Sunday, June 24, 2007

Book lovers everywhere

I have discovered a site that is wonderful! It is a paperback swap site, very well set up and works great! You even print out the postal service paper with all the info you need to send your book.....so much fun to browse and ask for. Of course you have to post books too to earn credits to get books. That is also easy...just put in the ISBN number! Here is the site so you can look for yourself.

http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php

If you love to read, take a look.
I am looking forward to seeing Evan Almighty....it looks hilarious! Maybe one afternoon this week if I can fit it in between all the therapy and doctor visits this week! Jill is worn out from taking care of me and I can't wait until I get the go-ahead from the doctor to get rid of this sling. Being one-handed and one-legged is quite a feat to pull off and remain in the vertical position! I should have taken up yoga! LOL
I hope you all have a blessed Sunday and that you talk with the Lord daily. He is waiting and listening for you!

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Quietly enjoying my Saturday

This is fun! I don't have to go to therapy or any doctor until Monday! I hope I can make it to church this Sunday....depends on Jill since I can't drive yet. She has been in her sleep mode lately.
Joelle came over and planted Jill's flowers for her yesterday. She brought Sydney and Jordan with her. We watched Bridge to Tarabithia...an excellent movie!...and I gave her a cake for her birthday that she requested. It was a blueberry pound cake that is delicious. I found it in a Light Cooking magazine and it has cream cheese and lemon yogurt in it...yummmmmmm.
It has been drought season here...we need rain!!! The grass is getting brown, the bushes are sparse instead of full and lush. We have had several afternoon thunderstorms but they seem to pass us by. Guess I will have to take out a loan to pay the water bill!!! LOL
My shoulder is coming along very well...I just chafe at the slowness of it but I have to take it slow due to all the reconstruction the doctor had to do this time. Now if I can just stay on my feet instead of meeting the floor at inopportune times, I just might get it strong before I have the knee surgery coming up. As I have mentioned before, I tend to overdo every thing I take on. I heard from my son in Florida last week...he seems to be doing fine. He has been dating a young lady by the name of Annette, who seems to be very good for him. She accepts him the way he is and can deal with his ADD...wonders never cease! I hope this relationship works out so Wayne can experience the joy of a real relationship based on giving by both parties.
Heather, my youngest, moved to Myrtle beach with her daughter, Jenny, for the summer. If it works out she may stay down there. I pray for her to come to terms with life the way it is and also find God in her life. Jenny was involved in a car accident last fall which broke her back. After two surgeries and two rods placed in her lower spine, she seems to be getting along very well. She just turned 18...so she will have to deal with this all her life.
I guess I better close for now...it is time to do my exercises....then to crochet!
God bless you all!

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Missing my heart

My 5 year old grandson has been visiting his other grandparents in Ohio since the first part of May. He won't return until the 16th of July. Since he stays with me a lot I miss him terribly! Part of me is happy for him and his other grandparents but the other part is grieving over his absence. It is such a wonderful thing to be a grandparent! You can give unconditional love and enjoy them the way most of us don't get to enjoy their parents, being involved in the day to day trials of earning a living and trying to guide them to being the best that they can be. Oh, what fun we have playing games together, making up stories to tell each other, snuggling, gathering all those kisses that go straight to our hearts, having special little things that are ours alone. Watching them grow and seeing the world again through their eyes is so special! My grands range in age from 20 to 3. It has been quite a ride but one I would not have missed for the world! God has truly blessed me in so many ways and this one just keeps on growing!
I have four children, Wayne, 41, Woody, 39, Joelle, 38, and Heather, 37.
That story is long and filled with many smiles and heartaches. My biggest want for them all is to become the people God put them on this earth to be. None of them have found their way yet but I'm not giving up hope! I lift them up to God daily, sometimes multiple times. God can and will accomplish that which I never could. He brought me to my knees so I could see that He is Lord and giving Him my whole life and soul and control of my life has been the best thing I have ever done.
My grands are: Shane, Ashley, Cory, Jordan, Sydney, Christian, Kayla, Jenny, Bristtle, Tore and Faith. I will be talking about them at various times so now you know who they are.
Have a wonderful Christ-filled day!

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Contemplating.....

After listening to Dr. Charles Stanley this morning, I began roaming my memories of my children growing up and what I should have done better...first and foremost, I wish I had taught my children to pray always and to depend on God for everything. In this short life we have been given we are to accomplish our God-given purposes. Maybe mine was to make all these mistakes so that when I am ministering to others I can speak with personal experience.
One of my favorite things to do is to pray for others. When we are out and I see someone having a bad day, I offer to pray with them or for them, however they are more comfortable. Touching is another thing I love to do...just a touch on the hand and a sincere concern can open the person to sharing their problems and getting a fresh aspect of their worries. Offering to pray for them often brings a real smile to their faces and maybe a warm feeling that someone cares. The Holy Spirit guides me in this and it is Him working through me. Am I special? NO! I only open up myself to Him to work through me. It is only by God's grace that I come in contact with whomever He wants me to speak to. If you have never experienced this I beg you to open yourself to God to take over your life so you can experience his peace, joy and sense of security, things that no human. no matter how good-intentioned, can provide. All I bring to this blog is given to me by His promises in his Word, the Bible. God has a perfect plan that we cannot possibly fathom for each of us and since He is a perfect God, makes no mistakes. Therefore, whatever has occurred in your life, bad and good, can be used for His purpose. He loves us unconditionally! WOW! So when we go to him in prayer and ask for forgiveness if we are truly penitent, He forgives! Isn't that awesome???
I pray that everyone finds their purpose and just sit back and see the wonders God will do in yours and others lives. God bless you everyone!

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Wonderful people in my life

I have already mentioned Jill and her unceasing overseeing of my continued recovery from shoulder surgery, but I neglected to include my praise for several other people who mean the world to me...Nicole, my aide/adopted daughter ( I love to "adopt" the awesome girls that God has put in my life) goes way beyond her job description in caring for her patients. She helps me put things in the attic (even in the sweltering summer!), she often brings me treats in the morning, she brings her precious pup (lol) Misha, a pomeranian/daschund mix little boy with her so I get to love on him for a couple of hours. Her personality is awesome...we giggle like two girls and talk non-stop when we get together every morning. Compassion is her middle name! I love her dearly...as I said, God blessed me richly when He brought her into my life. Her daughter, Zarra, is 2 and a precocious little girl...soooo cute and way ahead of her age. So I gained another granddaughter too!
My 12 year old granddaughter, Sydney, has also been great..she has come and stayed with me twice lately. She is on the swim team and greatly enjoys it. Are all 12 yo girls going on 30? Tuesday we made Shepherd's pie for dinner...an easy recipe for it. Her favorite tv channel is the food channel.
If you would like, here is the recipe I use to make Shepherd's pie.

5- lbs white potatoes
2 pounds ground beef (or turkey if you prefer)
2 large cans tomatoe soup
1 large can green beans
2 beef boullion cubes
2 lbs shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 sticks margarine or butter
1/4 cup milk

Peel and slice potatoes in thin pieces, cover with water, add salt to taste, and boil until tender. Keep in hot water until the rest of the ingredients are ready to mix.
Drain can of beans, place beans in saucepan with one cube boullion, simmer for 30 mins to 1 hour, depending on how much you like southern beans( cooked to death).
When beans are almost done, in skillet cook hamburger with one cube boullion until done, drain grease.
Add tomato soup heat until hot.

Drain potatoes. Place in mixing bowl with two sticks of butter, mix on high until smooth. Add about 1/4 cup milk and beat on low until mixed.

Have oven preheated to 400F. Place meat/tomatoe mixture in large baking dish or pan, at least 9x13. Add beans and mix. Place mashed potatoes on top of mixture, spreading to cover all over. Sprinkle the cheddar cheese over the potatoes until well covered.

Place in preheated oven (400F) and bake about 20-30 mins until the cheese melts. serve with veggie salad or fruit salad. Enjoy!

I guess I have rambled on enough for now, so I wish you all a blessed day!

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Sunday, Sunday!

I love the Lord's day! This is the day that I concentrate only on Him for a good portion of the day...and give thanks for all the things again that He has done for me in the past week. It gives me time to reflect on His many blessings and the love He has for each one of us.

My shoulder is healing well and due to the diligence of Jill, I am recuperating well also. If I don't do what I am supposed to do (or rather do what I am NOT supposed to do) I get the "mommy" finger. She has given up much of the past two weeks to care for me.

A little about Jill...she is my neighbor in a duplex we live in. We met last fall and have become very close in a short time. Jill has bone cancer, in remission at this time, and is a lovely person. She has a wonderful outlook on life and lives each day to the fullest as far as her health lets her. I love her dearly and hope soon that she will accept Jesus as her Savior. That way she will know that after death (which claims all of us at some point) she will spend eternity with our Lord!

Her opt0mystic attitude and goofy ways make being around her a delight.

Like all of us she lives with pain and sorrow about past deeds or missed opportunities and has not had the "perfect parents" or people to teach her the things she needed to have to make wiser decisions. Some are blessed with Christian parents who guide their children in the ways of God and teach their children the strengths they need to have to make it in this life:



1)faith in God

2)obedience to God

3)self discipline

4)respect for authority

5)always striving to do our best, not outdo someone else

6)avoid gossip

7)be content with doing our best even if it doesn't measure up to someone else

8)take the "me" out of our thoughts and replace it with "others"

9)awareness of other people's problems

10)obey the Golden Rule...do to others as you would like them to do to you

11)ask God to pick our spouse

12)give without wanting to receive, or get recognition

13)love people the way they are and respect the fact that life has gotten them where they are...they may not have had moral support or even familial or financial support in their lives.

14)never try to seek revenge...it will hurt y0u much more than the recipient. Each time you cause hurt to someone you die a little inside.

15)go into marriage with the recognition that it is a job for both of you...both work at it or it will fail

16)choose a job that you love...you will be spending much time there.

17)make God the center of your life and you will always have Someone there to look after you, give you support, love you and want the best for you...how could one be lonely?



I wish I had absorbed all of these ideas as a child and had them to guide my life. I spent so much wasted time seeking my own way and making horrible decisions that not only I but my children and family have had to deal with too. But now I trust in God for each and every need, for the joy in each day, for the strength to face life's problems, and for the thankfulness to appreciate the many gifts He gives every day.

May you find this fulfillment in your lives if you don't already have them.

Friday, June 8, 2007

Teenagers!

Friday has arrived in a hurry this week. Between shoulder exercises, crocheting and reading time goes by in a hurry,
Today I talked with my grandson who in going into the 9th grade. Why is it that when we are young we have no patience when things aren't going our way? That we fight for our way constantly and have resigned ourselves that no matter what, we are not going to enjoy anything unless it is on our terms. In this case he is going to the lake with his mother and her not so well liked (by her older two kids) boyfriend to camp for the weekend. His I-pod isn't working so he has to listen" to their weird music", he has to sit squashed into the small back seat of a truck along with his smaller sister and the boyfriend's dog. I understand the problem, and even sympathized with him for the discomfort. When I pointed out that it would only be for a short time (about 45 mins) and then he could enjoy the cookouts, swimming, fishing, etc., he was already determined he was going to have a lousy time.
As I am writing this I realize that even as adults we often sabotage ourselves by making up our minds in advance we aren't going to like something instead of going into every situation with a good attitude and finding something to enjoy in most situations. Oh, well, I better take my own advice. But I am so thankful I never have to be a teenager again!!!! So emotional and dramatic!
This will be a quiet weekend, which is good, as I tend to overdo everything I do. So I will write again soon and until we meet again, God bless you.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Waaaaaay Behind!!!!

I have been negligent in writing in my blog...not good. A lot of time has passed and a lot of things have happened...some wonderful, some not so great. But that is life isn't it?
Crocheting is one of my passions and I love to make up some patterns for different things...not too complicated..but fun. Right now I am making some purses for my 12 year old granddaughter and her friends. Clothes for some of the babies in my church are another project, shawls for the prayer ministry, well, this could go on all day.
As before stated, reading is another passion. I finished all the books by Joel C Rosenberg, even the non-fiction EPICENTER. They are great! They pertain to the situation in Israel as predicted in Ezekiel 38, 39 and in Revelations. Very interesting reading and nerve wracking situations!
On the home front, I am recuperating from shoulder surgery and doing great! I have a neighbor/daughter who has taken so very good care of me! Her name is Jill and will figure prominently in my meanderings here in this blog.
Last weekend Jill, Sydney (my granddaughter) and I went to see Pirates of the Carribean III...it was long but fun. Of course, looking at Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom wasn't any hardship (pun intended) even if the movie wasn't any good. LOL
While I was recuperating, the wonderful ladies at my church have brought such wonderful meals and desserts that I am sitting here stuffing myself like a piggy getting ready for market. I tease my doctor that performs all the knee surgeries that I have, that I am like an old car...have to order parts, replace bushings, clean out the plugs...shall I go on? About ready for the junk yard! LOL
Ya'll have a wonderful blessed day!