Merry Christmas!

Here in the Huntsville area we had the first white Christmas they've had in 21 years. In fact, 1989 is the only other time there has been measurable snowfall on Christmas until today!

Since I haven't lived here that long and wasn't here 21 years ago, it's the first white Christmas we've had since we moved here. It was kind of funny because I happened to wake up about 3am and look out, and there was nothing but a damp sidewalk. I figured it was going to be just another "scare" and no snow would be forthcoming. But when I got up this morning and looked out, WOW! I was sure wrong about that.

I must admit I'm glad we didn't have to travel anywhere.

This year we did more for Christmas than last year (which wouldn't take much since I did nothing). Jonathan carried up our little fake tree, and we actually bought some presents and put under it.


Now I'm not saying we got fancy and *wrapped* the presents, ha, ha! Boxes or freezer bags, and a red magic marker... and that's it.

We opened gifts last night, and there again, WOW! I don't know when I've been so pampered! Jess got me a new meditation cushion, a craft table, a new set of headphones to use with my laptop.

Then Jonathan got me some movies and a Night Fury figure (my favorite dragon from "How to train your Dragon" movie).

The guys weren't left out! For instance, Jess got a Garmin. Or maybe that's a present for me? You know, the whole "let's not get lost next time we go somewhere" idea! A pair of boots, folders for his state quarters collection. Jonathan got models to paint and shirts to wear.

I think we all were happy with the gifts under the tree, even if the wrapping wasn't fancy!

More Sanford Baptism Pictures

I just put a bunch of pictures in an album on Facebook, but I know there are some diehards that do not have a Facebook account (Hi Jess! Hi Randy!) ... so here's a slideshow. Some of the first few pictures will be repeats from the video I did yesterday of the actual baptisms.

But then we had breakfast in the park, which was totally awesome. Debra and Becky had made a bunch of food, some ahead of time, and some like the bacon and eggs they cooked right at the park. It was positively scrumptious!

After breakfast, we walked along one of the trails to see more of the Rock Springs and Kelly Park. So here are pictures from our special day at the park. . .

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If you want to see this full screen, click here and you can check it out.

It was a great day!

I Sing Because. . .

There are some things I really miss about going to church. I miss the music, both listening and getting to sing in choir. And there are some special people I really miss.

A couple of those special people are Carl and Eveyln Tate. During a very dark time, they were good friends to me. In fact, Eveyln was praying for me even before she knew me. . . she just knew that a neighbor needed prayer. Then once I started attending the same church and got to know them, what a blessing! Their kind words lifted me up more times than I can count.

Everyone needs the blessing of some friends like them.

So I was thrilled to see this video that combines two very special things... the music I love and a special friend that I love.


Carl Tate - "I Sing Because..."



Amen, Brother Carl, amen.

Encouragement

encourage tr.v. , -aged , -aging , -ages . To inspire with hope, courage, or confidence; hearten. To give support to.

I've been encouraged lately.

Getting my first commission check helped greatly. Finally, a sign all my work is heading somewhere!

Then one of the co-owners of the company where I take classes, etc., mentioned my accomplishment in the membership-wide call last week. I think there were about 80 people on the call. That may sound like a lot, but it's really a pittance compared with how many actually have membership.

The trouble is, more people like the idea of making a living on line than actually want to do the work it entails. So they join / buy a lot of memberships / products, but never do anything with them.

But it was encouraging for him to congratulate me, and hand out some praise!

And I'm encouraged because it's supposed to be DRY this coming week. No rain pain! I'm hoping to be able to get a lot done. It's easier to feel encouraged when the pain levels are down to normal.

So I'm hoping for a great week here. Hope you have one too!

Good Things Come To Those Who Wait. . .

Sometimes good things are merely the absence of bad things. For instance, like these:

• I looked at all my websites this morning and not a single one had been hacked.
• I looked at my credit cards and there were NO new fraudulent charges.
• I went out to do chores and did NOT see a rat scuttling around in the feed room.
• All the animals look fine, and
• The guys went off to work, as far as I know, without incident.

I also saw a little chick with a mama hen this morning that I first saw a week or two ago and hadn't seen since then. I figured the chick hadn't made it, but there it was this morning, so that's something else good!

We had not one, but TWO good training sessions last night, and my head is spinning with information. Things in the real world are in constant change, and things on the internet are in change even faster.

It's a continual learning experience to keep up, but fortunately, there are basics, and once you learn all that, it's a matter of being flexible about the rest. What's good is I have down most of the basics, and really feel a tipping point should come soon between learning and earning.

And last but most certainly not least, Jess gave me the most excellent GOOD news that he's booked us for a week of vacation in September down at Panama City Beach.

We have a little efficiency place with an open floor plan. It's got a kitchenette, which is good since we can eat a lot of our meals there and save money on food. They even said they have wi-fi available, which is really good. That way I won't suffer from internet withdrawal or miss my classes. (I know, that's sneaking in a little "work", but these aren't going to continue forever!)

And we don't have to worry about a farm/critter/bird sitter since Jonathan is here. That's a very good thing too!

We haven't went on a "we're not visiting someone" kind of vacation in literally years. Those are always nice, but a week of doing nothing but goofing off, wow!

I can't wait to have a GOOD time at Panama City Beach!

Almost Half A Year Gone

All right people, you do realize that we're already close to half way through 2009 don't you? I mean, what happened to the past 5 months? How did we get to the end of May already???

One thing we don't seem to have to worry about around here is getting bored. There's always something going on! Just consider, in the last 5 months. . .

• I didn't exactly remodel my office, but completely rearranged and reorganized it. Having such a good place to work is great!
• Kelley turned 15.
• Jess got through his therapy needed after having both knees replaced. And this is hard for me to believe, but in just about another week, Jess will have had his new bionic knees for 6 months!
• Jess went back to work.
• Lee turned 21.
• We had visitors from Canada!
• Jonathan had a birthday (as did his cousin, Bobbi, born the same year!)
• Jonathan got a job.
• Ellie turned 4 years old.
• We had a visitor from eastern Tennessee (Hi, Phantom Son!)!
• Chrystie had a birthday!
• Ryan graduated from high school!

Of course, it's not all fun stuff. There's also the fact that. . .

• We had to go to the funeral home for a former pastor and friend, who was only about 46 years old.
• Our first llama baby ever on the farm was stillborn.
• Jess had a wreck and totaled our Ford Focus (on the good side, he wasn't hurt!).
• I made my first trip back to the Fibromyalgia/Chronic Fatigue Clinic in over a year (that's not bad, but it's not exactly fun stuff either - I've still got bruises slowly fading from all those needle sticks).

Of course, those are just the highlights, and don't include the day to day stuff everyone does at home, and on the farm, and at work. However you look at it, lots of milestones with birthdays, lots has happened, and five months have sped by!

I hope the next few months go by a little more slowly, but I'm sure not going to hold my breath on that one, ha!

Have A Dream

It seems the older we get, the less we dare to dream. Many people hit 40 and have a "mid-life" crisis because they feel like life has passed them by, and they're never going to do the things they dreamed about.

But you just never know.

I saw the link to this video on a friend's blog. A lot of people have probably already watched the video or heard about it. If you haven't, it's worth the 7 minutes or so of your time to see 47-year old Susan Boyle sing "I Dream The Dream" on "Britian's Got Talent." (They're not allowing embeds, so you'll have to go to YouTube to see it.)

This totally ordinary looking woman comes out on stage and it's obvious no one thinks she's going to be worth a flip.

But then she starts singing and jaws drop. Incredible.

So there she is, past that 40ish mid-life crisis time, and she's on stage living her dream. Just goes to show... never give up on your dreams. They may change, as Chrystie notes with her blog "Revising The Dream", but you should NEVER give up dreaming.

I'm not going to. How about you?

Cookie Monster & Tricycles & Pizza

No, Cookie Monster isn't riding a tricycle while eating pizza. As a matter of fact, this particular Cookie Monster and his cookies got eaten. Nice twist, huh?
That Richard really got creative with Ellie's birthday cakes this year! Not only did he make a fantastic Oscar The Grouch cake for the big family party they had a while back, but he made this cute Cookie Monster cake for the smaller party they had this past weekend.

The secret behind this cake? It's made using a 3-D panda bear cake pan, a couple of cupcakes and of course, cookies for props! That pan has seen a lot of use through the years! It was a panda bear for Richard's first birthday in it's original incarnation, then got reincarnated as a Care Bear at various times for Richard, Jonathan and some special friends. Now here it is again, as a terrific Cookie Monster!

As for the tricycle part of this post's title, here's a picture Richard sent me of Ellie riding her tricycle. It got warm enough in the north land for them to go for a walk this past Sunday. (Of course, you realize "warm" is a relative term, and what I'd call warm and what they call warm are two totally different things!)

Richard mentioned that he had to adjust the tricycle because Ellie has grown so much.

Now, as for the pizza part of the title! Jonathan is now working next-to-full-time delivering pizza at Domino's Pizza. He can make more money delivering pizza than he could working a retail job, so there he is. In fact, he informed me last night when he came home that he'd made as much money in 2 days as it usually took him 30 hours to make at Toys R Us.

Oh, the irony... for the longest he didn't want to do pizza delivery because of the wear and tear on the car. However, Domino's has a policy of NO SPEEDING, and in fact, if you get a speeding ticket while delivering pizza, you get suspended. The last time he worked at pizza delivery they were pushing him to "speed up" so he could make faster deliveries (which ultimately led to driving a little too fast on a rain-slicked road over a mountain and wrecking and totaling his car). He'll still put the miles on the vehicle, but this store also doesn't have as big a delivery area as the last place he worked, so that will help, too.

So there we have it, some of life's blessings - Cookie Monster birthday cakes, Ellie riding a tricycle, and Jonathan delivering pizza. Sweet!

Prayer and Praise

As always, there's a lot going on with our family. I couldn't begin to make a list of everything happening with the extended family. For instance, we have a niece who is pregnant again, a divorce in the works, another niece that's getting married, a nephew with knee problems, a... well, you get the picture. Once again, I'm going to zoom in on just the immediate family and hit the major stuff.


All Prayers Appreciated!

• Ellie and all her therapies. She also just got new glasses, and we're praying they help her see better!


• Dave is looking for a different line of work. He wants to find something that takes less physical labor.


• Jonathan has a job interview Tuesday morning.

Praise!!!

• Jonathan has one job for sure, doing delivery for Domino's Pizza. But he also has a job interview Tuesday morning for what might be an even better job!


• Jess has almost more work than he can handle right now. In fact, here it is Saturday, and he's working at the office. (Maybe just space those jobs out a little please?)


• Ellie is going to be FOUR YEARS OLD tomorrow!


• Randy is coming to visit soon!


• Ryan has a scholarship to play football at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, NC next year as safety. Way to go Ryan!

In one of those funny little quirks of life, we almost ended up in Hickory when we moved from Cleveland. In fact, we were house hunting before a last minute change sent us to Alabama instead.

All things considered, we could spend a lot more time counting our blessings and have much to be thankful for!

Time's A Changing

Here we are, changing to Daylight Savings Time. I hate these time changes. I wish we’d just stick with Standard or Daylight Savings, and quit switching back and forth.

But time’s, they’re always a changing. That’s just the way life is. Sometimes those changes are good, sometimes they don’t seem so good. I try to cling to the “all things work together for good” premise, but there’s no doubt my life isn’t anything like I imagined it when I was a kid. For instance…

• I was going to grow up to be a teacher or a writer. What happened? I went to school to be a nurse because that’s what my family thought would be good. You can always get a job as a nurse, right? Well, not if you are out of the field for years and years. I couldn’t even get a job at a nursing home after I got divorced.
• As a teenager, I dreamed of getting married, and growing old with the same guy, still holding hands when we were tottering around with our canes. Hmmmm, that didn’t work out either.
• I wasn’t going to live on a farm again, because I didn’t want to be tied down taking care of animals. So where am I living now????
• And when I was young, I was like most young people. I figured I’d be in good shape, healthy forever. It’s hard to envision living a life in pain when you’re a teenager and full of energy and youthful vitality!

But there’s changes, always changes!

• Address changes. How many address changes have I had??? Off the top of my head, I can think of 20 different places I’ve lived in 6 different states.
• People change. I have yearbooks with all these autographs saying “Best Friends Forever!” But with time, you walk such divergent pathways and lose touch, and there’s few that you can pick up and be the same best friends you were years and years ago.
• Interests change. Some by choice, some by necessity. I used to love to crochet and machine knit and do all kinds of crafts. I would dearly love to still be able to do that, and it bugs me I can’t make all the cute little outfits I’d envisioned making for grandchildren. The last I made were for the Sanford kids, and they’re getting all grown up now! No, I just can’t manage that stuff any more. So I’ve had to switch and focus on different interests, like more into photography and computers.

All kinds of changes! Too many to list changes! My size has changed, my health has changed, my life has changed. But hopefully, I’m changing for the better in the process. The new, improved me!

Cause mostly, I’ve been blessed with changes for the better. Even things that didn’t seem so good at the time have usually worked out to move my life in an improved direction.

I may not always like change, but most of the time it’s good for me.

The King Sings About The REAL King!

Jess just sent this to me and I obviously enjoyed it or I wouldn't be putting it up here.

For one thing, I like to hear Elvis sing. When I was a kid way back when, my mom and one of her best friends, Doris, loved to listen to Elvis, so by default, I heard him a lot also. Enjoying his music stuck with me over the years.

And then, well, this is just a good song and the video they did to go with it suits it so well!

Enjoy!

Tidbits of Good News

It’s not always gloom and doom around here, although sometimes it feels that way when I’m feeling a little stressed or depressed. And of course, right now BAMA fans are feeling a little blue after losing at the Sugar Bowl. (Dare I say it? It wasn’t a very sweet game for them!)

But hold on! There’s actually lots of good news, too. Since seven is supposed to be such a perfect number, here’s a list of seven of the nicer things that have happened lately, in no particular order --

* Grandson Ryan’s team won the high school 6A Florida State Championship. (Dave, Ryan and Emily in picture at left.)

* I got notice back from Social Security that they do NOT need to do a comprehensive review of my case this year.

* Jess is doing really well with his physical therapy, and eating better. (Still working on sleeping at night however!)

* I’ve got the new software loaded for working on-line, and “attended” the first on-line Q&A session tonight. I need to go through all the training modules so I can understand more of what they’re talking about! On the bright side, I got chosen as one of about 7 people to send in our questions directly to one of the CEO’s. They’ll answer all our questions and make a FAQ sheet for newbies.

* While it’s taking me a while to get used to the placement of my computer desk, having an office I can work in is GREAT. It’s at the other end of the house from all the action – tv in the den, the kitchen and bathrooms – so I’m out of the path of traffic and noise. I sat in here tonight with my speakers on listening, and wasn’t bothering anyone with my stuff, and they weren’t bothering me. FANTASTIC! Once I get all my books and stuff moved in here, it will really be super.

* It’s warmer outside. I can use the water hoses to fill buckets. No ice anywhere.

* My laptop was having trouble staying on AC power, and would keep flipping to battery power. I figured it was either a loose wire in the AC adapter cord, or the plug-in had loose prongs, or the computer itself was going haywire. Hoping for the best, I found a clone AC adapter for $15 and ordered it. I’ve been using it for a couple of days now, and happy to report (knock on wood!), the problem seems to be resolved!

So see, we have tidbits of good news happening here too!

Amazing Grace

When the kids were visiting last week, we got to talking about music in church, and how so many churches these days are using worship teams and all contemporary music. As it happens, the church they attend uses a mix, which I think is good.

However, I will admit that although I like a lot of today's music, I have a special fondness for the classic hymns. A friend sent me a link to this video, and it really touched my heart.

I love Amazing Grace played on bagpipes, and though all the guys are wonderful singers, the power of the bass singer as he belted out his solo verse was awesome. I'm thinking if you can watch that video and it doesn't touch your heart, you need a heart check-up!

And I'm also wondering how many contemporary compositions will have the staying power of some of these classics. One hundred years from now, will anyone still be singing them? I don't know, but I'd bet some of these classics will still be around.

Amazing Grace... how sweet the sound!

Taking The Weight Off My Shoulders

Figuratively...

I spent a big part of yesterday finding the information I needed and filling out the disability paperwork.

That one sentence was so quick to write, but the actual doing took quite some time. However, the important thing is that I got it done. Jess took the form to the post office today and mailed it off.

So there’s one weight off my shoulders, figuratively speaking anyway. I've done all I can do; it's out of my hands now.


Literally…

I needed to go to Walmart this morning to pick up a few things for our trip. On the way there I was having a conversation with God along the lines of, “I really need a haircut but I don’t have a lot of time since I’m getting stuff ready to go on this trip to West Virginia. And not all beauticians are familiar with the guidelines for cutting hair for ‘Locks of Love’. But there’s a new salon in Walmart, so if there’s no waiting and if they know what to do, I’ll get my hair cut.”

Now, I try not to make it a practice to “put out the fleece”. I know some people who think it’s a really spiritual thing to do, like it makes you a better Christian, but I can’t agree with that interpretation. Let’s face it, when Gideon put out the fleece, not once, but twice, it wasn’t because he was such a great spiritual leader and so well in tune with God.

No, it was more like he was NOT in tune with God. He was afraid to do what the Lord told him to do, so twice he asked God for a sign to prove God really wanted him to do that particular thing. So to my way of thinking, putting out the fleece isn’t a sign of being highly spiritual.

But as usual, I digress. The point here is the particular requirements I had in mind to get my hair cut and what happened when I got to Walmart.

I went in the salon, and the beautician was just finishing up with someone.
She walked over to me and asked, “What can I do for you today?”
“Do you know how to cut hair for “Locks of Love’?”
“Yes,” says she.
“Then that’s what we’re doing today,” says me.

So there was no wait, and there was someone there that knew what to do. In fact, turns out she knew exactly what to do…. how long to cut the hair, how to band it and bag it. That it must be dry when cut and so on and so forth. She even had a measuring tape handy.

She put a rubber band around my hair, braided it, then cut it. When she made the last snip that dropped the whole braid, my head suddenly felt a lot lighter. There was another weight off my shoulders, literally.

Several times during the process she asked, “Are you okay?” cause she knew it’s a drastic change to whack about 12-inches off your hair. And then she’d say, “You know you’re doing it for a good cause.”

Well, as Paul Harvey would say, “Here’s the rest of the story.” There’s a good reason she’d feel it was for a good cause and that she knew about Locks of Love. She’s a cancer survivor. She lost all her hair during treatment. When it grew back it was a different color and texture. Her eyebrows never did grow back. She no doubt understands the need far better than I do, even if today it was my hair getting chopped off.

But I must admit, it does takes some getting used to having my hair so short. I feel kind of naked, and I can’t twist my hair up on top of my head like I did before. All of a sudden it’s barely shoulder length and hard to get up out of the way.

Still, I’ve decided every time I’d tempted to whine about my short hair, I’m going to remind myself that someday, some little girl who is going through the worst time of her young life will be wearing a hairpiece made with my hair cause she lost all hers.

Makes my troubles seem pretty small.

His Mysterious Ways

Sometimes things happen in our lives that follow a wonderfully twisted path.

This particular instance begins with a great friend I have who lives in New York. We met on a list for goats, of all things. My email (tardis@..) caught her eye because she and her husband used to watch Dr. Who so they recognized a fellow fan. (The Doctor’s time machine is called a T.A.R.D.I.S.) From that beginning, we’ve been friends for years.

She also has trouble with neuropathy, especially in her hands. It’s a special treat to get an email from her since it’s so hard for her to type. She sent me one last week commenting on the pictures in this blog of Ellie learning to sit up, and how great that is, and how she’d seen a neat item in the news about little girls with cerebral palsy taking ballet, and that there was a book about it and she thought Muhammad Ali’s daughter had something to do with it. I figured if she went to the trouble to tell me about it, I needed to follow through and find out more.

So I searched. I found the book, Ballerina Dreams on Amazon, but no connection there to Laila Ali.

So I searched some more. After much poking around, I ended up on a blog called, “Spanglish Gringo”, at an entry about Dancing with the Stars, which Laila Ali was on last season. I’ll hereby confess we’re Dancing with the Stars fans at our house, so that intrigued me

Now understand, that was the ONLY connection I thought we had when I first landed on his website. I couldn’t see we had much in common. Besides the obvious difference of gender, I noted the following:

I live in the country. He lives in Los Angeles. In fact, I live on a farm. He’s in an urban environment that is totally foreign to me. His home has bars on the windows. We have screened windows we open in nice weather.

He’s steeped in a multi-ethnic culture. I have little opportunity for cross-cultural contact.

His family came to America on the Elizabeth some 20-30 years after the Mayflower. I haven’t a clue about my ancestry that far back

And whereas my kids are grown up, he’s just starting a family. In fact, I’m a grandmother, and he’s a relatively new dad. (So obviously, he’s also much younger than I am.)

But still, there was just something about the blog that piqued my interest. I noticed the cross hanging round his neck, and that he has a ministry in Los Angeles. Aha, a fellow believer, something in common after all. I decided to check out the blog and learn more.

Mind you, there are 3 years of archives, but I figured I’d just hit the highlights. Ended up I did much more than that, and spent yesterday afternoon reading the entire blog from beginning to end. Okay, I’ll confess I skimmed over some entries on sports and other things that don’t interest me so much, but that left a whole lot that was totally fascinating. I enjoyed reading about his ministry, his wife, and their families. He has some great quotes on the blog, and a lot of thought-provoking material.

Then I got to the entries about their struggle to adopt, the meetings with the adoption agency and social workers, putting together their portfolio for prospective mothers, and the hope of finding “their” child. That really resonated since Richard and Chrystie have been thinking about adoption, and through them I’ve learned more about the difficulties that entails.

It was great to read about their joy when they got a beautiful little girl. And she really is a little charmer. Her pictures in the “Friday Foto Fix” entries are one of the highlights of the blog. Off hand, I can only think of one other little girl that tops her! (Sorry guys, I’m a wee bit biased on this one!)

I kept reading and then, then! Then the posts about the problems their Isa was experiencing, the delays in development, the tests, and the upshot being here was another couple with a beautiful little girl whose MRI showed she had a stroke before she was born. Yes, like our little Ellie, their little girl has Cerebral Palsy. Reading the posts leading up to the diagnosis, and subsequent posts talking about her therapy and ongoing health problems, well, it sure hit home.

Now I don’t pretend to have the intimate knowledge about caring for a child with cerebral palsy that this couple now has, and Richard and Chrystie have. I’m just a grandmother of such a child, and I live far, far away. But it would seem we have much more in common that I first imagined.

Scott and Veronica of "Spanglish Gringo" fame, and our own Richard and Chrystie – I hope you all continue to nourish your marriages and spiritual growth, as you will no doubt have many times you’ll need to lean on each other and the Lord to meet the challenges of parenting special needs children. I pray that their Isabel and our Ellie will astonish us all with the things they learn and accomplish as their brains make new connections to make up for those lost because of strokes.

And I’m thankful for His Mysterious Ways, leading us places we would never think to go, helping enlighten and comfort us when we least expect it.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE!

It’s an evening for family gatherings and special church services. I went with Jess to the Christmas Eve service at his church. It was a lovely service and I enjoyed it, but was forcibly reminded why I do NOT attend church on a regular basis any more.

Church people can be very friendly. Normally, that’s a good thing. But when you have thoracic neuralgia, and people persist on patting you on the back, it quickly becomes a BAD thing. These people mean well, they just don’t realize what pain they’re causing at that moment, and how it will precipitate pain for some time to come.

Then there’s the whole “stand up to sing” thing… sit down for a while, stand up again, sit, stand, sit… you get the idea. Difficult when your body doesn’t want to cooperate.

And last, but certainly not least, there’s the pews. Ah, yes, the pews. I thought maybe I had exaggerated in my mind how hard it is to sit in those pews. I figured it probably wasn’t as bad as I remembered. I was right about that. It wasn’t as bad as I remembered. It was worse.

I don’t know what it is about sitting in those pews. They do have some padding, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference. Before long the muscles in my right side start tightening up, from waist to neck, and there is no way to get comfortable. Having muscle spasms while sitting in church is NOT a good thing.

After only an hour in a church service, I’m down for the count. It started out great, but by the time it was over… well, it’s hard to concentrate on songs and sermons when the pain is clouding your mind.

I’m glad I was able to go, but it was a stark reminder I can’t do everything I would like to do, and the pain does impose some limitations. Still, I walked in and I was able to walk out. I came home to supper in the crock pot, and presents under the tree. I have family and friends that care about me, and a roof over my head. I have Christmas to remind me God sent his only son into the world, starting a chain of events that would end in a pathway for salvation.

All things considered, I’m very blessed.

Family Treasure

We’re headed back home after a visit with family in Florida. It’s always interesting to see how the kids have grown, and to see how everyone is doing, and to sit back and watch the different personalities at play. I don’t doubt that at one time or another, each of us has wondered what in the world all the rest were thinking. We have some, well, shall we say strong personalities in our family!

But one thing doesn’t change: we are family. A blended family like ours takes a while to mesh, to see how everyone connects, and to grow to love one another, but when push comes to shove, family is what counts. And whether you have all kinds of money, or you have very little, your real treasure lies in your family. Jess and I are very blessed with all our kids and grandkids we have scattered over two countries, and to have been able to spend Thanksgiving with some of them.

Our recently visited family treasures include:

Debra – Jess’s daughter and matriarch of the clan in Florida, she does a fantastic job of looking after her four kids and husband. It amazes me how she manages to keep up with her household and everyone’s work, school, church and other activities, not to mention her own. She’s a great cook, smart, and creative. (You should have heard the song she made up for Jess’s birthday to the tune of “Oklahoma.” Instant classic!)

Dave – Debra’s husband, and patriarch of the clan. He’s super family oriented - a great dad, hard worker, steadfast, and as Jess puts it “all around good guy”. Not all your family treasures are blood relatives – sometimes you get very fortunate in the people who marry into the family, and that’s how it is with Dave. (And we like a lot of the same foods, so I know he’s got good taste!)

Lee – The oldest grandchild, a college student, and long-time worker at Chick-fil-A, where he does a super job. He’s not only good looking and quick-witted, he’s a great singer and guitar player. Superman! He has great potential!

Emily – The next oldest grandchild, recent high school graduate, and working hard at Target. She’s also a talented piano player and singer. Beautiful, both in appearance and spirit, she has a tender heart, very loving. I suspect you’d be hard pressed to find a truer friend. She’s a jewel in the making.

Ryan – Next grandchild in line, junior in high school, and also working at Chick-fil-A. He’s big into football and building up those muscles, so looking buff. He’s a hard worker, cute, and has a fun personality. (He also inherited Grandpa’s explosive sneezes!) He wants to play football in college, and we’re all rooting for him! We know he can do it!

Kelley – The youngest of this group of grandchildren, a freshman in high school, full of energy, and of course, Daddy’s little girl. She loves to run, plays a mean trumpet, and is ever so pretty. She’s blossoming into an interesting young woman, smart and fun and talented. She’s capable of doing great things! (And she and her sister are capable of breaking into song at any second!)

Randy – Jess’s oldest son, and visiting in Florida at the same time. Sometimes Phantom Son, but we really love to see him! The more we’re around him, the more we find to like. He’s a steady worker, looking for answers in life, and has a quick and sometimes unexpected wit. A quiet treasure, he and I have a lot of personality traits in common (but don’t hold that against him!).

All of the above are also fluent in games and Sports-speak. That’s a foreign language to me, but we still manage to communicate.

Family treasures we missed seeing at Thanksgiving include:

Jonathan – youngest son, and presently holding down the fort… er, farm. Besides looking after critters, he’s been super busy working at Toys R Us. Jess often tells him “the fruit does not fall far from the tree”, as he has a lot of his mother’s great traits! However, he’s more outgoing, and has developed more people skills than I would ever have dreamed when he was younger. Fluent in Geek-speak, and an asset when I have a PhotoShop question, he can be a great help! He can also be a hard worker and has a lot of creativity, intelligence and talent. All he needs to do is figure out where to focus. There’s a niche for him out there somewhere!

Richard – son in the far north, having moved from Texas to Canada. Great husband and I know Ellie couldn’t have a better dad. He’s a hard worker – the company he works for recognized what a gem he is and hung onto him even when he moved to another country! He's not only a computer whiz with mega-brainpower, he’s inherited his Grandpa Boggs love of woodworking and makes some beautiful stuff. He’s also bi-lingual, speaking fluent Geek-speak AND Sports-speak. He probably has one of the most well-rounded personalities of any of us. I’m sure he inherited only the best of his Mom’s genes, ha, ha!

Chrystie – Richard’s wife, and daughter of my heart. She’s a fantastic wife and mom, and I have no doubt a great asset to the college library where she works. She keeps up a dizzying schedule with Ellie’s doctor appointments and therapies, work, church and home. She has a bubbly personality and a tender heart, lots of smarts and wit. She’s just so talented! I couldn’t have picked a better wife for Richard (as if he’d let me do the picking anyway!).

Ellie – our youngest granddaughter, and the cutest little two-year-old in the universe. Having Cerebral Palsy may slow her down, but no matter what she can or can’t do, what a gift she is! Just thinking of her makes my heart smile. She has to work harder to do things most of us take for granted, but has such a happy spirit. Generally, I’m not much of a “people photographer”, but this cute little person is an exception! The world is a better place with Ellie in it.

And there’s also, Jason, Jess’s youngest son, living and working in Huntsville. He’s a good looking young man, and can work hard when he has a mind to! He’s been working with brick layers, and has really honed-up his physique.

Of course, we have siblings and parents and other extended family we’re glad for, but kids and grandkids are the closest family treasures. Even better, most of our treasures love the Lord, so will also be treasures in heaven. We’re just extremely blessed.

Yes, we’re rich with the best kind of treasure.

The Joy & The Pain

It’s 3a.m. and I’m overclocked. If you’re not up on Geek-Speak, the clock rate of a computer is essentially the speed at which a computer performs its most basic operations. Overclock means “to speed up a computer beyond the manufacturer’s specifications in order to make it run faster – the motherboard and CPU may or may not be able to handle the increased speed.”

In human terms, I’m constantly running faster than my motherboard brain and CPU body are meant to by my Maker, especially with the handicap of chronic thoracic pain and fibromyalgia. Sometimes I can handle the increased speed, but more often than not, there’s a price to pay for being overclocked.

But I digress.

I had half a dozen titles running through my head for this entry, like “The Agony and the Ecstasy”, “My Cup Runneth Over”, and “Family Fun.” We’ve been having such a great time visiting with Richard, Chrystie and Ellie. With them living in the far north these days, we don’t get to visit near as often as we’d like to, so what time we get is extra precious.

And speaking of extra precious… one word: Ellie. Grandma has been having such fun playing with the cutest little girl in the universe (and any parallel universes there might be too!). We went Trick-or-Treating, we’ve watched “La La” – otherwise known as Ariel of The Little Mermaid, and we’ve played a whole lot of “dress up.” We’ve got our live babydoll working as Super Model, and getting pictures taken for Ellie’s 2008 calendar.

Yesterday morning we got pictures of Ellie as a clown,

a princess,

and dressed up in a little red velvet dress for a Christmas picture. Yesterday evening we got shots of her in bib overalls in a harvest type setting, in a cart, and on Grandpa’s tractor. We also bought a cute little Halloween outfit on sale yesterday, and took a picture of Ellie with some pumpkins.

We tried for one of Ellie in one end of a wagon and the sheep eating grain from the other end, but that was a disaster. Even our little sheep are 3 or 4 times Ellie’s size, and she took one look at the sheep and started crying. Daddy had to rescue her while Grandma put the sheep away.

Uncle Geek (otherwise known as Jonathan) was an invaluable assistant yesterday afternoon, contributing ideas, helping to set up our backgrounds, and carting me around to find pumpkins and such. And of course Ellie’s valet, aka “Dad”, helped us keep Ellie smiling!

Later this morning, we hope to get pictures of Ellie as a Care Bear, and in a monkey suit (NOT a suit suit, but the furry little brown animal variety).

Then the pain part – time for the visit to end, and they’ll be flying off to Orlando to meet up with Chrystie’s family and their vacation time at Disney World. (I think I’m a little jealous.) Grandma will be left with a mostly empty nest again, cleaning up the mess I made all over the house dragging stuff out for picture props, and dealing with my greatly protesting body which is saying, “WHAT were you thinking!??? WHAT have you done!???” and “PAYBACK IS HERE!”

That’s okay. I knew I’d have to pay to play. It’s worth it.

Showing Respect & Count Your Blessings

I had a routine dental appointment for September 26th, but considering that’s in the middle of the time I’m supposed to be in Alaska, I called up the dental office to reschedule. As I told them, if I have to choose between going to the dentist and going to Alaska, it’s a no-brainer. Sorry guys, you lose out!

However, instead of going sometime after I got back, it turned out they had an opening today. The receptionist said, “Don’t you want your teeth to look all clean and white for your trip?” I sort of doubt anyone is going to notice, but okay, I went.

I was on my way there, traveling down a 4-lane highway, when all of a sudden I saw a bunch of police cars with their lights on coming in the other direction. It quickly became obvious they were escorting a funeral procession.

All other traffic stopped in both directions. Yes, even on the opposite side of the highway, our two lanes came to a halt and waited for the procession to go by.

I had a fleeting thought about making it to my appointment on time, then caught myself. What was so important it couldn’t wait 5 minutes so I could show my respect to a grieving family? What if it was one of my loved ones in that hearse and we were on the way to the cemetery?

I got to wondering if people all over the country followed this custom, or it was unique to the south. I tried to find information online about laws pertaining to traffic and funeral processions, and came across more than one discussion about the subject. I discovered that many people are positively incensed at the thought they should have to wait a few minutes for a “line of cars for a dead person” to go by.

Well, for one thing, while it does show respect for the dead, it's even more for the living, and allowing the mourners to all get to the cemetery at the same time.

So why do some people have such a problem with it? It’s not like a funeral procession going past happens that often, and even when we have to wait on one, it’s no worse than waiting for a train to go by.

Manners. Being polite. Showing respect. Consideration for others. Civilized behavior.

There seems to be a definite decline in all of the above, but most especially when we get behind the wheel of a car. We can’t wait, we have to be somewhere instantly! What’s the matter with all those other idiots on the road!?!

Maybe it’s time to slow down a little, to remember what used to be common courtesy.

Maybe it's time to count our blessings, that we're not part of that funeral procession for instance.

Maybe it’s time to show respect for both the living and the dead.

LAPTOP RESCUE

It's official - my laptop has been rescued from the brink of annihilation. Back home again where it belongs, it is humming along quite nicely, with a nice, bright screen again. It’s also picked up speed, as I had a little more memory installed while they were working on it.

The problem was a bad inverter. The part cost $99; the labor cost $99. It wasn’t exactly a cheap fix, but it was cheaper than any of the local estimates, with parts alone costing $250-$500, and labor $25 for every 15 minutes.

In case you ever have a problem with your laptop and are unable to fix it yourself, I highly recommend Laptop Rescue. To give you a feel for how long it takes from sick to well computer, here’s the timeline:

Monday, August 20th: The light goes out on the monitor.
Tuesday, August 21st: Contacted Laptop Rescue; special shipping box ordered.
Thursday, August 23rd: The box arrived and I packed up the laptop.
Friday, August 24th: UPS picked up the box for shipment to Laptop Rescue.
Tuesday, August 28th: Got an email saying they’d received my laptop in the morning, and by late afternoon another email asking me to call about options for fixing it.
Wednesday, August 29th: Talked to rep about repairs needed and price, gave the okay for fixing it – they started working on it as we spoke, and mailed it back the same day.
Friday, August 31: Computer delivered back to my door.

In other words, 10 days from the time I contacted Laptop Rescue about repairs until I had the laptop back in my possession. It would have been only 7 days if I had packaged the computer myself and sent it, instead of waiting on the special shipping box to arrive from Maryland.

However, the box was well cushioned with special foam, made to fit a laptop and prevent any damage during transit, and came with shipping insurance. It was delivered to my door with a shipping label inside, so once I packed up the computer, I could have UPS pick up the package right at my door instead of having to drive to one of their shipping locations. It made shipping safe and easy, but if you’re in a hurry, you could save time by packaging and shipping the computer yourself.

Would I do the same thing if I had to do it all over again?

Ask me again in a year or two. If this computer is still chugging away, then yes, it was well worth the cost. If it dies within the next few months, ouch, it was a bad gamble and a waste of money. Then the cost of repairs, $18 shipping each way, and extra money I paid because I was in a time crunch and opted for the higher priced, guaranteed quicker turn-around time, would have been a nice chunk towards the cost of a new laptop.

But for now I’m quite happy to have my laptop back and in working order. It is soooooo much nicer to be able to sit on the couch and shift around as needed to change the point of contact and pain, than being stuck in a chair in front of the desktop computer.

Thank you Laptop Rescue!