Wonderful Christmas

We have had a wonderful Christmas for many reasons.

The whole foundation of Christmas is the fact of the birth of Christ. Without His coming to this earth as a baby along with all the other prophesied events that happened, there would be no point to our lives--live, eat, sleep, procreate, die. But to have our Creator Who deserves all our praise and service gives purpose to our lives.

All my family was home for Christmas. It's been great to have them here. I've appreciated having Jen here to help with cooking and cleaning up. And everyone is so appreciative of my cooking and planning. We cooked, ate, unwrapped gifts, played games, watched movies, and talked. Good times.

Several of our church people and people at work were very generous to us.

I'm off work for 12 days counting weekends. I only have to use four days of vacation because the rest are weekends and holidays. Yay!

I get to buy some new clothes.

Momentous, Monumental Occasion

Well, I had my 50+ birthday on Friday. At least that's what I'm calling it. A lady at work calls it a momentous birthday and my daughter calls it my monumental birthday. Humph!

I did have a wonderful birthday. The ladies at work decorated my cubicle and gave me a gift certificate to the Bible bookstore. My boss provided a cake (it was her birthday too). My husband brought me beautiful flowers in person (and gave me a kiss in front of other people at my request). That evening we couldn't celebrate the birthday any further (we had a wedding rehearsal in Denver and also had to pick up Jen at the airport), so after the wedding on Saturday, we went home and the kids had the living room decorated with great beauty (purple and black crepe paper, signs, balloons), and I got a necklace with the offending birthday number all around it. Humph!

After we got home, I opened the gifts--nearly everything I had asked for--all good. Then we all went out to eat at Chili's--my choice, and I got the fajitas. Good stuff!

It was a very memorable birthday. I think I will remember it for the next 20 years.

My family was and is wonderful. Very thoughtful, and really too good to me.

Christmas Program

My church's children's Christmas program was last night. It was very good. The children sang mostly traditional carols plus a couple of others while a Power Point slide show of the drawings the children had done was presented on the screen behind them. It turned out really well. Between songs, the kids took turns reading the Christmas story from the Bible.

Everyone enjoyed it. The pictures were amazing: some were very funny and some were cute; others made you ponder many things like the length of camels and donkeys (there was a "stretch" donkey in one picture), turtles, fainted shepherds and sheep, a duck, the balancing of a large urn on the hump of a camel, alien-looking donkeys and camels, a large curlicue on the top of Baby Jesus' head. It was all very entertaining, and definitely a wonderful presentation of the truth of Christmas.

My husband and I are happy with the results, but mainly we are relieved to have it finished.

13 Thursday Christmas Favorites

1. Christmas carols

2. 12 pounds of Christmas at work

3. Buying gifts for my family

4. Having both of my kids home for the holidays

5. Seeing other family members

6. Having the house all clean

7. Seeing Christmas specials/movies on TV

8. Hearing Christmas messages at church

9. Seeing the decorated Christmas tree with the gifts

10. Christmas Eve reading of the Christmas story from the Bible

11. Opening gifts on Christmas Eve

12. Guessing what's in most of the Christmas gifts for me and being mostly right (it kind of irritates the family)

13. Working on Christmas music for church in September or October

The Nitty Gritty

You know, life is made up of the the nitty gritty, unimportant details and what appear to be random events.

We got a new dryer today. I had to take off work from 11:30 because it was going to arrive between 12:00 and 5:00. It came about 1:30. Yay! And we didn't have to pay for it. Another Yay!

We're still looking for a new pickup. Gary was looking at a BMW SUV. It was $2800. That seemed just wrong. G asked the seller by email if that was the real price. Return email said yes, that he was trying to get rid of it soon. Trouble is he lives in Scotland and we would have to send money to a third party. As has been said, if it looks too good to be true, then it probably is. Oh, well.

I went to Christmas party last night for the ladies in my church. It was very nice. I won a prize for a game about Christmas songs. I probably had an unfair advantage. Oh, well.

I have another party at work on Friday. It's a white elephant game and we have pizza.

Our Master Club for our children at church is presenting its Christmas program Sunday night. G and I have quite a bit to do to get it all ready this week.

I have a wedding to play for on 12/20 and a rehearsal on 12/19 in Denver. I still have to practice quite a bit. The bride wants a lot of classical music. Well, I don't practice much on classical music even though I really like it. So I really need to get busy on it.

At work we are decorating a door in the department to enter into a contest with other county departments. So I am working on that with several other ladies. It's kind of like doing a bulletin board. In most of the past years, the commissioners have come personally to judge the doors, but this year we have to send electronic photos, and I guess all county employees will vote.

I don't have my Christmas tree up yet, but I will, Jen. It will be amazing, or at least it will be pretty.

Secrets -- Memed by Julie

1. When I was really stressed out (teaching) a few years ago, I tore a towel in half.

2. Once my mother slapped me when I was a teenager, and in reflex I drew up my fist as if I was going to hit her back. She didn't see me do it. I was horrified that I responded that way. ( I think my kids know about this one.)

3. When my dog growls, I am a little bit afraid of him. (G and A know about this.)

4. Even though I love/like a lot of people, I don't get close to very many. Maybe everybody knows this??

Moms

My daughter Jen misses her mom, but she'll be home in two weeks.

I miss my mom. She's been gone for 11 years today. She's having a wonderful time. I wonder if she's in charge of anything or just praising the Lord.

Update on My Husband's Vehicle

The truck that was in the accident a couple of weeks ago has been totalled. That seems to be bad news. The reason it's not is because the insurance company is giving us more money than we paid for it several years ago because of the low mileage. God is good.

Gary is now looking for a new vehicle.

We'll miss that little white truck.

Personals

Jen, let's talk tonight if you can or tomorrow night.

Nathaniel R., are you doing alright? I keep looking at your blog. I know you have been having a hard time. I would like to hear from you.

Robin had her baby. I'm happy.

Victory!

I had a major breakthrough today. With my husband's help I got the refrigerator and freezer cleaned out. I'm so very happy.

I accomplished another thing as well. Because our dryer went out on Thursday, I had to go to the laundromat today to get the laundry done. It's been a long, long time since I've had to go somewhere to do laundry. It wasn't too bad actually. Just glad to have things washed/dried for Sunday.

Note: Kay, please save my coffee scoop for me till we get together again. (;>

Random Thoughts

It was good to see family yesterday on Thanksgiving: my cousin Kay (she hosted the event) and her husband and two kids, my two aunts and their husbands, my nephew Caleb and wife Mandie, my cousin's aunt and uncle on her dad's side, two dogs Skiddles and Hairy (both girls). We laughed a lot, ate a lot, talked a lot. Kay and I got to go through some of my Grandma Rose's jewelry and pictures. I brought some of the stuff home. It's not really my style, but I may wear some of the pins. I mainly brought stuff home to be able to touch my grandmother's life.

I watched the most recent Indiana Jones movie this morning on pay-per-view. I liked it a lot. Yay for Harrison Ford and his being able to keep up with the action!

The dog is sitting on my foot right now. I like it.

I'm home alone today except for the dog. He's a good boy.

I know someone through a co-worker who was going to shop most of the night last night. I am mostly a non-shopper, so I don't understand shopping all night. I think that ranks right up there with the torture of water dripping on the forehead.

I wish I had some elves to put up the Christmas tree and decorate the house. I guess I do have elves named Gary and Aaron, but I think they are more trolls when it comes to Christmas decorating (although they usually will help setting the tree up and getting the boxes of decoration for me. I guess I shouldn't look a Christmas troll in the mouth ((or the ear, nose or eye))). Don't you like all those parentheses?

My husband has two containers of peanuts sitting on the computer table. He called me a little while ago and told me that I shouldn't give the dog any peanuts out of the jar but to give him peanuts out of the can. He doesn't want the dog to know there are peanuts in the jar. He doesn't want to get him starting begging when he sees the jar, but it's okay if he begs when the can is open. My husband is a dog whisperer.

I left my coffee and scoop at Kay's house. Humph.

Accident

My husband and son were in an accident last Thursday on their way home from work. They were both yanked around, but so far they have only noticed stiff necks and/ backs. Gary noticed some pulled muscles in his arms.

My husband's truck was hit from the back and there was damage to the tailgate, the bumper, and the seat (broken). He talked to the other guy's insurance today, and a loaner car is forthcoming today. Yay! An appraiser is supposed to look at the pickup in the next day or two. If the chassis was bent, the truck could possibly be totalled. Can't tell yet.

At the scene while Gary was sitting on the seat with his feet on the ground, the dad arrived and went over to Gary and asked if he was alright. When Gary said he might have whiplash, the dad said sarcastically, "Oh, sure." Then he asked his son what Gary did to make him hit him. All Gary did was stop at the stop light. The young driver told his dad that Gary was just stopped. The driver said he was talking to someone on the phone. Anyway, the driver got the ticket, and Gary isn't liable. Later the dad came over and apologized to Gary about the accident. That was good.

And God is good. It could have been much worse.

13 Thursday Things I Love about Thanksgiving

1. The smell and look of turkey (more than the taste)
2. Pie with whipped topping
3. Vegetable casseroles
4. Dressing, potatoes and gravy
5. Cranberry sauce and olives
6. Talking with family
7. Driving to someone's house
8. Or having the meal at my house
9. Having the Thanksgiving meal twice on the same day
10. Reminiscing
11. Talking to my daughter on the phone
12. Being off work two days plus the weekend
13. That God is so good at providing all our needs

Christmas Drawings

For our church's Christmas program this year we are having the kids draws various scenes of the Christmas story. We will then photograph them and put them on the screen at the front of the auditorium to show while the children are singing the songs. We've done it before at other churches, and it's very fun.

The other day we had the kids draw a picture of the angels appearing to the shepherds. We had already discussed that the shepherds were very afraid. As the kids were drawing in their own inimitable ways, one child decided that the shepherds were "sore" afraid and that one of them fainted, so he drew him lying on the ground. Then he decided that the sheep were really afraid too, and so he drew several of them on the ground in an unconscious state as well.

Another little girl has drawn a turtle on nearly every picture she has drawn. She just likes it to be there.

Children are very entertaining. I think the adults will enjoy the pictures when the whole program gets put together.

Fiber

The dog is hungry most of the time, but he doesn't always want to eat his dog food when it's served. He always hopes to get a little bite of human food, either accidentally or on purpose.

At various times of the day, when he really needs some that especially has fiber, he finds a Kleenex or several Kleenexes and has a little snack.

The other night I was sitting on the couch with a small blanket over my legs and lap. He got under the tent and was very quiet. I thought he was just enjoying the warmth and security. I was WRONG. He was eating a Kleenex.

The moral: Where there's a will, there's a way. OR Fiber is where you find it. OR If your master doesn't feed you properly, go scrounge for yourself. OR If you keep your yap shut, no one may see that you've done wrong.

A Good Lesson

Quoted from the Bull Sheet from Larimer County Sheriff's Office:

Martha Cothren is a social studies school teacher in Arkansas and the daughter of a World War II POW. On the first day of school a few years back and with the permission of school personnel, Martha removed all the desks out of her classroom. When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no desks. Looking around, confused, they asked, “Ms. Cothren, where are our desks?” She replied, “You can’t have a desk until you tell me what you have done to earn the right to sit at a desk.” They thought, “Well maybe it’s our grades.” “No,” she said. “Maybe it’s our behavior.” She told them, “No, it’s not even your behavior.” And so they came and went, first period, second period, third period. Still, no desks in the classroom. By early afternoon, television news crews had started gathering in Ms. Cothren’s classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the deskless classroom, Martha Cothren said, “Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.”

At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it. Twenty-seven U.S. Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the wall. By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned. Martha said, “You didn't earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it's up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don’t ever forget it.” If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you read it in English, thank a soldier.

Day Off

It's Veterans Day. I salute the veterans including my father and my father-in-law.

I am happy that I am off work today. The thing is I've been off work three other days in the last eight days for sickness--a bad cold with congestion that makes me cough a lot and not sleep so well. So today I'm glad to be off and be able to do some things other than just rest. I'm still coughing but not as much. I've washed bedding and started the oven-cleaning cycle. I plan to do several other things as well.

Can anyone help me? (Read on before you say, there is no help for me.) I'm going to be playing the piano for a wedding on December 19. The bride wants some classical music along with some other types as well. One song I'd like to play is Sonata I by Mozart, but I'm missing the second and third pages. Does anyone have that music? Or can someone find it on the Internet? I know there are sites where you can print out music. If you find a site that has that particular song, please let me know what it is. (Nevermind about finding the music for me. I just found it myself.)

My son started a new job yesterday at the same place where his dad works. Right now it's temporary, but we're hoping it will become permanent. Yay!

I plan to go get Chinese food from Panda Express for lunch. It makes me happy.

13 Thursday Sayings from My Past

1. Better dead than red.

2. Two heads are better than one.

3. Fools' names like their faces are only found in public places.

4. White man speak with forked tongue.

5. Didn't you even think about doing it right?

6. Don't look at me like that.

7. Where there's smoke, there's fire.

8.What the world needs now is love.

9. Anyone over 30 can't be trusted.

10.Two can live more cheaply than one.

11. If you lie down with the dogs, you will rise up with fleas.

12. It is better to give than to receive.

13.M&Ms melt in your mouth, not in your hand.

Early Voting

Yesterday was the last day for early voting. I got to the voting place about 3:30, and I chose to vote electronically rather than on paper. What I didn't know when I chose the electronic vote was that there were only three computers. I could see that there were many, many places to stand to vote with paper, but the line was probably ten times as long. Well, I got in line behind about 12 people at the computers. I had to wait a very long time to get to vote.

Now it's done, and because I had to wait so long, I feel like I was tortured a little for my right to vote as an American. It sorta made me happy to pay that price.

I hope and pray that the outcome of the presidential election will not start America on a road of change that we will regret and that we cannot turn back from.

My Baby Boy

On October 30 several years ago my baby boy was born. I had been in labor about 16 hours, and then the doctor decided to do a C-section. Aaron was a beautiful baby--no hair, no teeth, big eyes, beautifully formed. He and I stayed in the hospital for eleven days.

When we went home, my mother came to stay with us and help with the baby. I remember on the first night while my mom was in the living room taking care of the baby, I was being a baby in the bedroom and crying about the fact that I didn't think I could "do this" as in be a mom, take care of baby, stay up at night, have any brain or wisdom to do the right thing. The funny thing is, I had been a director of a day care for about a year by then, and during that time, I knew everything. After the baby was born, I knew nothing.

Those first few weeks that I got to stay home with Aaron were wonderful. I remember a pastor's wife and her friend came to see the baby. He was sleeping and I didn't want them to wake him up (new mom worries). One of the women mention that he was really "laid back." At the time I didn't appreciate that comment, but as it turned out, Aaron does seem to be laid back a lot of the time. Still he doesn't get very wild or loud.

When Aaron turned three years old we were living in Arvada. He got a fire truck for his birthday that could be filled with water. Aaron's grandma and cousin were there for his birthday. Once he got water into the truck, he started spraying the yard, including Grandma, cousin, and Mom and Dad. He had a wonderful time. The rest of us had a pretty good time.

These are some of the things that make Aaron the person he is:

He is kind. He has helped many friends with money and moving.

He helps his parents. He helps me with cleaning and bringing in the groceries and sometimes will run an errand. He helps his dad with computer stuff and with mechanical and heavy things.

He is a hard worker, and he is one of the faster workers around. When he was a kid, if I wanted the garage cleaned in a hurry, he was the one I called on.

He was good to his grandma. He stayed with his grandma for several months when he was in college. He helped her with many things. She took care of him and he took care of her.

My husband and I have moved 26 times. Aaron has made it a point to help us every time except before he was born and a couple of moves when he lived too far away. He has always been our strong back and right-hand man.

He makes it a point to talk with his mom and dad. Most of the conversation between him and me is a little bit goofy with a lot of teasing, but sometimes we talk about very serious things.

He plays with the dog. Aaron sometimes stands in the hall, and when the dog is near, he kind of jumps and startles the dog who starts to run up and down the hall like a bat out of a cauldron.

He enjoys his sister. Sometimes when they are together, they still wrestle while sitting on the couch or in the back of the car. Not actual rolling around on the floor, but teasing until Jen cries like a baby girl or Dad says, "Don't make me come back there," to which Aaron replies, "Come on, Dad, I want to see you do it."

This day, October 30, is a day of good memories. And they keep going on.

Geese and Statue

The other day I passed by Loveland Lake which is next to the Loveland High School. There was a sculpture on the lawn between the lake and school of a football player in accoutrement dating back from the '40s. All around the football player was a flock of geese. Most were lying down. No one was touching anyone else.

I have questions. Were the geese just being companionable? Were they worshiping? Did they consider the man statue a friend, a leader, a team member, a god?

Later when I drove by again, the geese were gone. The man was still there, ready to throw the ball but never quite doing it.

It had been an interesting tableau.

13 Thursday Quotes from Colossians

My favorite book of the Bible is Colossians. Here are some meaningful phrases and verses.

1.We...do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. 1:9

2.That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. 1:10

3. [The Father] who hath delivered us into the kingdom of his dear Son. 1:13

4. [The dear Son] in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. 1:14

5.[Jesus] who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. 1:15

6. For by him [Jesus] were all things created. 1:16

7.As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. 2:6

8. Rooted and built up in him [Christ] and stablished in the faith. 2:7

9. For in him [Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 2:9

10. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. 3:2

11. And [ye] have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. 3:10

12. And let the peace of God rule your hearts. 3:15

13. And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men. 3:23

To write or not to write

I wish I had something to say. I really want to blog.

I considered writing something political, but that takes more courage and oomph than I have right now.

I've thought about writing down some random thoughts, but I don't really have any.

I thought about writing about mishaps I've been involved in, but I don't want to.

I don't want to write about sex, marriage, toes, wrinkles, the dog, my kids, or me.

I do want to say that so far today while I've been at work, I have spilled down the front of my shirt three times. Some people wear their feelings on their faces. I wear mine on my shirt.

13 Thursday Acronyms from Law Enforcement

AFIS Automated Fingerprint Identification System

BAC Blood Alcohol Content

BOLO Be On the Look Out

DRE Drug Recognition Expert

DUS Drove Under Suspension

FTA Failure to Appear

FTC Failure to Comply

HTO Habitual Traffic Offender

ICE Immigration Customs Enforcement

PBT Portable Breath Test or Preliminary Breath Test

PIT Precision Intervention Technique or
Precision Immobilization Technique

REDDI Report Every Drunk Driver Immediately

SWAT Special Weapons And Tactics

A Found Friend

Recently a person I knew back in high school and college made contact with me. He had found my blog and through it my daughter's email. He emailed her and asked her to forward some info to me from him. It was quite a surprise to hear from him since it has been forty, yes forty, years since I have seen him. He and his family had moved from Pueblo to Bemidji, Minnesota in the '60s, and after that he and his brother had come back to Pueblo to visit my family when I was in college. He and I are going to write to each other and talk about old times and old memories.

Memories of the past are both changeable and set in stone. While we remember people, places, times and events, it's possible we don't remember them exactly right. Also I have a tendency not to want to meet up with people whom I haven't seen for a long time because I know that the memories they have of the young me are probably so much better than the reality of the older me is. I don't want to ruin the way people remember me by letting the "now" me interfere.

I guess when we meet old friends in Heaven it won't matter how much we had changed on earth because in Heaven "we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is." I look forward to that.

4 Things

Jessican tagged me to do this. I'm afraid it's not very interesting. But that's my life!

Four Places I Go Over and Over:
1. Work at the Sheriff's Office
2. Church
3. King Soopers
4. Gas station

Four People Who E-mail Me:
1. Jen
2. Beth at work
3. Aunt Io
4. Iona S.

Four Places I'd Rather Be Right Now:
1. A cabin in the mountains
2. A motel in Denver
3. In bed
4. A nice restaurant

Four Things I Have for Breakfast:
1. Eggs
2. Waffles
3. Coffee
4. French toast

Four Animals I Like Best:
1. Dogs
2. Baby elephants
3. Baby rhinos
4. Kittens

Four Beaches I've Been to:
I've only been to the ocean a few times. I don't recall names of the beaches.
1. California
2. Florida
3. The Great Salt Lake (not an ocean)
4. A huge lake in Georgia (not an ocean)

Four People I'm Tagging to Do The Four Things:
1. Ralph
2. Simone
3. Fredricka
4. Conan

Mrs. Brown, you have a lovely daughter

My daughter, Jen, was born 29 years ago! I don't get how she can be this old when I am still a spring chicken.

After Jen was born while she and I were still in the hospital (8 days), Gary and I had thought about naming her Rachel Joy or Jennifer Christine. I did not think Gary and I had made a definite decision. My husband thought we had definitely decided. After Jen's birth, he went to make phone calls and told everyone that we had a baby girl and her name was Jennifer Christine.

When he came and told me what he had told the family, I said that I didn't think that we had decided on the name yet. He said, "Do you want me to go and call everyone back and change it?" I said no, I liked "Jennifer Christine". It was and is a good name.

Jen, as she is now known, was a wonderful, expressive baby. She was a little jewel. She is still a jewel.

Some of the qualities that make Jen who she is:

dramatic and expressive
tender and sensitive
godly
thoughtful
opinionated
bossy (she got the gene)
tall
joyful
beautiful
a small nose (When she was about 3 or 4, she said, "Mom, I hope I never get a nose like yours.")
deep
laughing to point of making everyone else laugh with her
smart
worrier
takes care of others

When Jen was about two years old, I gave her a perm because her hair was so fine and straight. I remember her lying on the counter in the kitchen while I followed the steps. I kept telling her that her hair was going to be beautiful--just wait a little longer. When we were finished, her hair was very frizzy but very cute. The trouble was that the frizz left after a couple of weeks. The smell stayed longer so that every time we washed her hair we could smell the perm.

When she was in kindergarten, she pinched someone because she/he wouldn't stay in line. Even in the nursery at church when she was one year old, she told the other little kids where to sit. There was another little girl who was also bossy, and they had a few conflicts.

Now Jen is a wonderful school teacher. She is involved in her church's praise team. She works with the school yearbook. She has many talents and uses them to reach people and to glorify the Lord. I am very proud of her.

Christian School Teaching

I taught Christian school for over 20 years. I would have to say I tried my best to teach the truth of God's Word most of the time. I can't absolutely say always because I'm sure there must have been times when I didn't teach everything correctly...but I tried.

I taught students that we are all sinners and have no hope of Heaven except through the love of Christ as expressed in His death on the cross. We are all equal as sinners and cannot save ourselves. This means we are equal whether we lie, are proud, take God's name in vain, participate in sexual deviation, murder or steal a dime out of a purse. No one has a claim to righteousness on his own account.

I know that some people think that if a person hates a certain sin, then he also must hate the person who is involved in the sin. Now, because we are fallible humans, that may end up being the case for some people. They cannot separate loving a person from hating his sin. And yet parents have to do this very thing all the time. They love their children no matter what, but they they still punish their children for disobedience, lying, backtalk, etc. God tells us to love people but not to love sin...ours or anyone else's.

Through the Scripture that we memorized in class, I taught that we should be humble (not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought), to be submissive to one another (think on the things of others), to be kind and tenderhearted, to put God first (in all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths).

I taught students to have the mind of Christ, to obey the laws, to be happy and joyful in the Lord, to follow God's will, to be involved in Church (the whole New Testament was written to and about churches or church members), to judge not lest we be judged, to respect other people, to witness and be a testimony for Christ.

I taught students that God's word says not to lie, steal, commit adultery, take the Lord's name in vain and to love God with the whole heart and the other commandments. Does these mean that I taught students to live and gain salvation by their works? Never! I taught that Scripture said that all our righteousness was as dirty rags. We are saved by grace and we are to live by grace, following the directions of God's Word for righteous, daily living.

From some of the things I've heard from various students, they claim to have been taught to hate others for their sins, to be judgmental, to live a list with nothing being taught about abiding and living by grace. I say those claims are NOT true at least from my perspective.

I personally do have trouble with pride and being judgmental at times. God still has to work on me all the time. Sometimes I think I would rather live as a hermit. It seems like that would be easier. But God does not have that plan for me. I wouldn't like it anyway.

I know I have been haranguing this morning. Please forgive. Remember God is always good and never makes mistakes. He always loves us in spite of our sin and problems. He is a wonder.

13 Thursday Finishes to Proverbs by Kids

1.Don't change horses - until they stop running.
2.You can lead a horse to water but - How?
3.Don't bite the hand that - looks dirty.
4.You can't teach an old dog new - Math
5.If you lie down with dogs, you'll - stink in the morning.
6.The pen is mightier than the - pigs.
7.Where there's smoke there's - pollution.
8.A penny saved is - not much.
9.Two's company, three's - the Musketeers.
10.Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and - You have to blow your nose.
11.Children should be seen and not - spanked or grounded.
12.When the blind lead the blind - get out of the way.
13.A bird in the hand - is going to poop on you.

Home from the War

Well, Gary came home from the hospital this afternoon. There was a lot of unplugging, disconnecting, signing and explaining. He's glad to be home--better in some ways; harder in others. He still has a tube in his back coming from the kidney and draining into a bag.

The doctor gave these orders for going home. Don't lift or bend. Don't do dishes or vacuum for six months. And don't ever do lawn work again. Funny man.

The war has been won, but a few small skirmishes still have to be fought. It's good to have everyone home.

Hospital

A place of healing
A place of noise
A place of movement
A place of frenetic activity
A place of talking
A place of walking
A place of waiting
A place of stress
A place of sleeping
A place of waking
A place of learning
A place of minding other people's business
A place of trying to do the exact right thing for a sick person and sometimes succeeding
A place of getting to know some hospital people after two surgeries and visiting for 25 hours
A place of finding the cleanest restrooms and eating cheap and sometimes tasty food
A place of hellos, goodbyes, kisses, hugs, laughing, joking, causing irritation and reminding many people of many things
A place of going from "bad to worse" to "okay" to "good" to "help" to "leave me alone" to "it hurts" to "why did she have to do that right now"

A place where generally things get better while being accompanied by pain--a good and necessary place

War Business

Gary's surgery went really well yesterday. For the first procedure he was in the operating room for about 1 3/4 hours. For the breakup and removal of the very large kidney stone, he was in surgery over three hours. He will feel like he has had a knife stab to the kidney for a while, and he will be very bruised. The doc says he will be in the hospital two or three night.

Today our son Aaron is having a different procedure to remove a kidney stone that he has been trying to pass for a month. He will need someone with him for 24 hours. I plan to leave him for an hour here and there so I can go to the hospital to see Gary. Usually when a family member is in the hospital I stay all day there, but I guess I won't be able to today.

Thanks for praying.

Kidney Stone Wars

My husband is having actual surgery tomorrow to break up a huge kidney stone that takes up the upper half of his right kidney according to the doctor. At 9:00 or so, he will have a wire put into his kidney through his back so later a tube can follow that wire into the kidney to be used to break up the stone. That actual surgery will be at 12:30 unless it is moved up, and it will last about three hours. He will come out of post op at about 4:00 when he will be taken up to his room. He will be in the hospital about two or three days. After that he will be out of work probably another week and maybe longer. Please pray for him.

Our son, Aaron, has also been trying to pass a kidney stone for about a month. He will talk to his doctor tomorrow and it's possible the doctor may decide a manual removal is warranted (possibly as early as tomorrow or sometime in the near future). Please pray for him.

In this war, I will be the negotiator, the go-between, the medical team, the guard, the military police and the cry baby. Please pray for me.

13 Thursday Things I Have Worried Over in My Life

1. That I have cancer

2. That my husband will die before me

3. That I will die before my husband

4. That one of my babies would die

5. That my dad would choke to death

6. That I would be grounded

7. That my house will never get cleaned completely

8. That when people get to know the real me, they will be horrified

9. That I will fall in a hole

10. That a nuclear bomb will hit somewhere near Denver, or Toledo, or Springfield (or wherever we have lived)

11. That my dog will run and jump and hit me in the face

12. That my husband will get too irritated with all that I am

13. About where Heaven is

Keep in mind that I don't worry about all these things at once. Some of them I worried about a long time ago. Some I worry about often. If all these things horrify or worry you about me (and I'm not absolutely sure I'm going to actually submit this entry), then let's just say I'm talking about someone else.

The Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth?

I read an article recently that someone wrote about blogs. She was very negative about blogs and blog writers. She didn't like that bloggers could say anything and not be accountable or tell the truth. She also said she had found a study that showed that 89.9% of people who wrote blogs on media websites have an education level below the fifth grade. She said that some people who read blogs accept what the writers have to say as Gospel truth.

I guess I don't have an overall knowledge of the blog world. I only know about the few blogs I read. I read some nearly everyday. Others I just read once in awhile. And others I only read once, and then I'm finished with them. Personally, I don't believe something just because someone wrote it. Maybe if the majority of the people reading blogs only have a fifth grade education, it's not surprising if they believe everything they read. The people I know who blog don't believe everything. They have brains. I have a brain. And while I love fifth graders, I don't think most of the readers have just fifth grade educations.

And one aspect of blog writing is that people CAN make things up, tell distortions, lie and exaggerate. But that is the nature of blog writing. I can believe it all or not.

I could be wrong about these things. But I'm not.

And I'm not lying.

Duets and Trios

We had special missionary/church anniversary meetings at church on Friday, Saturday and both services on Sunday. They were all good.

Part of my and Gary's responsibilty was to be involved in special music. Gary sang a solo on Friday; we sang a duet on Saturday; and the we sang in a mixed quartet on Sunday night.

When we practiced Gary's solo at home on Thursday, we started hearing a lovely, thin little high duet part being sung along with Gary's solo. It was our sweetly musical little dog. He was howling with a very delicate voice along with Gary. He was mostly on pitch. He sang with his eyes closed and his nose pointing up to the ceiling. It was a surprise. We didn't know we had gotten a musical puppy.

Then on Saturday Gary and I were practicing our duet. Riley sang with us again. It was really an enjoyable trio. We may have to take him to church someday to sing with us. He may, however, detract from the message of the song. Oh, yes, he rocks back and forth to the beat.

13 Thursday Free Things

1. Perfume of flowers

2. Sound of bees

3. The view of the mountains

4. Interaction with some people

5. Headaches

6. Dirt

7. Leaves

8. The sound of crying

9. The sound of laughing

10. God's love

11. Doubt

12. Happiness

13. Salvation

Crime and Punishment

A few years ago I remember hearing a sergeant at the Sheriff's Office laughing out loud every few minutes. She was down the aisle from me so I couldn't hear what she was talking about or who else was there. When she came by my desk I asked her what was so funny. This is the story she told.

She and another officer had been dispatched out to a call at a residence. When the older man came to the door, he was only wearing his underwear--nothing else. When the man saw who was at the door, he said he would go put something else on.

When he came back to the door, he had put something else on alright. It was a hunting cap with ear flaps. That's all. Underwear and a hunting hat.

While the other officer was trying to talk to the man, Cindy, the sergeant, started to laugh. She tried to hold it in but the laughter just kept getting louder and louder. After some explanation to excuse her, she finally had to step outside the porch--where she could still be heard by the man and the officer very clearly.

That's the story she told every few minutes at the Sheriff's Office while laughing rather hysterically each time. It was a good story.

13 Thursday Famous Quotes by Benjamin Franklin

1. Money: Remember that time is money.

2. Achievement: Little strokes fell great oaks.

3. Success: God helps them that help themselves.

4. War: There never was a good war or a bad peace.

5. Planning: Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.

6. Wisdom: Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.

7. Teamwork: We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.

8. Wisdom: Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

9. Money: A man may, if he knows not how to save as he gets, keep his nose to the grindstone.

10. Time: Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.

11. Freedom: They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

12. Democracy: Our Constitution is in actual operation; everything appears to promise that it will last; but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.

13. Success: A little neglect may breed mischief: for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost

1066 and All That

1066 and All That is a book title that strikes me as being interesting. I think I would like to have this book. Here is what the intro says:

'1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, comprising all the parts you can remember, including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates is a tongue-in-cheek reworking of the history of England. Written by W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman and illustrated by John Reynolds, it first appeared serially in Punch magazine, and was published in book form by Methuen & Co. Ltd. in 1930.

The book is a parody of the Whiggish style of history teaching in English schools at the time, in particular of Our Island Story. It purports to contain "all the history you can remember", and, in fifty two chapters, covers the history of England from Roman times through 1066 "and all that", up to the end of World War I, at which time "America was thus clearly Top Nation, and history came to a ." (this, last, chapter is titled "A Bad Thing"). It is based on the idea that history is what you can remember and is full of examples of half-remembered facts.'

Jen, you may need this book. So do I.

Gail Annette Horn Suhler, My Sister

Gail Annette Horn was born September 28, 1950 in Pueblo, Colorado. She was the younger sister of Paula and the older sister of Keith. She graduated from Centennial High School in 1968. She took piano lessons as a child and was a member of the local swim team.

Gail accepted the Lord Jesus as her Savior when she was a child. She also helped her mom with Bible Clubs that were held in the family home.

In high school Gail was a member of the high school band and played the cornet and later switched to the French Horn. She was an excellent musician. She took both French horn lessons and voice lessons.

In church she sang in the choir, sang special music and played in a church orchestra.

Gail attended Western Bible College in California and in Oregon. She completed a couple of years of school and later she attended Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri and earned her degree.

As a young adult, Gail lived in Canon City, Colorado where she taught in the Christian school. Her students loved and admired her. She had great influence on many lives. She also worked at Park Hill Baptist church as a secretary and at a Baptist church in Michigan. She had a servant's heart and accepted people for who they were.

Gail was an avid reader all her life. She read comic books and novels as a child, and as an adult probably read thousands of books. Her husband Bryan still has a collection of her favorite books.

When Gail was about thirty years old, she married Bryan Suhler. Our mother had invited Bryan over for Sunday dinner and that was the beginning. They talked and talked. After they were married, Gail talked about how much she appreciated Bryan taking care of their finances because as a young woman who taught Christian school, she had had her struggles.

After being married a year or two, Gail and Bryan had a wonderful baby boy named Benjamin. She loved that little boy. Later when she knew she had cancer, she prayed that God would let her live until Ben was finished with junior high, and that's what He did. It was an answer to her prayer.

Gail and Bryan moved to Colorado Springs after living in Pueblo for a while. There she gave birth to Ben and she worked in her home running a day care. She was really good at it, and her kids loved her.

In about 1993 Gail found out she had cancer. The doctors didn't know where it started, but it was first found on the lining around her lungs. She had surgery to have it removed. When we sorted our mother's belongings after she passed away, we found a note Mom had written. Mom said that when Gail came out of the surgery okay, it was the best day of her life. Gail took that note home and kept it.

After many months of chemo and losing her hair several times, the cancer was found in her ovaries. She had extreme surgery to remove as much as could be done--about 99%. It seemed really good. Sometime after that, Gail had to switch doctors, and the new doctor thought she needed to take a break from the chemo to give her body time to recuperate and because Gail was so tired of all the treatments. That was in about May of 2000.

After that tests were run to see what was happening with the cancer, and Gail's whole abdomen was filled with tumors.

I went to visit her many times during that summer. I kept thinking that something would be done about the tumors--surgery, chemo, or something. But nothing was--nothing could be. Clear up to the end I didn't realize we were really coming to the end.

I drove down to see Gail on Saturday, September 3rd. She was uncomfortable but still functioning almost normally. On Monday, she fell and couldn't get up for hours. After she finally got up, she called Bryan. That evening she lost her ability to control some of her functions. He took her to the emergency room, but on the way there she quit breathing. She passed away on September 5, 2000. This is the 8th anniversary of her death.

When Bryan called, it broke my heart. I just couldn't come to grips with it.

At her funeral, a song recorded by Gail for her church was played during the service. That was very hard.

The good news is that Gail is in Heaven. I always did everything ahead of her, but she got to Heaven before me. I am so looking forward to seeing her. She is my best friend and I miss her.

13 Thursday Memories of My Sister

1. One time somebody marked on the window in the house in the condensation there. My mom made Gail and me sit in the living room behind the arm chair to discuss who had done it because one of us was going to be in trouble. My dad came home at lunch and said he did it accidentally.

2. My sister, a neighbor girl and I were in a beauty contest and two neighbor boys were the judges. Gail won. I lost.

3. My sister loved to read. She was a reader before I was. (She was two years younger than I was.)

4. I gave my sister a hard time sometimes, but when anyone else tried to bother her, I was there to take care of her.

5. When Gail was little she had big freckles, glasses and a gap between her two front teeth. She was a beautiful little sister.

6. Gail and I both took piano lessons and because I was older, I learned more quickly. As a result she wasn't very interested in learning piano. As she got older she learned the French horn and took singing lessons. She was a very talented musician.

7. When Gail and I were doing dishes (I washed; she dried), that's when we got into the most trouble. We started throwing water or making a lot of noise. Doing dishes sometimes resulted in spankings. Gail usually got the worst end of the deal because I stood in a gap next to fridge and Gail was right out where Mom could get her more easily.

8. One year when we went to Bible camp, we both got to worrying and crying about whether we were really saved or not. I think we got it settled, at least temporarily.

9. Gail always had more and better friends than I did. She was my main friend most of the time.

10. When we were grown and married, at one point Gary and I were having some pretty serious money problems and didn't have much money for anything. She made sure to get me things I needed.

11. When our children were born, she thought of my children as being partly hers and I thought of her baby as being partly mine. As the kids grew up, we didn't feel as strongly about that.

12. When my parents died, Gail and I and our sister-in-law went through the folks' things. Having Gail there made the job easy.

13. Gail was my best friend and a wonderful Christian person. I loved to spend time with her.

Random Thoughts

1. We cooked out on the grill yesterday. I like to cook extra meat so we can have two or three meals from the grill. We cooked chicken, sausages and a few hamburgers. Now tonight I don't have to prepare much. It's all good.

2. Today I have a new piano student starting. He is in about 6th grade. He attends our church. I also have a little girl starting on Monday. She is seven. Hopefully they both will practice. Practice is the key to learning the piano.

3. I called Jen yesterday but didn't get hold of her. Maybe she will call.

I guess that's it. I don't have many thoughts today. (;>

Family Get-together

On Saturday a number of my family members got together at a state park near Castle Rock, Colorado for a mini reunion. It was so much fun to see everyone and talk and talk and talk. We had lots of fried chicken (not homemade but really good), green beans, pasta salad, fruit, chips, salsa, brownies, seafood salad, and cold soft drinks.

A minor highlight for me was the breaking of my full plate of food which landed on the ground in front of me. A sad, sad situation. I picked up the chicken and ate it anyway...I think this horrified Kay, but I'm still alive two days later (however, I do now have a twitch, a rash, and a speech impediment).

We did a lot of teasing. Some people had a lot of fun poked at them, which was better than a stick. My husband, who doesn't do a lot of talking at these things, had the most fun made of him especially by my brother. I made a lot of smart remarks, as did others. The remarks probably only seemed smart to the remarkers. But still a good time.

The list of those who were there included my two aunts and one of the husbands, my brother and his wife, his oldest son and his wife (they were just married a few months ago), my brother-in-law, my cousin, her daughter for awhile, my husband, son and me. And, oh yes, my uncle's dog Hairy--a girl dog who was quite nice. I guess I should mention a few other attendees: many mosquitoes and wasps. We missed Jen and the other nieces and nephews.

We were supposed to meet at 10:00am, but nearly everyone got there late. My family was the latest, arriving after 11:00. We had many reasons for being late, but they are too numerous and too lame to mention. We did have time after our arrival to talk for three hours nonstop. Then my husband was needing to get home. And if you say nearly everything in three hours, then you have to start meddling or you have to start over. The rule is, leave while everyone is still smiling!!

I loved being with all these lovely people. Who cares more about you than your family? I'm always sorry my mom and my sister aren't there. In Heaven, I don't know if we will get to sit and talk with people or not. Our whole motivation and desire may change.

My husband was in a good mood even though he didn't talk much. My son had quite the conversation with several people. The men tried to stay on one side of the circle, but they couldn't quite get away from the women. I didn't get to talk very much to my brother or nephew. Maybe next time.

Every time we get together as a family we discuss who the bosses are. The trouble is, many of us are bosses, but over time we've tried to tone it down. My brother declared he was taking a break and wasn't going to be bossing. He did, however, decide when it time to pray so we could eat. That was a really good thing. Being the delicate flower that I am, I have to push myself to boss others, and I succeed really well! No one was too bossy Saturday. Just the right amount of bossing.

I love getting together with other women. We all remember things like wipes--both cleaning and bug types-- tablecloths, paper towels, toilet paper, ice and more ice, trash bags, and extra chairs. The men carry things and set them up and take orders, I mean requests pretty well.

Anyway, I look forward to doing it again at Thanksgiving.

13 Thursday Favorite Restaurants

1. Olive Garden
2. Red Robin
3. Golden Corral
4. Consuelo's (Mexican)
5. College Cafe (Chinese)
6. Vern's (even though there are lots of dead animals on the walls)
7. The Red Lobster
8. Bubba's Barbecue (now out of business)
9. The Chili Wagon (Canon City)
10. Pizza Hut
11. Taco Bell
12. Panda Express
13. Sonic

Tired

I'm too tired and unmotivated to write much. Sorry. Don't even feel like making comments on others' blogs.

1. Please pray for friend Becky Molyneaux--having surgery today on carotid artery.

2. Mother-in-law of friend at work passed away over weekend.

3. Uncle of another friend passed away Friday.

4. Coming up on anniversary of my sister's death--very sad and on my mind.

No one needs to comment.

I am pitiful, but I'll live. (;>

13 Thursday Recent Themes of My Life

A while back I had a 13 Thursday Themes of My Life. Well, I'm going to do it again.

1. Kidney stones (husband and son)
2. Work
3. Church
4. Bible Clubs
5. Getting shower fixed (took about a month)
6. New dog
7. Buying gas
8. Cooking
9. TV
10. Dishes
11. Driving to work in semi-dark
12. Husband and son and daughter
13. Blog

Writing Challenges But No Prizes

Two writing challenges for fun--no prizes, but maybe someone will enjoy what you write.

1. Write a short paragraph about something. Then put it into Babel Fish and choose a language to translate it into. Translate it one more time into another language and then translate that back into English. Then put the new English version and the original English version back in as a comment on this blog.

2. Write a sentence or a paragraph using words that start with the same letter or words that are similar but not the same. Example of the second one: The flower flourishes after being dusted with flour at four in the morning by Fixit Flora in the fountain. ( I guess this is an example of the of using the same beginning letters also.)

Random Thoughts

1. I cooked quite a bit over the weekend. For Saturday breakfast I made omelettes using the little GX food makers. You know, the ones Kathy someone advertises on the TV. Then in the afternoon, I used them to make cake with chocolate candy in each piece. For Sat. supper I fried a few pieces of chicken. We had a potluck at church for Sunday lunch, and I made a meatloaf, a pasta salad and a fruit salad. The kitchen gets pretty messy.

2. My daughter Jen is preparing for a tropical storm/hurricane. I worry a little.

3. My husband's birthday is coming up this week. I hate to admit I have a problem remembering exactly which day it is. My dad's birthday is Aug. 19, an old boyfriend who passed away when I was 16 had Aug. 21 as his birthday, and Gary's birthday is Aug. 20. For some reason, when we get close to Gary's birthday, I mix the other dates in there too and can't always be certain of Gary's day. However, yesterday at church I heard him tell someone else that his date is Aug. 20. I'm good for this year. (I had been thinking it was Aug. 21.)

4. I sang in a ladies trio yesterday for morning church. Gary said it sounded good.

5. One reason I like our little church is because it gives a lot of people opportunities to do many things. Our young teen girls sing in a trio. One of them plays the keyboard. They all helped with the Bible clubs. Two little boys (probably 5th grade) are going to sing together. One of them can't really sing, but we don't let that stop us. Another young girl, probably 5th grade, is going to sing a solo. She can sing pretty well.

7. My dog, Riley, can go pretty far dancing on his hind legs.

8. I was given some lovely fresh veggies straight from someone's garden over the weekend.

9. My husband's kidney stone started acting up yesterday. He has a couple that are too big to pass and will need to have surgery. We are hoping this one isn't one of the big ones or that it will stop.

10. On August 30 several members of my family are going to have a picnic in a state park near Castle Rock. I'm looking forward to it.

11. At church we are studying Revelation. It always disturbs me to see how terrible the future will be for those left behind after the Rapture.

12. I think that's it for now.

13 Thursday English Language Oddities

(Actually I have 25 oddities here.)

1. “Ough” can be pronounced in eight different ways. The following sentence contains them all: “A rough-coated, dough-faced ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough, coughing and hiccoughing thoughtfully.

2. The two longest words with only one of the six vowels including y are the 15-letter "defenselessness" and "respectlessness."

3. “Forty” is the only number which has its letters in alphabetical order. “One” is the only number with its letters in reverse alphabetical order.

4. "Bookkeeper" is the only word that has three consecutive doubled letters.

5. Despite the assertions of a well-known puzzle, modern English does not have three common words ending in -gry. "Angry" and "hungry" are the only ones.

6. "Antidisestablishmentarianism" listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, was considered the longest English word for quite a long time, but today the medical term "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" is usually considered to have the title, despite the fact that it was coined to provide an answer to the question ‘What is the longest English word?’

7. “Dreamt” is the only English word that ends in the letters “mt”.

8. There are many words that feature all five regular vowels in alphabetical order, the commonest being abstemious, adventitious, facetious.

9. The superlatively long word honorificabilitudinitatibus (27 letters) alternates consonants and vowels.

10. “Fickleheaded” and “fiddledeedee” are the longest words consisting only of letters in the first half of the alphabet.

11. "Cwm" (pronounced “koom”, defined as a steep-walled hollow on a hillside) is a rare case of a word used in English in which w is the nucleus vowel, as is crwth (pronounced “krooth”, a type of stringed instrument). Despite their origins in Welsh, they are accepted English words.

12. “Asthma” and “isthmi” are the only six-letter words that begin and end with a vowel and have no other vowels between.

13. The nine-word sequence "I, in, sin, sing, sting, string, staring, starting (or starling), startling" can be formed by successively adding one letter to the previous word.

14. “Underground” and “underfund” are the only words in the English language that begin and end with the letters “und.”

15. “Stewardesses” is the longest word that can be typed with only the left hand.

16. “Almost” is the longest commonly used word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.

17. The longest uncommon word whose letters are in alphabetical order is the eight-letter Aegilops (a grass genus).

18. The longest common single-word palindromes are deified, racecar, repaper, reviver, and rotator.

19. “One thousand” contains the letter "A", but none of the words from one to nine hundred ninety-nine has an "A".

20. “The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick” is said to be the toughest tongue twister in English.

21. “Rhythms” is the longest English word without the normal vowels, a, e, i, o, or u.

22. Excluding derivatives, there are only two words in English that end -shion and (though many words end in this sound). These are "cushion" and "fashion."

23. “THEREIN” is a seven-letter word that contains thirteen words spelled using consecutive letters: the, he, her, er, here, I, there, ere, rein, re, in, therein, and herein.

24. There is only one common word in English that has five vowels in a row: queueing.

25. "Soupspoons" is the longest word that consists entirely of letters from the second half of alphabet.

Did you like them?

Cannon Ball

We should have named our dog Cannon Ball. When I am sitting in the armchair at the end of the hall, Riley runs at full tilt, hits the floor about 3-4 feet from the chair, hits the arm of the chair, and then hits me. I am often grimacing with fear of being murdered as he runs at me. He is quite the little character.

At night when it's time for Riley to go to bed, he doesn't want to. He gets a little bit pouty and I have to pick him up and gently place him in the wire kennel. Then he sleeps all night with only a tiny bit of whining sometimes. Lately when I get up at about 4:45, I just leave him in the kennel until I'm ready to let him go outside to visit with nature. He just continues to lie down and try to sleep.

This new dog has added some spice to our existence. We are trying to learn what he wants us to do, but we are not very fast learners.

English as She is Spoke

The above is the title of a book written in 1855 by Pedro Carolino. He wanted to write an English phrase book for Portuguese students. The problem was...he didn't speak English.

To quote the preface of this book:

"...he didn't own an English-to-Portuguese dictionary. What he did have, though, was a Portuguese-to-French phrasebook and a French-to-English dictionary. The bizarre linguistic train wreck that ensued--published in Paris in 1855 as O Novo Guia da Conversacio, em Portuguez e Inglez, em Duas Partes: The New Guide of the Conversation, in Portuguese and English, in Two Parts--became celebrated as a bizarre masterpiece of unintentional humor, and it went on to be reprinted around the world for the rest of the 19th century, under the title English as She is Spoke."

Here are some samples:

This pen are good for notting.
What news tell me? all hairs dresser are newsmonger. (Insult to a barber)

With a gardener: What you make hither, Francis?
I water this flowers parterre.
Shall i eat some plums soon?
It is not the season yet; but here is some peaches what does ripen at the eye sight.
It delay me to eat some wal nuts-kernels; take care not leave to pass the season.
Be tranquil, i shall throw you any nuts during the shell is green yet.

It's very interesting and was actually used as an authoritative resource for several decades, and then it wasn't. It has been used as an example of tortured English in the decades since and perhaps as a warning to others as the way not to write a phrase book.

13 Thursday Neighborhood Bible Club Facts

1. My church (and I) have held two Bible clubs everyday.

2. I have been the Bible teacher.

3. The "Wordless Book" stories have been the Bible series I have taught.

4. "Tifam" has been the missionary or "adventure story."

5. We have had a total of 40-50 kids in the clubs.

6. Nine children have trusted Christ as Savior so far this week.

7. I have gotten a sunburn from being in the sun mostly in the morning.

8. The 11:00 club has been held in a park. The 1:30 club has been at a home, and except for Monday, we have been inside for that Bible club.

9. We have had a total of ten workers and two 6th grade boys. They all have been wonderful.

10. The pastor has started out each club with prayer and a promise to hand out ice cream certificates to the children who bring visitors the next day.

11. Because I'm not teaching the missionary story, I sit down during that time. At one club I was sitting behind a little boy and he was pushing on my fat foot and leg, trying to figure it out.

12. Tonight I am very tired. We have church tonight.

13. This has been a wonderful week of blessing. I praise the Lord for the opportunity.

Neighborhood Bible Clubs

My church started our Neighborhood Bible Clubs today. We had two clubs in two different neighborhoods. Other than church kids, we had only one other child in the first one. In the second one we had eight other children. Even though there weren't many visitors, both clubs were great. The children were attentive, the workers were wonderful.

Today at both clubs, the pastor offered to give each kid who brings a visitor tomorrow a $2 gift certificate to the Dairy Delite. I think we may have some more visitors tomorrow.

In spite of the heat, both clubs were successful. I think our host families passed out nearly 300 invitations ahead of time, so at the very least that many homes have received the Gospel and info about our church. We passed out tracts today for the kids to take home as well. The children received special ribbons for attendance and for bringing their Bibles. Tomorrow more ribbons will be passed out for bringing visitors and for saying today's Bible verse.

I think overall there was joy in serving the Lord and being part of working with other Christians toward a common goal.

The Lighthouse

There was a song published in 1971 called "The Lighthouse." It is about Christ being the light that stands on the hill to protect the big and small ships. I've always loved this song.

My husband and I got married in 1972, and we have been involved in Christian ministry most of the years since that time. My husband has sung "The Lighthouse" as a special number in most of the churches we have worked in. Well, G. sang that song this morning in church for the first time since we have been attending here. While we were practicing before service, the song brought tears to my eyes--partly because of the words, partly because of its part in our personal history and partly because it reminded me that we've gotten old since we first started singing/playing that song.

Sometimes music, maybe more than other media, brings together a lot of memories. When the words are wonderful and are about Christ the Savior and King, it is very touching.

Overbearing

OVERBEARING--the hated word from my childhood. It's what my mother called me on a regular basis--usually when I asked about a thing too many times, when I did an irritating thing too many times, when I was obnoxious too many times. And apparently I was overbearing a lot.

I think I am still overbearing sometimes. But now as an adult I have learned to observe people's reactions very carefully. If I see someone's eyes glazing over or their expressions changing, or I get a clue that they are not appreciating or agreeing or liking what I'm saying, I will often modify my behavior or message. That's partly the pleaser coming out in me, and it's partly my spiritual gift of mercy, and it's partly survival instinct. That's doesn't mean I change the truth of my message, but I may change how I'm presenting it.

The trouble is that sometimes I'm so tactful, I don't get my message across. This is pretty irritating to me when it happens. But at least I'm not as overbearing as I once was. I think.

100 Quotes for My 100th Blog Entry!

My 100th blog is being celebrated by 100 quotes.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

1. The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.

2. As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.

3. Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.

4. The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.

5. If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.

6. I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.

7. Ah, women. They make the highs higher and the lows more frequent.

MARK TWAIN

8. Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.

9. Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

10. I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it.

11. I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.

12. The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.

13. “Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?”

VOLTAIRE

14. Every man is guilty of all the good he didn’t do.

15. No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.

16. The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it.

17. It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.

18. There are men who can think no deeper than a fact.

19. Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.

20. Anything too stupid to be said is sung.

21. By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property.

22. Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers.

PLATO

23. One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.

24. No one ever teaches well who wants to teach, or governs well who wants to govern.

25. This City is what it is because our citizens are what they are.

32. Courage is knowing what not to fear.

26. The measure of a man is what he does with power.

CHURCHILL

27. A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

28. If you are going through hell, keep going.

29. The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

30. It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.

HISTORY

31. Veni, Vidi, Vici." (I came, I saw, I conquered) -- Julius Caesar.

32."The military doesn't start wars. Politicians start wars" -- General William Westmoreland

33."A young man who does not have what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes to make a living." -- John F. Kennedy

34."I feel that retired generals should never miss an opportunity to remain silent concerning matters for which they are no longer responsible." -- General H. Norman Schwarzkopf (a piece of advice Wesley Clark should have followed).

35."Blood is the price of victory" -- Karl von Clausewitz

36."The art of war is simple enough. Find where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on." -- General Ulysses S. Grant

37."In the absence of orders, find something and kill it". -- Erwin Rommel

38."War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The ugliest is a man who thinks nothing is worth fighting and dying for and lets men better and braver than himself protect him." -- John Stuart Mill

39."Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism" -- George Washington

40."You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.” -- Winston Churchill

41.You'll never get the Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole! Follow me!" -- Captain Henry P. "Jim" Crowe, USMC, Guadalcanal, 13 January 1943

42."If you leave here with the word DUTY implanted in your mind; if you leave here with the word HONOR carved in your soul; if you leave here with love of COUNTRY stamped on your heart, then you will be a twenty-first century leader worthy...of the great privilege and honor...of leading...the sons and daughters of America..." -- General H. Norman Schwarzkopf to the Corps of Cadets on 15 May 1991

43."There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, learning from failure." -- Colin Powell

44...and this from December 9, 2005, while interviewing an anonymous US Special Forces soldier, a Reuters News agent asked the soldier what he felt when sniping members of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The soldier shrugged and replied, "Recoil."

45. "Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo."
- H. G. Wells (1866-1946)

46."Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever."
- Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

47."Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake."
- Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956)

49."Don't be so humble - you are not that great."
- Golda Meir (1898-1978) to a visiting diplomat

50."His ignorance is encyclopedic"
- Abba Eban (1915-2002)

51."If a man does his best, what else is there?"
- General George S. Patton (1885-1945)

52."Political correctness is tyranny with manners."
- Charlton Heston (1924-)

53."I can write better than anybody who can write faster, and I can write faster than anybody who can write better."
- A. J. Liebling (1904-1963)

54."People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid." - Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

55."Give me chastity and continence, but not yet."
- Saint Augustine (354-430)

56."Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

57."Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

58."A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

59."The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work."
- Emile Zola (1840-1902)

60."This book fills a much-needed gap."
- Moses Hadas (1900-1966) in a review

61."The full use of your powers along lines of excellence."
- definition of "happiness" by John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

62."I'm living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart."
- e e cummings (1894-1962)

63."Give me a museum and I'll fill it."
- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

64."Assassins!"
- Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957) to his orchestra

65."I'll moider da bum."
- Heavyweight boxer Tony Galento, when asked what he thought of William Shakespeare

66."In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is."
- Yogi Berra

67."I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have."
- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

68."Each problem that I solved became a rule which served afterwards to solve other problems." - Rene Descartes (1596-1650), "Discours de la Methode"

69."In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
- Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

70."Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right."
- Henry Ford (1863-1947)

71."Do, or do not. There is no 'try'."
- Yoda ('The Empire Strikes Back')

72."The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it."
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

73. "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." - Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

74."A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems."
- Paul Erdos (1913-1996)

75."Problems worthy of attack prove their worth by fighting back."
- Paul Erdos (1913-1996)

76."Try to learn something about everything and everything about something."
- Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895)

77."The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad."
- Salvador Dali (1904-1989)

78."If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you'd best teach it to dance."
- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

79."But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near."
- Andrew Marvell (1621-1678)

80."Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
- Plato (427-347 B.C.)

81."The power of accurate observation is frequently called cynicism by those who don't have it."
- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

82."Whenever I climb I am followed by a dog called 'Ego'."
- Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

83."Everybody pities the weak; jealousy you have to earn."
- Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947-)

84. "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."
- Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

85."I think 'Hail to the Chief' has a nice ring to it."
- John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) when asked what is his favorite song

86."I have nothing to declare except my genius."
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) upon arriving at U.S. customs 1882

87. "Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe."
- H. G. Wells (1866-1946)

88."Talent does what it can; genius does what it must."
- Edward George Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873)

89."The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is like an eggs-and-ham breakfast: the chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."
- unknown

90."He who has a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'."
- Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

91."Many wealthy people are little more than janitors of their possessions."
- Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959)

92."I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters."
- Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959)

93."Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go."
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

94."He is one of those people who would be enormously improved by death."
- H. H. Munro (Saki) (1870-1916)

95."I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

96."I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them."
- Ian L. Fleming (1908-1964)

97."If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars."
- J. Paul Getty (1892-1976)

98."Facts are the enemy of truth."
- Don Quixote - "Man of La Mancha"

99."When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world."
- George Washington Carver (1864-1943)

100."I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
- Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)

A New Dog

We are getting a dog! It's a fairly large chihuahua mixed with something else. It's red with eyes that are the same color as his fur. My husband and I picked him out on Saturday, but then we couldn't buy him because we didn't have a note from our duplex owner saying we could have a dog in the house. We received that note today by fax and now we are getting the dog.

Tomorrow afternoon we are going to pick him up after he has been "fixed." He will be pretty uncomfortable for a while. We have church on Thursday night, so we won't be home with him in the evening. Our son will be here, so that will be good. Then the next day we all will be gone to work. I wish we could have gotten him Friday evening, but that didn't work out.

He's very cute. We really didn't get to spend much time with him, but I think he has a good personality. He's an adult dog--it seems like he was about three years old. Our lives will change. It makes me a little nervous. (;>

How Entertainment Can Influence Thoughts and Actions by Focus on the Family

This is part of an article from Focus on the Family about the influence of the media on people and especially on young people and adults.

"It's just entertainment. It doesn't affect me." That common viewpoint — especially among young people — is naive at best. While it almost goes without saying that few people will allow something they see or hear in media to turn them into killers or rapists, for better or worse, it's clear that media does have the power to influence our thoughts, actions and behaviors. Consider a few examples:

The Harry Potter series has cast a spell worldwide. In Britain, a broom maker reported a spike in sales, explaining, "Children have seen them in the film and ask their parents to buy them one." The Hexenschule, a European school of witchcraft, credits J.K. Rowling's boy wizard with increased enrollment. Elsewhere, American schools have adapted the high-flying game Quiddich for use in gym class, and a young woman in Spain burned her house halfway to the ground while attempting to brew a potion like her Hogwarts heroes.

In June 2006, the Journal of Adolescent Health reported that teens who absorbed sexually explicit entertainment the most frequently were up to 2.2 times more likely to have had sexual intercourse by ages 14 to 16 than those who had been exposed the least. medialifemagazine.com, 3/22/06; Journal of Adolescent Health, 3/06; Reuters, 4/3/06]

In December 2003, the legal defense team of Lee Boyd Malvo (the 18-year-old convicted as one of the Washington-area snipers) argued that violent media was used to desensitize the teen to killing. Lawyers showed the jury clips from movies and video games that were allegedly used to "brainwash" Malvo. They included a scene from The Matrix wherein characters Neo and Trinity gun down policemen. Dewey Cornell, a clinical psychologist, testified, "Exposure to entertainment violence desensitizes people to violence, makes it seem more acceptable. These people have more violent thoughts and actions." This phenomenon occurs in millions who feast on violent fare, even if they don't take that desensitization to murderous extremes.

During the Jack Nicholson film About Schmidt, audiences were shown the photo of a 6-year-old Tanzanian boy cared for by Childreach, an actual nonprofit organization. Donations to Childreach soared. The humanitarian group, which recruits U.S. sponsors for children in developing countries, had been receiving three sponsorships per day on its Web site. When the film went nationwide, that figure rose to 80.

How do you spike popular interest in battered, broken, bloody corpses? Make them the centerpiece of a TV show. Since the 2000 debut of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," colleges and universities have noticed a large increase in the number of students taking forensics classes. And some insiders are fingering CSI as the inspiration. A representative from Manhattan’s Pace University credits the CBS series as a “major force” in its decision to add new undergraduate and grad-school degree programs in the field. And The American Academy of Forensic Sciences says that 25 people per week are calling regarding forensic careers, a five-fold increase. [EW.com, 8/14/02]

A study funded by the nonprofit Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine has found that the more cigarette marketing teens see in retail stores, the more likely they are to pick up the habit. Sandy Slater, who led the study, dogmatically commented, "Restricting these marketing practices would reduce youth smoking." Researchers evaluated the effect of point-of-purchase advertising on a nationally representative sample of 26,000 8th, 10th and 12th graders from 1999 to 2003. [AP, 5/8/07 c&e]

The scene in Mission: Impossible 2 of Tom Cruise’s mountaintop experience involving instructions received via his sunglasses caused Oakley sunglass sales to soar to $100 million in the quarter following the movie’s release — up 39 percent from the same quarter the previous year. Not a bad return on a $100,000 product placement investment! (Robert Smithouser. Movie Nights, Tyndale House, 2002)

In 1988, a Dallas morning deejay asked his listeners to send him $20, without giving them a reason. Within a week, the radio station had received over $240,000. (Stan Campbell and Randy Southern. Mind Over Media, Tyndale House, 2001)

"All too many people read novels or see films and think they're experiencing reality. ... According to the Barna Group, 24% of those who read The Da Vinci Code said it 'aided their spiritual growth and understanding.' In other words, one in four of its readers believe the book's thesis (as opposed to its story line) is true." —columnist Don Feder, referring to how Dan Brown's controversial book has influenced some readers [grasstopsusa.com, 5/16/06]

A brief candy cameo in E.T. — The Extraterrestrial immediately sent sales of Reese’s Pieces into orbit. Sales increased 65 percent after the film’s release. (Robert Smithouser. Movie Nights, Tyndale House, 2002)

Wham-o, Inc. is convinced that movies can have a powerful influence on children. That's why it sued the makers of Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star for irresponsibly depicting its Slip 'N Slide toy in the movie. A character throws himself onto a dry Slip 'N Slide, leaving his chest covered in welts. Later he greases it, causing him to slide uncontrollably into a fence. A Wham-O spokesman expressed concern that children might copy that "reckless" behavior and severely injure themselves.

My own note: We should be very concerned about what our young people (and we adults) are exposed to. I think that the Internet, email and other kinds of technology also have great influence in lives. I think if I were raising my children today, I would be so very careful of the Internet. I probably wouldn't let them go to other people's houses unless I knew for certain there was very controlled access to the Internet and that the parents in the home supervised the use and that they had the same concerns we did.

The Bad News

Well, the Larimer County commissioners are requiring that the Sheriff's Office cut its budget by over a million when it's all said and done. It has been determined that public safety is only of mid-level concern when compared to other county agencies in Larimer County. We just heard that no more people will be hired for the Sheriff's Office and that the twenty positions that are open will not be filled. Some positions are going to be cut. However, our supervisor said that no jobs will be cut in the Records Department.

We in the Sheriff's Office question the wisdom of supporting other county agencies/programs ahead of public safety and crime prevention. If monies are not made available, the public may (will) have to pay a higher price in crime, overcrowded jails, fewer deputies on the roads, less training to do the law enforcement jobs, and less involvement in important programs (already LCSO will no longer be involved in the Drug Task Force). At least two of the commissioners have indicated they are going to be causing problems for the Sheriff (and his office) because they have had conflicts with the Sheriff. It seems very shortsighted to me.

My personal good news is that I will be working a while longer!

13 Thursday Malapropisms

Definition of malapropism: ludicrous misuse of a word, especially by confusion with one of similar sound—sometimes done purposely and sometimes done accidentally.

Good punctuation means not to be late.

He's a wolf in cheap clothing.

My sister has extra-century perception.

"Don't" is a contraption.

"Listen to the blabbing brook." Norm Crosby

"This is unparalyzed in the state's history." Gib Lewis, Texas Speaker of the House

"The police are not here to create disorder, they're here to preserve disorder." Richard Daley, former Chicago mayor

"He was a man of great statue." Thomas Menino, Boston mayor

"Well, that was a cliff-dweller." Wes Westrum, about a close baseball game

"Be sure and put some of those neutrons on it." Mike Smith, ordering a salad at a restaurant

"It's got lots of installation." Mike Smith, describing his new coat

Damp weather is very hard on the sciences.

The death of Francis Shaw was a major turning point in his life.

I Talked to a Horse

Yesterday when I went to back out of my parking space at work to go home I suddenly heard a loud whinny of a horse. It sounded like he was right behind me. I stomped on the brake so I wouldn't hit him if he was behind me. I turned around and looked and he was in a horse trailer about 25 feet away. The windows in the trailer were wide open and the head of the horse was sticking out of a window about as far as it could go. I'm pretty sure he was trying to get my attention.

I pulled around so my car window was facing the horse, and I started talking to him. He listened to me very carefully. Finally I put the car in gear and started to leave. The horse blew very loudly through his nose--lots of splatter--as if to say, "You're leaving way too soon. I need more attention." But it was time to go.

Later I told my husband that I needed to be around horses. He told me maybe I just needed a dog. And maybe I do. So when are we going to get one? I would like to have an English bulldog--but not likely. I would also like to have a miniature horse that I can keep in the house.

Random Thoughts

Some random thoughts:

1. My son went to the emergency room this morning with a very painful kidney stone. He has no insurance. My husband hasn't called me back to say whether they have been able to go home yet.

2. I just overheard a co-worker talking about how rude a clerk was in a store. When she and her husband went outside to unload their purchases, they realized that they hadn't paid for two things. Because they were so irritated with the clerk, they decided not to go back in and pay. This disturbs me.

3. We are getting a new shower stall today for our master bathroom. Yay! Gary had to leave the house to help the son with his kidney stone problem, so the two plumbers have been in our house alone. Hopefully all is going well.

4. I'm having a broccoli/cauliflower mixture for my lunch. My supervisor doesn't like the smell of it, so I took it to the break room to cook it. Now I'm eating it back at my desk. I don't know if cooking it somewhere else helps the smell or not since I bring it back into the work room.

5. Apparently I don't have any more random thoughts I want to write about. Just remember a zebra's stripes are as unique as fingerprints are. You will always be able to identify your zebra.