Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Being Thankful

When life gives you pumpkins, make pumpkin puree!  I am thankful that there were leftover pumpkins from the church Harvest Festival and that no one else wanted to bother with the work of turning them into fresh pumpkin puree, which is what I have been busy with while waiting to get updates on my brother's condition.  I am thankful for the prayer warriors who lifted him up in prayer.  Praise God, he is doing much better and I am thankful for these small signs of recovery.  He is not out of the woods yet, but my sister has promised she will hold her cell phone up to his ear so that I can tell him how much I love him.  So, although I never thought I would say this, I am thankful for cell phones, since there are no land lines in the ICU rooms!  These are only a few of the thankful feelings I have today......how about you ~ what are you thankful for?

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Holiday Preparations

This time of year is always difficult for me. My Mom passed away 3 days before Christmas the year I turned 19 ~ in fact, the last time I saw her was on my 19th birthday. Growing up in the military made a big difference in how we celebrated the holidays, and my Mom always tried to make sure we kept to our traditions, as best we could, no matter where we were living. If we were in Arizona we would have Thanksgiving dinner at my Grandma’s house and then everyone would troop over to our house for Christmas dinner. I can only recall two times that the grandparents came to us on Thanksgiving – the year my sister, Susan, made a surprise appearance two months before her due date and the year my Mom passed away. That year she was just too ill to travel, so we did Thanksgiving at our house. It was the last holiday we would all celebrate together.


When I got married and was out on my own, we would invite all of my first husband’s single friends over for Thanksgiving dinner – he was in the Air Force and there were a lot of guys who were single – and boy could they eat!! During the years I was divorced the family would gather at my other Grandma’s house for Thanksgiving. Nowadays my husband and I have Thanksgiving dinner at our home for anyone who wanders in – Steve’s brother usually joins us, and we extend the invitation to others in our life who are without family, so we’re never really sure who is going to show up! It is always a good time – and it definitely keeps me busy! I also take the week of Thanksgiving off from work so that I have time to bake and prepare for the feast.

Our Christmas tradition when I was growing up was to decorate the tree on my birthday. I always strung popcorn to hang on the tree, and we had many ornaments that each of us made in school, along with the glass balls and lights. We opened gifts on Christmas morning but had to wait until whichever of my siblings was the youngest at the time to wake up. Pinching them usually worked! LOL!! Then the grandparents, aunts, uncles and all would come to our house for dinner. I think the strangest Christmases we spent were when we lived in South America. Christmas comes in the summer there, so we were on summer vacation and would get gifts like swimsuits and such. And there were no traditional pine trees to chop down and decorate, so my Dad bought us a Star Pine in a huge pot and we brought that inside and decorated it each year. All in all I have many wonderful memories and try to keep those foremost in my mind during this time of year.

So as the holiday season draws near, I try to keep busy, carry on the family traditions as best I can and, most importantly, stay focused on the many blessings the Lord has bestowed upon me.

I would love to hear how some of you celebrate and manage to keep family traditions alive!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Thank You For Your Service!

Veterans' Day holds special meaning for me. My Dad served in the United States Air Force - he was my hero - but it wasn't until I was an adult that I realized he was also one of our nation's heroes. My Dad passed away in January 2008, shortly before his 80th birthday. I was asked to draft the obituary for my Mom and siblings to review and approve. As I was trying to decide what to say, I remembered he had always said, "just say that I was a fighter pilot." But serving in the military goes so much deeper than that. It is true that he was a fighter pilot, that was his career and it was his passion. But my Dad, and anyone who is currently serving or has ever served in the military are protecting our God-given freedom and our inalienable rights. That is an awesome responsibility and I, for one, am eternally grateful to those men and women who, through their service, have made possible my ability to live in a country where I can freely worship God; a country where I can have a comfortable home, hot running water, indoor plumbing, a garden, pets ... whatever it is that I want and am willing to work for. This photo is just a tiny portion of a wall in San Antonio, Texas that contains the remains of some of those brave men and women. I humbly thank each and every one those who serve and their families for their sacrifices.

Joh 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.





"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Pay It Forward - Blog Giveaway





From here
I will make a handmade gift for the first 3 interested people who comment on this post. I have 365 days to do it in. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise!

The catch is that you must participate as well: you must have a blog and before you leave your comment here, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going. Just cut and paste this one if you like, which I did. *Change the From "here" link above to now link to my blog on your new post.