all day by myself. This was the first time I had ever attempted that, and it was a very good day. Actually, Geron had Cohen part of the day--he took him to the doctor in the morning and was gone less than an hour. While he was gone, Cora and I went to Dollar General. Of all the things we did, I think Cora enjoyed that the most.

Highlights of the babysitting day for me:

• Actually having both children asleep at the same time for their afternoon naps! Cohen woke up crying once, so I took him into the living room and held him while I watched Days (my favorite soap).
  
• Fixing lunch for Cora--we took a look at the fridge, and she picked "leaf" for her lunch. For the uninitiated, that was a salad, spinach and baby lettuce. I asked her what kind of "ketchup" she wanted on it. She spotted the container of sour cream, and insisted that was what she wanted. I put some on her salad. We sat there while she tried it. Then she pushed it away and said, "I don't like this, it's not good." Well, duh, I could have told her that!
• Going outside in the afternoon to play for a few minutes. It was a little bit of a hassle to get them out the door, since I was taking Cohen's walker. He got all excited when he saw his shoes--I'm not sure why, but he really was jumping around. Once we were out in the back yard, I put him in his walker on the driveway. He showed me how different he was from his sister by taking off like a streak down the extremely gradual incline of the driveway. After chasing him down, I put him and the walker on the grass. He really liked the driveway better, but the grass was okay.
  
• Figuring out how to get Cohen into his carseat. His mom said I didn't have him far enough in the seat, but I think it's just really, really hard to get a five-point harness on a bowling ball with legs!

When Cora and I were reviewing for her mama what we had done, the highlight of the day for her was the trip to Dollar General. I'm glad that she'll have that memory. Love to all, and God bless.

Birdie, part 3, and other stuff

My bird is healing. I've stopped wearing a bandage, stopped using the antibiotic ointment, and stopped treating it like an invalid. Of course it is ugly, but it works for all purposes, including letting folks know that I'm angry.

Life is good. I had a pretty busy week, lots of volunteer stuff. Monday was Hispanic Initiative and a lecture on bed bugs--seems one of the Hispanics had a problem with them, and one of our board members felt we all needed to know how to treat the problem if it arose again. Tuesday, BW's circle meeting at church and a shopping trip to Kohl's, where I probably tried on 12 garments before finally leaving with a pair of capri pants. Wednesday, the entire day in Louisville with hospital auxiliary volunteers for a conference--the highlights of the trip were the rides to and from Louisville. I met a couple of fascinating people, both volunteers at the local hospital: a woman whose husband had been a couterie (I sure hoped I spelled/got the right word there) for stage productions on Broadway in New York--I hope that word means fashion designer; and a very nice Black woman who could trace her family lineage back to slavery--it was almost like riding with Alex Haley to listen to her talk. Thursday, the final day of Friendship for the year--I'm really going to miss it. I made friends with a sweet lady who was the nahneh (Chinese for grandmother, I think) of a great little kid called Charlie. Last week, she brought me a little red silk pouch which I decided was probably a necklace, and I wore it on Thursday. I bought her a small cross magnet with some sort of quote on it about friends being a blessing. She was very touched, but not as touched as I had been the week before. I am going to miss those folks this summer! Friday, another auxiliary meeting and gym class, then a lot of just plain loafing!

Did anyone watch the Preakness? I thought it was really neat that both Rachel Alexandra and Mine the Bird were in the money at the end of the race. Mine the Bird is so impressive with his last-minute runs--he actually got within a half length of Rachel Alexandra, after she had led the entire race! It was terrific to see him coming from so far back--nothing got in his way. I really love racing, during the Triple Crown, but the rest of the year, I don't care beans about it. I've only been to two live races, both harness races, and I won money at both of them. (Not much--don't church me! $2 bets on the favorite to show doesn't exactly make you rich, but you do get to cash in tickets!)

Next week is going to be busy, too. I'm heading for Chattanooga on Tuesday to see Cora's end-of-the-year school program, then staying over until Thursday so I can give Geron and Lydia a night out on the town. I do love the grandbabies, and apparently Mr. Cohen is mobile now, not stationary, so it will be interesting. He's also talking, saying "da da", at least.

I hope you all are having some great weeks! Love to all, and God bless.

My bird (part 2)

Thios ios a continuation of the previous postk, about my poor bird.

I went to see Dr B today at 9:15 for a procedure to see what is going on with Birdl. He numbed my finger, whi9ch was by far the most painful part of the procedure. Then he left me alone in the procedure room with my book for at least half an hour or longer to allow the numbing medication to work. I got several chapters into High Fiovekl by Janet Evanovich, whoich was probably the best part of the morning. I( also got to talk to my cousin Martha for a few minutes, a pleasant way to pass the ti9me,l amd made plans to attend a shower for her frst grandbaby this-coming Saturday.

When Dr B finally got back into the room, he called for a backup nurse and directed her to wrap a rubber band around my finger. Then he proceded to remove a portion of the nail bed and poke and prod around there until he finally located just what he suspected, a synovi9al cyst in the joint. He removed a portion of that for lab analyss, bandaged me up and removed the rubber band.

Now I'm sitting here with a rather bulky bandage on bird over the top of a more reasonable band aid--he was just going to put the band aid on it, but I compalined, and he wrapped iot up more impressively. By Monday or Tuesday we should hear from the biopsy, which we assume wll be just fine. Then in about a month, if the nail has starightedned out, he figures this episode will be over. If not, he figures he'll be sending me to a hand doctor to let them do anything else that may need doing.

I'm trying to milk as much sympathy as I can out of this finger, which is currently gi9ving me no pa8ingl--oauib--pauib, not hurting. It's just hard to type. Love to all, and God bless.

Let me tell you about my bird

No, it's not a pet bird. For a few brief moments last week, I thought maybe I might have a pet bird in the making. See, I saw a pretty blue robin's egg on the grass under our pear tree. God had been hiding Easter eggs for me to find! Unfortunately, the egg was cracked, so there went my pet robin.

The bird I'm talking about is the bird finger on my right hand, you know, the one you put up in the air when you're upset with your teacher or when someone cuts you off in traffic, or when you're just really mad in general. My bird is sick.

I had a doctor's appointment about two months ago. When such visits are uneventful, as that one was, I tend to forget when they were. Anyway, before the appointment, I had been noticing a change in the nail on that one finger. For one thing, it had a pronounced vertical ridge in it. For another, there was a white streak the length of the nail. So while I was seeing the doctor anyway, I decided to ask him if the changes were anything I needed to be concerned about.

He took a look at it and said, "Hmmmm, that's interesting." Then he said, "If there's anything you don't want to be to your doctor, it's interesting." He really didn't have any idea what was causing the ridge or the color variation, but neither of us were particularly concerned, especially me, after he said he didn't know of any serious condition for which it might be a symptom. Then a little later, I read an article on line where someone was talking about a vertical ridge in their nail, and they had patched it with super glue, and all seemed to be well. Several folks wrote in to comment that they had the same thing--aaah, a common problem! And someone even went far enough to say that ridges in fingernails were like wrinkles in faces. Not to worry.

Then things changed. For one thing, the joint below that nail got sore. For another, a red place developed, in the area right below the nail. And then last week, the nail started to separate from the nail bed. So finally on Wednesday, I called and made another doctor's appointment, just to talk about my fingernail.

This time I saw a different doctor, and he spent a few minutes poking, prodding, and hmmming over the nail (and finger). Then he said, "There's something under that nail, causing the problem. I suspect a cyst on the joint." Yuk. Then he said, "What I think I need to do is numb your finger, remove a piece of the nail right here (and pointed to the moon area), open this area up (pointing to the red area), and see what's down there." Yuk. Yuk. "Then if there's pus, we'll drain it out. And if there's something that we need to biopsy, I'll take a piece of it and send it off." Yuk. Yuk. Yuk.

So next Wednesday, if you see me walking around with my middle finger in the air (wearing a big bandage, I assume), you'll know why. It doesn't sound like fun.

Everyone go take a look at your birds and make sure they look normal to you. Love to all, and God bless.

Has it been long enough?

I got an email recently entitled "enough". I'm sure many of you have seen it, since it's made the rounds plenty of times. The gist of the email is that one person wishes another enough. I like that concept, just enough--not too much, because that can cause problems, not less than enough--just enough. Is this enough of a post? Probably not.

Life recently has been good enough. My health and David's has been good enough (at least as far as we know). We've had enough food, enough time, enough friends, enough money, enough heat, enough joy, enough trauma, enough rain, enough sun, enough of everything.

Of course we could still want more, but then would we be satisfied? I doubt it. I think I even have enough satisfaction right now.

And now I think I've written enough. Love to all, and God bless.

Dogku

This was composed in honor of my son.

Bark bark bark bark bark
Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark
Bark bark bark bark crap.

So what's new?

For starters, I got hooked on Facebook (thank you so much, children) and spend WAAAAAAAAAAAY more time there than I do on my blog now (poor deserted thing). It's all right, though, I believe this inanimate blog will forgive me! (How's that for an oxymoronic idea?)

On to life in general...It's been good. I had something that resembled a cold while the rest of the county was running around with something that resembled the flu. It looks like we are all recovering, and I didn't have to go see a doctor; I only opened a new box of Kleenex. It's starting to look like my mother's house here now, with boxes of tissues in every room. I also had a visit to the dentist that did not go without trauma--while the hygienist was flossing my teeth after the cleaning, she managed to flip the back off a Lumineer on one of my front teeth. The dentist was able to replace it that day, but, with the exception of the wonderful gas, that was an experience I DON'T want to repeat anytime soon--and then I had to have a filling (I got that yesterday). Yuck.

Family news around here is mixed. My cousins in Louisville are doing well. Cousin-in-law Dexter celebrated his 91st birthday the other day (the birthday was the 3rd, and we celebrated on the 6th). That was a good time for all involved. ReeRee, another Louisville cousin, was with her son when his new daughter came into the world the next day.

Aniel seems to be fine. We got to spend Valentine's Day weekend with them, which involved a road trip somewhere looking for shoes plus an entire day shopping. We also got a chance to visit with their friends Santosh, Dora, and Grace (they have a fourth family member now, beautiful Gloria). Aniel and the royal family are leaving on vacation today to Gulf Shores (more specifically, Orange Beach), and I hope theyall have a fantastic time!

The royal family is okay. We spent the weekend of the first Sunday of Lent at the palace. The Wee One is wonderful and performing all sorts of tricks, such as eating anything you put on a spoon--except mashed potatoes! (Go figure.) The Princess informed me this week, "Granny, I have to have surgery." (Big word for a two year old, isn't it?) When I asked her why, she replied, "My ears are broke." She has frequent ear infections and has had a lot of antibiotics this winter, so the ENT suggested removal of her adenoids, as well as replacement of tubes. Her mom said Co failed her first and only hearing test to date. David and I had suspected her hearing was not good when we were visiting--what family took as terrible two stubbornness, we saw as perhaps a hearing impairment. The doctor thinks the impairment will vanish after the surgery, and that's our prayer, too.

Update on Cora's ears and hearing from Lydia: She has had hearing exams before at the ENT's office and has passed them. The doctor said the reason she probably failed this recent one was because she'd had a recent infection and probably still had fluid on her ears. He has NOT diagnosed her as having a hearing impairment. Following her surgery, she will have routine tests done over the next couple of months to check her hearing. We are expecting them to be fine and for her to pass them. I have a hard time believing a little girl who can sing in key and keep the melody going could have a hearing impairment. Also, for someone who is two and can say Chattnooda, I'd say she does pretty well. I may be in denial, but I really don't think that is the case.

Bubba received rotten news at a meeting yesterday at TIU. The recession has finally hit too close to home, and his job disappeared. Fortunately, he got six-weeks' pay and two-months' coverage of his COBRA benefits, but the job that he loved, the one that was created just for him, is no more. He is in mourning. He has no plans right now, other than to clean out his office. He figures he'll get around to planning later. Jokingly, his father suggested on Thursday (before the Friday meeting), that he might want to think of ministry to the homeless! What was funny on Thursday is too close for comfort on Friday and Saturday.

Future plans for Monkey Mama include a trip to Chattanooga to care for the Princess after her surgery. The surgery will be March 25, and I know prayers will be appreciated. We've been told she will be back at full throttle in two or three days--I would predict two or three hours, if that long. The child has only two gears: overdrive and park. That should be fun.

The week that includes April Fool's Day, David will be home on vacation. We have guests coming in from Minnesota/Chicago that week for three days (Monday-Thursday). We're going to put up some nails around the computer room and hang 1 medium-sized and 2 little boys from the nails--I need to tell their mommy to be sure and dress them in overalls so that we don't put holes in their shirts! I figure we can turn the port-a-crib over on top of the two-year-old girl to contain her. Then we can put the parents in the guest room and poor Bubba on the couch, which is where he usually ends up when he comes down anyway. It looks like a good time is in the works!

Nearly forgot! I had a birthday! Thanks to all the friends from facebook who sent greetings. In addition, I got to work at Friendship that morning and spent considerable time with a little fellow named Charlie. That afternoon, I got to work at the front desk at the hospital with my second-Thursday pal, Frances, and that was enjoyable. David took me out to supper at our favorite Chinese restaurant Thursday night, and when our bill came, the bill was missing! The owners had treated us. Very, very nice! That evening I had phone calls from all my children, my grandchildren, and two of my adopted children, which was great. I got a video of the Princess singing happy birthday and a second video of Sippy's class wishing a happy birthday to "Mrs. Brown's mom." And of course there were cards...An absolutely wonderful day, folks!

I hope this sort of catches you up with what has been going on with me. Love to all, and God bless.

Back to Judas...and temptation

I think I'm going to start looking for references to Judas in the New Testament. My faulty memory tells me that, other than when the disciples are listed by name, we don't know that we encounter him, except at the Lord's supper and the betrayal.

I wonder why it has been so hard to accept the fact that Satan could enter into a follower of Christ. Satan tempted Christ Himself. He tempts us all, each and every day. I thought back to the first mention of temptation, when Satan tempted Eve. Remember how she told him that they had been forbidden to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Up until that moment, everything they had done had been good, no question about it--because they didn't have a clue what "good" meant! Everything in that garden was put there for their benefit and enjoyment. God had given them one rule--just one. "Don't eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil." Until that moment, there had been no reason for 10 commandments, Mosaic law, or codes of Hammurabi--that was it. One rule.

And Eve broke it. Why? Because Satan tempted her into using her human brain (also a gift of God, by the way) to try to think through a situation that didn't need thought. She did not need to think about this, folks. God told her, very simply, "Don't do it." But just like a child, she had to try to figure out WHY God had told her this, and WHY shouldn't she do it. She probably already had learned that if you ate too many kumquats, you didn't feel good the next day--natural consequences. If you ate too many persimmons, you couldn't whistle. If you took a nap in the poison ivy--oh, wait, maybe there wasn't any poison ivy in the garden. So Eve probably already knew a few things she shouldn't do.

But this one thing that God had told her she MUST not do--that was a different matter. 'I wonder why I shouldn't do that. I wonder what that fruit makes you do. It looks good--I've recovered from the kumquats and the persimmons--I didn't die. And then Satan told me, surely I won't die--what's death, anyway?' And Eve chose (remember she had the freedom to choose--she probably chose to eat that last kumquat that day) to eat of the tree. Her curiosity got the better of her. And then she told Adam to try it. And he chose to do that.

So why is it difficult to believe that a Christ-follower couldn't be tempted? We don't know the specifics of Judas' temptation, like we do about Christ and Eve. Think, folks. There are ways that we as Christ-followers could be tempted to do what Satan suggests. What if he were told that by the betrayal, he could further Christ's kingdom? Remember, he knew those scriptures...or at least he may have. He probably had at least heard that the Christ must be betrayed, that the Christ must die...and he may not have come to grasp the fact that Christ's kingdom would not be earthly. I believe there might have been a way that I could have been tempted...how about you? Talk amongst yourselves, and share your thoughts on this. Love to all, and God bless.

SS Sidetrack of the day

Okay, today's lesson was on John 17, the prayer of Jesus after the last supper. We started discussing Judas Iscariot, and what was his final outcome. I guess I might have been under the impression that Judas would be burning in Hell through all eternity for actually betraying the Son of God.

Then I started to think about Judas' part in Jesus's ministry. He is seldom mentioned by name when Jesus is talking about the disciples, yet we know he was one of the twelve. When Jesus commissioned the twelve to go out and witness, Judas went with them. Judas was there when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, he was there when Jesus fed the five thousand, he was there when Jesus calmed the angry storm...He witnessed a lot of healings, casting out of demons, saw the money changers driven from the temple...

Do you suppose that Judas made a u-turn after he betrayed Jesus? We know that he took the 30 pieces of silver back to the temple and attempted to return it. When the priests wouldn't accept it, he flung it on the floor and then went out and killed himself. Many of us have heard of death-bed confessions; the thief on the cross was told that he would be in Paradise with Jesus. Some of Jesus's last words were "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." I wonder if Judas might have been one of those folks Jesus was asking God to forgive.

Just a sidetrack, but it left us wondering today. Love to all, and God bless.

My chance to help

I just got an opportunity to help an African orphan! My daughters' friends, the Prossers, are in the process of adopting a little girl from Africa. They have a pretty novel idea on how to start raising money for airline tickets--I'm going to help them with this. You might want to check out this link and see if you could possibly help, too. Love to all, and God bless.

Tonight's insight

I've been having a problem lately with internet stories that I hear and can't follow up. These aren't the urban legend stuff, but rather stories about particular children or families who have been affected by tragedy, much like the Australian blogger who had been separated from her husband by the horrific wildfires down there.

Tonight at supper, I talked for a while to our youth pastor's wife. She and her husband just adopted a child from China. I've been following their story on their blog, as well as from updates we receive at church. Recently she posted a link to pictures of other children in China who are awaiting adoption. I wanted to adopt them all! She said she knew how I felt.

I told her about a blog post I had seen with a link to a video about a couple of small children in Africa. These children had polio, which had left them paralyzed from the waist down. They were just lying in the sun, on the dirt, in the middle of a very small village. No one seemed to be interested in them or their needs. Then a third child, who appeared to be a little older than the two, showed up with a bucket of water. She had walked over two miles to fetch back some water so that she could bath the two children, who were her brother and sister. She carefully washed them and then put their clothes back on them.

The folks who made the video found out that this older child was only 8 years old. Why she was the one who was responsible for the care of these children, we don't know. What they did at night, if they had a home where they were taken in, we don't know. The film crew were investigating the details and were going to see to the care of the children. I told my son in law about this video this past weekend. He said there were many children like that in his home country.

Folks, my heart is hurting from seeing stories like these. I told the pastor's wife that sometimes I think the internet is a curse! I get worried about these little folks, and there is NOTHING I can do for them. So very, very sad. She told me she felt internet was useful, as it allowed us to know about things like this--and maybe there was something we could do.

Then, at prayer time, I had what I call a revelation. By feeling so helpless in this situation, I was limiting the power of God. I felt God could only do what I was able to help him do, that if I could not help him physically in this situation, there was nothing He could do. Me, the one who is always talking about how we mustn't limit God to our human abilities! It dawned on me that when I prayed for these children, God used my prayers to help them. He found workers around them, much like the big sister with the bucket of water and the film crew, to meet their needs. Maybe the reason I am seeing all these things now is that God wants me to be more of a prayer warrior and NOT to doubt His ability to meet the needs of His children!

Anyway, that's my take on the matter. I still want to know what happened to the woman in Australia, the children in Africa, and if the children in China will be adopted, but I also know that I can pray for them and all the other little children and hurting folks in the world. That the power of prayer is much greater than my human appreciation of it.

I will keep praying, and never doubt God. Love to all, and God bless.

Afghanistan

If you're wondering about the purpose of sending troops into Afghanistan, read Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. I just finished them last month, and they have changed my thinking in a big way.

A prayer request from Australia

It's not a small world, is it? So much going on, so many folks suffering...Today I was skimming through my email and opened a letter from a quilting site. There was an interesting link, showing a pyramid doorstop--nothing I was interested in making, but still, there might be something else on the woman's sight. So I clicked on home...

I guess you're like most of us, you've heard bits and pieces of news lately. I just happened to hear, this morning, about a series of wild fires in Australia. We have a little interest in Australia around here, because of David sitting on a jury that tried a case involving Australians several years ago. I didn't pay a lot of attention to the story, though.

Well, this blog with the pyramid doorstop was written by a woman in Australia, from the state where the wild fires were taking place. And she was living this experience that I had just heard about on the news. And her husband might well be one of the 130+ people who were either dead or missing. She had no news as to his whereabouts. Her eight-year-old son was with his grandparents in another city, and she was sitting close to what used to be her home, trying to stay sane, and hoping to get some word about her missing husband. I don't really think her name is important at this point, but if you want more details, here is her blog.

I am continuously amazed at the way God connects me to folks who need prayer--someone I don't know, half a world away. The poignancy of her situation really got to me as I skimmed over a few older posts and saw a picture of new coffee mugs she had just purchased a few days back, one that said Princess, another that said Stud. That day, those mugs were worthy of posting. Now I am following her blog to see if Stud is still alive.

Do you find yourself forming connections with folks around the world, folks you've never met? Love to all, and God bless.

Update: Tuesday morning, when I went to check on these folks, the blog "All it took" had been removed. I'm not sure what happened there, but I do pray that Stud was found, and that soon life will be moving toward normal for their family.

Yes We Can

I spend too much time fooling around with simple video games and the like. This week, AARP had one that was right up my alley. If you would like to help our new president "put the pieces together," click here. It took me two tries, but I finally accomplished it. I know you can do better than that. Love to all, and God bless.

Almost February

Monday is one of David's favorite holidays, Groundhogs Day. He is one of the few people I know (personally--I know there are folks in PA) who celebrates the 2nd of February. He even hangs a stocking and encourages the other folks at work to do that, too. He has yet to have someone take him up on it.

We have ice here, much, much ice. And snow--more snow than usual. I have not been outside the door of this house since Monday! I started to write since Tuesday, but after careful review, realized I didn't go out on Tuesday either. David even stayed home from work on Wednesday with the sanction of the company. They were not going to run the line, so he didn't have to be there. We talked a bit about the olden days, when we had a mortgage payment, car payments, and kids in college--he would have gone in then, for sure. He could get out--after all, he got home okay on Tuesday, didn't he? I remember one day years ago when he was carpentering, and he got all the way to Lexington before he decided to turn around and come home. Yes, the main roads were clear, but if he got into the subdivision, he might not have been able to get out again.

Lexington is really suffering from the ice storm of 2009. This one isn't as bad as the one of 2003, probably because Lex lost a lot of trees and limbs back in '03 so there weren't as many to fall this time. However, folks are without power.This time, the storm got as far south as Berea (and maybe beyond). Folks in Madison County are without power, unable to get around--much like Lexington in '03. We haven't yet had a problem with power outages, probably because of underground utilities in our subdivision. For sure, the power company probably wouldn't have been here by now if we had. Today was the first day the road has been plowed since Tuesday. Plowed, and a large pile of snow in front of our house. I can't help but think how the kids would have delighted in "snow mountain"--I remember how much they loved the dirt mountains in the neighborhood where houses were being constructed.

All in all, I guess we're doing okay. We have food, milk, an untouched loaf of bread, and heat. We'll have to get out to the grocery today, though--we're out of raisins and bananas. At our house, that's a serious outage--I don't know what David would do without his 3-5 bananas a day! And I refuse to eat my oatmeal without raisins, or at least canned peaches--and they're gone, too. I had hoped to make it until next Wednesday (Senior Citizen's Day at Kroger's), but I guess I'm going to have to break down and go over there. Oh well.

I hope all my readers are well and warm--Love to all, and God bless.

My own private amber alert

If there's anyone out there in cyberspace reading this blog today, particularly anyone near my home, please tell David to contact me! I have no idea where he is, and, as he himself would say, it's a plum puzzlement! Love to all, and good night.

Update: David showed up a couple of minutes after I posted this--he had been out to supper with a couple from church. I don't think it would have bothered me so much, if I had been home--but since I was in San Antonio, I was really concerned about him. Anyway, all's well that ends, isn't it?

Any suggestions?

I am leaving for San Antonio next Tuesday. This is the first time I've flown since 9/11--Heck, it's the first time I've flown in the last decade and a half! I'm not much of a traveler. I know one way to fly happily, and that involves alcohol. Help!