Weekend Recap

Started my Christmas shopping on Friday night. The kids really "enjoyed" it. It seems they only like shopping for themselves.

On Saturday, I enjoyed fixing goodies for the stamping get together at my house. We had a nice time. I know what I am doing for Christmas cards and have the pieces all ready to assemble-- which is 3/4 of the work. :o) I think we enjoyed visiting with each other as much as stamping.

I will be out of town until late Tuesday night. Going way up North to Roosevelt. I giggle now when I here people say we live in Northern Minnesota, there is a whole other world north of here!

Weekend Recap

We had a nice weekend, went to a Twins game with some friends and enjoyed visiting with them. Looking forward to maybe enjoying a major league baseball game next year when they actually play outside where baseball SHOULD be played!!! Having said that, I'm probably guaranteed to only pick days to go when it is rainy, windy, and cold. :o)

I'm proud to say I drove in the twin cities for the third time and managed not to injure anyone too badly!!! Really wish the Twins played someplace like Hinckley, though--it would be a much nicer drive!!! :o) My shoulder muscles haven't recovered from the stress of driving in the cities. Guess I'm too much of a country bumpkin!

To my friend "S" at church, I thought of another song for your mental enjoyment--"This is a song that never ends..." :o)

I'm off to Grand Rapids, Bemidji, Brainerd, and Finlayson over the next couple of days, so I won't be posting. I get to stay in a bed and breakfast in Brainerd. I'm really looking forward to it, if I have to spend the night away from home for work, might as well enjoy it. She graciously upgraded me to my very own cabin since it is a Monday night. :o) Her e-mail said, "You also have a window air conditioner, microwave, fridge/freezer, and satellite T.V. Your evening snack/dessert will be on the old stove that you will see as soon as you are on the porch. There is make-it-yourself tea and hot chocolate by the microwave as well as microwave popcorn. Purified water to prepare the tea and hot chocolate is in the porch fridge. We'll start a fire in the evening in the stone fireplace on the back porch and you can keep throwing logs onto the fire as long as you like. The wood is located in a wagon near the fireplace. Breakfast will be served at 8:30 a.m. in the railroad car tea room at the far end of the back porch. " Here's a picture of the cabin: http://www.whiteleycreek.com/queen_of_the_meadow_bloom/bb_cottages/

Fun with Friends

On Saturday, we had a get together planned with some friends from church, but was unable to find someone to watch the kids. I offered to stay home, but hubby said I should go because he knew how much I had been looking forward to stamping with the ladies. :o) Isn't he sweet! We had a nice time stamping, eating, and chatting. I made a couple of thank you cards, but mainly stamped pages of stamps to use in cards at a later time using my friend's stamps. :o) I have a hard time making cards unless I have an actual person in mind. It's so great to have godly friends to share time with!

People

We must accept people as they are, rather than wishing they were as we would like them to be.

Paraphrased from George Washington (when writing about his rather rag tag army)

People come in all shapes and sizes. So often we spend a lot of time and energy wishing and even being irritable about the people in our lives and how we would like them to change to make our lives easier or just so they "fit" into our ways of thinking more. We wish that our husband were more_______, our children were more like ______, our family member didn't do ________ so much and our coworkers more hardworking, less noisy, less annoying, smarter, etc. Really, if we think about it, moaning and groaning about how we wish someone would change accomplishes nothing, accept making you and others around you miserable! Basically, we need to accept people as they are and go on with our lives and make sure we are doing what we should be doing! If someone needs help with life, we can pray for them, encourage them and mentor them, but we need to make sure that WE don't have our own agenda and that our goal is to help THEM (they also need to be a wiling participant)! If you have someone who you have a really difficult time dealing with pray for them at least once a day and before/during your interactions with them. It is amazing how God will change your heart and even help you to see their good qualities that were there all along, you were just focusing on the wrong area!

Ephesians 4:31-5:2

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

To Forgive or to Fret, That is the Question...

The story below was sent to me by a friend. I don't know its origins. It made me stop and think. So often we forget the good things that others do for us or even take them for granted. However, if someone wrongs us, we are sure to tell everyone we know and never forget it. What a sad way to live our lives. Holding a grudge really only hurts us and those closest to us, seldom the person we are angry at! It also takes a lot of energy that we could be using for good pursuits. I have seen bitterness literally destroy people's lives.

Let's remember Ephesians 4:31-32--Let all bitterness and wrath , and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Two friends were walking through the desert.

During some point of the journey, they had an
argument; and one friend slapped the other one in the face.

The one who got slapped was hurt,
but without saying anything, wrote in the sand:

‘Today my best friend slapped me in the face.’

They kept on walking, until they found an oasis,
Where they decided to take a bath, the one who
had been slapped got stuck in the mire!
And started drowning, but the friend saved him.
After he recovered from the near drowning,
He wrote on a stone:

'Today my best friend saved my life.’

The friend who had slapped and saved his

best friend asked him, 'After I hurt you,

you wrote in the sand and now,
You write on a stone, why?'

The friend replied 'When someone hurts us we
should write it in sand, where winds of forgiveness
can erase it away. But, when someone does
something good for us, We must engrave it in
stone where no wind can ever erase it.’

'Learn to write your hurts in the sand
and to carve your blessings in stone.’

It might be a good idea to have a notebook where we write our blessings and reread it when we are upset at another person.