Vacation

I will be on vacation through August 10. We are going to Tennessee to stay in a rather nice cabin. Will try to get back to posting more regularly, but not guarantees since that week is Vacation Bible School at our church.

Two prayer requests:

Kim, my sister-in-law who is having her gall bladder our on Friday.

Kara-mom of four with leukemia. She has not been doing real well. Her platelets which stop bleeding have been really low. (less than a tenth of what they should be). She also developed pneumonia last week. She is doing better. Her family is having a more difficult time dealing with all this as time wears on. Every time I think about this situation, it brings tears to my eyes.

Be thankful for God's blessings...

It is easy to think that your life is rough, however there is usually always someone nearby who would love to have your difficulties and give you theirs. We need to remember that God is always with us and be thankful for all He does for us. We often forget to be thankful for: our job, health, a family that loves us, a church family that loves us, good friends, cars that run, a nice place to live, all the "house slaves" we are blessed with these days (I wasn't talking about the kids, but the fridge, stove, etc!), children, God who loves us, is always with us and gave us the Bible, and the list could go on and on.

The kids and I went to Wendy's yesterday. After picking up "K" from piano lessons, I realized there was no way I could have supper on the table before about 7:15pm, which then makes getting the kids ready for bed and homework a little difficult by 8pm. I also had a pretty good idea that I would be taking a meal to a friend tonight, so I needed to get stuff ready for that. Anyway, we went to Wendy's--ate all 5 of us for less that $10 :o) and while I was standing at the check out, there was a little container there to donate money to the family of one of their workers who:
1. Lost their 5 month old in December to SIDS
2. On Valentine's Day, the husband and two boys were in a car accident. The dad is still at St. Mary's on life support, expected to be there for months, one of the little boys suffered a broken leg and traumatic brain injury and is still in the hospital, and the other little boy was injured and still recovering, but is expected to be okay.
3. The mom obviously can no longer work.

Please pray for the Johnson family. I am praying about if there is more we as a family should do also.

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.

How to Find True Happiness

A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably combed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready.

As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window.

"I love it," he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy. "Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait."

"That doesn' t have anything to do with it," he replied. "Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged, it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. "It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away. Just for this time in my life. Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you've put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories! Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing."

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred and bitterness.

2. Free your mind from worries.

3. Live simply.

4. Give more.

5. Expect less.

Thought For the Day...

Reality is almost always funny..........eventually!!!

This is a picture from when the kids were little. I was pretty annoyed at the time, baby powder is NOT easy to clean up...but now it IS pretty funny. :o)