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.

THE TASTY RECIPES!

Since I told you what we served at our younger daughters wedding, I thought you might want the recipes. These recipes she got from the Heartland Cookbook. Of course, this was multiplied to the amount of people that were coming. When you multiply a recipe, be careful to reduce seasonings as they tend to not multiply in the same portions.

MINIATURE GLAZED HAM LOAVES

3/4 # GROUND HAM

3/4 # GROUND PORK

3/4 CUP QUICK OR OLD FASHIONED OATS, UNCOOKED

2 EGGS

1/2 CUP MILK

2/3 CUP PACKED BROWN SUGAR

2 TBS. FLOUR

1 TEASPOON DRY MUSTARD

1/8 TEASPOON GROUND CLOVES

2/3 CUP APRICOT NECTAR

1 TBS. VINEGAR

1 TBS. LEMON JUICE

Combine meat, oats, eggs and milk; mix lightly until thoroughly blended. Shape into 8 small round loaves, Bake at 325 degree, 1 hour. Drain off excess fat. Blend sugar, flour, mustard,cloves in saucepan. Gradually add remaining ingredients; cook over low heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Pour over meat loaves; continue baking 20 minutes. Serves 8.

COUNTRY GARDEN POTATO SALAD

1 CUP MAYONNAISE

1/2 CUP DAIRY SOUR CREAM

1/4 CUP SLICED GREEN ONION

2 TEASPOONS SALT

1/2 TEASPOON DILL WEED

DASH OF PEPPER

6 CUPS CUBED COOKED POTATOES

1 MEDIUM CUCUMBER, SLICED

1 CUP SHREDDED CARROTS

2 TBS. CHOPPED PARSLEY

Combine mayonnaise, sour cream, onion and seasonings; mix until blended. Add potatoes, cucumber and carrots; mix well. Chill. Just before serving, sprinkle with parsley. 8-10 servings

The fruit cup was mainly stawberries, bananas, pineapple and other berries.

Thought--Have a great day today and may God shine His blessing on you once again is my prayer for you.

NO TIME TO DALLY!

Three months doesn't give a mother much time to get her act together with wedding preparations and especially when that mother has a full time job outside of the home.

There were certain things that our younger daughter wanted. She wanted a buffet, but it didn't require a lot of variety, but she wanted what we had to be tasty. She went through the recipe books and came upon Apricot Glazed Ham loaf, country style potato salad, fruit cup, home made bread and the usual cake, for dessert. This seemed simple enough. The cake could be baked and frozen until I was ready to decorate it. Mints could be frozen. My husband was home from surgery during that time, so I put him to work getting the bread out of the oven at just the right time. I would make it in the morning, then it would rise, and at around lunchtime, I would pop it in the oven and he was to oversee the final stage. This was cut into and cream cheese, chives, etc. was placed in the center and cut into wedges.

I didn't have time to make her dress, so she purchased her dress. The bridesmaids, flower girl, ring bearer outfits were totally done by each girl. This was a great help, since that was what took me a lot of hours in our older daughters wedding. Of course the material, patterns, etc had to be purchased and given to the perspective girls.

The flowers were something that I wanted to do this time around. My daughter was hesitant on her bouquet, so we purchased that. All the other flowers, boutonnieres, corsages was my responsibility. I was going to take a week of my vacation just prior to the wedding and I thought this part, I could handle. Some circular tablecloths had to be made, so this was another job on the list.

Our older daughter was working in close proximity to the kitchen (she oversaw the kitchen and time sheets, etc.) at one of the dorms in the college. They were still at the college as he was doing his graduate work. She was able to get permission to use their walk-in refrigerator and large industrial equipment to carry out all the work that had to be done.This was a real plus!!!

I still had to depend on my very good friends, or the last minute details would have not gotten done. Thanks for all those good friends to pitch in at the last days and hours.

Even though I couldn't do as much as I had done for our older daughter's wedding, I did other things that compensated for it.

Brian and Mary seemed to be quite pleased with the result. Mary told me later, that she had wished that I had done her wedding bouquet, as she liked the flower arrangements that the bridesmaids carried so much better. There was big dose of LOVE put in each of those. Brian was in horticulture and was able to get plants and flowers to the alter, so we were good to go!!

Thought--Things went quite smoothly this time around. Mary had picked up the candelabra that went on the end of the pews and left them in her car (a hot day) and they didn't stay lit for very long. That was about the only catastrophe we had. We didn't lose a daughter, but acquired a son that day!

ROCKY ROMANCE!

There is a saying that true love never runs smoothly or some phrase like that! Well, this probably was true when it came to our younger daughter and her future husband while they were dating.

Our daughter was on a youth mission trip to Alabama and Brian decided to visit. She was gone all summer with a group from the church. They were setting up bible studies, etc. When Brian came down for a weekend, all her friends REALLY liked him. I think this is what got her to take a closer look at her friend.

Another summer she was working in a town close to Brian's parents. We had gone down to visit her. She asked if we wanted to go over and visit Brian's parents. Since we needed something to do, we did just that. All went well----but in the middle of the night, I got to thinking! Well, when moms starts to think, they usually come up with the right answer! I told my husband "I don't think Mary and Brian are dating". He said to me, "What makes you think THAT?" I said to him
"She was asking questions that had they been dating, she certainly would have known first hand, and would have known them already without asking the parents." The next morning I asked her bluntly, "Are you and Brian dating?" She said, "NO." I was right, they had broken up. He was working elsewhere that summer.

This scene played out quite a few times during their courtship. One day though, he gave her a ring. Mary had graduated from college and she had been teaching for two years. They announced they were going to get married at the close of her teaching that spring. What! I had less than 3 months to prepare for a wedding!! Oh my, and it took me a year to prepare for our older daughter's wedding! What is a mother going to do?

Stay tuned. I will tell you!

Thought--We love Brian like a son, and are so glad that they decided to get married. I will tell you more later.

HOW I MET OUR YOUNGER DAUGHTER'S FUTURE HUSBAND!

There were 2 dozen red beautiful roses in a watering can in my daughter's room while I was visiting during mom's weekend. I inquired who was the proud owner of these. My daughter said that Brian had given them to her. I hadn't heard of this name before, but was asking more questions about him, since he obviously took a liking to our daughter.

She freely told me about him. I must have been impressed and her reply was. "Oh mom, he is just a friend!" What a friend he turned out to be!

I was privileged to meet him briefly still that weekend, but didn't really get to know him.

The following spring we were invited to a wedding of a close friend of our daughters. Our daughter was a bridesmaid and we proceeded to drive to this location and arrived early so we could find the church, etc.

We had time to kill before the wedding so my husband and I stopped to get some ice cream at dairy queen. A Corvette sports car pulled up beside us and a young man was driving this car.

Since I had met Brian very briefly earlier, I didn't quite remember details, but thought Brian possibly looked a little like this guy. I really didn't think it was Brian.

My husband was bringing the cones back to the car and the young man in the sports car came over and asked us "Aren't you Mary's parents?" Then I knew who he was. He sat with us during the wedding since Mary was in the wedding party.

Stay tuned as I will tell you more about this NEW young man in her life.

Thought--We did not know then that he would be an important member of our family. He has been a rock in her life and ours! We love you very much!

MOM'S WEEKEND!!

It was always nice to visit our daughter while she was living in the 4-H house, but Mom's weekend was really "special".

The girls planned the weekend and took us to flower shows, etc. They would have tea time and even made their own crackers for this & cheese balls. They had well balanced meals for us that they cooked. They were learning to be good hostesses.

The 4-H house had three floors, each floor had many rooms. These rooms were to study and each room had enough desks & closets for 3 girls to store their belongings and study in. They had on each floor a huge room solely for sleeping. One could go in there and sleep and not be disturbed. The state law said that this room had be unheated and the window open even in the dead of winter. I'm sure it was just cracked open a tiny bit when it got cold, however.

This is where they would have the mothers sleep on mom's weekend. Our daughter's bunk was on top and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't manage to get up on that top bunk. The girls were behind me trying to hoist me up. The more they pushed, the more I laughed, and the more I laughed, the weaker I got. I finally made it to the top of the bed, however. In the mornings I always get up early. There I was way up high and how was I going to get down from this perch? I started laughing again, everyone was sound asleep. I managed somehow. It is easier to come down than to go up!

On one mom's weekend, I thought those girls didn't know it was way past bedtime. I know it must have been one in the morning, and I was getting tired. My daughter said to me, "Mom you can go to bed but I have to go over and make cookies for the next day". Remember these girls did all their own cooking and each had a specific job that had to be done. I told her, "No way am I going to bed, we both will go over and make cookies and then we both can go to bed". This particular year she was living in the 4-H annex. Only the girls in the Junior/Senior year of college was privileged to live here. A widow lived downstairs and rented out her rooms upstairs to the 4-H house girls.

The 4-H had a house mother that lived in the house and she had separate quarters. She was quite the queen, as she didn't have much to do, but I'm sure she had an ear to listen, when any girl needed to talk about a problem they were having.

Thought--Good friends and memories were created during those years for our daughter and all the mothers that visited.

YOU ARE DOING WHAT?

The 4-H house (at the University) was built to accommodate those who wanted a higher education, but still wanted to keep the cost at a minimum while attending. There were about 56 girls staying at the house when our younger daughter was getting her degree.

They achieved this by doing their own cooking, cleaning, baking and quarterly jobs around the premises. Lawn raking in the fall, window washing, to name a few.

One Saturday I had phoned our daughter and asked what she was doing? I wasn't expecting this from our "little 18 year old". She said, "We are having fall clean up day today, and we drew slips out of the jar and I drew the slip to clean the GREASE TRAP." This grease trap was located in their industrial sized kitchen and one had to take a really long handle pan and reach in there and dip all the goop out and clean it. I thought to myself, we have someone come and do ours and here our "baby" was doing this on a much larger scale. I was feeling her dislike for this chore, also.

She proceeded to tell me that she couldn't stand the smell and ran clear to the third floor and still she could smell the stench. I don't know what kind of a job she did that day, as she has quite a weak stomach for such things. Oh well, she lived to tell about it.

Wisdom--The 4-H house was really a great place to live. If these girls hadn't learned TEAMWORK prior to going to college, they certainly learned it while staying at the 4-H house.
A lot of the girls came from the farm and was used to some distasteful chores, but our daughter hadn't done something this gross before.The girls had to have had an excellent grade point average before they considered them to live at the house. Also, they had to maintain there grades while living there. Stay tuned, I have a few tales to tell about visiting there.

THE LOST BILLFOLD!!

Since I was on the subject of lost items, I will tell you about the lost billfold. It was Dad's day at the University where our younger daughter was going to school. After leaving him off at the 4-H house, I proceeded to go shopping at a well known shopping area. I had the whole day to "goof off", so wasn't in a hurry.

I decided to stop for a snack at this open snack bar in the mall. I looked down and a black billfold
laid on the floor under my feet. I picked it up and noticed it was a man from Chicago that had lost his billfold. I proceeded to eat what I had bought and thought what I was going to do with this billfold. The first thing I thought about, I did. I turned it in at the cashier checkout. I figured that he would trace back to the spot that he used the billfold last and check there first. Whether it was the best way our not. I never did know whether he received his billfold back or not.

If I was to think this out, I probably would have mailed it or try to phone him that I had it. That way, I would have been certain that he received it back. However, he might have still needed it yet that morning or day.

Wisdom--People in general are honest and if given the chance, they will do the right thing. I was so grateful for an honest person that turned our daughter's purse in that day with the registration papers she needed. I never knew who did this and neither did this gentleman know who turned in his billfold. I trusted the cashier to do the right thing, also. I'm sure he was as thankful as we were to get our lost item back.

THE LOST PURSE!!

College registration papers are quite important when you are going to a large university. Without them, you are just a # and apt to hear, "next please"!

I'm not sure whether this was the first or 2ND year we were taking our younger daughter off to school. I was working and we took her after both my husband I had gotten off work. Since we hadn't eaten, we stopped by a fast food place to eat. We were all loaded and as soon as we ate we left.

We got her all settled in the 4-H house (this is where she lived), and was ready to come back home. She said to us, "Did you bring my purse in?" I said, "No, we didn't see your purse."
This purse held her college registration papers in it. She needed those the next morning in the very worst way. We doubled checked the car, all the stuff and no purse. We called the place where we stopped for a quick bite to eat, and got the same results. No one had turned in the purse.

We proceeded to go on home. While going home, the thought came to mind of how God was so interested in us that He knew the very number of hairs on our head. Well, (I thought) what good is this information? The kind of information that is helpful is like Registration Papers, etc.
After praying and thinking about this, the "light bulb" went on. Counting our hair on our head is just how DETAILED He was interested. Now if God would be that interested in us, then God was really interested in this LOST PURSE and REGISTRATION PAPERS! By the time we got back home, I was sure that the purse would be hanging on our doorknob when we arrived home.

We came to the intersection where we turned to eat that night prior to our driving her to school. I mentioned to my husband, why don't we go past and see if we happen to see the purse close to where we ate a few hours earlier. No purse was found close to where we ate. I walked up to the counter (remember I had phoned them earlier and they said that no purse was found) and asked them again if they happened to find a purse. They looked under the counter, and someone had turned in a purse and it was our daughter's. We drove back and gave it to her yet that evening and she was "good to go".

Wisdom--In Matthew 10:30 it says--"But the very hairs of your head are all numbered". In the previous verse, it told about two sparrows and if one falls God knows about them. Oh how little faith I had that evening! In Matthew 21:22 it states--And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. These scriptures came alive that evening so long ago! This is why some people refer to the Bible as the LIVING WORD.

MORE BANK EXPERIENCES!

It was the custom that tellers came in early before the bank opened and would go through the business deposits that were left overnight. This would fill our time up and then we would be ready to wait on the customers after nine A.M. One of my overnight deposit bags had a $1,000 more than they stated on the deposit slip. I called them up immediately, for I knew that whoever made the mistake would be short and really concerned where $1,000 went. A few weeks went by and if I didn't have another $1,000 too much in their overnight bag. I didn't rush to the phone to tell them immediately. I thought they need to sweat a little bit. When they came in that day, I told them about it. Someone surely needed to be more careful at that grocery store.

On another occasion, two walk-up teller windows were open after cut-off time (mine and another ladies). An old friend of her family came up to her window. Generally when he came in he was very friendly to her and outgoing. On this particular occasion, she couldn't get him to converse with her. He proceeded to take quite a bundle of cash from his savings account. He was quite elderly and was acting very strangely toward an old friend. She decided to phone the man's son to tell him what was transpiring and for him to go over to his dad's home to check him out. The son did and could not get a response from the father on why he was taking so much money out of his account. He wouldn't confide even with his own son. Finally the son got through to the father and the father broke down and related this: A man (stranger) approached the father and told him to take a large amount of money out and give it to this stranger, as he was helping the bank to see if the tellers were on the up and up! Truly a "SCAM" in process. If it were not for the alert teller and the son aborting the plan, the older man would have been duped out of his savings account.

One day I was waiting on this young lad. He was taking out a hefty sum of money from his savings account (a sizeable amount for a teenager). The son was high school age and happened to be a son of a local Judge. Since I had sold Avon to the Judge's wife, I was looking at the son and was wondering who he favored (his dad or mother). The mother came to my teller window yet that day and I casually mentioned about her son being in and I was wondering who he favored. She didn't say anything more, but the next day she called me up and thanked me for mentioning her son. She looked into why he was withdrawing money. Her son thought he lived in a fish bowl and couldn't get by with a thing without his parents knowing about it. So that is the life of a Judge's Son!

Thought--One really did get acquainted with a lot of nice people, and also some that were out to scam someone. When you work with money, what kind of mistakes does one make? One makes money mistakes. Doctors sometimes make a false diagnose and sometimes bury their mistakes. Everyone makes a few in their lifetime. I tried to keep mine down to a minimum.

"THE RABBI"

One day when I was working at the bank a "Rabbi" came to the teller window. He was cashing a check for around $550 from a local lawyer in town. Since I did not know this man, I proceeded to ask for identification. He produced a drivers license and it said he lived in Indiana.

I thought to myself, I wonder why this lawyer was giving him $550. It usually is that people are giving lawyers money. This thought quickly left me, but I proceeded to check out if it was indeed the lawyer's signature on the check. This checked out and I gave him the money.

This is not the end of the story! A month went by and the FBI was checking this man out. Since I was among one of many of the tellers that cashed similar checks for this so called "Rabbi", they took each one of us in and questioned us separately. I remembered cashing this check and what precautions I took prior to cashing the check. I had put his drivers ID on the check, checked the lawyers signature, etc. All the required things a teller was instructed to do. I told them if they run the photo-tape of that day, I could identify him. They told me that one can't beat the counterfeit at his own game. They did not run the tape that day for me.

Each teller which was about 6 in all went in to be questioned about this man. Each had a separate description of the man. He had gone to the drive up window and the drive-up teller had written the drivers license plate number down as she was instructed to do when in doubt.

Now if we could find a tall, short, thin, fat, black, white man that fit this description we could have "nailed" him. H-mm mm!!! I wonder if there is one like that around. I wonder how he stole the lawyer's checks from his checking account? Mystery indeed! I love mystery solving, but this one never did get solved. Were there more than one man posing as a "Rabbi" that day?
My guess was that there were a ring of men going to the teller windows and cashing approximately $500 each.

Wisdom--In II Corinthians 11:13-15 it says, "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works."
Check them out and see what the inerrant infallible word of God (The Bible) says. If it doesn't match then BEWARE!

IT'S TIME TO MOVE ON!!

It's time to move on when you start buying the store out! I'm exaggerating this a bit, but there were no paid vacations, no health insurance, etc. with this job, so it really was a dead end. I did enjoy working at the shop very much and loved the gals I worked with. I worked there about a year and decided to look elsewhere. Surely there was a job that gave benefits after you worked for awhile.

I heard about a bank teller position. Well, I thought this might be interesting work, so off I went to apply. I got the job and now I was working at a local bank. I enjoyed this job very much and yes there were a few benefits that came with that job. Paid vacations, health insurance were a few that come to mind. Working with people was another thing I enjoyed.

The first time I came up short at my teller window, I broke out in a "cold sweat". I thought I had been careful with my transactions. If I was over, nobody would accuse me of that, but being short, that was another thing. Of course, an officer of the bank would check a teller out in this situation. He found the error without a problem. I had put in a pink slip and should have put in
a white slip. (This could have been the other way around). That would make me look like I was short and I really wasn't. WHAT A RELIEF! This incident made me more aware that I must be more careful. I rarely was over or under while working there.

I was told by my Matron of Honor (she was an officer at a Savings and Loan Company) that they had a quick change artist (gypsies) in town and the girls were duped out of money at their windows, so she wanted to warn me about this so we could be on the lookout.

Did they appear? Yes, and would you know one appeared at my window. She gave me X amount of dollars and proceeded to ask for change for that amount of money. I had the amount of change she asked for in a pile in front of me. Then she started talking very fast and wanted to change her mind. She said, "Did I give you X amount of dollars, I didn't mean to do that, give me that back to me." If I hadn't been warned about this, I would have been totally off guard and confused. I told her, "Just one minute, I will take all this money back (as I scooped the change all up) and I will give you your X amount of dollars back to you and then we will start over again." She left immediately from my window with her money she came in with.

Wisdom--Did you know we have an adversary (the devil) walking around today? In I Peter 5:8,9 it states--"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world." Are you aware of this adversary? Satan wants you to believe that there is no GOD, and GOD didn't create the world, it was the "big bang theory" or some other nonsense. The big bang theory is like someone possessing a watch and was told that all these parts were flying around in the air and finally through an explosion, they all fell exactly in place! Duh!!! Satan can turn a lie into something that people will believe. BEWARE, Satan is still up to his same tricks! Are you being duped by these lies he puts out? Your destiny may be at stake. BEWARE, I'm warning you. Check it out with scripture and if they don't match with what the scripture says, then beware!

MOM DON'T YOU THINK YOU ARE GETTING CARRIED AWAY?

Now this is what the girls told me when I was working at this fabric store. Every time a new batch of fabric came in, I took a liking to a few of the new arrivals. I was like a kid in a candy store, I had to have this fantastic new material.

When my girls started telling me I was getting carried away, I should have certainly noticed that I was spending an awful lot of my paycheck on fabric.

Oh well, there were three of us that sewed, we surely could use it sooner or later. I expect I still have some of that stuff around yet.

I had better get a job that didn't take all my earnings up by putting it back into the store. Stay tuned, I will tell you how I did just that.

Thought--When God is in control of our lives, things run smoothly. When we try to be at the helm, things can go sour pretty quickly! When all else fails, go back to the basics! This is a voice of experience speaking. Let God be in charge, not the other way around. He will never lead you astray.