earnedmygreyhairs

MACROBID, NITROFURA MONO

2011-07-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

This past year hasn't been a pleasant experience. After 5 trips and 5 hospital stays, I found out what my problem was. Each time I went in to ER I had the same symptoms. During the day I felt great, other than I had developed an urinary infection. Each time I was prescribed antibiotics to get over the infection. Unbeknown to me or any of the doctors, I was allergic to these pills. These particular strains of antibiotic are "WICKED". I would not recommend taking these under any circumstance. It makes one think they are having a heart attack. Chest hurts, hoarseness, fever, glands swell up, fever and totally sick. After going through all the heart related tests, I was keenly aware that this wasn't what my problem was. Finally, the last trip, I was told by the Urologists nurse that I was allergic to the medicine. I thought, if I was allergic that day, I was allergic each time I would take the antibiotic. All the dots lined up and after checking with the pharmacy records, each day I purchased this antibiotic, I would enter ER a couple hours later.

Macro bid comes in different names, but basically the same medicine. I am putting this on my blog so others will be aware of the hazards. Keep records of your medicines that you take and the effects they have.

MAGGIE--OUR CAIRN TERRIOR

2011-07-20T14:21:00.000-07:00

Pets have a special place in one's life and they soon touch your heartstrings. Maggie was just that kind of a pet. She was our daughter's family dog and passed away this week. We would keep her at our house when they needed to be gone for awhile. Maggie would come bouncing in like she was so glad to see you. She would wait by the bedroom door for a early morning greeting. Maggie gave unconditional love to the family. I guess that is why God created dogs. No matter what, Maggie would always have a wagging tail to say, "I love you". A person could be down and Maggie could lift your spirits. Her presence is gone, but the memories that she gave to their family, and extended family will always be cherished.

When Maggie was less than a year old she nearly died, and we went to see her at the dog hospital. She was so sick that she could hardly stand up, but she knew we were there and I'm sure this helped her get well.

Another time, we stopped by to see our daughter and she wasn't home, and I told our granddaughter we would drop back. As we were parking, my husband saw the dog catcher go by their home. We left immediately and turned the corner and there was the dog catcher with "Our Maggie" under his arms. I jumped out and said, "Maggie, is that you?" The dog catcher let her down and she pitter pattered home. I said, "Maggie you sure got yourself into some hot water now". She didn't have her dog tag on and our granddaughter showed the dog catcher her tag. Whew! That was a close call! Maggie was playing in the neighbor's back yard with their dog and found a hole in the fence and got out.

Maggie had quite the personality, and could cause one to laugh at her antics. She will be missed. I believe that God will have our pets in heaven waiting for us, as He so loves us and wants us to be happy. So Maggie, greet us when we get there!

IT'S NEVER WRONG TO DO THE RIGHT THING!

2010-12-08T07:39:00.000-08:00

Since Thanksgiving, I have managed to go back to the hospital. Not exactly where I would have wanted to be, but it is good to be there when you become sick. I'm back home and recuperating. Hopefully, I won't have to return for awhile. A few days before I came home, I was walking the halls to build up my strength for returning home, and I looked down and saw an object on the floor. I picked it up and it appeared to be a diamond earring. It was set in an old fashioned setting and looked to be real. My nurse when I came back asked me how my walk went. I told her about the diamond and let her look at it. She also, thought it to be authentic diamond in an old setting. I gave it to her to turn into lost and found. If it was truly an heirloom diamond, the owner would be crushed to lose it, as it would have sentimental memories as well worth some money. Hopefully, the earring will be returned to the rightful owner. A nice Christmas present if this proves out to be the case.

Wisdom--It's never wrong to do the right thing.

WHERE ARE THE GROCERIES?

2010-11-11T13:10:00.000-08:00

They claim that groceries are going up in price. Well, yesterday I went to get groceries and purchased $80+ worth and came home and put them all away. I thought that we sure didn't get many groceries for $80. Toward evening, my husband asked me if I knew where the paper towels went that we just purchased. No paper towels were anywhere to be found. I tried to find my grocery list and couldn't find the list to see if we had paid for the paper towels. Today, the list showed up in my husband's jacket pocket. He has been helping a lot with things since I have been recuperating from my hospital stay. I proceeded to check out the list and would you believe that not only did we not have the paper towels that we purchased, but there was ice cream, sausage patties, canned goods, 2 loaves of bread, 10 # bag of potatoes, 2 frozen vegetables, Hamburger Helper all were unaccounted for. Now what to do? This is rather strange. No wonder I thought groceries have really gone up and hardly anything to show for my purchase.

We decided to go back and speak to the the manager and tell them about our missing groceries that we had paid for. A gal was ahead of us with a grocery cart at the office. After she left I went up and told the lady that I certainly had quite a bit of groceries that I didn't get and paid for. I had no more told her this, and I turned around and the grocery cart was still sitting there. (This cart, I thought belonged to the gal just ahead of me in line at grocery store's office.) Would you believe it, it looked like all the groceries that I had marked on my list that was missing. I told the office lady, you know what, I think these are my missing groceries. She came out and sure enough everything that I had marked was in the shopping cart. Of course, the ice cream was melted, along with unrefrigerated sausage, etc. Mystery was solved so quickly and corrected. I had nothing to prove that I did not receive these items and was certainly glad that it was that easy to rectify.

Thought--I think that groceries are going up rapidly as our government devalues the dollar.
This, and many other necessities of life one will see rise rapidly. Will the government ever learn? It doesn't seem to me that they will.

ANGELS OF MERCY!

2010-11-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

This past week was not one that I was over joyed with, but everyone has a down time once in awhile. Yes, I landed in the hospital and 2 1/2 days later, I was dismissed. Well, not for long, because I landed back in the hospital yet that same day, in the ER. I'm better, but hopefully I will try to stay out of the hospital. One week is enough of hospital life.

With that said, I had only positive interaction with the nurses/staff at the hospital. Hats off to these "Angels of Mercy". Most of these nurses work 12 hour shifts, greet you with a smile and helpful hands. I can't say enough about their abilities and hard work. Also, I had 2 priceless student nurses that will be their future nurses. The Nursing profession is truly a calling and the ones that I interacted with, held the standard HIGH. Sometimes, we over-look those that do other tasks. For example, one's that draw blood. My veins are really hard to get blood from, since they roll and don't want to get stuck. This one lady came in and drew 4 large bottles of blood. They had be drawn from 2 different arms each time. Each time, and each day she did her job efficiently and no pain. Sometimes, these people get unnoticed but she was truly good in her field.

The food could be improved a bit. They could get some of Paula Dean's recipes and then the food would be more to my liking. I might not make it out of the hospital, but I would die happily!

Thought--The scripture states in Romans 8:28--"And we know that all things God works for good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." No God didn't cause my illness, but can take that situation and turn it around for "good".

YESTERDAY'S EXPLOSION!

2010-08-06T07:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was just an ordinary day but something happened during our eating supper that was quite a surprise to both my husband and myself. We eat lightly in the evening so we were eating a sandwich, fruit and a glass of cold water. Nothing could have foreseen this event coming, but I was lightly holding my glass of water with my hand, when all of a sudden the glass of water exploded in my hand. The glass disintegrated in little pieces. Thank heavens, I was not drinking at the time, because some of the tiny pieces could have hit my eyes. Why this happened, I do not know. My husband was astounded at what just took place. The glass was a very sturdy heavy glass and no cracks in it. Let me know if you have an idea regarding this. It was just cold water from the refrigerator, no ice in the glass. My warm hands were wrapped around the glass but I was not picking up the glass at the time.

Thought--The thought came to me that this is exactly the way that Christ will rapture the Church. Things will be going along perfectly normal and suddenly, without warning, Christ will Rapture the Church. I Corinthians 15:51-52 it states "Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed."
It employs us to remain faithful because we do not know the hour that Christ will return. Read Mathew 24:36-51. "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come." The question is--WILL YOU BE READY?

THE CASE OF THE LOST GLASSES!!!!

2010-07-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

When you look at world events, losing ones glasses is small potatoes, but to the one that can't see, it still rates up there pretty high.

The other day, my husband lost his glasses. I was busy with doing volunteer work for our daughter to get ready for her teaching school in a few weeks. I had the dining room table all loaded down with these papers I was sorting out, so when she needs a certain paper they will be in order to pass out (years supply).

My husband was reading close by and using the remainder space of the table to sort out his stuff.
Which really was very little space left.

Later, toward evening, he announced that he couldn't find his glasses. I was still on this task for the day so that it would be completed and forgotten about. He retraced his steps and searched and searched in all the obvious places and those not so obvious. He couldn't find them and so I got involved and tried to solve the mystery. We looked in the yard, back yard, garbage, chairs, davenport, under the furniture and everywhere that was conceivable where these glasses could have gone. No glasses were to be found anywhere and even places that you wouldn't look unless you were desperate and didn't know where else to look. Still no glasses.

The thought came to me that God knew where they had gone, so why not ask Him to help us find them. We had gone out to eat with our neighbors for lunch, but he was sure he had them when he came back and was reading. So we were sure that they had to be somewhere around the house or yard.

When we got back from lunch with our friends, it was warm in the house and I slipped my outer blouse off and placed them over the chair like you would do with a jacket. I wanted to get back to the job at hand.

I finally completed the project about 6 PM and called Mary to meet us half way and she could take them to her school the next day.

Before I left, I tidied up the table, and noticed the blouse placed on the back of the chair. I proceeded to remove it to the clothes hamper and something dropped out of the blouse to the floor. Yes, the infamous glasses!!! They had to have fallen in the cuff of the blouse because there were no pockets to the blouse. Duh! I should have asked God sooner.

Thought--I wonder how many times we worry, stew, wring our hands, and the answer is no closer than God's word. If we would only learn to ask God to help, we could eliminate a lot of time, trouble and worries.

GRANDDAUGHTER MOVED!

2010-06-04T07:21:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to Michigan to help our granddaughter move to a rented home. They have their condo rented to a couple doctors and now in a rented house with a large yard for the kids to play in.

I need to clarify this helping move bit. We just observed everyone move their furniture. The most we did was supply lunch for the workers and unpack her kitchen supplies and organize the kitchen area.

It will take some getting used to for our granddaughter, as it is an older home and not up to the most modern equipment. For me however, it would seem luxurious compared to our old farm house on the farm when I was growing up.

It was a fun weekend even with the work involved.

Last night we went to a concert and it was 2 1/2 hours of pure enjoyment.

Thought--When everyone does a little, that LITTLE becomes MUCH when everyone does something for a greater cause. This is called TEAMWORK! Without teamwork, it doesn't function like it should.

JUST COMING BACK FROM CLOUD NINE!

2010-05-12T08:45:00.000-07:00

What can I say after a celebration fit for a "King and Queen"! We had a relaxing and great time in Florida (compliments of our daughters and our sons-in-law). We had a picturesque view at the Wyndam Condo from the balcony. Flight down and back was stress free, since our grandson and family helped ease the stress.

Well, let me tell you that there were more in store after we arrived home. On Sunday, our kids recreated our "first date"! Our first date was to see the stage play "Showboat" at Purdue University. Our kids rented a theater (an old theater that they converted to classic movies) and our family enjoyed the movie Showboat that debuted one year after the stage play we saw in 1950. They had trail mix, candy, cold drink and computer DVD hooked up to a laptop to view a tape that one of our granddaughters had put together. It was professionally done and was such a nostalgic addition to our 60Th Wedding Anniversary! A dozen red roses were presented to us from one of our granddaughters skills in arranging.

If that wasn't enough, they went back to one of our daughters home, to reenact Steak n Shake dinner with family. This was a regular event on our dates. In 1950, Steak n Shake was the only fast food place around. One of our granddaughters was at the door dressed up in a Steak n Shake hat, apron and the works! The home was decorated with Steak n Shake decor along with tables set up for the entire family!

We truly have been blessed with such a loving family and a great 60 years together. Good health, and just enough down time, to make us humble and very appreciative of all of God's blessings here on earth.

Our 25Th they had a dinner party at our friends house. Our 40Th the family all went to a nice restaurant. Our 50Th they had a bash with friends and family. Our 60Th was described above. They really will have to get their creative juices going for our 70Th!!

All of our family made a special effort to attend. Most of them came in time to go to church with us, and off to my sister's home for a quick "tide us over" lunch and then off to see "Showboat".

We thank each and every one of you for coming and making "our day" so memorable! It truly was one that we will cherish.

Had we known when we were dating, that our dating days would be recreated, we would have gone to Lobster and Steak dinners after our dates! That would really have set them back a bit.

Thought--Our 4 beautiful great granchildren were all there and what more can a couple ask for in life!!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!

MY HUMBLE APOLOGY!

2010-03-24T07:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday our president signed into law a HUGE health care bill. While we were going to the doctors this month, I inquired to what they thought of this bill. I couldn't find any doctors/nurses that were wanting this bill to pass. My sister's doctor stated that he would quit medicine if it passed. Some type of reform was needed, but should not have been taken over by the government to manage.

I have stated previously what "BIG" government does to a nation, a people, and the future generations. My mind is firm on this. Less government = more freedom. Big government = less freedom. Our nations freedom came at a great COST for many of our forefathers. We should not take their sacrifices for granted.

I'm taking this time to apologize to my grandchildren, great grandchildren and those yet to be born, that we have lost freedom for them and heaped on their shoulders debt that they will never get out from under. With that said, it will be extremely hard for them to make ends meet, feed and clothe their families. I believed that each generation should be responsible for debts that they incur. I really am sorry and apologize to what passing this bill has done to those that come after us.

Wisdom--When one spends more that one makes whether it be individually, business, or government, one can expect bankruptcy. Social Security, medicare, medicaid are facing bankruptcy. States are facing bankruptcy. You think that our government will not lead us right into bankruptcy, as well!!!

BUSY, BUSY, WEEK!

2010-03-11T10:16:00.000-08:00

This week has been filled to the brim. Appointments with doctors, getting preparation work done prior to a new counter top in our bathroom. When we made the doctor appointments, I didn't know that so many things were jelling on the same week.

March seems to be a good time to get our yearly checkups at the doctors we go to. We figure that snow and ice surely is behind us. Little did I know that all the work needed to get done in our bathroom was culminating this week, also.

I can't wait until the bathroom is completed. Hopefully, all the inconveniences that it takes to install a new counter top, fixtures, lighting, and painting, will be worth it.

Thought--My husband had an echo at the doctor's office today. Things looked about the same.
Very thankful for the health God has given us through the years. PTL.

MAGGIE--PERHAPS YOU COULD QUALIFY!

2010-03-04T12:47:00.000-08:00

I received a printout from a friend today. I thought it was so right. This is what it said--

Entitled-- My Dog

I went down this morning to sign my dog up for welfare. At first the lady said,Dogs are not eligible to draw welfare. So I explained to her that my Dog is unemployed, lazy, can't speak English and has no clue who his Daddy is. So she looked in her policy book to see what it takes to qualify. My dog gets his first check Friday. Is this a great country or what?

This truly is funny, if it wasn't so the way our government is operating these days. Rewarding the wrong people. Yes, and it seems like all the media goes right along with such idiotic kind of mentality. Our poor grandchildren, they will look back on their forefathers and wonder what kind of crazy ancestors that let this country get everyone in debt so that everyone is as poor as a church mouse. Spend, spend, spend is all Washington bureaucrats can think of. Somebody will pay dearly for this reckless spending. Bankruptcy comes to my mind.

SNOW AND MORE SNOW!

2010-02-09T16:14:00.000-08:00

Winter seems to want to stay with us a little longer. The snow blower comes in mighty handy when there is snow on the driveway. The recyclables and garbage had to be put out and hence the driveway needed the snow to be gone.

My husband has been taking medicine to regulate his blood. When he has too thin of blood count, he could bleed internally should he fall. Too thick of blood he might have a stroke. Either way, it isn't good. He doesn't like that I use the snow blower, but I am a safer bet than he is on the ice. He has to get it started, and then I take over and blow the snow off of the driveway. We have had some mighty caring neighbors that has helped, also.

Our grandson purchased a new laptop for me and this is the first time I have gotten on to type with it. It has all the "bells and whistles" to it, so it will be sometime before I catch on to all of them. My old one was so SLOW that a new one was the way t0 go.

We have been checking into getting a new bathroom counter top. We have stripped the wallpaper off and hope to get all done before warm weather. We are rather SLOW like our old computer! Maybe we need to be traded in for a new models! Do you think?

SIX WEEKS TIL SPRING!

2010-02-02T16:20:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad that we have four seasons. I wonder if I would ever tire of just perfect weather all of the time. In the spring, I think it will be nice to have summer and fresh vegetables and fruits. When summer comes and hangs around too long, I long for the cooler days of fall. The fall leaves turn their blazing colors and oh my, how beautiful! Then there is winter. I can't think about what it would be like without a little snow at Christmas. That would be rather weird. But of all the seasons, I like winter the least. If one could stay indoors and not have to go out to get groceries, go to the doctor, etc. then winter wouldn't be quite as bad.

The ground hog saw his shadow and they claim we have six more weeks of winter. It will be nice to see the green grass and smell the fresh earth again.

A snowy winter that comes to my mind is when I was going to work and it was extremely icy, and snowing. Since I was running late, I was really trying to step up the pace for fear I would be late. Didn't want any nasty looks staring at me (believe me there were a few). The firemen had just finished washing the firetrucks. With the ice that already was on the sidewalk, fresh water on top, and snowflakes on top of that, it was an accident just waiting to happen. Yes, I fell so quickly that I had hit my head before my body could catch up. That was the closest I had ever came to being knocked out. Yes, there were stars that were dancing around my head. Due to this fall, I walked around about six weeks in what would be a daze or dizzy feeling. Yes, I had a mild concussion. During this same period of ice, a lady had gone out their back steps and fell and died due to the fall and ice. Maybe this is the reason, I have high respect for the ice and how it leave a terrific punch.

Oh you people in that perfect weather and environment, you just don't know what it is to have the best of all the world. Now who am I kidding! Right now I would change places with you. Spring is coming and hopefully soon.

LAURAINE SNELLING BOOKS!!

2010-01-26T15:20:00.000-08:00

I'm not much of a reader, but Lauraine Snelling books are addictive and they are hard to put down. Since November, I am on my 10Th book that she has written. The series that have such a hold of my attention are the RED RIVER OF THE NORTH (6 books) and RETURN TO RED RIVER (3 books) and now I am reading DAUGHTER OF BLESSINGS SERIES (4 books).

Red River of the North
1. Untamed land
2. New Day Rising
3. Land to Call Home
4. Reaper's Song
5. Tender Mercies
6. Blessing in Disguise

Return to Red River
1. Dream to Follow
2. Believing the Dream
3. More than a Dream

Daughters of Blessing
1. Promise for Ellie
2. Sophie's Dilemma
3. A Touch of Grace
4. Rebecca's Reward

These are Christian Fiction books about the trials that our Forefathers that Homesteaded near the Red River in South Dakota. Very factual and depicting the trials and hardships that our ancestors encountered as they came over from Norway.

I dare say, that if you don't shed a tear reading these books, you are "one hardened dude"!

Thought--Sometimes scripture comes alive when it is put in the context of everyday trials. The author of these books has just this ability to convey to us the meaning of scripture as it applies to our everyday living. I hope you check these out at the library and in the order in which I have listed so you can get the total picture of this family and our founding fathers trials.

SPELL-CHECK!!

2010-01-24T10:48:00.000-08:00

This is what I ran across this week and I thought it was worth passing on. Most people use spell-check to check out some of the things that you have typed. I don't know who wrote it but thought it was the way it is!

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strke a key and type a word
And weight four it tow say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea every wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weight
My chequer tolled me sew.

Have a good day!

THE CASE OF GIGGLES!

2010-01-16T16:21:00.000-08:00

Recalling some of my childhood memories centered around the family at the table.

It seemed that I had a full blown case of the "giggles" at the table on this occasion. Every time I looked at my sister, we would burst out laughing. What we were laughing about, is totally unknown. It got so bad, that our father told us we had to leave the table. They separated us so we could get over what was so funny. They put my sister in the "wash room" (actually today, it would be the bathroom, absent of a tub). They put me in the family room. There was only one problem with this plan, we still was able to see each other. I don't remember whether we ate supper that night or not, since we kept on laughing.

Another memory was when my mother served round steak. Now round steak needs to be chewed up quite well, since the pieces seem to cling together. This particular day, I jumped up from the table, I couldn't say a word. I ran into the family room. I was totally choking on this beef steak in my throat. My father apparently knew what was the matter, and followed me into the family room. He reached in my throat with his long finger and pulled out the steak. If you have had an experience of choking, you will never forget it. I have had a few times that I couldn't get my breath for some reason or another. It totally freaks you out! My dad saved my life that day!

My mother loved to cook and we lacked nothing in the way of food. She was a very good cook and prided herself in her ability. However, when you are young, you sometimes don't appreciate everything that seems to be on your plate. One of the rules at our house, if you take it, you must eat it. There was a shelf under our kitchen table, that was there to add support for the table.
This little shelf was the ideal place to store anything that one didn't want to eat. You had to eat everything, since there were starving children in the world. We were discovered when the table was moved and the contents of the shelf shifted a bit. Out came the uneaten roll, etc. onto the floor.

During the month of August, I didn't care what we had to eat as long as there were roasting ears of corn and sliced tomatoes to eat. This food memory lingers on and I still love corn on the cob and sliced tomatoes.

Since my dad's family came over from Germany/Switzerland, we had hot German Potato salad a lot. To this day, I do love potatoes fixed this way.

Thought--Our granddaughter (actually our grandson's wife) told me one day that she noticed that I like all kinds of food. I guess it all stemmed from eating up all that was on my plate.
We ate what was served, and there were no exceptions to the rule. Of course, my mother would try to cook the dishes that all of us liked. But once these dishes were on the table, we couldn't order special favors to be served to us. Hence, I learned to like what was set before me.

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED?

2010-01-13T11:30:00.000-08:00

The other day I was wondering about a person's mind and memory. Some people have an inborn memory system, and others seem not to have this as much. What brought it to my mind was that my cousin's husband passed away this week and I had mentioned this to our younger daughter. She said, that she didn't know that I had a cousin living in our town. She had met her at my sister's home one time for lunch. Also, we had gone to see this cousin's brother at his beautiful home in her city one time when another cousin came to visit. She couldn't remember ever going inside of this house. I remember her saying to them (as she had to leave early) "How do you get out of this house?" It was very large new home and beautiful backed up to the country club golf course. She couldn't remember going there. I guess her mind is clogged up with other things. I think she vaguely remembered later.

It got me to thinking about how God has created us. Our memory and mind is like a computer and we can instantly bring up things in our mind with clarity, vividly, and emotions are remembered, things that happened years and years ago, as well as things that happened just yesterday. Don't you think that is amazing? God's computers have been at it for generations. Some of them, like this computer I am typing on today, run rather slowly at times, just like some memories are hard to bring up by some people. With a little jogging of their minds, they do remember.

It does seem like our family has had little trouble remembering events of the past. My brother could tell you what he had for lunch and where they stopped on a specific vacation and town and county the town was in. My cousin that lived in Florida had just such an unusual memory.

Wisdom--It is wise to remember the good times, but lay aside those things that are hurtful, painful and causes us to have an unforgiving spirit within us. These can only damage ourselves if we think about these things and dwell on these for long.

BEEN UNDER THE WEATHER!

2010-01-09T15:48:00.000-08:00

I've had a bad cold since Tuesday. Haven't done much other than drink OJ and lay around.
When you get older it seems that it takes longer to get back to normal.

The weather has been a bummer besides. Our neighbor's father plowed the driveway for us the other day. There was at least 7-8 inches of snow and near zero or below. My husband drives down to the mailbox each day to get the mail. The box is at the end of the driveway, but he can't afford to fall on the ice/snow, so it works out fairly well to go in the car.

Hopefully, next week will be better in the weather department and I will be out of sickbay!

Thought--One has to experience a little down time, so we can appreciate the "up" times that come later.

MORE TIDBIT MEMORIES OF MY CHILDHOOD!

2010-01-04T11:43:00.000-08:00

It was about October when I was in high school this particular year, and I had stayed home from school since I had a bad cold. I had gone back to school about a week and one day I woke up and it felt like I had been stabbed between my ribs (it felt that way). Dad thought I had pneumonia as this is the way he felt when he developed pneumonia. He called the doctor and he came out and said that I had bronchitis. I really coughed and coughed. All that winter after this, I couldn't walk out in the cold weather much, as I would get a coughing spell and cough up phlegm.
I suppose this was about as sick as I had ever been growing up. My friends would have to stop and rest awhile with me so I would stop coughing.

As I had mentioned in other writings that my mother and father never argued or fussed at each other. My mother was a happy camper and so was my father. My mother never complained about the work she did. She learned to work very hard early in life and she never knew anything different. My dad was the same way, he was one of the older children in his household and took care of the younger children. After they married, they each had their own set of work to do and never complained.

My sister said that after 1917 when my mother miscarried, they wanted children so badly, that they put their name in to adopt a child. When the child service person came out, my mother went in to the crib and showed the lady that she had conceived and had a child. I didn't know this until just today.

Bad language, lying, and gossiping about others were strictly taboo at out house. This was a rule that was adhered to by our parents. My mother had a no nonsense approach about these rules. If you didn't like it, you just might be in line to get your mouth washed out with soap.

My dad came down to our home the fall of 1954 and saw the World's Series on our television set. He was so happy to see them play on television. He loaned us the money so we could get the television set. He died about a month later and we paid the debt back to our mother.

After my dad died and my mother lived in town, a furnace man came and knocked at her door. He asked if he could check her furnace. She let him in, and he came up after checking the furnace and had convinced her that she needed a new furnace or she would be over come by gas. She needed to decide immediately. She told him that her son took care of her business and she would have to call him in to OK the new furnace. This was in late July or August. My brother stopped what he was doing, and came in. My mother was crying and told him about what the furnace man said. He told them that he would have a local furnace man check it out and if he also said she needed a new furnace, that he would get it from a local dealer.
The first furnace guy was telling her a batch of lies. The furnace was not cracked and wasn't going to gas her. The local man said that she might consider a larger furnace, because the house was in need of a larger furnace for the size of the house. They bought a new furnace from the local dealer, but not because her furnace was broken.

My mother was healthy and didn't take any medicine even in her later years of life. Her feet was the only condition that gave her a lot of aches and pains. She complained about her feet a lot and cramps that bothered her. Her whole body would cramp up. I think it was that she never sat down and was constantly working. When she sat down she would be reading her bible or singing hymns from the hymnal.

Thought--I have only good memories of my childhood. Life was more simple in those days. Our life was no different than others in the neighborhood. A roof over our head, food in our stomach and clothes on our back, and parents that loved us. What more could one ask for?

FOUR GENERATIONS!

2009-12-29T13:49:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-12-28T08:17:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-12-01T10:49:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-28T10:26:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-27T07:22:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-26T04:42:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-11-25T07:43:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-11-22T17:07:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-11-20T10:58:00.000-08:00

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!!

2009-11-18T12:58:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-17T07:08:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-14T08:45:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-13T15:45:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-11T07:47:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-10T08:57:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-09T06:51:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-07T08:59:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-05T11:42:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-03T08:19:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-02T07:10:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-10-30T12:54:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-10-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-10-28T15:22:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-10-26T05:35:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-10-23T08:13:00.000-07:00

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!!

2009-10-21T08:37:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-10-20T07:18:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-10-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

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"

2009-10-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

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!)

2009-10-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2009-10-14T12:38:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-10-13T09:05:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2009-10-12T09:43:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-10-08T13:20:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-10-07T11:59:00.000-07:00

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!!

2009-10-06T12:56:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-29T08:54:00.000-07:00

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!!

2009-09-28T08:32:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2009-09-25T06:46:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-24T09:25:00.000-07:00

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!!!!!

2009-09-23T07:28:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-22T13:47:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-19T07:35:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-17T10:57:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-16T07:35:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-15T08:17:00.001-07:00

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!!

2009-09-12T14:34:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-09-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

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!!

2009-09-09T08:17:00.001-07:00

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!!

2009-09-07T10:56:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-04T10:18:00.000-07:00

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"

2009-09-03T06:50:00.000-07:00

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!!

2009-09-02T07:13:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-09-01T14:57:00.000-07:00

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.

GOOD FOR THE GANDER--SHOULD BE GOOD FOR THE GOOSE!

2009-08-31T10:49:00.000-07:00

You have heard that expression many times. Well my memory of this might be a bit fuzzy, but I will try to tell it as was told to me recently.

It seems that our younger daughter didn't quite appreciate the information that was told to a boy that she had a huge crush on.

I'm not sure what was transmitted to him via a pipeline, but one day she took things in her own hands. She proceeded to go downstairs while our nephew was sleeping. She had a glass of water that she splashed on him. Good natured Gary took it in his stride and knew what she was protesting. I vaguely remember this incident and didn't know what it was all about. I think Gary told this boy something that Mary had told Gary about how she felt about her heart throb.
He acted like he was drowning under so much water.

I should think what is good for the GANDER, should be good for the GOOSE! She must have thought it was a one way street and only she could transmit messages through the pipeline.

Anyway, Gary told me later that he knew he had acquired a SISTER after that incident. They really got along very good and was like sister and a brother. Mary has only high esteem for her cousin even to this day!

Thought--Young people are so much fun to be around. There isn't a dull moment and something is taking place. I have enjoyed every age that our children went through. Each age has its exciting fun experiences as well as the challenges that a particular age brings. Just enjoy those years as they come.

I HEARD IT THROUGH THE PIPELINE!!!

2009-08-29T12:34:00.000-07:00

As I have stated our nephew went to church with us on a regular basis. This was twice on Sundays.

He got acquainted with the youth of the church quite rapidly since our younger daughter was active in the youth choir and youth group. She had a best friend that she hung around with a lot. That friend had a beautiful younger sister. Our nephew took notice that she was quite pretty and mentioned this to our daughter. Of course the pipeline started in full force. She proceeded to tell her best friend what Gary said about her younger sister. Now you know a sister is going to tell her younger sister what a handsome boy said about her.

Beth would then proceed to tell Megan things and Megan would tell Mary and of course Mary told Gary like all good cousins would do. Back and forth it went like this. Quite a pipeline was set up for a budding romance don't you think?

She finally would come down from the choir and would sit beside him for the rest of the service.

This continued and blossomed into quite a "twosome". They probably got married about three years after they first met. Beth was probably 18 by this time.

They have been happily married for 35 years already. They have 3 grown sons.

Thought--I can't think of a better place to meet your spouse, since this is where I met my spouse about 60 years ago.

ONE DAY HIGH SCHOOL--NEXT DAY COLLEGE!!

2009-08-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

It was one of those evenings that our nephew that was staying at our house, our daughter, and I was conversing around the table, when our younger daughter said she had all her credits to graduate high school. I thought, why is she going to high school, when she could be using that time getting credit courses for college.

It was around the time in January that you needed to sign up for new classes at the Junior College. I told her she should ask them at the high school if she could drop out and still graduate with her class in May. She did and they said she filled her requirements that was needed for high school and she could start classes at the Local Junior College while still graduating with her class in May.

Since college was looming and getting a few required courses still while living at home was a great advantage.

Thought--Yet that fall our youngest was going off to the University and leaving us! If it wasn't for our nephew to soften the blow of an EMPTY NEST, we would have really been sad to see her go. Anyone that experienced their last one to leave the nest, can understand the vacuum that is created. Thank you Gary, for helping us during this time!

EMPTY NEST--NOT FOR LONG!

2009-08-27T10:07:00.000-07:00

After our older daughter was married, I think yet that fall our nephew came to stay at our house since he was going to Junior College close by.

I had an extra bedroom/sewing room on first floor and thought he would use that room to sleep in. He didn't want to sleep there, and wanted to sleep in a bed downstairs. I wished that he had slept upstairs, but since this was my first experience with boys, I let him decide. Of course, he had the full run of the house, otherwise and only slept in the basement.

He was such a blessing to our family and really helped us with that "EMPTY NEST" SYNDROME!

There was one request that we wanted from him. We always went to church on Sundays and I wanted him to go to church, also. I told him that he didn't have to come to our church, but we wanted him to get active in some church in the area.

He joined us each Sunday and became a "Big Brother" to our younger daughter. To this day, I see the bond that those two have.

Stay tuned and I will tell you a few stories about this "Big Brother" that made our household so enjoyable while he was there for two years.

Thought--I have never regretted sharing our home with him during those two years. He never gave me an ounce of concern and always was a "fun" person to be around. His even disposition made it quite enjoyable. By staying at our house, it helped him with expenses while he was in school and helped us with that "empty nest" syndrome.

DECISION MADE!

2009-08-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

Our new acquired son-in-law after he finished his engineering undergraduate studies, was wondering when he should do his 3 months ROTC officers school. He knew that he needed to work in the summer months, since his schooling was totally his responsibility. He was praying for God to lead him in the direction he should follow. He asked us to pray for direction, also.

I was working at the fabric store when he requested us to pray for him in this decision.

For the most part, it was rare that any man came in the fabric store to buy something. I think one time a man came in to pick up some thread for his wife, but this was an exception. On another occasion 2 men came in to buy velvet to paint on. Now this was the extent of men in the store.

One day after we started praying for Jim to make the right decision, a man came in to the store in uniform (unusual indeed). I got to talking to him and asked him a few questions about ROTC in general. Now this man pulled out of his pocket the "whole ball of wax". He had what our son-in-law would make those three months, his mustering out pay, etc. He had the data right there on the spot.

It turned out that Jim went to officer training for the next 3 months. He was in ROTC all during his college undergraduate schooling. He made enough from his pay and mustering out to cover his next years schooling (graduate work).

Coincidence?? Neither Jim nor we thought this was coincidence, but God in ACTION!

Wisdom--Never underestimate the most mundane things that happen in our life. When we pray, we expect God to answer those prayers and sometimes in very unique ways.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS!!!

2009-08-25T08:04:00.000-07:00

The summer that our older daughter was getting married, there were about 3 or 4 other weddings scheduled to be held at our church yet that summer.

We mothers got our heads together and decided to pool our money to purchase netting material and I volunteered to make netting/and skirts for the tables for the reception. We were then going to leave it at the church for future weddings to come. This we did and with previous netting, etc. we were "good to go"!

Without good friends and help at the last minute with wedding preparation, one could not accomplish all that needed to get done. I was most grateful for all the effort that went into setting up and detail work that could only be done at the last minute.

One of the mothers wanted to go on vacation right after her daughter was to get married, BUT she needed someone to manage her fabric store while she was gone. She did not want to leave the store to her teenage workers and take off. Since we both had a wedding that summer and her daughter was marrying a special friend's son, she asked me if I would be interested in being in charge of the fabric store for about a month. OPPORTUNITY KNOCKED, I opened the door and said, "yes."

After about 20 years, I was finally thinking about going back to work. With college looming ahead and some free time, I thought, why not!!! I had sold Avon, but I didn't have a 8-5 job for a long time.

Wisdom--In our lives we know that God is in control and when the door opens for something NEW, we need to weigh that opportunity and what is ahead for us. By doing this, we know what our decision should be. I wasn't out seeking to work outside of the home, but expenses would be greatly increased due to college costs, so thought it would be an excellent opportunity to consider.

THE BIG WEDDING DAY!

2009-08-24T08:29:00.001-07:00

The big wedding day was finally here and there were last things that had to be done before the ceremony. We had to move the wedding cake that was at our home, down to the church to be set up there. Also, we had finger foods that needed to be transported as well.

I like the "Food Channel" a lot and sometimes they have cake creations that need to be removed from the work space over the the "judging table". I know exactly how those people feel when this is done, anything can happen and sometimes it all falls apart for them.

Since I had incorporated a fountain in the center of the cake, it was quite a large cake (of course nothing compared to the food channel cake creations). It had to be taken to the car, transported to the church, down a flight of steps onto the table waiting for the cake. We had some of the groomsmen help with this because it took a steady man's hand to lift and step down on the steps to put it in place. I had taken pictures of the cake, just in case it didn't make it to the church in one piece.

It got to the church, but some of the support pillars had shifted. You guessed it, one side was collapsing. One of the men carrying the cake just happened to be an architecture student and knew what had just happened. I reached over and in the nick of time retrieved the layers on top of the one that was giving out. I had to whip up more icing and recreate that side of it, by straightening out the pillars and correcting the problem.

Along with the stress of the day we had complaints that we were too organized, etc. One certainly can't be too organized I thought. When the guests appear, you had better have a sheet of paper to hand them of the coming events and times that they needed to be where, or you just might forget to tell something to someone, and that would really foul things up.

We had a few other crisis things that occurred yet that day, but the wedding took place.

I was composed during all the crisis during the day and through the wedding. After the wedding and in the middle of the night, I woke up and was so TIRED and EXHAUSTED. I have never been this tired or this exhausted before nor since.

Thought--Would I have done the things that I did again. Of course I would! This was a "big" event for our daughter and it was all worth it. When planning a large event, one better just expect that somethings will not go as well as planned. That way, you won't be surprised when it happens.

ORGANIZATION!!!

2009-08-23T13:21:00.000-07:00

Any mother that has had to get ready for a wedding knows that one has to be organized, with a plan in place and carefully work the plan.

This is what I faced when our older daughter was going to get married and I had one year to do the things that I wanted to do for her. Since I sewed quite a bit, I wanted to make her wedding dress. I also wanted to make her wedding cake. She had 4 bridesmaids, flower girl and ring bearer. Making the bridesmaid dresses and the flower girl's dress was also something that interested me. Not to mention the decorations, ring pillow etc. that goes into making a wedding special and one of a kind.

How was I going to get all this accomplished and still keep up with daily things that every mother faces.

We shopped in Chicago for her material for her wedding dress, along with the material that her bridesmaid dresses were to be made from. She selected the lace, pattern, and bridesmaids pattern and material. I know the wedding dress material came from Marshall Fields in Chicago. The bridesmaid dress material was purchased in a lessor known shop in Chicago, close to the Loop.

She selected the design for the cake from Wilton Cake Books. We purchased the fountain from them as we knew we wanted to have it for both girls weddings.

After all the decisions were made, etc, the organization needed to be put in place. I really am not that good of an organizer, but I knew if I didn't, I would come up short of time and not have everything done. So organizing was the way to go.

Each week that I had left after purchasing the material, I had to divide the time up and do X amount toward the wedding during each week.

Mints were made and frozen. Cake layers were frozen and waited for the final decorating. Wedding dress and girl's bridesmaid dresses had to be cut and made.

I counted the hours it took to sew the beading on just one sleeve of her dress and it was time consuming and a lot of beads (the exact amount of beads and time escapes me). After that, I just kept up following my plan.

The big day was fast approaching. Stay tuned, as what can go wrong, will go wrong.

Thought--Today they have such elaborate weddings, but I don't think any wedding could have any more "Love" put in the planning than our daughter's wedding. However, expect the unexpected, because surely every wedding has a few surprises!

TOO YOUNG!!!

2009-08-21T08:08:00.000-07:00

One day our older daughter announced to all of us that she was engaged. My younger daughter said, "YOU ARE TOO YOUNG"! Out of the mouths of "BABES" wisdom come!

Our older daughter dated Jim off and on for about 2 years from their first date. It was between her freshman and Sophomore year at a junior college in town, that she told us this.

They decided to get married between her Junior college and getting the last two years at the University. By this time, he had one year of engineering left, but planned to go on to further his degrees.

I had about one year notice to prepare for a wedding. They dated about 3 years altogether.

Wisdom--Did I think they were too young? At the time, I probably didn't think about it, but later I felt that they should have waited. By both going to school, both working, both studying and trying to meld their lives together was a difficult task. They did know each other, but they had still a lot of learning to become a "TEAM".

ENTRY RUINED! NOW WHAT?

2009-08-20T09:27:00.000-07:00

Our older daughter was about 14-15 and there was a contest in a National Home Economics magazine that she entered. It was where you designed a room and if you were good enough, the grand prize was that you got that room recreated for you as your prize.

She worked really hard on her upstairs bedroom and collected samples of carpet, paint, bedspreads, etc. She put it together and made her entry into a booklet form. She covered the cover page & back page with material, etc. A lot of work went into this entry.

As she had it very close to sending in her entry, she had it laid out and her younger sister was playing with "Silly Putty". Now this was a "fun" putty, but a golden rule with this stuff, is that you always put it back in the container it came in. This particular day, she didn't follow the rules. The silly putty was left out on top of our older daughter's contest entry. Now the silly putty had flattened and gone into the fabric on the back of her entry. Our older daughter was devastated, and thought all her hard work was for naught.

She came and showed what had happened to her "work of art". Mother's always have a solution up their sleeve on just such an occasion as this. Mothers have had lots of experience, since lots and lots of occasions happen like this. You learn to teach them to pick up the pieces and move on.
My solution--I told her that she had to cover the "Silly Putty" mishap with her own "Work of Art". So she put an easel over the big ugly spot. Then she put a paint brush (dripping with paint), and a pallet of paint. On the easel she wrote, "HOW DO YOU LIKE IT?" That was the back page of her entry.

No she didn't get the grand prize, but she did get "Runner Up". For this she was presented a Broyhill Lingerie chest. Her picture was in the paper when this was presented to her.

Her entry was placed in the New York Design center and she received a note from someone in New York City, that saw her entry and she took the time to tell her how well she liked her design.

Since our older daughter entered this, then our younger daughter decided she wanted to enter the same National Contest when she was a few years older. She did, and she too received "Runner Up" status and received a nice prize equal in value.

Wisdom--When you think that you want to give up and things looks dismal, that's the very time you keep on keeping on. God has something better for you around the corner! Perhaps this back page caught the judges attention that otherwise they would have passed over if it were not finished in this unique way! Who knows, but God turns everything around for "Good" if we trust Him!! KEEP ON, KEEPING ON is a very good RULE!!!

CAGEY NEPHEW!!

2009-08-19T08:38:00.000-07:00

Earlier I wrote about how we met our future son-in-law. Today I will tell you how our daughter and Jim started to correspond and date.

During the Sophomore year of college, our nephew would come over and visit occasionally. When he showed up unexpectedly at the door, Jim would appear too. Maybe this was about 2-3 times during school year.

That summer between his Sophomore year and Junior year Hank wrote Jim and signed it like Carol had written Jim an invitation to her town. Jim proceeded to answer the letter and told her that he couldn't come for some reason or another. Carol wrote back and told him she hadn't written any letter to him, but he was welcome to come if he wanted to.

This was kinda the beginning of a correspondence. Then when Carol was needing a date for "Sweetheart Banquet"(church banquet), she thought she would invite Jim to it. She was either the queen or in the queens court. I am fuzzy about this.

Carol wore a yellow long dress (I made). She had her hair piled on top of her head and had tiny, tiny bows tucked into her hair. She was beautiful! Our girls never believed me when I told them that. They would say, "Oh you are just saying that because you're my mom". All mothers are a tad partial, but she was very beautiful in spite of that I saw her through a mothers eyes.

Wisdom--Since Jim was a Christian and active in "Navigators" (a campus bible group), I felt she was in "safe hands".

A SUB-ZERO DAY IN DECEMBER!

2009-08-18T06:51:00.000-07:00

Surgery was on my schedule at the end of December, right after Christmas. I elected to have my varicose veins operated on, since they were giving me a lot of pain.

Little did I know that it would be way below zero the morning of my surgery. Since my nephew was working at the University during the Christmas break (this is when he was a freshman in college), my husband had taken me over and then went to the dorm to stay with our nephew, so he wouldn't have to drive back the next day.

The next day it was so-ooo cold (sub-zero weather), that he couldn't get his car started that morning to drive across town. Our pastor was there long before my husband was able to come. (He had to drive 35 miles). Both arrived before I was scheduled to go into surgery.

I woke up from surgery and couldn't believe how good I felt. They took me from the recovery room to my hospital room on a gurney. I couldn't believe that this little ride would be so hard on me. My family wanted to stay overnight with me, but I told them I didn't care what they did, just leave me alone. I really was shaken up and didn't care if store kept or not.

Wisdom--I think of how faithful that our pastor had been time and time again. This kind of dedication can not and will never be forgotten! At another time, my husband was having surgery and our pastor and wife stayed all morning with me while waiting the results of that surgery. A caring pastor and wife can make such a difference in the family involved. We hit the jackpot in this couple.

Our health affects the way we think and our attitude toward life. I have been relatively healthly most of my life, but have compassion on those that haven't been so fortunate!

OH NO, WE SAW HIM!!!

2009-08-17T07:37:00.000-07:00

It seems like every mother wants to protect their daughters from any danger that they may encounter along life's pathway.

I am no exception to this rule. I had always told the girls that it just takes "ONE KOOK" to ruin their life. I told them to be aware of being alone in places where they are vulnerable and be careful. Now what mother wouldn't want to say that to their beautiful daughters.

Well, one day they came home from a well known shopping store, and alarmingly said, "MOM, MOM, WE SAW HIM!!" I said, "Who did you see?" They said, "That guy you have been warning us about all these years!!!".

They proceeded to describe this guy that was leaving the store. He had a huge ring that went through the end of his nose, no shirt, leather jacket, tattoos, the works. I guess he looked like someone you had better watch out for.

Do you suppose they were poking fun at my early warnings? No, no, they wouldn't do that!

Never-the-less, I must have gotten there attention on what to look for.

Wisdom--All mothers wants the best for their children and has their childrens best interest in mind, so pay attention to what they say. It might save your life someday! Remember, we aren't living in Kansas no longer.

HOW WE MET OUR DAUGHTERS HUSBAND!

2009-08-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

My sister was home for a visit and since she wanted to see our nephew at the University, we drove over and surprised him. It was in May and he was in between final tests in his engineering courses. We had called up to his room and told him we were downstairs in the student lounge. He probably didn't have time to spare, but made time for us. In his room that day was Jim talking about the engineering tests they had taken that week. This was the end of their freshman year at the University.

Instead of coming down by himself to see us, he asked Jim if he wanted to meet us. Since he was through with all his tests and waiting for a ride home for the summer, he agreed.

My sister, her son, my two girls and I had gone over that day (my husband was at work). Little did we know that we were going to meet my older daughter's future husband. He was very cordial and polite. The girls did not interact with him much, but just was tag-a-longs! I think our older daughter was 15 (very close to 16 years old). Our younger daughter was 12 1/2 years old going on 18.

The nephew just had a test to take and was free to "goof off" right afterwards, so he asked my sister's son to stay over for a few days and they would be able to visit. Since he had some extra clothes in the car, he did just that.

A few days later, we went over to pick up Steve and say goodbye to Hank as they were headed back to their home in another state.

We met in the snack bar close to the dorm. Well, you guessed it, Jim came along with Hank down to the snack bar. Well Hank was up to his "sneaky ways" and tried to get Jim and Carol to sit by each other. I don't think this happened but he still had some "sneaky ways" in his mind.
Stay tuned, I might get around to telling you about his "sneaky ways".

On the way home we told our older daughter that Jim seemed nice and was "cute". To that my older daughter was not that impressed.

Our younger daughter wasn't impressed because he had "Hush Puppies" for shoes on. Now that sure is a criteria you need to watch out for in men! Don't ever date anyone that wears Hush Puppies! Check them off!!

Thought--When you are young, you have the strangest set of values. Sometimes it may be as silly as the way that a boy might part his hair. Only when you get a few years older, do true values fall into place. This takes time!

ALL THAT WORK AND IT IS CONSUMED SO QUICKLY!

2009-08-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

Somewhere when the girls were little, either out of necessity or just the "fun" of it, I decided to learn to decorate cakes.

Originally, I would make "cut up cakes". This is where you would take a cake and cut it up to make a lion, dog, doll, etc. Mostly, this was done for their birthdays. Then I started learning to do flowers, etc with the frosting.

I really never got to be really good at this hobby, but if I had a flop, IT WAS SOON EATEN UP, anyway. I often thought about how much work that went into making the cake and then after you got it just the way you want it, it was eaten and nothing to show for all the mess and trouble you went through. Oh well, I was young then and my back didn't go out. Today, my back hurts and that's just too much "sugar for a cent", so they say.

On vacation one year we happen to visit the Ohio State Fair on the way home. I saw a cake there that had a fountain in the cake. Secretly, I had always wanted to make our daughter's wedding cakes. When we (girls and I) saw this cake, we knew that we wanted to incorporate a fountain in their wedding cake.

Yes, I got enough nerve to bake and decorate both of the girls wedding cakes. Perfect, NO, but I put a lot of "LOVE" in the cake and also each had a fountain in the center of their cake, with real running water.

Thought--When I think of the cake being eaten up so quickly back then, I think today, this is the kind of things that I like today. Something that you can use up, eat up and not stick away with all the other "stuff" that seems to occupy too much space in my home. How your views differ as you get older.

THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT!!!

2009-08-12T08:35:00.000-07:00

One time that one of my nephews was down, I decided that I would try to get him to eat foods that was set before him, and not eliminate foods that I thought he should eat.

He had been very busy all morning trying to correct a problem that I had with my television. He had an aptitude for just such a thing way back in Junior/Senior high days.

It became lunchtime and I proceeded to fix him a toasted cheese sandwich. This was his favorite food and I knew he would love it. I got to thinking, why don't I put a very thin slice of ham between two slices of cheese and press those cheeses together and he wouldn't be the wiser. "Mikey might like it", I thought. This would get him to eating a little protein with his meals. He was a vegetarian and I was out to change that.

I called him to lunch and he had his electronic book in his hand while he was eating. Of course, I had hid the ham so at first glance he couldn't tell that I had played this trick on him. That day my horns was sticking out "BIG TIME".

Since he was so engrossed in his book, he took a big bite and noticed it wasn't what he expected. He spit it out and I authoritatively told him that he should eat it. I could see that it was actually making him almost ill. No, he didn't eat it and all the talking of how good it was for him didn't work. When will I ever learn that "trickery" doesn't work!!! And to think of how hard he had worked on my television that morning!

THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT!

One time we went up to his home and he had rigged up a speaking system to the radio and when I came in the door he was speaking to me from the radio from another room. He must have inherited that "trickery" from his aunt.

On another occasion, by this time he had gotten his Electrical Engineering degree and was living in another state and nobody knew he was coming home. He hid in my daughter's closet and when I went over to see her one day, he popped out of the closet and asked if I wanted him to hang up my coat! A branch doesn't fall too far from the tree, they say. So, he had a few tricks of his own that he pulled on all the family on more than one occasion. Of course, we were glad to see him that day.

Wisdom--I'm thankful that he still loves me and has forgiven me of my "trickery".

SIRENS, SIRENS, SIRENS!!!!

2009-08-11T06:41:00.000-07:00

It was a few days after Christmas and my nephew was visiting our home for a few days and toward evening we were sitting in the living room, when we heard these sirens. They were really close to our house (at least a couple blocks away). They just kept blowing and blowing.

I thought to myself somebody had gotten in an accident and they were taking them to the hospital. Little did I know that the person that was being transported to the hospital was our good friend's son. Our "camping buddies" son was with another friend's son and they had a horrible accident!!!

Young "Chuckie" was in critical condition and the other lad was not hurt that much. They transported Chuckie to a hospital in another city close by soon after. His fever rose and to keep the fever down they opened the window of the hospital room and put a fan up to keep his fever in check. Now this was in the dead of winter. He had lots of blood transfusions, etc, during this time. Our pastor the one I mentioned earlier in "Raining tears", stayed with the family and slept on the floor at the hospital waiting room many a night. This pastor was one in a million! Such dedication to his calling!!! Thank you so much for your caring for the "Flock"!!!

Since this happened just a few days after Christmas, Chuck and Katie still had their Christmas tree and decorations still up. Dorotha (camping buddy) and I went over to take down the decorations, so they wouldn't have to face seeing them up and remember the joyous time a few days prior. To this day, each year I take down my decorations, I think of this horrific time in their lives, where their son's life was hanging in the balance. I always think, one never knows what a day will bring forth, let alone a new year will bring forth. I'm always thankful when the year went smoothly, with no tragic endings.

Chuckie lost his battle of life and went to be with His Lord, about two weeks later. A great loss to the family and to our church family. God truly had to carry our friends during these days and weeks after. Words are so inadequate during these times. It brings tears to my eyes as I write about it.

Wisdom--In Proverbs 27:1 it states--"Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." In II Corinthians 6:2b--"behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation". We must never put off accepting the Lord, for we know not whether we will have another chance. Chuckie was 17 years of age when he died.

CAMPING BUDDIES!

2009-08-10T06:42:00.000-07:00

Our first contact with our good friends, Bill and Dorotha, and Chuck and Katie were first initiated by going out "church calling" and visiting new comers that recently attended our church.

Bill and Dorotha had recently had a baby and I wanted to bring something for the new arrival. I had whipped something up on my trusty sewing machine. It really was a "nothing" gift, but it was received like it was very "special gift". I would have not remembered this, but was told about it years later.

Our first introduction to Chuck and Katie was one day we went visiting newcomers to our church. Chuck was at work and we just visited Katie and her two small boys that particular day.

Little did we know at the time that these two families would be our life long friends and "camping buddies".

Well, first of all, Bill and Dorotha had never gone camping, so we took them out with us one weekend in our 12' X 12' tent. I furnished the food and they just had to pack their clothes.

We all slept in the tent (all 8 of us). We had 4 cots (adults slept on these) and the kids feet was telescoped under our cots. The next morning, our neighbor campers were amazed, they kept seeing people coming out of this tent and thought it was like the Volkswagen car that had all these people coming forth.

"THEY WERE HOOKED" from that weekend forth. Their reaction was the same as ours when we took our first camping trip years before. Only they went out the very next week and bought a "pop up camper".

Wisdom--Greet newcomers and welcome them to your church, who knows they may be your buddies before long.

WHY CAN'T I STAND UP?

2009-08-08T13:06:00.000-07:00

These words were called to me one day when our older daughter was on the floor and she couldn't stand up. Since she was so young, I thought it rather strange.

I helped her up off the floor and wondered what her problem was. She said at PE she ran and hurt her leg and maybe it was just part of the healing. Well, we took her to the Pediatrician and she had her leg ex-rayed. Nothing showed up on the ex-ray and she didn't have any problems after that one incident, so we dismissed it.

The year she had gotten married, she had just finished Junior College and was going the the University to get her degree for the next two years, along with her husband which was getting advanced degrees.

Yet that year they got married they rented an apartment in a city close to where he grew up. He had a summer job until he could return to college. We had gone up to visit them, and our older daughter was fine, but by evening she was in quite a bit of pain and she was limping and having trouble stepping off the curb. She hadn't done anything unusual, but here she was once again having problems. We insisted she go to the doctor and find out what was causing this since she was way too young to be limping for no reason.

They operated on her knee and found out she had an early torn cartilage injury and this was what her problem was. I guess the cartilage in your knees doesn't show up in ex-ray exams. So this was what was causing her problems years earlier. It had been damaged in PE class many years before.

Thought--We were thankful that they took out temporary health insurance during the summer months, since this operation would surely have set them back financially, if they hadn't done this.

"HARVEY"--OUR GUEST!

2009-08-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

Not everybody gets to entertain "Harvey", the well known invisible rabbit for dinner. This was quite the privilege! Our daughters were ecstatic over having Harvey to talk to and visit with one day.

Let me first give you a brief introduction on how we happened to have Harvey for dinner. We had invited my brother and family for dinner this particular time, and we must have gotten our signals mixed up and there was a "NO SHOW".

I had made a special dinner and set the table up in the dining room and was ready for our guests. Since they didn't come, I thought the girls were disappointed, so I told them that we did have a "special guest" at our table. His name was "Harvey". You remember the movie that Jimmy Stewart played in and he had an invisible rabbit that he kept talking and visiting with. Well, THAT VERY SAME RABBIT "HARVEY" was our dinner guest that day.

Did we have fun passing Harvey the food and talking to Harvey about things in general.

Instead of being a "downer day", we had an unforgettable guest and it turned out to be unforgettable "fun" time!

Thought--When life dishes out lemons, make lemonade!

VULNERABLE!!

2009-08-06T07:46:00.000-07:00

Our girls were about Junior High/High School age and my husband was working either 2Nd shift or overtime and I needed to go out to deliver Avon to my evening customers that wasn't available to reach during the daytime hours.

Since they were babysitting age, I thought it would be OK for me to leave them for a few hours.
I informed them that under NO CIRCUMSTANCE should they ever let anyone into the house.
I thought that they knew this was not a very good idea!

After delivering the orders I came back and asked them how it went. Well they said that someone came to the door and wanted to use the telephone to call for a repairman to fix his car. DUH! Does this sound like a good idea to let him into the house to phone? They let him in to use the phone. They were VULNERABLE!! All the preparation and warnings flew out the window that evening.

They claimed that the guy was in front of our house with the hood up inspecting the engine, and it was obvious that he needed a repairman. Thank heavens he truly did need a repairman. In this case they should have said, that they would call the repairman for him and to wait in his car.

WISDOM--You can't give enough warnings out for "Home Alone" children. The car problem could have been staged. I dread to think of how many "Home Alone" children there are that may face just such an event and it could be tragic. Now, most people have cell phones and can call repairmen if they truly need help. It is sad that one has to be skeptic these days to help another person out.

BABYSITTING "TAILS"!

2009-08-05T06:09:00.000-07:00

Sometime when the girls hit Junior High they started babysitting. I will try to recapture some of these tales or I mean "TAILS". They usually babysat children that they knew or closer by our home.

This one particular time one of our daughters was babysitting and they had a baby and a younger child. It was a two story home and the changing table was upstairs. One of the instructions was that she was not to let the dog out of the house under any circumstance. Well, the baby needed changing and while she was changing the baby upstairs, the older child went down and let the dog out of the house. Now she was frantic wondering what she should do about the dog. She called me up since we were close by and thought I might have a solution. I told her that her first responsibility was to take care of the children and by no means go out looking for the dog. I proceeded to go over to look for the dog. I found the dog, but don't know whether there was any damage done by the dog getting out of the house.

On another occasion, the same daughter was to "CAT SIT" a neighbors pet. She was to make sure the cat had plenty of food and water. The first morning she went over, she couldn't find the cat anywhere. She called me and asked me why she couldn't find the cat. I told her that perhaps its under a bed or hiding. I went over to help her find the cat. THAT CAT WAS NO WHERE TO BE FOUND!!!! IT JUST PLAIN DISAPPEARED! A few days later the cat was back at their doorstep wanting to be fed. Somewhere in the process, communication was lost and they forgot to let her know the cat was outside.

Another occasion, I was being helpful to my neighbor back of us and was taking care of their canary while they were on vacation. I was to feed the canary and see that it had water and change the paper in the cage when soiled. They were gone a week or two and each day I checked out the bird. The day they were to come back I had gone over early on Sunday morning and fed the bird, etc. All was well. My husband said in the afternoon, "I think I will check on the bird just before they arrive home". He came back and said, "You won't believe this! The canary is dead!" Whoa! I couldn't believe it! Now what was I going to do? I offered to buy them a replacement canary. They said that they knew the canary was not acting right before they left, but just didn't mention it. I felt so bad. Moral to this--Don't ask me to take care of a pet, unless you want it to die.

One more story--

Our older daughter was in early High School and she babysat at this home. This was referral from someone. The wife had a parent that was quite ill and she went to the hospital to check on her parent. The husband left for someplace else. A few hours went by, and then the husband showed up at the home. My older daughter was thinking that he would drive her home, since he was back home. They sat in the living room together, she was knitting and he was reading the paper, etc. Each time she mentioned about him driving her home, he threw her a dollar. After a few dollars, she said, "Well if you aren't driving me home I will call my parents up to come and get me." She didn't see any reason why they needed her, when the husband was there to take care of the children. She did call me, and he got on the line and said he would bring her home. I didn't have any time to think this through before he hung up. He did as he said and she came in rather upset. I questioned her about what had happened. I had asked her if he had been drinking. To this she replied, "How would I know?" I told her that she could smell the liquor on his breath. She then said, "What does it smell like?" I realized we had sheltered her quite a bit down through the years with that question. He actually was trying to keep her there because his intentions were to go out later yet that night. He knew his wife probably was going to stay at the hospital due to the condition of her parent.

Wisdom--Children that are babysitting age still needs a backup when they are babysitting. They also need to check the locks on the outside doors to the premises, etc. We aren't living in Kansas no longer. Stay tuned--I have another tale to tell!

BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED!!

2009-08-03T11:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at church a lady brought me a Dahlia from her garden. It was 10 inches across. Somehow these bloom so beautifully for her.

My thought was, that's just what we are supposed to do with our lives. No matter where we are and the circumstances that surround us, we are to make the most of it and BLOOM WHERE WE ARE PLANTED!

This lady that gave me the gorgeous flower is doing just that where she is planted. From early on she has had her neighbor child come and eat with her and her husband on a regular basis. What an impact she has on this child. She is a grandmother figure to him.

I think of people in the past that has served faithfully in the nursery so the children will quickly identify with them. I had a close friend (Reva) that served for years and years in the baby nursery. Another friend was legally blind but served as an organist past the time she was declared legally blind. She didn't let this stop her and she sewed toddler clothes and sold them. Now I can see, and I am telling you that she sewed beautifully long after she was told she couldn't see. She could have said, woe is me, and folded her hands, but not Eileen. Eileen has had so many operations that one stopped counting, but she always had an uplifting spirit about her. Both of the above people have passed away within the last few years. Eileen passed away last month and both are forever with their Lord.

Wisdom--In I Corinthians Chapter 12 it speaks of the Spiritual gifts and one gift is no less important as another and all are given to honor Christ. Truly, both these ladies did just that!

"HYPOCHONDRI-ITIS"

2009-08-01T06:58:00.000-07:00

Our younger daughter when she was in the fifth grade had to stay home from school due to Pneumonia. We had her in a steam tent and she kept up with her school work at home. She was home about a month until she was better. This was in the spring of that year.

In the fall, we decided to take her to the doctor for a thorough examination, before the flu/cold season began. All checked out well at the doctors office.

One day I found her up in her room reading. She was reading the "World Book Encyclopedia". I thought this was a strange book to be reading. I checked what particular subject she was reading. Well, of all things, she was reading about cancer. She thought she had cancer. She had complained about this and that hurting her. It was never the same place that she was complaining about. She wanted to go to the doctor to see if that is what she had. I had told her that we had just had a thorough check-up and she checked out fine. She wanted a 2ND opinion!

I asked her, "If we go to get a 2ND opinion, and they don't find anything wrong, would she be OK with that?" She said she would. I had told her that I thought she had a good case of "Hypochondri-itis". She said, "Oh my, what is that?" I told her to look it up, since she was so adept with the World Book, I knew she would be able to locate this in the dictionary.

She looked it up and I asked her what it was. She said, "It is when you imagine you have something and it become so real you develop symptoms."

We had kept our promise to her, and took her to a well known Clinic in an adjoining city. They ran tests on her and one of the tests was checking her out for allergies. Well, she had tested out that she was quite allergic to all kinds of things. We started giving her allergy shots. Our friend Lucile (I wrote about her the other day) would give her weekly shots, since she was a former nurse.

Our older daughter had allergies (See ONE BIG PUFF). Allergies run in families.

Later I was selling Avon to a lady that had acute allergies and she said that allergies sometimes make one part of your body hurt and then another day, something else hurts. Bingo! This is why none of her aches she was describing was in the same spot.

Wisdom--Always be alert and check out things that your children are complaining about. It might be something that is easily controlled.

SCARLET FEVER?????

2009-07-29T08:34:00.000-07:00

One of our nephews seemed to like to spend time at our house during Easter/holiday vacations.

This particular time he started to get sick and run a fever along with a rash. I quickly got my handy "Dr Spock book" out to see if I could determine what was wrong with him. I looked in his mouth and thought he had a spot in the back of his throat as this book described to look for when one has measles. Since I wasn't really sure what was wrong, I took him to our "trusty" Pediatrician.

I made the mistake of telling her what I thought he had. Wrong approach to a doctor since they want to tell you what is wrong.

She diagnosed him as having Scarlet fever. Well, since this was quite a serious disease and I thought it best if his parents knew about it. I proceeded to drive him back to his home.

When we took him home, his mother said that the school was clear full of measles and she thought perhaps I was right in my diagnosis. After all, aren't I known as Doc Neumo?
That should account for something!!!!

To this day, I do not know if it was Scarlet Fever or Measles. My suspicions are that he had the Measles since so many from his school had the Measles.

Wisdom--When you take a child to the doctor, let the doctor tell you what is wrong and not the other way around. I think I ruffled her feathers a bit that day and she was out to prove me wrong. She still was a fantastic doctor for our children, however.