FOUR GENERATIONS!

During the holidays we were blessed to have 4 generations together. My husband and I were the oldest. It was a joy to see Christmas through the eyes of the great grandchildren. Two babies were born this past year.

I'm kinda run out of stories, unless you can come up with an idea. I will still get on here and chat a bit. May the New Year bring you much joy and happiness! Our love,

I'M BACK!

This has been a busy month for me as I have copied all the stories out and put them in a binder to give a copy of each to our grandchildren. What a job that was. I didn't realize that I had written so many and to copy off that many copies took most of the month. They are all bound and there were 2 volumes of stories. Whoa! Of course they covered over six generations, so there would be a lot of memories.

The cover page that I wrote was as follows: I suppose there is a way to copy and paste but haven't learned all those little details yet.

TO MY GRANDCHILDREN AND THOSE THAT FOLLOW:

When I first started out in writing a blog, I had no idea what I was going
to write about. I had asked Carol to help me set this up so I could learn to
use the computer in a new way. She told me I had to have a title and it went
on from there. I wondered if it was a good idea to expose my entire life,
"warts and all" so others can read it. Then I realized how important it was
to write down my "memories".

I have often wondered what my grandparents thought when they came
over to this country, not knowing how to speak our language nor the culture
of a new land. What did my grandparents think when they took their entire
family in a covered wagon with 3 children under the age of three to homestead in
Nebraska in 1887? They were too busy to write these things down and we
will never know the complete details. I have a few snippets of their
thoughts, but if I don't write them down, they will be lost in this generation.

In the scripture Psalms 102:18 it states--"This shall be written for the
generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the
Lord." In Joel 1:3 it states--"Tell your children of it, and let your children
tell their children, and their children another generation."

Just as the Israelites of long ago, told each generation of how God
worked in their behalf, we should do likewise.

I tried to write each story down as accurately as God gave me the
memory of what happened. We can always learn from our experiences (good
and bad) so we can see God's answer to our prayers, His provision, His
protection and guidance in our life.

My purpose in jotting these down is to help you as you read the stories,
laugh with me and perhaps shed a tear or two as I try to convey God's
awesome love for us.

Hopefully, you can see a pattern exposed as the years unfold in how God
was at work in details of our life. Some things we still don't understand but
someday on the other side we will see clearly. Enjoy reading my memories!
I love each and every one of you! Grandma

DECEMBER 1, 2009!

Where did this year go? The fall leaves are all raked up and Thanksgiving over and now it is close to Christmas.

We put up the tree yesterday and getting around to doing our Christmas Cards, etc. I checked over my list and I think there were 6 or 7 that passed away since last Christmas that we sent cards to. Whoa!! This trend isn't good!

If I don't get to writing on this, you know that I am busy. Just wait and I will start up again.
We can only navigate on S L O W speed these days.

WISDOM--"CHRIST IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON" AND "WISE MEN STILL SEEK CHRIST".

TABLE OVERFLOWING!

Our older daughter had Thanksgiving yesterday and her table was overladen with every kind of food you could think of.

A sampling of each dish made my plate loaded down. I ended up too full to even eat dessert, which is a rarity indeed.

This year we had an addition to our family and she was "Our tiny One". She is already six months old and again she hardly cried at all. One happy baby!! A few stories ago, I had written about her baptizm.

After visiting, games, and video games, we settled back to our own homes with great memories.

We did have one person that we hadn't met and he was our youngest granddaughter's friend. He seemed to enjoy the family and we all were happy to meet him. He was friendly and seemed to be right at home. He was very likable and all the family had favorable comments. We are looking forward to more family get-to-gathers in the future.

Wisdom--After so much "fun and games" it is nice to curl up with a book to read and wind down and give thanks for all of God's daily blessings.

ONE DOWN AND ONE TO GO!

Thanksgiving day this year was spent at our younger daughters home. As I have mentioned before, she has a knack at making "Holidays" very special.

The menu they had was: Smoked turkey, dressing, cranberries, chalet green beans, avocado/fruit green salad, mashed potatoes & gravy, candied sweet potatoes, broccoli casserole, specialty bread, chocolate-raspberry pie, chocolate pecan pie, and pumpkin pie. A feast fit for a king.

It was so good to see our grandchildren and great grandchildren. We played games after the children were put to bed. Our "Cutie" was a tad sick when he was put to bed, but today he is full of life and back to normal.

Oh yes, I wanted to mention that a new arrival came to their home this year. A baby girl (God's gift) and she is crawling and standing. What joy these little ones are to a family!!

Wisdom--Cherish the moments in life, as they are fleeting at best! Now on to another home and another cherished day at our other daughter's home.

MOST THANKFUL THANKSGIVING!

While I was in the hospital, they scheduled open heart surgery. I asked the nurse, "What if I have another heart attack during surgery?" She said, that the doctors would be right there and would take care of me. That satisfied my question for the moment.

The morning of the surgery, they did all the prep work that they were scheduled to do. I laid in bed and since I have tried to memorize scripture from the bible, I would ponder over all the promises God had written in His Word. He promised that he will never leave or forsake me. (Hebrews 13:5). I repeated the 23rd Psalm in my thoughts as I laid waiting to go to surgery. So many scripture verses ran through my head that morning and a "FLOOD OF PEACE" filled my very being. I knew that whether I lived or I died I would be with JESUS, which was all I needed to know.

I'm confident that my blood pressure had reflected that "TOTAL PEACE" that I felt that morning as I mulled over in my mind all the scripture verses that I could recall to memory.
God was going to be with me in surgery, I did not have to face this alone.

They performed triple by-pass surgery and they took me to intensive care for the first part of my recovery. During this time I was in ICU my family would come in and visit. My "Special grandson" and his sister (Sweetie Pie) came in together a short time. I was wired up to so many wires and could hardly speak. I noticed as they were leaving that my grandson was laying outside of the ICU door (glass wall) on a stretcher and the nurses was having him drink orange juice. I realized after that incident that hospital life wasn't quite his "cup of tea". I must have looked like "death warmed over" that day.

Each day, I proceeded to get better and was removed to a regular hospital room. They would have me walk each day to build up my strength.

They dismissed me a day or two before Thanksgiving Day that year. Of course, I was in no shape to celebrate Thanksgiving with the rest of the family. My husband cooked some soup for me and I can truthfully tell you, that was the best Thanksgiving Dinner I have ever eaten in my life! The soup was so-oooo good and I was so-oooo thankful for God's protective hand on my life. The quiet day was really just what the doctor ordered! Thank you to my husband for such good care.

I received therapy after I came home and each week was better than the week prior. Each month was better than the previous month and by the next Thanksgiving, I was as good as new.

Wisdom--One doesn't have to have a lot of "stuff" to be thankful. Christ and His love and provision was all I needed that year to be perfectly content. It truly was the MOST THANKFUL THANKSGIVING EVER! I was thankful for such a loving family that cared for me, also.

DENTIST OR DOCTOR?

This was the question that I asked myself about 10 years ago. I will try to tell you about the sequence leading up to this below.


It was a Sunday evening no different than any other, but I went to bed early as I just wasn't feeling up to par. In the middle of the night I woke up and was still feeling rather "puny". My chest seemed to be not in sync and my heart was beating rather irregularly. I had my husband listen and he said it didn't seem to be sounding normal. I had no pain, but was feeling rather funny.


I fell back to sleep and on Monday morning I woke up and knew I had a dentist appointment early and proceeded to get ready for that. All the time, my mind kept thinking, if I didn't have this dentist appointment, I would go to the doctor about the underlying problem I had during the night.


Off to the dentist I went (which was about 10 miles away). They were going to clean my teeth and ex ray them. I opted out of the ex ray, since I wasn't up to par. This dentist gave five percent discount if you paid on the day of your appointment. That was great so I was writing out the check and noticed that my chest was hurting a bit.


I went back to the car where my husband was, and told him that perhaps we need to go back to our doctor (10 miles back). I thought that going to the emergency room (which we drove right past) was really a bit much, since I wasn't used to pampering myself.


During the 10 mile ride, my chest seemed to be getting worse. I hadn't mentioned this on the ride to the doctors office since I wanted us to arrive safely. I told my husband to let me off at the doctor's front door and then he could park the car.


Upon going into see the doctor I told the nurse I needed to speak to the nurse. She asked me if I had an appointment. I told her that I didn't. I stood there for a few minutes and nothing happened, so I told the receptionist that I was having chest pain. Well now, I not only got one nurse immediately, but the doctor and the whole crew. They wired me up (EKG) and checked me, and gave me medicine.

They told me that I needed to go to the hospital immediately. I told them that my husband was with me and he could take me. They were not in favor of that idea, and took me in an ambulance
and checking on me as we drove.

They suspicioned that I was having a heart attack. They were right after totally checking me out and I was scheduled for open heart surgery in a couple of days. They wanted my heart to settle down before having major surgery.

Wisdom--Women do not have the usual pains and symptoms that men have when having a heart attack. One better check out anything that seems abnormal concerning your body.
A lot of good, clean teeth would have done that morning, I should have gone directly to the emergency room even yet in the middle of the night. Just take this as a warning if you happen to have some chest/heart palpitations.

WHAT'S THE MATTER? WHAT'S THE MATTER?

These are the words that I heard 55 years ago yesterday as I had just switched on the light in the hospital for a nurse.

My husband was in the labor room for only 5 minutes and they told him to leave as they were wanting to prep me for my baby's birth. The nurses were getting the supplies ready to proceed. While they were gone, my pains were getting very strong and I thought to myself, if they linger in coming I could have my baby without anyone in the room. Knowing this, I turned on the nurses call light so I wouldn't be alone. I had no more switched on the light and I think all the nurses on the floor rushed into my room immediately and asked me what was the matter?

They tested me and told them not to do anything else, that I was ready to go to the delivery room. Two hours after I had my first pain, I delivered a 8# 1 oz. baby girl.

Yesterday was her 55Th birthday and we celebrated it at her "big" sister's home. Carol had a
lunch for us that was fabulous and then we went to the Festival of Trees. Carol had decorated a tree for the festival. The Angel price was $660 and she had a bid of $450. The festival was still on today, so don't know the final bid.

Mary and Carol went on shopping after that, but my husband and I were tired and went back to the house.

Wisdom--We had no idea when we had our daughter's that our lives would be so enriched!
Both of them have made us very proud of their accomplishments and desire to serve God.
You have only a short window of opportunity to teach and guide your children, you blink and they have grown up. Make every day count on what you teach them, as they grow up so fast!

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

When I hear about our government and the manner in which they spend money when we are so indebted already that it can make your head spin, it is beyond comprehension.

I just wish that they would leave their mitts off of OUR money. Anything they touch and try to work out fails and we get further and further in debt. Both parties are guilty of this. They want to have government run health care. They haven't been able to manage Social Security, Medicare or any programs they are in charge of. You would think they would fix those and have those solvent before taking on a mass thing like health care for everybody. They claim it isn't going to cost us a cent. Now if you believe that, I really do have some swamp land I would like to sell you in the middle of the ocean. Would you like to buy that, too? They claim that the illegal immigrants will not be included, BUT when they are given amnesty and citizenship, they too will get a free ride. Have you thought about this amnesty bit? It is purely political for future votes.

Our Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution and it contained approximately 17 pages. Now they are coming out with 2000 pages (approximate) for the health care bill. Everything they can think of has been squeezed into this and they don't give enough time to read and digest it before voting on it. IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? I have always been told, that you read the fine print before you agree to a contract. This seems to be out of vogue in today world.

Wisdom--When you have states that are going bankrupt, one better take a 2ND look at spending more money with the government in charge of any added programs. This is just plain "HORSE SENSE". We better get back to our Constitution and adhering to that. Keep government out of our lives as much as possible.

BOOK RECOMMENDATION!!

I have just finished reading, the first book in a series of books, "AN UNTAMED LAND" by Lauraine Snelling--"Red River of the North" (series I). My sister is one book ahead of me and my husband is just starting to read the series, also.

It is about an immigrant family that came over legally to this country to stake out a claim for a piece of land in Dakota territory. It tells about the hardships that they encountered. Since my grandparents homesteaded in Nebraska, it really brings their life and what they had to endure to the forefront.

When you read it, I'm sure you will have a new appreciation of what our forefathers went through and struggles they encountered just to have a roof over their head, food on the table, and clothes on their back.

Wisdom--One learns what hard work is and how by the sweat of their brows our forefathers forged out this great land of ours. This scene was duplicated over and over again. Some of the ones that set out to homestead didn't have the stamina to continue. What courage these people had and what determination they had to try to make a better living for their family. Guard our country and its founding principles.

OUR TINY ONE WAS BAPTIZED!

Yes it was a red letter day Sunday as "Our Tiny One" was baptized. I can't believe how good she was Sunday. She only puckered her face up once that I know of and that was when they handed her to me to hold. Well, she wasn't used to this "Ole grannies face". It was very short lived as I had a bottle and she was a "happy camper" after that.

She took a nap in the afternoon and then got up and entertained us all with her talking and laughing. She has such a sunny disposition. She has two great parents and no wonder she is all bubbly and happy.

It behooves us to be an example in life and deed so that when she gets an age where she understands what Christ has done for her on the cross, that she will accept Him and live her life to please Him. That is our prayer for her today and the coming years.

Our day was full and we had such a "fun" day.

Thought--This will certainly be one of those days that we cherish. All our love to "Our Tiny One"! She is our great granddaughter and her parents are talked about in "Our Special Boy" article.

MAKING LEMONADE!

When life dishes out something different from your original plans that you didn't expect, one needs to seize the opportunity and make lemonade!

Nothing in our life comes to a surprise to God and when things happen contrary to our own timetable, we need to accept this change as well.

We moved to our present home and I still look at the things in our home and wonder how they got from house A to house B. We turned a new page in our life and now it was time to enjoy retirement.

Did we change the way we lived? Not much, we got up early and enjoyed the things we scheduled to do that day. Our lives as far as spending went on as before. We weren't in the habit of outlandish spending, so this didn't change.

We had more time to "smell the roses" along life's way. This is a "good thing"!

We had more time to enjoy our grandchildren and attend much of their activities. Another "good thing"!

We had more time to travel via camping. Another "good thing"!

Wisdom--Just because life changes, it doesn't necessarily mean that the change is a "bad change", just a different era in one's life. Again, just think positive and accept things as they come, and one has the recipe for "happy living".

THE SWITCHOVER!

A new treasurer was elected and it was time to turn over the reigns.

I tried to give many of my chores to others in the office, since it would probably be a full load to learn the new job, let alone the nitty-gritty things I had been doing, also.

The auditors were all finished with their work and all funds and money were in place. I thought it was wise to write down the securities that I had in my possession and present each security to the new Treasurer as we checked them off. Then he signed for these and I gave him the key for his safe keeping. It was all his ball of wax from here on out. Nobody told me to do this, but I thought it a wise thing to do.

He struggled with his new job and even after I moved to our new locale, he would come over on weekends and I would try to help him. After a few months, I told him he had to learn on his own. He hired an assistant to do some of the work that I was doing. Also, he came down and dumped a lot of the work on the comptroller and said he wasn't going to do that work.

Wisdom--When you are responsible for certain funds, it doesn't hurt to have things in writing. I was so glad that I had the securities signed for by the new incoming Treasurer.

THE WATCHDOG!

Things were shaping up, we had sold our home with great speed, purchased a home in our new locale.

Elections were going to take place for the incoming new form of government. During these months the auditors were finishing up their yearly audit. (This yearly audit was very intense and took quite a number of months to complete). I was preparing to give over the responsibility
to the newly elected treasurer.

When I first was appointed City Treasurer, I had a visitor come into my office and said, "What gives you the skill to be able to handle the pension funds and investments?" This was from a firefighter that was watching over the fire pension funds so they were safe. I did not take offense to this question as it was a valid question and should be addressed. Every fund should have just this type of person questioning the ability and safety policies of each and every fund that affects THEIR money. I'm not sure how I answered this question that day, but I assured him that I would take care of all the funds that I was responsible for, as honestly and the best I could adhering to State statutes. There were State guidelines of what kind of investments that we could invest in. I planned to safeguard all the money entrusted in my care. I did not take this responsibility lightly.

After the election occurred and before I had left, this same firefighter (Watchdog) came into my office and asked me if I couldn't handle their pension funds, even though I was in another city and no longer City Treasurer. This of course, I couldn't do legally. The new City treasurer was to handle the Police and Fire Pension funds. I was glad that he was happy with how I had kept the Pension funds safely and secure under my watch. His confidence in my performance, I considered this quite a compliment coming from the very man that originally was questioning my ability to handle the funds.

Wisdom--Every governing body and funds should have "Watchdogs" watching over OUR MONEY that is being spent. If we had more of these type of fearless people, we would have less corruption, more accountability and our government would not be in the dire straights it is in today. We have gotten in a spending spree that has gone way beyond accountability. Most of the media is not addressing this. I applaud people like Glen Beck that calls for accountability of our elected officials. We need to demand that our voices and concerns be heard how they are spending OUR money.

THE HUNT IS ON!

We have been in both places, a purchased house and one not yet sold, and now our house sold but where are we going to find one of equal value elsewhere? It is no fun to have two houses on your shoulders, but the other way gives one an uneasy feeling, also.

Our daughters were checking out homes for us. We would drive over and try to hunt houses on the weekends. We couldn't find any that was equal value with charm that we were looking for.
Plenty of homes were on sale, but most of them were beyond what we budgeted ourself to pay.

Our younger daughter was having devotions with her daughters and was downhearted as she was looking all day for a house for us. After the devotions and prayer that evening, she said to her daughters, "All day I have been thinking that mom and dad had sold their house and we can't find one for them." She then said, "This devotion helped me realize that there IS a home out there for them and we just haven't found it yet!"

I loved the house we sold, loved the screened in front porch, loved the 3 beautiful maple trees in our yard, and loved the blue spruce tree. I had been praying, "Lord, you know how much we love this house, and please give us a screened in porch (but make it in the back) and please give us a beautiful maple tree." People in the fall would stop their car and take pictures of our maple trees. They were so-oooo pretty! I really did hate to not have a pretty tree in our yard.

The next day after my daughter had her devotions with her girls, she went out looking again. That evening she called me and said, "Mom, we found your house!" She said it was a brick ranch on a beautiful 100 X 200 ft lot. There was a screened in porch. I said, "yes, it is in the back of the house isn't it?" She said, "Yes, how did you know that?" Well, wasn't that what I prayed for? I figured God would supply that request. She went on to tell me that there was a HUGE tree in the front yard. I said, "Yes, and it is a maple tree!". She told me she didn't know what kind of tree it was, but it covered the whole yard. It turned out the "maple" tree was in the back yard. No, it wasn't a "Hard Maple" like was in our sold house, but it was maple. My son in law said that I hadn't prayed specific enough about the trees.

We went over to look at it and before we went inside, I KNEW WE HAD FOUND OUR HOUSE!
I LOVED IT! All we had to do is to get our budget in line with their price that they asked.
We gave them an offer (within our budget) and they accepted.

Wisdom--When praying to God, be specific about things. God is listening and He really wants us to see His Loving Hand in answered prayers.

BRAINSTORM IN ACTION!

Since the decision was made about my job, we decided to explore the possibility to move closer to our children that my sister brainstormed one day.

We thought that we would try to sell our home on our own, if at all possible. If it didn't sell, well we would just stay PUT. It was rather unlikely that we could sell it, since houses where we lived were on the market for a couple years and not moving. It was certainly a buyers market. Well we put a sign out in our front lawn on a rainy day in midweek (our telephone # and for appointment only written on sign). We really didn't expect much traffic and interest in our house because of the slow housing market, but lets wait and see what happened

The following Saturday morning I woke up, showered, dressed and decided to have a sip of coffee and read the paper while relaxing on the front porch (which by the way, we loved).

No more than my first sip and a car drove into our driveway. The man got out and inquired about the house. He was driving a Mercedes diesel car and said he was looking for a house for his children. I gave him the specs and of course he wanted to see the house right then. I thought a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, so I told him OK. Remember, they were supposed to
make an appointment to see the house).

He went through each room and he was ecstatic, HE LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT THE HOUSE! Now this is not what you expect from a interested buyer (they usually aren't that vocal). He said that the house reminded him of his own home. Of course, I didn't know where he lived, so I thought he probably had a brick bungalow like we were offering for sale. The house did have a "charm" about it, with 3 large picture windows in the living room with small panes, fireplace, etc. The last thing he said after going through the house was, "Don't sell this house before noon, as I want my children to see it this afternoon". I thought to myself, NO WAY WOULD WE SELL IT BEFORE NOON (remember the slow market out there).

He came back in the afternoon and his son and daughter in law looked at it. They weren't as verbal as he was about the house, and we thought they were the final say of whether they liked it or not. They left that Saturday and we really didn't know what was going to happen.

Monday morning rolled around and I had showered, gotten ready to go to work, sipping my morning coffee in the living room catching up on the current news from the paper as I had a few minutes to spare. I heard this diesel engine car driving very slowly past and around the side of the house (our house was on a corner). I thought, this sounds like the same car that came on Saturday and sure enough, it was. Then I knew that they were still interested in the house.

It was our custom to go out to eat at a local steak house on Tuesday evening after work. They always ran a steak special that night and you know us, we like bargains.

I had gotten off work and before we could leave to eat, the son came around to present a verbal offer for the house. He offered quite a bit less than what we were asking. We said no to that offer. We said that we didn't have that much to play with. We had the house appraised and added the newly custom made drapes to the appraisal price, and added a little bit more (so we could come down a little). We gave him the appraisal price sheet and we went to out to eat.

By the time we came back from eating, the son had a written signed offer for the appraisal price of our house! Now we thought this was too good to pass up, since we would have to pay the realtor more than what we had added to the appraisal price. The house was "SOLD", within a week of our feeble attempt to put out that sign in the rain. God surely, had put his stamp of approval on our move!

The house at least was sold pending approval of the loan. I'm sure the father gave a helpful hand to his children in this regard. The loan went through with flying colors, we were without a house and they had our house pending upon our move in about three months.

The father by the way, was an owner of a business in our city and had a gorgeous older estate home closer to the lake.

Wisdom--When God is guiding our lives, we need not worry about the surrounding circumstances, we just know when He is working in our behalf. Now, we had to see where and what to do next and follow His lead.

LAWSUIT!

It wasn't more than a half year after my sister came up with both of us moving after I retired, to be closer to both her children and ours, that the NAACP filed a lawsuit against the city. They claimed that the black people weren't getting equal representation the way the Commission form of government was set up. The way the existing form of government was, that you could run for the office of Commissioner and all be living in the same area of the city.

They sued and won other cities, and their form of government was changed. Now it was our city that they were suing. They wanted an Alderman form of government, where there was an Alderman voted on from different sections of the city. My personal view on this was that they definitely had a point. I think each section of town should be represented by their own elected official. I think this is a fair way to proceed.

Our city settled out of court and the entire form of government was changed to an Elected Alderman instead of elected Commissioners.

My job just happened to get changed from an Appointed position to an Elective position. I did not want to run for the following reasons. My husband was already retired. I only wanted to work a couple years longer and then retire. It would be expensive to run for an elective position and then you wouldn't be sure that you would win. By running, one would be committed for a 4 year term in office. Taking all this into consideration, I chose not to run.

Wisdom--I felt that it was God who allowed me the privilege to be appointed to be City Treasurer for awhile, and that God was closing that door and opening up new avenues in my life. I like the prayer, "Lord help me to change the things that I can, and help me to accept the things that I can not change, and Oh Lord, grant me the wisdom to know the difference." Unknown source.

MY SISTER'S BRAINSTORM!

My sister and husband were retired and were visiting our home. One day early in the morning she came up with this "brainstorm" of an idea. It seems like her mind was always working overtime!

She was so excited and told me that when I retired, that we all should sell our home and move to a centrally located homes between our children's homes. She said, "You know where that would be, don't you?" I said that I had no idea. Then she said it would be where we live now.

This move would be about 800 miles for them, but for us it would only be about 100 miles. One of their boys lived in Kansas City area and the other son lived in the Dayton, Ohio area. Our girls would be extremely close, but not right in the city where either one lived. This seemed like a feasible foreseeable plan.

Little did we know that this would occur sooner than we were planning. Stay tuned and I will describe how it all came about.

Wisdom--Don't close the door on new ideas, it might turn out that those ideas turn out to be excellent!

E-MAIL SAYS IT ALL!

It seems like one gets a lot of e-mail, some make more sense than others, but the one I received today makes what I was talking about yesterday in my writing very clear.

THIS PROFESSOR IS A GENIUS

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class.

That class had insisted that socialism would work and that no one would be poor and everyone would be rich, a great equalizer. (Does this sound familiar?)

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism type plan."

All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied became upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the students who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great. But when government takes the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Could it not be any simpler.

Wisdom--The late Adrian Rodgers said, "You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

COUSIN LAID TO REST!

Yesterday we went to a dear cousin's funeral. It reminds us of how very short our life is, even though she was getting up in years.


One thing that sticks out in that particular generation that seems to be in short supply today, is how hard they worked to get what they have. The last writing I told you about a couple that had nothing but a strong love for each other and God and how hard they worked to become successful both in life and growth in the Lord.


Marie was from that caliber of thinking. You worked hard, loved much, and never gave up. You kept on keeping on! She and her husband was from the "greatest generation" as Tom Brokaw wrote about in his book.


It seems like our country is going to the opposite way of our founding fathers, watch for the handouts that our Government will provide. This is not how our country was founded. You worked for what you got and had little government interference.


Today our government wants to give everybody ice cream, don't worry if you didn't work for it, it is FREE! Who is going to pay for this FREE ice cream? Well, who cares, it is FREE ice cream. I'm telling you somebody is going to pay dearly for this so called FREE ice cream. It is our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. They will be so in debt, that all our whole country will be a third world country and everybody will be dirt poor. Does that sound like a good plan to you?


When hard work is no longer in vogue, and everyone gets a FREE lunch. The FREE lunches will run out. Why work, when you get it for nothing. No incentive!

Wisdom--Proverbs 6:6-11 says--"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man." Does this mean we don't care about those truly in need, no it doesn't, but it teaches us that we work diligently for our own needs and then we can reach out to help those in need. (No government involved).

ELOPING!

Yesterday I mentioned about my friend Pam. She loved to bake and so we became good friends while we learned to decorated cakes. She also loved to bake "yummy" cookies and she would present me with every kind of cookie at Christmas.

This reminded me of her parents which were also our good friends. In our day, we didn't have big wedding much, but their wedding was quite unusual.

I will try to tell it as was told to us. They both were very young and Pam's dad was going to another state to work. He didn't want to leave his girlfriend back home (she was underage and he could have been, also) so together they decided to elope. She got her things together and they were going to cross the border and get a preacher to marry them. Some states didn't require you to be eighteen.

On the trip, they got into a bad accident and a preacher happened to come upon the scene. This preacher was sure the young man was dead, but proceeded to call the police. They took him to the hospital and he was not in good shape but was going to make it.

They ended up getting married in the hospital with her parents giving their consent. Their picture of the event was in the local newspaper, both when they got married and 50 years later on their 50Th wedding anniversary. We went to their 50Th and it was quite bad weather coming home.

They were perfect for each other. He became a successful business man in the area and she was perfect for him. They made a "team" in all sense of the word. I don't know any couple that worked any harder than they and were more hospitable than they were.

At one of our daughter's wedding, they certainly helped me tremendously. I couldn't have done it with out them. Thanks so much!!!!!

Wisdom--Little weddings, big weddings, it doesn't make any difference. The difference is the right person that you marry. Make sure that you share the same goals and values. Keep God foremost as you live your life together. Their faith in God and each other weathered storms along the way.

MY DAUGHTER'S DILEMMA!

As you all know that our younger daughter teaches school and yesterday was the very first day she has encountered this problem. You wonder what kind of a problem after teaching so many years, could that be! Well, somebody in her class has a case of lice! Now another child has lice.
I don't remember this ever occurring while our daughters were in school.

I guess she had to spray her carpet in the classroom and when she got home last night, she washed her own clothes, coat, etc in very hot water. I told her that she had better screen them when they come in off the bus. I don't know how it went today. Hopefully they got them before they spread to others.

Wisdom--A good friend of mine (actually she was our daughter's age) had told me that her children had contacted lice in school. I thought to myself, if Pam's children could get lice, then anybodies children could get it. She was one immaculate girl and kept everything she owned that way. I'm sure they didn't stay around very long. The only person that I read about that thanked God for the lice, is Corrie Tem Boom. She was the author of the The Hiding Place. In the book she was thankful for the lice while she was in the concentration camp (WWII) because the guards wouldn't come in to check on them and she was free to read God's word to others (she had smuggled a bible in). This really brought tears to my eyes when I read this.

AARP DRIVING COURSE!

The last few days we (my husband, sister and I) have been taking Aarp driving refresher class. It keeps us abreast of the lastest state laws regarding rules of the road and we get money off of our insurance premium when we show that we have gone to these classes. A win-win situation. It's about 9 hours of training and we repeat this every three years.

I picked up these thoughts when I was leaving today. I thought they were very good and decided to pass them along.

TEN SECRETS TO AGELESS LIVING

Stay curious, explore, discover and continue to learn new things.

Play, have fun, be happy, and maintain a zest for life by being vital.

Keep the brain and the body busy; stimulate the mind, eat healthy, exercise.

Smile, laugh, maintain a sense of humor, and always stay young at heart.

Have a positive attitude, outlook, and be optimistic to overcome challenges.

Believe in yourself by having faith, hope, spirit, value, meaning and purpose.

Stay connected, engaged, creative, and useful by continuing to contribute.

Find fulfillment, peace, serenity, and self-esteem by giving back--volunteer.

Enjoy and cherish healthy relationships with loved ones, friends and family.

Live long, live well, laugh often love much. . . and always enjoy life's journey.

Unknown source.

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE THAT JOB?

A beautiful calm spring morning was the setting of our office atmosphere. My state of mind was total contentment in my lot in life. This was the way it was the morning that the gal that was City Treasurer resigned and said she had a new position at the county office.

Our comptroller went by my desk and said, "How would you like that job?" stating my name as he was heading into the vault. It was kinda a "tongue in cheek" comment and I didn't say anything and had temporarily forgotten about it.

Later in the day, I started thinking about the position and how it would increase my pension a tidy sum as well as my weekly pay, so I went to his desk and said, "I know that you were not serious when you made the comment about me taking the City Treasurer position, but I had been thinking about it, and I would be interested in that position". He said, "You get back to your desk immediately and write a letter to the commissioners of your interest in the job, and I will support you 100%." I thought it wouldn't hurt to apply for it, so I followed his advice.

It was an appointed position rather than an elected position. Within a few weeks, I was appointed to be the new City Treasurer. I was confident that I could handle it, since I was familiar with the city books, chart of accounts, computer and the budget.

The "big thing" with that job was controlling and investing the city funds, and police and fire pension funds. There were strict state guidelines that one had to follow when one invests in public funds. Signing checks, and reconciling bank statements were part of the work load.
As I become more adept at my new job, I would absorb more and more nitty gritty daily chores.

I did not take lightly the responsibility that laid on my shoulders. Accountability was paramount
and I made sure that every penny, dime, and dollar was safe and reconciled each month. It is beyond my comprehension that state officials and government workers will cheat, lie and bilk people. Honesty was ingrained in my very being and even the thought would never enter my mind. Of course, every year our office would be audited and under my watch, funds and money was accounted for and in place.

Wisdom--Sometimes opportunity comes and we must know that God will help you fulfill your responsibility if we open that door.

THE ORAL EXAMINATION!

Our Son-in-law came over to our house the evening before he had to pass an oral examination in order to get his PHD degree. That way he wouldn't have to drive as far the next morning. This test was set up just after they had moved. He had finished his written dissertation prior to this.

In my mind, I thought I had better get up and cook him a big breakfast so he would be really ready for the test. He came down and said that he really didn't want to eat much. He thought better on his feet, if his body wasn't digesting food. I suppose, he was a tad nervous and wasn't that hungry.

He went over and took the oral test at the University. There were quite a few professors present (at least 3-4). They peppered him with as many questions as they could muster up between them pertinent to his field of study. After they finished with the oral exam, they told him to leave the room and between them, they would discuss his answers and inform him how he did.

I'm not sure how long it took them to deliberate, but they went in and said, "Doctor _____, you may come back in now. Milestone was completed that day in this families life! Praise the Lord! He had completed his doctorate degree!

Wisdom--If you persist in your endeavor of study, it will pay off! This includes cooperation from the whole family, not just the one involved. Our daughter had worked just as hard for this and together they could rejoice.

THE CARAVAN!!

Our older daughter and her husband was moving back closer to the family and they had quite a bit of furniture, 3 children, to move from Virginia to our state. It would be cheaper to get a U-haul truck and a trailer to move, than a moving van they reasoned. Money was tight and every little bit they could save would help them put down on their newly purchased home.

Carol came early and picked out house plans and a lot to put the house on, and all the things that needed to be decided on early. We would go over weekly and see how the house was progressing. This was a duty that we were glad to help out with, but it was kinda a pain to drive over and check to see if the builder were following the specs.

They packed everything up in the van and trailer, and car during the daytime and their plans were to drive the 600 or so miles in the dark, while the children were sleeping. This really probably was a good plan, but both had worked all day and Carol had just given birth to her last child about 4-5 weeks prior.

What does grandparents do in this case? Worry, read scripture, pray, go to sleep, pick up and worry, read the scripture, pray, wake up worry and pray! Well you get the picture of my state of mind while they were driving here. I would wake up every half hour after praying about it, then I would start worrying again. I finally read some scripture in Psalms. It spoke to me that God is watching over my family and why am I losing so much sleep? That was when I finally
went back to bed and slept like a log. It finally dawned on me, that it didn't depend on me after God had spoken to me that He was watching over our family. I then could go to sleep! Sometimes, it just takes a long time to get through my thick skull that God is in control!

The Caravan came rolling in about 4 A.M. Carol was driving the car with the new baby and Steve in the back seat. Jim was driving the U-Haul and a trailer behind the U-Haul. Jamie was riding with his dad. I think they had another person helping move and he was driving another car full of stuff. I'm fuzzy about this last part.

After they came, they told of about three different things that occurred while driving, that any one of those could have been disastrous. Carol had to keep pinching herself or she would have fallen asleep. They had trouble with the truck and engine problems that could have exploded if it caught fire. They went off on a rest stop and they could barely get their rigs turned around to get back on the Interstate. It was in the mountains.

Wisdom--Have you been there? I'm sure you have a few times in your life. After we pray, we should have the faith to know that God heard our prayer and will take over! I had the faith of a mustard seed that day until I finally "GOT IT", God is in control!!!

OUR SWEETIE PIE! (THE FROSTING ON THE CAKE)

Well since our daughters were taking turns, it was our older daughters turn to have a child. Back then I don't think they knew whether they were going to have a girl or boy. It is just in the last decade that couples can know what sex their child is before they are born.

I was working and our older daughter and her husband was living still in Virginia. I thought I told you this earlier, but I can't seem to find it so I will tell about it. We were going to take a vacation and travel out to Virginia to take care of their two boys when we got word that she had gone into the hospital.

Since she was getting very close to her due date, we decided it would be safe in taking off. We hadn't gotten any word that we should come yet, however. We traveled approximately 600 miles and was on our way out to where they lived (about 5-6 miles further). We were going past the hospital where Carol was going when she had her baby. I mentioned that to my husband, perhaps we should check in at the hospital before we go out (just in case she was admitted while we were traveling). This was before cell phones.

We went to information desk and asked if Carol had been admitted. The lady said, yes, and also said that she just had her baby! Now how about that for split timing!! We traveled 600 miles and arrived moments after the baby was born. They had a beautiful baby girl and we named her "Our Sweetie Pie--The frosting on the cake!" I was so thankful for a little girl since they had the two boys already.

Kari had to become a "tomboy" since she had two older brothers. She had to hold her own around them.

When she was about the time to be toilet trained, I tried to help in every way I could when around her. Sometimes she would have an accident. I would go over to her and get up in her face and puff out the words (starting with P). I told her that she should Pee Pee and Pooh Pooh in the Potty, not in her Panties. She would just look at me and blink every time the P word would puff in her face. Before I finished saying all of it, I don't think it did much good, because I would start laughing as she was sooooo cute when she blinked her eyes at me with each puff.

Jim and Carol moved back to our state from Virginia yet that summer, so all of the family was closer.

Kari was in soccer and 4-H and we would try to attend all the events of these. It was such a joy to see them grow and mature.

We took Kari on a special camping trip to Colorado. This was her trip dedicated just for her.
Colorado Springs had a wonderful campground and it had a swimming pool, game room, and daily entertainment. One of the days they told about the Broadmoor (5 star Hotel) and their restaurants they had there. He had mentioned a certain kind of cream/berry dessert that you could order and it was to die for! Well, we thought Kari would enjoy going and having that dessert. She was all up for it. It was quite an expensive restaurant, but the memory of her eating that lingers on. Also, their was a little pond/stream that she would feed the ducks. Oh how beautiful memories of that trip! Memories of her up in Rocky Mountain National Park with the tiny animals on the rocks she would feed. This was so sweet. She has a soft spot for animals.
She probably has one of the softest spot for animals to this day than any of our other grandchildren.

She had to take some of her 4-H projects along and try to do a bit of work on them as she was having fun. We went to Jim Dobson's Focus on the Family quarters. She thoroughly enjoyed that and told us that it was the highlight of her trip.

Another time we had the privilege to take Jodi and Kari to Branson, Mo. This too was quite special.

On another vacation, Kari and Jodi (I believe these two were with us), and we went to New Salem State Park. We had just gone to bed and shut the lights off, and all of a sudden we heard this woman in front of our campsite, calling out for help! "Help, help", she said, as she was gasping between pain. She stopped her car right at the right campsite, since there was a doctor in the trailer. Doc Neumo (that is)! This is what my family called me, so I hurriedly got my clothes on and went out to see what her problem was. She was in such terrific pain and told me to pull her arm and get her arm back in the socket. Now I thought this wasn't quite what my doctoring expertise was and I told her that I would go up to the ranger station (which was quite close) and call an ambulance for her. "No, no, don't call an ambulance, just pull on my arm and get it back into the socket". I helped her out of the car and got a chair for her to sit on and told her I would get the ranger to come to help. She wasn't too happy about that decision, but wasn't in a position to do anything but wait. Yes, the ranger called the ambulance and they took her to the emergency room. My grandchildren wanted me to fix her right there and then. My doctoring skills went out the window that day!!

Kari was active in church, Awana, and memorized more scripture than any of the other two put together. She loved church.

She lived at home and went to college and graduated. This was the last of our grandchildren and she was the last to graduate from college.

One day we were having a family picnic in our younger daughters backyard. Someone was drinking a pop. Kari looked over and saw the pop can and said that sure looks familiar! She had designed the pop can logo. Way to go Kari!!! We love you and cherish those growing up years.

Wisdom--This past week-end our granddaughter and husband dedicated their two children to the Lord at their church. What an important event! There were 4 generations (both sides) attending the service Sunday morning. It behooves all of us to pray, pray, pray for these little ones as their parents strive to train them up to serve the Lord. In Matthew 18:6 states--"But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone where hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."
Forgive me, if I should in anyway be a stumbling block to any of my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren! My prayers are with each and all!

OUR SPECIAL GIRL!

It was our younger daughters turn to bless us with a little girl. Since we had a "Special Boy" we surely needed a "Special Girl". Jodi was "IT" and certainly fit the bill!

At a very young age she was so compliant to what you wanted her to do. You would tell her something and she would say, "ah wright". She seemed never to go through the "terrible two's age where they don't want to do anything that you ask (even though they really want to do it). They seem to like the sound of "no". This wasn't at all Jodi, as she tended to always want to "please".

Christmas time was such a special event at their home. Christmas was certainly in the "air" this particular Christmas Eve dinner. Jodi announced that she felt sick at her stomach. She was so excited about the festivities that she could hardly contain herself. After Jodi announced that she felt a little "wheezy" than her older sister said, "Daddy, my stomach hurts!" A copy cat effect was taking place. Both girls would have a part in the celebration and it became such a blessed time with the extended family. I can still vision them in their velvet dresses as they would perform at their church Christmas events. Her parents knew how to make a holiday something to cherish.

From very early on, Jodi would take her books and set up a class room and she would be the teacher. This was her "fun" way of playing. Do you suppose God was preparing her for something in the future?

Jodi was always following her "big" sister around and wanting to be included in the activities that her sister was involved in. Her big sister, was always kind to Jodi and included her in everything that was happening in her life. There was quite a "bond" set up between those girls! This was instilled at an early age in both girls.

So when Amber had junior high and high school events at her home, Jodi fit right in, and thought she was that age, also.

Jodi became very flexible and had lots of friends down through the years. Always putting the other people first.

Her parents were an advocate of her learning "life skills" and Jodi would cook dinner when she was Junior/Senior in high school. I remember her calling me up on the phone on many occasions as to what a recipe meant. Jodi had gotten off school before her mom got off from teaching.

Since her parents loved to camp, Jodi learned to love the outdoors and camping was her specialty, also. To this day, she loves activities, like hiking, boating and camping.

We were able to take her on a few camping trips and she was such a joy to have with us.

Volleyball and softball was always something that we looked forward to watching her play when she was growing up.

Jodi is so unpretentious and so "REAL". It just impossible to dislike Jodi! Being around her makes one know all is well with the world, as what you see is what she is like!

Jodi went on to college and got her teaching degree. Imagine that! She loved playing this as a child.

Last summer she helped us so much around the house doing landscaping. She is just a hard working little girl and smiling as she works! Way to go, Jodi!!

Wisdom--Make memories with your grandchildren down through the years. These will be so cherished the older one gets.

"SPECIAL BOY"

It was quite nice of our daughters to take turns in giving us a "bundle of joy". This was the year that our older daughter gave birth to her second son. Now since I had named all of the other two a special name. We decided to name Steve (Our Special Grandson).

He was the only grandchild that we weren't present at the hospital when he was born. It was end of the fiscal year for my caring of the city's books. No way, could I get off for a vacation! We had to wait until they came home in July or August of that year. That's the price you have to pay when you are working out and you have responsibilities to fulfil.

We fell in love with our "Special Grandson" immediately. He had the prettiest blue eyes. He just melted our heart.

When he was about 2 years old he was so cute and he reminded me especially that He was our "SPECIAL BOY". We again affirmed to him that indeed he was "OUR SPECIAL BOY". So cute!!

It was about this age when our nephew that we visited in Ohio came to visit. Steve took to Steve our nephew right away. He called him, his second daddy. So cute! He made sure he remembered him and wet all over him that day. Oh my!

Steve made a great little playmate for Jamie since they were less than two years apart in age. They grew up like normal boys and would play games. I remember one time he was playing a game of checkers with Jamie. By this time they had a sister. She felt left out of the game they were playing and would go over and sneak a checker off the board while they were playing. Of course, this aggravated Steve and I told him, "Just ignore her, and she will stop doing it". That was a pretty tall order for a young lad wanting to beat his big brother in a game of checkers. She just kept at it. I don't know if they ever knew who won the game with all that interference.

Steve was always interested in sports. He was in little league softball, ice hockey and we had quite a time taking him on a camping trip, because of his activities. We never could get enough time blocked off to take him.

We asked him where he would like to go? We would take him there and make a "Special Steve Day!" He decided that he would like for us to take him to the "CUBS GAME" in Chicago. We were getting older and it was harder for us to navigate around Chicago, so we asked his dad to drive us up there so we could take Steve. Carol said, "Kari could go, too"! I told her no that this was Steve's special outing and the only reason his dad got to go with is because he was the driver.

He had a really great time at the game and on the way home Jim took us on the outer drive up in Chicago. I was in the back seat with Steve and so wanted to see the view. I never had this luxury when we were driving up there, because I was helping my husband drive through the maize of cars.

Steve started blowing this party gadget that goes out and then come back in. He was blowing this in my face while I was trying to look at the scenery outside. I told Steve, "Would he please stop that!" He quickly came back with, "Well Grandma, you have always told me that when someone is bugging you, that you should just ignore them". Whoa! I was hit between my eyes. He got me that time! I needed to "practice what I preached"! That was a "Gottcha moment" for sure! He did stop and we had one memorable day!

Steve was always practicing his guitar. He was like Amber, when he was home he was learning something new on the guitar. This is what he majored in in college.

I'm not sure if I wrote about this or not. At least, I can't find it. Thanksgiving year when Steve was a Junior in college, we were in Tennessee at a Condo. The Lord laid it on my heart to pray for Steve and what he would do when he would graduate. I prayed for him to meet the right girl at the right time. Christmas time came and went and about January or February of the next year he sent an e-mail to me about this girl he met. He said I could ask anything I wanted to about her. In my feeble way of e-mailing I lost the contents of what I was writing (computers have a way of doing that to you). Before I could retype it, he e-mailed me back and told me all the things I asked.

A few days later he called me up. I told him that his new girlfriend seems quite nice, I would like to meet her someday. He said to me, "How about this weekend?" Whoa! That was unexpected. Of course, I told him, "Yes".

She turned out to be everything that he said and more. She was studying to be a pastor and had Divinity school looming. God certainly answers prayers! Sometimes He it seems slow, but this time it was fast. They planned their life around their future. God is soooooo GOOD!! They both graduated college and she went on to Divinity school. She is an Associate Pastor in a Methodist church. He teaches guitar, has a recording studio and is head of the music in a church. God orchestrated their lives and both compliment each other. Pound another nail in behind the barn!

This year they have blessed us with a baby girl. We call her our "Tiny One" as she was so little when she was born.

Wisdom--Don't ever think God doesn't answer and hear our prayers. He is more concerned than we are about our family.

VIG! (VERY IMPORTANT GIRL!)

One year after our first grandchild was born, our younger daughter had a little girl. Now we had our "VIG". Later she became our "Very Important Young Lady"!

She was the apple of our eye, not to mention her daddy's eye! It was fun to watch her grow up to be the young lady that she has become.

Her intense interest in books was her thing. Her Paternal grandfather had given her a picture dictionary when she was quite young. Her parents were going on a camping trip and told her to pick out some toys to fit in this tiny suitcase. It wasn't very big and so she had to pick and choose very carefully, since they couldn't pack many toys. Mary checked to see what she had picked out. Yes, the only thing that she had in that suitcase was this dictionary. Our daughter told her to try to pick out something other than a dictionary. Later she still found the dictionary
she wanted to take. Intense little girl for such a young age.

Another thing she was so enthralled in is music. Now most children, one had to beg them to practice, but not Amber, one had to tell her to quit playing the piano and go out to play.

I'm not good at music, but I guess Amber had perfect pitch and was singing "Annie" in her child's car seat, after they all went to see that movie. She wasn't much over two at the time.

We had gone to see our children in Virginia and Amber was carrying on quite a conversation with my sister in the backseat and she was just around two years old.

Her mom and dad did a very good job in raising her to be a well rounded individual. They made sure she learned sports and other things, or she could have been a complete "bookworm".

When she was a teenager, my husband and I were to watch their two girls while they went on a vacation (just the two of them). Amber wanted to do something one evening, but since we were in charge, we had to say yes or no. I don't remember just what it was, but it had to do with this boy that seemed to hang around a lot. She really wasn't too happy with my decision and stormed upstairs to her bedroom. It was always my custom when our own girls were growing up, that when the smoke cleared, I would go and talk to them about the decision that was made.

I went upstairs and found her with red eyes. I told Amber that I was sorry, but her parents left us in charge and we decided on something that wasn't what she wanted. She said to me, "Oh grandma, I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at myself! She was certainly tender to what was the right thing to do, after she calmed down and evaluated the situation.

The article "What! Another Storm", tells about her between Junior and Senior year in college. God had truly answered prayer on her behalf in that story!

She went on to get her Masters Degree in Piano. She met the man of her dreams and married him four years ago. They have a little boy almost two and a little girl seven months old come November 4. Two very sweet great grandchildren that we enjoy so much. Read the article "Our Cutie is one" to hear a story about her son and husband. Their older boy is our "Cutie" and the younger baby pet name is "God's gift".

They are dedicating their two children to the Lord this coming Sunday at their church.

Wisdom--The scripture in Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it".

GRANDPARENTS FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!

Yesterday I told you something about how I was completely out of my element of expertise. Well today is another story.

I had gone through the baby stages, children raising and now it was our turn to just enjoy our new grandson.

You heard the statement, if I knew it was going to be this much fun, we would have had grandchildren first. This statement has a lot of truth in it, since we have all the "fun" but very little of the responsibility and day to day work.

It was in July that Jamie was born and in about 6 weeks they were heading off to Virginia for his first teaching position at Virginia Tech. Jim still had his dissertation to write and not quite could have Dr. as a title, but was well on the way.

This certainly left little time to spoil our grandson (not that we would want to do that, you understand).

I spoke about Jamie in the article entitled "Canadian Rockies". He was 12 years old then, but I want to tell you a little about him when he was younger.

Of course, we thought he was quite handsome and the smartest young lad around. Now if you don't believe me, just go and ask any new grandparent who is the cutest and smartest. They would always say that their own was the smartest. We were no exception to the rule! So we named him "Our VIB" (Very Important Boy). Later it has become "Our Very Important Young Man".

They came home for Christmas and we thought he was just priceless, but it was all I could muster up from crying the day they took him 600 miles away again. They left a little blanket on the floor of our living room and when I saw it I nearly burst out crying, knowing that I wouldn't see him for 5-6 months. I had gone to work before they left that day.

I remember when he was about 11-12 months old we were popping popcorn and there he was keeping time on all four's to the popcorn popping. How cute is that!

When Jamie was about 2 years old, Jim and Carol came home for a month to finish writing his dissertation. They had 2 children under two by this time, so I mentioned that we could toilet train Jamie and this would help a lot. Jim wasn't all that hipped up about it, but my sister and husband was there as well as all of us to praise him when he had success. He was so proud to show us his accomplishment and I told him to save everything and when I came home from work at lunch I would do a little dance for him. He did and I did a little "war dance" around the potty. What we grandparents won't do for our grandchildren!!!!! He made a total "fool" out of me right there for sure. You know he was toilet trained within the week! I told you he was a smart little boy.

When he was about 4 years old we had gone to a park for a picnic on the 4Th of July. After the picnic yet that evening we were going to see the fireworks. It started raining. He was riding in the car with us in the front seat and he said to us as he was shaking his little head, "I just don't understand it!! Why would God send rain when He KNOWS we want to go and see the fireworks this evening". He was completely baffled and confounded in his mind about this. I tried to explain to him that though we wanted it not to rain, farmers were praying that it would rain so their crops would grow. That God had to decide which was the most important. The way it turned out, it rained and pleased the farmers and it stopped raining just in time for us to see the fireworks! He would have been quite a disappointed little boy that day, otherwise.

Jamie was quite a soccer player and we would go to see him do his thing when the games were played.

Well this little boy went on and now is married to his childhood sweetheart and best friend. They went to private school together from 2nd grade through high school. Both went to college and lived at home. They married the summer they both graduated from College. We love his wife so much. (I spoke about her in the article "Hostess with the mostest". They have blessed us with a sweet little great granddaughter that is almost four years old already. Our pet name for her is "Dollbaby".

Wisdom--Grandchildren is the reward for growing older!

PROFESSOR FOR A DAY!

It was around this time that one of our sons-in-law's father was quite ill and in intensive care. Jim was getting his doctorate degree while teaching at the University.

The final test had to be given, so he came back to give it. He just had gotten home, and they called him back to the hospital where his dad was at because he had gotten worse overnight.

He asked me if I would be there while they took their test. I didn't know zip about what he was teaching, but I agreed. Mainly, it was to make sure that they didn't cheat, etc. It was a graduate course to boot. I was OK unless they asked me something and then, Oh my!

All was going well and then a student came up to where I was sitting and asked me about a question on the test. Now when you don't know anything about something important, the wise thing to do is shoot a question right back to him. I asked him, "What do you think it means?" He said what he thought it meant. I asked, "Does it make sense if you apply it that way?" He said, "Yes". Then I said, "I think that is how you should proceed."

Whew, I got out of that one, now I hope nobody else comes up and asks me anything.

Nobody else came up and I collected the papers and we went up to visit the hospital where our son-in-law's dad was. The family was in the intensive care waiting room. I told my son-in-law that he sure had a snap teaching, that all he had to do is "look wise"! He laughed at me, but his mother looked daggers at me for saying such a thing. It's good that Jim had a sense of humor.

His dad did get better and lived quite a number of years after this event.

Thought--Sometimes we are put in a situation that is way beyond our ability, but if we just do what we have to do and let God help us, we can do it.

THE ETHNIC DINNER AT ANN'S!!!

I made mention of her when I told about the night our first daughter was born. We had walked to Ann & Lee's home yet that evening. They had a baby born 2 months prior to our first born.
She was the one that recommended my OB doctor. Our daughter was born the very next morning.

She and Lee shaped our lives in so many ways. He taught our Sunday School class for many years and now is on the staff as a minister to Seniors. Ann passed away about twelve years ago.
She was a priceless person and I enjoyed both their friendship. Lee has since remarried to a lady that I know Ann would appreciate, also.

One time Ann was having her sewing club over for their monthly meeting. She worked at the hospital and knew this lady that cooked ethnic food from her country. She asked her if she would be willing to cook an authentic dinner for this sewing club and pull all stops out to make it really "special". She would pay for it all. Of course, who could refuse a sweet person like Ann.

Lucile and I did not belong to this sewing club, but were really good friends to Ann. So Ann invited us, also. Lucile and I stayed in the kitchen watching the lady cook this ethnic dinner. We thought we would learn a lot more than joining the others in the living room. We knew all of them in the living room, however.

Things were progressing quite well and it was time to serve. The lady had purchased these bottles of drinks and had them refrigerated. Ann had put out her beautiful goblets and the lady started pouring this into the water glasses. I took a sniff of this drink, and I told Lucile, "This kinda smells like the stuff my dad made in the basement so many years ago". Now I wondered how Ann would handle this sticky situation. Everyone in the living room was teetotalers!

Ann was such a diplomat that she would no way want to offend the cook or her guests, so she proceeded into the living room with a platter with this drink. She said to them, "I don't know what this is, but it is an authentic practice before a very special occasion to serve it in their country." Lucile and I were looking around the corner to see just how Ann was handling this, knowing all the gals in the living room personally.

The dinner was a raving success and enjoyed by all and even her special guests (Lucile and I).
Did the teetotalers drink the wine, you asked? All of them except one, took the drink to their table and left it, without drinking a sip. One lady drank the contents.

It was funny to us because of who she was serving and Ann's special talent of not offending anyone in the process. My opinion on the subject I wrote about in the article "A small keg of wine".

We raised our kids together and had many a "fun" time down through the years. Christmas candies were made at either my house or her house yearly. Ann was a perfectionist and everything she did, it had to be done to the letter. How different I was, I would look at the time that I had, and then proceed. Sometimes, I didn't have enough time to make it to perfection.
She, however, made sure she had sufficient time, or didn't try to do it.

Wisdom--One thing I think I will always remember about Ann, is that she stressed "attitude" was so important in our Christian Walk! She truly was one to emulate. Whoa! I am losing too many of my very good friends!! I know that I will see them again in heaven and we will have even greater times together.

LUCILE'S FUNNY STORY!

Since my mind has been on one of my very good friends passing away, I have been thinking a lot about her life these days.

Here is a story that she told me one day. I thought you would enjoy it as much as I did. She was quite frugal, as I have always tried to be.

When her children were little (in strollers) she lived in Portland, Oregon and was getting on this transportation that they had there. She was loaded down with packages, 2 children, stroller, etc.
As she was getting her coins out to pay the man in the front of bus/or whatever she was riding, a 50 cents piece rolled across the floor of the bus. She was so loaded down that she didn't have time to pick it up and proceeded to give the man her fare from the money she had left.

All the time she watched where the 50 cent piece rolled to. She noticed a man picking up the 50 cent piece and putting it into his pocket. Then he proceeded to sit down.

Lucile noticed that there was a seat right beside him and she sat down there. She told him that she saw him pick up the money and that it was her 50 cents. He said to her, "Finders keepers, losers weepers". He wasn't about to give up that 50 cents to her.

They proceeded to their destination. He started to get up and leave, since it was where he was to get off. He had gotten to the door to get off and forgot that he left a package, so he went back to retrieve it. By this time, Lucile had noticed the package and picked it up. He told her that he had left that package and to please give it back to him. She looked at him, as only Lucile could, and said, "remember finders keepers, losers weepers" and would not give it to him. He knew they wouldn't delay much longer for him to get off, and he proceeded to exit the bus/or ride. Lucile kept the package.

She thought that he deserved to have this response, since this was what he was dishing out to her.

Do you wonder as much as I wondered what was in that package? I certainly wondered and asked her, "What was in the package that he was carrying?" I wondered if she got 50 cents worth back from the contents of the package.

Hang on to your seat, as you will be most surprised at what was in the package he was caring, as I was.

I told you to wait, didn't I?

Well, you just have to WAIT until I tell you below!









She told me, "It was full of BALONEY just like the story I told you". ----I fell for this hook, line and sinker!!!

Did you? If you didn't fall for it, it's because I didn't write it down as seriously and believably as she told it that day! She was truly a woman of humor. See the article entitled "Lucile".

Wisdom--A little humor is good for the soul! She was such a "great" person and a "fun" person to know. She has left quite a legacy to her family.

LEAF TIME AGAIN!

It's hard to believe that we are raking leaves again! It was about this time last year I started writing things down about our families history. Time certainly flies by! We both have been in fairly good health throughout the year and once again are bagging leaves. I can't believe I have still stories left to tell you about!

I don't believe I mentioned how we got our lawn tractor. A few years ago, I was thinking that our old riding lawn mower was kinda hard to handle during the fall when the leaves were on the ground. I thought that one of those riding lawn mowers that have large bags on the back that collect the leaves would be a nice thing to have, since we were getting older. They were quite expensive to purchase new, so I looked one day and they had advertised a Sears riding lawn mower at a garage sale. I thought we ought to go check this out. We did, and got the lawn mower for $300.00. It was a Craftsmen and fairly new. I feel that God lead me right to this, since it helps us be able to still do our lawn work. Our lawn is 100 ft X 200 ft. and we sure need all the help we can get. We are so thankful for this mower. We did have to spend $500 more to get the double containers attached to the back for leaf clippings and leaves. Most of the time, it is rather fun, except when it gets quite cold toward the end of leaf raking. We donated our old mower to a church close by here. They too, were looking for a riding mower to mow the church lot. I would say, it was a win, win situation.

Wisdom--God knows our needs and supplies them when we need them. Very thankful for His watch care over us! Pound another nail in behind the barn!!

WE HAD A "FUN" TIME!!

For the past few days we were visiting my nephew that lives in Ohio. I mentioned him in the article just a few stories ago.

It was hard not to have a "fun" time visiting at their house. He and his wife has the gift of hospitality.

While we were there, we learned about a very close friend of ours passing away. I wrote about her in the story named "Lucile". This Saturday they will have a memorial in her honor in Portland, Or. Hopefully, they will have a tape of it, so we can feel like we attended. They sent one when Elmer (her husband passed away).

I guess, it it high time I put some of my most cherished memories down on paper so these won't be lost forever!! Two of my very close friends died within a year apart.

Wisdom--The computer gives us older people a chance to put down in print the history of our family and friends, so others can see God in action as he answers prayers, protects and gives us so many blessings along life's pathway. Pound a "batch of nails" in behind the barn for all of these provisions.

25TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!

Having daughters are a lot of fun and they come up with wanting to help make your anniversaries & birthdays super special.

On our 25Th wedding anniversary, they got together with my friend Lucile (I wrote about her in an article named Lucile). They planned a dinner and made it very special. They served it out on my friends deck. How thoughtful and how nice to have a friend that allows a couple girls to plan and make a dinner for their parents. They invited friends over to enjoy the evening.

We have had many such occasions that the girls went all out to make our birthdays, etc. times to remember. Thank you very much for the memories!!

Thought--Next year will be our 60Th wedding anniversary. Time has really flown by. A lot of blessing have occurred, as well and a few not so pleasant memories. We have been blessed with 2 great daughters, 2 wonderful sons in law, 5 super grandchildren and 4 sweet great grandchildren. Now that I feel is enough to be thankful for! Oh yes Nicole, we love our grandchildren spouses. They are an answer to prayer.

RESIDENCY!

It was in the 70's that our nephew was taking summer courses at the University in our state. He was in hopes to get a teachers/assistantship to get his masters degree. This is where you teach at the university and earn money while studying for a higher degree.

Since he was from "out of state" my sister thought it would be great if he would qualify for residency within our state.

This was the plan when her son (my nephew) started living with us. At that time, he had gotten a menial job at a well known men's clothing store in town. Yes, it was a high class men's clothing store. He went to work each day sporting his "home-made" suit that his mother made him. There were no comments from the establishment of that store regarding his attire. So I guess it met with their approval. He definitely was over qualified for this job, however. He had just got his undergraduate in Math and had taken a few courses to apply to his Masters degree.

He was quite a delight to have around. Interesting to converse with and was like a son to us.

This is the person who has writing talent and has written two mysteries. He hasn't published these, but he is every bit as good as the well known mystery writers that are out there today. I just finished reading Mary Higgins Clark's book "Let Me Call You Sweetheart". She has so many twists and turns in her books that I never can figure out "who done it" until she reveals it in the end. Steve has this kind of talent in his writings. Some people do not like mysteries, but I like problem solving. Thank heavens, there are people serving on the police, FBI and in our judicial systems that have this ability to decipher mysteries. Otherwise, a complete innocent person would go to jail and the real killer would go scott free. There is a place for this kind of investigating where you don't always take things at face value, until you really dig in and make sure it wasn't just a cover-up to who really did it. Thank God for detectives!!

Did he go on to get his masters degree in Math? Yes, but he accepted a teacher-assistantship at the University of Nebraska. He is retired now and can write at his leisure and not worry about whether his writings are published or not.

Wisdom--No matter what job you have and how menial that job is, you can always glean some knowledge and expertise from your experience. It's like getting paid to learn something new. That's a good thing!!

We will be seeing him this weekend along with his wife. We are looking forward to it.

WAS MY FACE RED!!

During the time we were transferring books over to the new purchased computer, we had technical men to check out the system to see if it was running properly.

I had just gone up town and it was a very cold day. Afterwards I proceeded to come back, hung up my coat on a rack close to my desk.

I stood there talking to these men as they busied themselves with their expertise. Nothing that I could tell that they noticed anything wrong. I then looked down at my dress after taking off my coat and was about to straighten our my belt, etc. I said, "OH MY!" There I stood with my dress skirt practically around my waist and my slip was showing. Electricity from the lining in my coat and the extreme cold weather had built up. I was so embarrassed!!

Those two men were perfectly gentlemen and didn't let me know that they noticed anything unusual. I bet they had a "good belly laugh" later!!

Wisdom--Some days are like that!! Less than perfect!! It it good to laugh at yourself now and then. It relieves stress! This is not the only time I did something that wasn't funny at the time, but certainly funny in hindsight. Have you been there? Cheer up, it won't be the last time either!

SITTING DUCKS!!!

I'm getting out of sequence with this story, but since I told you about the incident that happened to my friend, I thought of the time that this same scene could have happened to me. It was when I was working at the fabric store.

It was about ten P.M. and we were getting ready to close the fabric shop up for the evening. We just emptied the cash register and dust mopped the floor and we were ready to go home.

You remember that I had mentioned that no man ever came into the store? (See "Decision made" article). I had mentioned in that story about two men that came in one time.

Well, this was the time and the night that two very large burly young men walked into our fabric store. As I had stated, we had just emptied the cash register and closing up.

Both myself and the gal that was working with me, thought that we were sitting ducks to be robbed! We kept our "cool" and proceeded to wait on them. They said that they wanted to look at the velvet. We showed them the velvet variety we had and told them the price. They claimed that they wanted to paint on it. You probably have seen pictures that the background was velvet and someone painted on the material. I personally do not like that kind of art, but each to his own. To my memory, they did not purchase anything and left soon after.

You don't know how relieved we both were after they left and we were not robbed. Like I said, no man hardly ever came in to the shop. The timing of those two guys showing up were rather eerie!

Thought--One that closes up a store in the evening is always running a risk of being mugged or robbed. We live in an imperfect world and evil men are still out there.

VICTIMS FAMILY!

How sad that this family had to go through this ordeal because of one persons greed or whatever caused his slaying her in cold blood.

Our pastor had the funeral and emphasized that he believed in corporal punishment. In Exodus 21:12 it states, He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death. Of course at that early stage, he did not know what the courts would do.

Our pastor then went on to say that the family had only one recourse to take, and that was of forgiveness. Hard, to do? You bet, but one doesn't gain anything to harbor hatred in ones heart.
The scripture states in Romans 12:19--Beloved do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine I will repay." says the Lord. When you turn the situation over to the Lord, then God will take care of the situation and heal your pain.

This young man was tried and convicted of murdering my friend. He is still in jail for this crime.
Each year he is up for parole and the family has to go to court and go through the ordeal again, and again to keep him locked up. They do not want him out on the street so that this scene will be repeated and other families would suffer as they have had to do. Truly he should not be walking the streets so others would be in danger.

Wisdom--When we were visiting Maranatha Bible Conference Grounds, we met a lady that her daughter was murdered in cold blood. She wrote a book about it and about the forgiveness steps that she went through. She finally went to the prison and met him and presented the gospel to him. How he responded to what she said, I can't remember, but in her own heart she had truly forgiven him. This is almost beyond our imagination without God's help.

WHAT??? ANOTHER MURDER!!!!!

It was just an ordinary day when the telephone rang and our secretary to the commissioner took the call. They were trying to get in touch with him, since his mother had just been murdered moments before! I was standing by her desk when this call came in.

Since I knew his mother quite well (she was a member of our Church and Sunday School Class), I called our pastor up and told him. Needless to say, that day was not an ordinary run of a day!

Her son was out of the city, and couldn't be reached right then.

My friend had a small gift type of shop and she for the most part ran it by herself. She went to work that beautiful peaceful sunny day and the unspeakable happened. A man came into the shop and was inquiring about something on a shelf behind her. As she was turning around to get the object, he pulled out a crowbar hidden in his pant leg. He literally bludgeoned her to death. It was quite a struggle, as she didn't go down without a fight. She was finally found at her desk in the back beaten to a pulp. I don't know if drugs were involved or it was just theft.

The police scavenged the neighborhood and found the culprit. The victim sister was going to meet her at noon at the shop, but when she came, it was all blocked off. This happened just a few minutes before noon. Someone else dropped by the shop just moments after the senseless murder. Otherwise her sister would have been the first to show up. Horrible to the mind and unthinkable that any human being could do something like this to another person.

Stay tuned as I will tell you about this horrible tragedy that day.

Wisdom--Someday the scales of justice will be perfectly balanced!!

ANOTHER JOB!

Working in the bank was interesting, but when I heard about an opening in the Finance Office of the City, I decided to look into this job. You know it doesn't hurt to check out these things.
I did, and I was hired.

This was a job that required me to learn the old bookkeeping machines. It was interesting, even though I did miss being at the bank. During this time, the system took on a much more updated approach to how they kept their books. It went from those bookkeeping machines, to Burroughs L-8000, and then updated to computer, while I was there. Of course, the change-over to one system to another was a challenge. They had better benefits than what the bank offered. They also had a pension plan. This was a plus.

Our younger daughter had a checking account while in college and the bank was always very good about letting me know her standing. (I suppose it was because I had worked there and I had told them to keep me informed.) This way, we were able to see if we needed to put more money in so she could survive in college. She never was extravagant, so we were fortunate. Our older daughter's husband was working on his Masters and then his Doctorate degrees, so it seemed like everyone was going to school.

Thought--I did consider myself very fortunate that I was able to get back into the workforce after so many years that lapsed while I was raising our girls. God seemed to be in control and doors opened up and I walked through them.